The first strike
As the night falls on Flint, we decide to break into the office of Augst in North Shore to search for clues on his cases, work and whereabouts. Unfortunately, it seems like he (or someone else) cleaned the office properly after the lawyer went underground. We do find another office next to Augst's own though, which belongs to his ex-partner, Kurz. So we decide to peek into Kurz' files as well.
(Fun fact: Current Austrian chancellor Kurz also studied law. So kudos to whoever came up with this )
There we find hints that Kurz and Augst were, in fact, partners. At least for some time. We also find minor connections to the Kell guild which indicate that he might have profited off the Augst-Kell relationship, so it seems like we just found another guy to look after. Fortunately, Kurz' home is quite near, so we head there next in hope to get at least some info about the Guild from him.
Carlyle takes lead on this mission as he pays Kurz and his family a visit and disguises himself as a possible future client. As soon as he's alone with Kurz, he hints that he's actually a member of the Familia who are not quite happy with Kurz' support of Kell's guildies during their trials. Kurz is both shocked and thoroughly afraid at the thought of being caught between the two opposing sides of an underground war.
Before the horrified lawyer breaks down completely, we reveal that we are actually no gangsters, but RHC agents. Who still have reason to believe that Kurz and his family might be in serious danger of being “taken care of” by either side
(even if it is more likely that the Kells wish to dispose their “baggage” than the Familia). Which is why we encourage him to help us out with info, so we may protect him and his family in return. Kurz doesn't need to be asked twice and he immediately fetches all of his remaining documents on the Kell cases which contain the identities of roughly 50 Kell henchmen. In return, he'd like to be brought to safety and be promised a new identity once this anti-Kell action is finished.
(Carlyle's double disguise was both really clever and utterly mean, albeit highly effective. I guess he really loves acting out different roles and he has a good understanding of how different kinds of characters work due to his centuries of staying in the background watching other people do their thing.)
We use the dark of the night to bring Kurz and his family safely to the RHC where the lawyer helps us sort his documents. He adds that he already thought that his involvement with criminal elements like the Guild might come back to him one day, so he's really happy that the RHC found him first. It turns out that he himself only made a bit of extra money, so we're free to help him out without any regret.
We share our newfound information with Margit and Delft and tease our colleague with the fact that her dearest Stover might have to work overtime again. This might not be too bad though as this might be the perfect excuse for her to go through our attack plan on the Casa again, which is scheduled for the next morning.
Carlyle feels the need to get some extra insight into the Casa's defenses, so he suggests that the two of us might take a peek inside to get more data on the defenders. So we both use invisibility spells to sneak around and take some first looks at possible dangers. To our shock, we find a lot of guild members armed with some of the finest Fordren Industries muskets which they must have stolen during their harbor raids. We remember that our police force is only armed with wooden shields and crossbows and know that we're in deep trouble.
So we return to the RHC to spice up our plan with some last-minute adjustments. Auryn fills a request form for the medallion of Urim which is sent to Slate via Semaphor, even if she doesn't know whether the object will arrive in time.
(The wall of Stone turned out quite handy on Axis Island)
Meanwhile, Carlyle heads to Lord Vantrys' estate and asks to speak to the young lord as he has a really urgent assignment for the RHC which needs to be completed as soon as humanely possible. He explains the problematic equipment unbalance of the upcoming police raid to his former lord and asks him whether he can offer them at least some rudimentary steel shields and barricade material. Vantrys is a bit surprised as his factories usually don't produce defensive items, but rather common goods and raw steel, but he says he'll rally his best crew, pay them overtime and let them decide whether this job is possible.
As it turns out, treating your workers with respect pays off in the end and as soon as the foremen hear that this is not only an emergency for Lord Vantrys, but also a super secret job for the RHC and, more specifically, one of the city's most famous agents, they get their teams together and start working immediately. And although they do have to improvise a bit, the combined effort is enough to even out the field for the police officers. Carlyle thanks Lord Vantrys and all the workers in the name of both the RHC and Flint and he also promises that Delft surely won't forget such an outstanding effort.
“See, that's where all of your efforts to treat your employees with respect got you. Follow this path and you'll get the most loyal working force of all of Flint”, Carlyle says with a smile.
(Well, it will be hard to rival the morale of Sechim's folk, but Vantrys and Sechim are allies in their humanists league, so...)
The next morning, we equip our troops and arm them with Vantrys' shields. Then we explain our tactics: The police force will attack as a team, taking the main entrance while our Team and Team 1 each cast a grand illusion spell upon us to make us seem like two more 30 people troops. In addition, each team shall be accompanied by a B.E.A.R unit.
We strike the Casa del Kell hard and unprepared, but we still have to face heavy resistance. In the end, we have a couple of officers heavily wounded and lose two of them while we kill 19 guildies and arrest the rest of them, including Meat Hook, a giant of a blonde man from Drakr.
In addition, the local newspapers cover the charge of high treason against all members of the Kell guild after their “attempted regicide” due to their attack on the royal carriage. The large articles also contain statements from King Aodhan, the Principal Minister, prosecutor Starke and Slate Police and also ask the lawful citizens for their help by giving tips or registering as possible witnesses.
For us, we turn our attention towards our caught lieutenant, Meat Hook. The guy turns out to be far more approachable than Aubert and once Auryn casts her charms on him (he was interested in her before, but calling her “my best friend” helps quite a lot!), he opens up much more and casually tells us all about the Guild's hideouts and activities: A raid upon Warehouse 12, Machete Hills (another stronghold), the Collector (whose money laundering/storing shop is right behind the Danoran embassy), the transport ship Margarete Anna (which is carrying even more equipment), as well as details about the connections between Anne's thaumaturgy and cosmetics and the Black Rose brothel. The last point angers Auryn as Mr. Hook explains that the brothel sometimes orders “curiosities” from Anne's, like fake Eladrin or fey.
(So... they are like the Zeitgeist version of Paradim Dogwood. Great. Let's just hope that there will be no gigantic hurricane striking Flint during the peace council. The similarities are quite astonishing)
Carlyle is thoroughly impressed by Auryn's questioning techniques and asks her whether she can do something similar with the far more silent Aubert de Chartville. But she shakes her head and explains that the assassin won't tell her anything he wouldn't tell someone he'd call his friend.
“It is not in his nature to talk about such things, I fear. And while there is even stronger magic that could completely bend his will, I... I just cannot do it. Forcing my will upon others isn't my way of handling issues like these.” she says with quite an amount of hesitation.
(yeah, she hasn't learned any dominate spell yet. And if she eventually does change her mind, I guess it will be quite the life-changing experience. Being on the brink of losing herself to the will of someone else had quite the impact.
Now... where's Haddin when you need him?)
Last but not least we get Meat Hook to agree to be one of our crown witnesses in the upcoming trials. As long as he's going to die an honorable death in a duel or similar combat he'll be fine, he says.
As our first raid has been quite successful overall, we agree to get an article about our joint-venture published by tomorrow morning. In addition, Auryn and Delft prepare a short speech with a corresponding press conference and Q&A session for all citizens who are interested in our efforts.
As we are still looking for a way to get Dr. Meredith a new body, we pay Alexander Grappa a visit in our lab in the RHC basement. We tell him about the curious case of the archaeologist and ask him whether he could apply his method of joining spirit and machine to her as well. Grappa is quite happy to be able to move again and so he's eager to make himself useful. He agrees to start working on a second golem tomorrow, but he's surely going to need additional material. He's also not sure whether Dr. Meredith's spirit is compatible with his creations. He has his means to “measure” her and calculate the chances of success though.
Before we can finish our speech preparations, we receive a message from dear Morgan Cippiano: It seems as if he's inviting Mr. Carlyle and Auryn to a special fashion show in the Brave Club.