70th of Ash, 4622
With distractions out of the way, it was time for Jared to work his magic in dealing with various locks that hindered his way to earning a decent income.
Once the next squad of patrol guards has made their general route around the building's premises. The thief quickly darts from cover to cover as a short wispy trail of darkness lingers behind as his Obscura flickers in the presence of moon & torchlight.
It is inconvenient that his mutation caused his umbralplasm to become naturally airy, which often results in a faint trail of solidified darkness that evaporates into the air like a minor fog dissolved into the wind.
Jared looms closer to the locked gate that he was previously attempting to assess & design a plan of attack by breaking the first line of defence. Jared quickly gets to work, pulling out his lockpicking tools once again and begins to fiddle with the lock; faint sounds of metal scraping & rattling do cause Jared to wince as he would prefer silence in these kinds of delicate operations.
He did not want to risk alerting nearby guards patrolling outside the building or, even better, guards inside the courtyard, which he could not see or hear.
Jared took a moment to conjure a small amount of umbralplasm through the use of Devise & Compass. Then, the amber-eyed thief manipulates the shadow-infused fluid into seeping into the cracks of the lock & lubricants the inner workings to prevent additional noise & scratching inside of the pin tumbler, which is often a sign that foul play was involved.
Another thing that the Umbralplasm does is hold the lock in place for easier insertion of its tools & preventing the safety from jiggling about & rattle against the metal bars it is currently binding them to.
Sticking his tongue out to the left side of his mouth, the apprentice thief begins to sweat as he was constantly needing to stop, listen & look back as he was at his most vulnerable position since the gate had minimal cover to work & being caught flat-footed would spell trouble with a high chance of death or be maimed.
"Come on; just budge will ya…"
Jared felt his skin crawl as his gut was telling him that trouble was approaching soon, and it did not help that Mouse & her gang, who were silent & waiting in the shadows, were watching him from a distance.
Having people watch you work was more stressful than Jared would expect since he was primarily a solo operative & could at least control most of the mistakes he had made before, during & after clandestine operations. However, when additional people are involved, it is harder to control the variables since more are introduced & the consequences & effects are potentially far more reaching than anyone can comprehend.
As seconds turned into minutes & the clock ticked as another bout of guards was looming close. Jared managed to deal with the padlock swings open & the gate was available to move into, but the Nightfallen magus had to retreat if he wanted to avoid raising suspicion before leaving.
The citrine-eyed rogue manipulated the present umbralplasm to wrap itself to the curved bolt & insert itself into the socket to make it appear that the padlock was still closed but was unlocked.
Scurrying back into the shadows, albeit into a different alleyway, to avoid overuse of using a particular hiding spot as the apprentice thief knows that the more foot traffic is present, the higher the chance that trails & evidence are left behind that any discerning person would notice.
Holding his breath as he barely scrapes by his new hiding spot as some guards walk around the corner with the presence of torchlight in hand. They take a moment to look around the place as one of the guards generally seems curious by nature which was the bane of Jared's existence.
"Hey? Did you hear something?"
"Just our heavy fucking footsteps…."
"No, I mean there was a sound that felt out of place."
"Nah, you must be paranoid; probably because your wife is due in a couple of weeks."
"You're right; the stress of having your 4th kid on the way makes you lose some sleep."
"Ha, not excited to see another bundle of joy entering your life?"
"Trust me… they are little gremlins that cause a massive racket."
As the three guards converse with each other for a moment. Jared could see a petite figure leaving the shadows, avoiding a direct line of sight of the guards and sticking her back against the wall. From the apprentice thief's point of view, he could see that Mouse was attempting to pickpocket one of the guards as a set of keys bound together by a large wire hoop.
"Guess she is better at pickpocketing than I am… but being able to open locks is its skill & vastly different skill set & conditions required."
Jared wasn't wrong when he stated that criminals of all shapes & sizes had their speciality. For example, the Nightfallen Vagabond considered himself a Burglar compared to Mouse, who he would assume to be a professional pickpocket. Currently, seeing her execute her actions proves it further.
As Mouse was hiding behind the corner where the guards had turned, they began to walk & make their way, and with that, her tiny footsteps trailed behind them. Ever so slowly reaching her goal of nabbing the set of keys & what she does intrigues the thief as she pulls out a wooden crochet hook, extending her hand out so that the clip could slide underneath the wire hook before slowly lifting it. She allowed the guards to continue their walk, using their forward momentum to remove the keys from their person quietly.
"Seems like she managed to get what she wanted. Time to do my part…."
Not wanting to be outdone by a larcenist; Jared quickly returns to the gate that he managed to unlock; quickly coating the hinges of the iron cast gate with some additional umbralplasm to prevent the sounds of creaking that could alert nearby guards or patrol animals. Once the apprentice thief managed to get inside the courtyard, he placed the padlock back, and in the same position, the amber-eyed rogue put the lock to limit suspicion.
At the same; Jared could tell that Mouse's gang was starting to make their moves as his keen ears could pick up faint footsteps that went in random directions, some coming from the gate that he breaks, some following the directions that Mouse went; he couldn't tell how many people are apart of Mouse's gang, but it seems like there was a team of sorts ready to do what they must.
"Now's not the time to get distracted. Get in, take anything of value and get out."
Not so much as to care who was behind him or not. Jared had his route prepared. The courtyard was rather significant, with a few statues, hedges & eclectic decor that Jared could use for cover. What does, however, concern the thief here is more guards presenting around the grounds.
Staying close to the shadows, Jared takes the opportunity to dive into the thick of things. Taking the first leap to a nearby hedge, he crouches behind before looking back and seeing another figure also having their back against the wall.
Whether this person was experienced or not did matter as it could be the sole reason why security could be on high alert and it would be harder to steal things & attempt to escape
For a while, though, Jared had to stay put as he was carefully peeking up to see where the guards were & basing his following action on whether he could move to the next piece of cover or not. Of course, it did help that his Obscura made it harder for most to see, but it must look highly odd to anyone witnessing Jared's form.
The thief didn’t have much time to wait in the open air, exposed to the moon's gentle light. Other thieves are already making their way into the premise in one way or another, and this is a race against each other to see what can be gathered or not.
Else where the mysterious hefty figure chuckles as he watches from a distance, for this figure is watching all the new fresh blood attempting to get in various means, some going the typical routes such as locked gates & doors. In contrast, others take a more unorthodox way, such as scaling the walls before slipping into the building.
“Got some feisty thieves this time… I wonder how they will succeed for getting caught isn’t an opinion now… Besides, seeing fledglings flounder about is wonderful… I’m sure Mouse is having fun with all of this.”
For the time being, this stranger of a man continues to keep watch over the building, biding his time & watch the events unfold in due time. As for Jared, the sands of time slowly drip away & need to get inside quickly before he is spotted or no loot remains; with the pressure building ever so slowly, his nerves slowly creep to the razor’s edge.
