Take I
Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2020 10:16 pm
59th of Searing, 120
Dusk soon fell upon the streets of Outer Nivenhain, and darkness soon followed. Fewer and fewer people crawled the cobbled roads beyond the narrow view of Arkash's Alley, but there was a factor there that Arkash hadn't considered. Patrols. There were Errant-Knights stalking the streets with their personal hollows in tow. What for, Arkash was unsure.
[Indent=30]What he did know was that they passed by his Alley every twenty minutes or so, which gave him a brief window to check if the lamps of the venue he'd vetted were on or off. Every time he turned the corner to peek, he risked being caught sleuthing about the streets at night. Granted, he hadn't committed any crimes yet, but he doubted the Errant-Knight would care too much.
[Indent=30]Eventually, a peek of the corner showed that the lights had been extinguished. Arkash had left it too late, however, so he returned to his hiding spot behind the crates and fully undressed. The fabric of his fancy clothes made too much noise between the rustle of linen and the baggy shift of clothing. His scales were dark enough to blend in with the night regardless, so there was virtually no reason to keep his clothes on.
[Indent=30]Of course, he kept his backpack on, and his clothes lay folded in the alley so that Arkash could fit as many goods as possible in his bag. The only things in it were Cojack's ornament, which he'd purchased earlier that day, and his lockpicking tools. He'd practiced very briefly with them, but the man who sold them said he'd have a far easier time picking locks with those instead of his claws. And so far, he'd found that to be true. Though, he wasn't sure if twenty minutes would be enough to pick the lock.
[Indent=30]Soon after, the errant-knight passed by his Alley again. Arkash approached the corner of the passage and looked over his shoulder to see the young, armored male walking away with his flesh golem in tow. He peeked in the other direction to find that the coast was clear, then very carefully slipped out onto the lamplit street once he was confident with the Knight's distance. Careful steps inched him closer and closer to the door before he slipped into the groove of the entrance that was nestled between two large outstretched windows.
[Indent=30]He breathed a very brief sigh of relief as he fetched the tools from his bag, then pulled on the tumbler with the wrench to apply pressure to the rotating mechanism of the lock. He couldn't be seen, no matter what. Arkash was too identifiable. If anyone saw him, he'd be easily recognized and tracked back to lower Nivenhain when the owner eventually realized she'd been robbed. So, Arkash had only one shot at the task.
[Indent=30]His pick entered the keyhole with the prong pointed upward, but there was no definition in that part of the lock. Arkash bared his teeth, he hadn't come across that problem yet. Perhaps the solution was simple? What was it Jerry had told him?
[Indent=30]With a furrow to his brow, he drew the pick from the keyhole followed by the wrench, then switched the positions of the two. The wrench was on top while the pick searched the bottom for pins. There, he found them and breathed a sigh of relief. Immediately, he got to work and pushed the pins into their appropriate positions while he maintained pressure on the lock
[Indent=30]It seemed that Arkash had developed a knack for finding the sweet spots on the pins, as they all fell into line relatively quickly. Perhaps that was just because of the pressure? He could have been getting better with practice, too.
[Indent=30]The barrel of the lock turned, and Arkash withdrew his tools before he stowed them. The door was open a crack, but he knew better than to wander straight in.
[Indent=30]During his earlier visit, he found a bell rigged to the top of the door. It had alerted the owner that a customer was present. So, Arkash carefully opened the door to the point that he knew was safe, then reached up to hold the bell in place as he then fully opened the door. It couldn't ring if it couldn't fall, after all.
[Indent=30]While he held the bell in place, he slipped inside, turned to close the door, then gently let the bell down. He supposed that he looked rather ridiculous, but he didn't care. It got the job done.
[Indent=30]Arkash paused as a soft, golden glow began to creep toward him from the broad window. The knight. They were already on their way back around! He had no time to hide behind one of the shelves, so he simply sprawled across the floor.
[Indent=30]The lower half of the door was solid wood, which would help to conceal him. The shelves in the window were just as solid, but from where he laid, the top of the broad display window was visible. Granted, all he could see was the starry night sky, but what if the passing Errant could see the top of his head?
[Indent=30]Arkash hesitated as the golden glow of lamplight drifted by and carried on down the street. A deep exhale of relief saw him relax, but the battle was far from over. Even after he'd looted everything wanted, how was he going to make it out of Outer Nivenhain without being seen? That was a bridge he'd have to cross when he came to it.
[Indent=30]Carefully, the lizard lifted himself from the ground, then walked without the use of his talon-like claws to avoid unnecessary noise. With a reach of his claw, he swiped the first item he'd gone there for; a silver-framed hand mirror. He placed in his bag, in a separate pocket to the clay ornament. It would help him see around corners among other things.
[Indent=30]There wasn't much else on the shelves that really caught his eye the last time he was there, so he didn't bother looking. Instead, he crept around the corner of the front desk and knelt before the drawers that laid hidden there. In the third drawer from the top was where she put the money Arkash had paid her, among other notes.
[Indent=30]The young Rathari wasted no time in drawing his lock picks, then put them to work in the keyhole. Immediately, arkash realized that the lock for the drawer was nothing like he'd encountered before.
[Indent=30]For one, there were no pins, and the tumbler didn't rotate at all. Hell, there wasn't even a tumbler. It was impossible to see what he was doing with the current lighting, so he just felt around the mechanism of the lock with his pick. While he didn't find any pins, he did find empty spaces to the left and right of the key hole's interior. He couldn't reach too far into either of them but didn't encounter any hard walls or blocks that stopped him.
[Indent=30]Part of him wished to spend more time trying to crack the puzzle, but he knew he wouldn't be able to before another Errant-Knight passed the window. So, he stowed his lock picks in his bag once again, then carefully hid it behind a table.
[Indent=30]The bag was dead weight, and it was beginning to make a sound whenever he moved due to the various objects that rattled inside. For his next trick, he had to be as quiet as possible.
[Indent=30]Arkash hadn't seen the owner leave, so it was reasonable to assume that she slept on the upper floor of her store. There was only one other doorway in the room, and that was the one she first emerged from when he entered the store. It was likely she lived beyond there, and that the key to the drawer was somewhere among her belongings.
[Indent=30]With a deep breath, Arkash ventured into the doorway, and oh-so-carefully crawled up the stairs that waited beyond. Seeing stairs indoor was a strange experience, but it made sense, he supposed. Rich people had more space in their homes than they know what to do with.
[Indent=30]Eventually, he'd climbed to the landing or lack thereof. The stairs immediately opened into a spacious living room complete with a polished wooden table, comfortable-looking seats that were draped with fur throws and neat display cases that harbored plates of fine china, as well as mugs and other little ornaments.
[Indent=30]It was easy to imagine that the room looked quite nice during the day, but Arkash wasn't there to admire the shopkeeper's skills in interior design. So, he proceeded to check the various shelves, drawers, and pots for a key that might have fit the shape of the lock on the first floor. Nothing. No keys at all.
[Indent=30]However, the woman wasn't in that room. That was to imply that the building was bigger than he'd initially believed. He maintained a squint as he scanned the darkness. At the far wall of the room, he saw the shape of a tall dark figure. It caught him off guard.
[Indent=30]While his mind tried to make sense of the shape, he was left paralyzed with fear. Was it he woman? Another intruder? A ghost? Eventually, his jumpy eyes settled, and the image was made clear. The tall dark figure was revealed to be a door of darker wood, which stood out from the lighter walls.
[Indent=30]Reason saw Arkash determine that the shopkeeper was beyond that door, and hopefully, so was her key. Slowly, he approached the door, and tested the handle; the door was unlocked. Arkash drew a deep breath, then pushed inside.
[Indent=30]The loud groan of creaky hinges heralded his arrival, and Arkash bared his teeth in a cringe before he halted the door.
To be continued here.
Dusk soon fell upon the streets of Outer Nivenhain, and darkness soon followed. Fewer and fewer people crawled the cobbled roads beyond the narrow view of Arkash's Alley, but there was a factor there that Arkash hadn't considered. Patrols. There were Errant-Knights stalking the streets with their personal hollows in tow. What for, Arkash was unsure.
[Indent=30]What he did know was that they passed by his Alley every twenty minutes or so, which gave him a brief window to check if the lamps of the venue he'd vetted were on or off. Every time he turned the corner to peek, he risked being caught sleuthing about the streets at night. Granted, he hadn't committed any crimes yet, but he doubted the Errant-Knight would care too much.
[Indent=30]Eventually, a peek of the corner showed that the lights had been extinguished. Arkash had left it too late, however, so he returned to his hiding spot behind the crates and fully undressed. The fabric of his fancy clothes made too much noise between the rustle of linen and the baggy shift of clothing. His scales were dark enough to blend in with the night regardless, so there was virtually no reason to keep his clothes on.
[Indent=30]Of course, he kept his backpack on, and his clothes lay folded in the alley so that Arkash could fit as many goods as possible in his bag. The only things in it were Cojack's ornament, which he'd purchased earlier that day, and his lockpicking tools. He'd practiced very briefly with them, but the man who sold them said he'd have a far easier time picking locks with those instead of his claws. And so far, he'd found that to be true. Though, he wasn't sure if twenty minutes would be enough to pick the lock.
[Indent=30]Soon after, the errant-knight passed by his Alley again. Arkash approached the corner of the passage and looked over his shoulder to see the young, armored male walking away with his flesh golem in tow. He peeked in the other direction to find that the coast was clear, then very carefully slipped out onto the lamplit street once he was confident with the Knight's distance. Careful steps inched him closer and closer to the door before he slipped into the groove of the entrance that was nestled between two large outstretched windows.
[Indent=30]He breathed a very brief sigh of relief as he fetched the tools from his bag, then pulled on the tumbler with the wrench to apply pressure to the rotating mechanism of the lock. He couldn't be seen, no matter what. Arkash was too identifiable. If anyone saw him, he'd be easily recognized and tracked back to lower Nivenhain when the owner eventually realized she'd been robbed. So, Arkash had only one shot at the task.
[Indent=30]His pick entered the keyhole with the prong pointed upward, but there was no definition in that part of the lock. Arkash bared his teeth, he hadn't come across that problem yet. Perhaps the solution was simple? What was it Jerry had told him?
[Indent=30]With a furrow to his brow, he drew the pick from the keyhole followed by the wrench, then switched the positions of the two. The wrench was on top while the pick searched the bottom for pins. There, he found them and breathed a sigh of relief. Immediately, he got to work and pushed the pins into their appropriate positions while he maintained pressure on the lock
[Indent=30]It seemed that Arkash had developed a knack for finding the sweet spots on the pins, as they all fell into line relatively quickly. Perhaps that was just because of the pressure? He could have been getting better with practice, too.
[Indent=30]The barrel of the lock turned, and Arkash withdrew his tools before he stowed them. The door was open a crack, but he knew better than to wander straight in.
[Indent=30]During his earlier visit, he found a bell rigged to the top of the door. It had alerted the owner that a customer was present. So, Arkash carefully opened the door to the point that he knew was safe, then reached up to hold the bell in place as he then fully opened the door. It couldn't ring if it couldn't fall, after all.
[Indent=30]While he held the bell in place, he slipped inside, turned to close the door, then gently let the bell down. He supposed that he looked rather ridiculous, but he didn't care. It got the job done.
[Indent=30]Arkash paused as a soft, golden glow began to creep toward him from the broad window. The knight. They were already on their way back around! He had no time to hide behind one of the shelves, so he simply sprawled across the floor.
[Indent=30]The lower half of the door was solid wood, which would help to conceal him. The shelves in the window were just as solid, but from where he laid, the top of the broad display window was visible. Granted, all he could see was the starry night sky, but what if the passing Errant could see the top of his head?
[Indent=30]Arkash hesitated as the golden glow of lamplight drifted by and carried on down the street. A deep exhale of relief saw him relax, but the battle was far from over. Even after he'd looted everything wanted, how was he going to make it out of Outer Nivenhain without being seen? That was a bridge he'd have to cross when he came to it.
[Indent=30]Carefully, the lizard lifted himself from the ground, then walked without the use of his talon-like claws to avoid unnecessary noise. With a reach of his claw, he swiped the first item he'd gone there for; a silver-framed hand mirror. He placed in his bag, in a separate pocket to the clay ornament. It would help him see around corners among other things.
[Indent=30]There wasn't much else on the shelves that really caught his eye the last time he was there, so he didn't bother looking. Instead, he crept around the corner of the front desk and knelt before the drawers that laid hidden there. In the third drawer from the top was where she put the money Arkash had paid her, among other notes.
[Indent=30]The young Rathari wasted no time in drawing his lock picks, then put them to work in the keyhole. Immediately, arkash realized that the lock for the drawer was nothing like he'd encountered before.
[Indent=30]For one, there were no pins, and the tumbler didn't rotate at all. Hell, there wasn't even a tumbler. It was impossible to see what he was doing with the current lighting, so he just felt around the mechanism of the lock with his pick. While he didn't find any pins, he did find empty spaces to the left and right of the key hole's interior. He couldn't reach too far into either of them but didn't encounter any hard walls or blocks that stopped him.
[Indent=30]Part of him wished to spend more time trying to crack the puzzle, but he knew he wouldn't be able to before another Errant-Knight passed the window. So, he stowed his lock picks in his bag once again, then carefully hid it behind a table.
[Indent=30]The bag was dead weight, and it was beginning to make a sound whenever he moved due to the various objects that rattled inside. For his next trick, he had to be as quiet as possible.
[Indent=30]Arkash hadn't seen the owner leave, so it was reasonable to assume that she slept on the upper floor of her store. There was only one other doorway in the room, and that was the one she first emerged from when he entered the store. It was likely she lived beyond there, and that the key to the drawer was somewhere among her belongings.
[Indent=30]With a deep breath, Arkash ventured into the doorway, and oh-so-carefully crawled up the stairs that waited beyond. Seeing stairs indoor was a strange experience, but it made sense, he supposed. Rich people had more space in their homes than they know what to do with.
[Indent=30]Eventually, he'd climbed to the landing or lack thereof. The stairs immediately opened into a spacious living room complete with a polished wooden table, comfortable-looking seats that were draped with fur throws and neat display cases that harbored plates of fine china, as well as mugs and other little ornaments.
[Indent=30]It was easy to imagine that the room looked quite nice during the day, but Arkash wasn't there to admire the shopkeeper's skills in interior design. So, he proceeded to check the various shelves, drawers, and pots for a key that might have fit the shape of the lock on the first floor. Nothing. No keys at all.
[Indent=30]However, the woman wasn't in that room. That was to imply that the building was bigger than he'd initially believed. He maintained a squint as he scanned the darkness. At the far wall of the room, he saw the shape of a tall dark figure. It caught him off guard.
[Indent=30]While his mind tried to make sense of the shape, he was left paralyzed with fear. Was it he woman? Another intruder? A ghost? Eventually, his jumpy eyes settled, and the image was made clear. The tall dark figure was revealed to be a door of darker wood, which stood out from the lighter walls.
[Indent=30]Reason saw Arkash determine that the shopkeeper was beyond that door, and hopefully, so was her key. Slowly, he approached the door, and tested the handle; the door was unlocked. Arkash drew a deep breath, then pushed inside.
[Indent=30]The loud groan of creaky hinges heralded his arrival, and Arkash bared his teeth in a cringe before he halted the door.
To be continued here.