Silvia has been spending her nights in ramshackle apartments and back alleys. She dresses like any other farmer from her village, and people come to Westcrown enough that she doesn't stand out. The Convention is as much talking to people as she can handle in a day, and more. When the Select talks about the right ways to be Good, she worries this is how she'll be needed here. Nobody asks, though. She stays in her seat, quiet and unobtrusive. When the sun sets, and people start talking about killing nobles themselves... well, she understands the idea, but nobody needs her for this, so she's staying out of it.

When they start forming into mobs, taking up stones and torches, and crowding towards homes defended with magic and spikes and cruelty, she decides this is a convenient time to stay outcast from the group. She takes her stake, grabs her pot, and finds the nearest alley in which she can stay out of sight.

Gabi is moving from narrow alley to narrow alley as much as possible.  If the alleys are narrow enough for one person at a time, she could probably hold a mob back, she's pretty sure she could take a commoner in a fight!  She see Silvia.  Probably not a delegate, but helping people is Good, and she really wants to at least use her tenancy pitch.

"Hey, do you have somewhere safe to go, I know a safe place!"  She flashes her symbol of Irori to signal her lawfulness and trustworthiness!

Gabi is 13 years old and dressed like a street urchin.  She is smiling stiffly (she has a tendency to smile under pressure in the (lately) rare moments she isn't actually feeling happy).

"...not exactly, no. Who are you and how do you know me?" She's never met this... poor farmer's young daughter? No, this is a city, she's just someone on the streets. Why would she know Silvia enough to offer her a safe place? Well. 'Safe.' Silvia is well aware of one thing that might mean.

"I am a monk at an Irorian Abbey not too far from here.  This is his holy symbol."  She waves the image of a palm print. "I am dressed as a street urchin to practice the art of urban stealth.  Our main entrance should be sealed up already, but I know a secret entrance!  I am helping you, even though you are a random vagrant, for the Good.  Irori's perfectly lawful neutral but at the Abbey we figure its best to overshoot on the Good-Evil axis than undershoot!"

Revealing the secret entrance to save someone is probably okay, it was sorta in their plans?  (Dia wanted to plan more for this and is going to make them go through sooo many contingencies and plans now).  Oh wait, this vagrant might be scared of them.

"Thea is trying to make neutral so she has hosted vagrants at our monastery before, for no charge even!"

Well that ruins her chances of making her sales pitch if this person isn't a vagrant but pretends to be, but oh well.

Ah! She needs to help vagrants so she can be less Evil. Is that real? ...Maybe that's real, she hasn't exactly had a strong theological education. Silvia isn't exactly going to tell this 'monk' she shouldn't help her. (What's a monk? Not the point.)

"I don't know who Irorian is, or Thea. But if you have a safe place for no charge I'll take it." She'll keep an eye out, though. No need to mention everything she can do. And she has her stake up her sleeve.

Gabi thinks she spots a weapon up this person's sleeve.  Nice, this person can cover her flank... assuming she isn't planning a backstab?  She looks trustworthy enough?

"Okay, so my plan is we wait for mobs to pass the open areas, then go from narrow alley to narrow alley, I've already got a route planned of narrow alleys.  I figure if a mob can only squeeze through one at a time they are less likely to follow that way and we can hold'em off if we have to."

And a mob is passing by their alley as they talk  Gabi presses herself to the wall and lowers her voice.

"We'll wait for that group to pass, then cross the street for an alley a short sprint away.  While we're waiting... Irori is a lawful neutral God that ascended without cheating with the starstone through sheer discipline and self perfection.  Thea is our Abbess and a cleric of Irori."

Gabi is enthusiastic about this chance to evangelize for her perfect God!  Her smile shifts from strained to genuine when she starts talking about Irori and Thea.

"Going between the alleys sounds good if you have a route."

Silvia glances out and sees the mob. ...they have a torch, and their cover right now is just shadows. "Monk," she whispers, "get back. ...Ten feet should do it." She ducks back herself a bit, tugging on Gabi's sleeve. "Talk once they've passed." Iroran Irori might be interesting, but not dying here is more important.

This person is pretty good at stealth themselves!  They gauged that torchlight distance perfectly!

"We should check its clear then run once they've finished passing."

And then she can focus on not dying!  She would have spotted that torch herself in another moment.

"Yes. But people are joining in, there will be stragglers." Silvia closes her eyes for a moment. "A minute after they pass for the followers to be gone, and then we go. In five minutes, whoever stays here might be coming out. ...Lives here. And then—"

She shakes her head. "Wait. Are we going that way," she gestures towards the mob, "or that way", towards where the mob is going, "to get to the next alley? If we follow them, go just as they pass, we will not be noticed. Against, we need the minute or they will see."

"We're going in the direction of the mob.  So yeah that could work.  Say when and I'll lead the way like we are part of their group straggling behind."

This person is better than Gabi, maybe better than Dia or any of the other stealth-trained monks (not that there are many left).  Their training has been lagging behind since the Sisterhood abandoned them.  Gabi should recruit her as a teacher!

Silvia nods and waits. They're back enough that the torchlight will be dim, and as long as they're still they shouldn't be seen. ...Perhaps the monk doesn't know that. "Stay still," she mutters, and then holds herself motionless. Arbat whipped her for disturbing him with her breathing, some of the bad weeks. She has practice.

Gabi can in fact stay perfectly still!  And with a moment to calm herself she makes her breathing nearly silent as well.

Then the body of the mob will pass without incident, and the street they fill will become usable again. Once the stragglers are only twice as dense as they were during the day, Silvia nods. "Good. Lead us. ...I am Silvia, if you need to call me."

"I'm Gaavia, I mean Gabi."  Ugh, she should be able to avoid repeating her old name out loud by now.

She matches the pace and gait of the stragglers reasonably well, leading them for half a minute, then pauses for a moment, seemingly to rest, before crossing into an alley so narrow Silvia's shoulders will brush up against it even angling her body.

"It's through the alley, we need to watch for a mob on the other side as well."

Silvia approves of the rest! This Gabi seems to know what she is doing. As they squeeze into the alley, she points behind them. "You can see the light on the wall back there? It is flickering, and there is a slight shadow cast, right... there." She traces her hand along the wall, where the light fades just slightly.

"This is a sign of a Light from around the corner, if you are watchful. ...A torch, that is." The flicker is new, but the brightness is almost the same as the lights she's used to. "I will be slow to come out, next time. You are small, it will be best for you to check. Fifteen feet from the street if they have a torch, twenty if it is near the side. ...It is not easy to see the difference. Twenty, to be safe. If they do not, looking should not be a risk."

She watches for torchlight and waits for the torch to pass, then crosses to the other end of the alley and peaks out.  It looks clear, but  she waits half a minute, holding perfectly still as she waits.

"Okay it's been clear for half a minute, next alley?"

Silvia nods. ...when Gabi doesn't react, she remembers it's dark, and Gabi can't see in the dark. "Yes, it seems safe."

Then she'll poke her head out, wait until Silvia is right behind her, and then sprint to the next alley.  It's close enough that it is under 10 seconds of sprinting and this street is almost empty at the moment.  Silvia looked healthy, so she figures Silvia can keep up.

"One more alley after this!"

Gabi's voice sounds excited even when she is being quiet.

When they reach it, Silvia is keeping up, but is definitely more tired than Gabi was expecting. She catches her breath for a moment before responding.

"We are close? Good. The people out here will not see us entering?"

"Yeah, it's a secret entrance in the next alley... I should have sworn you to secrecy sooner.  Can you swear not to reveal the entrance or even the specific alley I'm about to show you to anyone, nor to otherwise reveal it." 

She had an exact wording to swearing someone to secrecy she was supposed to use if it every came up, but she's forgotten it.  She supposes writing the exact wording hundreds or even thousands of times will get added to her punishment for this adventure.  She'd almost rather take a beating as long it didn't include any hits to the face!

Swearing was a stronger commitment than Silvia thought she was making! But she doesn't have many other options, and this doesn't... sound like a problem? Still, she closes her eyes and thinks. (She doesn't move while thinking. Cheliax makes sure of that.)

"Yes, I will so swear. And yes, you probably should have."

Opps!  That will go on the failures for tonight, on top of the disobedience to the obvious order she didn't have but could have predicted if she thought about it of not returning to the monastery as soon as it looked like there would be unrest.

"Sorry!"

She checks for torchlight, then moves to the end of the alley to look down the next street.  This alley is overall wider, but the other end of it will be a close squeeze for Silvia.

"Next street looks clear.  Do you think we should try to walk normally or go for another run to get to your last alley?  It's about 20 seconds sprinting... maybe a minute walking like everything is normal?"

"Twenty seconds is fine. Squeezing in will look strange, though. It might be better not to catch eyes by sprinting." Silvia checks the street is empty, and starts walking in the indicated direction.

If they are listening they can hear a mob the next block over... which Gabi knows is worryingly close to the abbey's main entrance, but they make it to the last alley without incident.  It's entrance is narrow, but the alley widens a bit towards the middle.  Gabi stops over a cobblestone that is much wider and flatter than the others around it and starts feeling around the edges, before giving up and pounding on it.

The stone is lifted from underneath by an older teenager (maybe 16).

"Come on, quickly."