Post by Aegoth on Aug 6, 2013 18:33:04 GMT
“Fresh Fruit! Fresh Fruit!” a farmer cried from his stall in the market of Veiðimaðurheimian City. Across him a young worker was feverishly moving a wheelbarrow full of various bricks toward the place where they would be set. A man dressed in fine clothes accompanied by a similarly well-dressed lady strolled through the marketplace looking at the various goods laid out for them. It was another busy day in the city, and in the mind of one particular half-elf another day of opportunity.
This particular half elf was dressed in an ordinary traveler’s garb with an ordinary expression as well as a quite ordinary looking face. He had a fairly trimmed black beard with black hair to the neck-length that made him look rugged and at the same time concealed his true heritage. He leaned against the edge of a corner of a store while thoughts began forming in his head.
Aegoth looked upon the busy hub of people and grinned, “So begins my first day in this glorious new city”.
Quickly he began to mark targets.
There the farmer’s stall, a purse strapped by a piece of hemp, one small incision with the knife.
There the old merchant’s store, precious silk left unattended, the merchant tries to sweet-talk a customer, and takes him behind for tea.
There the laborer enjoying his beer while his pack rests behind him, out of sight and with the noise from the market out of sound.
Aegoth knew what to do. He had done it many times before without fail. He felt the rush of adrenaline rise from the core of his body. He knew how to make the cuts, how to apply enough pressure to force the purse out without attracting the notice of the victim, but he remained still.
“Perception, always remember perception,” he thought as he remembered a failed crime from his earlier years in the trade and began to pinpoint the location of the guards in the marketplace.
Aegoth noticed that almost all the guards were posted in a perimeter outside of the city market. "Strange, there is no way that they would be able to notice a pickpocket or a thief in this squabble from that view," he thought. "Oh well makes my job a lot easi---
His thought was cut short as a bloodcurdling roar rushed past him.
Instinctively, Aegoth moved his hand to cover his face. “Now what in Abadar’s name was that?” he thought. He heard more screaming as people rushed away from the source of the earthshaking roar. The gap left open revealed several figures. Two men armed with knives, a brutish looking fellow who could only be an orc, an old man, and---
Again Aegoth’s spectation of the unfolding events was cut short by the rising realization of the perfect opportunity. Smiling he readied the tools of his trade, and joined the confused chaos of the crowd.
Aegoth whisked through the crowd like a fish in the ocean, maneuvering along the currents of men, women, and children. A man would turn revealing the purse attached to his belt, and Aegoth with the deftness of a snake would snip it off, and snatch it away. He immediately placed the pouch into a small slit on the underside of his traveler’s garment.
“Too easy”, Aegoth smiled. Experience taught him that individuals in a panicked crowd became intently focused on their own survival and any thoughts regarding the well-being of their wealth would be lost in the ensuing chaos. Aegoth continued maneuvering through the currents and was rewarded with an increasing amount of pocketed pouches.
When he felt content with his earnings, he slipped out of the crowd and began to walk in an ordinary way back to the ordinary inn like an ordinary traveler.