Eden

The group removed their blindfolds in an obscure alley after being dropped off by a carriage that took off before they could turn around and catch a glimpse of it. Fifty paces and you're free to remove your blindfolds, was what they had been told. They looked around and took in their surroundings. Trash was strewn everywhere; it was damp and quiet--an alley long enough to be somewhat removed from the hustle and bustle of the busy streets. A couple homeless people sat in their rags, backs against the walls. Bran was still swaddled in bedsheets, which, despite the events of the day and her almost blinding headache, Eden found quite humorous; Sariel looked tired and Vorol looked sour, like he was currently chewing on a lemon.

"Well, boss, what's our next move?" Vorol asked, at last. Bran, gripping his sheets with pale knuckles and staring at the ground in concentration, didn't respond for a couple minutes. When he did, he looked up with a fire in his eyes, and with a shaking voice, said,

"We'll gather our belongings from each of our respective dwellings. Then we head to the manor. We have many things to discuss, but not here." He cast a glance at the homeless people sitting motionless against the wall. Eden agreed with his unsaid statement: we didn't get dropped off in a random alley; those are guildmembers. "Stay close." he continued. "Oh, and Sariel, do you think you can help Eden's bruise? I don't want people getting the wrong idea about our group. Eden raised an eyebrow at him and Sariel reached a hand out, asking,

"May I?" She nodded and he rested his palm very lightly on her forehead. There was a soft glow, and Eden's headache suddenly disappeared.

"Thanks, Sariel!" She said a little more lighthearted than she felt. The considered her response, and looked down at her hands. Burnt orange with red highlights. As calm as she was, she was in full summer. She looked around at her friends, looked into their eyes, and could tell they all felt the same. No matter what the cost, there was a reckoning coming for the thieves' guild. Eden was creative, Bran was resourceful, Vorol was flexible, Sariel was supportive, and they were, to a one, angry. The guild not only committed their usual crimes from the shadows, but had stepped out to abduct and threaten the lives of this group, and then that of those who didn't deserve it. Each member knew without speaking to each other that the guildmaster had made a mistake in his arrogance in not only not killing them, but also gloating over them by displaying his wealth and power. That mistake was going to cost him everything.

The group filed out of the alley and stepped onto the sidewalk. As Eden hailed a taxi, Bran very audibly instructed Eden to have the cab head to a flat two blocks from the medium; his temporary flat where his clothes were. Surprisingly enough to Eden, when they did climb into the carriage, Bran didn't instruct her to tell the cab driver anything different, nor did he do so himself, so she told the driver where to go, and they went directly to Bran's flat.

"Why do you rent a flat, Bran?" Eden asked. "Aren't you rich, being from a noble house?"

"I definitely am, but if I operate out of my family's house, then I have to deal with my family."

"Oh. Respectfully, Brandy, I think you should treasure the time you have with your family."

"Eden?"

"Yes, Brandy?"

"I know you like to engage people in meaningful conversations, but--and I'm saying this as politely as I know how--please don't tell me how I should conduct myself in regards to my family." It seemed she hit a nerve. Come to think of it, she had done something similar with Vorol in relation to how he acted towards the sanpinsani. Was that bad? She had meant well...

"S-sure, Bran. Sorry."

"It's cool. Just remember that sometimes there's a reason people keep their blood relations at arm's length."

"Okay." She looked at the floor, in mild winter.

"Ah shit." Bran sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "How did I end up looking like a mean person over this?"

"You're not!" Eden protested. "I am a bit of a busybody. It's something that has endeared me to people a lot in the past. I should have respected your boundaries."

"Eh, not quite." he replied. Eden looked up at him. "I'm just letting you know that I have boundaries and where they are. Chin up. You haven't lost any standing with me."

She smiled and briefly shifted to spring. "Thank you, Brandy."

The taxi took them to Bran's flat; the group bid the taxi driver to stay put, as their journey through the city wasn't finished by a long shot. They entered the building, ascended the stairs to the second floor, and entered the flat proper, which was wildly messy, with clothes every which way, hanging off chairs and other furniture.

"Um, should we wait outside?" Eden asked, as soon as she realized Bran was going to be dropping the sheet and getting dressed.

"Hells, no." Bran stated emphatically, walking in the doorway. "I will ask that you avert your eyes, but we're staying in every single room together until our last destination of the day."

"What about when we relieve ourselves?" Vorol asked, thoughtfully. Bran dropped his sheet, causing everyone to instantly look away.

"Obviously, we'll be waiting outside the loo, but none of us leaves that room until the one in the loo finishes their business; I'm not taking any chances that one of us gets abducted if the guildmaster decides to get pissy again. At least not without a big fight. We stay together." He finished dressing and retrieved a small crossbow that was under his pillow, and then followed that up by picking up two shortswords in their sheathes from the floor.

"Next, we go to Vorol's place." Bran said, finally.

"Actually, I was staying at the colosseum barracks." Vorol said, softly.

"Of course you were."

They arrived at the colosseum, which was much bigger up close than Eden had thought it would be at a distance. The giant arena boasted a full underground complex, replete with quarters for each of its regular and contract contenders, one bunk in said complex was reserved for Vorol, who, unsurprisingly to Eden, didn't keep many personal belongings. Hells, he walked barefoot through the city. They approached his bunk, and, still leaning against it was a spear and a glaive. He took the spear and asked,

"So, Sariel's place, next?"

They arrived at the temple of Ra, a white-alabaster building with gold accents. Eden found that it reminded her a bit of Almaz. The shade of white wasn't quite the same, but it was reminiscent, nonetheless, though, perhaps that was because it was a temple.

They went inside and were greeted by Declan, a human co-worker of Sariel, who had taken on all of Sariel's duties in Sariel's absence. Declan was slightly taller than everyone around him, with brown eyes and black hair; he wore white robes that matched Sariel's, though noticeably cleaner.

"Sariel!" Declan exclaimed, looking at the blonde elavis in front of him. "What happened to you?" Sariel followed Declan's eyes to his robe and replied with a soft oh before gripping the front of his robes and shaking them. Before Eden's eyes, the smudges of blood and grime disappeared, though the magical cleaning did nothing to mend the rips in the fabric.

"That's better." Sariel stated with a note of satisfaction in his voice.

"That still tells me nothing." Declan complained, though Eden could hear concern in his voice. "Your room was trashed! The hem-netjer said nothing was missing but you. What happened?" Sariel walked forward and put his hand on Declan's shoulder.

"Declan, as much as I would like to explain everything to you, I have other things to take care of. If all goes well, I should be able to resume my duties in a week. Until then..."

"...Chase the night." Declan finished.

"Chase the night. Leave it nowhere to hide. Will you retrieve my staff and the potions I have in my desk?"

"Of course, Sariel." The human turned and walked to the back of the temple and disappeared up the stairs.

The inside of the temple was... colorful. The walls were painted in a distinct mural of a sunrise, the brightest part of which was on the east wall, the wall not only being white, but also magically illuminated as the sun might be. Sariel elbowed Eden in the ribs and told her not to look at it, as it might not be hot, but it was still bright enough to blind her. On the western wall, the colors were darker, and there were glyphs on the darkest part of the wall. Eden asked Sariel what they meant and he simply said,

"Chase the night. Leave it no place to hide." as if the sentence was self-explanatory. Declan came back with Sariel's staff and several glass bottles, four of which the liquid inside was red, and three had bubbling orange liquid inside.

"These were all that weren't broken." Declan said almost apologetically. "Thankfully none of these had been broken or you might not have a room anymore." He said, indicating the orange bottles. Sariel grimaced.

"Only four healing tonics?"

"No, only two. I added two of mine. I'm not sure what you've gotten yourself into, but you need to come back from it." The elavis and the human grasped each other by the forearms in some sort of display of affection. Eden had never seen that action before and wondered why the two simply didn't hug. In her opinion, they could probably use some hugs. The two men let go and bid each other goodbye.

Next, the group headed to Eden's room at the inn she was set up in. The innkeeper, still sporting his black eye, immediately apologized profusely to Eden as the group approached, weeping and kneeling.

"I'm so sorry, miss Springsnow! They beat me, they threatened me, they told me they'd burn down my inn! Please, miss Springsnow, my inn is all I have!" Eden reached down and tried to guide him to a standing position by his arm, but he remained on the ground, unmoved.

"Vorol, Brandy, would you give me a hand?

Eden asked, softly. The innkeeper gave a frightened cry upon hearing this and sorrowfully protested as the two men hauled him to his feet,

"Please, mercy, I beg of you! There are so many of them and I don't know where they are or if they're watching me! Don't hurt m--"

Eden hugged him. It was a simple act, but a profound one that prompted the man into surprised silence for a moment--a moment that seemed to stretch out into minutes--before the man broke into unintelligible, choking sobs on Eden's shoulder.

"I'm sorry," Eden reassured the man, not remembering his name but caring, nonetheless, "You shouldn't have had to go through that and none of this is your fault. We're not going to hurt you for trying to ensure your safety." The man hacked again. "Sariel, would you mind?" She asked her elavis companion. He nodded and laid one of his hands on the innkeeper's shoulders. There was a slight glow and the man straightened up and looked up, his black eye healed. Eden leaned up, pulled the man's head down to her shoulder again, and whispered in his ear,

"We'll get those bastards."

The group gathered Eden's effects, sans either of her daggers; the one from Ichabod and the one from the sanpinsani were both missing. Which made sense, as Eden was able to do quite a bit of damage with them. She picked up the jacket from the chair and tossed it to Bran, who donned it, and reassigned his small crossbow to one of the jacket's pockets. The room was surprisingly bloody, and Eden hadn't remembered doing quite that much damage to her assailants, but her companions were suitably impressed, so she chalked that up to a win.

Their next and final step for the day was Raenaugh's manor. The butler let them all in and they collapsed on the furniture. Raenaugh walked into the room and upon viewing the state of his partners, asked,

"What happened??"

Vorol lifted his head up. "We were abducted."

"What?"

"Yep. They ambushed each of us, took us back to their lair, and threatened us." Vorol replied, casually. Raenaugh's eyes bulged.

"We're fortunate that they didn't kill us, I suppose." Bran mused, exhaustion evident in his voice.

"We met the guildmaster," Sariel added, "and he's quite possibly the strangest person I've come across. He's absolutely bonkers."

"I wonder if Eliyr really is off his rocker or if it's all an act." Eden mused. The room went quiet and every eye turned to look at Eden. "What?"

"What did you say?" Bran asked.

"Eliyr, the name of the guildmaster."

"How would you know his name? No one knows his name."

"Oh, my mentor had a run-in with him a while back."

"What's your mentor's name?"

"Ichabod. I'm not sure if he has a surname or not." Eden replied. Bran frowned and shook his head.

"Well, I haven't heard of anyone named Ichabod causing any sort of fuss in the city. But you're sure Eliyr is the guildmaster's name?"

"At the least, that is definitely what I heard Ichabod say."

"Hm. well, if Eliyr has his name attached to any property, holdings, business or otherwise, I should be able to have Senator Mystern put a freeze on them and possibly have them confiscated."

"What if there's another person named Eliyr in the city?" Sariel asked.

"Then they can verify their identity and we can verify that they are not the guildmaster; they get their property back."

"I want to hear all this from the top." Raenaugh said, a little stressed. The group obliged, each member telling from their point of view the events that happened earlier that day. By the time they were done, the sun had gotten low; there was perhaps three hours of light left.

"So you see why we're pissed." Vorol concluded. Raenaugh agreed that outrage was the appropriate reaction.

"So what are we going to do about it?" Raenaugh asked, absentmindedly braiding his hair.

"Well, we know a couple things." Bran said, addressing the group as a whole. "The vault exists, we have an approximate location for it, the guildmaster can be baited into acting, and the treasure is still being moved to the Headsman's Joy. The question is this: what sort of plan can we make with this information?" Eden had an idea about how to solve one of the issues. It might work, it might not, and if it did, it would be the equivalent to kicking a bee's nest. She'd have to solve all the other problems before she spoke up about that one, though.

"We have a location?" Vorol asked, a little bit surprised.

"Yeah, both Eden and myself saw that bartender over by a ladder. That first bar we visited has an entrance to that particular area of the sewers where we were taken. Now, if we move fast, we still may be able to reach the vault." Bran said. "So, next question: how do we go about this? There's one way in, one way out, and a lot of guildmembers--some very powerful ones, too--between us and the treasure, then likely between us and the exit, never mind the problem of removing that much treasure from the vault." The group thought about this for a few minutes.

"What about the city watch?" Eden asked. "I'm willing to bet they would jump at the opportunity to strike a blow at the guild."

Bran emphatically shook his head. "No. A couple reasons for that. One, we don't know which members of the watch are in the guild's back pocket and two, our group isn't officially sanctioned, so they would arrest us for acting outside our authority. It's a nice idea, but such a direct approach wouldn't work well for us."

"What if we hired a band of mercenaries for a couple hours?" Vorol asked. "We'd probably be able to go into a tavern and hire quite a few sellswords that would keep the guild off our backs as we made our incursion."

"That wouldn't work either, as again, we don't know who'd actually be with us, or who is a member of the guild. The guild has numerous members that make extra cash as mercenaries when they have some spare time. It's a risk that could cost us too much before we even get this underway."

"What about an indirect approach?" Sariel asked. Bran looked at him expectantly. "We could get the guard involved by way of your family. Your House is respected, so if someone from your family states that they received proof that the guild is currently in a certain location, the watch would act."

"Not a bad idea," Bran admitted, "but again, if the watch sees that we're involved, it'll be a problem, and we can't necessarily trust the watch to take care of the problem for us--that's kind of the whole reason Senator Mystern founded our group."

"I've got an idea." Raenaugh spoke up. The group turned to listen. "What if we use the watch in that exact way to investigate properties that the guild owns? Obviously not our incursion into the sewers, but if the guild is focusing on other places, there might be a few less guild members to contend with when we make our incursion."

"That's a fantastic idea!" Bran affirmed. "Plus it will make sure the guildmaster knows it's us that is coming after him. So what do we do about the treasure? There are two potential targets and one might buy us more time than the other, but might also be just as dangerous: We could either make our incursion into the sewers or we could disrupt the pirates' operation in the bay."

Vorol spoke next. "I don't like that. It would mean another assault on the pirates, who will be better fortified in this case, and then we would need to go on the defensive against the thieves' guild. I think the guildmaster won't hesitate to make a spectacle if it means that he gets to make good on his promise to kill us. Plus, getting at the pirates just to lure the guild out just puts us in the spotlight again."

Sariel added, "Getting the watch to go after the Headsman's Joy might also be a problem if we decide to go that route: that ship has remained untouched for a reason. Likely someone with authority in the watch or over the watch has either told them to keep their mouths shut or has made sure the docks have exclusively guild-friendly guards there."

Bran nodded. "That is a concern. Any other ideas?" Eden thought hard. The pirates were in the bay, the guild was in the docks section of the city, and both were fortified. All they had to work with was their own abilities and equipment.

"Bran," Raenaugh asked, "Do you have access to bags of extradimensional storage? Even small ones might help." Bran shook his head.

"Not here. We'd have to stop and requisition a few from my House, and that would take more time than our window allows."

"Oh." Raenaugh looked crestfallen. "I don't have any here, either. That might have helped with the treasure problem."

"What?" Eden asked loudly, suddenly paying keen attention.

"Bags? That we can store excess amounts of treasure in and escape with. If we had enough bags or enough storage space in those bags, we'd be able to make off with all the treasure in one go."

"Why didn't we have these to begin with?" Vorol complained.

"Because this wasn't supposed to happen. We were supposed to still be in the planning stage with the time to buy whatever things we needed. Obviously we couldn't buy the things we needed last week, and we didn't know to buy them today. So, we're here to collaborate."

"No, guys, I've got an idea." Eden interrupted. "Tell me if these ideas are bad, and help me make a plan out of it."

She spoke for a couple minutes with an enraptured audience that made some exclamations, and then all swore loudly at once.

"It's shaky but it's the best thing I've heard so far. We'll only have one shot at this, so let's make the best of it. Hopefully none of it will fall through. I'll contact my sister and have her contact the watch." Bran said. "The plan is made. Raenaugh, do you have a two-way scrying mirror in here?"

And with that, Eden and her friends prepared to leave the manor.