The colorful cloth tends of the bazaar, fluttered in the wind as each shop cried out to the overcrowded streets: "Buy from me!" Some shops sold innocent shelf clutter. Some tools. Yet others were essentially fronts for organized crime.
"There's no way, a crime syndicate would be dumb enough to sell their wares openly." The average customer will claim. They don't realize the guards don't police the shops. Also, nobody batted an eye at the long-empty slave auction stage area, slowly being reclaimed by the weeds.
Egil smiled as he passed. An activist would have set fire to the place, got caught, and imprisoned. The slavers would have simply rebuilt it with slave labor and large coffers. The summoners guid, mainly him and Anya, put them down for good, by driving them out of business.
Wait, what's going to happen with the clockworks destroyed, and Jack blaming the fires on them? Egil's smile faded. Unless there was someone who could replace them, then there was no one to fill the laborer roles. The engineers guild might have a possible replacement, but they were still struggling to produce more than highly specialized machines.
He pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind. Stay focused on the task at hand. He was kitted out, along with his demonic partners. He already briefed them: "If the container is in the city, it'll be here." ...mainly because the kitsune and phase walker ruled out the other locations.
Egil had turned to the gargoyle, "I know you're willing to lay down your life for him, but I need that fighting spirit *only* when its time. If I back off, you back off, you got that? My goal and your goal is to get him... *alive*... and I cant do that unless we're on the same page." The gargoyle nodded.
"If I give the go-ahead to move, be ready to kill everyone quietly at the most likely shop, when I identify it. Hopefully, it wont come to that."
There were questions about whether or not showing up during daylight hours was the best approach. Egil weighed the pros and cons. He wasn't exactly a 'pro' at theft. At night, all the wares are at their most guarded. Merely showing up, is likely to start a fight.
During the day, we can get closer, and ask questions. It also didn't make sense to pop the question: "Do you have an imprisoned jinn?" and then wait till night to steal the jinn's container. If someone knows enough to ask questions about a possibly imprisoned jinn, but doesn't actually buy it the same day, then it would make sense to add extra guards the following morning.
The illusory provided the disguises. Egil told the gargoyle to keep wings in at all times. Magic to stay at a minimum. The imp will watch from the poles and rooftops. The kitsune and phase walker will continue checking inventories in the back, while we check the front.
"Logan, how are you with fighting?" Egil had inquired.
"Oh, my skills will be more than adequate."
"Ok, rules: if shit goes south, simply: if they got weapons, you take 'em out. Avoid civilians, but I understand you all need to defend yourselves if necessary. Definitely no children or younger, you got that?" They all nodded.
"I want to appear alone, so you two need to look like you're shopping separately. Lastly, if we make noise, we should assume the angel will arrive soon after the first wave of guards."
The man paused for a moment. Who was he kidding? These were all mid to high level demons. They'll be punching way below their belts on this. If they wanted, gargoyle along could probably kill most people there without breaking a sweat.
The biggest liability was that damn angel. It would only show up, because 'theft and demons' threaten 'order.'
Anyways... back to the crowds. Egil navigated through the people, this time disguised as a moderately well-to-do magician that specialized in 'advice.' This was a very fancy way of saying 'magic caster for hire.' This meant a blue cloak, light clothes, no visible weapons, like his two short swords; so they had to stay on his back. ...the only staffs really worth anything were those imbued with magic. Those tended to few and far between.
