Lock-Picking 101

[hassaran]

WHO: Character(s)
WHAT: Mandatory training on how to pick locks
WHEN: Various times this month
WHERE: Wherever
NOTES: A catch-all for RP about this training. OOC post here. People who didn't sign up for random pairings are still welcome to use this post to RP about their characters attending.

Trainings will be held periodically at various times of day, often in the unused dining hall in the Mage Tower but occasionally in various other classroom spaces. Teachers vary, generally members of the Scouting Division but not always, and the curriculum of the initial lecture is generally aimed at beginners. For them, they begin with identifying different types of locks, and display a few deconstructed examples to show how the internal mechanisms work, before demonstrating basic picking technique. If the attendance is mostly those with more experience, this might be skipped in favor of talking through more complex locks and trickier situations like makeshift picks, locks you can't see, avoiding leaving a trace, or detecting traps and failsafes.

Much of the time is spent in one-on-one instruction, and then studying in small groups made up of people with roughly similar skill-levels. There are a variety of locks and tools to work with (for those who haven't brought their own or want a new challenge), ranging from extremely basic to examples of rare and expensive locks from around Thedas, apparently from the Scoutmaster's own collection. At the end of the class, they are finally paired off to see how much they've learned by being—surprise!—shackled together until they can get themselves free. Each pair is sent off with orders not to neglect the rest of their work day(s) and bring the cuffs back when they're done.

Effort will be made to scale the challenge to fit, so those who are more skilled will be given more complicated cuffs to work with that may include enhancements like: requiring multiple locks to be unlocked simultaneously, enchantments that deliver a mild shock to the wearers if an unlocking attempt takes more than ten seconds, designs that tighten the cuffs when an unsuccessful attempt is made, and so on. If you feel your character is simply too good to be held by any such mechanism for long enough to make this fun, then feel free to make up additional complications, like being cuffed back to back, including leg manacles, whatever (within reason).

Note that use of magic (or rifter powers or any sort of unorthodox ability) is strictly forbidden in all parts of this course. If people have magical means they're willing to demonstrate or able to teach, there will be a portion of the class where they're encouraged to do so—particularly if it involves careful use of native magic that other Riftwatch mages could learn—but the purpose of the lessons are to learn how to pick locks, not destroy them, and any evidence of magical tampering will otherwise get frowned at.

Teacher ↠ Student

Yngvi ↠ Gwen

Petrana ↠ Matthias

John ↠ Darras

Nikos ↠ Kostos

Fitcher ↠?↞ Bastien

Teren ↠ Laura

Derrica ↠ Jenny Lou

Yseult ↠ Ellis

Study Groups

Fitcher + Darras + Derrica

Kitty + Petrana + Nikos

Lauralae + Laura + Kostos

Gwen + Matthias + Sidony

Stuck Together

John ⛓ Kostos

Sidony ⛓ Ellis

Darras ⛓ Kitty

Nikos ⛓ Lauralae

Bastien ⛓ Wysteria

Matthias ⛓ Nell

Petrana ⛓ Laura

Jenny Lou ⛓ Six

Comments

[windyvoice]

Like Laura didn't have Weirdly Sheltered written all over her. But this is a way safer topic than waxing poetic about the hotness of the agents, especially on the off chance anyone overhears. Jenny Lou's face scrunches up a little when she answers, "Uhh... I mean, I dunno if you've heard of it, but I was in London before I ended up here."

[justashotaway]

She shakes her head--she has, in fact, heard descriptions of it, but not the name. "What was it like?"

[windyvoice]

"Well, I wasn't in it for very long, but... It's big, right? Like so big, think of the biggest city you've ever heard of and then multiply it by ten." She gestures when she talks, animated, theatrical gestures like her mother used to make. "And everything there is really old, like you can feel the age of it. But there's modern stuff stacked on top. Like you turn a corner on a normal street and suddenly you're walking down some ancient corridor."

[justashotaway]

"Like Kirkwall." The darkest parts of it seem old; the richest parts of it seem new.

[windyvoice]

Jenny Lou nods, pointing with a snap for emphasis, "You got it."

More or less anyway. Kirkwall seemed like it had the same kind of layers that cities from her world did anyhow. "I dunno if I could tell you a lot about it anyhow, I wasn't there for too long before I wound up here."

[justashotaway]

Laura thinks about that, wants to ask where Jenny was before London--but the more she asks about Jenny's home, the more likely it will be that Jenny asks about her home. "Do you like it here?"

[windyvoice]

Jenny Lou is a constant fidgiter and through their whole conversation, she's been a constant ball of motion. The question stills her, only for a moment before she rocks back a bit on her heels, drumming her fingers on her thigh.

"I dunno. I guess." It's the easy answer, followed with a shrug and a devil may care grin, "I mean, we get room, board and a paycheck, so like that's rad."

[justashotaway]

Rad, she supposes, is good--from context, she can guess that much, and from the fact that she, too, appreciates those facts. This might not be the first time Laura has earned money, but it's the first time she's been allowed to keep it.

"Is it different from London?" she asks, for want of anything else to say (and for mild curiosity about the worlds beyond rifts).

[windyvoice]

"Uh yeah, it's way different. Like your whole ass world is totally different from mine." She bounces a little on the balls of her feet as she talks, gesturing in a broad circumference to encompass the whole of Thedas.

"I thought I went back in time when I first got here, but this place is like ancient history and a totally alien world all rolled together. I've been in high key culture shock for like weeks."