Nidra had an unexpectedly large amount of information on the Silent Partners guild. Her list of names of Keynes’s minions was quite extensive, and included ample details about their financial holdings, profitable professions, and other details about their lives and habits. Hirrus wasn’t sure how she had acquired so much information so quickly.

But he also wasn’t sure how he was going to use it.

“This would be valuable,” he ventured, “if we were going to engage in a lengthy trade war or an elaborate heist. But I am going there to cut their throats, not their purse-strings.”

“You are going to need to approach this one differently,” Nidra said carefully. “These adventurers are not like what you’ve faced thus far. If you challenge them with steel, they will crush you with gold.”

Hirrus pursed his lips, but didn’t protest further. He had to defer to her judgment. She was trying to convey as much information to him as possible in the brief walk to where the Silent Partners guild manor could be found in the Cloud Road district. It wasn’t lost on him that the closer they got, the nicer the surrounding neighborhood became. It set his rage simmering to think of what the adventurers had done to the people of Hari in order to amass such wealth.

“Keynes has a critical weakness in this arena,” Nidra continued. “He is easily drawn in by unique opportunities, in those exact words. So long as you can get someone to pass word to him of such an opportunity, you may be able to penetrate the defenses.”

“And then what?” Hirrus asked.

“Then the trap is set,” Nidra said, offering him a smirk. “Snap it closed. Kill him as soon as he is physically within reach to do so. And use every resource you have to escape their wrath in the chaos that comes.”

Hirrus grimaced.

He didn’t like that idea.

Considering he had needed GM Dave’s intervention to escape the unceasing tide of Intricacy players after assassinating Ontario, he had to admit that his toolkit for escape might be insufficient, if Nidra thought killing his pursuers was an unrealistic goal.

“This is outside of my skillset,” he admitted. “But I promise, if it will put your mind at ease, I will stay my blade until the killing blow is before me.”

“We have so much more to do,” Nidra said, nodding, “and your survival of this encounter is not optional.”

Hirrus found himself wishing he could bring Dahlia with him.

Even heavily pregnant, manipulation was her strong suit. She had been able to draw the honesty out of him only a few minutes ago when he told her the story of his encounters in Denstad, and she’d done it without a word. And then she had picked up his spirits and set him right in just a few moments.

She’d grown up in a world of money and status, and she was able to use language - even body language - in a way that Hirrus could not.

Unfortunately, things would end in blood and battle. Bringing Dahlia into such a situation was asking for disaster. Hirrus remembered trying to keep Cedril alive in that fight on the road, and his unfortunate death in the attack on the warehouse. And Cedril had been much more durable than Dahlia was.

If he raised the possibility with Nidra, he feared she might push to use her to help him get access to his target, heedless of the inevitable sacrifice. But Hirrus could never put Dahlia in danger like that. Not so long as he could help it. He would rather have to fight the entire city of adventurers than do something so callous and foolhardy.

“The challenge will be in opening the path to Keynes,” Hirrus said instead. “I am unsure what sort of opportunity to pretend to offer.”

“That should be simple enough,” Nidra said, gesturing for him to cut through a narrow alleyway as she spoke. “Pretend to be a rumormonger. Offer them the location of the escaped Awakened. Battle Orders were so eager to strike at us, and those who did so are likely to be loudly crowing about their success. Offering them the chance to strike where their rivals had failed - or to be able to sell the information to them for a tidy profit - should be more than enough to entice a meeting.”

“I am unsure of why you think that’s so simple,” Hirrus said, turning sideways to pass through the alleyway after finding it too narrow for his broad shoulders. “I don’t want to be responsible for another massacre if they learn where we’re staying.”

“It should not be difficult to refuse to reveal the location until you’re within striking distance of Keynes,” Nidra said. “And once you are there, you won’t be telling them anything.”

Hirrus had to admit that it was a reasonable strategy. He wasn’t confident in his ability to do an impression of Barin, but he wasn’t dealing with intelligent people here. These were adventurers. They would take any normal townsfolk at face value every time. All he had to do was convince them that he wasn’t specifically Hirrus himself.

“That’s a problem,” Hirrus said quickly, as soon as the thought entered his mind. “You said that adventurers might recognize me on sight now. What can we do about that?”

“That has been handled,” Nidra said before they emerged from the narrow alley. She drew him aside, out of view of the street beyond. After a moment’s pause, Hirrus recognized it as a quick scan of her inventory, she pressed an item into one of his hands.

It was a semi-transparent glass brick. There were swirling colors within that were vague approximations of articles of clothing. Hirrus took a moment to examine its description.

Charm Prism (Full) [Savvy Merchant]

Head: Thick Felt Beret (Dyed)

Chest: Storm Coat of Anguish

Hands: Cloud Leather Wrist Wraps

Pants: Pinstripe Suit Pants (Dyed)

Boots: Mud-Spattered Spats

Activating this prism will Charm all equipped gear to match the loaded outfit. No properties will be conferred by the charmed items.

“It’s a disguise,” Nidra said. “Charm is a type of magic higher-level Adventurers use to make their gear appear more in line with their sensibilities, rather than the haphazard mix of colors and styles you might have been more familiar with from your work as a guard.”

“I believe Alric explained it to me once,” Hirrus said, nodding. “A long time ago.”

“I had a few of the others gather the materials and go through the necessary steps,” Nidra said. “Ten and Sarit worked together to build an outfit that would make even you look like a nonthreatening townsperson.” She gestured to the glass brick. “Activate it here, before someone sees us.”

With a shrug, Hirrus did as she asked.

There was a sudden and explosive shimmer around him, and he was glad Nidra had pulled him aside for it. The change was near-silent - just a gentle popping sound - but visually he was surrounded by shimmering light for a moment.

When it faded, his armor no longer held the appearance it had before.

More than that, even touching it, it felt like it was not what it had been.

He was wearing a hat. It was a beret made of thick felt, dyed a dusty gray-brown. It cast a solid shadow down over his features, which might serve to hide some of his more memorable features, especially his piercing gray eyes and prominent brow ridge. He pulled it off his head and examined it, surprised to find that its description had not changed. It was still the Cosmic Barrette. Even transformed into a plain-looking hat, it conferred the same stats and the same legendary property.

The rest of his outfit was similarly plain and unassuming, and he had to admit that Ten and Sarit had done well.

Instead of the ridiculous tank top and fur mantle he’d taken from Cerberus, he was wearing a dark blue-gray pea coat, with a light gray ascot offering his throat protection from the elements where the low collar of the coat would fail to do so. He’d expected the pinstripe pants to stand out from the rest of the outfit, but rather than being dyed an unusual color, they were dirty and sun-bleached, as though worn on the trail for months. Especially from the knees down, where they blended well with the boots, which were plain chunky-heeled boots with leather spats buckled onto them. The original colors of the spats were unidentifiable due to the thin coating of mud and dust.

Even Hirrus had to admit, the outfit made him look like an ordinary civilian. He could pass easily for a road-weary merchant. Even his still-exposed features that he’d believed would mark him clearly as a guard - his sun-damaged skin, scarred face, and broken-crooked nose - blended just as well with a lifestyle that involved spending more time walking the Hari Path than tucked into a posh home like Barin’s back in Inoha.

“This is fantastic,” Hirrus said, looking down and admiring the look. “This might actually work.”

Nidra gave him a peculiar look, and he grimaced. He was not a tactful man, and his words revealed how little faith he had in her scheme. But they didn’t have time for him to explain that his doubts didn’t come from her ability to plan, but more in his ability to execute on a plan that didn’t immediately involve violence.

“You will find Secret Partners down the road here,” Nidra said, pointing east, towards the Cloud Road that the district took its name from. “It will be on the right. I struggle to imagine that you will miss it.”

She shook her head with a grim chuckle. “Adventurers love to be a spectacle.”