Gerryn has heard quite a bit about the residence of Deleyr Tyr, currently away on a trip to the south with the most rest of his household. According to the rumour he'd heard from Zaaru Thelln, a member of the Farside Gang, they've left the place in charge of just a single caretaker, although Gerryn's not quite sure how far Zaaru can be trusted. The building stands on South Cliff facing the river, with roads running along both sides; like many buildings there the front door is a couple of floors lower than the back. Because of the lack of space in Calbeyn, there is no garden, but the building is right next door to the burned out shell of the former residence of the late Orthur Tyr, who perished in that blaze.
Gerryn ignores his stomach rumbling as he heads towards South Cliff. A couple of years back he would have been glad for one meal a day. A casual walk on both sides of the Deleyr Tyr residence permit him to look for places where he might settle down for a long rest without being noticed.
Unfortunately there's not much in the way of hiding places. His best bet might be the gutted shell of the home of the late Orthur Tyr, but currently it's occupied by half a dozen men from the Guild of Construction, hard at work removing debris in preparation for rebuilding. He does notice a couple of carts parked on the river side of the building, being loaded with charred timbers and other debris; maybe he could hide beneath them? There is quite a bit of traffic on both the upper and lower streets.
From the cliff side, he looks up. Just as Deleyr's place is higher on one side than the other, so are the buildings opposite, with a road passing behind them only just below the roofline. Perhaps he could go behind and get up, unnoticed, onto the roof?
The sight of the construction crew, a kandar supervisor directing a team of humans, changes Gerryn's plans. A short trip to a nearby house, a little fast talk, and a ragged human youth is carrying water to the construction crew, "courtesy of clan Ros."
"Clan Ros?", the foreman asks, "I wonder what favours they're after".
Not that it stops him taking the water.
Keeping his ears open and asking a few leading questions, amid many harmless comments, Gerryn pays special attention to the hours the construction crew will be working and to what they know about the habits of the people in the surrounding houses, particularly the guards. Of course, though he's most interested in houses where he might me able to get in and abstract a few valuables he doesn't ignore any other gossip he hears.
The construction crew, as is customary for such workers, will be working from dawn to just before dusk. At this stage of the job, they're just doing site clearance; there's nothing of value to protect in the shell of the building, so they have no plans to post any guards.
The men gossip a lot about the riches in this part of the city; just about every house is full of fabulous wealth, and the way Gerryn hears them talk it's as if they're protected by heavily armed men, vicious wild animals, and lethal booby-traps. Gerryn suspects they might be exaggerating just a little bit, both about the riches themselves, and the means by which they're protected.
There's confirmation of the earlier rumour about Deleyr Tyr's residence next door, however. The family are away, on a trip to what varies between Keylin, Filgeth and even distant Karmork, and they have left the place in the hands of a single caretaker, although none of the men have actually seen him. The only evidence that there's a living presence in the place is the fact that representatives of the guild of victuallers bring food at regular intervals.
"Weird." Gerryn says. "I heard a story about a guy like that once. It turns out he'd been cursed by a wizard who'd changed his body into a monster."
"Don't mess with wizards", comes the reply, "If you ask me, the world would be better off without them. Remember how they were poking into the minds of everyone leaving the city a few days back? And a wizard killed one of the survivors from this fire with the power of her mind. Made her head explode off the shoulders!"
During the day, between trips to local fountain to refill the water skin, Gerryn keeps his eyes open for places that would make good hiding once night falls. The best places, apart from the building site itself still appears to be the roof of the building opposite
While the men are cleaning up he keeps an eye out for anything that might prove useful in the future, particularly bits of glass or metal that might be used as a mirror. He notices that there are several sizable shards of what must once have been a very large mirror, stacked neatly in their cart for possible re-use, as well as a lot of smaller pieces in a pile of rubble.
When no one is looking Gerryn removes a couple of unobtrusive pieces from the stack of shards of broken mirror, hiding them in an area that has already been worked over.
He continues hauling water for the remainder of the afternoon, something the work gang seems to appreciate. Eventually, when the temple bells ring Five, the workers pack up their tools, and an animal handler leads pair of ulsogir to haul away the wagon. Once the huge red-haired shaggy beasts are hitched up, the wagon slowly trundles away towards the city gates. There doesn't seem to be any sort of guard posted on the work site.
Mirrors are quite valauble; only the weathly can afford more than a very small one. A glass mirror, even if it's but a fragment of a larger one, would make an appropriate gift for a poor person.
Recovering his mirror fragment after the workers leave, Gerryn returns the water carrying gear to the house which loaned it to him. He's hungry, and tries to beg some food at the far end of the market place, where stallholders and vendors are packing up for the night. He's lucky today; he gets some bread rolls that aren't quite stale from one of the sausage-in-a-bun vendors, and not one, but two pieces of fruit.
Then he heads back to the apartment where he slept last night. He finds the door closed, with no obvious signs of life within.