You decide that getting in through the windows would be too noisy, whether you smashed them or merely tried to jimmy them open. Climbing the tower and getting in from the top seems like a safer option. Taking a few deep breaths to calm yourself, you take a close look at the white stones that make up the tower. They are very old and rather large, and cut into brick shapes. The mortar between them is also quite old and you see, to your delight, that it is crumbling in places. There are more than enough gaps to stick your fingers and toes into.
You carefully begin your ascent. This is a much easier climb than getting onto the roof in the first place and your only real concern is not to disturb the flaking mortar, because a rain of little chunks onto the tiled roof might be a bit noisy. Of course, you know you stand out like a fly on a whitewashed wall, but there's not a lot you can do about that except get to the roof as quickly as you can.
Breathing heavily, you heave yourself up onto the wooden catwalk that encircles the top of the tower. It is obviously a fairly recent addition to the structure, because the large iron nails holding it together are hardly rusty at all. The same goes for the wooden roof of the tower. This is the first time you've been able to inspect it closely, and you realize that the entire roof is actually a makeshift wooden shack. It's probably intended as a place the guards can store their gear. It's built on top of the white brick battlements that formed the original roof of the tower.
Although you're sure there are no guards here now, you stand perfectly still and listen. The only thing you can hear is the gentle wind in your ears and the dull thump of your heartbeat slowing as you rest from the climb. This is good. You're alone up here. Crouching so as to remain inconspicuous, you make your way around the catwalk until you find an open door that leads into the new top floor of the tower. Carefully you walk inside.
As you suspected, this is a room for the guards. There is a wooden table and some wooden lockers of the sort you'd normally find in a military barracks. The roof is held up with beams, and some of these have torches hanging from them. All the torches are extinguished, and you gently touch one. It's cold. This means there probably hasn't been anyone up here for at least half an hour. You are relieved, because it's all been so easy up until now and part of you had anticipated a trap. In the middle of the white stone floor is a wooden hatch. Knowing a little bit about towers, you surmise it leads to a spiral staircase winding through the interior of the tower.
You need to decide what to do. You are a thief, after all, so you could check the lockers to see if the guards have left anything valuable or useful, or you could forget all that and make your way into the tower to find your hated foe. |