“An alchemist.” Firoz said the obvious aloud, his eyes passing over the clutter of the lab.

“And presumably an astute and dangerous one,” Iliskra said, looking over the contents of a single table nearby, “I am by no means knowledgeable on alchemy but I recognize some of these ingredients. And look at all these books and transcriptions.”

“Hoy, Firoz,” Willory nodded toward the wall safe, “let’s try and get that open.”

Firoz nodded and he and his halfling companion walked over to the safe. Due to his height disadvantage Willory needed to climb up onto the desk to be able to reach it. After checking for pressure plates, trip wires, and any other trap triggers the two took out their picks and set to work on the locks.

“Is there any unused parchment on that desk?” Iliskra suddenly asked, causing the two thieves to stop with their task and look over their shoulder. Firoz then looked down at the desk top and back at Iliskra and nodded. Iliskra brushed past Leon and hurried over to the desk, grabbing a sheet of parchment and an ink well and quill also.

“What are ye’ doing?” Willory asked as Iliskra spread the parchment out on a nearby table and then pulled out the papers she had taken from Jadarl’s room. 

“I am going to copy down what’s important from these letters and then put them back,” Iliskra replied, dipping the quill in ink as she focused on the topmost letter, “with any luck [i]when[/i] Jadarl discovers that there was an intrusion we can conceal what we know or took.”

“Do you have the time?” Willory asked.

“How long will it take for you two to open that safe?” Iliskra asked, her eyes flitting in their sockets as she read over the first letter.

“Uhm…” Willory looked at Firoz.

“Several moments,” Firoz said, “she has the time.”

“Leo,” Iliskra said without looking up from her work, “grab a few of those… ‘brews’ from the shelves. Once I am done with this I will pick out what of those ingredients I know are of value. Once you are finished go put that ward stone back in Jadarl’s room. Hopefully he may believe the ward to his lab was removed by some other means. Maybe even an inside job…”