Private Tales Fight Fire With Fire

[Ayreal Mellbrand]

Ayreal looked askance "Traveling someday is one thing, just up and leaving is another. I have responsibilities here, my job, my family. I can't just leave." She said giving a nervous laugh and pulling her hand back. "I mean, you could always stick around here. there is plenty of mercenary work in Alliria."

 

[Smiling One]

Willis nodded feeling a bit disappointed. There Ayreal goes again with the family thing, he never had a family. Perhaps Captain Davis and his crew counted since they treated him better than his mother ever could. However when Willis thinks of family, he always remembers his mother's beatings. The young man closed his eyes "well," he muttered. "As much as I call Alliria home, I don't tend to stick around it for too long. It just brings painful memories about my family."

 

[Ayreal Mellbrand]

"Well, then, why don't you make some new memories." She said pointedly, folding her arms and sitting back on her heels. "I didn't say never. I just said not right away."

 

[Smiling One]

"I've tried," Willis said matter-of-factly as he leaned closer to Ayreal. "It's just hard for me to get the memories out from my head." The young man sighed. He's doubtful that Aryeal would understand and he doesn't expert her to. "Well," Willis said smirking. "The door is always open whenever you decide to come with me."

 

[Ayreal Mellbrand]

Ayreal tilted her head and looked at Will thoughtfully, "Give me three weeks, stay here with me for three weeks while I get some things taken care of, and then I'll travel with you for three weeks. How does that sound as a compromise?" She said leaning in closer with a soft pleading look in her eyes.

 

[Smiling One]

Willis held Ayreals chin as he stared into her desperate, dark blue eyes. She wanted to go with him, be with him but she had her commitments to her family. It was something Willis will never understand. However he wanted Ayreal. “You got a deal,” he smiled leaning to Ayreal and kissed her lips.

 

[Ayreal Mellbrand]

As darkness fell Ayreal and Will approached the Dor estate. Ayreal glanced in Will's direction her brow furrowed "So... how many times have you done this before... I mean, broken into someone else's house? And how do we know what we're looking for?" She asked.

 

[Smiling One]

The two of them arrived at the Knight's estate a person of his caliber will definitely have security in his estate. "A couple of times," Willis answered kneeling down close to the mahogany door and taking out a pin. "When I was a child abandoned on the streets my choices were either: Do what you gotta do to survive or die a miserable death." Willis frowned placing the lockpick deeper into the key hole trying to lift up the tumblers. "We're looking for important papers no?" Willis muttered. "They're usually locked up in their private chambers so stick close to me and we'll get there in no time."

 

[Ayreal Mellbrand]

Ayreal pursued her lips and fidgeted nervously. "What if we get caught?" She was starting to realize just how deep she was in, She was breaking into the house of a noble. "My family isn't really know for our subtly."

 

[Smiling One]

Willis lifted one of the tumblers while he slowly moved the doorknob. A click was heard and the young man managed to open the door. He looked around the large hallway full of tapiestry of mostly paintings of men and women presumably the mans family. He sighed and kissed Ayreal on the cheek. “We won’t get caught,” he smiled. “Just stick with me and things will go smoothly.”

 

[Ayreal Mellbrand]

Will finally unlocked the door and they both slipped inside closing the door behind them. They were in a darkened kitchen, the hearth cold. There were several doors that lead off of the space and a servants staircase leading up. It was a good thing that the kitchen was often the heart of the house.

"Alright, private chambers then... that would be upstairs I guess?" She muttered.

 

[Smiling One]

Willis was greeted by the cold hearth based on the various foods he could see in the dark he guessed he was in the kitchen. The young man can smell the scent of raw Onion which was dangling on the wooden table next to them. Willis nodded at Ayreal "yup," he replied approaching the wooden door and opening it.

The young man checked the corners, it was a habit he picked up as a child doing work in the shallows. "Always check your corners Ayreal," he whispered to her grabbing her hand as he walked up the staircase. "It was one of the very first things I've learned when I was thief." As they approached the top, Willis looked around finding himself in a huge sprawling hallway.

"In my experience," he said. "The living quarters are usually at the end of the hallway, we just need to head straight."

 

[Ayreal Mellbrand]

Ayreal nodded remaining quiet as she followed Will's lead. Her heart was pounding her her chest and there was a pit in her stomach. She had been inside burning buildings before but this was some how far more terrifying.

Reaching the end of the hall they tried the door. It was unlocked. Peering inside it wasn't the bedchamber but it was a study. Shelves lined the walls and a desk stood in the middle of the room with a set of large glass windows behind the desk casting squares of moonlight across the room. A half melted unlit candle stood on the desk and papers were laid out on it's surface along with quills and and ink pot.

"Is this what we are looking for?" Ayreal whispered looking over Will's shoulder.

 

[Smiling One]

Much to Willis' surprise the door to the personal bedchambers was unlocked. As soon as he entered, he found out that it wasn't the bedchambers but rather the study room. Stacks of parchment lay dormant amongst the many shelves around the room. Moonlight seeped through the large glass windows causing Willis to instinctively step away from its rays. "The shadows are your ally," Willis mumbled remembering what he was taught as a thief.

Ayreal noticed a desk full of papers along with quills and an ink spot. "That looks to be it," Willis whispered. If not the personal bedchambers then the study room is the second best place to look for any personal goods. The young man approached the desk beginning to rummage through the papers. "We gotta look for something, anything relating to the fires," Willis said to Ayreal examining its contents.

 

[Ayreal Mellbrand]

Ayreal followed him into the study and began to sift through papers. Most of it looked like records of money transactions. Lots of shipping and distribution details. Several letters discussing business transactions. Very dull stuff. Ayreal managed to find book with expenses and transactions listed. One of the more recent transactions was one labeled simply bottles, for an unusually large sum.

Meanwhile in amount the papers that Will was looking through there was a list shipping details. in among the cargo listings of pressures stones and minerals, mining tools and equipment etc, there was also an unusually large amount of coal listed.

Charcoal was used as a fuel but it was hard to make, and with the Melbrands around it was not always needed to achieve high steady temperatures.

"I found something about the bottles here," Ayreal whispered.

 

[Smiling One]

Willis analyzed the papers in front of him, it was mostly taxes to the Allrian merchants guild and recorded transactions nothing too out of the ordinary. That until Willis saw some listing related to stones, minerals and mining related materials along with a lot of coal. The young man raised an eyebrow, what kind of Knight would purchase mining utensils especially coal? What the hell would he need that much coal for?

Ayreal whispered to Willis about the bottles and he took a look at them. "That's a lot of fucking bottles," he whispered. "So this Knight is purchasing a lot of coal, mining tools and minerals and now bottles?" He stared at Aryeal a grim look etched on his face. "Either mining is his passion," he said. "Or our little friend is doing something suspicious."

 

[Ayreal Mellbrand]

Ayreal glanced at the paper that Will was looking at "Ok that's weird..." she muttered. "But it's not a crime to invest in mining... or too purchase bottles. Its all strange but none of it is really incriminating..."

Ayreal froze as the door knob to the study rattled and turned. Sir. Dor entered the room his eyes locked on some papers in his hands, his bare feet early making any sound and dressed in his night robe. He glanced up. Seeing the two intruders in his study his face hardened. He took a step back "What are you doing? Why are you in my house?"

 

[Smiling One]

Ah shit caught, from the corner of his eye, Willis could see the Knight dressed in an unflattering bathrobe. Holding Ayreal's hand, Willis reached for his bag taking out a small smoke grenade and fit it in the palm in his hand. Hopefully he didn't see their faces. "Grab as many documents as you can," Willis whispered. "As soon as you say: Ready. I'm dropping the smoke bomb."

 

[Ayreal Mellbrand]

Will hadn't even finished speaking and Ayreal had already scooped up the papers she had been looking at. "Ready! Now." The room filled with smoke, Ayreal had to resist the urge to use pyromagic to disperse the smoke, and instead just held her breath.

Sir Dor took a step back coughing as the smoke leaked out into the hall. Ayreal and Will ran past Dor and down the hall back towards the kitchen.

"Guards, Intruders! Guards!" Dor cried out after them

As they ran back down into the kitchen some one ran up the stairs that lead down into the basement.

It was the old gate keeper, but he had a strange manic grin on his face. He was wearing a heavy leather apron and gloves and was carrying a sealed colored glass bottle.

"Don't move or this whole place goes up in flames!" He threatened raising the bottle as if to throw it.

"Not In my house!" They could hear Dor cry as he came down the stairs behind them.

Ayreal didn't have time to think she pushed Will towards the door and they both ran out into the gardens.

 

[Smiling One]

Aryeal Willis sprinted past the Knight and headed towards the kitchen before the guards had a chance to mobilize. Aryeal was faster at gathering the documents than Willis anticipated by the time she said she was ready, Willis clumsily activated the smoke bomb obscuring Dor's vision. They were about to head for the basement until they saw the old gate keeper from a few days ago. The young man raised an eyebrow he looked different, crazed as he was carrying a sealed colored glass bottle.

The gatekeeper was ranting about he was going to set the entire house on fire. "Well we could compromise and say that you should set fire this house after we leave," he said though Dor ran in yelling at the gatekeeper.

It was then that Willis began to connect the pieces. "Is this guy a pyromage?" he thought but before he can think further, Aryeal pushed him to the door and they ran to the gardens.

The two of them stomped on the flowers as the headed to the gate. "I think we got our culprit," Willis said breathlessly. "We just need to analyze the documents to implicate these bastards."

The young man reached the gate and held out his hands for Aryeal. "Go over first," he said. "I'll boost you up."

 

[Ayreal Mellbrand]

Ayreal was about to step onto Will's interlaced palms so he could give her a boost. But Ayreal drooped the papers as there was a shattering of glass against the wall nearby and the sudden familiar rush of heat, and a strong acrid smell. With a wave of her hands Ayreal redirected the flames that leapt from the point of impact so they moved past her and Will. However in the process many of the papers she had been carrying had caught fire.

With another fluid movement of her arms and a shift in her stance the flames were dispersed. The Gatekeeper had followed them.

 

[Smiling One]

"Shit!" Willis could hear the shattering of glass and saw flames heading straight for them. Ayreal moved in front of Willis redirected the flames so it went past the two of them unfortunately most of the documents they stole were caught in the crossfire. Willis saw many of them reduced to cinders before his very eyes. "Damn it," he whispered to himself.

But there was no time to grumble over whatever proof they might've destroyed. The Gatekeeper was still after them and who knows if he can summon more flames. "Let's go Ayreal!" Willis said holding his palms for her to climb over.