[Thane's Estate] Plotting Destruction

[Amber Brightwing]

The Thane simply nodded as he told her about the owls. She found it a bit odd to ask for permissions for something that had already been set into motion. Perhaps Dorvold wanted confirmation and Dimitri hadn’t seen the need?

“Nothing else for this part of the meeting. The Lieutenant should be arriving any moment though, so then we can continue about the exact details of how and when to take down the Blood Alley Gang.”

***

The guard simply nodded at the request. “Follow me sir.” No questions to leave behind any weaponry as was usually the case. They had been alerted of the Lieutenant Commander’s visit and had been given orders accordingly.

He was led into a fairly empty room, only containing a few chairs and a large table. A few large windows looked out on the garden surrounding the mansion. On the table were a few maps laid open. A Dwarf and a Faerie were standing in front and on it respectively.

“Serale Lieutenant Commander. Pleased to meet you. I am Thane Amber Brightwing and this is Dorvold Hammerhelm, current acting head of the Guard. I don't know how much you already know about why I requested your aid?”

[Dicemonk]

The compliance of the Thane's guards nearly forced a smile across his lips, but he managed to hold it in. From this he gleaned that Amber was good at disseminating necessary information to her subordinates and she wished to be efficient in the handling of her affairs. The fae was most certainly beginning to give him a better than expected impression of her leadership abilities. At the very least it took some stress off his mind; knowing that his men would be in good hands was a load off.


"Your Grace, Master Hammerhelm."

He gave a proper bow to the Lady Thane and stood with arms clasped behind his back. "I have only been told that you need to eliminate a large conglomerate of smaller gangs which has essentially taken control of a large portion of your city. Is there anything which I may need to be apprised of at this point?" If he was irritated with the current situation, he certainly wasn't showing it.

[Dimitri Wladisyaw]

Dorvold spoke at this point, the straight backed and curiously silent dwarf spoke in his low barratone voice, "Aye there be a few things you had best remember, for one this is not Nexus Prime, the criminals have not grown fat and greedy, in Vortex everything is more dangerous, common street gangs murder with ease and guardsmen have a hard time tracking them down, so be careful that is all I shall say."

With that Dorvold stepped back and would watch the conversation ensue.

[Amber Brightwing]

Amber eyed the Dwarf. “I don’t know about the situation in Prime and neither is it relevant.” There was no need to start any unneeded arguments when they were supposed to be working together. “Master Hammerhelm is right about the killing though. Even though the Blood Alley Gang has been build up out of several smaller gangs they act as one at the moment. They have taking over a large part of the Southern Quarter and actively train their members in combat.”

“What I asked your aid for is to take down their Headquarters.” She gestured with her hand at the plans laid out in front of her. “Without it they’d loose their command centre and a lot of their current resources are stored there. With any luck we might even catch some of their leaders, though so far my sources have met only cold trails when trying to get facts on them. The blow should be severe enough to take back the area in one go and re-establish the Law and Order in the district.”

She paused to see if the Lieutenant Commander had remarks or questions so far.

[Dicemonk]

The lieutenant eyed Dorvold for a moment, but kept his tongue still in response. Blow hard... he reasoned about the dwarf. He had seen the criminals of Vortex working in broad daylight! He had seen their actions and their attitudes. Truth be told, the criminals of Vortex had grown lazy. They knew the system, they knew who was bribed and who not, and they also knew exactly where they were safe to conduct business. Prime had been keeping tabs on Vortex for longer than any would like to admit and while there had certainly been improvement with the coming of the dark katta and again with this Fae, it was still all too easy for the criminal element to operate with impunity in many parts of the city. At least the Fae would be easy to work with...

Alexei stepped over to the floor plans laid out before them and leaned over to examine them more closely. "Excellent quality. My reconnaissance team could learn from whoever made these." He spoke almost to himself, but his tone revealed more than a little genuine interest in how she had procured the plans. He puzzled over the plans for a moment and traced his finger over them at various points. "No doubt you have already devised a plan for covering these additional exits? I like what you have said thus far, let's hear a few more details. How many of them do you plan to kill?" He was still engrossed in his study of the drawings as he spoke.

[Amber Brightwing]

Amber smiled at the praise of the Gnome’s work. She made a mental note to transfer the compliments the next time she saw him. She kept silent to the lieutenant on it though as it would be best to keep her resources private.

“I have some ideas, but no real plan. I’ve never lead soldiers or guards on missions after all, I’ve hired people for that.” She grinned. If she’d have direct control of the troops then yes, she’d have a plan ready, but she doubted it would be the most efficient one. “I had thought about covering all exits and marching in the main part of the troops through the front door, but I never really considered what way to best block each exit.” She paused for a second, pondering. “I’m not sure if how easy it would be to barricade them.”

“In any case, there’s three important exists. The one at the roof is probably the easiest to cover if you can get some men up there as it’s just a trapdoor. The basement exit is what they use to haul out their stolen wares, so while it’s probably large enough to move some men through their loot might be blocking parts of the passage as well. The ground floor is the most problematic one. I has many poor civilians residing, most of them unrelated to the gang.”

“I thought about this for a while and I had an idea, though I’m not sure how feasible it is, but we could take some sturdy guards and have them form a wedge, forcing the people away from the centre and then create a hedge as they pass so we create a clear path for the West Wardens to march through. The people gathered should only have a few random gang members at best and not our main problem.” And having the Vortex guard in between them and the Imperials might avoid some trouble as well. “Maybe we could even leave open some ground exits to let those people leave and get out of our way.”

“The first floor is used by some of the poor to catch some sleep, so there shouldn’t be any resistance there, except maybe at the entrance to the second floor. That’s where the regular gang members gather and where the most trouble should be expected. The third floor is where the gang’s leaders stay, when they are present that is. Whether they’ll be or not will be up to chance as it has proven to be impossible to get any information on them.” After all, if a Master mystic couldn’t get his hands on any information, then who could? “The fourth floor is a large storage space and has the previously mentioned exit to the roof.”

“Personally I’d like to see as little bloodshed as possible, but if there as to be some then preferably on their side. If they surrender they’ll be thrown in the goal, if they don’t, I see no reason not to kill them without hesitation.”

She fell silent, pondering about what still needed to be said and leaving the opportunity for Alexei or Drovold to speak up if they wanted.

[Dicemonk]

Following along with Amber's explanations and planning, Alexei nodded at various points and pondered some plans of his own. He didn't seem overly concerned with what she had told him and he even had a small grin on his lips. "The plan for the wedge formation certainly has some merit. It will take several brightenings to acquire full plate armor for those who will be creating this wedge, but it shouldn't be too difficult. We'll have crossbowmen covering the roof exit and we will make a choke point out of the basement exit." He stopped, tapped the map a couple times on the main floor and looked back to the little fae. "If you don't mind, perhaps the Vortex guard could take care of those who surrender willingly. I imagine some of them will be intelligent enough to recognize sure defeat and we do not need them to be impeding our battle efforts. My soldiers aren't accustomed to dealing with prisoners anyway." He glanced at Dorvold and waited for any oncoming protest.

[Amber Brightwing]

She frowned as he mentioned the armour. “Full plate?” Wouldn’t decent shields be sufficient for that? The bottom floor is mostly civilians that have little to do with the gang.” She turned towards Drovold. “What do you think?” He was the one that would be ordering the guards after all and for all she knew they’d have sufficient plate armour in stock, not making it a point of discussion.

She grinned widely as the his suggestion on what the Vortex guard should do. “I was thinking along the same lines. I would have do them more then just arresting those that surrender though. I would put them on the streets through the Southern Quarter, mostly concentrated around the Blood Alley Gang headquarters, and suppress any possible attempts at riots. They could even arrest all those openly baring signs of being a part of the gang.”

She paused and waited for the Dwarf to give his own opinion on the matter.

[Dicemonk]

Scratching his chin momentarily, Alexei pondered the suggestion. "It would likely be less difficult to get our hands on tower shields alone. Phalanx minus the long-arms? If what you say is true about the bottom floor, I imagine there won't be entirely too much to worry about." He again gave the dwarf a chance to pipe up, but he only gave a moment of silence before responding to the far again. "I think that would be wise, if you believe you have the manpower. Primary objective will be taking in the gang members themselves. Secondary would be quelling any uprisings or taking in those who openly associate with the gang. I'll allow you to decide how to split up your forces, as you have a better idea of your numbers and the capabilities of your men. How many can the gaol hold?" He glanced at the floor plans again and became silent once more.

[Dimitri Wladisyaw]

Dorvold had remained quiet in the background. Slowly he had stroked his great beard glistening with woven gems and flashes of gold. He smiled at last and spoke, "Of course I am but a servant, though I am unsure how effective you feel this strategy of arrest may be Lady Thane. Often gang members and civilians look very much alike, weapons are hidden and manners curbed while guards appear." He smiled, "We cannot arrest everyone it would be folly, the gaol holds many, much room inside, and we can use the Citadel to help any overfill but I doubt if a peaceful strategy will win out."

He took a step forward and rested a hand on the table before resuming, "I would advocate fires, in fact in a way I still do. Force the gang member sout of the building and confused so we might arrest them. Then again the flames will spread, the entire district could do with a fire to level it, but the loss of life would be somewhat embarassing for the city." Dorvold smiled and rubbed his armour carefully withhis thumb, the steel under his digit always calmed him.

"My men will spread out through the district and quell riots." He had order on that front as well, troublemakers and rabble rousers and personal enemies of his liege were to be carefully swept up and deemed as violent, shops would be closed down and goods requisitioned carefully. More than the city should profit from this operation after all, "Your wedge may be fine, but fight in full plate armour in an urban setting and you doom youself." Dorvold smiled at his rival and nodded, "you aint on the plains of Arium now my boy, use your head. Can you outfit your men for close quaters fighting, a large shield is still a necessity but a short blade and a hand crossbow with some leather armour make them versatile." Dorvold smiled and ran a hand through his beard again, "Find yourself in a hallway with a tower sheild and full plate armour with a man about you and he will have your guts for his wifes garters that is for sure." Dorvold smiled again and continued, "As you say use your full plate to create a choke in the basement, and archers from the army could cover the roof along with your crossbowmen. We could even put some men up there, I have some who might relish such a job as this." Dorvold nodded and resumed, "As for the main entrance, rush the place, evacuate the civlians if you wish it and use ingenuity, magic would be useful if you could get an elementalist into the mix, I would still reccomend fire, set the cat among them and watch them run about like headless chickens."

[Amber Brightwing]

The Fae shrugged as he mentioned gang members and civilians looked alike. She had expected him to know better. “Everyone residing above the second floor can be considered a gang member. Ditto for anyone trying to cause too much of a fuss on the streets during the whole operation.” She remembered seeing some of the Blood Alley Gang members carrying signs of their membership and she could probably find out how you could recognize one, but she didn’t think that would be necessary. “And if there are more then could fill the gaol we can still see what to do with the excess. I don’t think we’ll have that many though since those that try to oppose will have to survive first and if those present in the building surrender quick then there probably won’t be much riots in the streets.”

“Fire brings more new problems then it solves I think. More civilians then gang members would be toasted for one and with fire being uncontrollable as it is I’m not about to risk huge parts of the city just to smoke them out. It would most likely damage the city more then it would help it.” It was one thing to create a fire capable of taking out whole blocks, it was another to quell it again. Worst case it could level most of the city, not a risk she’d take without so many other options available.

“The reason I though of large shields was that it’s easy to push people back with them. I would only supply those providing the hallway for the provincial forces with them. I’m sure that the Lieutenant Commander is capable enough to equip his men with the right equipment.” She paused for a moment, thinking. “I wouldn’t know where to find an Elementalist in Vortex.” Perhaps one of the Vysstichi houses employed one or more, but so far she hadn’t heard the sphere being mentioned in this city. “And we don’t even employ any mages as far as I know.” And if you did find mages on the payroll then they weren’t there because of their Arcanic skill.

[Dicemonk]

Giving no extra attention to the dwarf, Alexei turned only to Amber for her response. The corners of his lips turned up as she proved that she was possessed of more intelligence than her stocky friend. "I'm inclined to agree with you, your grace. A wise tactician never adds an element to a battle which is beyond his control." He gave another nod to the fae and a glance at the dwarf. "The shields'll do." Alexei said confidently. He thought about giving the dwarf a lesson on the qualities of full-plate armor, but thought it wise to leave anything unnecessary out of the meeting. "I brought along no magi, but if you do plan to involve one, I would like full disclosure on his or her plans. I would prefer to do without, but the final decision is once again up to the Lady Thane." He stood up from his position over the floor plans and straightened his uniform; brushing unseen dust from it as he did so.

[Dimitri Wladisyaw]

Dorvold inclined his head, he cared little if they listened to him or not. The purpose of this mission was foolish he reasoned anyway, to destroy a gang was a little more difficult than a simple raid, a replacement gang would soon finds its way into power, there would always be a Blood alley gang in Vortex.

He smiled at the fae willing to show he was not the idiot they clearly thought him at the moment, "Lady Thane I wonder still on two matters of the plan, firstly having sent my own men into the headquaters many of the recruiters are on the first floor. The most ambitious and barbaric of the gang, if weherdthe residents of that floor our we allow many of the more dangerous members of escape."

He smiled now came his big blow, the large gap in the plan. "As for the actual attack, you intend to attack the headquaters, yet this is almost like attacking this Guard House if one wanted to attack me, I am often out and I have a seperate home. The warehouse in the Bloody gang alley contain te dangerous upper echelons of the gang, where you propose to attack contains the bulk of the members I confess, though those that are inside at the time, they will rather be like breaking the nose of the gang. it will be messy but cause less damage than you imagine surely?" He sounded polite as he spoke and nodded briskly at the end of his speech. "I know your aim is to strike at the resources and perhaps get some leaders but will it be enough? Does the risk outweight the reward here?"

[Amber Brightwing]

She gave a shrug as he mentioned the recruiters. They were just thugs, nothing more. “If you think the recruiters are problematic then spread their signalization and arrest them on sight.” The leadership was going to be more problematic though. “If we take away most of their resources, a good part of their members and their main meeting place, not to mention clip their wings by patrolling in all of the Southern Quarter again then we won’t just break their nose, but most of their limbs too.”

“The leadership is a bit problematic though. It’s the primary reason the smaller gangs stay together and whether we’ll actually capture any of their leaders will depend on luck mostly. Unfortunately they are paranoid to the point that even those directly below have little idea of who and what they are exactly. Attacking their houses would be easier indeed, but for that you have to know the location of their residence first.” She doubted the Dwarf knew that any more then she did. If a Master Mystic couldn’t even pry it out of the gang, then how would the guard get their hands on such things?

“Still, even in the worst case, if they gather together as one gang again on a different location, we’ll have control of the streets again and they’d have lost a lot of power. Dimitri assured that we had enough people to cover the streets somewhat decently, so now that the guards are doing their jobs properly again we should be able to keep their reach limited and not let them rise so similar heights again don’t you think.” She smiled at the Dwarf. His direct superior had agreed with her after all.

[Dicemonk]

Subconsciously allowing his finger to trace over the scar which ran across his cheek, the Lieutenant Commander listened to both sides of the argument. Though the dwarf had actually managed to bring up two fairly valid points, the Thane had addressed them properly and removed any reason for further worry. It seemed that she had all avenues properly mapped out in her mind and she scarcely needed him there, save for approval of the orders to be given to his men. He took up speaking just where Amber had left off. "While unfortunate that we have not been able to gather intelligence on the leaders, if these leaders aren't just ghosts of whispers among lower level members, we have all we need to essentially take this organization apart. Just as on any battlefield, we fight for ground here. We are only looking to push them back long enough to secure that ground, the Southern Quarter in this case, before they have a chance to regroup. In their disorganized state after the battle, it will be as easy as walking the grounds of the Quarter with a few extra guards on each patrol. Thieves never like direct confrontation and I doubt they'll be willing to make war on the guard after such a defeat, even if their territory is at stake." He nodded once, as if to confirm to himself that what he had just said made sense, then glanced at each of the two and waited to see if any further arguments were coming.