While I walked, I ran the situation over and over in my mind.  Partly to see if I could find a way that I could have done any better and partly to take my mind off my considerable failure.  I had no idea if the gang would go ahead with the plan without me, but if they did, I was worried that their chances would be much reduced with me stuck on the wrong side of the wall.  And if they cancelled the opportunity of a lifetime due to my mishandling of the situation, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to face them.

I must have walked for about ten or fifteen minutes without really registering where I was going.  When I took stock of my situation, I found I was soaked through and in an area of DownTown that I didn’t know well.  Since it was starting to get dark, I figured I’d be better off indoors, so I followed the noise coming from a nearby ale-house and ducked inside.

Luckily it wasn’t busy and having bought a warming drink I was able to find quiet, out of the way table where I could wallow in my situation.  The drink warmed the mug, which in turn warmed my hands.  Steam began to rise from my clothes and I started to feel a little better.

I took stock of my limited options.  Part of me thought that we should have gone to Faircrest earlier, so that a setback like this wouldn’t derail the whole scheme.  The trouble with that idea is that it’s difficult and expensive to find lodgings in Faircrest if you’re not a resident and are dressed for DownTown.

I could, maybe, wait for the gates to open tomorrow.  The trouble with that idea was two-fold.  Firstly, if Jackalman – I was using my rude name for him – was on duty then he would probably block me again.  Secondly, the gates opened quite late in the morning and the heist should have already been in progress by that point.

This was a tricky one.  The only way out of DownTown was through the gate, but it was guarded and anyway I doubted that I could open it.

I thought about some crazy schemes such as swiftly trying to join the guard, which didn’t seem helpful.  Or perhaps lighting a fire, but in the rain that seemed a big ask.  Equally, the guards on the Faircrest side wouldn’t have any incentive to open the gate in the event of a fire, just the opposite, in fact. I briefly entertained the idea of setting fire to a particular guard, but aside from making me feel better it seemed an unnecessary risk.

However much I was avoiding the thought, there really was only one solution.  I was going to have to go over the wall.