Session Five: The Heist

This time around our adventures return from there preemptive scouting of the orc camp that lies a decent distant down the river. Finding their way back to the Sign of Xorn they turn in for the night. The rogue awakens to the sound of a note sliding underneath his door frame. The note reads “Steal a painting called The Betrayal of Haradon from the miner’s guild”. The rogue Ezral thinks carefully on the request and mulls over how he should proceed. The information that thieves guild could provide would be invaluable but there relations with the miner’s guild were also just budding, getting caught could jeopardize their future in the town. “I guess getting caught is not option” the rogue thought to himself. This job would naturally be easier with some help, Volodimir the bard was a natural choice. After discussing the matter some more, the two decided on a plan. Volodimir would find a way to weave himself into the good graces of the miner’s guild and that would give them a man on the inside. It was easy enough with the help of Flint Forgehammer the cleric to get Volodimir a job playing music and telling stories in the guilds common area. It was a good gig that payed and the layout of the guild was now open to his disposal. After a couple of performances, Volodimir was able to pinpoint where the art gallery was and knew when the guild would be the busiest. We needed a lot of potential suspects around so in this case the more the merrier. Finally the two decided on one particularly busy night to strike. Volodimir set out for the guild hall along with Flint and Keth the barbarian. Volodimir was set for a big audience and Flint had managed to arrange an interview for the barbarian for some potential mining work. Ezral waited at the Sign of Xorn pretending to drink himself into the midst of a hangover so that he would have a clean alibi.

At the hall a majority of the guild was in attendance. The hall was packed with miners of all shapes and sizes all marked by the typical shade of soot and ash that comes with their work. It only took minutes for the festivities to begin. Volodimir spouted off story after story as miners rapidly drained there flagons. Following along in the shadows, Ezral made his way to a secluded back door that Volodimir had noticed during an earlier stake out. After long hours of picking locks as a thieving runt in his past Ezral made quick work of this lock. The room that he stepped into was shadowy and dark. From  looking at the bags of flours, extra dining chairs and meat hooks around the small room it was apparent he had made his way to into the back room of a kitchen. Moving swiftly through the house Ezral moved from the kitchen into the dining area eventually stopping at a door that lead out into the guild lobby. Peeking through the cracked door way he could see two guards standing post in front of the arch that led to the hallway where Volodimir said the art gallery sat. With a flick of his wrist and some nimble feet it was all too easy to make it past as the two guards moved momentarily to inspect a single gold coin thrown ever so slightly so that it landed with a ding at the entrance to the guild. Slinking past the guards into the enclosed hallway Ezral could now see the four large statues that marked the entrance to the art gallery. Being almost directly under common area now, he could hear the heartily engaged miners upstairs.

“You whore!!!” he could hear Volodimir shout mid story.

“That’s what I said to that massive spider”

Ezral proceeded to the door of the art gallery, confident that the guild was distracted enough. Apparently the story distracted more than just miners though as a sharp jarring pain raced up Ezral’s hand that almost caused him to yell out. He had absent mindedly triggered a spring loaded needle trap rigged inside the lock of the door, next time he would remember to check the door for traps. Shrugging off the stinging feeling in his hand the rogue pressed forward into the art gallery. Inside he found all manners of classical paintings, carefully crafted dwarven carvings in marble and other trinkets but after an extended look he could not find the specific painting that had been requested of him. This baffled the rogue. Where could the painting be? Was there a hidden safe he was missing or had it been moved? His thought was interrupted by the pounding of the guild residents on the floor above him as dust rained from the ceiling. Then it came to him, where was the only other place that would be safer for a painting then the art gallery? … The guild master’s room. Ezral slinked back into the hall way and slowly made his way up the stairs. The sounds of the party were very distinct at this point. Once on the second floor it was not hard to find the guild master’s quarters. With a quick pick of the lock, making sure to check for traps this time around he made his way into the unoccupied room. There on the wall was the painting that had been requested buy thieves guild. Carefully pulling a dagger from its sheath he cut the painting from its frame and stowed it in his bag. Making his way from the guild hall, Ezral turned his prize into the fence that had helped broker his newly found relationship with the thief’s guild.

The next day the party made there exit from the town to take on their next quest. Rumor had it that a cave nearby was home to a demon. It was time to find out. On the way to the demon possessed mine, the group scattered a small gang of kobolds. They also encountered a pack of blink dogs that were clearly intelligent but did not share a common language with the party. Nevertheless they followed Volo west. They then arrived before the foreboding cave.