Skulls & Shovels: The Necromancer's Apprentice and the Thief

[Dusty Trails]

Another gloomy day in the city. Rain fell from the sky, putter pattering on the cobblestone walkways. Horse drawn carts made their way down the roads alongside pedestrians with cloaks wrapped around themselves. An cloaked figure made her way through the streets with haste, locks of auburn colored hair showing from beneath the hood. She looked up at the clock tower that loomed above the city, and the smoke and steam rising from the factories beyond it. She'd been stuck on the street for nearly a week now. One week ago, her master had been murdered, leaving her homeless. She continued, holding a bulky object wrapped in brown paper closer to herself. A small group of guards passed, their blue uniforms standing out in the sea of duller colors. They held their flintlocks in their arms, though they kept them lowered. Luckily they payed her no mind and continued their patrol of the city streets. She turned to a smaller side street with a dirt road that was lined with houses.

The girl stopped outside an older house. It looked abandoned with the wooden planks nailed across the door and windows, but there had to be a way in. Hopefully this place would provide shelter from the rain. She approached the house and walked up the steps, and looked back down to the main street. Nobody was paying her any mind. She walked to one of the windows and pulled on the planks with her free hand to no avail. She mumbled something to herself and took the paper wrapped object and dropped it through the broken window with a thud, then tried with both hands. With a splintering sound. It came free and swung down. She smiled and climbed through before swing the plank back up and trying to shove the nail back into the window frame.

The interior of the house was covered with a thin layer of dust and smelled a bit like wet wood. She threw her hood back, revealing her face. She was a young woman with shoulder length reddish-brown hair and a long scar running down the left side of her face, next to the eye. She was a little shorter than most people and small-framed. She knelt down and began unwrapping the paper bundle.

 

[Azura]

Dirt streaked the gutters; the remains of garbage and excretement from animals and humans alike. As the rain drizzled down the filth was slowly washed away leaving behind stains bordering the walkways where people hurried past. They all seemed to match the weather, dull and miserable.

One boy sat crouched down in the gutter seeming to focus on the puddles of rain collecting there, eyes wide and staring and mouth opened a little in a gormlous manner. He was unremarkable to look at with matted brown hair and dirty rags hanging on a skinny frame. Just another beggar boy. He chuckled silently to himself.
Anything but, he thought proudly, I'm a member of t'best guild there is.

While he was sitting there acting the part of a fool he had been searching for a target. Several had walked by but most might be used to his tricks now- he needed to find someone else, someone unsuspecting.
Soon enough he spotted someone. They didn't look much like the slum type, looked more upper class than that, the perfect clueless ''aquantince'' for a pick pocket.

Rising slowly from his position he followed them discreetly, stopping every now and then as though he were just wandering aimlessly. He followed them to an old house and watched as she forced her way in.

The boy was known in his guild for being overly inquisitive- ''a bloody nosey beggar''- and once again curiousity stole over him. What would a well bred person be breaking into an abandoned house for?

He edged closer, trying to see if he could peer in, shivering not from the cold but a chilling dread.

 

[Dusty Trails]

She shivered, wishing she had something warmer than her dress as she gingerly untied the string around the bundle and pulled the paper away. Inside the bundle was a leather bound tome, blank save for what looked like a few smears of blood on the corner. She was about to open it, when she heard a faint creak behind her. She stood up and spun around to see a face peering in the window. She instinctively reached for her knife, but it was gone. Left among the ruins of the 'lair' of her master along with the rest of her possessions.

"What do you want?" She spat out, assuming a vaguely defensive stance. The face appeared to belong to a boy around her age with dirt spattered on his face. He wasn't a guard, and he certainly wasn't one of the adventurers. Actually, he looked the tiniest bit familiar. Did she pass him on the street? And what did he want with her?

 

[Azura]

Jimmy, the Thief boy, had found a window and through the smeared glass he peered in at the girl. With an inquisitive slit to his eyes he watched as she started to untie the bundle. He edged a little closer to the window; inside the unwrapped bundle was a book. Just looking at it sent Jimmy's nerves on edge. He shifted a little so he could get a closer look through the window.

Creeak

Jimmy cursed. He hoped the girl hadn't heard the noise and was about to furtively back away when she spun around. His heart fluttered in his chest, not believing his poor luck. Normally he wouldn't have made such a silly mistake- it wasn't at all like him. He watched as she reached for something that wasn't there, a knife he guessed, and his fear turned to a slight amusement.

''What do you want?''

What did he want? Well, orignially he had wanted the bundle she had carried, he was planning to try and take it from her while she slept but now he wasn't so sure. It didn't look all that valuable, besides the Thieves weren't interested in books. They wanted jewels and weopans. Things they could sell for a good profit.

Now he knew she wasn't dangerous to him, she clearly had no weopans, he thought it might just be fun to have a little harmless jibing. He patted his side discreetly to feel the dagger that was hidden there; it may seem like he carried none but in the inner linings of his rags were all the tools of his trade from picks to tiny little knives and some coin.

''Jimmy at your service, ma'am,'' he grinned back, ''Pleasure to meet you. Bit chilly for a stroll ain't it? Mind if I come in for a little warmth?"

 

[Dusty Trails]

The boy looked surprised when she turned to face him, then immediately switched to an amused smile after her fumbling yielded no responses. For a moment, she just wanted to punch him, though that probably wouldn't accomplish anything. If she had materials for a spell or something that'd be a different story, though she wasn't the one to start a fight unless she needed to. Or she had a large advantage.

''Jimmy at your service, ma'am,'' the boy said, putting on a grin. ''Pleasure to meet you. Bit chilly for a stroll ain't it? Mind if I come in for a little warmth?"

Well he certainly didn't seem to have ill intentions, at least when it came to attacking her. He didn't exactly look like nobility though, and anybody who knew something about the magical arts might know that ther book behind her could be very valuable to some... And very illegal. She stepped back over the book and knelt down to wrap the bundle back up.

"I suppose you can come in," she said, tying it off and lifting it back into her arms. "Riley," she added. "My name's Riley. I suppose it is pretty chilly out. I have my reasons for being out, but what are you doing out and about in weather like this?"