70th of Ash, 4622
A lot was being prepared for this grand event; Jared had spent many weeks preparing for an enormous heist on a nearby business that was known to have various items that could be worth something to steal. Also, it was important for Jared to practice appraising multiple items, as being independent of others can be very useful when random skills appear at sporadic moments.
Donning his hooded, black cloak, the amber-eyed thief takes a moment to breathe in deeply as the wisp of darkness blends into his cover in umbralplasm, shifting to something kin to vantablack or section of void where the surface does not shimmer light. Taking a moment to look at his surroundings, the Alistian rogue takes a moment to steady himself on his foothold as he is currently perched on the edge of a nearby immaculate building. There are blazing stone pillars on each corner & entryway of the building with a looming arch enveloped by beautiful craved stonework of various flowers & decor that suits the City of Momentumes’ aesthetics.
“Hmmm… It seems like security is tight as usual, but that means something important is happening or some value is available for the taking. Either way, anything can be pawned off for the right price, even information.”
As the time ticks away, the thief’s citrine gaze has been watching the patrol routes of the nearby guards which he noted that there was a squad of three that cycles every couple of minutes, but that wasn’t something that Jared was worried about. Instead, a scout was hiding in the shadows, tailing them as well.
“Competition will be interesting; I wonder what they want from all of this?”
It was a question Jared was pondering what there would want from all of this, but their source of information was different from Jared’s, after all. He couldn’t compare his sources of information as they could attain through various means such as information brokers, both legit & illicit, reconnaissance like what Jared did or extorting some information from key people, something that Jared wouldn’t be able to do.
For now, it was time to start his operation, sooner than he would like, since he was competing with another thief or possibly a band of thieves in the making. Taking a moment to peek over the ledge, Jared takes a moment to assess his route to reach the streets. After a couple of seconds of analysing his path, the Nightfallen Scoundrel begins to make his way down quickly, grabbing easily reached ledges and begins his descent down by scuttling over from one side of the shelf to another before tensing his muscles and making a light leap to get another section of the wall, slowly making his way down as it was essential to not sustain any injuries even before the stealing beings.
Upon reaching the ground floor, the thief takes a moment to place his back against a nearby wall in the street close to the building he was about to break into. Jared takes a moment to see when a window of opportunity arises for him to attempt to reach one of the many entrances of the building and try to pick the lock open in a short time frame before returning into the shadows.
One of the essential things about stealing was knowing when to try your attempts at breaking in & when to retreat into the shadows to limit the awareness the local security would be alerted to. Something to think of was the singular scout trailing behind one squad of guards; the more Jared was thinking about, the more conclusions the thief was able to draft, becoming more evident by the second.
“Would make sense if the guards had some set of keys to open the locked doors, it wouldn’t take much effort to enter if you had keys, but you risk exposing yourself if something sudden happens. Better to play safe & rely on your skills with lockpicks rather than trying to nab some sets of keys. After all, they will eventually realise that a group of keys is missing but could believe that they have misplaced the keys or have dropped them… It just depends on the person at the time, which is something I am not willing to risk.”
Either way, it was better not to get distracted by any more variables at the moment, and it was time for him to dive into one of the many gates, in the thief’s case; it was a locked gate that would lead into the courtyard of the building. Quickly tip-toeing towards the gates, darting from cover to cover & using the amount of light present to his advantage as his Obscura-infused cloak, which filters waves of light so that it could adjust the amount of darkness present to blend into the surrounding shadows.
Take a moment to examine what locks are currently used to defend against intruders or misfits. In any case; Jared could tell that while it was a simple padlock but in reality, there were many little bits of things that made the lock harder to pick, such as a warded lock or wafer lock or a combination of different types of security measures that would make it difficult for a thief to break through.
He is taking a moment to pull out an array of single picks & rakes ranging from C-shapes to S-shapes and his trusty Bogota rake (essentially an M-shape). Then, with his tools in hand, the thief begins to work his magic at picking the lock, fiddling around with the various mechanisms that hold the safety together & testing the resistances.
It takes a couple of minutes to figure out the mechanisms, what pins need to be set as different locks, and in what order plugs must be placed before proceeding to the next nail.
But, as luck would have it; Jared is forced to retreat as his keen hearing could pick up the heavy metallic footsteps that are leaning around the corner; Taking a moment to slink back into the abyss & comfort of the mystique nature of shadows that looms around every corner where light barely reaches.
As the thief slinks into the shadows, crouching down & reducing his size to mimic something small and inconspicuous close object like a small stack of items cloaked in rags. As the footsteps loom closer by the second, another sound loomed even more packed than a lightfooted mouse was scurrying about.
“Psst… I know you are here to case the joint… A few buddies and I are trying to get in, but it seems like it will be tough nut to crack.”
For a moment, the citrine-eyed thief looks at his mysterious person. Taller, by his standards, a female figure who stood about 5’8ft with short, slightly wavy blonde hair whose eyes had a light blue to grey shade as if a storm was calling to them.
“Names Mouse. I noticed you were trying to get in, right? We are also doing some work here too; Think you can crack that shell open?”
Jared was stunned for a moment as it was often weird to collaborate with other thieves unless thieves were involved in a few things:
- Larges sums of coin worth stealing;
- Working for a thieves’ guild;
- A trap is laid out;
- Creating a distraction;
Those were the main thoughts currently bubbling over Jared’s opinions, but he was quickly brought back to reality by Mouse as she tapped him on the shoulder.
“Well?”
“Right, Mistwalker; I can help you out on getting in, but what’s in it for me?”
“If you can get us in, we owe you a favour. Happy to provide a distraction if you need to make an escape, help you find some work & all items are up for grabs; first come, first serve sounds about right?”
“Seems too good to be true… But, there is a catch and what is….”
“Fine; We are from a minor guild and need to gather some info for something larger; you in or out?”
Even though this does seem like a deal that sounds good to be true, It was better to have a truce than to try to compete with another. It is a dog-eat-dog world, after all.
“Fine, I accept the terms but don’t expect to be bailed out; We are all responsible for trying to live.”
Mouse nods before slinking into the shadows, disappearing as her feather-traced footsteps dance across the cobblestone roads before the sounds dissipate into the ethereal.
“Seems likes things have become more interesting….”
With that brief conversation out of the way, Jared realised that he had lost track of the patrol routes… letting out a light groan, the thief continued to loom in the shadows, resetting his patterns as he wanted to.
At the same time, the female thief quickly scurries off to her group, whispering before clearing her throat & directs her gaze over to a significant looming figure sitting on a large crate.
“We found him; This so-called Mistwalker, just as our informants have said, seems to be that impressive, in my opinion. What makes you think he is a worthy thief for us?”
A weighty, gravelly voice speaks up as the figure cracks his neck from side to side, directing his deep blue gaze to the petite figure.
“Mistwalker is an impressive thief in his own right; He can break into places that require a team of skilled larcenists enter. Not only that, he is a magus from what my sources tell me & which is more than enough to try to recruit him to the cause; True that his skills may need some work, but from his time spent here, Mistwalker has been growing rather quickly; Just watch and see for yourself, he will be able to break the security open without a trace in time and we can walk on in and do our work as intended.”
“If you say so, boss; I’m just surprised you want this gutter rat when so many others are far more skilled than him.”
With that, Mouse disappears into the shadows whiles the hefty figure sits back down on the crate, grinning as additional figures appear out from the shadows and the night is ever so young.
