Year 18

"Yep, Garrick's been very impressed with you. I'd say a few more jobs and you'll finally get invited to where all the magic takes place." Sneaks says.
"I can hardly wait." You say.
"Well geez son, don't sound so enthusiastic. Last year you kept asking me if you were any closer to getting into the Guild headquarters."
"Last year, I was still a bit more optimistic about my choice in joining the guild."
"Oh? And how exactly did we fail you your majesty?"
"That's not exactly what I mean, but if we're going that route, I just thought I'd be doing slightly better while aligned with you lot."

Sneaks starts laughing.

"Well that's your first problem right there. Joining a criminal organization that's currently feuding with another one isn't exactly a stable future son." Sneaks says.
"I know that too, it's just…okay…I'm just a little concerned that we aren't doing too much directly against the Ebony Claw Syndicate. I mean shouldn't we be doing something more to decrease their power? Their presence hasn't exactly decreased in the city and if anything it has only gotten stronger." You respond.
"I dunno about that, I'd say they're probably struggling like everyone else currently. If they were truly stronger in presence they'd be directly attacking us and some of our hangouts more often."
"Well that's still a problem since it's still not progress, it's just keeping the status quo."
"So, what are you going to do? Shoot them all?"
"Well considering how many I have shot, I'd say it's not a bad plan. Not to mention it's something I could have easily done on my own."
"And you would have been dead already on your own. But if you really feel like you could do better on your own then nothing is holding back from leaving. Why stay?"
"Because obviously I'm still an optimistic idiot."
"I don't believe that, I believe its MORE likely you're just sticking around because you're an infatuated idiot."
"What?"
"Don't play dumb with me, I know you still got a thing for Tanya after I told you to just walk away. I remember when we all had to work on that job together three months ago, I swear at one point with how hard you were starin' at her, I thought you were going to whip your dick out and start wackin' it right there."

You laugh at that remark.

"You laugh because you know it's true." Sneaks says.
"Yeah well it certainly is a better reason than anything else I could come up with, and I'm not totally convinced that goal isn't at least as possible as wiping out the ECS as a force in this city." You respond.
"I dunno about that. You've at least killed Ebony Claw members, you haven't even gotten a kind word from Tanya yet."
"Yes I did! She said she couldn't believe I was still alive and that I had to be the idiot bastard son of Yag eternally blessed with more luck than actual ability."
"Hm. Well actually coming from her that IS a kind word. Congrats. At the risk of inflating your ego even more…and she'd probably kill me if I told you…she actually would somewhat agree with you on your views about the Ebony Claw. She sort of wishes we took the fight more to them too. Actually you could probably count me in that group as well."
"So why the hell aren't we doing more then and why isn't Garrick being pro-active?"
"He actually is, just not in the way you think. He thinks an all out gang war would be a mistake due to them having the numbers. He might be right, I don't know. But all that shit we steal and the Guild gets a cut of? That doesn't all just go towards equipment and extra casks of booze for the headquarters. Some of that money goes towards more important things like bribes, paying off the Watch and getting a few underpaid bean counters on our side to muddle paper work on occasion."
"Well that's great and all, but how's that fuck up the Ebony Claw?"
"It doesn't, but it keeps a balance. You don't think they don't do the same thing? Try to manipulate the law in their favor? The only reason why the Holgard Watch doesn't mess with either side much is because they're taking bribes from both sides. They got best racket in this city. They practically never even have to do their fucking jobs! Garrick HOPES that one day he'll be able to manipulate the right people that will cripple the EC, but I can say right now, he's doomed to failure, because at his core, he's too fucking nice. Bribery only gets you so far. To do what he wants to do, he'd need to rely more on blackmail and extortion, which isn't something he's too fond of getting heavily into."
"Surprised nobody's tried to kill him and take power from him."
"I said he's nice, not a pussy. There have been a few who have tried over the years, mostly before the EC established a greater presence, but the man isn't unskilled in the ways of defending himself. Besides the Thieves Guild isn't the Ebony Claw and because Garrick is so fucking nice, people generally like him enough that they'd rather keep him as head of the organization. Not to mention we don't exactly have the most ambitious bunch in the Guild. Most of the really ruthless, kill their own mother types to get ahead join the EC. We're not Joachimites, but I'd still wager that most of us in the Guild have just a few more scruples than the average EC member."
"Yeah, well scruples doesn't win wars."
"No argument there. Look kid, I'm not sure what to tell you, except I do hope you stick with us. I don't care what your reasons are, whether its for safety, or riches or your ongoing failed pursuit of Tanya's demon pussy. We need more…for the lack of a better word…warrior types in the Guild."
"Never considered myself a warrior before, but I suppose I'll take it as a compliment."
"Of course you will, that's how I meant it. Anyway, I gotta go. Garrick's holding some sort of meeting for some of us important elite. Tell ya what, I'll try to convince Garrick to let you in the Guild's inner sanctum already. I know it's not Tanya's inner sanctum, but here's something that might help you in that goal, she's supposed to be casing the Museum of the Ancients tonight. Who knows, maybe if you get there quick enough she might even let you help."

As your eyes light up, Sneaks smiles and parts ways with you.

You of course don't waste any time heading to the Museum of the Ancients.

You've never considered burglarizing that place before, but you suppose it makes sense that there would be some pretty valuable stuff in there. Though you imagine that it's more protected than even some of the banks here.

You've only had the fortune of working with Tanya a couple times before and that was always in a group and she of course always limited her contact with you in those cases.

You still don't exactly know WHY you're as drawn to her as you are. Well you do and it's probably due to her demonic heritage and whatever powers of charm she put on you. (Accidently you guess given her stand offish personality towards you)

Sneaks said the effects should have worn off by now since you don't even see her that much. Granted you aren't thinking about her all the time, but if you ever have the chance to be around her (Like you do now) you're going to take it.

Luckily you manage to arrive unaccosted by anyone, the law or otherwise. Now you're just hoping you find Tanya before the fun begins.

The surrounding area outside the museum, the place is more or less empty. There aren't too many other people in the area other than a few Holgard Watchmen patrolling around which you keep clear of.

You look around to see where Tanya might be, but again its possible she already went inside. You bet she went in from the rooftop. Every time you've worked with her, she's always favoring the rooftops.

Of course you prefer a more grounded approach so as soon as it looks safe, you simply run up to the front door and pick the lock, which is a lot easier than you thought it would be.

You look around the museum and mostly see a lot of oversized items that you'd need at least two people to carry to get out of here. Statues, suits of rusty armor, oversized tapestries and the like. While you're sure some of this stuff is valuable to someone, it wouldn't exactly be the easiest to just lift out of here. Though you haven't seen or heard any night guards of any kind at all. Seems weird that this place doesn't have any security.

You try to keep an ear out for anyone that might be walk around, but it's nothing but silence. You start to wonder if she came and left already or maybe this was all Sneaks idea of a practical joke. Wouldn't be the first time.

Since you can't find her or detect anyone else roaming these halls, you decide that you might as well see if there actually is anything here that you might be worth taking.

Eventually after wandering a bit, you stumble into an area that seems more promising.

"Royal treasures of Old Galpatis" you say to yourself as you read the sign to exhibit room.

You don't know too much about Galpatis except shit that your sister sometimes spoke about from some book she read. It was supposed to be a great empire thousands of years ago that destroyed itself as all these ancient civilizations tend to do for whatever reason. Probably had something to do with necromancy or something.

In any case you enter and see in the dim torchlight you see proper treasure that you could actually carry out of here. A lot of old necklaces, bracelets, crowns with gems and similar items behind glass, though some, like the weapons are mounted securely on the wall.

A couple of weapons that catch your eye are a pair of ornate looking dagger. Not even tarnished and definitely still usable. You probably could easily pry them from the walls though you'd have to reach a bit since they're little higher than you.

Of course you do have your trusty glasscutter with you and you could just start getting to work on grabbing what you can from the displays.

You cut the glass

You've already got enough daggers; you don't really need to waste time getting some slightly fancier ones while there are obviously more valuable objects that you can pilfer.

You look around for potential traps or alarms around the display cases and find nothing, so you get started and begin carefully cutting the glass.

The jeweled crown is what really catches your eye. The regular jewelry is going to bring a nice price of course, but that crown isn't like something you've ever stolen before.

You remove the glass and grab the crown. No sooner have you picked it up and that's when you feel an unnatural chill in the air and you're struck by a powerful vision.

You see a sprawling city though it's much larger than any sort of city you've ever been to (granted you've only been to Holgard, but you can tell it's much bigger than that). Also unlike Holgard everything is very orderly and the buildings are in much better condition in general.

At first you wonder if you're seeing some city in the Delantium Kingdom since you've never been there, but something about this place seems different. Like you don't think you're even in the same time period. The people are dressed very different than you know. The building architecture isn't like anything you've ever seen.

Once again searching your memory again of your sister's old stories, you think you're seeing Galpatis. Or at least some portion of the old empire.

Currently, you're seeing everything from above. Almost like you're flying over the city, but you're not actually there. The only thing that is certain is that you're still holding the crown in your hand.

Before you can ponder what exactly is going on, a voice suddenly pierces your mind.

"THIEF! DISCARD ME NOW OR FACE DIRE CONSEQUENCES FOR YOUR GREED!"

Well that command couldn't be much clearer.

As far as you know you aren't in any immediate danger, but then right now you're seeing a vision and you don't know what's going on in the "real world." For all you know you could be surrounded by guards.

The "voice" you're hearing could even be some sort of protection to scare rogues such as yourself into dropping the crown.

You're either going to have to mentally break the illusion you're experiencing or drop the crown and give up on this prize.

You drop the crown

There is some strange magic at work here and it's obviously best if you didn't fuck around with it. You play it safe and release the crown.

No sooner that you do so that you feel like you're falling and then you suddenly back in the museum room again and the crown is back in its case with the glass once again intact.

"Shit, that was weird." You say and stare at the crown a bit. You then immediately notice how much colder it is in this room. You aren't even sure how long you've been actually sitting here.

Feeling uneasy, you stand up and head towards the exit of this room only to be stopped by a living statue.

"Fuck!" you shout, only narrowly dodging the statue's swing at your head.

You turn to run out the other side of the room, but you then see two more statues blocking that way as well.

You desperately try to fight your way out, expending all your shots and destroying a good portion of one of the statues, but more of them come into the room and block your escape.

All it takes is one of them to get in a good hit. The bones in the left side of your face shatter as you go down to the floor from one of their punches. You try to get up, but the rest of your skull is crushed under a statue's stone foot.