After the successful heist at the Padmore estate, I had a good long rest. When waking it was already closer to noon that breakfast so we had lunch instead. Macaroni almost chocked on something that was hidden in his garlic bread and spit the thing on the ground. It seemed rather big so I went to get it. It turned out to be a folded piece of paper. Of course, I immediately went to the innkeeper to complain about their terrible policy of putting hazardous things in food without warning and if they didn't bake it themselves she should definitely switch providers.
Somehow, al she got from this was that bread with messages would be a good idea if people were informed beforehand. Like giant fortune cookies... I didn't get anything useful out of it other than that the bread was baked by someone else.
As it turned out, the folded paper was a message from the Red dot gang, which I promptly burned after reading. Something about a Marke Done marked one and information on the next meeting place. Since the Diamond we stole for them is cursed, we don't know what kind of curse it is and they mess with other peoples food, I wanted to discuss NOT handing over the thing with the others. Apparently, the apple garden outside of town is our resident private meeting spot now.
Macaroni and Gimdalf agreed that as we had never actually agreed to give them the diamond after steeling it there was no need to do so. However, we're not entirely sure what to do with it either. We need to find out more about the curse first. We also can't adamantly refuse to give them the thing as it would effectively defeat our purpose of infiltrating them. Eventually, we decided that Macaroni would hide the diamond in a location not too far from the designated meeting spot so it could be picked up when needed. However, before actually handing it over he should glue the diamond to the glass of the anti-magic case to ensure it could not easily be used for whatever purpose by them.
Before meeting with the Red dot gang we also went to contact the Guard captain to ask if he could send some extra patrols to the nearby area in case things went south. If we needed to flee we could then get back up from those guards.
Later in the evening, we entered the sewers through one of the grates near the harbour and unlocked one of the grates near the meeting spot in case we needed to flee quickly. We arrived well ahead of time before a random door. We were asked to prove our identity with the Padmore diamond, which we didn't bring of course because we're not idiots who throw away all our cards. With some hemming and hawing, Gimdalf managed to get the Organza to come out himself to look at the painting he had picked up somewhere during our heist, which turned out to be some magical last work of a painter. It was enough to confirm our identity.
After we were guided inside we were immediately guided to a group of people who will function as the first batch of trainees. This was quite surprising. Although I had already determined that working with three different groups, Sparkles, Sneaks and Smash-and-grabs, would probably be most efficient I haven't yet concluded on the teaching program.
In that respect, Macaroni and Gimdalf are much better in unexpected situations than I am, one of their few positive qualities, and immediately started with an aptitude exam consisting of three rounds.
-First-round (Sneaks): Participants have to dodge Gimdalf's firebolts while simultaneously trying to unlock the chains around a few of them. Testing their lock picking skill and ability to perform under pressure.
-Second round (Sparkles): The participants had to try to 'sell' several objects to two of us. Testing how well they talk and how good they are at seizing up their target.
-Third round (Smash-and-grab): The participants who hadn't yet been divided had to fight a version of Smore, Gimdalf's owl person. Before starting I wanted the participants to evaluate their chances. The goal was to see their skills and to get a shallow idea of their insight towards themselves and their opponents.
I got quite a good view of what the candidates were good at. Although most had a somewhat clear talent, one of the participants was so talentless that I think their only chance would be as a robber in a team with others. At least something where her mental capabilities aren't extremely important.
Participant #1: Sparkle
Participant #2: Smash-and-grab, impulsive with bad insight
Participant #3: Sneak
Participant #4: Sneak, possible to follow double training for Sparkles
Participant #5: Sneak, possible double training for Smash-and-grab
ps. Our heist made it to the front page of the newspaper, I've decided to frame it. Also, Macaroni gets a jerk point for carelessly telling people my information.