Spying on the Herb Store

[Eternity]

Vhalar 13 722

The sky was dark as Eternity crept around in the early morning. She kept to the alleyways as she walked down to a store that she had gone to two times before. She’d visited a herb store a while back and Eternity wanted to see if she could make this the first store that she stole from. It seemed like the perfect plan because there were so many herbs inside that surely she could make off with some of them without making noise. She couldn’t make up her mind without doing a bit of intelligence gathering. Her plan was to find out when the man went to work and also what kinds of security measures the shop had in place. She also wanted to know where the money was stored, but that was not something she intended to figure out today.

As Eternity walked she noticed that there were already people walking the streets. She couldn’t see too well in the dark but she could hear the occasional door slamming. “What could someone possibly be doing up this early?” she wondered. The reason she had come so early was so that she wouldn’t be spotted. Nobody in her neighborhood was ever up this early, but she supposed there might be businesses that needed to get started as soon as possible. She also assumed that there were probably some guards patrolling the streets, though she didn’t know if that sort of thing happened around here.

It didn’t take long for Eternity to realize that her plan wasn’t very well thought out. It was indeed too dark for her to see much of anything, even after she found the shop she was looking for. She was forced to sit around and wait for the sunlight to come. She did not want to be seen poking her nose around suspiciously so she hid herself in an alleyway across the street from the herb store. She knelt behind a large ceramic pot, one of several that had been put there so they weren’t on the main road. Eternity peeked right over the top of the pot so that only her eyes and hair would be visible to anyone who happen to look her way. Also, if she did notice someone approaching she simply ducked down so she would be even more concealed.

She felt like a spy for a good half hour but after that she got very bored of staring blankly into the darkness. Keeping still was also fairly annoying. She would occasionally adjust her position and that caused the pots to make noise as they shifted. Keeping quiet and still for such a long time was clearly a challenge to her, despite usually being able to keep herself hidden. The young thief found her eyes wandering and her focus waning more with every passing minute until eventually she decided to just pop her head out every ten minutes or so instead of constantly watching.

A few hours later the sun finally started to shine and a lot more people walked the streets. It was basically impossible for Eternity to spot the shopkeeper in the crowd so all her hard work was basically for nothing. When she finally made the realization she made her way to the shop’s window and looked inside. She didn’t see anyone and when she tried the door it was still locked. She took a moment to observe the door’s keyhole and then hurried back to her hiding spot.

The lock hadn’t looked like anything special at first glance. She knew exactly which tools she would bring with her when she inevitably tried breaking into it. They would be basically the same as the tools she currently had in her pocket except a bit thicker to deal with a lock clearly designed for a thick key. She smiled upon realizing that she was probably good enough of a thief to break into shops instead of homes. Nowadays she found that the hard part about larceny wasn’t the actual theft, but instead it was pulling it off without getting caught.

When she’d sat down behind the ceramic pots, she thought that she would check on the store every hour or so until she could pin down a time. However, she yawned and came to the conclusion that she didn’t need the exact time so long as she was out of the store shortly after sunrise. She didn’t consider the possibility that the shopkeeper’s time of arrival might vary on a day to day basis. She also didn’t consider the importance of getting a disguise so that she wouldn’t be recognized if she did get spotted.
Instead of working out these details Eternity dozed off for a while because she had gotten up so early.

“Wake up, wake up!” shouted a very loud voice above Eternity’s head.

Eternity scrambled to her feet and tried to run off but a strong hand grasped her shirt and kept her firmly in place.

“What in the world do you think you’re doing with my pots?”

Eternity turned her head and got a good look at the short man with thick forearms. His expression was that of bewilderment, not anger.

“I fancied myself a nap so I took one. I didn’t break anything I swear,” Eternity said. “now let me go, I’ve done nothing wrong here.”

The man frowned and let her go. He didn’t know what to say since he’d never found someone sleeping by his pots before. “don’t let me catch you sleeping here again,” he shouted threateningly as Eternity jogged down the alley and out of sight.

“I guess my hiding spot wasn’t as good as I thought it was,” Eternity said to herself with a laugh. She wasn’t sure exactly what the man could do to her for sleeping in an alleyway. It wasn’t illegal to her knowledge to be homeless, but perhaps the merchants paid the guards to keep the riffraff off the streets. It wasn’t like she had intended to fall asleep; it’d just happened.

“Now what,” she wondered aloud, “guess I better check the shop to see if he’s there yet.”

Indeed the herb shop was open when she arrived. She entered it and spoke to the shopkeeper, “hello again.”

“Oh, you again. Did you manage to find what you were looking for?” he said back.

“Yep, just as you said there were plenty of shady merchants down the road who were happy to sell me what I was after. I just wanted to look around your shop for a bit,” Eternity said with a sigh. The two didn’t say a word for a while after that. Eternity just looked around at all the various herbs that the man had for sale. She sneakily glanced around to see where money or containers of herbs might be stored but she couldn’t see anything in plain view. The shopkeeper watched Eternity with a close eye the entire time she was there and was just waiting for her to leave.

After several minutes of perusing Eternity asked, “where do all these herbs come from? Do you get them from someone else? Do you grow them?”

“A bit of both. I grow what I can and procure what I can’t.” He said plainly.

“Is it hard to grow this stuff? It might be nice to have an endless supply of... herbs.” Eternity said playfully.

“No, it’s not so hard if you know what you’re doing. I suggest not trying to do it yourself because you’re likely to mess it up. I have a feeling that you're planning on growing illegal stuff and mistakes can mess you up if you're not careful. You don't sound like the kind of person who would be able to take care of a plant.”

“Ouch, nice one. Seriously, is it doable? Could I just buy seeds off of you?” Eternity asked.

The man sighed and shook his head, “I have no idea and I wouldn’t sell you anything like that. I wouldn’t have a business if I taught all my customers how to grow their own herbs.”

“That’s a good point,” Eternity admitted, “alright I’ll get out of your hair. It was nice talking to you.”

“Bye,” was all the shopkeeper said as his customer left the building. He was glad to be rid of her.

Eternity didn’t really learn anything useful inside the store. She supposed that she was going to have to settle for stealing the herbs that were on display if she ever decided to break in. She knew that the chance of her finding where the money was kept was next to impossible if she came in at night because she didn’t have a light source. And even if she did, she would be too scared to use one because it would be obvious that she was robbing the place. Plus, after her conversation about growing her own herbs, she wondered if it would be a better use of her time to learn how to do so. It couldn’t be that hard, all she needed was the right books from the local library. Eternity went home a woman who couldn’t make up her mind about what she ought to do.

[Doran]

Eternity:

Knowledge:
Intelligence 2
Stealth 2
Tactics 1
Detection 1

Loot: -
Language -
Losses: -
Wealth: -
Injuries: -
Renown: 5, for attracting the shopkeeper's attention.
Magic XP: -
Skill Review: Appropriate to level.
Points: 10

- - -

Comments: I’m surprised that Eternity hasn‘t stolen from a store yet!

I agree that an herb store is a good store to start with. Herbs don’t make noise, and what more, there are a lot of them!

Eternity’s plan wasn’t as well thought out as she thought at first, but that made the story more entertaining to read. I really like the part where she hid behind a large ceramic pot and eventually feel asleep, for example.

The conversation with the shop owner amused me as well. I wonder what made him think that Eternity is planning on growing illegal stuff.

That being said, I wonder how Eternity will decide. Will she steal some herbs after all or just grow her own herbs?

I look forward to reading more!

Enjoy your rewards!

P.S.: You can also find your rewards in your UCP!