Surveying the Grounds

0:00The Thieves' Guild. Written by Jake Kerr. Chapter 24. Surveying the grounds. It was by far the most comfortable bed that Pete had ever slept in. Instead of one straw-filled mattress, there were layers and layers of feather-filled smaller layers. The pillows were also filled with some kind of soft feathers. As he woke, he opened one of the three doors near the rear of his room. He knew what the other two were. One was to the bathing area. Bowden was wrong. It was far from a latrine. There was flowing water into a marble bath that was somehow always warm. And the latrine wasn't even a trough. It was a steel chair structure where he could relieve himself.

1:03That, however, was icy cold. The other door led to a small study at the very end of the house with no windows. A small room with empty bookshelves and a desk and a leather chair. The final door stood in front of him, and the only reason Pete was about to open it was that he hadn't found the wardrobe inside the room itself. He assumed it was a closet of some sort. It was not a closet. It was a room larger than his bedroom in his former apartment. And it was full of the wide range of clothes, all his size, trousers, shirts, tunics, robes, and on one side leather armor died gold. Pete quitted dressed and dropped his night shirt and previous day's clothes into a large wicker basket with handles, which he felt confident was made for that purpose. As he left his living quarters, the smell of food filled his nose. I hope you enjoy eggs the way we cook them in the flats, sir. Bowden stood in a room that was connected to a dining room via a short haul.

2:06It was large and had an iron oven, two stone ovens, and a myriad of cooking supplies. He stood over a cooktop fire with an iron skillet full of round white eggs. They are not scrambled with a fork, but rather left to cook in a circle with a yellow centre. Bowden spoke as if the style of eggs was a true raerty, and although they were not common in the lower quarter where Pete lived, they were often on the menu. Pete humid his servant. I am excited to try this delicacy from your homeland. Bowden pointed to the dining room down the hall. Your place is set, sir. You will find slices of apples, cold water, juice from an orange, and fresh bread. I'll have this to you shortly. The meal was delicious, and Pete had to once again remind himself that this was simply a role he was playing. He was acting the part of a rich upper triangle citizen. He actually wasn't a rich upper triangle citizen. His mission was to find out who Polo had sent to kill Vespa.

3:07How Vespa knew that Polo had even done this was a mystery, and the mission itself sounded like it was not one to delay. So Pete had decided on a brisk schedule. Rome his estate that day. Examine the wall and the border. The hedge and any gaps. The entire layout of his house. The glass observatory above the house, and get a sense of Bowden's cottage house, which Pete learned was directly between the edge of the house and the river, tucked away in the southeast corner. The next day he would call on his harvest house neighbors. His main goal was to simply create a good first impression and let them know he was a good neighbor. But part of him also hoped that he might find out more information about the harvest guild, which Pete realized too late, that about which he knew precious little. The next day he would visit his craft-gilled neighbor, and then he would go travel to the inns and taverns near harvest house to see if he could find more information. Somehow he had to infiltrate harvest house itself, or find someone with the information that would know the inner dealings there.

4:14Pete had no illusions that it would be simple. In fact, he considered it nearly impossible to do in a short time frame, which is why he was excited about attempting to do just that. He still had to hire two guards, but he left that to Bowden to do, so he started his walk around his estate with a clear mind and a full belly. The stone wall was as old as he perceived on the ride in. Loose rocks were placed with no mortar or any other method of securing it. Parts were covered with moss, and other parts showed newer rocks where it was repaired, but overall it was what it appeared to be, an old stone wall. The hedges at the rear of the property lining the river were thick and appeared to be evergreen, as winter was approaching, and they retained their green. They were thick, and it would take real work to walk under or through them, perhaps even impossible. The woosh of the river was clear this close. Pete got the distinct impression that his property was essentially on the bank of the South Fork.

5:17He decided to take a close look from the observatory later. He walked around Bowden's cottage, which had a stone chimney with a wisp of smoke rising from it. It looked to be large enough, but still a single room or two. Due to the odd location of Ness nestled between mountains to the South, and the dragon's teeth to the east. The South Fork ran mostly from the South West to the Northeast, and his neighbors were to the east and west. His western neighbors were the fellow craft guild members, and their house was beyond the stone wall. It was smaller than Pete's house, but was two stories and made of stone. He stared at it, and couldn't get a real sense of the occupants. The house itself was dark, and there was no carriage house like Pete had. But there was a small stable, but it contained no horses. I guess I'll visit you another day. In response, a drowl came from the left, and a massive dog, possibly even a wolf, launched itself in Pete's direction.

6:18Pete stumbled backward only for the wolf dog to stop at the edge of the wall. He was not secured by a chain. He was not secured at all, but he at least stayed behind the wall. None of that went through Pete's mind until later, as he was rushing back to his house and the safety of his walls. Sir, are you okay? Bowden walked in, finding Pete shaking inside the back door. There's a massive wolf. Our neighbors have it protecting their property. Bowden squinted. I'll take care of it, sir. Thank you. That was all that Pete got out, as he headed to his room to calm down. The podcast Alchemy Production