Every fifth night, merchants visiting from nearby villages would depart from the city and commence their journeys. They often stopped by the ducal palace near the edge of the city at the beginning of their travels in order to make last minute sales and secure contracts for their eventual returns. Daisy's plan was fairly simple. She would trip the mechanism on the door to unlock the latch and if she timed it right sneak past the guards who should at some point be settled into heavy drinking and gambling. His lordship Duke Goodfell would hang these men if he knew they spent their guard duties doing this sort of thing but he never seemed to catch on and the practice was timeworn. Occasionally one of the guards would do rounds and then return and settle back into his routine.
Daisy spent the last hours recounting her supplies and preparations. She packed her makeshift garb into a leather haversack, and also put some cheese, bread, fruit and wine that she managed to squirrel away from earlier meals. Not much but enough to last a day. Hopefully that would be all she needed. Along with the food, she packed a sharp, and unornamented dagger she kept from her early childhood. Not much as weapons go, it was still better than nothing. She chose her plainest dress and ripped all the frills and lace she could from it while keeping her modesty intact. This she put on and tied the skirt up so that she could run if necessary without tripping. She would forgo the petticoats and wear a simple shift underneath it.
The last part of her plan to get out of the tower involved the unwitting cooperation of the visiting merchants. Assuming she was lucky and there were merchants here today, she would find one of their empty caskets or barrels and squeeze herself and her bag into it as tight as possible.
Her plan started off quite well. The guards were joking amongst themselves and telling improbable tales of their feats. None of them saw her open the door to her suite or creep out among the torch-lit shadows. They did not hear her as she slipped off down the passage way to the staircase. They were camped out near her door but with their backs to it and not weren't watching the stairs either. Perfect! Now she just had to make her way past any patrolling guards on the floors below and into the great-hall unnoticed.