The story so far: Four items down, three to go. Armed with the holy water and only minor injuries, Nikole and Darklis consider where to set their sights next.

Darklis whispers, "Wizard, carp or lethe-snifter?"

Nikole doesn't see anything unusual in teasing Darklis about Red's wand, but all right.

Darklis kicks Nikole. You're the one who was tearing your clothes off about him. Okay. Moving on.

Nikole thinks it over. "Carp. Didn't we hear there might be a lethe-snifter there?"

Darklis nods, then shrugs. "Well. It's an alchemy shop and the lady at the Crucible said they might have 'em even if she didn't. So let's try there!"

Nikole looks around. "That way?"

"Up Lavender Street, I think?"

Nikole nods and sets out bravely, if still not quite steadily.

(Up Lavender Street is Aspasia's house; you sure you want to go there?)

Um. No. Darklis gets a ways up that way, and then looks dubious. "I don't think this is right. We'll run right back into Aspasia."

Nikole is not quite that drunk. Maybe one street over.

Nikole says "Aye. Let's cut over to that street we came down from the temple... let's go the other way."

One street over is the big six-street intersection with the fountain in the middle. You can see the City Watch building looming up in front, and Frond's just beyond it. Other shops line the streets, shuttered and dark.

Nikole mutters, "This place needs more mountains."

Darklis follows Nikole, trying to remember. "North!" she finally says, triumphantly. "She said north!"

Nikole looks for a way to get north without being spotted by anyone who already hates them.

Nikole says "Maybe if we go two streets this way..."

You can't go too much further north without running into the city wall, but there's a street (the sign says Climbing Street, and that's what it does) leading promisingly that way.

Nikole is good at climbing! That looks promising!

The hill is steeper than it looks, and paved with smooth cobblestones lit by the occasional torch-on-a-pole. More shops are visible to either side.

Nikole watches the signs carefully for fish.

Darklis looks balefully at the stones. "There better be a diamond carp up here," she mutters. Huffpuffhuffpuff.

Nikole bounds up the hill with the grace and energy of one raised halfway up a sheer cliff. Which she wasn't, but she's excited about getting four items!

The fish is swinging back and forth in front of a shop, its wooden scales painted in pale shades that presumably represent diamond,

Nikole poin- *doesn't* point, but nudges Darklis.

"Whaaaaat?" Darklis looks up from her feet, which she's been studying the whole journey up the hill. "Ooh! Look!" She points.

There's hardly anyone around now, and the few you do see look none too sober. Nice people are all in bed by now.

Nikole pulls Darklis's arm down anyway. "Don't point! We don't want to look like thieves!"

Darklis oop. She lowers her arm, then whispers, "We are thieves."

Nikole whispers, "I know! But we don't want *them* to know!" She indicates the crowds not currently thronging the street.

Darklis ohs, and nods solemnly. It's late. Give the girl a break. "So, uhm. How're we gonna break in without looking like thieves?"

Nikole isn't sure. "I have a plan!"

Nikole looks around dubiously. Any windows to the shop?

Darklis grins. Oh good. A plan. "Oh good."

To the professional thief's eye, the shop looks fairly straightforward; two windows of thick glass, one door. All dark.

Nikole looks in every direction to make sure no one is watching. Twice. Then she sidles up to the window and peers in.

Through the window you can see....dark.

Darklis sidles forward, too, then looks up to see if there's a home over the shop.

Nikole wrinkles her nose. "How're we supposed to see if they have fish in there."

Nikole cranes her neck back to look upward. "We could just steal the sign, I reckon."

There probably isn't. The shop is one-story, with a steeply angled roof.

Darklis' eyebrows fling up and she snerks. "That's a good idea. I bet they'd be *really* angry. The Masters, I mean."

Nikole says "It's a diamond carp!"

Nikole squints. "Well, it's like a carp."

Darklis nods, giggling very quietly. "But I bet it's not the one they want." She tries wriggling her fingers under one of the windows to see if it'll open.

(It's not *much* like a carp. The artist was uninspired.)

Nikole says "They said one of five!"

Darklis says "We'll steal it as a last resort!"

The windows don't appear to open at all; Darklis can find no hinges.

Nikole says "Hey watch out! They might have magic alarms."

Darklis yanks her fingers back!

Darklis giggles more. "We should steal it, *too*, and give it to the Masters to see their expressions."

Nikole says "Let's look around back."

Darklis blinks. "Okay."

Nikole grins. "We could!"

The back of the shop is less impressive than the front. The stones aren't whitewashed, and there's a lot of garbage in the alley. No doors or windows.

Darklis wrinkles her nose. "Looks like the front's the way in, unless you saw any windows on the sides."

Nikole looks around curiously. How do they throw out their garbage?

If a jewelry shop has garbage, it must all be thrown out the front door and meticulously swept away; the front is spotless.

Nikole looks up at the roof. Any chimneys?

No chimneys.

Darklis hmphs and heads back towards the front. "I can try to pick the lock," she says lowly.

Nikole says "In plain sight?"

Darklis stares with big eyes at Nikole. "Unless you want to dig a tunnel from the back alley in, I don't have any better ideas."

Nikole checks her bag. "No shovels. Hm."

Darklis puffs her face all out at Nikole and jerks her head. "C'mon, you can tell me if anybody sober comes along and we'll hide."

Nikole peers out of the alley, waiting until most of the sober people have wandered off.

No sober people are in sight. One man is embracing a torch-pole on his knees, and seems to be talking to it; that's it.

Darklis wonders how he got the torch-pole on his knees, but that's not important right now. She sidles around to the door, digging out her lock-pick.

Nikole stands between Darklis and the world, thinking that just now, it would be okay if she was a little wider.

Darklis makes a little 'heep!' sound of pleased surprise as the lock clicks open. She turns the knob and pushes the door open, wincing violently as it crrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeAAAAAAAAAEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAks.

Inside all is, well, dark.

Darklis beckons Nikole in and closes the door again. "Do you have a little light?" she asks hopefully.

Nikole slips in, not quite shutting the door all the way, so they can get *out* again.

As Darklis takes her first step into the room, her leg brushes against something: twine.

Nikole doesn't answer Darklis's question, but holds very still, eyes closed but ears and nose alert.

Darklis HEEEPs. "Trap," she squeaks.

Nikole stifles a squeak! "Hold still!" she hisses!

Darklis says "I *am*!"

Darklis whispers, "My leg brushed some twine."

Nikole says "Sssh."

Nikole goes back to listening and smelling for any guards, animals, or whatever.

Darklis shushes.

The room smells of recent occupation, perfume, tobacco, smug people. Nikole hears nothing but the sounds of the street outside.

Nikole waits a bit for her eyes to finish adjusting and then opens them and looks around.

Nikole knows she's drunk, so she's being extra-careful.

Darklis just stands there, not talking.

Only a little light filters in through the smudgy glass. All you can make out are rectangular shapes: one in front of you, and more along the walls. Display counters.

Darklis, after a while, asks, quietly, "Can you see anything we can light so we can see?" Note to self: lanterns would be a good investment if you're going to be a thief.

Nikole says "We can't make a light. There are windows."

Darklis says "Do they have *shutters*?"

Darklis, assuming shutters would be on the inside.

Nikole is so impressed by glass windows she didn't even think they might have shutters!

Nikole looks, though.

No shutters.

Nikole scowls.

Nikole looks around for cloth that be could be held over a window, maybe. Are the windows too big for her cloak?

Darklis keeps right on standing there. Do her eyes get to adjust, too? She tries to see if she can see the twine she brushed against.

The windows aren't that large; NIkole's cloak would easily cover one of them.

Nikole tries to hang her cloak over the window, then!

Conveniently, there's a couple of nails driven into a board on the wall above the window. Good for hanging things on.

Nikole adjusts the cloak so it covers the window completely. Now it's darker, of course.

Darklis hisses, "What're you doing?"

Nikole gets out flint and steel and looks for something burnable. "Covering the window so we can make a light without anyone seeing!"

Darklis whispers, "Oh."

Nikole says "Do you see anything to cover the other window?"

Darklis says "I can't see anything at all, hardly!"

It's very dark, and Darklis's eyes are more suited to torchlight; she can see only smudges.

The twine is invisible down near the floor, pressing against Darklis' ankle.

Nikole feels the floor. What's it made of?

Darklis squats down with her nose practically next to the twine and tries to see what it leads to. Is it *pressed* against her ankle or *touching* her ankle? Like, is there actually pressure, or does she just know it's there?

The floor is carpet, rough-woven like burlap. If Nikole stretches out her arm in any direction she can feel more twine.

The twine against Darklis' ankle is a taut line across the room. She can move her foot away without changing it.

Nikole feels around carefully by the door for a candle or lamp or anything. If there is a light, it would be where someone could get it as they come in.

Darklis edges her foot back, then. Gleep. Then she looks for more twine. Maybe it can be stepped through or over.

Nothing by the door, but there's a candle end lying on its side on the front counter.

Nikole snatches up the candle with a happy but quiet exclamation!

Darklis heep! "What?"

Nikole moves away from the uncovered window and lights the candle.

It's definitely possible to step over the twine; you can't see anything but darkness near the floor, though.

Darklis ooh! "You found a light!"

Nikole shields the candle further with her hand. It would be very bad if anyone saw a light in the closed shop.

Darklis checks the floor on the other side of the twine, now that there's light, and prepares to step over the twine. What can we see?

The shop stands revealed in guttering candlelight. Several counters, all covered with cloths but one, a chair behind it. Lines of twine criss-crossing the floor at ankle and knee-level in several places.

Nikole whispers, "Get one of those cloths to cover the other window!"

Darklis sees the knee-high twine and wisely, says, "Gack. Ooh! Good idea!" She edges her way through twine to get another cloth, pulling it off the case veeeeeery carefully.

Nikole bites her lip nervously as Darklis maneuvers through the tripstrings!

Several of the objects beneath are knocked askew with a scraping noise as Darklis pulls the cloth off.

Above the counters on a couple of the walls are shelves, filled with ranks of bottles. They look a lot like the ones Darklis saw in the Crucible.

Nikole winces!

Darklis goes to put the cover up over the other window. Are there convienent nails on this one, too?

There are!

Darklis tacks it right up, then, and then makes her way back through the twine to look into the case she uncovered!

The now-bare counter is scattered over with beaten metal jewellry set with polished stones.

Nikole lets out her breath as the second window is covered. "All right. Do you see any fish?"

No fish on this counter. Necklaces, bracelets, rings, no fish.

Nikole carefully picks her way through the twine to look at the other counters.

Darklis winces at the stones. "I didn't think there was stuff on the countertops. I'll be more careful next time. Wow, those're pretty."

Nikole looks over. "Ooh, they are! Get me that bracelet?"

The other counters bear an assortment of jewelry, bottles, bags, bones, feathers, pills, candles, powders, etc, etc.

Darklis picks up the prettiest bracelet and hands it to Nikole, and looks at the other counters. "See anything that looks like a lethe-snifter?"

Nikole slips the bracelet onto her wrist and admires it for a moment in the candlelight. "I don't know what one looks like!"

The jewelry is pretty, made of copper and brass and some tarnished silvery metal. It's not anything close to the elegant pendants at Frond's, though, and the stones are like those set in Darraidou jewellry.

Nikole looks around for anything strange or fishy, though.

Darklis shrugs. "Me either." She picks up largely anything she thinks is pretty, and then her eyes widen. "Bones!"

Nikole says "Bones?"

Darklis says "Bones!"

Darklis points! "Bones!"

Darklis says "What if one of them is a wizard's finger!"

Nikole carefully picks her way over to Darklis to look at the bones. Any of them look like fingerbones?

Bones. Small armbones, clawes, fingerbones, toes, teeth, even a skull or two. Each has a small note tied to it.

Darklis says "Check them! I'll look for other stuff."

Darklis looks up at the shelves with the bottles like she saw at the Crucible. Can she reach them?

The central counter, closest to the door, has fish on it. Sparkly fish. Lots and lots and lots of sparkly fish.

Nikole reads the labels, rather hurriedly. This is too easy for a shop with jewelry and such.

The bottles are a bit high up. Darklis would have to stand on a chair.

Darklis will worry about the bottles *last*, then. She goes to discover the fish counter. "Uh. Can you tell what're real diamonds?"

The notes on several of the fingerbones say "Wizzard fngr 1gold."

Nikole says "Hah!"

Nikole says "Wizard finger, one gold!"

Nikole pauses. "Holy water, two gold."

Darklis looks over her shoulder. "No way! Get all of them!"

Some of the other notes, if Nikole reads them, say "hens teeth", "unbptzd infant", "roc claw", etc.

Darklis says "We'll ask Mindy if they're real, but it's worth a shot!"

Nikole says "Aye!"

Nikole scoops the wizard fingerbones and something labelled "dragon claw" that's pretty and shiny and red into her bag!

Are any of the shiny fish under glass, or anything? Anything that might make them obviously worth more? Darklis peers at them.

The fish aren't under glass; many of them are heaped in a small basket, and more are spread across the table. There's a sign toppled over onto the desk near them.

Darklis picks the sign up and holds it at Nikole. "What's it say?"

Nikole reads it!

The sign says, "Our Signature Symbol! Wear a good-luck genuine faux diamond fish, designed in honor of our owner Monsorr Burgess and his famed Five Diamond Carp. Two for a gold piece!"

Darklis, wisely, says, "They're not real, then."

Nikole reads the sign out loud for Darklis. "Nah. I wonder where the real ones are."

Nikole pokes around the store some more.

Darklis puts her hands on her hips and looks around. "Where would you keep them in here?" Any obvious places for a safe, like, behind pictures or something?

Nikole says "I wonder if he keeps them at home."

The store is full of either useful alchemical tools and jewellry, or junk, depending on your point of view.

Nikole looks for some lethe, figuring lethe snifters would be nearby.

Darklis says "D'you know where he lives?"

There doesn't seem to be any place for a safe. It's not a very big store.

Nikole shakes her head.

Nikole says "If he's famous, we could find out."

Darklis hms. "In the middle of the night?"

Nikole says "We could ask in a bar."

Lethe bottles are on the second shelf, right next to the holy water (1 and 2 gold, respectively).

Nikole looks around those shelves for anything that looks useful for snifting.

Nikole is only slightly hampered by not knowing what snifting is.

Darklis looks up at the ceiling to see if there's any sort of little room under the pointy roof.

Well...if snifting is something that can be done with Moonstone Powder, Lizard Tears, Phoenix Feathers, or incense, Nikole is set. If not there's a problem.

Nikole oohs and takes some of the Phoenix feathers. "These are wonderful! I don't see any snifters, though."

Nope; the ceiling slants up against the roof. The construction quality does not impress the city-bred Darklis.

The Phoenix feathers are large and soft gray, glittering with magic. Or tinsel.

Nikole tucks them into her bag too.

You can see a large bell hanging from the ceiling, though.

Nikole curiously traces the twine to see if it connects to the bell.

Darklis bets the bell is attached to the twine, huh? Darklis taps a toe on the floor. "D'you suppose he'd hide the carps in that?"

The only places left to search are the random piles of junk on the desk.

Nikole pokes through the random junk.

The twine does run up in the direction of the bell, cleverly fastened to the wall and painted white. It's nearly invisible.

Nikole is careful to not set off the bell.

Darklis hmphs, and takes a couple more pieces of jewelry, in case they're worth anything, and then sees if she can maneuver a chair over to the holy water without knocking any of the twine.

The desk holds scraps of parchment, broken jewellry, empty flasks, a quill pen, and the like.

Nikole stirs the mess with her finger. "No snifters here. You see anything?"

Darklis, grumpily, says, "No. And I really wanted one of those diamond carps. Hmph."

Nikole says "We'll have to find this Monsorr Burgess, I reckon."

The name "M. Burgess, Climbing Street" catches Nikole's eye on one of the scraps.

Nikole says "We have to look in bars for the wizard anyway."

Nikole blinks and bends over the scrap.

This particular piece of parchment is an order for three dozen infant armbones from the City Charnel House.

Darklis successfully plonks the chair down by the shelves....just brushing a piece of twine.

Nikole makes a face. Does it say where on Climbing Street? It could just mean this shop.

DINGdongDINGdongDING! The bell starts clamoring.

No address is given on the order.

Nikole practically jumps out of her skin!

Darklis yelps. "I'm sorry!" she squeaks, and jumps up on the chair to snag two or three bottles of holy water, and then leaps off it to run for the door!

Nikole runs for the door, not worrying about the twine!

Nikole stops short and runs to get her mantle!

Darklis says "Do you have the wizardbones?"

Nikole says "Aye!"

Darklis says "Okay! Run!"

Nikole blows out the candle and runs out the door!

dongDINGdongDINGdong!

Darklis jumps twine nimbly and yanks the door open, slamming it shut behind her!

Outside it's still quiet, save for the muffled yammering of the bell. The man by the lamppost has passed out there. Noone else in sight.

Darklis walks nonchalantly after Nikole. No thieves here. No sirree. Doo dee doo dee doo. "Did you find out where he lives?"

Nikole ducks into an alley, peering around the corner for guards, dogs, angry fingerless wizards, or giant fish monsters. "Climbing Street, the paper said, but that might mean the shop."

Climbing street extends for another block north and many blocks south, by the way.

Darklis hms. "Well, should we look or should we go back to Mindy's with these bones?"

Nikole points south along the street. "Let's go that way and see if we see any carp."

Darklis squinches her face up. "I think we should go all the way north since we're almost at the top anyway..."

Nikole says "We don't want to stay around here, though. *Someone's* going to come and look."

dingdongdingdongdingdong....

Darklis oohs. "Maybe we should stay and see if he shows up! Hide in the alley and see?"

Still noone in sight at all.

Nikole says "What'll we do if he does?"

Darklis says "Follow him home and steal his carp!"

Nikole shrugs. "Aye." She yawns. "I reckon we could wait here for a bit..."

"Hey!" Darklis pokes Nikole. "No sleeping!"

Nikole jumps! "I'm not sleeping!"

You wait. It's dark. It's cold.

Darklis scowls. "If you're gonna sleep, maybe we should head up the hill and then back down."

Nikole yawns again.

The street remains empty.

Nikole says "I wonder if that bell's ever going to shut up!"

Darklis Makes A Decision. "C'mon, let's go north and then we'll come back down and look for carps."

Nikole follows along obediently, if not very alertly.

North it is, past the shop and the guy lying on the ground. There are houses in the next block. Big ones, like Aspasia's.

Darklis looks intently for houses that look like people with five diamond carps might live in them. Are there any name signs?

Nikole looks for houses with people bustling around in them.

All the houses are dark, with only the occasional bark of a watchdog. Several of them do have carved wooden signs out front, with numbers or symbols.

Darklis nudges Nikole, pointing at signed places. "Any of those say Burgess?"

The last one at the end of the street, up againt the city wall, has a fish on it!

Nikole points! "Fish!"

Nikole lowers her arm embarrassedly.

Nikole motions with her chin, all subtle and thief-like.

Darklis' eyes widen! "Fish!" she reports back, excitedly.

Nikole finds someplace to lurk across the street and case the fish house.

It's a very big house. Two stories, a central section with pillars and wings off to the side, and a curving driveway. And a locked gate and fence.

Nikole isn't worried about locks. Darklis can get through any lock. But watchdogs and guards are a problem.

Darklis whispers, "Can you tell if there are any watchdogs?"

Nothing visible from across the street; no motion, no sound.

Nikole whispers, "I don't see any. Where would you keep diamond carp?"

Darklis whispers, "In a safe in my bedroom?"

Nikole makes a face.

Darklis looks impatient. "I dunno! I've never had diamond carps. I'd keep 'em in a fish tank."

Nikole giggles. "You think they're real fish?"

Darklis says "Nah, but it'd be a good place to keep them!"

Nikole says "Maybe there's a pond. I don't hear anything; let's go look."

Darklis lifts her eyebrows but nods. "Okay." Across the street they go!

Across the street, to the fence. Little more is visible, but Nikole's practiced nose smells dog turds.

Nikole hisses, "There's a dog around."

Darklis lifts a foot up protectively. The one that got bitten earlier. "I wonder if it's asleep..."

Nikole says "I don't *hear* anything..."

Nikole tries the gate, carefully.

The gate is locked.

Nikole motions Darklis forward.

Darklis gets out her trusty lockpick!

Nikole fidgets impatiently while Darklis works on the lock. What's the top of the fence like? Could she climb over it?

Darklis fiddles with the lock for several moments, eventually nearly dropping the pick. "Damn," she whispers, and tries again.

The lock goes click!

Darklis blinks startledly. "Hey," she whispers, "I got it!"

Nikole beams! "I knew you could!"

Nikole keeps a careful eye out for guards and beagles and such.

Darklis wriggles and then straightens up, carefully opening the gate.

It swings open smoothly, in sharp contrast to the shop door.

Darklis holds her breath, and creeps forward.

The lawn-carriageway stretches before you, up to the large pillared entrance. Windows speckle the front like flecks of mica.

Nikole follows right behind Darklis, crowding her impatiently!

Darklis squeaks at the Impressive House. "Where should we try to get in?" she whispers.

Nikole looks the house over. "Around back, I reckon."

Nikole looks for a garden, actually. Maybe there *is* a fish pond.

Darklis sidles towards the side of the house, then.

The front is plain lawn. This definitely looks like a place that would have a garden, though.

Around the side. Still no sounds but crickets.

Nikole stops and listens again.

Darklis, nervously, whispers, "This seems awfully easy."

Nikole whispers, "Aye. Did you lock the gate?"

Darklis shakes her head. "No."

The back garden is impressive. Trimmed hedges form geometric shapes, flowers bloom in neat beds, and a fish pond with a fountain rests in the center of a bowl.

Nikole looks for someplace where a dog might be lurking, and carefully tosses a rock there.

Thump! goes the rock. No response.

Nikole waits a bit and tries the same thing with another likely spot. *Most* dogs would come out to investigate something like that.

Splut! Silence.

Darklis says "I wonder if anybody's home."

Nikole says "I sure don't hear anyone. Let's take a look at the pond."

Darklis huhs. "Okay." She creeps along towards the pond.

The pond is dark and quietly rippling. Water tinkles softly into it from the mouth of a marble fish-fountain.

Nikole looks for jeweled fish!

Darklis leans over the pond and peers into it.

In the darkness the surface of the pond is opaque.

Nikole resists the urge to push Darklis in, and instead drops a bit of grass onto the water, like a yummy bug.

Darklis blinks. "You think they're *real* fish?"

Nikole shrugs!

After a moment, a fat white fish rises to nose at the grass, then sinks again with a disappointed plop!

Darklis shakes her head. "Let's try the house."

Nikole nods, and sneaks up to the back of the house.

The back of the house has doors almost as big as the front, but no pillars. And more windows.

Darklis goes to test the back door, if there is one, and the windows.

Nikole listens at the back door. This time, she'd rather skip climbing up the balcony.

The back door, like most doors, is silent. It's too thick to hear through. The windows are like the ones in the shops: thick bubbly glass, no hinges.

Nikole stands aside to let Darklis do her thing on the lock.

Darklis whispers, "I have a bad feeling about this," but goes and tries the lock.

Darklis utterly, totally completely fails the first time. Drops the lockpick and has to spend a minute looking for it.

Darklis tries again.

Nikole is ready to run away, definitely!

Darklis swears, fumbles it again, and tries again. And again. And again. Swears some more. And *finally* gets the damned thing.

Nikole listens interestedly for new words! "I never heard that one before!"

click!

Darklis caaaaaarefully pushes the door open. "I heard it from Red while he was trying to get up earlier."

The door opens onto...dark. Surprise.

Darklis whispers, "Did you bring that candle?"

Nikole says, "I'm glad he's not completely lacking in talen-" she breaks off as the door opens, holding her breath until nothing leaps out at them.

Continued next week...