The fat man continues to snore.

[Private to Frank the Fiddler: Your visual search revealed some valuable items that can be taken, but your eye is immediately drawn to the large silver box on the dressing table. It looks like it could be a real treasure chest.

If you want to seach now, using those rolls, you may do so, but this room is large and will take some considerable time to go through, especially in the darkness.]

Frank is amazed at both the sear fortune, but all the more so at Iridia's willingness to share such a bounty! It's almost to good to be true...

[Private to GM: I will deal with Iridia and her chest (treasure chest!) first, then when there is time, I'll look around the room.]

Gaiven grins as well from ear to ear, giving her two thumbs up.

Then the grin dies down, and with a questioning expression on his face he makes a broad sweeping motion with his arm, taking in the whole room.

Suddenly, the fat man under the covers caughs and wheezes, then clears his throat...

Iridia shrugs at Gaiven, indicating that there is probably nothing else worth investigating. With this box, they don't need the Dragon's Tooth anymore.

Then, as suddenly as the man cleared his throat, Iridia drew her knife and moved a few steps closer to the bed. She gestured to Gaiven and Frank to move the box downstairs. If the man made any other indication that he will rise, Iridia will immediately jump on the bed and straddle the man, covering his face with a sheet or a pillow, and threaten his neck with her knife.

Gaiven quickly hands the box on over to Frank, and follows closely behind Iridia, though he does not draw a knife.

All to happy to hold on to the box, Frank stays back from the commotion, and starts looking for good escape routes, just in case his partners botch up.


[Private to GM: Rolls:
Observation: 11, secret roll GM
Also I would like to sneak a small amount of the contents from the box into my own pouch, so we don't share the whole of it evenly. I'd say this would be a filch: 13 with some sort of massive bonus because Gaiven and Iridia aren't even looking.
Filch: 13, Secret Roll: Frank the Fiddler rolled 9 using 3d6. Filch.]

Frank backs away. The fat man doesn't stir.

[Private to Frank the Fiddler:

---

^{OOC: You don't even need to roll as you'll be out of sight of both of them. The stuff inside the box is wondrous. If you fill your pouch, it will be noticeable. But there is a amethyst broach with pearls surrounding it that must be worth 30 gp.}]
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:57, Sun 28 Sept 2008.

Gaiven gives a silent sigh of relief.

Taking a quick look around the room for anything that Iridia might have missed, he scratches his chin in thought. Then he carefully approaches the bed, and tries to look under it.

Though the bed is large, it's also rather low to the floor and the huge bulge on top sags down below as well. However, through the candle-lit shadows, Gaiven sees something of interest pushed back from the edge. A small, steel lockbox. Gaiven gathers his courage and stoops down to inspect it, his face only inches from the sleeping giant's bed. The padlock that runs through the heavy latch is also connected to a chain. Gaiven follows the chain to a metal loop around the leg of the far post at the head of the bed. All three burglars combined couldn't lift the bed with the fat man on it, let alone while he sleeps.

"oh crap, dat was waaayyy to close...
So? Anything?"
[Private to GM: I wasn't planning on leaving before we got the tooth, but I will take the broach, and no more. No point in being greedy if you get caught.]
This message was last edited by the player at 20:03, Sun 28 Sept 2008.

Gaiven stands up again, then looking at Frank, places a finger to his lips, and points down the stairs.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:15, Sun 28 Sept 2008.

Frank is a bit confounded by Gaiven's sign's, but decides to follow up on them anyway. He skulks down the stairs and goes to the door in the hall. Taking out his lockpicks, he looks for keyhole and locks the door from the outside. Then he comes back up again, not wanting to miss the big moment.

[Private to GM: Rolls:
Frank the Fiddler rolled 6 using 3d6. against stealth: 14.
Today: Frank the Fiddler rolled 9 using 3d6. Against lockpicking: 12.
If there is no keyhole, I'll just barricade the door with a chair or something.]
This message was last edited by the player at 23:30, Sun 28 Sept 2008.

Watching Frank going down the stairs, Gaiven then moves to the other side of the bed, and crouches. Catching Iridia's attention, he points at his eyes, and then at the sleeping man in the bed.

Iridia did not know for sure what Gaiven saw, or what Frank meant, as she was focused on the sleeping man the entire time. She was startled by Frank speaking, and leered him.

When Frank went down, Iridia closed her eyes and shaked her head in disapproval of Frank's behavior. Then when Gaiven gestured to her to keep here eyes on the man, she nodded, as she was doing just that.

With a smile to Iridia, Gaiven descends all the way to his stomach, and reaches in under the bed.

[Private to GM: I imagine the bed is too low for me to crawl in under. So, if I can actually reach the box, I'll try to lift it out from under the bed. If not, I'll try to cautiously pull it out, using the chain. Make as little sound as possible, and stop whenever the man gives sound.]

Carefully, slowly, Gaiven drags the box out from under the bed. The chain only lets it slide an inch from the bed, just far enough that its lid can be open.

---

^{OOC: 19:17, Today: Stripe rolled 9 using 3d6. Gaiven's stealth.}

Gaiven takes a deep breath of relief, and then with a glance towards Iridia to make sure everything is still in order, pulls out his lockpicks and goes to work on the lock. Quietly.

[Private to Stripe:
rolled 4 against stealth 14
rolled 9 against lockpicking 12]

Though quiet, Gaiven can't get the lock picked after a minute of trying. Frank slipped in quietly while Gaiven worked at the lock. Sweat trickles down the mute's brow as he works in the dim, flickering light. Still, the burglar keeps at it until...

...click! The padlock releases its arch. With excruciating care, Gaiven opens it and then slides the chain off so the box can be open or taken.

Gaiven slowly lifts the lid open.

Surprise might have made Gaiven let out some kind of a shriek if only he weren't a mute. The instant Gaiven opens the box, it bursts into hot flame with a roar! The would-be thief gasps and falls back to keep from getting burned by the sudden and unexpected explosion. Just as quickly as the flames shot up two feet higher than the bed, they quickly die down leaving a burning box on the floor. Any second, the fire could turn into an inferno, burning the whole house if not the whole neighborhood to a cinder.

But, in this instant, Gaiven, Iridia and Frank don't have time to think that far into the future! Startled, the fat man shoots up in bed, eyes wide with shock and fright!

"Wha-wha-what's going on?!" he stammers, sleep still grasping the higher functions of his mind.

"What the!" Iridia yelped, startled by two things happening at the same time; the box bursting in flames, and the man waking up. She took one second to take it all in then took one of the bed sheet's corners and threw it off the man in the direction of Gaiven. Then she jumped on the bed and tackled the man, straddling him, forcing him back into bed. She quickly took a nearby pillow an put it on his face, and placed a knife on his throat.

"You scream, you move, you die!" Iridia spoke in a harsh voice, and made sure the man could feel the cold steel of her knife on his neck.

------------

[Private to GM: 13:54, Today: Iridia Silvermane rolled 8 using 3d6. Intimidation.]
This message was last edited by the player at 09:57, Mon 29 Sept 2008.

Muffled under the pillow, the fat man's sobs of submission are barely audible, but it sounds like he might be pleading for his life. He throws his hands up and to his side in shaking motions of surrender.

The box remains on fire, but doesn't seem to be spreading as it is made of steel. If any of those flames hit the bed, though, it's going to be hell. But, the box won't pull out any farther.

"A wise choice." Iridia told the man in her normal voice. She held the pillow over the man's head not as hard as to suffocate him, but just enough so he can't see them and to muffle his voice. Iridia then looks around the bed for anything that might be used to extinguish the fire, like a vase or a jug of water. She knows that she never goes to sleep without a glass of water beside her, so why shouldn't a wealthy merchant?
This message was last edited by the player at 10:42, Mon 29 Sept 2008.

Not only does the merchant have a glass of water, there is a pitcher of it on a table beside the bed. No doubt it's for both drinking and the bedpan.

However, something most peculiar happens when it's poured on the fire... It doesn't go out, or even flicker.

By now, the fire isn't the three burglar's main concern. Heavy footfalls boom on the staircase; someone's running up!