We decided our next target should be a little more profitable, so we went wandering through the city, looking for easy, rich buildings. We found one in the form of a jeweler's shop on a slow street corner in the merchant's district. We decided to do a little recon, see if he was worth hitting, so we entered the shop.

    The jeweler heard the jingling of the door's bell and looked up, removing the loupe from his eye. He was a short gnome with graceful fingersI looked around as Sinclair studied some jewelry. I began to look disappointed and the gnomish jeweler quickly bustled up to me.

    "What can I do for you, sir?"

    "I'm in the market for something more tasteful than all of this ornamentation, perhaps you have something in the back that would be more suitable?" I asked in my haughtiest tones.

    "Of course, sir, just a moment." He waddled through a door in the back of his shop, closing it quickly behind him. After ten minutes or so, he came back into the room, holding a small jewelry box.

    "I think you'll find that this is my most suitable piece, sirs." He opened the box to reveal an exquisitely crafted gold ring, set with a large green gemstone. "I was preparing this for a wizard to enchant, but he hasn't given me a deadline yet, so I'm sure you gentlemen would be willing to offer me a better price than he."

    Sinclair quickly examined the ring, appraising it. He then gestured to me in the secret thieves' hand language, "It's worth about 2600."

    "I'll give you seventeen hundred gold for it." The jeweler looked scandalized, and I quickly said, "Well, I suppose I could go as high as eighteen hundred and fifty." He still looked shocked and disappointed, replying,

    "I see I was wrong about you, you two are not prepared to offer a suitable sum. Thank you, and good bye." He began to hustle us out and we meekly complied.

    After we were out of earshot, I explained myself to Sinclair, who looked as though he wanted an explanation. "We didn't want to actually pay for it, so we had to bow out gracefully."

    "I was wondering where you thought we were going to get seventeen hundred gold. Well, now we know he has something worth taking, the question is; Is it worth pissing off a powerful mage?"

    "Probably not, but if that's an example of what he has, maybe there are other things worth taking."

    "Okay, we'll do it, barring any unforeseen complications."

    After nightfall we began to prowl the neighborhood, timing the patrols and looking for street lights and late night wanderers. We found a more experienced thief back at the guild and paid him one hundred gold (after a little haggling) to examine the jeweler's door for traps. He reported that the lock was untrapped and easily pickable. The next night we went to work.

    I picked the front lock and we entered under cover of darkness, about fifteen minutes after the last patrol had gone by. We had established that they patrolled this area every two hours or so and had decided to keep a fifteen minute buffer either way.

    We walked into his shop, moving stealthily to avoid waking him. There were several boxes on the counters, apparently he locked his gems up at night. Sinclair and I held a quick whispered meeting. We decided that if we had to run we would each grab a box on the way out, but to leave them for now, the more valuable stuff was obviously in back or upstairs.

    We moved to the door in the back, which was unlocked and moved silently up the staircase it revealed. The door at the top landing was also unlocked and we proceeded apprehensively through, expecting some sort of trap just beyond. Nothing except a hallway with two doors at the end. One of them had to be his bedroom, the other, his workroom. We crept down the hall and listened at each door. I could not detect any noise at either. I tried turning the knob of the one on the right and had to move quickly to avoid the dart that shot out. I tried to pick it, but to no avail. Sinclair tried and also failed. I motioned for him to stand aside and turned the other knob, causing another dart to fly out. I was able to pick this lock, and I opened the door slowly to reveal the sleeping form of the jeweler...