A Night For Watching

by **Shai** on May 19th, 2014, 5:38 pm

Timestamp: 25th of Spring, 514

Sitting on a roof in the shadow of a dilapidated chimney, Shai’s eyes dilated as fully watching over the congregation of buildings known as the storehouses. The mark she sought this night was not within the buildings. Having once broken into the storehouses and lived to tell the tale she wouldn’t be doing it again without excessive reason. The criteria for this would be the goal not the actual goods for once, she needed to locate an appropriate test for the sword she hired. It couldn’t be a mark that would put Shai in real danger, not until Bitzer had proven herself.

In the past when the thief had robbed a wagon caravan from the warehouses to the docks she had forewarning regarding the timing. There would be no warning this time. So Shai had a choice to make. Sunberth was a city of dreams and nightmares; uncountable opportunities and unimaginable consequences. Would she send the sword up against these guards or was that asking too much? If not the storehouses where else might they find goods on such short notice?

The gated community sprang to mind but unless Bitzer could hide through the night like Shai could that would end in critical failure. Or maybe not, but the difficulty was too great for this early in the acquaintanceship. Shai rolled up onto the balls of her bare feet, her hood hung loose down her back and the cloak was hardly concealing her. Likely the spider would see anyone near enough to identify her with the adding bonus of not having to hide herself. That had been the worst outcome of returning to the city, she was always hiding her truths beneath her cloak. For a spider who had never been scared of tight spaces it felt oddly claustrophobic. She took a running start across the roof, combining practiced balance with the cilia rippling from the bottoms of her feet to keep her from slipping on the rickety roof. Her calf muscles bunched and at the edge of the roof she sprang forward to the next. Shai’s recent practice had been from branch to branch in the forests while traveling, the limbs were closer together but much harder to maintain balance on. Roof top travel was not unknown to Shai, especially not in Sunberth. She could no longer recall her old routes but she knew how to walk all but the most rotten roofs. The roofs did not aid her going across the river though.

by **Shai** on May 19th, 2014, 5:38 pm

If the storehouses wouldn’t suit she had other ideas. The trouble is many larcenous operations were long games, this had to be short but more than a common mugging. Perhaps she might use this first venture as set up for something bigger, another option for consideration. Shai reached the last roof top near the eastern bridge and patience took over. It was late and the bridges were a favorite place for ‘tolls’ and this late at night, not paying could be fatal. Going under was an option, not her favorite because it lacked subtlety unless the thugs were adequately distracted they would notice her abilities were unnatural for a human.
Patience was often the most frequently rewarding skill Shai possessed. Within half a bell a small troop of thugs dared the bridge. Shai slid down the side of the house she’d perched on and waited for egos to clash. As yelling and hand gestures escalated the thief took her opening, it would only be moments before all manner of weaponry was drawn and she needed to be half way across the bridge before the conflict swung full in heated blood.

Stalking carefully in the blind spots provided by the wondering toughs engaging with the toll-takers Shai measured her steps carefully; keeping pace with the escalating argument. At the slick snick of a blade drawing from a cheap scabbard, the spider broke into a sprint. Leaping up on to the stone edges of the bridge the little thief scurried by with no more dignity than a mouse on a storm drain. Dignity was a luxury one she often indulged in but who were humans to judge her grace? Except for a select few they meant nothing, so their opinions meant even less. She was a smaller fish than the thugs and so made it by without restriction. It wouldn’t always work so well, but tonight it did.

In the night, Shai cut the less assuming and ambiguous silhouette she could manage. Short, lithe and uncertain gender all hallmarks of a good thief. You couldn’t hunt down a thief if you couldn’t tell them from any of the street urchins in Sunberth. Of course that disguise fell apart if someone got a good look at her face or frame, there were only so many Symenestra to be found in Sunberth. Shai tried not to let her craft affect Antar, he didn’t like thieves. Though the man knew what she was when he became involved with her he didn’t need it shoved under his nose. Chell have you any opinions on a mark?

After a pause when Shai slunk up another wall and back to the safety of the rooftops. Something quiet, something small. You are too rash female. in response Shai froze in place. The words lacked the derisive tone of Chell’s usual admonishments, he hadn’t spoken to her since she had dismissed him rudely when talking to Zandelia. The familiar had given her genuine advice.

Is this your forgiveness Chell?

Shai we are together. You can forgive yourself your mistakes, which is not my prerogative. Do not make the same mistake twice or we will reevaluate. the Symenestra felt the threat to her core though the Irylid hadn’t sounded particularly aggressive. He was right.

She had drug the familiar around like a pet since she was put into a corner between choosing a familiar and dying. He wasn’t a pet, he was her partner linked to her more deeply than any other creature could ever possibly be. We will do this your way, the smart way. You pick our mark. I will seek out sample areas and you choose. You believe me rash but I am reacting as best I can in the worse situations. It is your turn to succeed or fail to provide for us. Let us work together in truth.

by **Shai** on May 19th, 2014, 5:39 pm

The acrobat took off a frightening pace, one that could elicit the ill side effects of a broken neck in a human. In Symnestra who lived its life suspended above a fall that guaranteed death it felt like home. On a few rare occasions Sunberth felt like home and now was one of those nights.

Shai didn’t stop until the last rooftop near the docks. The water looked deceptively pristine in the moonlight. No doubt there was refuse and cast-off humans floating beneath the surface. The Slag heap was so far to take a dead slave, already negative in value. The docks weren’t deserted either. Guards lounged and slaves moved merchandise, or maybe they were deckhands. They all looked grubby Shai couldn’t be sure from this distance not to mention even in the years she had spent among humans in same ways they looked so similar to her foreign eyes. What do you think Chell?

Let us observe awhile. he replied.

Shai nodded and sat back on her heels looking out over the mundane scene. When in the quiet night her knees began to cramp, she lay back and watched the thinly veiled night sky. She held up her hand as if cupping a palm of water. Chell go ahead and take your natural form. Up here, we won’t be seen close enough for you to be in danger Shai closed her eyes and let her mind lay bare before the familiar. Surely others could share themselves with these creatures more easily, but for the spider it meant being open to the deepest part of personality. Let the whole of what she was under his lidless gaze, the facet of her obfuscated from even herself the part that Shai knew meant monster. When she was relaxed, the Iryilid complied drawing from their combined djed, slowly out of the reluctant mage’s core. He expanded into the sphere, the form he had taken when they first met. Turning her head to the side, she could almost swear he was imperceptivity larger, a trick of her mind probably. It was no larger than seeing a stalagmite on a second day and thinking it was greater; a trick of the night.

Chell floated above her chest while the spider connected stars into pictures in her mind. She ended up drawing a path the mimicked the silken pathways around her ancestral nest in Kalinor, she was branching out to the temple when Chell interrupted. Look Shai she sat up bumped against the floating familiar, pressing the cold chill against the flesh bared between the neck of her shirt and the tie of her cloak. The wagon with bars.

Shai noticed it as he mentioned it, a large wagon supporting a huge cage. The cage was full to the brim of bodies, living bodies. They were slaves. Her eyes wondered over the scene. There were guards, a driver and one man with a ledger. The men were far too many for her to handle or even sneak passed, not mention to the dozens of slaves who might give her away. No the slaves nor horses seemed like a target Chell would choose. A pearly savage grin dawned on her face, The book?

by **Shai** on May 24th, 2014, 3:49 pm

Affirmative the familiar agreed. Shai rolled down onto her belly, lying against the roof, she would get that log, it might provide the information she could use for a heist. As the wagon creaked forward, the spider shimmied along the roof. When the wagon began heading towards the blood pits the spider slid down a shadow in the wall of her perch. Running across the rooftops was too noticeable for such a congregation of eyes. Chell tucked himself back into her hood without returning to his sealed form, it was cold but effective.

She kept to the shadows provided by the building’s overhangs and around corners of buildings. When she moved she walked slowly, any hurried movement might draw more attention than less. She only need to see their destination and so kept a considerable distance. There would be no thievery tonight, just observation. Moving from one hiding place to another meant she had to check her path along the ground, bare feet made silence easier but nothing was easy in Sunberth including dodging broken glass.

The wagon crawled. Though there were only a handful of guards they went rather unmolested which signaled to Shai that the dock locals knew something about the shipment, perhaps it was a regular one? If it came through every season or so that residents would quickly learn not to mess with it if those guards were as well trained as they looked. It took nearly an entire bell of trailing the wagon before it reached its destination. Shai had figured it out a few blocks back; The Blood Pits.

Here the man with the ledger broke away from his entourage. As the slaves were unloaded by the guards, Shai took the chance the ruckus of clattering chains provided to crawl back up the nearest wall. The mold-eaten boards felt soft under her finger tips, more like moss than wood. When she got on to that particular roof she made a point of scurrying to the next quickly, this one was attached the previous and required no jumping. Though she weighed less than a human her eyes, she wouldn’t chance carpentry that badly abused.

Shai kept look out as the ledger bearer jogged into a house. Following suit she crept along the rooftops until she reached the same house. She dropped down on to the walls of an adjoining building and climbed across the back facing wall to avoid any detection by the guards or slaves. At this point in her observation though she figured most of the slaves were broken and likely wouldn’t talk without prompt. Shai got as close she dared to a shuttered window form above, no one had ever looked up for a disturbance in Shai’s experience.

Again the spider waited. She could hear the man moving inside, boards creaking and what sounded like muffled cursing. Nearly another half a bell passed before quiet cloaked the building again after it was punctuated by a slamming door, the front door it had sounded like because the noise had ricocheted from outside the house not within. Shai eased the unlocked shutters open and slipped into the darkness.

She had found what looked like a bedroom though it was covered in cobwebs and dust. The floored showed a ring in the floor that been heavily paced so the thief might walk across without later detection. Anything of value within the room was dilapidated beyond use. Examining the floor the spider careful thread where the nails connected the boards, avoiding the very creaking the other man had not cared about. The front room was bare but for a fallow fireplace and a table with several chairs. Guessing which door was the front, she headed for the only other door.

This last room too was sparse, a table, a single chair, and some beaten-looking writing implements. What set the room apart though was a cupboard built into the wall with a rather impressive lock on it. Anything that required a lock of that size would be significant. This was their mark, they would return in a few days. Shai quickly retraced her steps. As she snuck back out her entrance she heard the door slam open and several pairs of heavy feet tromp into the building, the spider had left at just the right time. That meant Bitzer would need to be a distraction that lock would take time.

by **Ablation** on June 16th, 2014, 4:06 am

Grade Awarded!

Shai :

Please don't be afraid to PM me with any questions ^-^ and please don't forget to remove your grading request from the list to keep my office spick and span.

Credit to Alia Beaudouin for the exquisite template! <3

Skill	Points
Tactics	+2
Observation	+3
Stealth	+2
Deduction	+1
Familiary	+1

Solo A Night For Watching