Most of the tents in the camp were empty, except for disgustingly dirty groundsheets and improvised beds made of grass and foliage. Indicating that the camp was at least semi-permanent, one of the larger tents contained two sturdy wooden tables flanked by a number of small chairs. Clearly, this was some kind of communal area, and large amounts of scattered, unwashed crockery indicated that shared meals were eaten here. Of more immediate interest to us, was the fact that a solid-looking chest stood along the west wall of the tent.

"If they've realized that the signet ring is enchanted, it won't be in that chest," Zelensha said, while retrieving the larcenous box from her backpack. " It will be on the aging mahirim's finger - or sold already."

"As you've probably guessed," she continued, "I have some experience in the field of getting hold of other people's property." She lifted an arcane instrument out of her thieves' kit and held it up, examining it briefly in the waning light before setting to work on the chest's lock. Seconds later, she smiled as the lock emitted a single loud metallic click. "That's the trap disarmed," she said, while exchanging the strange-looking tool for another one with a slightly different appearance. "Now let's see about the lock itself. Fairly straightforward, really…"

"Yes, I can see you know what you're doing over there," I interrupted. Clearly you've had a lot of experience. Which begs the question: Did they throw you out of the Unseen Alliance, or did you skip town after killing someone you weren't supposed to?"

Snap.

"Oh, did you just break your lockpick?" I asked, unable to stop myself. "You really should concentrate when you're in the middle of a delicate task like that." I took two steps backward and prepared for an all out assault from Zelensha.

Instead, she calmed down after just throwing a single dagger - which I barely managed to deflect - straight towards my throat. "I know when I'm being riled, northman" she said, while the lunatic fires in her eyes faded slowly. "But if you disturb me again while I'm working on a lock or a trap, I'll kill you."

Then, surprisingly, Zelensha stopped what she was doing and smiled. "I'm sorry. I try to control my anger, but sometimes it is too strong for me. Much like your curiosity, I imagine." She then retrieved another lockpick from her Thieves' tools box, and swiftly finished unlocking the chest. Following another loud, satisfying click, the lid swung open.

1) Ram's head statues are common in Chaldean tombs.
2) A set of Thieves' tools
3) Magnificent urns decorate Chaldean dungeons
4 - 8) Ancient weapons wielded by Revenants

"You guess poorly, by the way. I was a member of the Third Shadow, not the Unseen Alliance. The Alliance is led by fat, contented old men; it's not the right outfit for an ambitious young rogue like me."

"So I joined the Third Shadow. For a while it was a perfect fit, as I climbed the ranks of an organization that was expanding very quickly. However, I soon suspected that someone outside the organization was financing the Third Shadow, and that it's growth might be part of some bigger scheme."

"As it turned out, my suspicions were well founded. The Third Shadow is financed by the Church of Malaut , and Reginald Guilbert - the Shadow's young and charismatic leader - doubles as Malaut's high priest in Sanguine. Needless to say, I didn't want to work for a group that is run by the Demon Prince of Greed, and being wanted for a number of crimes, I had trouble presenting the information to Sanguine's authorities. So I sent a little note to the Unseen Alliance, informing them of the true nature of their rivals, and then I left town for a while. "

After this uncharacteristic show of openness, Zelensha turned back towards the chest, and I joined her in examining its contents. In addition to two bags containing gold coins, which were thrown - uncounted - into my backpack, the chest contained a little box full of assorted jewelry - from wedding rings to the innocuous-looking but enchanted signet ring we were looking for.

More surprisingly, the chest contained a bloodstained cloth map which was carefully wrapped around an ancient-looking medallion. "The Wave of Eanna," I said, pointing towards the medallion as Zelensha unwrapped it. "And that's the Star of Ashur on the other side. Clearly, this medallion belonged to a rather religious Chaldean - perhaps a priest - with ties to Ashur, their capital."

Unlike the medallion, the map itself appeared to be recently made, and it showed the region we were in, just southeast of the Tribelands border. We quickly found a representation of the rock formations we were in the middle of, and to the northeast of them, the unknown mapmaker had drawn a ruin and marked it with the same two symbols - the star and the wave - that were on the medallion.

"It seems," I said, turning to the anger-prone rogue, "that these bandits have a knack for finding valuable items and then not realising what they've laid their hands on."

"And if you're half as curious as I think you are," Zelensha continued, "we're going to have a look at that Chaldean ruin before returning with the signet ring."