There was a feeling when one’s duty and one’s desires aligned, when what was in one’s heart and in one’s head marched side by side. This feeling of satisfaction met Vivian as she woke up. The hidden hand had some means of protecting their lives, so that death was an inconvenience to them. They would fade away and come back again and again. But it didn't protect their secrets and their wealth.

Vivian and her companions were chipping away at the foundations of the Hidden hand. Whatever magic they used it was bound to be expensive. So, they would chip away at this stubborn foe until they shattered, it was her duty it was also in her heart, a bit of petty revenge.

David saw the money that the duchess offered on the hidden hand’s destruction. It was a lot of money; it was a lot of equipment he could buy. It was a way to build himself up, he was not the sharpest tool in the box. But he was by far not the dullest at least in his opinion. He remembered when he was a fresh-faced recruit with nothing in his pockets an orphan with one friend.

Now he could feel the benefits of station, he was sleeping in a guest room in the duchess home. It was not the nicest guest room, but it was still a vast improvement of his earlier position. The hidden hand were a bit of a mystery. But from what he had heard about lich's and seen with a couple of phylacteries the hidden hand were probably pulling some trick like that.

Martin didn't see the hidden hand as a real enemy. They were an asset to the vampires. Humans that were doing there bidding for their gold. The real enemy was comfortably sitting in a secure lair probably hundreds of miles away. Slowly adding one coin at a time onto the bounty on their heads until they hoped someone killed them, it was probably Bismark. Lexicon the vampire they had almost killed had been his servant. He had probably crawled back to his master’s side; the vampire prince had also served Bismark.

Alice had enjoyed leading her little squad yesterday. The four town guards had done precisely what they were trained to do. She had done exactly what she was expected to do. There difference in power and level had helped her confidence no end. Someone on the same level would still be a bit intimidating to her. Managing even a small group was something she had to pick up. If she ever wanted to be an active member of the mages high council and effectively work to make the average mages lot better.

Mages worked in small groups, she had to fit in to ever hope to start to cut out the bureaucracy that the nobles imposed on them. It was something she would have to do, a skill she had to acquire this was a start, a small one but one non the less.

They had early morning breakfast then went out to the yard in the duchess residence. There were twelve people waiting for them. They split the group in half and had two mock battles using straw dummies to represent prisoners and civilians. They took turns in defending them and attacking. Martin was showing a good knowledge of his swordsmanship, which surprised David a few times. Martin still ended up in the dirt a couple of times as his buckler could not compete with David's tower shield for defence.

They took a break gathering there group together and getting a breather. They had their plans in place, another day another gang to take down. They target the hidden hands money its influence and down it would come. The group organised and practically marched out of the duchess residence and over to the sheriff’s office at the main gatehouse.

They saw the deputy sheriff, “we have another local small fry to disarm, the local brothels are run by a group called the red lotus, they are fairly discreet. But thanks to the fat fish you brought in yesterday. We now know that the red lotus use the brothels as an information gathering network for the hidden hand. An idle word from a dock worker sailor bragging about how important their job is and the hidden hand has a shipment for the sharks to steal. Not that they will be doing that any-more”.

Vivian spoke to one of the guards, “What can you tell me about the local establishments”? “There are a couple of dozen near the docks that the red lotus looks after. The most important half dozen have a few of the red lotus guarding them. The rest are under there protection with the fanciest place as their unofficial headquarters”.

“What are these red lotus like”? “The gang that run the local brothels, they are hard to miss six foot six to seven-foot-tall women in red clothing. The red lotus is all female. They come from the central plains originally. I believe their gang was much bigger, but they got beaten down and driven off. So, they set up shop hear a decade ago. They use alchemy fortification potions to permanently build up their bodies. Higher than average strength and endurance. They use a combat class which is a variant of a barbarian called an amazon, its more focused on agility and manoeuvrability than endurance. They are exotic but not particularly imaginative muscle form the central plains.

One guard looked nervous, “Are we closing down the brothels”? “Not as far as I am aware, our orders are just to target the red lotus. If we closed down the brothels, they would pop back up somewhere else. It’s an unpleasant part of life but something that happens”. David nodded, “we shall see what turns up”.

The twisted snake was a brothel in a back ally, with a sign showing a particularly well-proportioned lamia snake woman twisting around herself in a suggestive fashion. There was a greeter in a fancy robe at the door. Inside were two rather tall women they wore bronze bracers and carried large sharp knives. Only a true idiot would mistake them for merchandise rather than muscle. There original red outfits would have been loser more suited to the climate of the central plains. But they had to adapt to the colder climate, so red dyed furs and scarves were the order of the day.

A group of archers walked into the establishment, scouts and a mercenary the greeter was pushed unceremoniously out of the way. The two crimson lotus prepared for trouble the employees and clientele moved as far away as they could. The first barked a challenge, “this is not illegal you have no right”.

“We have some interesting testimony that says something different”. The red lotus guard tried to slice Vivian with a blade she easily caught her hand. The amazon tried to punch her with a dull thud her fist did little to Vivian's helmet. Vivian's punch was pulled but still sent the amazon flying. The second guard took one step forwards to have an arrow pin her robe to the wall, she considered her options and dropped her blades.

In three other brothels around the docks similar scenes played out, in the gilded courtesan, one of the red lotus guards was down under a pile of three militia as they secured her. The second was busy throwing bottles furniture and one unlucky client at David. He ducked behind his shield, she was backed into a corner and gave up putting the chair down. In the velvet kiss establishment Martin and his crusaders had already caused the patrons to exit. After they took one look at the glowing zealot with the flashy but not particularity effective shield of faith blessing. They decided to take their patronage elsewhere. The red lotus guards were smart enough to recognise an alchemical weapon when it was pointed at them.

In the establishment known as the maidens whisper two of the red lotus found that as strong and well enchanted a door is. If a mage uses acid strike to melt the wooden wall around it then the door was no good. The door collapsed they looked into a corridor filled with one masked mage and dozens of guards giving up immediately.

The eight members of the red lotus they had captured were handed over to the guard captain of the docks. He had a big cart with a big iron box on the back. After potions poisons daggers and lock picks were confiscated the red lotus gang members were shoved inside.

The party grouped up into two teams to take on the next two establishments. Alice and David headed for Delia's delights. Martin and Vivian headed for the siren’s song. The sirens song was a tavern that had a second more discrete business at the rear. Four of the members of the crimson lotus made quite sure that it remained nice and orderly. Two at the front had the usual array of daggers two more at the back had large hunting bows. Just in case someone decided to be really stupid.

The patrons kept drinking their drinks as crusaders scouts and a hunter and mercenary in really fancy gear moved through the place. There was some news of something going on. The door woman tried to put a dagger in Martin as soon as she saw him. She was battered down with a buckler in the stomach for her trouble. Vivian laid a mace to the second before she could even react. The remaining two split, one found themselves faced by four scouts with bows ready the second four armed crusaders.

Delia's delights was a restaurant of sorts with an interesting floor show. The doors were firmly locked. That didn't stop David from knocking them down with a single well-placed kick. The patrons took one look and moved out of the way. The four members of the red lotus realised that they were the intended targets. “Surrender and it will be better for …you”, Alice shouted at the top of her voice. An arrow bounced of her shield spell; a dramatically underpowered electric strike sent the archer twitching to the floor frothing at the mouth.

With a few injuries and no fatalities another eight members of the crimson lotus were shoved in the iron box. It was becoming quite cramped; the cold wagon was sent back to the main guard barracks. Where the crimson lotus would be enjoying cells next to the sharks. With the smaller targets eliminated the crimson lotus would probably believe someone was moving in on their territory. They would probably gather every reaming member at their main base of operations, at least that was Vivian's idea to try and ensure that they picked up absolutely every member of the gang.

The scarlet scandal was the fanciest place on the docks. Where the richest merchants and captains went. It was also now surrounded by a small army of adventures guards and the like. A rather pompous man with a handlebar moustache walked up to Martin, “do you know who I am”? Martin regarded him, “do you know who runs that place”? The rich noble considered his options measured the man in front of him and departed. Martin could just see a pair of elven ears disappear in the background. Some member of the eleven party was not quite so pious as they pretended to be.

Vivian used her voice amplification enchantment, “surrender now and it will be easier”. The doors opened, the leader of the crimson lotus was a woman nearly seven foot six inches tall. She had really used a lot of fortification potions to build herself up to such intimidating proportions. She had a belt with two large metal bands they almost looked like armour. She reached down and pulled.

Deadly blossom belt becomes spring steel blades, two of them she held them in an aggressive stance ready to leap ready to attack. Two dozen other members of the crimson lotus had axes spears and knives. She bellowed her defiance, “If you northerners think the children of Theosenéa will go without a fight your deluded”. Vivian grinned, “you have no idea who you picked a fight with”.

Vivian fired of two mithril arrows the first shattered the blade in deadly blossoms right hand the second shattered the blade in her left hand. Vivian fired an arrow up then to the right. Deadly blossom dodged out of the way to the left, then heard a creak and looked up he face was plastered by surprise as she was hit by the oil filled light-fitting above her knocking her out, Alice smothered the flames before they could spread.

The scouts fired a volley of arrows and four gang members dropped clutching their legs. David lead a charge into the group his militia did a good job of dividing the criminals, half the remaining ones dropped their weapons, Martins crusaders pulled a similar manoeuvre on the other side. Alice hit the rest with an electrical strike spell, and they were out for the count.

The level up hit as the last of the crimson lotus surrendered, Alice reached level 97 gaining the grand version of her invisibility spell. David attained level 93 of his mercenary job he gained the third level of his shining armour skill. Vivian reached level 96 her stun skill reaching level five. Martin found his armour easier to move in with each point of strength he gained as he reached level 8 of the crusader job. He raised his sword parry skill even higher to level 8 it was helping him in the close quarters fighting.

Alice healed a few injures on both sides, the crimson lotus gang were searched then shoved into the iron cage on the back of a wagon. They were squeezed in like fish in a net that was too small pressed uncomfortably together.

Inside deadly blossoms office Some blunt force trauma from David and a small explosion from Martin and they had the hidden strong box open. All the paperwork would be going to the sheriff, the information and reports that the hidden hand would normally collect would be picked over in her office. She would have to do her dam job, not just delegate it to her deputy. They had probably put a few powerful peoples noses out of joint today. But when they found out that the crimson lotus had been spying on them rather than just acting as protection, they would be far less likely to make a fuss.

Each member of the crimson lotus was interviewed, questioned then thrown back in their cell. The deputy sheriff and a few scribes took statements from everyone. The ones that gave up and surrendered would have a few months less than the other compatriots. The ones that started to talk straight away would find an even less unpleasant sentence. Deadly blossom would be going to the tower jail, but if she revealed what she knew then it would be a much shorter stay.

The deputy sheriff grinned, “I have another good candidate for you to pick up, this needs to be done very quickly from what I hear. This man will be very dead very soon. There is a money lender who works for the blades of red Saul Artha Halle. He also works for the hidden hand they will kill him when they find he had been playing both sides, using their money to grow his own enterprises”.

With a description of Mr Halle, they sped off looking for him. They found him twenty-five minutes later, there on the corner of a street talking in friendly manner to a merchant about an overdue loan and a payment recovery involving his assets or his fingers. There were 2 thugs with him they had some strength-based job looking at them.

They took one look at the approaching group and left their employer to talk his way out of it. He stood there calmly as the small army surrounded him, “look let me get a scribe advocate that I know, and we can sort this misunderstanding out”. Vivian nodded; Alice cast her shield spell over the man as an unseen assailant shot a crossbow bolt at him. The bolt harmlessly bounced of him as a shadow disappeared into the thief’s highway of rooftops.

He shrugged his shoulders and followed them. Alice kept a shield spell around him, to keep him safe from another assassination attempt. He was seated in a cell with Martin Vivian and the deputy sheriff, “Mr Halle you’re in a lot of trouble, we know that you’re working for both the hidden and the blades of red Saul. They realise that you have been double dealing them, perhaps only one of the two but they will soon both be after you. Then well the tower keep is the safest place for you to be”.

The man was arrogant self-assured, even sitting in a jail cell with two of the largest criminal syndicates in the country after his head. He had a sarcastic yet playful tone to his voice, “I don't think that accommodation would suit me, I would badger the warden constantly with complaints”.

The deputy sheriff got closer to him, “you don't seem to take this very seriously, the fines from the merchant guild alone for operating an illegal lending scheme will bankrupt you. The duchess will have you digging ditches until you drop were you stand. Considering the amount of money, you have been laundering for the hidden hand and red Saul, something as painless as a simple execution will not be happening”.

The merchant lent forward grinning, “you think that you are some sort of righteous hero, let me tell you what's going to happen. There will be a knock on that door, a senior member of the merchant’s guild will thank you for all your work. then he will give you a letter and I will walk away”. Vivian was confused, “your admitting you’re going to attempt to bribe your way out of this”?

His smug smile remained, “oh no I will throw away five years of my life. I will give up various other targets in return for clemency. The Merchants guild will back this deal as I am a former member. I will give the sheriff and the trade guild certain ledgers that I looked after for the blades of Red Saul and the hidden hand. The triune will seize certain considerable assets and the war against the vampires will have a large donation to its coffers. They will probably give me my old desk back”. There was a knock on the door and Artha grinned.

A cold rage filled Martins face. He looked over at Vivian across a hot drink, “don't get me wrong I believe people can change, but I still think a month of repairing roads or the sting of twenty lashes across his back would make him more inclined to avoid his old habits”. A courier delivered a wrapped book shaped parcel to the sheriff’s office moments later. Vivian noted it, “he probably knew that the writing was on the wall when we took out fat fish and the sharks. That someone would talk, that secrets would be spilled, he ensured he would be as clean as possible”.

Martin looked over to Alice, “we went through the shark gang. Now I think all of them had blood alchemy modifications to their body's and the red lotus lot had body fortification potions, I know that we generally kill blood alchemists on site. But the law seems rather lax on those gang members that use blood alchemy”.

“first of there is a world of difference …between being a blood alchemist and using a bottled blood alchemy modification. A bottled blood alchemy modification like the gills or water breathing ability that the shark gang has is a potion that permanently modifies, usually enhancing the body. Adding a feature of a monster of other life form. The fortification potions the red lotus use are a purely alchemical products, they don't alter the blood of the subject just make them grow a bit more”.

David gave a nod of understanding, “someone making red sand or other narcotics would end up in the tower jail. Someone just smoking it would get a few weeks building roads, a few lashes and a fine”. She nodded, “stable blood alchemy mutations are not much different from the permanent boosts regular alchemical products can bring. Or the befits from gaining levels or magic items. Blood modifications put a permanent mark on your record, but I understand it’s no more than being a criminal, what does a criminal have to lose”?

David's ear caught the key phrase, “still you said stable blood alchemy. What's unstable blood alchemy”? “A blood alchemist created the dragons. well several of them working together created them. A large percentage of the other monsters that wonder this world …deliberately or accidentally, for that potential to do harm they are killed on site their art is forbidden”. She paused for a breath and came around to David's question, “unstable blood alchemy leaves a person or creature in flux they are not set very dangerous able to change and alter, apparently such an experiment created the first doppelgänger”.

They headed down to the tavern for a round from their second successful day at tackling the hidden hands subordinates. If what the money-grubbing conman had said was right, they would be hurting the hidden hand in a massive way and they would be helping the city. They had already disrupted three of the hidden hand’s enterprises. It had to be making the first blade and that character they reported to the Shade, they would have a hole in their coffers after this.