I can go with you and communicate via magic or bribe the Captain. You guys let me know where I will be the most useful."
Most of the guards have no magical auras emanating from them. The wizard has two, a ring with a faint aura of abjuration, and something in a pouch giving off an illusion aura.
The priest's breastplate is giving off an abjuration aura.
Captain Silvers is another story, quote a number of auras emanate from the man. A belt with an aura of transmutation, as does his shirt. His boots emanate conjuration. His armor and blade abjuration, as does a brooch holding his cloak about his shoulders, and the cloak itself. A pair of manacles attached to his waste gives of an enchantment aura. From his bags comes two illusion and three conjuration auras.
The fourth mans has an aura of abjuration.
Inside the warehouse itself the crates, barrels, and sacks are neatly stacked and arranged. One stack of small crates emits dozens of conjuration auras.
And a weapons locker emits 3 adjuration auras.
As the group watches, the first wagon pulls away from the warehouse, four guards going with it, heading towards the west gate a few minutes away. The second wagon pulls in front of the warehouse to begin loading up. Several more are likely to follow suit over the next hour or tow.
Alexia frowns at Jidhuun as she waits for her companion to return.
" Yes and if the items go missing now we will have the entire guard on us within the hour unless we keep the items under a lead sheet or you intend to cower in the sewers. And even that will not stop the more creative spells of detection, with the presence of that proest I can say with certainty that the length of our successful theft will be measured in hours. We need a day to be sure we can actually do what we want to, as we have yet to determine when the meeting is scheduled for today. For all we know it is midnight tonight and we'd need to play cat and mouse with the forces of the tower, the church and the merchants." The tiefling explains as she looks to the mess of guards and continues to consider.
"Were the priest not here I'd say we could pay Captain Silver to run some interference for us and delay the investigation for a day. If you care to give a few more minutes Xabu will return with some scouting. "
"It doesn't look like anyone is checking the stock here, they are just loadin up the boxes. Maybe none will know until days or maybe weeks, and surely Mistress will have waved off methods for locating the weapons by then, especially if we give them to her for the sole purpose off blackmarketing them. "
Xabu has trouble identifying most of the items boxed away, save for a single weapon of minor enchantment.
The mages ring is a ring of protection .
Captain Silvers armor has a protective enchantment on it. While his shirt is a quick runners shirt, and his cloak one of resistance . And the the auras of conjuration in his bags are for healing.
Jidhuun now appears as a young girl.
Alexia frowns as she hears the news her familiar brings.
" Xabu says the Mage is checking off things on a list. He's likely doing the final assessment for transport now. This means we have to make this happen now. Xabu was unable to fully identify the various magic items but I can say this much. The weapon lockers in the back of the depo has the magic items. There are several small crates full of objects bearing conjuration magic. I assume potions of healing, holy water would bear an aura of transmutation. The Mage has a ring of protection, and something in his pouch with an aura of illusion. I'd assume its his spellbook obscured in some manner. The Cleric has magic armor, sounds like basic enhancement. Both the priest and the Mage are capable of third tier spells. Silvers is festooned in magic items, everything he has is at least enhanced. Looks like he has manacles that have some form of enchantment, likely to suppress the one bound. None of what he has looks to enhance his detection abilities. Still be careful, he isn't a captain for nothing."
Alexia then rapidly erases the previous plan and starts on a new one.
"New plan, assuming none have a better one, with the short distance from this depo to the open road there is no reason to believe there will be a second check. There is a area of open terrain between the depo and the exit of the city. I will use this to enter the caravans and obtain anything that escapes the rest of you. I know Nyx is skilled in disguise, as is Tess. Use these skills to get access to the carts after they leave the Depo."
"Well, good luck with your plan then." Tess says furrowing her brow.
"I'm sorry, this place is just too small and there is a small army out front, let alone whomever is inside. I can lie and sneak with the best of them, but they are practically standing shoulder to shoulder over there. The risk of getting found out is just too great. I'll just come with you and support whatever your plan is between here and the gate."
"A disguise serves many purposes, but I am at a loss of who I should pretend to be. Who is my height and would be granted free access to the weapons inside those wagons?"
Rori uses his hat of disguise to disguise himself as a Halfling beggar. He then casts the message spell on the group as well as darkvision on himself before sneaking into the pre-dawn darkness. He moves silently as he nears the rear of the building. He looks for a way to sneak into the the building (locked door etc.) or anything else that could be of use to the group. .
Alexia pushes her glasses back up the bridge of her nose before turning her head to look Tess in the eyes with a cool but neutral expression.
" I do not know your skills, the fact of the matter is that we cannot afford to be caught at the moment. As both Nyx and Rex suggested at our table discussion if a theft happens in the city and a group of shapeshifter hunters show up bearing weapons like that then the ruse will fail. Our biggest concern to outright theft right now is that mage and his book. If we can take over his position then we can have anyone with the skill go in and steal what we want. However without a means to do that we need to take those items after he has checked them off and had the caravan make to leave. Otherwise we will get caught within minutes as the cargo manifest would show that what we stole is missing. Unfortunately planning something viable off the cuff is somewhat difficult when I have next to no information to work with and only the vaguest sense as to each of your actual skills. If you have a better idea that won't get us caught within minutes please feel free to suggest it."
"Were we to somehow capture the Mage and replace him with one of our number we could use the scrolls of memory modification the mistress has provided us to make the mage forget said replacement happened."
"Kidnappings again are something difficult to pull off with such little time."
"And work much better against the weak. Do we even know his ledger system, or handwriting? If it's a prosperous enough guild, the books are likely in some kind of shorthand or code."
There are a few small windows up near the top of the roof, but not large enough for even a small humanoid to fit through. That leaves only the front entrance without some form of magic to fit through the smaller openings.
Nyx would know, that while things are checked again at the west gate, there have been so many wagons through there in the past week that they aren't particularly thorough. Its possible they might miss an item, or that it could be replaced with a replica or similar item and may pass the inspection.
Rori points at Nyx and mouths "Can you create a distraction so I can enter the building?" He waits patiently for response.
Tess doesn't overhear the call for a distraction. She just rubs her chin and scrunches her brow in deep thought.
After a few minutes with no answer, Rori reaches out to the others. "If you can create a distraction, I think I can get in."
A distraction huh?
"One distraction coming up! Tess whispered back to the magical message.
Tess springs up, drops her gear, and pulls a smoke stick from her backpack. "Watch my stuff, and don't lose it." she cheers as she runs off to make a round about way of approaching the army of guards.
As soon as she is in line of sight of the guards she begins skipping and laughing utilizing her little girl disguise the best way she knows how. Tess draws on the memory of what the other girls at the orphanage looked like when they were having fun while Tess was often fending off bullies... or bullying others. When she is almost upon the guards she strikes up the smoke stick and begins running about the guards giggling and laughing.
Rori looks on in amazement at the Tiefling's choice of distractions. Holy shit. That one's got balls. He laughs internally and then quietly casts invisibility on himself. He cautiously moves forward a bit, waiting for the reaction of the enemies.
Through message, he contacts his allies. "Be prepared"
As Jidhuun gets the attention of all present, Rori slips inside the warehouse under invisibility.
The mage approaches Jidhuun, and with an arrogant tone, "This isn't a place for playing. Go back to your mother before I have her fined." He reaches out to grab the smokestack from her.
Inside the warehouse Rori can see the neatly stacked crates and barrels, and the weapons locker mentioned by Alexia. The weapons locker is concealed from view from the front, but anyone stepping further into the warehouse would have a partial view of the area before it.
Damn...It worked. Impressive.
Rori attempts to quietly retrieve his wand of silent image and cast a wall image behind him of the scene as it would appear if nothing was going on inside the building. He continues to remain as quiet as possible as he tries to lift the lid and remove the weapons.
The little girl laughs as she runs pulls away from the mage's grasp, seemingly thrilled at the prospect that he might be playing a game with her. She quickly scrambles on all fours under the wagon with smoke spilling out around her. Once the girl is fully out of sight, the laughter stops.
Once Jidhuun is beneath the wagon she drops the smokestick on the ground beneath the wagon and hides wedging herself up inside the undercarriage frame.
Rori waits a moment for there to be enough noise outside to activate his wand, then goes to work on the lock. His first attempt to pick the lock fails, but trying again he pops it open. Eight short swords lie within.
Outside the mage tries to grab Jidhuun, but fails to get a hold of her. "Captain. Deal with this brat." he calls over to captain Silvers. The captain, a slightly bemused expression on his face, "Yes sir." crouches down next to the wagon.
"Come on out here." his hand shoots out quickly grabbing one of her arms.
Rori looks into the box and wonders which sword is which. He scratches his head and shrugs. He quietly lifts each sword out one by one and places them in his magical bag to avoid making too much sound.
Rori quietly closes the box and silently moves out of the building in (the shadows) to the side where there is less commotion.
The wizard feels about in the billowing smoke. "Where did the brat go? Captain find her and teach her some manners in appropriate behavior."
Those watching on can see the captain shake his head in resignation. But he calls out to the other soldiers to search the area.
The priest of Abadar stays near the front of the warehouse.
Rori spends a full minute stuffing swords into his haversack as quickly as he can, then slips out still under cover of invisibility.
Rori quietly returns to the group. He messages them all before he approaches (including Jiduun). "I've got them. I am safely out." He keeps an eye on the commotion, making sure his partner is safe.
As soon as the smoke begins to dissipate Jiduun runs the way she came giggling and laughing. If no one actively pursues her, she turns and waves farewell and disappears around a corner.
"Good," responds Rex, from the shadows. "Let's go kill something dangerous."
With Rori out, Jidhuun drops softly to the ground from beneath the wagon, then exits the smoke, crawling into the shadows of a nearby building and is soon able to slip away without being spotted.
An inspection of the stolen short swords reveals all to be masterwork, two with a basic enchantment and one with the enchantment you are looking for.
"How'd we do?" Tess asked between breaths as she returned to where the group had gathered, tugging at her sleeves and changing her appearance back to the familiar faced halfling she had introduced herself as yesterday evening. "Did the distraction work well enough to get what we needed?"
Let's go kill something dangerous."
Rori smiles and hands over the swords. "Sounds like a plan. We need to pick up some things for you don't we?"
A few minutes later, Jiduun returns:
Did the distraction work well enough to get what we needed?"
Rori slaps the Tiefling on her arm in jest. "Hell...I haven't seen anything like that in...well forever! I almost couldn't concentrate in there listening to your shenanigans!" He points to the swords. "We hit the mother load!"
Alexia had remained silent for the occurring events waiting until her allies had done whatever they had been planning to. Looking at the weapons and back to her allies she shrugs.
"Well the third weapon is the enchantment sought, the other two are simple magic enhancements. Though I question what the plan is now as we are soon to have the Temple of Abadar leveraging their collective divine might to obtain our identities. Scrying, Locate object, and Divination would all permit someone to either attempt to locate the thief or to locate the items. These are things the temple and the tower are both going to be easily capable of.
With that the tiefling nods and looks over to Tess
"Your distraction appears to have been adequate but now we need to deal with the aftermath. It will be very difficult to actually use these weapons later today if the church and tower are actively looking for them. So unless we can find a method to intercept the inspection that is about to happen here and the one at the gate the blades are mostly useless for the purpose we intend them for."
The tiefling dispassionately informs
"I have what I need, we need to get scrolls of weapon alignment, holy water and holy weapon balm from what I remember of the discussion."
"If you think we're drawing heat, the scrolls might be enough. Though holy water can be purchased legally—it's unholy water that people worry about."
"They are inspecting the weapons going out, not the ones remaining. It may be weeks before they notice the missing ones. By then, I can return them if you are that worried. I seriously doubt they will pool so many resources to locate a couple of stolen weapons. I don't know how things work in the Hold, but the tower and the church have more important things to worry about than a couple of missing weapons." He leans against the nearby wall. "How about we split up?"
He picks up the third magic weapon. "So who gets this jewel?" He flips it in the air and catches it.
Tess pinches Rorimac's arm in return for the slap, a little bit harder than playful but she laughs innocently enough, "Nice moves! I didn't even sense you at work. We might make a heck of a team yet. Look at this haul."
At Alexia's dispassionate information her smile fades, "I've studied magic quite a bit and I think you might be a little too pessimistic here. Scrying only works on creatures, and locate object only senses well-known items which I doubt generic bane blades mass produced for war are familiar to anyone, even the maker. Even so, an 'attempt' is the best they'll ever do given the size of the city. Not to mention, those spell names are boring, who is going to waste their time casting them? But let's start putting your mind at ease and put some distance between us and these guys. We still have scrolls to collect and holy water to gather. Where to next?" Tess collects her belongings as her lips curl into a distant smile. "If you're extra worried still after we take care of things, we'll ask for guidance from den mother and do as she advises. I will bet she doesn't have us put them back for fear of the law abiding Abadars coming for them."
Alexia seems to pause a moment before responding, her stance relaxing some as she takes the moment. How are these idiots still alive in a city of magic?
"In order" The tiefling starts pausing for effect and turning to Rex
"Yes I believe we will draw heat from this, as we discussed before letting people know we stole these items today leaves lots of possible options for our cover of "Shape-shifter hunters" getting blown later. However as the theft is already accomplished we might as well press on. Hence my asking if anyone has ideas for how we might distract that mage. If not then as suggested we should distance ourselves in order to avoid the more immediate location spells. Never mind the chance that one of those guards happens to have a good nose or sharp eyes and happens to spot us leaving when they notice the problem."
Turning to Rori she points to the sky
"Its not even dawn yet, there is another cart coming and a small platoon of guards clustered over there. Is there any reason you have to be certain that they won't be moving those goods today? you hold in your hands a collection of items worth slightly more than the purchase price of a sailing ship able to move several dozen tons of cargo. While it isn't making off with an entire cart of bullion it is still a significant theft. It will be investigated.
" As for who is to use the item I have no martial skill to speak of so consider me out of the running for that."
With that the looks over to Tess
"Yes Scry only works on a creature but just like much of the divination school that is only limits the uncreative. As an example were one to desire to scry "the thief who stole the Magic swords from Depo #6" it would take longer than scrying someone you have information on but would eventually work. Truth seeking magic and other enchantments make proving such actions in the absence of evidence childs play. Few methods work to totally escape that particular noose. If no one realizes it was stolen and chalks it up to a clerical error then no one has reason to make such inquiries. There are other divinations that can be put into play to hunt us down but ultimately if no one notices anything wrong then they don't get put into play."
" I am not saying we will not get away with this action. What I am saying is that without taking care to erase them you can easily leave loose strings someone can bind you with. Much of those precautions is grasping the various methods one can use to discover those threads." The Tiefling seems to finish and mutters a quick arcane word, the area surrounding the group of thieves seeming to smooth out and lose some of its color before returning to a more uniform shade.
"That is a lot of effort for some stuff that wont help us..." Tess sighs.
Rori's eyes widen at Bishop's rant. He looks at Rex. "Holy shit! Is she always this paranoid?" Changing the subject he addresses the group. "So...back to my question. Should we split up? If so, whose doing what?"