"I agree, I think Pendrift would be the best, given what we currently know. Are we on a time table, would it be worth it to send some others to meet with the three respective candidates one more time to get more info?" Sharvon asks the group. This so far is the best oppurtunity he has had for pay back, and doesn't want to rush it. "I am still curious about this Barley guy, a inside source could be invaluable to our cause."

Wilfer nods, "I think Pendrift is our best option, but the insider might be worth bringing in at a later date, at least partially. Perhaps I could 'encounter' him sometime during one of Dron's parties."

"I don't mind if we keep those other two in our pocket, and, if it seems they might be useful later on, and we find reason to think they can be trusted, we could always bring them in later if needs be." Savra says with a nod. "For now, I think we have made our decision."

Vansic nods towards Aravor and David. "You can confide in me if you still have objections. I will proceed with approaching Mr. Pendrift with our proposal through our backer."

Garrol sits, leaning forward, elbows on knees, hands clasped. He lifts his head after a time, saying, "We're going to start with a small heist. This will allow us to test each other out and it will also serve as precursor for what is to come. I have mixed feelings about the target, but Ms. Forsythe assures me that my instinct is correct and thus it is the proper course of action. We are going to steal the statue of Lendover Forsythe."

Every person in the room knows this statue, displayed across the river in the Pearlbridge District in Forsythe Square. It is one of the iconic landmarks of the city. Lendover Forsythe, the great-great-great-great grandfather of Meraldine Forsythe, helped found Foxshadow, cementing the Forsythe family as near nobility in the eyes of its citizens. Aside from the iconic visual of Lendover Forsythe benevolently reaching down to a curious but cautious fox, the Forsythe family is revered and respected in the town as philanthropists, diverse and fair employers, and political defenders of the town to the crown. Stealing this statue will be seen as nothing more than an act of violent vandalism against Foxshadow.

Vansic lets the implications of this target sink in and then continues. "There are three reasons to make this our target. The first is that it will divert suspicion away from our backer. After all, she will be a victim as well. That was my primary motivation but then we could target any number of items instead of this one save for the other two reasons.

"The next reason is that we can use this theft to send Dron a message. My idea is to replace the statue with another that clearly depicts Dron as our target. I want him to know that something is coming.  I have not commissioned anything yet because I want to limit any and all paths back to us. But we can either have something hastily cast or involve some stone-shaping magic. I envision a statue of Dron being bitten on his rear by a fox. But I welcome any other ideas that you have.

"The final reason to target this statue specifically is that it is very well-known, and a well-known object is a critical elemental to David's contraption. So stealing this statue will benefit our end-goal directly.

"I know, this is may make you uneasy. It will also be difficult, since it is public and will bring a LOT of attention our way. I think those risks can be mitigated, if we can do this carefully and quietly. And I do intend to put the statue back once we are done.

"So...before we begin, does anyone have any thoughts on our target?"

David nods along and shakes his head when Vansic ask if he has any objections to Pendrift.

"I got no objections, sounds like a good pick."

When Vansic reveals the target of their first heist, David sits back, letting out a sigh. As Vansic explains the reasoning, he nods agreement and then nods again more knowingly when Vansic mentions the device.

"Yeah, gotta tap into the notoriety of the object, the more well known the object is, the stronger the effect. That statue's probable the most well known object in the whole city, should make the range of the device more than sufficient."

David looks like he's calculating things in his mind as he continues to speaks.

"Probable cover half the city, not that we should need that kind of range for our purposes, but nice to have the leeway. Should be able to easily tap into the minds of anyone who has a clear line of sight to the S.E.P. field, no problem."

Coming back to the task itself, David asks,

"So any plans or ideas for moving the thing?"

David's mind is already working through the problem from a logistics point of view.

"Hhmm...with an object that size, probably need a wagon to move it. Also gonna need the right tools to separate it from its foundation. And the weight, we should probably rig up a mobile crane on the wagon. Oh and then there's the replacement, either going to need a second wagon or a bigger cargo area to fit the two statues side by side..."

David gets lost in thought, thinking through the various problems and their possible solutions.

(OOC: so how big is this statue?)

"Unless someone has the power to shrink the statue, or animate it, I am not completely sure what magic we can bring to bear on this task." Savra says thoughtfully. "I know such spells exist, but I am not strong enough in my own magic to call on such myself." She glances to the other spellcasters. "Do you have any magic, or ideas, that would aid us here?"

"Yeah so what is this device, and what is a S.E.B..P field?" Sharvon asks David. The target sounds like a good one to Sharvon, a good test before the real thing.

Wilfer nods at the choice of the target, apparently not bothered at all by the choice. At the subject of magic to remove the statue he shakes his head, "I'm afraid most of my power is directed at creatures, won't work on a stone. As far as a replacement," a slow, not particularly pleasant, grin spreads across his face, "Perhaps a near identical statue, only with the fox biting his hand instead? Something that, as people are familiar with the statue, they'll look past until someone finally notices the difference, and word should spread like wildfire."

Quote from DragonDenn >>

(OOC: so how big is this statue?)

It is mounted on a tall pedestal but the statue itself if only 5 feet high, 5-feet long, and 5-feet wide. The main figure is stooped, but life-sized. It is about 10 feet off the ground at its base.

(Ok, so, a human-sized stone statue. If you go with the numbers from petrified creatures, that makes it 10 times the weight of that normal-sized man, so let's say 1800 pounds then... That is not out of the realm of possibility...)

Tug trusts that the descendent thinks it's okay, laughing a bit That's funny. And I can think a "large" object 30 feet from 30 feet away a couple times a day - it's the size not the weight for brain-stuff. So getting the boney-fide onto a cart and the gag version up there is a cinch. Biting the butt is funnier than the hand. If we had the right illusion, we could have it flicker like two consecutive moments in time He cracks himself up thinking of Lendover Bendover swapping with Bit-arse Curtis

At Savra's talk of shrinking the statue, David comments,

"Heh, would certainly make the job a hell of a lot easier, but if we don't have that kind of magic at hand, how about distractions? If we do this with a wagon and simple leaver crane, with fourfold pulleys, we are going to be noticed, even in the dead of night. If we can use illusions or the like, maybe a silence spell? Plus some lookouts to keep watch, and maybe divert people away? What do you think?"

When Sharvon asks about the device and what an S.E.P. field is, David replies,

"I learned about the design from an artificer who was visiting the city. It generates a couple of fields that together produce an effect that is better than invisibility. The effect is called Somebody Else's Problem or S.E.P for short."

David grins,

"The first field is the largest and is what the statue is for, it reaches out to everyone in it's range and imparts a little magic that causes them to do everything in their power to both physically and mentally, not notice what lies within the second field. The effect is so strong they will successfully walk right around the location searching for a place they may know and still be unable to find it."

"At least that's what the artificer claimed. Said he tried a prototype on a small forge from his home temple and he claimed everyone was completely confused as to how it had gone missing. When he asked someone to point where the forge used to be, they gave him a confused look, as their eyes kept sliding around the location, unable to look at it directly."

"With a fully functional device of our own, we should be able to completely hide the crypt from everyone, even though they know exactly where it is. That should give us plenty of time to get the thing moved, either via some magical ritual or by plain hard work."

When Tug mentions being able to move both statues with his mind, David lets out a whistle,

"Wweeeoo, you can move something that size and weight with just your mind? That's gonna make things much easier, and quicker!"

David smiles at Tug, his mind turning over the possibilities this might add to the endeavour.

Hearing the definition of S.E.P. Sharvon busts out laughing. "That is fantastic! The somebody else's problem!" Sharvon calms himself. "So I assume anyone on the field isn't effected but what if we go out of the field for some reason, is there any way for us to not be struck with a great sense that suddenly it's somebody else problem?"

Wilfer shakes his head, "I can disguise or hide myself, and create small illusions, but nothing of that size. I could help make a distraction, though. Perhaps with Sharvon here acting as an acrobat and I could put on a little traveling performance, perhaps dropping hints of what is to come, before disappearing when the work is done. We could help divert attention away from the rest of you, but that's the best I think I can do on my own."

David smiles conspiratorially at Sharvon,

"Aahh, that's the trick! There are these amulets that go with the whole set up. They aren't directly magical themselves, but they cause the effect of the first field to be reversed on the wearer. Instead of the effect inducing revulsion, anxiety, fear, disgust, or the like, you instead get an effect of curiosity or noisiness. So we will be able to come and go without a problem, but everyone else will be completely none the wiser."

"Of course we are going to need a few things to get the device working, not least of all a powerful enough magical power source to get it running. Now normally I could create this, given enough time and resources, but I don't think we want to wait six months or more for that. So we will probably need to go on another heist at some point."

David looks at Vansic with his last remark.

At Wilfer's confession on his limitations with larger illusions, David adds his own thoughts.

"I have an eversmoking bottle among my equipment. That could give us cover, but it would make the whole endeavour much harder to actually do. If we could somehow get the attention of anyone who might come through, while also hiding our activities, that would be best."

David looks around the group.

"Anyone have equipment, magic or skills that could help solve our problem?"

"I sm very skilled with enchantment magic."

David looks at Aravor.

"So that's like [Tooltip Not Found] and the like? That could work, if you can get them to follow you and ignore what's going on. With Tug doing the heavy lifting, most of the more noticeable parts of the operation can be over quickly and we can get the statue away from onlookers."

David considers some more.

"Ok so how does this sound? We do it late at night, to minimise the number of people who would be there. Most of us can filter into the square separately before hand, so I can get to work trying to separate the statue from its base. The others of you can distract anyone still up and about and Tug, with someone to drive the cart, can be waiting nearby with the replacement statue, covered by sheet."

"Once I've managed to separate the statue from the base, we give the signal and the cart comes in quick. We uncover the new statue and Tug does the swap-over using his mind-power. Then we cover the original statue and get the cart out of there quick."

"So we need distraction to keep people from taking an interest in what I'm doing and then a much bigger distraction to cover the swap over. Then we all leave separately and regroup back here. How does that sound for a first draft on an plan?"

David looks around the group for comments, ideas for improvement or alternative plans.

Wilfer thinks for a moment, a slight frown on his face, "Doing it at night would certainly limit the number of observers, but if your device works, the number shouldn't matter. But I assume the only people we'd encounter late at night would be guardsmen and criminals, neither of whom would likely be distracted by our performance and might be even more suspicious from it. Perhaps late evening or early morning, when there are still people out, but not many. That way we could gather a crowd, which would draw in the guards and others away from the heist. Do we have any plan for the big reveal? Or just let people notice on their own? As for the power you need, do you have something for this heist or will we need to get something? And finally, I'm assuming this would be the time to loop in our newest associate to see if he has any ideas or suggestions?"

David gives Wilfer a confused look for a moment before remarking.

"I think you might be a little confused there friend. The S.E.P. device hasn't even been built yet, just mostly designed. The device is going to be a little on the larger size and was for the purposes of hiding the crypt form everyone else, so we have the time and access to be able to steal the whole thing. This first heist, to swap the statues, is going to get us one of the key parts to make the device."

"But your point about keeping people distracted still seems sound. Perhaps some street performance to get the attention of everyone during the day, would be better cover for our swap.:

David looks to Savra with his last remark.

"What do you think Savra, your a performer right? What do you think about trying to create a distraction?"

So dead o'clock at night woulda been my first thought Tug says as he catches up But I'm seein' your points about a distracted crowd bein' better than getting caught while assuming privacy. If'n it's late evening, a decent fraction of our witnesses might be impaired, specially if we can arrange for some alcoholic generosity at the nearby establishments. And even make it seem like Dron is the one bein' generous? 

I'm assuming Dron does that sort of thing, curries favor with the hoi polloi buying drinks, and doesn't always show up himself to do it. The bogus celebrations Wilfer endures can't be the only examples. If we spread some money around the bars, and imply rather than state it's from Dron, and have some booze circulating in the crowd the performers attract - that could increase our chances, no?