Every+Rose+has+its+Thorn

"It's looks like you've come up a little 'short' Thorn...." The strange lithe man dressed in black watched the halfling with amusement as he struggled to pull himself up onto the next rooftop "Get it?... Short! Heh..heh..heh..HA HA HA!" The Jester laughed as Thorn finally pulled himself up, rolling onto the slatted roof just as a jet of acid from the rogue's flower lapel splattered over where he'd just been with an unpleasant hiss.

Thorn flipped his pursuer a rude gesture, it wasn't as if he'd heard that one before. Not two weeks in Lyrabar and he was already making enemies, and he took off again running across the rooftops. How was he to know that this Jester character would take offense if he committed a few practical jokes in the course of some of his robberies! He acted like he had a claim on all that was funny. Screw him! When Thorn had arrived in Lyrabar he'd found no evidence of a Thieves Guild, just a handful of independent operators. It had turned out that the local crime lord had been slain by a group of adventurers last year, he had ruled all of the criminal activity in the city with an iron grip. Now that he was gone there was a power vacuum and small gangs fought to reclaim a slice of what had been his. And so, independent rogues that had been too careful before were now coming out of the woodwork.

"Heh...heh...HA...HA..." The Jester's laugh faded into the background and Thorn glanced back to see the eerie white masked man and his minions fade into the shadows. They had been all dressed similarly to him, with odd theater masks of different colors, some displaying wicked smiles, and some, sad frowns. It had been a little creepy, but for some reason it seemed like they had stopped following him. He leapt across another rooftop or two before finally stopping to take a breather. The city of Lyrabar was beautiful at night, with the moonlight reflecting off the sea and the canal's and waterways that criss-crossed the city. He sat down on the roof and took out his pack to examine tonight's haul. Unfolding some black cloth he examined the silver and gold tableware he'd liberated from the merchant's townhouse. He'd been hoping for a rare and valuable cow shaped piece of dinnerware but had been disappointed.

The one thing though, that had caught his eyes, had been a pair of mysterious looking daggers displayed in a case along with several other larger weapons too cumbersome for Thorn to take. For some reason he'd been...drawn to them. He took them into his hand, they were light, and well balanced, and razor sharp. He saw sculpted into the pommel and grip an odd rose motif, carved into the metal. It almost looked like a rose vine was curled around the hilt. He juggled them in the air effortlessly to further test their balance and then flung one of them at a nearby chimney where it stuck easily into the stone and mortar.. "Nice!" He whistled to himself. It was then he noticed there was faint writing along the side of the other blade he still had in his hand. It was halfling and said...'Rose'.

"Rose?" Thorn said quietly to himself, "what a str....whoAAH!" He stopped as he felt a strange...lurch and suddenly he was standing next to the chimney with the other dagger in his hand. "What the hells...." Thorn thought...he'd been standing over...there at the edge of the roof a moment ago and now he was by the chimney. He looked at the two daggers in his hands...it appeared there was more to them then met the eye!