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-----Seth smiles, " I am ready to train."
-----Wain takes the items from the Dread Pirate. "It is no charge," he says and it almost sounds as if a smile crosses his darkened face.
-----Picks suddenly enters carrying a small sack. "Breakfast is served!" he announces and he quickly reaches in the sack and withdraws three good-sized rolls. He tosses one to each of the thieves, telling them, "Eat up! We’ll start some skills trainin’ as soon as yer done."
-----Wain tells the thieves he will return shortly and he vanishes down one of the tunnels. The dwarf moves off to an adjoining room to retrieve something. As the trio feast on their breakfast of biscuit, a tingling noise is heard and Picks returns with a headless tailor’s dummy. A dark waistcoat covers its torso, every inch of it covered by small bells sewn into the material. Into the two pockets on the outside of the coat, he inserts a medium-sized pouch. He takes a third pouch and puts into the pocket inside the coat. The bells tingle gently as he does this.
-----"Ah right," the dwarf announces, "let’s see who can ‘trieve the money pouch witout the bells givin’ ya away."
-----Kazel steps up to the mannequin and smoothly slips her hands into one of the outside pockets. She carefully latches on to the pouch within and eases it back out. The bells remain silent. Gleefully she steps to the other side and likewise draws forth the second pouch without any problem. As she reaches up for the inside pocket, she carefully moves the coat open and reaches in. Just as her fingers alight on the purse within, a few of the bells give her away. Picks replaces the purses back in the pockets.
-----Gimplefwick then approaches the dummy and cracking his knuckles seems to take a few moments to confer with his parrot. Nodding his head and flexing his fingers, he reaches for the first pocket and swiftly the purse appears in his hand. In one motion, he tosses the purse to Picks and strolls to the other pocket. The Dread Pirate eyeballs the pocket and just as quickly retrieves the second purse without any bell ringing. Now as he attempts the inside pocket, he hesitates and for a moment, he appears to argue somewhat with the parrot mounted on his shoulder. Just as he slips his hand between the material, the bells begin tingling madly.
-----Poor Seth has the hardest time of all as each time he approaches one of the pockets and slips his hand into it. However as he tries to grip the purse within, the bells unmercifully sound. Just as he misses the attempt with the inside pocket, the Fly appears from one of the tunnels carrying Seth’s pack. "Isn’t it just like a musician," he quips, "always makin’ music!"
-----Picks then sets the three thieves down at the center table and hands each one three locks and a set of picks. "Go to it!" he rumbles, "the last one ta git all three open cleans da pit toilets!"
-----This time Seth proves to be the expert as he opens all three locks successfully in short order. After about a quarter of an hour, Picks stops the other two. Kazel and the Dread Pirate manage to open one lock apiece.
-----Next, Picks leads all three thieves into one of the tunnels. When they are a good way from the lighted room, Picks tells them, "Okay, each of ya, one at a time, sneak up on me at the other end. I’ll be able to tell if I can hear ya or not. Take as much time as ya want ‘fore each of ya start, but let’s get this done, ‘fore next year!"
-----The dwarf then returns to the central room and sits in a chair with his back to the dark tunnel. The first time through all three manage to make it to the end without Picks hearing them. The second time through, a piece of dirt crunches under Kazel’s foot and Picks says, "Heard ya!" Seth and Gimplefwick succeed.
-----The second time through, the Dread Pirate proves to be the only one to fail in surprising the stingy dwarf. As he reaches within ten feet of the dwarf’s chair, Picks suddenly utters, "Heard ya!"
-----"Aw right," Picks says, "Take ye a break up top and we’ll work with ya on other things ya need trainin’ at." He shows Gimplefwick a cabinet in which to stash his gold. He also gives each thief some fruit to snack on.
-----The thieves exit into the adjoining room and climb a ladder there into the old tower. They climb out on the first floor of the old keep, daylight filtering through the cracks in the board on the massive door. As they peer outside, they guess it is the middle of the afternoon. The sky looks cloudy and gloomy. About a half-mile away, the huge town walls look gray and cold.
-----Gimplefwick grumbles as he stares out at the mid-afternoon day, "I wonder whether I'll ever see those items that Wain took. Or if they'll be the same ones." Gimplefwick continues muttering under his breath to his parrot.
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