Placeholder [Job Thread] Breaking and Entering

[Raven Nightfoot]

27th of Spring, 514AV "There it is." whispered a dark haired woman from her hiding spot behind a nearby building, concealed by the shadows cast by Leth's light. Her amber eyes watched as a well dressed and clearly very drunk man fumbled around in an attempt to get his house key into the front door in order to unlock it, taking a ridiculously long time because of his inebriated state. "Unbelievable." she muttered to herself as the man dropped his keys for the third time, earning him an undetected eye roll from the thief. Raven had seen the man in The Silver Sliver for the past three nights, it seemed to be his regular spot. Each night he would come barging in and offering to buy drinks to anyone who caught his attention. Each night he'd hit on every woman in the tavern, bragging about how big and empty his house was. And each night he'd go home alone and barely able to stand on his own two feet. He was a fool, a perfect target. Another chime later, the fool finally managed to unlock his front door and disappear behind it. The sound of a bolt sliding into place was greeted by a sigh of frustration. The house was sandwiched between two others and at it's back was a canal, it's front side had several windows, the ground level ones didn't open wide enough for any normal person to squeeze through and the windows on the upper levels were too high to reach unaided. It seemed the front door was the best and simplest option and even that had it's complications. The bolt meant that once the owner was inside, there was no getting, there would be no breaking in while the man was passed out in his home. She'd have to make her move while he was out. With that Raven straightened up and walked away, satisfied with her little scouting mission. Her previous attempts at breaking and entering had been complete failures, one of which had ended up in her, the thief, having to buy the target, a mage named Clyde, a 100gm clock. That had been quite humiliating, the thief gifting the target with a valuable item instead of relieving him of one. No, this time she would be patient and she would be careful. "Tomorrow's the day."

[Raven Nightfoot]

28th of Spring, 514AV The next day Raven was ready and waiting in The Silver Sliver for the fool to appear and start his nightly ritual of drinking, bragging and shamelessly hitting on women. She considered waiting outside the man's house for him to leave, but decided it would be better to wait at the tavern, just to be sure that he would away for a while. In only ticks the man had gotten to the bar and now had a drink in hand as he searched the tavern, his mud brown eyes settling on Raven's with a goofy smile. "Hello again, beautiful. Ready for the night of your life yet?" Raven responded with a roll of her eyes, he had tried hitting on her every single night and yet still he didn't seem to give up. "Sorry love, but the answer's the same as every other time...See you around." she said with a teasing wink and with that she slid off of the bar stool and strolled out of The Silver Sliver and towards the man's house. She wore her usual tight black leather attire and at her hip was her plain black face mask and hidden beneath it, her thieves' tool kit. The walk to the fool's house took only a few chimes now that she didn't have to constantly hide from the man she was following and soon enough Raven found herself standing in front of the target house, amber eyes scanning it for any sign of occupants and a smirk painted on her lips. She knocked on the door a few times and waited anxiously to see if anyone would answer but thankfully, no one did. "Well, it's now or never." she told herself as she reached for her tools, fingertips grazing the kit for a moment before quickly retracting as she heard a footsteps in the distance. She turned around and began slowly strolling past the house in order to look inconspicuous. A moment passed and the couple that the footsteps belonged to rounded the corner and passed Raven before disappearing into another and leaving her to return to the still locked door. Other than that couple the area was pretty quiet, which was a relief to the young thief. She wasted no time in reaching for her kit this time, falling into a crouch in front of the door as she pulled out one of the long picks. Raven had perhaps not practised lock-picking nearly as much as she should considering it was a very important part of her job, but that didn't mean that she was completely incompetent at it. She'd practised using her own apartment door back in Syliras, practised until she could pick it with ease, but that was only one lock. Other than her own door, she had practised using the locks of every tavern room she had been designated, which meant a few in Nyka and a few in Ravok, she hoped it would be enough for her to gain entrance to the fool's house. The dark haired thief slid the long pick into the lock and began fiddling around inside of it, moving the tool about in random directions and patterns, rather carelessly until she heard the first click, a satisfied smirk spreading across her face, "That's the easy part." she muttered to herself as she repositioned herself to get into a more comfortable position, in her experience this second part could take anywhere from ticks to several chimes...she hoped that wouldn't be the case today.

[Raven Nightfoot]

As expected, getting past the second part of the lock was taking long, far too long. A few chimes had passed of Raven crouching by the door and fiddling about with her lock pick. Instead of the random movements of the previous stage, this time she moved the tool in more specific patterns, noting which directions she went in and retracting the pick every time it was meant with the tension that meant it was about to bend. "Petch." she whispered in frustration as she wiped s bead of sweat from her brow with the back of her hand. Being out in the open was far too dangerous, if someone were to come by and spot her she could be in big trouble. She needed to get in and she needed to do it now. "Petch!" she muttered as the pick met with tension once again, why was this taking so long. She took a deep breath, holding it for several seconds before releasing it slowly in an attempt to calm herself before returning to the lock, twisting the pick in a clockwise fashion and then finally, there was a faint click. Raven almost jumped for joy when the beautiful sound graced her ears and a bright smile crossed her face as she pulled the handle and the door swung open. "It's about petching time." she said as she retracted her pick and slipped inside of the dimly lit building, silently closing the door behind her. Finally inside, Raven turned to examine the entrance hall, remaining in her stealthy crouching position in case the man was lying about living alone. The room wasn't quite as big as she'd expected it to be, littered with what she assumed were average Raven decorations, tapestries, a few chairs and an unusual looking mat, none of which looked worth stealing. To the left was the staircase leading up to the second floor in the center, a passage leading to what looked like the kitchen. She decided to check the ground floor first, which didn't take long at all, she sneaked along the wall, each step as silent and carefully placed as the last while remaining in a half crouch. There was a dining room, a sitting room and a kitchen, none of which had anything of major value and with that Raven returned to the entrance hall and began to slowly climb the stairs. Each time the wood creaked under her light weight she would wince and freeze for a moment, listening intently for any sounds from upstairs before finally ascending again. The second floor was probably just as underwhelming as the first, nothing caught her eye as she peered into each of the four room, two bedroom with nothing worth stealing in their draws, a bathroom and finally a study. "This better be where you're hiding the goods." she whispered to herself as she entered the room, amber eyes scanning the desk for anything interesting, of which there was none. It seemed the man had been honest about living alone and even though the furnishings weren't quite impressive, the house was still fairly big. He had to have some valuables stashed away somewhere. The dark haired thief continued to search the man's office, rifling through the draws as quietly as she could but finding nothing. Another loud sigh of frustration escaped the woman's lips and she closed shoved the draw shut angrily. "Nothing!" she growled as she fell back against the wall and slumped onto the ground in disappointment. This house has nothing., this burglary had quickly become obsolete, a complete waste of time and energy. Then, as if her little adventure wasn't going badly enough, Raven heard a sound, one that she was dreading. She heard the sound of the front door opening and sure enough the fool's voice echoed through the silent house. "Honey! I'm home! Got kicked out of the bar earlier than usual!" his voice came with it's familiar drunken slur. Her brow furrowed in confusion as she wondered who the man was speaking to, did he know she was here? Had she been caught? No. He must have just been talking to himself, poor lonely fool.

[Raven Nightfoot]

"Shyke." the young thief whispered to herself, the micro heist had just gone from pointless to endangering in a matter of chimes. Not only was the house seemingly empty of things to steal, but now the owner was home and the risk of being caught was very real. Immediately Raven reached for her plain black mask which was tied to her hip, only now realising she hadn't been wearing it the entire time. stupid mistake The pulled the mask from it's place at her side and placed it on her face, tying it around her head in a hurry. The mask was completely plain, it's only details being two holes for her eyes. It wasn't very good at hiding her identity either, since her body and attire were quite...memorable, to say the least. Moral of the story was, don't be seen. Be invisible. Raven pushed herself up and assumed her low crouching sneaking position as the creaking sound of the stairs indicated that the game of hide and hopefully not seek, was about to begin. Cautiously she moved toward the door, hiding behind it as the fool's footsteps neared the doorway causing Raven to hold her breath in anticipation as the man stumbled drunkenly past the study and towards one of the bedrooms, earning a soft sigh of relief from the young thief. She peered curiously through the thin gap to see the fool getting undressed in the bedroom at the end of the hall. Good, soon he'd be asleep and she could leave as quickly possible, but her plan soon changed as the man's pants dropped to the ground with a loud thud accompanied by the familiar ringing of coin. He still had money and by the sound of it, it was a fair amount. The night had turned out to be quite a let down, the least she could do was snatch his coinpurse, so that all her effort wouldn't have been for nothing. The plan was simple, wait for the fool to fall asleep, which shouldn't take long since he was clearly drunk, then snatch his bag of coin and get the heck out of the house. Hopefully it would be as easily done as said, hopefully. Her ears were greeted with the loud sound of snoring within a few chimes, the fool already in a deep sleep. With a deep and silent breath of encouragement, Raven pushed herself away from the wall and slowly began to sneak towards the room where the loud snores were coming from, from the hallway the man's feet were all that could be seen. Even at her silent and cautious space, it took her only ticks to cross the hallway and arrive at the bedroom, amber eyes peering curiously around to make sure the man was really asleep. Satisfied with the results she entered the room, crouching even lower than before and she sneaked toward the lump of clothing that the fool had hastily tossed aside in his eagerness to go to bed. She got as far as the foot of the bed when the floorboard let out a creak which caused Raven's already fast beating heart to drop as it echoed loudly through the silence of the room. A shiver of fear ran down her spine as she realised that the man's snoring had stopped and the sound of shifting came from the bed, causing Raven to lower herself onto her hands and knees, still hidden by the foot of the bed, her body frozen and holding her breath. go back to sleep, go back to sleep she chanted mentally, but no such luck. "Who's there?" The man's voice was stern and perhaps a bit nervous, clearly he suspected that he wasn't alone, much to Raven's dismay. She heard his feet touch the ground as she stood up, her body stiffening even more than before as he slowly walked over to the doorway. Her hope was all but gone. He had spotted her, he was standing right behind her, looking down at the black leather clad woman lying on his bedroom floor. It was over. She nervously turned to look back over her shoulder and saw that the fool was indeed standing behind her, a few feet away as he cautiously waded into the hallway. She had to move now, it was a miracle that he hadn't seen her yet and he certainly would when he turned around. Raven didn't waste a single tick of the small window of opportunity that she'd been gifted with as she, on hands and knees, crawled around the far end of the bed and under it, her stealth skills being pushed to the limit as she tried to be as silent as possible. She hadn't been under the bed for even a tick when the drunk fool stumbled back into his room, walking around the bed and coming to a stop at it's side, his rancid bare feet right in front of Raven's face, only inches away. If she hadn't already been holding her breath she might have gasped at the proximity and stench. A moment passed and the fool's feet disappeared one by one as he climbed back onto his bed, seemingly having given up on his suspicion that he was not alone. Raven's heart was still beating wildly in her chest, so much so that she was surprised the man hadn't heard it as she layed there, waiting anxiously for the man to fall asleep again so she could snatch his coin from his pants, which was now within reach, and make her escape. Within a chime the loud snoring began once again and Raven released the breath she had been struggling to hold as her nerves calmed slightly, amber eyes now focused on the lump of clothing on the ground. Slowly her hand reached out from beneath the bed, fingers fiddling at the soft material until they found the solid lump that was his coin purse and carefully pulled it towards her as silently as she could until finally it was in her grasp and it was her time to go. Another quiet deep breath was taken as she began to worm her way out from beneath the bed, opting to climb out on the side closer to the door as she emerged and got to her feet, turning to look at the fool passed out behind her, a large bulge in his undergarments that made bile rise in her throat as she turned to leave. This was it, all she had to do was make it out of the door, into the hall, down the stairs and out of the door. Unfortunately, it seemed luck wouldn't allow it to be that easy. Not even two steps had been taken when the floorboards creaked yet again and yet again the snoring stopped abruptly and Raven turned just in time to see the fool's eyes shoot open and lock on hers before letting out a loud and terrified scream which caused Raven's heart to do a somersault and come crushing back down into her chest as adrenaline began pumping. Without much thought the young thief grabbed the edge of the blanket and threw it over the screaming man's head before punching the concealed figure right in the face, it was a hard punch that ended in a pained yelp from the man. Raven did not wait around to see the punch's effect as she spun on her heel and darted out of the room and hallway, the man's shouts coming from behind followed by his rushed yet fumbled steps. The stairs were descended in a few steps, skipping two or three as she sprinted down them and landed with a less than graceful thud as she turned and fell to her side for only a tick before pushing herself up and running to the door. She tried the door franticly but it would not open, then noticing the bolt and sliding it and opening the door just in time to hear the fool shouting from behind. "Stop! Thief! Thie..." His words were cut off by the loud sound of his body tumbling down the stairs, loud pained grunts and shots following each thud. Poor fool, rushing down stairs in his drunken state had clearly been a bad idea, but at the same time a blessing. Raven didn't wait for him to get up and she slammed his door shut and sprinted away from the wretched house, not stopping until she was a great distance away and her legs and chest were burning, heaving and covered in a thin layer of sweat as she hunched over and tried to catch her breath. "I made it! Thank Akajia." she gasped once her breathing had finally calmed enough for her to speak. The young thief straightened up proudly and examined the thick bag of coin, not what she'd been hoping for, but certainly better than nothing.

[Abstract]

Grade Awarded!

Player One

Skills

~ Stealth - 4
~ Observation - 2
~ Larceny - 2
~ Brawling - 1

Lores

~ The Pains of a Burglary
~ Lockpicking: Takes a Long Time
~ How to Exit a House in a Hurry

Other

N/A

Notes

Wait, there are TWO mages named Clyde in Ravok? Oh dear. I know this is an NPC one, simply because at the moment, PC Clyde is NOT in Ravok XD

A relatively good job thread, with some amusement involved.