They got up early before the night watch had gone to bed. North port in all reality never completely went to sleep, there was always a trade going on in one place or another. Ships were being repaired or arriving or departing. Cargos were being loaded onto a ship or sorted and loaded onto carts. The entire settlement from the docks radiating out thrummed with a purpose.

Alice and Martin were the last to get to the breakfast table. Martin had some supplies with him, and Alice had a book. Vivian had received notification from the merchant’s guild that her order would be complete and ready for pick up that morning. Vivian had already finished her breakfast and was looking at the rest of them impatiently, she wanted to get on with her day. There breakfast disappeared quickly under Vivian's unflinching gaze; she was quite serious when it came to her weapon of choice.

Vivian went to have her bow upgraded and pick up the extra arrows. She imagined how a mother felt when their child was undergoing some sort of evaluation or medical procedure. She waited for her bow to be upgraded as the extra octium springs were fitted to the limbs, as she replaced the bowstring with the upgrade. David had gone with her for it, she was thankful for the company. The blacksmith kept noticing how eagle eye's hand would hover over the mace. It remained tied down at her belt, he had no intention of disappointing her one iota.

She was gratefully that Martin had gone to the effort of getting some extra compartments in her quiver. They housed the extra fifteen arrows, there were even little dividers for each arrow and backed leather reinforcements so that the ammunition would not be accidentally detonated by a solid impact to her backpack. Alice had read her book something on the history and law of druids. Martin found a flat surface and spent some time to cleaning and maintaining two of his pistols.

Vivian eventually emerged with her upgraded bow. The old bowstring was kept in bag hanging from her backpack, not that anything short of a dragon or an elder vampire could snap a string made from such tough materials. She handed the bow to Martin he was glad of the extra strength his crusader job gave him. He could just lift the bow; he was not sure that an average person could do that. He carefully traced over the modifications examining them. He was sure that the bow would hit very hard, the string the weave of metallic wire heat treated, he was confident in the craftsmanship. With a nod he put it down on a table that creaked a little under the weight, “the craftsmanship seems impeccable”.

Alice laid her hands on the bow checking the enchantments she concentrated for a few minutes. “Everything looks good the new parts don't detract …from the rest, the durability enchantment will stop it from tearing itself apart from the forces involved. They could have enchanted the string; I suppose but that could have backfired wakening it, so I guess its best left alone”.

Vivian let her golem eye travel over her bow once more it did look that bit bulkier but that was fine. She could see no visual imperfections; Martin could not feel any flaws in the construction and Alice could find nothing wrong with the enchantments. She wanted to go and find something to test her new bow on. What she did do was to go and shoot some lumber in one of the merchant’s guild yards, the bow pulled a little high but that was something that she could easily compensate for.

There were a few militia and guards at the duchess residence, the party took it upon themselves to give them a bit of training. A good section of David's obstacle course was still there he had people running through it. Vivian took some archers and started to take them through a few drills. Alice had a group of Levi slingers, she started going through various spots and tactics to fight opponents. Her kinetic strike spell acted much in the same way as a hurled sling so she could provide some pointers. There were a few people with alchemists’ weapons, Martin took them through the practice of maintenance and cleaning before he started to go on about shooting them.

The party were summoned to the duchess audience room, she had a servant enter struggling to carry his load. He banged a heavy locked chest onto a table, it was thematically fitting a gesture of pageantry. She gestured to the chest, “There is one persistent thorn in the side of this city left. I will pay you a thousand silver to get rid of them. I don't want the hidden hand to disrupt the trade talks as they reach their conclusion. If they are fighting you, then they are not disrupting the business of this city”.

Occasionally Vivian's throat would still croak, she had a scar under the armour around her neck. David looked over to her, “we nail the hidden hand one way or another, then we get paid”. Alice nodded, “they have some unknown magic at their disposal …I will be very interested to examine it to take it apart”.

It took a moment, Vivian's eyes held no hatred just business, “we need to remove the hidden hand, to crack down on this sort of rouge element. This sort of scallywag is one of our purposes as mercenaries”. Martin grinned under his mask, “they have worked with the vampires too many times, it is time they learnt the folly of their actions”.

Martin significantly doubted that there was actually 1000 silver in the chest. It was most likely just bags of bronze penny's, but he could appreciate the gesture. The duchess assuming that they were properly motivated and pointed them in the right direction. “You have been in North port for four weeks now and I would wager you have not seen the sheriff. That lazy drunk gets her deputies to do most of the work, find her tell her I am serious and to get some men on this”. They nodded and headed for the guard’s barracks and the sheriff’s office.

David looked around he could practically hear the jingle of the silver coins. The thought of the money he would put away towards some better chainmail or a stronger sword. “This is going to be different, today we go for the gang rather than waiting for them to make the first move”. Vivian felt her throat there was a faint croak in her voice, “we were trained for this sort of thing, we pull this organisation up like the weed it is root and stem, nothing will be left”. Martin checked his buckler, “we have decided the hidden hand has gone and fucked with us for the last time. We push back we fuck them up”.

A couple of guards let them in to meet the deputy sheriff. “We have orders from the duchess to hit the hidden hand hard. We need to talk with the sheriff to get some extra people”. “The sheriff is busy I can put a petition”. Vivian got closer, “we have orders from the duchess to do this today. I don't think the sheriff wants to have to report to the duchess or the trade commissioner or both over this, we have addressed the enemy's outside the walls, now we look inwards”.

The deputy sheriff thought for a second, “... I don't …follow me”, he led them past a few offices down a few back corridors to what one would assume was just a storeroom. He banged loudly on the door there was nothing but a murmur from inside. Reluctantly he used a spare key and opened it up revealed a well-furnished office with a burly woman in a heavy-duty gambeson snoozing away. The sheriff had several bottles of wine by her desk quite empty. They could say that she was as described a bit of a drunkard to say the least. There was an armour stand in one corner a mixture of plate styles with mithril Damascus steel and even a bit of octium in the mix. The sheriff must have had a fearsome career once, to have put together a suit of armour like that.

The deputy sheriff banged on the door frame the sheriff got up, “ah fuck ... what the hell is going on? Who are they? ... what are we under attack”? The deputy slowly and patiently explained, “Sheriff the duchess has declared all-out war on the hidden hand. These are the four master’s agents from Good-ford”. The deputy sheriff faded into the background before there was a repercussion.

The sheriff blinked a few times swallowed the last dregs form a bottle. Then offered a hand over the table. She had a magic ring on each finger, “I am Joan Rede I was once known as the relentless, though most people forget that name these days. I was a former adventurer a bounty hunter of master rank, why are you in my office”?

Martin leaned over her desk, “the hidden hand has tried to disrupt the trade talks to threaten and extort from the city of North port, now we root them out”. Alice banged the edge of her staff down, “they work with sorcerers …they illegally traffic prohibited magic they need to be stopped”. David stood beside Vivian, “we have killed dozens of their members and found one little temporary base after another, we need to go further to root them out”. Vivian looked coldly at what she considered to be an unprofessional sheriff. “They have tried to kill us a dozen times or more. We are fed up with them attacking agents of the triune with impunity”.

The sheriff could read the underlying accusations, the duchess was doubting her ability to do her job she had to act. She sobered up at that realisation and suppress her anger at being disturbed. “I take the points that you make, the hidden hand has remained in the background for a long time. When you have sorcerers summoning demons from hell or an elder vampire out in the dark cackling, they are your priority”.

“The hidden hand has been in the background. Even when they started to spill a bit of blood there were more pressing threats. Now they will find what it means when we get serious, when I get serious”. Vivian was focused on getting the sheriff going, “This is your city, the hidden hand doesn’t seem to have massive numbers. A few dozen at most, but they are good at stealing and killing, good at intimidating”.

Joan pulled out a bundle or reports, “I think you have a good understanding of the situation. The hidden hand make up for their lack of overall numbers by having a bunch of other gangs working for them”. “Those other gangs do the actual work while the hidden hand are problem solvers right, only collecting there cut fairly hands off”? Vivian surmised.

The sheriff pulled out a few reports from the pile, “to do what the duchess wants you need to dismantle the rest of them until something turns up, a tricky proposition. You might be able to find and arrest a few of them. But the bulk would slip out your fingers, unless you had more manpower”.

Vivian nodded, “we don't need to slaughter petty thugs, we need information we need people pointing fingers. Until we find wherever the hidden hand actually have a proper base”.

The sheriff had a good idea where to start, “you want people who won’t be bribed or intimidated”. David gave a droll response, “obviously”. “I have a few people in mind some scouts with no ties to the city. There are a few crusaders, they just graduated from squires, so they are full of faith and fire. Now that there are fewer creepy crawlies about they don't have that much to do. I have some militia who lost friends to the hidden hand, I think they trained a few times with David and I have some regular guards who lost friends on the docks to those bastards”.

“So, we get some people together what do we do with them”, Vivian asked? “You start taking out the less important gangs, whoever they use as there dock side muscle would be a good start. Go to the guard outpost by the south side of the harbour and I will get information and personnel to meet you. Then you can get the ship sailing on this little raid, the local criminals will not be willing to die for the hidden hand, I can bet that”. They left the sheriff’s office; she didn't seem to be incompetent just complacent. The focus of the city was now on her, so she was going to do something about it.

The guard outpost was a few rooms and a holding cell, a space that usually catered for drunk sailors and calls for missing goods. There were two guards on duty with a dozen more on patrol. The party sat and waited; it would not be too long. They watched the ships come in and leave, the cold wind from the sea blew across their faces and they waited huddled around a fire with the two guards.

The extra muscle started to arrive half an hour after they got to the guard house. A squad of four militia volunteers assigned to David, he dimly recognised them from his training exercises. They had padded armour or just thick layers of clothing. They carried well-worn round wooden shields with iron bosses. They had spears with bent and chipped iron tips as their main weapons. Most had an axe as a back-up weapon, one carried a stout wooden cudgel. They had cheap pot helmets that probably did more duty as kitchenware.

He greeted them, “I am David fisher you might know me as the shield of the bay. We are taking on the hidden hand, but to do that we need to take their entire organisation apart. Your local knowledge will be invaluable, what are your names? “Lyntton, Cat, Linet, Tony. “I think I remember you from the large-scale drill we did a while back”. Cat spoke up, “are we taking on the hand directly, one of my friends disappeared after seeing them doing something”. “We take out the gangs they use, we cut the roots from the organisation, you’re going to follow my lead, I am the centre of the formation two on each side we go in that way”.

A squad of four guards arrived next, they passed a note to Vivian and then they were assigned to Alice. “Ma'am I assume we will be working with you; I hear you have killed quite a few of the hidden hand bastards. I assume that we will be protecting you so that you can use your magic”. She looked over the guards they had large padded gambesons decent helmets chain neck guards’ chain-mail chest pieces good steel short swords and spears. They carried large well-made tower shields that would form a good defence.

Alice looked over to him, “it sounds …personal”. His face went blank for a split second, “my dad was a guard. Hidden hand wanted something he ended up with a slit throat, I will pay them back now”. Alice addressed them seriously, “watch my back the hidden hand doesn’t like a fair fight. Keep to the side you don't want to be in my way if I start slinging fire balls”. One of the guards looked nervous Alice grinned, “watch this”! She cast illusionary allies on each of the guards so that there was suddenly a mass of apparently over fifty guards around her she grinned. “I don't think they will be picking a fight with us”. The guard in the lead had a bag over his shoulder he removed several sets of iron shackles, “for the prisoners”.

Vivian read through a hastily scribbled note, a gang leader called the fat fish and an address. A squad of four scouts reported to Vivian. They had cloaks thick and warm dark greens and browns, reasonably good bows and quivers with a dozen or more arrows. They looked keen and sharp, as a backup weapon each of them carried a skinning knife. They carried several bundles of rope each.

The nearest scout spoke to Vivian, “not the first time we have gone after crooks. We came prepared, we were initially brought in for the logging operation. Checking the area out looking for suitable trees, now we just hunt game now that the lich is gone. They offered us coin for this job”. “Good then you know what to do. I expect to make good use off your scouting skills, we are here to capture people alive. Dead criminals reveal no secrets, don't fire until I do. We are mostly going to be stopping runners, so legs knees try to avoid any arteries ok”.

The last to arrive was a squad of crusaders, there equipment was old they looked fresh faced new. They were assigned to Martin they each had a reasonable set of patched iron chainmail an almost full hauberk. A helmet which allowed them good visibility, a kite shield and a second-hand steel sword that had been well maintained over the years. He looked them over, “your all level ten or above correct”? The nearest responded, “Yes sir each of us have access to our class abilities”. He nodded, “that's good you have not used up your abilities in practice and training”? “No sir we are ready with the full power at our command to smite the enemy”. “That will probably not be needed, you’re with me if a fight breaks out use your abilities at your discretion”.

Vivian got them together, “our target today is a gang of buccaneers and smugglers the sharks”. She turned to the local guards, “what can you tell me about the sharks”? “They are a gang that relies on blood alchemy mods, don't know where they get them from. But most of their members are augmented, a few mods to make them tougher and they also have a weak water breathing ability. They act for the Hidden hand right on the dock front”.

The other guards added their own knowledge, “the leaders fat fish, he claims to be the biggest fish in North port. But he is small fry, most of his men have the buccaneer version of the sailor job. But he is mostly a tamer, might have something like a giant crab or some other aquatic beasty around”. “Now the thing you have to remember about this lot is they can swim like a bloody fish, when we crack down hard on them, they jump in the ocean and swim for it. We need to cut them off from the water”.

“The sharks have an unofficial uniform each has at the very least a grey cloth sash around there waist. They also have a grey tricorn hats, a fashion amongst some sailors a few years back. They wear little armour it’s difficult to swim in”. “Most of them have spent their coin on blood alchemical modifications. The guard captain can't confiscate something like that”. “Most of them had cheap iron cutlass with a few daggers and crossbows amongst them”, the local guards finished.

The warehouse was easily found, it was pretty much indistinguishable from anywhere else. There were four gang members outside. Alice used the trick with illusionary allies to make it look like sixty guards were walking towards them. They dropped their weapons and put their hands up. After they were secured the warehouse was surrounded. Alice took up the centre of the formation with her squad David on the left Martin on the right. Between the dock and the warehouse to stop any escape. Vivian moved in from the other side with the scouts.

They burst in at the same time, there were about 25 members of the shark gang, moving a large amount of someone else's cargo. They had two wagons loaded up and a third that they were filling. The tip off that the sheriff had bribed or threatened out of someone was right on the money. The bulk of the gang was there. Vivian used her voice amplification enchantment, “your surrounded give up”.

A fat man in a fancy hat who probably though he looked like a dashing pirate shouted back at her. “we have more men than you do, forget it”, two dozen cutlass were drawn. Martin had his four barrelled pistol out he shot one of the sharks in the foot the man collapsed with the rest of the people around him dropping their weapons. Alice let lose a low powered acid strike spell a woman with a cross bow dropped it her hand smoking where she was hit. She was likely to lose a few fingers, but the fight was out of her and those around her.

One of the sharks sent a cutlass blow towards David's visor. He blocked it with his shield and bought his pummel down on the criminal’s skull. There was a crack and the man was out for the count. Vivian noticed one of the criminals edging away. An arrow materialised right next to their head embedded in the wall. The dockyard pirates’ shoulders dropped, and she walked to the centre of the room.

The sharks were not planning on put up a great deal of a fight. The majority of them would get a slap on the wrist as long as they didn't do anything stupid. Like trying to pick a fight with a man in a full suite of plate mail with a giant shield. The hidden hand didn't pay them that much. They would be dealt with relatively leniently on a chain gang on public works. Apart from there leader the fat fish who was going to need to do a hell of a lot not to end up in the tower jail. Most surrendered then and there one didn't.

There was one that tried to make a run for it, Alice used her earthen wall spell to form a barrier in front of the fleeing buccaneer, who took one look in the wrong direction and landed on his face with a guard on top of him the next moment. Alice pointed at a pile of crates and blasted it apart with a fire ball. “Any one of you idiots …try to run and I won’t give a second warning shot”.

There was a rumble from under the floorboards. The leader of sharks was a monster tamer he looked nervous. “This is not my fault I still need to ...” a juvenile kraken was peacefully sleeping in a large pond under the warehouse. Until Alice blasted a hole in the floor. There was a removable section of floor the kraken burst forth renovating the floor into splintered pieces. Vivian turned to the scouts with the bows ready, “make sure the rest of them don't run”. The kraken reacted in the same way that the sheriff wanted to react, its lack of control was its undoing.

The fight was rather one sided as a half dozen adamantine tipped arrows disappeared into the kraken, deep enough so that they stuck out the other side. David cut off a few limbs Martin hits it with his blessings “hand of judgement” and pillar of fire. Alice hit it with a series of spells, icy tomb desiccate and electric strike. The militia and guards were able to hit it with a volley of spears then drew there back up weapons. The scouts put arrows into it some of the more sensitive parts of the creature and the crusaders dropped their divine retribution and wrath blessings on the creature. A couple had activated armour of faith or shield of faith blessings. The shark gang and their leader cowered on the floor determined to keep out of the way.

The level up hit it was not much of a fight, but it was still enough to push them that little bit higher. Alice was wondering if they all benefited from the bonuses Martin enjoyed form his blessed armour via there bound by oath perk. She reached level 96 her invisibility spell was pushed up to the grand version with a sizeable corresponding increase in duration.

David reached level 92 he reached the second level of his shining armour skill being able to move in all the armour he wore effectively was a good bonus. Vivian reached level 95 she improved her comprehensive training perk yet again, imperial praetorian guards not seen since the days of the first king elite troops she could now train them, they got a higher max weapon skill and a bonus to their health that made them considerably more formidable. Marin reached level 7 of his crusader job and level 7 of his sword parry skill.

Martin had his hands on what he assumed to be the leader, the Fat fish. The majority of the gang were already cuffed with shackles and had no intention of ending up like the kraken. Fat fish's voice was full of hollow bravado, “you have nothing to pin on us”. Vivian looked at the goods around them “half of this is stolen, the other half probably hasn't had the port handling fees paid, when everything is tallied up your going to be repairing the harbour wall until your hair is white. And you didn't have a licence for the dam kraken and you’re an idiot for trying to raise a monster that big”.

Fat fish realised who he was dealing with, “the four masters I swear I had that kraken under control, why target us”? Vivian looked at him, “who do you work for, the hidden hand it’s not a secret”. The fat fish swallowed and remained silent. The scouts had some rope so that they tied the prisoners together, so they didn't try to make a dash for it. Vivian looked about, the captain of the dock guards and some more people arrived. He looked about “that idiot had a sea monster under there”!

Martin looked over it, “have someone open it up if there are human remains inside fat fish will be facing a new set of questions. If there are no surprises get the merchants guild to harvest it for alchemical parts, then give what's left to the leviathan, Green belly can have another meal on us”.

With that lot safely dropped off at the main guard barracks they went fishing for the stragglers. About ten of the sharks were not at the warehouses. Vivian and her scouts picked up two trying to leave the area. They might have been lookouts. Alice and her squad caught three trying to board a ship. David caught two trying to shake down a market trader and they were dragged off.

Martin and the crusaders with him found one man, he was sitting looking out at the sea a look of awe plastered over his face. They lead him like a child back to the guard house. He spoke, “I saw something strange a holy- warrior in a suit of armour forged from divine light. It was a sign the creators’ servants are called, they walk amongst us. I have sinned I have cheated; I will do my time my penance I will join the priest hood, I know what I will do”. He kept babbling on about scripture.

Martin had to wonder; he had never heard of any religious blessing like that. There might have been a high-level blessing or religious supreme skill that manifested such a potent vision. Or perhaps the man was simply stark raving mad. He had been told several times that there were more potent agents and emissaries of the triune about. The trade talks had plenty of heavy hitters around perhaps it was something or someone that the western church had at their disposal.

Every member of the shark gang was off the streets, singing as loudly as they could. Fat fish was desperately trying to sell out his colleagues as fast as possible. The hidden hand had not been able to protect their investments. The warehouse full of goods all those profits were forfeit. When the scrutiny of the docks was over another little gang or gangs would rise up. But that would be quite a time in the future. They were willing to make a deal with fat fish as the kraken had only had a stomach full of cod. The entire group filled in several witness statements including charges for the idiots who attempted to resist arrest. The statements were sworn, oaths taken, and the day was over.

It was effectively there first command, it felt good to have a few more people at their backs. Especially in an environment where they had to be very careful not to cause too much damage. They took their squads to the tavern. In the inn they heard rumours that an agent of the Jewelled lord has been captured. posing as part of a merchant caravan, he had a poisoned dagger and instructions to murder the elven ambassador. Leaving documents to attempt to pin blame on the Northern church and try to create a schism, certainly ending the trade talks.

Vivian wondered if ghost or the witch finder Nicole Fitzalan had been the one to do it. Martin remembered a comment about one of the elves heavy hitters being in the area. The elves might have taken care of that threat themselves.