Missteps V.2

Chapter 55 – Keyword: Stealth

Ander wasn't the only one who needed to prepare a spell list for the day. As Elaine and Lia joined the small spellcaster, Maron made a request of Kerri.

"Do we really need disguises?" The half-elf sat at the table with a mug of tea. "Last time we were at the palace we were all gussied up, I don't think we'll be recognized."

Maron sighed. "I understand that, but I would feel better if I had some sort of disguise. It doesn't have to be big, just like a distracting scar or something on my chin."

Kerri took a sip. "Like the kind you had on that job in Melvane?"

"Exactly. Can you do it?"

Kerri stood up. "Sure, anything to make you look uglier."

"Scars don't have to be ugly." Maron reminded the young girl as she sauntered past him and towards the ladder.

"I know." Kerri disappeared to the second floor. She came back down a few minutes later with a medium-sized black box in her hands and her pack over her shoulder. She instructed Maron to sit at the table. Inside the box were various containers of makeup and brushes. She borrowed Ander's light globe, and got to work.

By the time the others had finished preparing their spells, Maron now sported a dark red scar along the bottom left side of his face. Kerri grabbed a comb from the box, and ran it through Maron's hair. While not short, Maron's dark hair had been scraggly. Now she teased a few more curls along the side of his head.

Maron winced. "Will you stop pulling my hair?"

"Fine." The bard gave another hard tug with her comb before she backed off. She handed a small mirror over. "What do you think?"

Maron took a moment to examine the changes. "Scar's good, but the hair might be a bit much."

Kerri rolled her eyes as she knelt down and rummaged through her pack. She pulled out a hat and handed it over. "Wear this instead if you want." For herself, Kerri pulled out a long-haired blonde wig. She sat down on the bench and brushed out some of the curls before she put it on. "Lia, come over here." She called over her shoulder.

Lia walked over. "What is it?"

"I want you to braid my hair the same way you braid yours." Kerri reached into the box and took out some of the makeup containers. She began to dab some dark powder under her eyes.

"It's no use twinning with her as long as she's got that handprint." Maron advised as he adjusted the ear flaps on his new headpiece.

Kerri rolled her eyes. "I'm not getting an exact match here Maron, just enough to cause some double-takes." She smacked her lips after she added some lipstick. She turned around in her seat and looked at Carric and Elaine. "Should we do the two of you up as well?"

Elaine shook her head, as did Carric.

"Got it covered." Carric pulled a length of leather out of his belt bag, and used it to tie his hair up in a top knot.

Jun grinned. "I hardly recognize you." He turned to the rest of the party. "Alright, as previously established, the name of the game today is stealth and speed. No need to do any unnecessary sleuthing. One group should go to the guardhouse and armory to look for the helmet, while another group makes a beeline for the third floor and the tiara. Both groups will just have to keep an eye out for the family tree."

Iados raised his hand. "Do we have a plan to meet up, or are the two groups just on their own?"

"Why not meet in the sewer tunnel afterwards? If both parties aren't back there, say by sunset, then it can be assumed that the other group needs help." Maron suggested.

"Sunset is an awfully long time to wait." Kerri did her best to keep her head still while Lia braided. "Let's say four o'clock. By the time we get to the palace and get started it'll be nearly ten, so that gives us about six hours to search."

Maron shook his head. "If the other group does need help, it'll be easier to rescue them or sneak to them under the cover of darkness. If we weren't on a time crunch with Lia, I'd be saying that we hold off our search until tonight."

"I get what you're saying, but I'm saying that we should shorten the wait time because of the time crunch with Lia. We don't have time to twiddle our thumbs and wait for a group that may or may not need a rescue." Kerri argued back.

Maron held up his hands. "I'm just giving you my opinion as someone who's done this kind of work for a few years."

"And we appreciate that." Jun said before Kerri could speak again. "You both bring up good points. Let's split the difference and say five. If both teams aren't back in the sewer by five o'clock, then assume the other is in trouble. Sound good?" Maron, Kerri, and everyone else nodded.

Lia finished the braid and handed the mirror to Kerri. She inspected the handiwork, and nodded. "Looks good." She set the mirror down and stood up. "Alright, anything else we need to do before we head out?"

No one said anything, and the group headed out. Ander collapsed the tower back into a cube and pocketed it. They made a quick stop in at the church and left Shomma with an acolyte, who promised not to let her out of their sight. Carric wanted to bring her, but eventually acquiesced to leaving her behind when he was reminded of how well her training had been going. Maron led the way to the nearest sewer grate that was on the east side of the church.

"This is disgusting." Lia carefully picked her way down the ladder into the sewer. Maron had gone first, and waited at the bottom. The ladder descended down the side wall of the sewer, right to a five-foot lip that was only a few inches higher than the smelly and green-colored current that ran past.

"You knew we were using a sewer, what were you expecting?" Maron asked as he helped Lia down the last few rungs and off the ladder. Next to come down was Elaine.

"I don't know, I haven't spent a lot of time in sewers." Lia shivered from the cold and wrapped her cloak around herself.

Elaine made it down easily and went to stand with Lia. "Just stay on the lip and don't look too hard at anything in the water." On cue, a dead and bloated rat floated past on the current. She turned to look at Maron. "How long should it take us to reach the palace?"

"About thirty minutes." Maron answered.

Once everyone was down, Maron confidently led the way towards the palace. Besides Ander's light globe, Elaine also enchanted Lia's staff so that they'd have plenty of light. At every intersection the group came to, Maron stopped and consulted a series of scratch marks in the floor. Iados and Kerri both recognized them as marks used by thieves' guilds.

Quite a few times during their trek, the group came across bands of rats. Thankfully these were the normal-sized rats, and not the giant-sized they'd faced in Yeabrook. Most of these rats ran away, though there were a few that decided to fight. Those were very quickly punted into the water.

After about an hour of walking, Maron's confidence seemed to have faded. At every crossroads they came to, Maron took longer and longer to read the scratch marks.

At the next intersection, Iados went up to Maron and squatted down next to him. "Hey, be straight with me, are we lost?"

Maron bit his lip, before he sighed heavily. "Yeah, we're lost." He motioned down to the marks. "A lot of these aren't used in Liratha. I thought I'd made the adjustment when I started working with the Rabble Lord, but obviously I was wrong."

Iados patted Maron's back. "It's alright, I've been there." He reached down and traced some of the lines with his fingers. "This grouping here," Iados pointed to a cluster of three thick lines that were connected with four smaller lines. "This is the sign for Marblebrooke." He pointed to the three lines above the sign, with each one shorter than the rest. "That means hill or elevation. Around here, I'm assuming that this is the palace, since the palace is the seat of government in town and is on the only hill."

Maron traced the signs himself. "Ah, that's where the issue is. In Liratha, Marblebrooke has a different signature. Thanks."

The akudaem patted Maron on the back as he stood up. "No problem, and I figured that might be the case. If you're interested, when this is done you and I should get together and compare notes on these signs."

Maron stood up as well. "I'd like that." Together the two of them led the way and within another thirty minutes they had arrived.

The sewer opened up just a few feet from the rear entrance of the palace. The entrance had a thick double-door that was currently closed. After checking that the coast was clear, Maron scrambled up the door and did an elaborate knock. The knock was returned after a few moments and the doors swung open. Maron gestured for everyone to go in.

Inside, they were greeted by an older female with gray hair. She was dressed in leathers, knee-high boots, and held a pitchfork. Her face was red with sweat.

"Maron, what are you doing here?" The woman wiped some of the sweat off with the back of her hand. "I don't have any parcels for the Rabble Lord."

"Not that kind of visit Miriam." Maron said. "The Rabble Lord sent us to find some objects in the palace."

Miriam narrowed her eyes. "Let me guess, a plumed helmet, some family tree, and the fabled tiara?"

Maron's smile dropped. "We're not the first he's sent."

The old woman shook her head. "You probably won't be the last either. The hat and family tree are easy enough to come by. I don't know why he wants them, but he's got to have quite a collection by now. Not one group has managed to find anything on the tiara."

Kerri approached the woman. "Do you know anything about the third floor?"

Miriam shook her head. "No one is allowed up there. Occasionally some young fool or one of the groups sent by the Rabble Lord will go up, but not all of them come back. Those that do come back, don't even remember going up."

"Do you know where the hat and family trees have been found?" Iados asked.

Miriam pointed towards the front of the palace. "Look in the guardhouse for the helmets. The guards hate them, so they usually just leave them on a table. Not a clue where exactly the trees were found. You might check the church office, I know that there's still some files that have been left untouched there."

"Thank you for your help Miriam." Maron said.

Miriam smiled, reached up, and lightly slapped Maron's face. "You're welcome, just be careful you don't run into trouble." She turned and headed out towards the stables that could be seen though a large entrance way out of the tower.

"Ok, so do we split up here?" The group looked around. Besides the two entrances, the only other way out of the room was a staircase that went to the second floor above. Carric jogged over to the staircase and started to head up. The rest of his group (Maron, Elaine, and Ander) had just reached it when Miriam came back into the tower.

"By the way, I should have mentioned this before." The old woman leaned on her pitchfork. "You should go to the third tower, the one in the north-western corner." She pointed to the other side of the stables. "This tower doesn't have any access to the rest of the castle, and only goes up to the second level. The third level is blocked."

"Why?" Lia asked.

Miriam shrugged. "It was built like that. In the olden days when this place was occupied with royalty, that was the apartment of the wizard who worked for the king. I can only assume that he liked his privacy." Miriam turned around and gestured for the group to follow her. "Come, I'll show you the doors in the other tower." The group followed Miriam as they headed across the stables. There were only two horses in residence at the moment. Carric lagged behind for a moment to feed them both an apple before he ran to catch up.

In the northwest tower was a large well in the center of the room that had a wooden cover on it. Spiraling up the walls was a simple wooden staircase that reached up a good twenty feet up. Clotheslines had been stretched across the empty space tied onto the banisters of the stairs. A multitude of rags, and long pieces of colored cloth hung on the lines.

Miriam pointed to the stairs. "These will take you directly to the third floor of the tower." She pointed to the two doors on south wall. "The first door is the servant's entrance to the palace, while the second door leads outside. You'll follow the wall and it'll take you to the first tower in the southwest corner."

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"Does the tower's third floor enter the palace?" Elaine asked.

Miriam shrugged. "I've never been curious enough to find out. Have fun." Miriam went back to the stable.

Jun clapped his hands. "Ok, so how are we going to do this?"

Once again Carric headed towards the stairs. "Leave the towers to my group. You guys worry about inside the palace."

Iados cracked a smiled. "What, are you afraid of what's on the third floor?"

Carric paused and turned back. "Honestly, I'm more confident in my ability to outwit a few guards than whatever is taking people's memory."

Ander pointed over to the cleric. "We were told to check out the church records, shouldn't we have Elaine go? She is the religious person."

Elaine cracked a smile. "They're just checking the records for a family tree, I don't think they need me for that." She headed towards the stairs as well. "If you guys do find anything interesting religion-wise, don't hesitate to bring it with you."

Kerri put a hand on her hip. "How are we supposed to figure out if it's interesting?"

Maron cracked a grin. "Just pocket anything that makes you go 'huh'." He did a little head tilt as he said it. Elaine laughed.

Lia grabbed Kerri's hand and pulled her towards the doors. "Come on, what do you say to us finding two of the three and making them pay for dinner?"

Kerri smiled. She turned and yelled at the small group on the stairs. "Loser buys dinner!"

Carric grinned. "You're on."

It took no time at all for Carric's group to reach the top of the stairs. There wasn't a door, the stairs just emptied into a circular room at the top. Every few feet there were narrow slits in the walls. Glass balls with unlit candles in them hung suspended from the ceiling ten feet up. A wooden door sat embedded in the stone wall, while a small ladder headed up to a fourth floor. The bulk of the room was taken up by the two large vertical plant beds in the center. Each bed had shelves of dirt in them. At the moment there weren't many plants in the beds. A few empty tables lined the walls, with wooden crates stacked under them.

All four of them narrowed in on the crates. They each took one and began to rummage through. Most of the crates were full of dried or powdered plants. According to Elaine, they all seemed to be for medicinal purposes if the handwritten tags were to be believed. She stuck quite a few of them into her own bag. Eventually the guys grew bored with the crates, and they moved over to the planters and began to search them inside and out.

Elaine stuck with the crates. In the last crate, she found a few tomes on the medicinal properties of plants, as well as a manual on wound care. Underneath the books was a large object that was wrapped in canvas. In the canvas was a bag. The bag wasn't very big, only about a foot in both height and length, with only half of that in width. It had one long strap that made it suitable for being carried over the shoulder. When she flipped over the flap, she was confronted with an inky darkness.

Elaine gasped. She stood up and went over to the guys. She held out the bag. "Look what I found."

Maron glanced over. "Yeah, nice bag."

Elaine rolled her eyes. She handed it over to Ander. "Look inside."

Ander did as he was told. His eyes widened as he saw that same inky darkness. He looked up. "Do you think this is what I think it is?" He walked over to the slits in the wall and started to examine the bag closer in the sunlight that streamed through.

Elaine nodded. "I was hoping you'd think it was I think it is as well."

Carric pulled his hands out of the dirt. "Why don't you two tell us what it is that you think it is?"

"It's an enchanted bag, probably for storage purposes judging by the look on the inside." Ander advised as he focused on the stitching. "I don't recognize the maker's mark here, so it's probably not a commercial product. Might be a custom or personal project."

"Do you think you can figure out the enchantment?" Elaine asked as Ander rejoined the group.

Ander shrugged. "Maybe, and if not we can get it done at a Circle Chapter House. Good find."

"Crazy thought," Maron walked over as he wiped his soil-covered hands on his pants. "Could the tiara be hidden in the bag?"

"Ooh, could be. That would account for why it hasn't been seen." Ander rubbed his hands together and handed it back to Elaine. "We'll have to find out how to empty it, just to see what all is inside."

Elaine flipped the flap and held her hand right over the inky interior. She closed her eyes and thought about the tiara and all she'd heard about it.

Nothing happened.

She sighed and moved the flap back over. "Worth a shot."

Maron moved over to the ladder and headed upwards, with Carric right behind him.

The walls of the fourth floor were wooden, and upon further inspection it was discovered that they were set on rails so they could be opened and closed easily. Individual pots on pedestals were placed around the room, each of them under a glass lid. The pots were full of long-dead plants.

"Do you recognize what kind of plants these were?" Maron asked he knelt down to look at one of the pots.

Carric did the same across the room. "Not on sight." He lifted one of the lids. A noxious odor assaulted his senses and sent him into a coughing fit. He immediately replaced the lid and backed away from the plant. Maron hurried over to him.

"Do I need to get Elaine?" Maron asked as Carric doubled over.

The ranger shook his head, and after another minute the coughing died down. The faint taste of cinnamon was left in the back of his throat. He took a large gulp from his waterskin. "Don't open the lids." He croaked.

Maron raised an eyebrow. "I was already pretty inclined not to after that display."

"Yeah, well I'm pretty sure these plants were used for poisons." He took another gulp and stood up straight. "What do you say to calling this place done and leaving?"

"Good call." Maron helped Carric over to the ladder, and then explained the situation to a worried Elaine.

Ander crossed his arms. "Well except for the bag this place turned out to be a bust. Do we head through this door or back down the stairs?"

Carric shook his head. "We're the tower group, not the palace group. We're gonna head down the stairs, and if we run into the palace group we'll let them know about the door." Everyone agreed. Before they left, Elaine dropped the books she'd found and a few more of the medicine pouches into the enchanted bag.

They went down to the first floor, and headed out the door towards the southwest tower. All of them kept a wary out as they traveled through the small grassy corridor between the palace and its wall. The door to the tower wasn't locked.

Before they opened it, Maron stood with his ear at the crack for about a minute. When he was assured that nobody was on the other side, he opened it slowly. The room was empty and the four of them creeped in. The room was very dark, and there was only one person in the group that had the ability to see in the dark. After Maron had slipped easily into the room, Ander had followed. In an attempt to go to the side of the doorway and not block it, he tripped over something heavy and metallic. A hollow sound rang out from what he had hit, and when he hit the ground a curse rang out of him.

Elaine, who'd been next, tried to follow the sound of Ander's curse. She ran into the same object. As she started to fall, she reached out and grabbed whatever the item was, bringing it clanging down to the ground on top of her.

A guard with a lit torch ran into the room through a previously closed door. He saw Carric outlined in the open doorway.

The guard brandished the torch out in front of him as his hand flew to his waist. "You there, stop!"

Maron, who hadn't been seen by the guard, came up behind him and hit him at the base of his neck with the pommel of his dagger.

The guard reached up and clutched his neck as he fell to his knees. "You slimy bastard." The guard flung out with his torch to hit Maron. The former prince easily ducked out of the way of the torch. He tried to hit the guard again, but the guard rolled out of the way. He turned towards the open door and opened his mouth to shout. Before he could, Maron got behind him and stabbed his dagger into the side of the guard's neck. The guard began to gargle. The ex-prince pointed the guard towards a shadowy corner, and then wrenched his dagger out the front of the guard's neck.

Behind him, the other members of his group couldn't see the blood that arced across the walls, but they could hear it.

Carric quietly stomped over and closed the door that the guard had left open. He picked up the torch and approached Maron.

"I think we can throw sneaky out the window." He admonished as he watched Maron use the guard's tabard to clean his knife. "You didn't have to kill him."

Maron stood up. "I tried to knock him out, but when he went to yell for help I didn't really have a choice." He looked over at Elaine and Ander. "Great job on keeping quiet."

"Shut up." Elaine wiggled out from under the empty of suit of armor.

Now that they had light, everyone could see that the room was mostly empty save for another couple of suit displays. The armor was obviously dinged and heavily used. There was another simple staircase that went to the second floor. Maron was the first to head for the stairs. He made it halfway up before he paused and waited for Elaine to finish her quick prayer for the fallen guard.

The second floor was just as empty as the first, save for some thick mats that littered the ground. There was another staircase that led up to a third floor, and a door that led out of the tower. Like before Maron held his ear to the door and listened before he opened it.

Inside was the barracks. About ten or so bunk beds (with only a quarter of them made up) lined the wall. Trunks were situated at the foot of each one, while tables and chair were strewn about the room. Like Miriam had predicted, three plumed helmets all sat together on one of the tables.

Maron crouched down in front of the closest trunk and began to fiddle with the lock. It only took a second before he was rewarded with a click and an open chest. Inside was a bunch of clothes. He pulled out a tabard with the Silverbank crest on it. In fact, all the clothing in the chest were tabards. He pursed his lips for a moment as he looked over at his group. Ander and Elaine were by the helmets, with one of them on Ander's head. Carric had gone across the room to check the other door.

Maron stood up. "Elaine, come over here."

Elaine walked over. "Why?"

"Put this on." He tossed one of the tabards over to her. He picked up three others and walked over towards Ander. He knelt in front of the halfling, took off the helmet, and forcibly pulled the tabard over Ander's head.

"What the hell are you doing?" Ander squeaked as he fought against the fabric.

"It's called a disguise." Maron grunted as he fought to get the small arms through the holes.

"Then get me a smaller one!" Ander cried out. Maron finally won and got the oversized material on the small body. The tabard reached all the way to the floor and hung very baggy on him.

Maron grabbed the same helmet as before, and put it on Ander's head with a grin. "If I was disguising you as an adult, a smaller size would work. But, if you play along and be a child, then this works perfectly."

Carric grinned at the sight of Ander, and the plume that was larger than his head. "And whose kid is he supposed to be?"

Maron stood up and pointed towards Elaine.

"Why does he have to be my kid? Why can't he be one of yours?" Elaine asked.

"Better yet," Ander took the helmet off. "Why do I have to be a kid at all?"

"Simple," Maron put the helmet back on. "No one would suspect a group with a small child of killing someone." He turned to Elaine. "Also, I've found that people tend to be less suspicious and more sympathetic to single mothers trying to make their kids happy."

Carric knitted his eyebrows together. "Wait, so your plan is if we are stopped, to say what? That Elaine brought her kid to work?"

Maron nodded and tossed a tabard over to Carric. "Her sitter either cancelled, or it's his birthday, something reasonable that's hard to verify." He shimmied the tabard over himself.

"Alright, so why are you two sticking around? Why aren't I showing my son around myself?" Elaine slipped the tabard on over her armor, and frowned when it bunched up.

Maron walked over and helped her adjust it. "We are your good friends, who you asked to be responsible male role models to your fatherless son. We also may or may not be trying to get into your pants." He grinned.

Elaine rolled her eyes. "I bet you and Kerri had fun making up little stories like this whenever you worked together."

The ex-prince smiled. "Oh you have no idea." He turned to Carric. "How does that other door look?"

Carric, now in the tabard as well, shrugged. "It's not locked and I didn't hear anything." He nodded to the other chests. "Do we want to check them as well?"

Maron shook his head, to Ander's dismay. "Probably wouldn't find anything to make it worth it."

Carric nodded and turned back to the second door as everyone else crossed the room. Just as Carric reached for the handle, the door opened up and revealed a young dwarven woman with a full head of black hair and a matching beard.

"What are you doing here?" The dwarven woman demanded as she pushed herself into the room.

"Just showing the kid around," Maron's eyes darted to the insignia on her lapel. "Corporal."

The Corporal crossed their arms. "Is that so?"

"It's my birthday, and my mom promised." Ander said, his voice an octave higher than usual. He skipped over to Elaine and hung onto her arm.

Elaine knelt down next to Ander and gathered him in her arms. "I'm so sorry Corporal, I meant to clear it, but I forgot. I've just been so overwhelmed lately." She sent a silent prayer to her goddess for some of Kerri's acting ability to have rubbed off.

The Corporal started to relax. "That's alright, it's not like we're on high alert or anything. What all have you showed him?"

"Just the barracks so far, he wanted to dress like one of us." Elaine smiled and smoothed out the wrinkles on Ander's tabard. "We were thinking of going to the armory next."

"That's one of my favorites." The Corporal laughed and gestured for Ander to come over to her. "You want to see an even cooler place?"

Ander nodded vigorously and skipped over. Elaine was almost positive that that wasn't an act. They all followed the Corporal out of the room and through the door she'd come in, Ander's hand in the Corporal's. Behind her, Maron sent both Elaine and Carric a smug grin.

The second floor of the southeast tower consisted of the same kind of spiral staircase as the tower with the well. Below them on the first floor they could all see several large weapon displays. The Corporal led the way up to the third floor, stopping only to unlock the door.

Once inside, she instructed Carric and Maron to light the sconces around the circular room. There were a couple of small desks in the room, the tops of them littered with discarded quills and empty bottles of ink. Bookcases filled with bound leather volumes with faded titles sat on the shelves, and quite a few gaps could be seen from missing books. Crates filled with loose pieces of paper were stacked anywhere and everywhere, while a very large map of the continent hung on the far wall.

The Corporal led Ander through the room. "Now, this is a very special room." She gestured out at the various bookshelves. "All of these books are filled with state secrets. During the time of the royals, if you wanted to know something about someone or another country, the answer would probably be found here." She pointed to a ladder that went upstairs. "Up there they kept doves that would carry messages all over the country." The two of them arrived at the far wall. The Corporal reached out and opened a small wooden grate that she gestured for Ander to look through. Through the slits, Ander could see into a large cavernous room with a large table and chairs in the middle.

"Woah," Ander looked back up at the Corporal.

She smiled. "Also, anything that is said down there, even in the furthest corner, can be heard from this spot. The royals would host huge parties with friends and enemies alike, and then post their spies up here to record overheard secrets." She turned around, and saw Maron with his nose in one of the books.

She walked over and grabbed the book out of his hands. "There's no need for you to read this." She looked at the title page. "This family doesn't even exist anymore."

Elaine's eyes narrowed as she turned from the bookcase. "The names on the spines, are these family names?"

The Corporal nodded. "Mostly nobles, both new and old. Some of them are guild names. At one point, the area that now houses all the noble and elite families were home to the guilds that built Silverbank. Queen Tishain granted them the land outside the palace as a way of showing her trust in them. When the nobles began to take over, they forced the guilds farther and farther away from the palace."

"Tishain, she was the first queen?" Elaine asked.

The dwarf nodded. "My father says that she was a great queen, and he wishes that she hadn't been born with a measly human lifespan." She sighed heavily. "Well, that's enough of the past. It's time we get out of here." She gestured for Ander to come over, and she led the way out of the small room and down the stairs towards the first floor. "After the armory, you should take the boy over to the well. Some of the younger cadets get a kick out of hearing the echo from the old thing."

"I think we'll do that, thank you." Elaine leaned down and spoke in the Corporal's ear. "Also, about the helmet, would it be alright if he wears it home? I'll bring it back first thing tomorrow."

The Corporal waved her off. "He can keep it. Everyone hates them, and the faster those things all disappear the easier it is to order some that are decent looking." Elaine thanked her. Once they got to the first floor, the Corporal said their goodbyes and left.

"Alright, you guys wait here, I'll run up to the room, pick the lock, and find the book on the Haskin family. That's probably our best bet at a family tree." Maron headed towards the stairs.

"It's a waste of time." Carric said.

Maron paused. "Why?"

Carric pulled a leather bound book out of the back of his pants. "You're not the only one with deft fingers." He put the book back. "Now, let's finish this tour and get back to the sewers before they find the dead body."