How to Pickpocket a Pickpocket

Chapter 28

Artis didn't have the patience to seduce Vald into letting her in. She couldn't care less when she snuck up to him and knock him out cold with the hilt of her blade and dragging him into some shrubs to hide his unconscious body. After that she found the ramp and shot the mechanisms with an arrow, letting the ramp drop to the ground. And, just as she expected, Mercer had only the best locks installed into his house. Luckily, she was an expert when it came to lockpicking and managed to open the door in minutes with only two broken picks.

Mercer's house was really nothing special. She figured that maybe it would've had more charm if it was decorated or actually furnished. There were a few mercenaries patrolling the empty halls, but she had no trouble sneaking up to them and slicing their throats. Even though the entire house was empty or just filled with junk, Artis found one thing out of place: a somewhat decent closet with neatly stacked objects inside. After pushing the objects off the shelves, she gave the back panel a little push and found that her suspicions were true. The closet was a secret entrance to an underground passage. Artis stepped through and covered the doorway behind her with the panel. There was no need to let any more mercenaries know that she was in there.

Almost immediately she stumbled upon a room full of pressure plates on the floor. Artis was just in time to stop before setting one off, stopping her foot an inch above the floor when seeing the small openings in the tiles where the fire escaped through. Real clever, Mercer. She quickly found the safe route around the plates and made it to the other side safely. The next hallway had only one trap that she avoided easily. However, the next hallway was a different story. She stopped abruptly when a blade swung past her, missing her by an inch.

"Oh, for Talos' sake!" she sighed when seeing at least twelve swinging blades ahead.

She secured all her weapons and made sure nothing was loose before stepping back, calculating the time between each blade.

Then she shouted, "WULD NAH KEST!"

The world blurred as she sprinted past the traps, her eyes closed tightly to block out the whole experience. Her hands shot up just in time to break her speed against a wall, preventing her from running into it. Artis breathed heavily after that, still not used to the whirlwind sprint the Greybeards taught her. The effects made her stomach turn and she swore she shouldn't have eaten that sweet roll on her way to Mercer's house.

It seemed like those were the last traps she had to look out for. Artis straightened up, pulled herself together after that tummy twister and made her way towards the door at the end of the hallway. However, just as she opened it, she heard the sound of a tripwire snapping. Artis was just in time to conjure a ward spell to protect herself from hundreds of tiny poisoned arrows hitting her. However, one was able to hit her before she conjured the ward and pierced through her thigh. Artis cried as the poison spread up and down her leg, causing her to fall to one knee while struggling to keep her ward up. After a minute or so the arrows stopped, and she dropped her hands in exhaustion. It was, luckily, not a paralysis poison and one arrow in the leg wasn't enough to reach her heart to kill her. It only hurt and stung like a bitch.

Artis pulled the arrow from her leg and growled as it burned. She swallowed a cry as she rose to her feet and drag herself into the room, this time making sure that there were no more traps. There was a table in the middle of the room with a map, a book and a note on it. Artis sat down on the table and picked up the note, opening it and reading what it said.

'M

Not certain how you managed to get your hands on that item we discussed, but I'm more than pleased. I thought you'd simply wait until it was being transported from Castle Dour to its final destination, but according to what I've heard, it vanished right from their armory. I wish I knew how you were able to slip by the guards, bypass the portcullis, unlock the armory door and break into that Dwarven puzzle-locked chest... you need to teach me that little trick sometime. I've left your cut in the usual drop spot and might have another job for you soon.