60th of Searing,
4622
4622
There wasn't much time for the thief to thoroughly investigate how one could infiltrate a potentially well-guarded establishment. Nevertheless, the amber-eyed recently managed to slip through the many patrol groups that litter the upper district of the City of Monuments and barely managed to maintain his cover at the expense of his ether reserves, physical & mental reserves.
With the coast clear for the time being, the amber-eyed thief takes a moment to probe his environment. Jared needs to take his time assessing which the thief could use parts of the building to determine his entrance method.
“Backdoors & Cellar Doors should be a good start… might be a pain to deal with, and quality of the locks will be harder to crack, but this isn't a challenge for nothing."
Attempting to break into a well-secured lock would be challenging for the thief. Still, the effort required was an understatement, for it would take more time than he would like to attempt to break the lock without leaving traces of tampering behind.
Finding a back entrance was easy enough; a simple arched oak door was plastered off into the alleyway away from the public eye.
"Seems simple enough… but don't jinx it now…."
Taking a moment to examine the lock seemed simple in design from what he could tell, but the apprentice thief could only know once he started his attempt at picking the lock.
He took a moment to squat in front of the door to minimise his size and blend into the shadows as best as possible with his Obscura active. The Alistian rogue begins his operations by chipping away at the lock, with his regular lockpicks stowed away on his leather wristbands concealed by his baggy clothing & leather armour.
“Alright, let's start cracking the security now….”
The locks used for the complex's exterior doors are a relatively new lock system that the thief isn't familiar with. In addition, it seemed to be a complex deadbolt system with no visible keyhole to start setting the pins.
"Shit… Where is the keyhole…."
The shadow-veiled thief curses under his breath as his eyes frantically dart around the door, searching for a mechanism to reveal the keyhole. Placing his leather-cover fingers on the beautiful, pristine oak door, the smooth texture of sanded wood glides effortlessly against his gloves—a sign of someone going to great lengths to hire a skilled carpenter.
The anxiety that fills the thief's mind grows with every passing second of being partially exposed. The dead of night can only provide so much cover, and its mercy is ever so limited.
Attempting to figure out where this hidden button, switch, or panel was took more time than expected, and the Alistian thief did not like it. But unfortunately, it was a race against time, and time was not on the Nightfallen scoundrel's side.
It was a matter of minutes before Jared could finally discover the panel he needed to press, which was well-covered. The edges blended seamlessly with the wood, which the Nightfallen Thief can attest to and acknowledge the locksmith and carpenter's skills in delaying his breaking in by a considerable margin.
Jared would have to stop his progression every couple of minutes and check his surroundings, listening and observing if heavy footsteps looked nearby. When it did, Jared, too, could cross his fingers that the patrol guards did not go through the alleyway he was currently occupying.
Once The amber-eyed thief revealed the cover, The Nightfallen Thief revealed a complex lock; A set of three keyholes was presented, which annoyed the thief to no end.
"Are you fucking kidding me… Why?"
The thief was perplexed at what he saw; Jared could understand why someone was going to great lengths to protect their assets, but it felt like an overkill.
"Why would you have this much protection unless you are hiding something that valuable…."
The scene is pretty demoralising for a solo thief to tackle, but Jared had seen many thieves pull off miracles in his life as a thief, and he could do the same with enough effort and elbow grease.
Taking a moment to Devise and create his compasses, Jared begins his work his magic, placing his ear against the door. Next, the thief starts to fiddle with the first lock; Testing which pick would even work with this particular keyhole would take some effort.
The first lockpick the thief tried was a half-diamond tip with a shallow angle, easy for insertion and pins that didn't vary too much in length. However, fumbling around and testing the tension to see if the pins resist his pick, it quickly becomes apparent that the half-diamond tip with shallow angles did not fit this particular keyhole.
Quickly slipping the pick back into his wristband, Jared pulls out another half-diamond with a steeper angle. Hoping that this pick will do the trick, the thief gets to work, applying the tension wrench into its designated spot and begins to chip away at the lock. Setting the pins slowly as he uses enough tension to lock them in place while not causing the wrench to become too stressed for it to snap.
Just as Jared was about to set the first lock, the sounds of heavy footsteps loom.
"Are you kidding me…"
Quickly withdrawing his tools from the first keyhole, Jared inserts the cover back over the keyholes before scurrying away from the scene. Then, scaling up the building before setting in his hiding spot on the rooftops.
Muttering under his breath, Jared could only peek over the rooftops as he watched the guards make their way through the alleyway, not noticing the attempted break-in by the Nightfallen Mage.
After a few minutes, Jared takes a deep breath to recollect his thoughts and attempts to steer his nerves. Then, finally, scaling down from the building he was using to hide from the guards.
The amount of time wasted was drastically reduced by returning to his position and repeating the steps. Remember where the panel was and which lockpick tip works with the first keyhole. Once The dexterous thief placed enough tension to set the pins in place, the amber-eyed vagabond placed a small amount of umbralplasm and had it adhered to the wretch, acting as a pseudo-key that has fully positioned the lock in its open position...
At this point, Jared’s patience was wearing thin from the stress that trying to enter into a well-secure establishment plus the increased frequency of guards patrolling through the upper districts of Genteven had mentally shortened the thief’s lifespan by a couple of days in his personal opinion.
The temptation of using a rake-style lockpick would drastically increase the rate at which he could solve the remaining locks. Still, evidence of tampering with the lock would be more apparent, leading investigators to seek out the apprentice thief sooner than he would like.
Force Entry was another method he could use. Still, the destruction of the lock would draw too much attention, something that Jared was opposed to as his style of thievery revolves around maintaining a ghost-like presence, leaving as few traces possible for people to find.
Either way, Jared was determined to get his work done, even if it meant needing to make a full retreat if things got too risky. So, with a short hook tip lockpick, the Nightfallen scoundrel beings his work on the second lock, taking time to test the tension of the pins by briefly pushing the pin up to check if there was any residual resistance. Of course, the more resistance the pin had, it would most likely be the first pin to lock in place and make sure that an even amount of torsion was distributed through his pin-tumbler torsion wretch, which was simply a flat & thin piece of metal designed as an ‘L’
Everything seems to be going well so far as the thief battles the last remaining lock; The stress of potentially getting caught midway through his lockpicking attempts proves too great. As Jared once managed to set the final pin on the last lock, his nerves got the better as he applied too much pressure on one of his torsion wretches, which caused it to snap and wedge itself in the unlocked position.
Just as Jared was about to attempt to remove the wedged piece of metal, the amber-eyed thief could hear another round of patrol guards making their way through the alleyway. Forced to make a choice, Jared decided to place the keyhole cover back hastily and enter the building, leaving behind some evidence in the form of a tampered lock. For now, it should go unnoticed until someone notices the oddly displaced keyhole cover, but it would be unlikely to be discovered until morning in the dead of night.
Placing his back against the oak door, Jared held his breath, barely making a sound as the flickering torchlight illuminated the gaps between the door & the sounds of heavy metallic footsteps passed on by.
“Dammit, At least I managed to get in… I hate leaving evidence behind…. But I need to press forward. I will deal with consequences later”
Despite all that has happened so far, Jared was finally in the shop but seeking ledgers, documents & letters may prove another hurdle the thief was not looking forward to. Nonetheless, Jared required the search for any information less he wished not to get paid.
With the coast clear for the time being, the amber-eyed thief takes a moment to probe his environment. Jared needs to take his time assessing which the thief could use parts of the building to determine his entrance method.
“Backdoors & Cellar Doors should be a good start… might be a pain to deal with, and quality of the locks will be harder to crack, but this isn't a challenge for nothing."
Attempting to break into a well-secured lock would be challenging for the thief. Still, the effort required was an understatement, for it would take more time than he would like to attempt to break the lock without leaving traces of tampering behind.
Finding a back entrance was easy enough; a simple arched oak door was plastered off into the alleyway away from the public eye.
"Seems simple enough… but don't jinx it now…."
Taking a moment to examine the lock seemed simple in design from what he could tell, but the apprentice thief could only know once he started his attempt at picking the lock.
He took a moment to squat in front of the door to minimise his size and blend into the shadows as best as possible with his Obscura active. The Alistian rogue begins his operations by chipping away at the lock, with his regular lockpicks stowed away on his leather wristbands concealed by his baggy clothing & leather armour.
“Alright, let's start cracking the security now….”
The locks used for the complex's exterior doors are a relatively new lock system that the thief isn't familiar with. In addition, it seemed to be a complex deadbolt system with no visible keyhole to start setting the pins.
"Shit… Where is the keyhole…."
The shadow-veiled thief curses under his breath as his eyes frantically dart around the door, searching for a mechanism to reveal the keyhole. Placing his leather-cover fingers on the beautiful, pristine oak door, the smooth texture of sanded wood glides effortlessly against his gloves—a sign of someone going to great lengths to hire a skilled carpenter.
The anxiety that fills the thief's mind grows with every passing second of being partially exposed. The dead of night can only provide so much cover, and its mercy is ever so limited.
Attempting to figure out where this hidden button, switch, or panel was took more time than expected, and the Alistian thief did not like it. But unfortunately, it was a race against time, and time was not on the Nightfallen scoundrel's side.
It was a matter of minutes before Jared could finally discover the panel he needed to press, which was well-covered. The edges blended seamlessly with the wood, which the Nightfallen Thief can attest to and acknowledge the locksmith and carpenter's skills in delaying his breaking in by a considerable margin.
Jared would have to stop his progression every couple of minutes and check his surroundings, listening and observing if heavy footsteps looked nearby. When it did, Jared, too, could cross his fingers that the patrol guards did not go through the alleyway he was currently occupying.
Once The amber-eyed thief revealed the cover, The Nightfallen Thief revealed a complex lock; A set of three keyholes was presented, which annoyed the thief to no end.
"Are you fucking kidding me… Why?"
The thief was perplexed at what he saw; Jared could understand why someone was going to great lengths to protect their assets, but it felt like an overkill.
"Why would you have this much protection unless you are hiding something that valuable…."
The scene is pretty demoralising for a solo thief to tackle, but Jared had seen many thieves pull off miracles in his life as a thief, and he could do the same with enough effort and elbow grease.
Taking a moment to Devise and create his compasses, Jared begins his work his magic, placing his ear against the door. Next, the thief starts to fiddle with the first lock; Testing which pick would even work with this particular keyhole would take some effort.
The first lockpick the thief tried was a half-diamond tip with a shallow angle, easy for insertion and pins that didn't vary too much in length. However, fumbling around and testing the tension to see if the pins resist his pick, it quickly becomes apparent that the half-diamond tip with shallow angles did not fit this particular keyhole.
Quickly slipping the pick back into his wristband, Jared pulls out another half-diamond with a steeper angle. Hoping that this pick will do the trick, the thief gets to work, applying the tension wrench into its designated spot and begins to chip away at the lock. Setting the pins slowly as he uses enough tension to lock them in place while not causing the wrench to become too stressed for it to snap.
Just as Jared was about to set the first lock, the sounds of heavy footsteps loom.
"Are you kidding me…"
Quickly withdrawing his tools from the first keyhole, Jared inserts the cover back over the keyholes before scurrying away from the scene. Then, scaling up the building before setting in his hiding spot on the rooftops.
Muttering under his breath, Jared could only peek over the rooftops as he watched the guards make their way through the alleyway, not noticing the attempted break-in by the Nightfallen Mage.
After a few minutes, Jared takes a deep breath to recollect his thoughts and attempts to steer his nerves. Then, finally, scaling down from the building he was using to hide from the guards.
The amount of time wasted was drastically reduced by returning to his position and repeating the steps. Remember where the panel was and which lockpick tip works with the first keyhole. Once The dexterous thief placed enough tension to set the pins in place, the amber-eyed vagabond placed a small amount of umbralplasm and had it adhered to the wretch, acting as a pseudo-key that has fully positioned the lock in its open position...
At this point, Jared’s patience was wearing thin from the stress that trying to enter into a well-secure establishment plus the increased frequency of guards patrolling through the upper districts of Genteven had mentally shortened the thief’s lifespan by a couple of days in his personal opinion.
The temptation of using a rake-style lockpick would drastically increase the rate at which he could solve the remaining locks. Still, evidence of tampering with the lock would be more apparent, leading investigators to seek out the apprentice thief sooner than he would like.
Force Entry was another method he could use. Still, the destruction of the lock would draw too much attention, something that Jared was opposed to as his style of thievery revolves around maintaining a ghost-like presence, leaving as few traces possible for people to find.
Either way, Jared was determined to get his work done, even if it meant needing to make a full retreat if things got too risky. So, with a short hook tip lockpick, the Nightfallen scoundrel beings his work on the second lock, taking time to test the tension of the pins by briefly pushing the pin up to check if there was any residual resistance. Of course, the more resistance the pin had, it would most likely be the first pin to lock in place and make sure that an even amount of torsion was distributed through his pin-tumbler torsion wretch, which was simply a flat & thin piece of metal designed as an ‘L’
Everything seems to be going well so far as the thief battles the last remaining lock; The stress of potentially getting caught midway through his lockpicking attempts proves too great. As Jared once managed to set the final pin on the last lock, his nerves got the better as he applied too much pressure on one of his torsion wretches, which caused it to snap and wedge itself in the unlocked position.
Just as Jared was about to attempt to remove the wedged piece of metal, the amber-eyed thief could hear another round of patrol guards making their way through the alleyway. Forced to make a choice, Jared decided to place the keyhole cover back hastily and enter the building, leaving behind some evidence in the form of a tampered lock. For now, it should go unnoticed until someone notices the oddly displaced keyhole cover, but it would be unlikely to be discovered until morning in the dead of night.
Placing his back against the oak door, Jared held his breath, barely making a sound as the flickering torchlight illuminated the gaps between the door & the sounds of heavy metallic footsteps passed on by.
“Dammit, At least I managed to get in… I hate leaving evidence behind…. But I need to press forward. I will deal with consequences later”
Despite all that has happened so far, Jared was finally in the shop but seeking ledgers, documents & letters may prove another hurdle the thief was not looking forward to. Nonetheless, Jared required the search for any information less he wished not to get paid.
