The Conspiracy to Kill Dunlat Moran (1196)

In 1195, the power structures of Ehlíath begins to shift when Haedn Callowhen seizes control of the railways from Brhen Athurley II, and immediately allies himself with Dunlat Moran, and thus indirectly with Rhaze. These three have the potential to put an economic choke hold on the city's trade and production, unnerving the other Crime Lords into more direct alliance, and raising the possibility of a war between factions.

Lhash Morley is concerned that such a conflict would greatly destabilize and weaken the Clag, leaving it vulnerable to other influences. Indeed, she is unaware of how accurate her instincts are, given that Gaelyn Dauth has partially engineered the entire situation to provide openings for the monarchy (and more importantly, the Overseers) to retake Ehlíath, by having Vhílath Rhenna encourage Haedn's secession and alliance with Dunlat.

When Moran will not be swayed from his alliance, Lhash begins plotting to assassinate him. In doing so, a power vacuum would be created in the Trade District that Haedn would lack the strength to seize upon (the reverse would not work, as Dunlat might be able to take the Hub for himself if Callowhen was gone). In addition, Athurley would likely take the opportunity to re-conquer the rails for himself, meaning he is also unlikely to gain control of the docks, once again leaving the power separate. 

Rhaze is technically a wild card in this plan, but between losing a powerful ally and her primary reason to back Haedn, she is less likely to become directly involved. Crucially, however, this is contingent on there being no chance of reprisal; if another Crime Lord—especially Athurley—is suspected of killing Dunlat, the event is far more likely to spark violent retaliation. Therefore, the murder cannot be political.

To this end, Lhash chose an appropriate scapegoat; Enford Larkland, operating as a free trading merchant under the pseudonym Ennic Lankr. Given that the Larkland family has cause to seek revenge, his involvement would automatically sell a narrative unrelated to Ehlíath's power structure. She makes arrangements to bring him to the Clag, hoping that he may willingly participate in their plan, but prepared to use him regardless, as either way, he will not survive the encounter. Lisl is assigned to investigating Moran's security measures. From her initial reconnaissance, the plan develops as follows:

-Moran's primary protections against assassination are largely passive and preventive; first and foremost, he has incentivized his own survival by being a dependable, successful, and sane leader of the Trade District. Generally speaking, it is agreed that his continued control is far better than a power vacuum forming in his absence, or another, worse Lord taking over. This contributes to his secondary line of protection; his behavior leads his retinue to be very, very loyal, and none that could threaten his safety can be turned subtly. There are also many dangerous people who would take his death somewhat personally, including Rhaze and his brother Jackdaw. Of those that would still seek to damage him or his plans, Moran preempts as many threats as possible through early detection, and use of a spy network to do so. Finally, he employs a strong degree of common sense, avoiding unnecessary risks, and keeping information about his own movements/activities as private as possible. Sometimes he even disguises himself to avoid recognition in general. All of this means that Lisl will need to be very careful when performing the legwork of the operation, or their intentions could be discovered. 

-Staging the death in Moran's offices will be the easiest way to involve Ennic, as he would be able to enter under the guise of a business meeting. However, it is highly unlikely he'll be able to do so while carrying a means of actually killing the Crime Lord, meaning that Lisl will need to find a way to infiltrate undetected. Human guards are typically outfitted with necessary chem to be good the job, such as Long Wake, Bloodwash, Night Eye, and other Stims. The locks will also be high quality, but anything can be picked, given the right tools and time.

-The office building is kept lit well enough for guards to see throughout the night, so approach will have to be from exterior windows; this means avoiding perimeter guards, which fortunately Lisl has the training to accomplish. The windows of the office, however, are equipped with electromagnetic alarms that sound if the circuit is completed, which inevitably occurs if the window opens. To bypass, Lisl repeatedly activates one and hides without entering, until the alarm is deactivated on suspicion of being defective (to be repaired later), then enters the room and sabotages a different window alarm, such that it can always be entered without triggering the alarm circuit (by subtly covering the contact point). At this point, she can come and go freely. 

-This gives her access to Dunlat's files and, importantly, scheduling information. It also lets her see that he has measures against toxins, including antidotes, bloodwash, and filtration masks on hand at all times. He also employs two animal measures; a Rhannoc's Canary, and a dog, which are used to detect subtle chemicals and unfamiliar scents respectively. (She also learns that he has contingencies against siege and major assault, including a panic room, stockpiles of provisions and armaments, fire suppressants, and secret Warren access.)

 

NEED TO WORK OUT DETAILS BUT:

-Lisl will be waiting inside the office during the meeting

-Dunlat and Ennic will both die, possibly from slow acting toxic gas; Ennic will be thrown out the window, as though in defense; clears the room of toxic gas, if that's part of the plan

-If using the animals, trick by leaving Lisl's scent for a while to acclimate, and switching or killing the bird, or using very, very rare chem

-Afterwards, when his identity is investigated, they'll make sure the truth gets out

Ennic Lankr's appearance in the Clag, and his general avoidance of Moran, draws the Crime Lord's attention enough for him to send Ridley to get closer to him and investigate his intentions. Ridley, per his usual tactics, befriends the merchant. Though he learns that Ennic does indeed want to remain distant from Dunlat, he detects no hostility.

Lisl and Lhash make a move to recruit Lankr; however, they overestimate his willingness to believe that they are not agents of Dunlat attempting to discern his intentions; when it becomes clear that they know his true identity, he flees, overcoming Tranq using a counteragent and evading Lisl for long enough to reach Ridley, who he’d already been scheduled to meet with that night.

Ennic tells Ridley the truth, and his best guess as to the situation; that Dunlat learned who he really was and believes he is a threat; he is certain that the Crime Lord will kill him. Ridley decides to reveal his own secrets, and help him fake his death to escape the city—he will then claim to Dunlat that when Ridley reached the place they were to meet, he found Ennic Lankr dead in a nearby alley, dead from bleeding out and robbed, and that to cast off any possible blame, Ridley had to throw the body in the river and then go to Lankr’s office the next day to ask why he never showed up, indicating that he was as surprised as anyone that he’d gone missing.

This plan works. Dunlat accepts the explanation, as he has no reason to think more on the death of a smuggler. Ridley believes himself to have gotten away with the deception because they lined up the facts properly, and thinks that his friend doesn’t suspect him of knowing who Lankr really was. However, this lie begins to eat at him, given that he wanted to re-establish trust with his friend and now feels he doesn’t deserve it—this is weighed against a belief that Dunlat didn’t tell him he had learned the truth and was planning to kill Lankr, leading him to feel justified enough not to confess. Meanwhile, Lhash and Lisl, hearing Ridley's story later on, believe their scapegoat to be dead as well, and must restructure their entire plan, aiming instead to have Moran's death appear to be an accidental.

(Ennic forges a new identity for himself, and goes on to become a ship’s boatswain named Armand Leyland.)

Ridley's guilt continues to consume his subconscious; not long after, Jackdaw overhears Ridley confessing what really happened with Ennic aloud while high on Tar—in Ridley's head, he's confessing to Dar. This is deeply alarming, but Jackdaw listens to the rest of Ridley’s statement that the act was done with the certainty that Lankr wasn’t a threat; he didn't want Ennic to be killed over a fight that he never wanted to be a part of and had no intention of participating in. He knows that Dunlat will have no such internal discord, and wrestles with whether to tell him anything.

Time passes; using continued access to Dunlat’s scheduling records via the sabotaged window access, Lhash and Lisl arrange for an explosion (supposedly of compromised barrels of whale oil) to occur in a warehouse during a meeting in which he’ll be evaluating a struggling company for acquisition. This requires more contacts than they would like to have, as they need to acquire the explosives (FROM WHERE? MINE?MINES? MILITARY?), and hope that evidence of their existence isn't found after the fact.

However, Dunlat is delayed from reaching the meeting on time, and thus the explosion occurs just as he is arriving, rather than when he is already inside. He sustains minor injuries, but survives. His spymaster begins investigating, and finds inconsistencies with the premise of the event being accidental; the sellers seem no to be malicious in this (one died in the blast), but as a former scout in the military, the Spymaster recognizes the high explosives residue and begins looking for its source.

 

 

 

Upon hearing that the explosion may have been an assassination attempt, Jackdaw tells his brother that Ennic Lankr was really Enford Larkland and that he is still alive, fearing there may be a connection. Though he doesn’t reveal that Ridley is responsible for this, Dunlat isnow ableknows the story of throwing Lankr's dead body in the river to putbe a lie. It doesn't help that Ridley had been absent from the piecescrew togetherdormitory afterduring speakingthe explosion, for the entirely unrelated reason of getting high in the seclusion of his scrap. Dunlat sends Flitch to track down Ridley and bring him in for questioning, though does not reveal the specific reason why; Flitch, however, can conclude from proximity to recent events that the Crime Lord suspects his involvement with the Watchexplosion/assassination aboutattempt. theSince body,this doesn't match with Flitch's mental image of Ridley as a coward and sendspacifist, so concludes that some other element—blackmail, or an error in judgment—must be at play, and decides to do some of his peopleown tointerrogation/investigation confrontonce he finds his man.Ridley about the incident, triggering the events of A Coward’s End.