The Enemy of My Enemy is My... Family?
While the rest of her constables were staking out the lawyer Quentin Augst, or getting into mimic-related shenanigans at the docks, Assistant Chief Inspector Stoatra “IronPeak” Kalagnas was meeting with “legitimate businessman” Morgan Cippiano at a fashion show. While models showed off the latest in seersucker suits, denim pants, and multicolored sashes, Cippiano quietly made his offer. He told IronPeak that his people inside the RHC had informed him that taking down Lorcan Kell was priority number one. Further, he claimed that his people inside Kell’s organization could get Kell out into the open, since he’d gone to a safehouse. It would then be up to the RHC to make an arrest.
Cippiano’s offer was this: in exchange for getting Kell out in the open, he wanted three things:
• A moratorium on murder investigations in Parity Lake for three weeks. In Cippiano’s words, “the city deserves a better class of criminal.” He argued that his people would be doing the cops a favor by removing dangerous Kell Guild members from the streets.
• The release of famed assassin Giovanni Algardi from Risuri prison. Algardi, known as “The Carver,” was a scupltor who could animate his statues after they’d been purchased by his victims and placed into their homes. He confessed to the murders of several Risuri nobles, and was sentenced to death, but had remained in prison for three years due to legal maneuvering.
• Information about what Ashima-Shimtu told the constables.
IronPeak was forthcoming on this last point, telling Cippiano that the demon hadn’t told the team much, only that she was creepily perceptive about everyone’s private lives, and she told them that she had a secret ritual of apotheosis, but she didn’t share the actual details of the ritual. IronPeak said she didn’t have the authority to carry out the other two requests, but she would talk to her superiors and see what she could make happen. Cippiano thanked her and shared a piece of information, as a show of good faith, he said. Cippiano told her that the leader of the Obscurati operation in the Bleak Gate was a man named Leone Quital, colloquially known as The Steelshaper.
IronPeak returned to the Pemerton Industries Testing Facility that was serving as temporary RHC Headquarters to mull over Cippiano’s offer. When the other constables returned from their monstrous dock encounter, first, they told IronPeak about their monstrous dock encounter; no one wanted to have to be the one to tell Delft that there was a giant mimic loose in the city. IronPeak pushed that information to the back of her brain. There were more pressing issues to deal with.
The team debated into the wee hours about whether to release a known assassin and also agree to Parity Lake Murder Fest 501. The payoff was good: getting Kell taken care of quickly would free their resources, but if they could bring in Kell on their own, then they would be making a deal with the devil for no reason. Some argued that they didn’t need Cippiano’s deal, someone made the suggestion that, instead of letting Cippiano’s people murder a bunch of people, maybe they could get a list of targets from Cippiano, and have them arrested. That would clear a bunch of old cases, and also give Cippiano exciting new territories to conquer. Still, working with the Family crime boss did not feel right. Finally, Cazara brought up the big picture: they were trying to save the lives of 31 orphans by taking down Kell. They needed Kell’s information on traveling to the Bleak Gate so they could give it to Ekossigan and prevent him from using his own orphan-sacrificing ritual to cross over.
Summer agreed to read the stars and everyone but IronPeak and Malkie slept. Summer arose after four hours of meditation. Her dreams told her that the RHC did not need Cippiano to get Kell, but the cost of not using Cippiano would undoubtedly be more lives. Already, nine Flint PD officers had been lost in the campaign against Kell. Further, she learned that Ekossigan would only be half satisfied with Kell’s Bleak Gate information. While madly giggling over the idea that Ekossigan would now have to only sacrifice fifteen and a half children, she also relayed her dream about Quentin Augst, Kell’s lawyer. She had wondered why someone wanted him dead, and had dreamt of him carving runic sigils into a crate, which then faded away.
IronPeak talked with Delft as soon as he came in to work in the morning. He was uncharacteristically chipper. “Got a line on a new HQ! We can move in today! Donut?”
IronPeak had no time for HQ talk, and went right into getting Delft up to speed on the Cippiano/Kell situation. Delft suggested she talk to the king about getting the assassin pardoned. Delft seemed to believe that Kind Aodhan could use his power to exile the man from the country. As far as allowing Cippiano’s Murder Fest, Delft agreed that a list of known associates of the Kell guild who Cippiano needed off the streets would be a far less awful agreement. IronPeak thanked him and went off to see if she could meet with the king.
The king was staying at the Aurum Hotel and seemed glad to see IronPeak. He listened to the deal as presented by IronPeak and agreed to the terms. One assassin and some targeted law enforcement in exchange for help setting a trap for Lorcan Kell. Aodhan had Principal Minister Lee take care of the teleportation of The Carver back to Alais Primos.
While IronPeak did that, Alienor, Cazara, Malkie, and Summer went to question Quentin Augst. At his private estate, he turned state’s witness faster than the constables could offer it to him. After insuring his immunity from prosecution, and getting relocation plans in order for his family, Augst agreed to be arrested. When the constables got back to HQ, Delft was already having everything moved to the new building.
The Flint branch of the Royal Homeland Constabulary would now be housed in an old watch station dating from when Flint was just a small fortress town and Parity Lake was a nearby fishing village. The building had, until recently (perhaps the day before), been a museum. The crenellated walls, old gallows, and dank dungeon cells were positively medieval. The constables took their new patient in and set about picking rooms to turn into offices, and another room to house their guest. Delft also informed his constables that he had fired all of the civilian staff after considering Cippiano’s implied threat in the letter to IronPeak. No Family informant would be in his building! That left only the constables and a few consultants to take care of all the duties around the office. The current roster stood as follows:
Chief Inspector Stover Delft
Assistant Chief Inspector Stoatra “IronPeak” Kalagnas
Constable Cazara del Anthra
Constable James M. Chinast
Constable-Skyseer Summer
Special Agent Malkie Vienne
Special Consultant Alienor Contessa Soliogn-Stark
Junior Constable Lila Coldwater
Junior Constable Pablo Duende
Junior Constable Oksana Kozlov
Junior Constable Emmeline LeCrochet
Junior Constable Magnus Magnusson
Junior Constable Wella Chartreuse
Junior Constable Garson Wildflower
Junior Constable Bryan Elmwood
Once securely in custody, Augst spilled. He told the constables about how a series of five runes, when inscribed on a box, would trigger five rusted-iron gateways built into the bridges of the Stanfield Canal running from Parity Lake to Flint Bay. A box so inscribed that was shipped from a Parity Lake warehouse to the docks on Flint Bay would pass through the gates one by one, being drawn into the Bleak Gate bit by bit. After the fifth gate, the box would have completely crossed over. Curious about this, Augst himself had surreptitiously tried inscribing the runes on a box. The box seemed to cross over for a few minutes, but was then found floating in the canal, as though it had been rejected somehow. Augst taught the runes to the RHC arcanists, and Summer started to realize why Ekossigan might only be “half satisfied” with their Bleak Gate information. The constables would have to get the rest of the answer from Lorcan Kell himself, if Cippiano’s man came through.
IronPeak was scheduled to meet with the man, and he introduced himself by the unlikely name of Dester Rathnine. He looked suitably grubby enough to be believable as a Kell thug. Rathnine told IronPeak that he was going to fake a meeting with Kell’s Obscurati contact, Norm, for 3:00 in the morning at a hole-in-the-wall bar across the canal from where Kell was staying. Rathnine suggested that a canal bridge at three in the morning might make a perfect ambush spot, then he took his leave. IronPeak went back to HQ and told the others that they had a late night ahead of them. The constables agreed that the senior constables would head to the Kell ambush, while a group of junior constables would remain at the new headquarters with their one prisoner.
IronPeak and Malkie rested while Alienor, Cazara, and Summer went to talk with City Governor Roland Stanfield about various issues. (James spent most of his time figuring out the bomb schematics found at the dwarf base.) Cazara wanted Stanfield to remove the mayor of the Cloudwood from office, hoping that would break Ekossigan’s curse on the district. Stanfield muttered something about Doyle being troublesome and agreed to look into the matter the following day. Alienor petitioned the Governor to postpone the subrail station ribbon-cutting ceremony scheduled for the following morning, as the dwarven terrorists were planning on bombing it. Stanfield countered this by arguing that if they didn’t have their ceremony, there would still be dangerous terrorists with a powerful bomb loose in the city. He proposed an alternate plan that involved using the ceremony as a trap for the terrorists. The constables mentioned their overnight plans and asked if the ceremony could be delayed a few hours so they could get some rest in after their long night. Stanfield agreed that they should rest up after taking on Kell, and agreed to delay the ceremony for one hour. He said he would have notices posted to that effect.
Coming up next time: The Trap is Set!
