Crouching down near the wall of the Manor, I looked towards the Wisps beside before following their lead as we scaled the wall swiftly and silently, our boots and fingers finding the various indents that were present on the brick structure.
Not a perfectly easy wall to scale, but it was sothing that all of us could do relatively quickly and efficiently, eventually finding ourselves on the other side of the wall and within a field of grass.
"Careful; there are Ritual Circles carved into the ground around us. Don't step on them..."
The soft whisper of the Wisp in front carried on a breeze back towards us, keeping the words entirely between them and us and not letting any sound diffuse into the air, alerting any of the many guards around the entire compound.
Sticking low to the knee high grass that grew inside the compounds walls, we began to creep forwards in a line, following behind the front Wisp and stepping carefully through the grass as we avoided the inscribed Ritual Circles, the angry red mana of an explosive type trap hidden away beneath the dirt and grass.
It was a rather brutal way to go, being torn apart and burnt at such a high speed, but it was one of the most effective traps to create with mana and leave alone to sustain themselves for long periods of ti, as well as a rather hidden Ritual Circle thanks to its simplicity and adaptability.
The Manor itself was around forty feet away, with only grass and trees to cover the land between the wall and it, though said grass was laden with mines waiting to eviscerate anyone stupid enough to trespass into a Noble's territory.
Made from a stunning, bright white stone - not marble, but perhaps listone or so fantastical material I had never heard about - the Vulpine Manor stood thirty feet tall, hosting two large stories and likely an attic if the windows were anything to go by, and each elaborate windowsill was constructed to be both beautiful and functional, with the panes of glass covering thin tal bars that added support and style to the windows.
To break up the white stone, dark red clay had been used to accentuate the various entrances and create beautiful patterns alongside the various pillars and edges of the building, giving the Manor character and providing functionality too as the red clay hid red runes, which I couldn't decipher from afar but knew that they were there.
My best guess was so type of barrier spell across the entire Manor to create another layer of defense in case of attack.
The Manor was a mixture of Roman architecture and Asian style as well, having the curled lips at the edge of the tiled roof like a pagoda while also utilizing depth to create an elaborate design, with the pillars and strong foundation creating the base of the entire building.
Positioned around, in, and on the Manor were guards wearing a combination of tal armor and leather gear, finding the perfect dium for protection and weight as they patrolled their spots, resting their long, winged spears across their shoulders while curved Sica blades hung on their waists, ready to be used for chopping of any kind.
Their Beastkin nature made sneaking past them a difficult, strenuous task, and we often had to pause as they took positions near our side of the Manor, looking out over the sea of grass and yawning as the moon shone down from up high.
Whenever they looked our way, we froze completely and waited for them to pass, all of us understanding that the mortal eye was drawn to movent, while our gear was sared with various paints of green, brown, grey, and even purple, creating a camouflage that would help us blend in with the grass outside the manor; pure black gear wasn't as stealthy as people believed it to be, since few areas in the world are in raw shadows that dark, aning when you wore all black, you tended to be darker than the area around you, and that ant you were visible.
With that in mind, the Wisps were prepared with a variety of paints and techniques, hastily teaching them to before we snuck into the Manor.
I took point as I swiftly unlocked the side door with my water, the Wisps keeping a lookout before entering one by one before , spreading out inside and looking at one another before nodding.
One of them tapped and gestured for to follow, while the others began to disappear into the Manor as they started to poke around, making lose sight almost instantly as they spread out in various directions.
Like the outside, the inside of the Manor was incredibly beautiful, with dark chocolate hardwood flooring blending into the red moulding that trimd the white walls, which were laden with various paintings of all kinds as well as shelves covered in knickknacks.
I didn't have much ti to admire the simplistic beauty of the house as we began to journey towards the staircase, apparently needing to take the upstairs instead; the entire Manor was illuminated by candles and the moonlight, and the only noises inside was the shuffling of the guards and servants as they quietly went about their business, though it sounded like there were few that were still up and about.
Sticking to the walls, we ascended the staircase and entered the second floor of the Manor, maintaining our position on the edge of the building as we started to map out the layout so more, the Wisp taking ntal notes of the doors and marking them with priority based on appearances and clues from the little we could see.
The obvious target was the large set of double doors with two guards standing on either side of it, though that would be a tricky place to enter without alerting the guards or the entire Manor of our presence...
Besides that, we found a few of the higher ranked servants quarters on this floor as well, and I was tempted to enter one and question the resident since servants tended to be wellsprings of information, but I made sure to do only as I was asked, not wanting to jeopardize the infiltration at all.
In complete silence, the Wisp led down the long hall away from the guarded room, taking instead towards the other side of the Manor's second floor, which was mirrored from the first; upon looking down the new hall that we found ourselves in, there was yet another double door guarded by two alert Beastkin.
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