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.

Both Willow and Irzen clapped their hands over their pointy ears and winced in pain.

*******

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 beeline towards the puppet stage. The Fox Man back out from behind holding one of his many characters and rubbed his head to shake off the headache. "What are you supposed to be, a shrieking siren who got lost?"

"Yes, I am a shrieking siren who got lost!" Serna stopped screaming long enough to reply, "Can you please help me find my way?"

"YEEAAARRGGGHH!!" Shrieked the fox man in pain from the screaming girl. "I don't have time to deal with a banshee! Shoo! Go away! Or I'll call the guards over!"

Willow shook his head while Irzen stuck his right finger in his ear and shook it, "Man that little girl has a set of lungs on her!"

"Call the guards over?! YOU'RE SCARING ME!" The Shield Maiden once again cut loose with a bloodcurdling scream, "HELP! THE FOX MAN IS SCARING ME! HELP!" Serna proceeded to run around and around the Fox Man's puppet theater in a state of complete hysterics.

*******

While Serna was busy, so was Neven. The Thief leapt out of a shadow on the floor of the shoppe and looked around to see if anyone was about and what the Jeweler's shoppe had to offer.

With all the commotion out on the street, the owner of the jewelry shop walked out demanding as to what all the ruckus was. A tall thin man in his forties, balding wearing fine clothes glared at the scene at the puppet theater. Silently fuming with disgust with the disturbance and tapping his foot.

The jeweler's shoppe had a various assortment of necklaces and rings ranging from copper to gold. In each of the items a random seemingly priceless gem was inlaid on them. All in full view of Neven while the owner stood just outside of his shoppe.

Neven quietly opened the glass case and silently took a gold ring with an obsidian jewel encrusted within it. In its place, the Thief deposited a small card with a message written on it apologizing for the theft and promising to return the item once he was finished with it. At that point, Neven placed the ring back into his pouch, slipped back into his own shadow and reappeared next to Irzen and Willow.

"How is she doing?" Neven asked no one in particular.

"Fine!" Irzen cupped his hands over his ears again, "You know, it's amazing that something so loud can come out of someone so small."

"Mayhaps we can get her to stop?" Willow asked.

"That might not be a bad idea," Irzen added, "Before she becomes a victim of her own success."