The Spyglass Guild

The men, gearforged, and dwarves of the Spyglass Guild are the city’s spies. The city tolerates its quasi‑legal operations because the guild reports everything it learns to the Praetors, who pass it on to the Lord Mayor and the Watch. The guild remains a gray organization, however, made up of individuals of dubious backgrounds and morals whose human members have a history of corruption from outside influences—from accepting bribes to acting as double agents for various cults and even the Arcane Collegium.
The Spyglass Guild is an open secret, and its leader, the scarred and embattled Ersebet Cemilla (N female human rogue 12), struggles in a web of treachery that she no longer controls. The Spyglass Guild’s failings in recent years have allowed several embarrassing slips that caught the rulers of the city flat-footed, including the changes in the court of the Moonlit King, the zealotry among the followers of the Red Goddess, and even the ghoulish stirrings within the subterranean fiefdoms loyal to Morgau and Doresh.
The city responded first by recruiting more heavily among the best-connected informers and younger sons of merchant princes, who easily gather information from well outside the city walls. They altered the patrol patterns of scouts and griffon riders along the roads and rivers, and they changed the focus of what their agents look for in the field.
The second response was to assign the Steamworker’s Guild and the Arcane Collegium to build three incorruptible gearforged spies. These mechanical agents might seem entirely too obvious to gather information, but in practice, they blend in with the city’s other mechanical servants. Their powerful hearing gives them perception beyond any human or dwarf; one of the apprentices who built them claims they can hear a dozen conversations at once, both through walls and several streets away. If true, this powerful eavesdropping tool gives the guild a tremendous advantage. Even if it’s mere fabrication, the story itself seems to have made plotters more cautious, and thieves have curtailed their most outrageous excesses. If it is just a wild tale, perhaps Ersebet is not so overwhelmed as she appears.
Secrets
Ersebet Cemilla has fought magic, steel, and treachery with equal daring, cunning, and bravery for years. A few years ago, though, she fell under the magical domination of a potent enemy who trapped Cemilla within her own body. Her harsh voice still carries the note of command, and her followers continue to respect her, but they fear that something is terribly wrong.
Her break with the Mouse King is commonly known within her organization. No one likes it much, but no one wants to challenge her about it just yet. Her scarred arms are the souvenirs of many knife fights in her youth, struggling among the lesser rings, and she is still a ruthless hand with a blade. She is known to use poison, which keeps her lieutenants nervous every time she proposes some new madness and asks them to drink a toast.
Ersebet’s chief lieutenant and lover, Grigory Kaldozh (NG male human fighter 8), knows for certain that the woman sharing his bed is not herself, but he cannot figure out what is going on. He is desperate to discover the truth.

Leader
Ersebet Cemilla (N female human rogue 12)
Lieutenant
Grigory Kaldozh (NG male human cleric fighter 8)
Members
21 human, 3 gearforged, 3 dwarves
Suspected Headquarters
The Cartographer’s Guildhall, the Green Goat Tavern near the Market District
Activities
Pickpocketing, blackmail, forgery, tax evasion, and spying
Symbol
A scroll case
Alignment
Neutral evil

Type

Illicit, Gang