<div class="floatright">(https://i.imgur.com/ToCQoHW.jpg)</div><br/>Quiet as a ghost, Vi flitted inside the manor.  She had been out of her element before, dressed like a noblewoman (if a provocative and somewhat eccentric one) and trying to mingle and make small talk.  But this... she knew how this game was played.  Skulking around behind a mark, listening to what he said; noiselessly entering an area from an unexpected portal; prowling a manor and passingly bauble of immense value to steal priceless secrets; these were the trades that she had learned in the festering pit that was Vodacce.  It had been that, or die.<br/><br/>These were babes in the woods when it came to skullduggery, a guard of the Merchant princes would have had a dagger in his throat for speaking so loudly about sensitive topics.  "Them?" Vi thought to herself "Was Casimiro there with her, or someone else?"  Vi followed them to the "T" junction, still listening in, her stockinged feet as silent as a cat.  She slipped from chamber to chamber, following the sounds of the men but staying around a corner enough that she could stay hidden, shadowing the bustling guards.<br/><br/>Vi knew that she did not look like she belonged at all, glancing at a mirror for a brief second.  She still had on the corset from her dress that she had unceremoniously removed the skirt from, that was restricting her movement and creaking slightly as the stays shifted.  Pulling the knife once more from her bodice, she reached back and sliced the knot that held the light lacings of her corset.  The garment seemed to swell immediately and Vi had room to breathe, the extra oxygen making her slightly dizzy as she inhaled deeply.  Vi heard the voiced start to fade, so working quickly, she stashed the bottom row of cords, releasing the corset enough to unhook the front catches and discard the whole thing.  Vi looked at the bodice knife and tucked it into her left garter, who knows if she might need it?<br/><br/>Vi looked at herself in the mirror and thought to herself "'don't wear a shirt' you said, 'it'll be fine' you said'.  Vi didn't embarrass easily, but getting caught sneaking around naked in her friend's house after his bride-to-be was murdered would make a defense that she was not involved somewhat difficult.  Vi snuffed the thought quickly as she resumed her skulking of the guards following them quickly through the manor.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">approach</div><div class="spoiler_body">Vi is using Theft+Finesse to shadow the guards undetected.  8 dice Result: 8, 2, 7, 10, 10, 5, 1, 6, re-roll the 1 [9].  Raises [10] [10] [9+2][8+7] [5+6].  total raises: 5</div></div>