>>5170309>>5170315>>5170316You place your arms behind your head and pretend to be surrendering, but telepathically, you are ordering Gunpowder to do a backwards jump into the river and lose sight of these annoying chasers. The fall seems pretty steep, but surely your horse can leap and make a good fall.
When a soldier attempts to approach you, the stallion's movement makes him disappear from your view entirely as you both drop to the other side of the wall.
A loud splash of water engulfs the two of you, with the river being a lot deeper than previously expected. Luckily the current was not that strong, and despite the shock of the impact, you effectively managed to escape Barnham's grasp with only a few minor bruises. Given how you did not steal anything of importance and went back to where they assumed you came from, that would likely be the end of the raid.
Catching your breath after exiting and pulling Gunpowder from the water, you lay exhausted next to your horse. This is a bit too much to deal with this soon, isn't it? Not one hour of rest before already having to make your way out of a damn coliseum. Maybe you should have asked the Skull Knight for some time to rest before all of this...
"Oh my! There seems to be an outsider in the river!" A perky, energized voice is heard nearby as the sight of a colorful, woman drenched in makeup and exotic, colorful clothing skips and hops to where you are at.
"What seems to trouble you, mister? Don't you know about about the flood about to happen once the dam bursts? Get out of the water, quickly!" The harlequin hushes you over, her speech pattern and mannerisms seeming very irregular.
You crawl a few inches further before taking one look back to the river. Not a single dam or sign of overflow, not even a cloud in the sky. What is she talking about?
"My name is Zhafira! I am waiting for the king to choose me as his jester. What is your name?" She walks over to you and extends her hand. Well, her stump. Her hand is missing down to her wrist, the darker blotch of skin around it likely being a sign of amputation, but she still moves and acts like her hand is still there, with even a glove being placed on her stump to boot.
Also, the king is several weeks of travel from here, why would he even want a jester-- Nevermind, the girl seems to be either playing a character, or very out of her mind... Should you try to have a talk with this girl?
>I am Vlad Santana.>Call me Vlad, just Vlad.>Make up a fake name, better safe than sorry.>I am now known as the Phantom.>Get up by holding her stump.>Refuse her hand and ignore her.>Write-in. 