Armed Guards

We did pick a pretty big city. Like everything around here, the place has a curtain wall (seriously: Even the smallest village we passed had at least a bunch of logs shorn of their bark stacked up in a giant wooden wall around every residence, and had people patrolling the thing on top). This one has a stone wall, twenty feet above ground, and a good ten feet thick. The monsters on the way didn't seem THAT bad… but then, I'm basically immortal, so…

Anyway, it seems like a decent sized city from the air, so we “park” the ship outside the gate (instruct it to hover in place as we fly down on our ‘horses’, really… although I store my motorcycle in Extradimensional Torpor from the Warp sphere and just fly myself: No reason to be seen as of yet).

And by the time we hit the ground, there's a crowd… of a dozen armed guards, weapons drawn, backed by twice that many archers on the wall. The archers are all in breastplates and using longbows: They seem standard issue, and they have pikes on their backs. The guards are all in full plate, wielding pikes, and carrying javelins on their backs.

One guard on the ground, his helmet painted gold, speaks up, “Who are you and why are you here?”

Alice speaks up first, “We are the Cardinal Heroes, we have some loot to sell, and a list of supplies we want to purchase. We're stopping to come in by the front gate… what's the problem?”

The man takes a slow, deep breath, “We are on high alert by Royal decree, and must challenge anyone not normal…” he takes another slow, deep breath, “...due to the Cardinal Heroes having been convicted in absentia of being traitors to the crown.” He swallows, and I see sweat going down the side of his face that has nothing to do with the air temperature, “By the order of the king, you are to be arrested and executed for treason.”

He doesn't, however, move a muscle, nor does he order his men to do anything.

Which Brian picks up on quickly enough, “I see. What, pray tell, happens if we simply run away?”

“We would be required to give chase…” he begins, “...but we are not equipped for following flying fiends such as yourselves, and we still must maintain our primary duties of watching the walls.”

Charles gives the man a big old smile, from the back of his iron horse, “Thank you kindly, but I don't think we wish to be arrested today.” We then fly back to the ship, and take off, finding a cloud to hide within.

“So,” Alice considers, “We're wanted for treason now.”

“Yes…” Brian nods, “...but the guard seems to know it's fishy.”

“Or just recognized they were in over their heads and didn't want to die,” Charles frowns.

“Either way, this is solvable,” Alice shrugs, “Rest up, cast Divine Insight for a big skill boost, follow it with Fabricate Disguise, then land outside of sight of the gate and walk in looking like regular adventures or whatever.”

Brian considers, “Works for me, but…” He looks at Charles.

“Not spells I can cast,” Charles confirms.

“I can handle disguises,” I chuckle, “Right now. No need to wait.”

And I can. Persistent Spell on an Illusion Sphere effect, and people have to beat my save DC, twice, to see through the illusion… and duration doesn't matter, and they're full sensory. So I set us up like a small caravan escorting nobility: A couple Conjuration Companions as knights (Bipeds with Battle Creature twice for weapons, Armored Companion for… well, armor… and some supporting talents, mounted on other Conjuration Companions made to look like Hippogriffs - Large quadrupled with Mount, Armored Companion, Avian Companion, and some supporting talents), and set us up to look like princesses… and our Companion Vehicle motorcycles are already dressed up as horses… I swap that out for more Hippogriffs. We don't even bother hiding the glowing symbol on Brian's forehead. We're going for a magic Nobility vibe, so having a princess that's obviously magical is perfectly fine.

We're challenged again when we fly in (from a different gate), but this time we have a prepared story.

Alice starts it, “Ah, thank you. I'm Lady Elaine Fairchild of Rogers,” yes, it is a reference to an old children's TV show, they won't know, and we needed something, “here to sell off a few things we no longer need, and purchase supplies.”

“Welcome Lady Fairchild,” different man in a gold and red helmet nods as he waves back the soldiers, “I apologize for the greeting, but orders from royalty. We have to challenge everyone.”

“We understand,” ‘Lady Elaine’ smiles, “it is always good to obey your superiors, for they know of things we do not…” she chuckles, “...and even when they don't, they still bear the sword.”

The leader of this group of guards blinks a few times, “I would never say such things about our fair rulers.”

“I can get away with it,” Alice chuckles, “Anyway, are we free to go in?”

“Yes my Ladies,” The guard nods, and let's us go through the gate and into the city proper.

Not that they could have stopped us….