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Create The Broken Latch — Shade's Zhentarim cell, given early by Rian Nightshade
 
Rewrite — Rian delivers in person at Elturel; Sable given a function; no early-grant framing
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'''The Broken Latch''' is the [[Zhentarim]] cell given to [[Shade]] by [[Rian Nightshade]]. They move what should not be moved, acquire what is not for sale, and lean on people who need leaning on.
'''The Broken Latch''' is the [[Zhentarim]] crew given to [[Shade]] by [[Rian Nightshade]]. They move what should not be moved, acquire what is not for sale, and lean on people who need leaning on.


They took their name from the burglar's mark — the scratch left on a door to tell the next one through that the place has already been opened.
They take their name from the burglar's mark — the scratch left on a door to tell the next one through that the place has already been opened.


''The letter below was not delivered. Shade found it already inside her coat.''
== The meeting ==
''[[Rian Nightshade]] was in [[Elturel]] during the fortnight's downtime, on business with the Black Network's man in the city, and sent for Shade rather than writing. They spoke in the back of a chandler's shop for rather less than an hour. Shade set the whole of it down afterward, from memory, the same evening — she does not trust her recollection of a conversation with Rian to survive a night's sleep intact.''


== The letter ==
<blockquote>
You should have had people two years ago. That is not an apology, it is an accounting. Viper is owed a crew and the Network has been slow, and I have come to settle it rather than send it.


Shade —
Ollam Pryce is already at your fort. He came up with the Elturian carts a tenday back and nobody mentioned it to you because nobody needed to. He handles your freight — what arrives, and rather more usefully what leaves. He does not travel. Four others do.


I have been reading about you. That is not a figure of speech; there is a file, and it is a good deal thicker than it was when I last put a rank on you.
Four now. A fifth when the Network has more use for you, and a sixth after that.


You have made me money. You have embarrassed several people I dislike. You cured a city, which I am told was a consequence of your method rather than an attack of conscience — I have chosen to believe that, and I would be disappointed to have misjudged you twice.
Ask them for three things.


So here is a cell, and here is the part you should pay attention to: '''you have not earned it yet.''' By our own reckoning this comes to you two ranks early. I am giving it to you anyway, because I would rather you had it now than have it exactly when you deserve it. Consider what that means about how I expect to be repaid, and then stop considering it, because there is work to do.
Move. Anything, anyone, anywhere, and no record of it afterward. Maskell has never lost a load and will find a way to tell you the number.


=== What they are for ===
Acquire. Things that are not for sale, including the enchanted kind. Understand that this is slow. Ysolde does not conjure a thing because you have asked twice — she finds who has it, finds what they want, and waits for the two to line up. A trinket takes days. Something rare takes a season. Something very rare takes most of a year and one of your four hands does nothing else the whole time. There are items she will not get you at all, and for those you will have to settle for knowing where they are, which is not nothing.
Ollam Pryce keeps your freight at that fort of yours — what arrives, and rather more importantly what quietly leaves. He does not travel. Four others do, and they go where you send them. A fifth hand when your name carries further, and a sixth after that.


Three things you may ask of them.
Lean. When someone needs to reconsider. Sable does that work. She gets into places that are shut and she makes an impression on the people inside them, and you will find she is very good and that you would rather not watch. Do not send her where you would not go yourself, because she will assume you have thought about it.


'''Move.''' Anything, or anyone, from anywhere to anywhere, without it being seen and without it being written down. Cargo, a person who should not be where they are going, a body that should not be where it is.
Moving them costs you time. Hours across a city, three to five days across a region, ten days or more across the coast. On the road they are worth nothing to you.


'''Acquire.''' Buy what is not for sale. Set them a price and give them time; the harder the thing, the more of both. They will not conjure you a relic out of a good mood, so do not ask.
Now the part your friends' people do not have.


'''Lean.''' Put pressure on a person or a business until it reconsiders. A debt recalled at an inconvenient hour, a rumour set down where it will do the most work, a door that turns out not to lock any more. This produces results. It also produces enemies, and the enemies keep.
The Gauntlet's soldiers are sworn. The Harpers' agents are sworn, whatever they call it. Yours are paid. That is not the weakness you are about to decide it is, but it does cut in a direction you should think about tonight rather than in six months.


=== Moving them ===
Paid people know exactly what they are owed. Any figure can be met by somebody else. A bought hand keeps working and keeps reporting and everything they send you will be true and slightly the wrong shape, and you will not notice for a long while.
Hours to cross a city. Three to five days to cross a region. Ten days or more to cross the coast. On the road they are doing nothing for you and are at their least useful.


=== The part nobody else will tell you ===
So watch what your four are owed, and settle it before someone helpfully offers to.
Your friends in the other companies have people who are '''sworn''' to them. Paladins and rangers and whatever the Harpers are calling themselves this decade. Theirs will stand somewhere until they die of it.


'''Yours are paid.'''
And then do the other half of it. The Cult's people are paid too. Every one of them has a number, and I have not yet met a cultist who was properly compensated. You have four hands, a fort, and more coin than is good for you. I expect you to be buying theirs long before they get round to buying yours.


I say this without embarrassment, because paid is more reliable than sworn right up until it isn't. Paid people remember what they are owed. They remember it precisely. And what they are owed can always, always be matched by somebody with deeper pockets and a reason.
That is the whole of the instruction.


So: know what your people are owed, and settle it before someone helpfully offers to settle it for them. A bought hand does not run away. It keeps working, and keeps reporting, and everything it sends you will be perfectly true and slightly the wrong shape, and you will not notice for months.
I will find you after the Council.
</blockquote>


=== One more thing ===
== The crew ==
When Varram is finished — and he will be finished, one way or another — come and see me.
'''Ollam Pryce''' — freight clerk, resident at [[Nuts Deep]], and not counted among the four. Handles everything that comes through the fort's gates and a good deal that does not. Mild, forgettable, and has never in his life been caught holding anything.
 
There is a piece of work I have been holding. I have not been holding it for just anybody.
 
Do try to survive the errand.
 
— ''Rian Nightshade''
 
== The cell ==
'''Ollam Pryce''' — freight clerk, resident at [[Nuts Deep]], and not counted among the four. Handles everything that comes through the fort's gates and a fair amount that does not. Mild, forgettable, and has never in his life been caught holding anything.


{| class="wikitable" style="width:90%;"
{| class="wikitable" style="width:90%;"
! Hand !! Trade !! Currently posted
! Hand !! Trade !! Currently posted
|-
|-
| '''Maskell Vane''' || Caravan master. Has never lost a load and will tell you the number of loads if you let him. || The Trade Way
| '''Maskell Vane''' || Caravan master, and the crew's mover. Has never lost a load and will tell you the number of loads if you let him. || The Trade Way
|-
|-
| '''Ysolde Crow''' || Fence. Knows what a thing is worth, what it can be sold as, and who must never learn it surfaced. || [[Baldur's Gate]]
| '''Ysolde Crow''' || Fence and buyer. Knows what a thing is worth, what it can be sold as, who holds it, and who must never learn it surfaced. || [[Baldur's Gate]]
|-
|-
| '''Petrin Quill''' || Forger. Writs, seals, letters of passage, and the occasional convincing will. || [[Waterdeep]]
| '''Petrin Quill''' || Forger. Writs, seals, letters of passage, and the occasional convincing will. || [[Waterdeep]]
|-
|-
| '''Sable''' || ''Unstated.'' Ollam schedules her and does not discuss it. || Wherever she is
| '''Sable''' || Housebreaker, and the one sent when leaning is called for. Gets into shut places and makes an impression on the people inside them. || [[Nuts Deep]], between jobs
|}
|}


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* [[Zhentarim]] — the faction; standings are tracked on the [[Renown Tracker]]
* [[Zhentarim]] — the faction; standings are tracked on the [[Renown Tracker]]
* [[Rian Nightshade]] — leader of the Zhentarim
* [[Rian Nightshade]] — leader of the Zhentarim
* [[The Nightingales]] · [[The Anvil]] · [[Talonfall]] — the other companies' cells
* [[The Nightingales]] · [[The Anvil]] · [[Talonfall]] · [[The Hearthwardens]] — the other companies' cells
* [[Shade]]
* [[Shade]]


[[Category:Campaign]] [[Category:Factions]] [[Category:Renown Feats]] [[Category:Rise of Tiamat]]
[[Category:Campaign]] [[Category:Factions]] [[Category:Renown Feats]] [[Category:Rise of Tiamat]]

Revision as of 17:10, 29 August 2026

The Broken Latch is the Zhentarim crew given to Shade by Rian Nightshade. They move what should not be moved, acquire what is not for sale, and lean on people who need leaning on.

They take their name from the burglar's mark — the scratch left on a door to tell the next one through that the place has already been opened.

The meeting

Rian Nightshade was in Elturel during the fortnight's downtime, on business with the Black Network's man in the city, and sent for Shade rather than writing. They spoke in the back of a chandler's shop for rather less than an hour. Shade set the whole of it down afterward, from memory, the same evening — she does not trust her recollection of a conversation with Rian to survive a night's sleep intact.

You should have had people two years ago. That is not an apology, it is an accounting. Viper is owed a crew and the Network has been slow, and I have come to settle it rather than send it.

Ollam Pryce is already at your fort. He came up with the Elturian carts a tenday back and nobody mentioned it to you because nobody needed to. He handles your freight — what arrives, and rather more usefully what leaves. He does not travel. Four others do.

Four now. A fifth when the Network has more use for you, and a sixth after that.

Ask them for three things.

Move. Anything, anyone, anywhere, and no record of it afterward. Maskell has never lost a load and will find a way to tell you the number.

Acquire. Things that are not for sale, including the enchanted kind. Understand that this is slow. Ysolde does not conjure a thing because you have asked twice — she finds who has it, finds what they want, and waits for the two to line up. A trinket takes days. Something rare takes a season. Something very rare takes most of a year and one of your four hands does nothing else the whole time. There are items she will not get you at all, and for those you will have to settle for knowing where they are, which is not nothing.

Lean. When someone needs to reconsider. Sable does that work. She gets into places that are shut and she makes an impression on the people inside them, and you will find she is very good and that you would rather not watch. Do not send her where you would not go yourself, because she will assume you have thought about it.

Moving them costs you time. Hours across a city, three to five days across a region, ten days or more across the coast. On the road they are worth nothing to you.

Now the part your friends' people do not have.

The Gauntlet's soldiers are sworn. The Harpers' agents are sworn, whatever they call it. Yours are paid. That is not the weakness you are about to decide it is, but it does cut in a direction you should think about tonight rather than in six months.

Paid people know exactly what they are owed. Any figure can be met by somebody else. A bought hand keeps working and keeps reporting and everything they send you will be true and slightly the wrong shape, and you will not notice for a long while.

So watch what your four are owed, and settle it before someone helpfully offers to.

And then do the other half of it. The Cult's people are paid too. Every one of them has a number, and I have not yet met a cultist who was properly compensated. You have four hands, a fort, and more coin than is good for you. I expect you to be buying theirs long before they get round to buying yours.

That is the whole of the instruction.

I will find you after the Council.

The crew

Ollam Pryce — freight clerk, resident at Nuts Deep, and not counted among the four. Handles everything that comes through the fort's gates and a good deal that does not. Mild, forgettable, and has never in his life been caught holding anything.

Hand Trade Currently posted
Maskell Vane Caravan master, and the crew's mover. Has never lost a load and will tell you the number of loads if you let him. The Trade Way
Ysolde Crow Fence and buyer. Knows what a thing is worth, what it can be sold as, who holds it, and who must never learn it surfaced. Baldur's Gate
Petrin Quill Forger. Writs, seals, letters of passage, and the occasional convincing will. Waterdeep
Sable Housebreaker, and the one sent when leaning is called for. Gets into shut places and makes an impression on the people inside them. Nuts Deep, between jobs

See also

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