Chapter 6.9 - Divided Attention

Elsewhere in the world, a 3 month plan was coming to fruition.

The plan itself was simple. Wait until Haven was a little defenseless, sneak in, steal a few secrets, sneak out. The plan had been in the works for several weeks, and then the perfect time came when The Northern Kingdoms requested Haven's Aid. GWA Scouts had reported that there were large amounts of troop movements and flying ships travelling towards The Northern Kingdoms. For Remus and his team, if there was ever a time to commit a bit of intellectual or economic espionage, now was it.

Their team was even trained for it. Masters of their craft, able to be hidden from prying eyes and detection magic. The GWA had sent their best. Their goal was to get something that could turn the tide of their conflict with the Northern Kingdoms as Haven was too powerful to fight.

They had memorized the rotations of the guards, patterns of movement, and had used trained animals to figure out a small way past the detection wall of the front gate.

Remus, the team lead, knew that he would either gain valuable wealth from his sponsor, the GWA, or he would die trying. There were no other options. He had led several of these missions before, usually into the Northern Kingdoms, and had successfully stolen military plans, prototype weapons, and even a magistrate's daughter. But now it was to be his hardest job yet. A small signal was send, the sound of an owl, letting Remus know that the merchant caravan was approaching the intercept point.

With that Remus' team set out, unseen by any except a small flying bird high in the sky.

***

Remus' plan started off without any issues. They had successfully made it through into the merchant quarter several times, and knew that there was a special tunnel to the merchant housing area. From the reports from their diplomats, the main government building, which was rumored to contain a vault.

Remus and his team had used a specialized camouflage blanket to lay by the roadside, and when the merchant caravan came, they rolled in between the large cart wheels and affixed themselves to the bottom of the carriage.

This was because the only place that was not scanned by the homunculus on the wall was in the middle of the road.

Remus' entry team was only three members. Any more and they were at risk of being discovered. But at this size, and with their skills in stealth, no human eyes could find them. The Beast people and the black eyed folk were also unable to see them in full stealth, although the beast people's eyes came close. There were other rumored races, but unless a race could track them without sight they were in the clear. With that Remus and his team focused on becoming like shadows as they passed through the gates. Remus sighted the guards. Two were humans, while one looked human, just with pink hair and a jewel embedded in her forehead.

The pink haired guard had her eyes closed though, so they might be asleep, Remus mused. 'Not very watchful of the guards.' Remus thought. Remus then could have sworn the pink haired guard twitched. But might have just been a dream.

***

Remus and his team were moving swiftly and stealthily down the side corridor that led to the merchant housing. It was very much a lakeside resort, but Remus had no time to sightsee. Remus' team was all the same class, Thief. There was a class specific perk called double jointed. It allowed for a thief to squeeze themselves through small holes, such as the one in the unmanned gates between the Resort and the Town itself.

Strangely enough there were not too many guards to sneak past for Remus' team. Instead It was almost too smooth. They made it into Haven's Government building, which after hours was relatively unmanned. There was only one place still guarded. Above the entrance to the side office was a title.

Haven Intelligence Department

Remus almost laughed aloud. This government was so sure of their security that they openly announced where their most vital information was kept. 'Might as well have a sign that says [steal me]' Remus Mused. There were only a few guards on patrol inside and around the government building, so it was no effort to get past most of them. However, Remus saw that there was no way round the final guard. Thankfully this guard manning the desk in front of the vault like door to the Intelligence Department was dressed in a simple woolen garb, so the dart Remus fired punctured quite easily into their neck. Remus saw the guard twitch, then fall asleep. Remus' team did not take life. They were not assassins. They were thieves. And the best thieves are the ones you never knew were there.

When the guard passed out, Remus and his team went to work. The Door behind the guard had several intricate mechanical locks. It was more ingenious than anything Remus had seen before. Three separate tumblers had to be picked at the same time as the final correct number on a dialer was entered. If Remus wasn't a high level master thief, it would have spelled a mission failure. Instead, it was just a minor delay.

As they slipped in They found an array of small lockboxes sitting in cubbies. A sign on the wall was clearly written in several languages, only one of which Remus could read.

[Reminder to all employees, attempting to unlock the lock without both keys and combination will cause both traps to go off, as well as destroy the contents inside. Ensure you have the Spymaster present when attempting to open any container, or you are responsible for the damages.]

Remus snickered out loud despite his best effort at professionalism. 'These are children playing house on a national level' Remus decided. Remus looked to his two comrades and they each took two cases. In total 6 cases that Remus was sure contained Haven's vital secrets were swiftly exfiltrated. Remus' exit was slower, as they had to wait 2 hours until the next caravans, who had been bribed to leave early, would leave.

Remus and his team dismounted from the caravans outside the city, and made their way to their small camp, where a small autocart stood ready to carry them back to the GWA, and to their enormous payday.

***

"I told you it would work." Jasmine said. She had spoken with Dana and Edel at length about the subject of thieves. 'Don't make things impossible to get. That just makes the enemy creative. Instead we put false information somewhere hard to get but still logical, while keeping our actual intelligence efforts at our secret facilities at the various places they currently are.' was the jist of Jasmine's plan.

They had detected a few small scouting teams outside the gatehouse. Wildscouts had missed the teams in their various rounds due to their high level, however the nighttime flyover team had seen them, since each windrunner had a dhamphir attached. The Protectorate team tasks with the guarding of Haven from the more subtle of enemies, Overwatch Party, had then tracked the team 24 hours a day.

Dana's team had also been approached at the border by a Merchant saying he was offered a large sum of money to change his expected departure date and time.

Dana also was the one to decide on the concept of a Haven Intelligence Department. Jasmine had said they should make actual fake intelligence reports, but Dana wanted to take it one step further.

The guards were hired adventurers given strict orders to sit at a desk for a 12 hour shift for 2 weeks, then receive payment. For the two adventurer's hired, the most difficult part of the job was sitting at a boring desk for 12 hours. To alleviate any issues, passing guards could be flagged down to temporarily man the desk while an attendant relieved themselves.

Behind the guard was a single vault door, Dana explained. Meant to give the appearance of holding treasure.

Dana had suggested the trap be that when anyone enters the vault shuts, but Jasmine had a better idea.

"That's too simple. Instead, we make this have far worse consequences."

That was when the cubbies were designed.

The worst of the worst deadly trap magic that the best designers in Haven could come up with was placed into these lock boxes. Set to go off when the box was opened. All the triggers magical with mechanical failsafes. The boxes containing fragmentary explosives, toxins, psychic blasts, and sometimes all three. On the outside, less damaging traps were placed as another false clue.

Between Dana and Jasmine, they had developed a fake intelligence collection point, stuffed with fake intelligence dossiers, hosting the most diabolical traps their nation could come up with, and created a small difficult path for an enemy thief to get to.

It had worked perfectly.

Jasmine asked Dana, "Which country are the lockboxes heading towards?"

Dana smiled, "The Grand Wood Alliance."

Jasmine laughed, "Perfect! I will let Edel to spin security back up and to have the alarm bells ring. Can't let the enemy think it was too easy."

***

Remus and his team had barely cleared the final gate when alarm bells began to ring behind him.

Remus was a bit relieved. Had it been too easy, Remus was worried they might have been waiting for him just outside the city. Remus knew the rumors. None who crossed Haven survived. Without exception.

Their packages in tow, Remus and his team buried their site under 2 feet of dirt for security, then moved back to the GWA.

Remus didn't want the responsibility of possibly destroying the contents of the box, so he would leave the safecracking to a different team. He planned on collecting his credit and leaving.

***