So you gotta think about these things. This time she's managed to bully five other kobolds into going along with her schemes. The idea- and she's only repeated it so many times it got into toecounts- is that they raid the place, free the other kobolds, free the big monsters, wait for them to kill the guards - and then steal everything.  And later the humans will think the big monsters got loose. This is a clever plan.

It starts out pretty well. Alecka causes a door to open into the building, lets herself into a disused closet, and opens a tiny window that looks over the gardens [Doors to Everywhere]

Then she causes a guard to trip on his rounds. [Accident]

The guard is then taken to the kitchens, to be treated, and in the ensuing shouting, the other five kobolds climb up a rope and squeeze through a tiny window. 

Tix, the smallest kobold, runs off when she's not looking.

Two others noisily start fiddling with a brass candlestick, and knocks it over.

She gets her remaining four kobolds under control with a whispered scolding, and they continue. 

There's better security on the monster wing, but mostly on the outside- not from the side of the residence. There's still a guard, though. 

But Alecka is very smart.

[Charm Person]

"Heysoldier! Wanna be my friend?"

"uh"

"We're sneakinginto the monster place. Bestfriendsforever!"

I guess

No Plan Survives First Contact With the Enemy. Or on this case, the Enemy’s amicable guest who is also in the monster menagerie room. Well, more like that guest’s squad of rather formidable bodyguards. 

Martin doesn’t hear anything, and continues his conversation. 

This ranger, who would rather be leading an expedition into the forest to bring back captured monsters like he usually does, has sharp senses and the paranoia of someone who knows what an ‘assassin vine’ is. He hears a hushed conversation outside the door and steps away to investigate. 

With the guards' key to the monster cages, nothing can possibly go wrong.

Alecka and her cadre are let into the wing with a rattle of a well-oiled lock, and

“Kobolds?” What are these critters doing here? Does this guy just let them wander the grounds unattended, or are these from outside? 

"Scram!" (in kobold, which has a distinct vowel sound dedicated to it)

Alecka does that twist in what's going to happen, the thng she knows best- and Haritz trips over his own feet, and falls on his face. And then she tries to get he door open again, as the other kobolds run off, all in different directions.  

Down he goes!

The monster menagerie wing is now open. Cells line the walls of this long hallway, most are empty but a few have an assorted creatures within. 

The cell full of kobolds has two finely dressed men standing right in front of it, chattering about politics. Standing besides them, three more of Martin’s personal guards, rugged men in light armor. 

There are other cells, though, closer to the door and less guarded. The most promising one has some sort of horse-sized giant scorpion in it, missing a couple legs.

The main door's too heavy for a small kobold that always bullies other people into doing her fetching and carrying. Let's create some more chaos instead.

Alecka runs to the scorpion's cell door, and unlocks it, pulling it open.

Some monsters can be trained to only attack on command. Others instinctively attack anything that approaches and so have to be put under a sleep spell, restrained, and then taken to the arena. Giant scorpions are in the second category. 

“Truly? They’re using the old arena for trials? Not even executions, just dull and bloodless paperwork? No wonder the people are rioting.”

Ow. Went down hard, head is spinning a bit, but he can still shout a warning. “Kobold!”

grab

“SCORPION!”

Well then. Mattin and his friend both shout at the same time, “GUARDS!”

Let's open some more cages, we can still succed here.

"Bix!"

The kobold looks up, she throws the key, and Bix doesn't even consider catching it- just dodges, and runs in another direction.

"You fool!"

Alecka runs to pick up the key again.

Mattin knows a boss when he sees one; game recognizes game. "Seize that kobold! The one with the hat, I want it alive!"

The guards are a bit occupied by giant scorpion to be seizing anyone. If anything, some of them are being seized themselves.

Alecka does the same twist again in the fabric of the world, cursing one of the big shouty men, but doesn't wait around to see if it's worked, she just slides across the floor until her claws touch the key, stands with it, then opens another cage.

Thanks for the assist! Time to introduce this guard to poison that makes it harder and harder to stand and move.

Well then he'll do it himself. Mattin lunges and grabs the little kobold. Then he looks up at–

Well, now that thing being out of its cage is both of our problem. 

This seems more of a you problem. She grins a fanged grin, twists fate again, and, whoops, looks like Martin is tripping over his own feet himself.

Down to the ground Mattin goes, losing his grip and sending the kobold sliding away. He scrambles backwards from the manticore, calling for his "GUARDS!"

Shouts and hurried footsteps from elsewhere in the building, reinforcements are on the way. 

The guards currently in the room are all occupied, though, with holding off a giant scorpion.

With killing a giant scorpion. Locals might be amateurs, but Haritz and his squad are not. He's already cut off the claw that was grabbing him, and is now crawling under the scorpion to get at the weaker underbelly. The other guards keep the remaining claw and the stinger occupied as he does. 

Who is dealing with the manticore, then? No one? Well, should have bought enough meat to feed the manticore, but it's too late now. Time to become the food.

Mattin crawls towards his friend and drags the other man down to the ground with him, throwing him closer to the manticore. He's not that good a friend.

He wasn't that good a friend.

By this time it looks like the other kobolds- the cowards- have managed to get the door open, and are running out the back.  That's all right. Alecka doesn't need anyone else. She can do this. There's more kobolds in the other cages. Also- "Bestfriendsforever! Come in and help"

Uh, we're not that close friends either. [Charm Person] fails, and the nameless guard takes off after the kobolds. 

Alecka finally finds the kobold door, and opens it. "You work for me no-" she gets out, before the kobolds inside push her down, running flat out for the door. "-ow", she says, from the floor. Why is life so hard.

Friendship really isn't worth much these days, it seems. 

Scorpion dealt with, Haritz turns to the manticore. It looks halfway trained and he's always been good with cats. "Down. Now. Back. Back inside."

This isn't his ranger, but it's still something. There are more  people coming and this fight probably isn't winnable. The manticore will back away, even back into the cell, but dragging the dead body to eat.

Well, it's not like Haritz has any reason to want an intact body to bring back. The manticore can have this one.

"Why are the rest of you just standing around? The kobolds are escaping! They're worth money, SEIZE THEM!"

Alecka stands up. That big seems to have control over the manticore. I wonder if he still has that control if he's frightened.  [Cause Fear]

The manticore trembles briefly, but the spell doesn't hold for long enough to make it panic.

The hired guards, meanwhile, have a decision to make. Their boss died, and now this guest is trying to shout orders at them. Who is this guy? Not their boss. If the boss is dead, though, who is paying them at the end of the month? Maybe this guy? They can negotiate that before giving him the kobolds he wants.

Most of the kobolds have fled the room instead of staying to try another spell, but a handful of guards dutifully surround and try to seize the closest one.

Oh, right. The other guards.

She tries to make for the nearest cell door, readying her [Doors to Everywhere]

Is this door thing one of the things a magic kobold can do when one person knocks it to the ground and another has thrown a net. (Why does he just carry a net?? Former gladiator, you see...) Or no?

Alecka falls, wrapped in the net, just a few inches short of the cell door. 

Mattin smooths his clothes, wipes away some blood, and takes a moment to un-dishevel himself. Can't really gloat while visibly off-balance, can he. 

"Well, what have we here. The kobold who brought us all this trouble?"

"I am innocent! Another boy didit and ranaway!"

"Oh, someone else put you up to this? Any chance this person has a name?"

Would a rival really train kobolds in spellcasting and thievery so they could infiltrate someone's headquarters and cause an accident? Probably, Mattin is a bit annoyed he never thought of the idea himself. 

What a great explanation. Alecka is glad the big man told her about it!

"Other arena man! West of River!"

“Ah, of course.” Mattin doesn’t actually know who the arena owners here are and their rivalries. He’s not in Westcrown that often. Probably should, if the convention lasts weeks he might get caught in the middle of another play like this. 

“Well, looks like you got promoted from manticore food to bargaining chip.”

"Yes! Bestfriendsforever!"

“You did get my last friend eaten by a manticore…” Mattin considers whether, to a kobold, friendship is a championship title you get by defeating the last friend. 

Well, if it thinks it’s a friend, might be useful later.

“Guards, take this kobold away. Spellcaster precautions, don’t want it escaping.”

Okay ‘boss of these specific guards’ isn’t a position you get by throwing the last boss to a manticore.

Okay, fine, Mattin explains that he’ll be living in this manor and paying salaries to servants and guards while he’s in town.

That’s… not how owning a house works? There’s probably a will somewhere?

Civil courts are still closed, too bad for whoever the legitimate heir is. 

Fair. Continuing to get paid now seems better than getting paid after the civil courts reopen and find some distant relative to inherit the place. 

The guards will drag the kobold away, the servants start cleaning up the mess.

In the meantime, twelve kobolds who were recently freed, and four kobolds that didn't want to come anyway, are living it up in the sewers, eating mushroom stew and squabbling about who should get the brass candlesticks. They don't think one bit about Alecka- it doesn't pay to be sentimental, if you're a kobold.