Neven could see the fence Gabe had mentioned earlier at the Gallows Pub sitting behind a small puppet theater entertaining a bunch of children to the left. The play took about ten minutes total and when it ended the children got up and left. The Fox Man caught sight of the thief, tilting his head to the left motioning him over to check his theater. "You there! I say, won't you come over watch my little play? Encore showing for your eyes only, lad!"

"How much will it cost me?" Neven replied as he walked over to The Fox Man, "I have only limited funds and even more limited time."

"Well you do look new here so here is a free scroll on the house," Calish smiled to the human thief, "Take a look. I'd recommend small items like rings, necklaces, precious gems, or small weapons, like knives or daggers. Anything bigger attracts too much attention. Tick, tock. Time is a moving, kiddo."

Irzen, Serna and Willow hung back to see what Neven was going to do in his dealings with the Fence.

"Well, thank you for the free scroll and the recommendations," Neven replied as he warily took the scroll and free advice, "Um, why are you trying to help me?"

In true fox like fashion, he snatched the scroll from Neven's grasp with a smile, "Tick, tock! Gabe sent you? You are of the same trade as I but really, really rusty. Don't deny what you are, kiddo."

"I deny nothing," Neven honestly replied, "I just want an honest answer to an honest question: If all of this is a challenge, then why are you helping us?"

The fence tilted his head back and forth again, "Sigh. Helping you, you say? Nope. Just friendly advice, or suggestions." He walked around Neven in a blink of an eye still smiling at him, "Well, go burgle something! Tick, tock. Next show in ten minutes. Sadly, you don't get another freebie. Go! Shoo! You're scaring away the children. Be off with you, kiddo!"

"Okay! Okay! I'm going! I'm going!" Neven held up his hands as he backed away, "Thank you!"

The Thief returned to his compatriots, "Well, I spoke with the Fence but I think something odd is going on here."

"Odd how?" Irzen asked with a raised eyebrow.

"The Fox Man not only gave me a map of a shoppe to burgle but also recommended items to burgle as well," Neven continued, "And he gave me all of this for absolutely nothing!"

"What?!" Serna asked in disbelief.

"Oy! He did what?" Talos shook his head, "I believe it's called a favor or something like that."

"Yeah, he wanted nothing in return," Neven concluded, "In my experience, when a Fence offers you something and expects nothing back one of two things is going on: One, that Fence is insane or two, that Fence is trying to set you up to take a fall."

"If the latter is the case, then why is the Fence trying to set us up? And if for a fall, then for what crime?" Willow asked no one in particular.

"Talos," Irzen turned towards the Sergeant, "Do you have any thoughts on this matter?"

"Calish is an odd character who delights in entertaining children. No matter the background all children are invited to watch his puppet show. He knows the merchant district well, knows all or most of the people who sell their wares here. If he was gonna set you up, you wouldn't have given a free scroll. It's how he does his job. The thieves guild here in Asylum is really lax compared to others across the Realm." The sergeant remarked, "Where ever or what place you pick, do not tell me. I'll be patrolling the entire merchant district, and I need to check in with guard post here anyway. Good luck."

"So what do you think we should do, Neven?" Irzen asked, "You are the professional Thief here."

"My first Guild Master used to say that the first step in avoiding a trap is being aware of its existence," Neven boldly declared, "And I believe this to be a trap. So, I'm going to do what my second Guild Master recommended for such situations."

"Which is?" Serna asked.

"The last thing anyone would expect us to do," Neven turned towards his friends, "Pick a shoppe. Any will do. Make it random."

"How about that one over there!" Serna selected a Jeweler's shoppe.

"Now all I need is a distraction to keep the Guards and the rest of the Merchants busy," Neven added.

"How about this for a distraction?" Serna chirped right before she cut loose with a high pitch scream that would have made Newt from the Aliens movie proud.

*******

At the guard post Sergeant Talos had just finished catching up on the reports from the militia guards keeping watch. When Serna let out a scream. All three guards looked simultaneously in her direction.

*******

"That'll do it!" Neven slipped the hood of his cloak over his head and sunk into his own shadow.

Serna, still screaming for all to hear, ran towards The Fox Man's show like a bat out of hell.

Calish who was setting up the little stage for the next show, nearing jumped out of hide when Serna came tearing down the street at him. He came up too fast slamming his head into the back drop of the little stage. "OWWWWW!"

The commotion from the shrieking shield maiden making a bee line towards the puppet stage. The Fox man back out from the behind holding one of his many characters and rubbing his head to shake off the headache. "What are you supposed to be, a shrieking siren who got lost?"