Near the lodging, they decided to make their way back, and meet back up in Theo, Shukri, and Meti’s room to finish speaking. Meti cast the spell to block sound, so their conversation wouldn’t escape the room itself. Merui took an offered seat, crossing his legs and leaning back into it. “So, where to begin?” Merui asked, though mostly to himself. “After councilman Ankhta was attacked, he received a sort of ‘get well’ gift from the merchant prince Nassor Birmad. That’s what got us onto this trail.”

“Wait, so this merchant prince sent him a get well gift after attacking him? Is he trying to send a message or something?” Tahir asked.

“I’ll get to that in a moment,” Merui answered. “For now, I’ll say that I don’t think it was him, but rather one or both of the other merchant princes he most closely associates with. Achraf Murshal, and Osman Buraale. Of course, if one of them were behind the attack, they’d want absolutely no contact with the councilman. My guess is that Nassor caught wind of one of the other two’s involvement, and sent that gift over to absolve himself.”

“So he really just sent an expensive gift over after the councilman got attacked, just to say ‘I’m not involved’?” Theo asked.

Merui Shrugged. “It’s the way of things in Nagyermend, I’m afraid. The council members and merchant princes have no love for each other, but they do understand the role that each of them plays in keeping the city afloat. Or at least, most of them do. Looking into those two, I’ve located a warehouse that I believe belongs to Osman. This isn’t a task I can confidently hand over to the guards, given the spirit mages’ will overpower them easily if things get violent, and they’re not particularly suited toward infiltration missions anyway.”

“So you want us to break in?” Tahir, glancing around to everyone else to see if they’d also come to the same conclusion.

“I wouldn’t call it that, but yes. We’ll need to confirm whether or not the materials you’ve pointed out to us are stored there, and therefore confirm Osman’s involvement. You’ll be appropriately compensated for your assistance, of course. I’m well aware that the aid of platinum Redclouds does not come cheap, and if all goes well, we’ll be in and out without anyone noticing.”

“In and out, huh.” Tahir murmured. He did say he wanted to get involved. Infiltration missions didn’t suit him particularly well, but he should be able to pull it off, especially with Neremyn helping. “I’ll help, not sure about everyone else, though.” He answered.

“Well, you can’t break into a place without bringing me along.” Hasio added, clearing his throat. “Before I became a Redcloud it was kind of my specialty.”

“I will join you. I would have made for an awful hunter if I couldn’t move silently and remain unseen.” Shukri said.

“Meti and I aren’t really the best for infiltration I don’t think, but we could help some other way!” Theo chimed in.

“Well, if you feel you’re up to the task, I could set you in positions near the warehouse.” Merui offered. “On the off chance something goes wrong, and there are spirit mages fleeing from the scene, you can stall them until help arrives, or apprehend them yourselves if you’re so inclined.”

They spoke about the finer details of the plan for a while longer, and then Merui told the group where he wanted them to meet the next day. The operation had already been planned to happen with or without their involvement, so if they’d spent the next day traveling back from the ruin like they planned, they might not have even met with Merui to get this mission in the first place.

Well, they knew what they had to do, so with a plan in place, they split up for bed, and spent the rest of the next day preparing. Unfortunately, they didn’t have a lot of time to do much with all of the gold they just got from selling off artifacts, but they’d make due with what they had. This was a different endeavor than moving through ancient ruins, but Tahir felt like this would grow into a bigger problem if it didn’t get solved quickly, and he wanted to be a part of the solution. That they’d be getting paid also made him feel better about participating, especially with everyone else getting involved.

They let Murabi know also, but as they expected, he didn’t have any reason to get involved. That was probably for the best. As much help as he could give, things would start getting difficult if Mithral Redclouds started getting involved in issues like this without a personal stake. The Redclouds enjoyed their relative autonomy and ability to operate in every country in Itera due to the fact that on matters that someone didn’t pay them to look into, they didn’t typically get involved unless it involved their members, or if lives were at stake. Tahir remembered Merui mentioning something about it during the interrogation, but Tahir, Hasio, and Shukri could hide their platinum pocket watches. Platinum members weren’t exactly numerous, but there were only a handful of Mithral and Adamantine members. Once someone reached that rank, their face became known as much as the color of the pocket watch they wore.

Eventually, night fell, and the group met up at the location Merui gave them. Tahir decided to bring Neremyn along at tier three, as well as the air spirit to make him lighter and hopefully more quiet. They found Merui waiting in an alley, and he led them into a nearby building where they found Namilah waiting.

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“So you did get them after all.” She noted, looking over everyone as they arrived.

“Hey now, did you think I was lying when I told you that I ran into them?” Merui asked.

“No, I simply assumed Redclouds would be more concerned with the ruin that just opened up, rather than getting involved with city business.” Namilah replied pointedly.

“Don’t go worrying about us in that regard.” Tahir said. “We’re nosy enough for both. We’d just gotten back from the ruin when Merui found us.”

“I would think your city would want all of the help it can get, since this problem hasn’t been resolved already.” Shukri spat.

“I…very well.” Namilah relented, but her expression showed that she had a couple of questions that she’d leave unasked. “I assume Merui told you our plan?”

“Get in, find what we’re looking for, and get out.” Hasio said. “That’s the short version at least - that and to knock out anyone who spots us?”

“Indeed. Don’t worry about harming anyone just doing their jobs. We’ve checked the records of this particular warehouse, and it has all the usual marks of being used to smuggle something in without letting the city know. Whoever’s working there is certainly not making an honest living, and probably won’t hesitate to leave you with a few broken bones for the trouble.”

“Got it.” Tahir nodded, appreciating the warning. “Theo and Metilia will be waiting outside to intercept anyone that you two want to arrest if they try to make a break for it. I’ll keep the Traveler with them so we can communicate.”

“Glad that we’re all aware of the plan.” Merui said. “Now, if everyone’s ready to go, we’ll split into groups. There are a few locked doors around the warehouse that can be picked, I can take one, and I’m told that Hasio here can handle another, but I’d rather have groups of one or two instead of three for this.”

“I can go with someone if there’s a window or something that I can look through.” Tahir offered.

“Wonderful. If I may, I can go alone, Hasio can venture with Shukri, and Tahir can move with Namilah.”

Tahir looked around. Both Shukri and Namilah’s expressions said they might want to oppose Merui’s suggestions, but neither of them said anything. Tahir himself wondered why Merui would put Namilah with Tahir himself instead of Hasio, he figured that Merui had the best idea of where to find what they were looking for, and could move to find it better if he went himself, rather than sneaking in along with someone else. He cleared his throat, drawing everyone’s attention. “Let’s just get this over with, shall we?”

With their plan confirmed and everyone at least agreeing to what was presented, the group split off. With Meti, Theo, and Neremyn moving to keep an eye out the building from the outside, and everyone else heading to specific points to break in. Tahir went with Namilah to a low window that Merui pointed out, and Tahir silently moved up to it to peek through. Both to get an idea of the space that lay just beyond, and to make sure that no one was currently in view of the window.

Once he’d confirmed both of those things, he stepped back from the window and looked to Nimilah. “Alright, looks clear enough.”

“You never did say how you planned to get us inside without being able to pick a lock.” Namilah pointed out.

“Teleportation.” Tahir said, and with a smile, held out his hand. “I’ll need contact for it to work, though.”

Namilah stared down at his hand, for enough seconds to make the entire exchange mildly uncomfortable to Tahir, before she finally took it. Honing in on his surroundings, he took a deep breath and cast the teleportation spell, shifting them into the warehouse. The space inside felt notably warmer than out, and the two of them found themselves in an area behind several stacked crates covered by a heavy cloth that blocked line of sight from the rest of the warehouse.

After the teleportation went off without a hitch, Tahir breathed a silent sigh of relief and let go of Namilah’s hand. He crouched low, and moved to the edge of the crates to peak beyond, putting his hand on the crates both to check their weight and to steady himself he glanced around. He did spot people actively moving, carrying large crates elsewhere in the warehouse. When he pulled his hand away from the crates, however, he found cobwebs coming up along with small strands attached to his fingers. Examining the crates again, he found that odd. They weren’t covered in dust, but a second glance allowed him to confirm that they did have strands of webbing over them.

“These are somewhat old, I think?” Tahir whispered to Namilah. “Let's have a look at some of the newer crates.” She nodded in response, and the two of them waited until the coast was clear before creeping around, moving silently, but quickly while no one was in sight to see them move through. They hid behind another large stack of crates to wait for people working at the warehouse to pass by, and then quickly moved in to have a look at what they'd just brought along. It seemed like they were going back and forth, moving a recent delivery along and organizing it. Thankfully, some of the crates were open, and so Tahir quietly moved forward to get a look at them.

He slid the top of one of the open crates back to peek inside, and found bundles of several familiar items to him. Different materials to summon different levels of spirits. Everything to summon a single spirit wasn’t in the single crate he opened, but the bulk of materials were either part of the rituals he’d used or suitable substitutions. He quietly pointed these things out to Namilah when she followed him to the crate, and she listened intently for a while, before one of her ears flicked. “The ones that were bringing the crates along are making their way back. Let’s leave and discuss this outside.”

Tahir nodded in agreement. Tahir moved the top of the crate back in place, and the two of them moved behind another set of crates that blocked line of sight from the newest set, and listened as the workers moved another heavy crate in and set it down with a huff, and a thud so hard it rumbled the crates that he and Namilah were leaning against. As he listened to them walk away, he felt more webs on his hand as he pulled away from the crate they hid behind. Even more odd, weren’t these crates newer than the ones they hid behind earlier.

“My oh my, what little mice have I found scurrying about?” Tahir heard a voice just above him, and his blood ran cold as he looked up to see its source.