The Broken Latch

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. The Network was slow about it and I have come to fix that myself rather than send someone.

Ollam Pryce is at your fort already. He came up with the Elturian carts a tenday back and nobody told you because there was no reason to. He handles your freight, and he handles whatever leaves your gates that you would rather nobody wrote down. He does not travel. Four others do. Four now, and more when the Network has more use for you.

Three things you can ask them for.

Move. Anything or anyone, anywhere, with nothing on paper afterward. Maskell has never lost a load and he will find a way to tell you how many that is.

Acquire. Things that are not for sale, and that includes the enchanted kind. I want you to understand how slow it is before you start asking. Ysolde does not produce an item because you have asked her twice. She finds who holds it, works out what they would take for it, and waits for those two to meet. Small things come in days. A rare piece can take a season, and while she is on it she is doing nothing else for you at all. Some things she will never get you, and for those you buy the location instead, which is worth having.

Lean. For when somebody needs to reconsider their position. Sable does that work. She gets into places that are shut, and she is persuasive with whoever she finds inside. You will not enjoy watching it. Send her carefully. She will assume you meant it.

Times. Hours across a city. Three to five days across a region. Ten days or more to cross the coast, and while they are walking they are no use to you.

Now the part that is different from your friends.

The Gauntlet's people are sworn to their order. Yours are hired. I am not going to pretend those work the same way and you should stop assuming they do.

Hired people know their price to the copper, and somebody else can always meet it. When one of yours is bought, they do not disappear. They keep working. They keep sending. What they send is accurate and shaped slightly wrong, and it will be months before you catch it.

So keep track of what your four are owed, and settle it before anyone else offers to.

Then do the other half of it. The Cult hires as well. Every one of them has a price and I have never once met a cultist who was paid properly. You hold a fort and you are sitting on more coin than is good for you. I expect you to be buying their people well before they get round to buying yours.

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 is persuasive with whoever she finds inside.	Nuts Deep, between jobs

See also

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