• Solo • Knapping the Hog

[Vincent Krome]

30th of Cylus 718

"I tell ya, them black armored Cauliflowers, those bugs or whatever they calls themselves..." Nick Sheepshead said to Jack, his breath drenched in ale. "They makes off like bandits. Dragging off this or that fly-by-night, cove or mort, they don't discriminate. Don't you think for a moment they don't slip a finger in that biscuit tin while they're at it."

They sat at the bar in the House of Roses, situated on the ground floor of the well-lit whorehouse. "Oh yeah, if I were in with them, I'd be liberatin' all manner of hog from those matchsticks to be. But they don't take us lowly folk. Men like you and I..."

Jack didn't much care for getting involved with matters related to mages. "Them witches aren't worth the trouble."

"Ya don't catch me, Hoppin' Jack."

"Well, don't dangle the pig, Nick. What's this about?"

Nick leaned in closer and Jack lowered his ear to hear him, which was unfortunate because the volume of Nick's voice boomed with all the fragrance of the ale and rot in his mouth, "The judges, the soft little cauliflowers that do all the inking for the bugs. Easy pickings." Here, he did lower his voice, which didn't improve on the fumes out of his mouth, "I know of one old cauliflower, goes to the curio shops at the market place, showin off this mer coin made o' coral. Always braggin' he is about how he can trade it to any mer for a hundred fold it's value. If a knap like ye could get him just to show it to ye... Pretend to be a peddler, or a cove spittin' hogs for custom. He'll show it to ye, even let ye hold it. That's when you bolt." Nick Sheepshead nodded, the challenge laid before Jack.

He thought on it a few more moments, before setting down his ale, nodding to Nick. He paid for the rest of the pitcher, for the enjoyment of old Sheepshead. Then he was gone from the house.

[Vincent Krome]

Speech

Thoughts

Sure enough, when Jack arrived at the Marketplace, he saw the official walking along the promenade, his features and finery illuminated by lantern light of the nearby stalls. Here the square, even in the dead and dark of Cylus, was a formiddable gauntlet. An initiation of sorts for any rogue aspiring to be an Upright Gentleman, a chief among thieves. This is where men and women in his profession came to learn the ins and outs of every racket imaginable. They were introduced to the churched morts, married women using their youngest and weakest children to ply on the sympathies of passersby, while their grown children plied on their pockets from behind. In the alleys, anglers prying fancy clothes off of lines between buildings with naught but a hook on a string tied to the end of a beggar's staff. At the high end, writers, jarkmen and holy coves using their education to write forgeries, licences and passes. Nearly all human activity had some devious undercurrent to it, and there were no shorage of desperate people willing to cut through that thin underbelly.

Vincent had harbored ambitions of becoming more than a common diver, but at present lacked the chops to gather a crew of his own. He thought he might give Sheepshead some proper work soon if this job and others panned out. As it was, Sheepshead served as his one recruiter and informant on the side, while he spent his days bent over a carpentry bench. Those ambitions would have to wait, though, as he had to focus on making this one job go well.

Immediately, he saw the problem with this. The official had a hound with him. This was a problem for a few reasons, apart from the dog's nose and ability to chase down any assailants. Jack had ways of disposing of animals, but most of those methods hinged on the animal being poorly fed. Animals were a wild card. Even the trained ones tended to retain some of their quirks and personality, and one couldn't often tell by looking at them what those chinks in the armor might be.

Jack pretended to shop along the promenade, ignoring the peddlers who tried to sell him whatever was in front of him, while he cast not-so-subtle glances toward his mark.

Despite his going into this job blind, the thief was determined to suss out the dog's weakness. Therefore, he focused his mind as much as was possible, watching the dog carefully to suss out any potential distractibility.

[Vincent Krome]

Jack waited and watched. What he saw was a poor mutt desperate for its owner's affection, lapping his hands at every chance and jumping up at him. It may not be the hardened guard dog that Jack surmised at first. Perhaps the old bag was the sort to indulge his pet. That would explain the mutt's abundant attention toward its owner. The more he saw, the more the thief thought he could pull off this bit of knappery.

He didn't think he'd have to even con him into handing the coin over. If he just slipped his hand into the man's pocket...

The thief didn't wait to mull it over. He went into motion as the crowd traffic picked up. With one deft push, he hurled a poor sap into the old man, to tousel him up and get him riled. Meanwhile, using his own conveniently small frame, he slid behind the official, and slipped his hand into his pocket. Finding something there that felt solid enough to be a coin, he pulled it out and bolted.

Loud sounds of indignation followed him. He'd been detected!

He pumped his legs as hard as he could, matching his energy and shorter legs against the larger gentleman. He was confident he could outrun the official, not so much about the dog.

And sure enough, as he rounded the corner to try and let the momentum of the old man's sprint send him sprawling off balance, he heard the barking of that dog. It was yards behind him. He leapt against the wall, gaining leverage against the bricks with handholds, and then leaping over a short fence. He landed with a roll on the other side.

More shouting from the alley behind him, calling for guards now.

If he made for the open street on the other end of the alley, he was putting his fate in the hands of fortune. He could either slip into the sewers or take the theives' highway, over the rooftops. In the end, he opted for the latter, having always been an avid climber. He grappled for handholds on the bricks of the wall, and made his way up. More shouting, and he realized as he cast a look over his shoulder that he made the right choice. Guards were pouring in from the other side of the alley. A few of them took aim with crossbows, which were deflected against the roof as he made it over the wall, hopping over the edge.

From there, it was his race, and he leapt from building to building, maintaining his balance on the rafters of the rooftops as he ran along.

A few breaks later, he arrived at the tavern where Sheepshead waited.

He slapped what he'd been carrying down, and smiled victoriously at Sheepshead.

"Wot's this?" Nick asked. Checking the strange article. Then he cracked a smile and roared in laughter.

"Oy! Nice pick, Jack! Yer really struck it rich!"

Jack was left out of the joke, until some kind soul informed him that he'd picked some sort of suppository medicine from the man's pocket, not the coral coin.

[Yrmellyn Cole]

Thread Rewards

Vincent

Overview

Hello my friend. Alas, the thread isn't in the CS and Vincent is retried, so I can't give you a review today. Should you decide to activate this account in the future, please fix the thread list in the CS and submit this thread again to the new review queue.

Points

Loot, Renown, Injuries

Knowledge

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[Doran]

Vincent:

Knowledge:
[*]Stealth: Knapping the Hog
[*]Pick Pocket: Knapping the Hog (1/5)
[*]Pick Pocket: Knapping the Hog (1/5)
[*]Pick Pocket: Knapping the Hog (1/5)
[*]Pick Pocket: Knapping the Hog (1/5)
[*]Pick Pocket: Knapping the Hog (1/5)


Loot: -
Wealth: -
Injuries: -
Renown: 5, for committing theft.
Magic XP: -
Skill Review: Mostly appropriate to level. I would have liked to see Vincent struggle a lot more when it comes to Acrobatics and Climbing though. He has 0 Acrobatics and 0 Climbing!
Points: 10

- - -

Comments: I found this thread fairly entertaining!

It’s too bad that Vincent’s victim noticed his stealing!

I would have added “Climbing” to the list of skills used because Vincent climbed a brick wall, for example.

Enjoy your rewards!

P.S.: Your thread is a little under 1.500 words long!