The master thief is first. Madison Ross and her deck of cards dance through the first three sets of doors without issue. The rain of arrows from the Doors of Steel impale her, and it takes her a minute to get them open. She dodges the bolt of lightning from the Doors of Storm and cracks the lock in an instant.

The Doors of Night are a brilliant moving night sky. The stars glow, and the constellations form a vast symbol. It flashes twice. Madison dies.

Takota is up next, his giant's sledge slung over his shoulder. He drinks a potion and doubles in size.

Swing. Swing. Swing. Swing. Swing...

His hammer pulverizes the walls of the Hall of Wards like they're made of cheap wood. He breaks the wall of force. He carves through the wall of lava. He bypasses the web of lightning. He kills the black ooze. He shatters the dead-magic wall. He survives the sky wall with the clouds of fire. He shatters each layer of the prismatic wall, one-by-one.

The air elementals attack him and die. Takota fails the break through an invisible barrier in front of a wall of liquid metal. He walks away.

Professor Vargas, with his purple suit and monocle, is the next (and probably last) candidate. He spends a minute inspecting the hole Takota made in the wall.

He knocks open the Doors of Wood. He casts three spells on himself. His body is formed of glimmering ice. He phases through the next Doors of Stone and of Iron in an instant.

The rain of arrows from the Doors of Steel fails against an invisible barrier. He disintegrates one of the doors using his staff. The Doors of Storm cannot harm him. They reflect his next disintegrate back at him; he blinks away just in time. He opens one of the doors using an unknown spell.

The Doors of Night flash harmlessly at his construct servant. It says a command word, and one of the doors opens. The Doors of Flame, formed of smoking vines, dispel his icy form. It doesn't stop him. He scrolls a spell and flows through the vines.

He becomes ice again, just in time for the Doors of Shadow to pour forth undead horrors. They cannot harm him. He casts an unknown spell, and one of the doors opens. The Doors of Scouring are a dazzling white. He reads a scroll, which destroys all magic, but the white doors are unaffected. He walks away.

Memories confirmed. She commits tomorrow.

She returns, buying a few cheap focuses on her way back, and practices her writing some more. Rephrase that, tweak the copies. Shift that wording a little, redo the encoding. If she wants to reference that there, she needs to set it up earlier, so that means that sentence needs to be deleted...

Eventually she gets to sleep. She won't get her full eight hours today, but she didn't cast anything yesterday. It should be fine.

KORVOSAN CARRIER
MOONDAY, SARENITH 1st, 4708

BUSINESS SLOWS AT MIDLAND, ABADARAN ESTIMATES UNMET

The storm has subsided and the sky is clear. At the Acadamae, post-holiday cleanup begins. Everyone gets back to work. A crew sets out from the docks, intent on investigating yesterday's wreck. Rumors spread in Old Korvosa of undead escaping the sewers, but nothing can be confirmed. A small group is found dead, mauled and eaten by some sort of monster.

To the messenger, the same as last time. This packet has a few extra sheets of paper. "Make sure they arrive quickly."

The first letter is the same warning of the king's death as she remembers writing. She needs to know the reactions, and she knows what will happen this time. This time, there are two further letters which can be immediately decrypted.

The first:

The following instructions are for the Bank of Abadar.

Split the part of this message under the divide into pass phrase and message, send several copies of each letter to Osirion, and draw on the funds in this account to ensure there is at least one copy of each safely away from any possible break-ins. Do this today. The other letters in this collection do not require the same precautions. If the attached contract is not submitted, signed, to the Bank by Felandriel Morgethai within two weeks, decode the letter with the pass phrase, publish it in Korvosa and Absalom, and do with the information as you wish. Until that time, it is to remain confidential from everyone.

Divide.

Attached, there is a pass phrase and another encrypted message, along with a contract. The contract states that, upon receiving the listed pass phrase, the undersigned agrees to enhance the giver via Wish, three Wishes dedicated to one ability. This is to happen within a reasonable time period, and is void if the phrase-giver serves Cheliax or any other enemy of Andoran or if they will not provide appropriate assurances under truth detection that they mean no harm to the undersigned or anything they protect. A week should in most cases be a reasonable time period, but during an ongoing war or similar need for spell slots, it may extend indefinitely as long as the undersigned makes a good-faith effort to cast the spells.

The second easily-decrypted message is short, and is immediately followed on the same page by text which decrypts to yet more apparent nonsense.

For the Bank of Abadar: Decipher the following message and leave it with the rest of my paperwork. Do not attempt to decode the encrypted portion yourself.

To you. Yes, you. Not the Bank decoder, the other person reading this. Decode with Bellaso's cipher, phrase the common Taldane name of the largest-scale spell you were planning to cast on Sarenith 5. Read the first part now.

Following this is the, presumably, encrypted text.

Lastly, there are two messages encrypted for the Bank. Again, these letters request the Bank decrypt them with the name of the house most prominently mentioned in the Sarenith 2 Carrier headline, and send the first to the King if they are both in comprehensible Taldane. The first:

For the eyes of the Saffron Sovereign, King Eodred Arabasti II of Korvosa, Prince of Stirges.

You have a problem in your sewers. It is worse than you realize, and only getting more so. You need to solve it. Send a detachment of guards to investigate the warehouse Reiner Davaulus recently purchased, but only after locating the sewer entrance and sending another force through there. The sewer guards should be the main force, but anticipate a ten to twenty second delay between the aboveground detachment's arrival and when they will be able to assist the sewer guards. Ensure your guards can handle a fifth circle cleric.

The second:

For the eyes of the Bank of Abadar.

It is possible someone will soon be attempting to steal my paperwork, for use in uncovering my identity. I anticipate the current security measures will suffice for my own safety, but the Bank may be at risk if they are desperate enough. Consider increasing your safety precautions for a few days.

This is highly unorthodox (not to mention complicated) but the Bank of Abadar has handled stranger deposits before. The messenger leaves the Bank empty handed.

Highly unorthodox and complicated, but hopefully it will work. She knows the first few pieces will fall into place, at least.

Again, she spends the day running messages. She'll need to go to the Guard to volunteer earlier than she remembers doing it, but the message won't be sent until the 2nd, and probably won't be read until the 3rd. She has some time.

KORVOSAN CARRIER
TOILDAY, SARENITH 2nd, 4708

HIS MAJESTY CANCELS APPEARANCE AT ARKONA GALA, RUMORED DIVISION WITHIN PEERAGE REVIEW

They were getting along so well, at least as far as the public knew. But now all is in doubt. Is His Majesty hiding some dreadful scandal? Is House Arkona? Those of Old Korvosa that care about such things are displeased with the return of such open feuding. Why did the King spurn them so abruptly?

The crew returns from the shipwreck. There were no survivors, but they managed to recover valuable trade goods. Something brews in the sewers of Old Korvosa, and the papers print vague warnings.

All according to plan.

Today, her first order of business is going to Citadel Volshyenek. They aren't looking for anyone yet, but she needs to be on their minds when they are. ...which means being motivated mostly by the desire to keep Korvosa safe for everyone. Oh well, she will make do.

Up to the receptionist. "The newspaper is talking about problems in the sewers. I've been down there, and if there are problems, I want to help."

The receptionist pages through a small notebook. "We don't have an active investigation open into the sewers. I've heard the rumors about Old Korvosa. I can put you on our volunteer list, and we'll notify you if we open an investigation?"

Oh good, that makes things easy. No need to worry about messy timing. 

Slightly droopy, like she just worked up her courage to do this and now is a little crushed. "Oh... Well, if you open one, definitely. I'm Tencednil." She provides her mailing address, both physical and her bank account. Either way will work.

Her name is added to the the Guard's list. "Thank you for volunteering. Good day."

A quick, shallow nod, and she runs off.

It's amazing how terrifying it is to have a plan in progress that you can't do anything about, which may or may not work, and which won't have any feedback. She knows the first few steps will go properly, and she's still in edge.

Oh well, nothing for it. She runs home, breathes slowly for a time, and spends the rest of the day rereading Ulon's holy texts. If there was ever a time she was in need of Ulon's favor, it's now.

The security at the Bank of Abadar in Korvosa is good... but it's not that good.

He's within the vaults by eleven at night. The forbiddance does not burn him, because he knows the password, though none hear him speak it. The alarms don't go off as he is too small for them to detect. The clerics within the vault do not perceive him, even with the invisibility purge tied to the hallow, for when he steps within the room their minds are ensnared in a complex hallucination. The locks don't stop him because—if he really tries—his skill at lockbreaking can equal that of any master thief.

There is a stack of papers in the account's safe. He takes them all. None notice him leave.

Plane shift the moment he's outside the building. He moves into his work room and sets the papers down on his desk. When he pages through them, what does he see?

There are several letters! Most of them are boring, instructions to the Bank or letters to the King he's already seen.

Possibly important is one of them, which begins To You. The message the Bank of Abadar was supposed to copy and send to Osirion might also be of interest, and the codeword for that one is right there on the paper.

The 5th of Sarenith. That's probably control weather in the morning, early enough that Ornelos and Tuttle might not be awake. Glarataxus does not strictly speaking need the cover of fog, but he definitely wants it. Togomor hasn't gone a single day without mind blank since he hit eighth, and he makes sure to overlap the duration. They're not reading his mind or divining his plans. Prophecy continues to seem most likely, somehow. He tested one of the old prophecy spells yesterday and as expected it didn't work.

He tries to decipher the letter, using control weather as the phrase.

The letter yields its secrets to the phrase "Control Weather".

The decoded part reads:

You will want all of these letters, and you will want the Bank not to have them. Take them with you as you go. Each letter in this collection will be formulated as this one is, with a plaintext introduction instructing you on the decryption phrase followed by the encrypted message. Each codephrase must be applied to all of the messages: the second letter is encrypted in that fashion, then again with this letter's codephrase, and the third with both prior phrases.

Your initial plan would not have worked. Toff Ornelos and Darb Tuttle have tools you did not anticipate, which I will not expose. King Eodred has instead deployed his forces against the Urgathoans, who will already have begun spreading their disease by the time he attacked. The guard will succeed. This will allow you to set up the Urgathoans to take the fall for killing Eodred. Possess a disposable target to do the killing, to ensure consistency with your later plan. Announce that this was an act of the Urgathoans and Korvosa will believe it. Consider how you would do this before decoding further.

Now, remember the vaults beneath Korvosa. If you do what you were planning, you will awaken everything in there and below, and this brings more danger than you think even knowing that. Restrict your announcement to minimize this.

Once Ileosa is on the throne, you will need to ensure public support for her. This is doubly true once she appoints Togomor. The first method is the public execution of the Urgathoan who killed Eodred. Publicly, hire Togomor to hunt the killer down, but not to handle the execution. Possess the target, declare their location, and send in a strike team. To demonstrate an Urgathoan nature, the killer should rise as a greater undead after being slain; hang a Create Undead in a Contingency for proper effect. A prayer bead of karma would optimally point to a cleric, but any alternative to permit Contingent Create Undead would also work. This is the first priority, and will allow appointing Togomor steward without substantial outcry.

Your second method is curing the disease, which by now is known to be incurable, and already spreading through Korvosa. Instructions on handling this are in my second letter.

—A Source

She needs them to believe her to start. They have to follow along, and that means being obviously prophetic and also obviously helpful. They were bad at public opinion last time, and they really could use it, so she can help there. The obvious stutter point is that she stopped their first plan. Without the Urgathoans to blame, things would be much less convenient, but that's not a justification. Fortunately, highly circled wizards and clerics often have tricks, and they don't make them public.

And, of course, nobody here should want to wake the World Beneath. That would be dumb. That part is also prophetic, quite directly, and immediately shows her value to them.

Ornelos having tools he is not aware of is obvious, Tuttle less so. Eodred... how does he even know about the plague? Andaisin and Arkminos only finished it yesterday! The seer warns the King of his coming assassination. Everyone that matters knows a dragon is after him. Then, they reveal an alternate source to blame the regicide on, which none should yet know of. Very convenient. It's certainly not a bad idea, nobody likes Urgathoans. Andaisin bothers him. He suspects most who flee Nidal have methods of coping with their damage, but hers is... well. He has no idea what "plan" they're talking about that would disturb the Vaults. An announcement? And who do they think will read this other than him? Getting create undead on a contingency on another person is... possible but annoying. He'll need a strong leyline and a possession. Why would he want to cure the disease? The whole point—

He has no reason to believe this person is not lying to him. All of this information is suspect. What do the plaintext parts of the other letters have to say?

Decoding the extra letters, one of them reveals legible text. In particular, it begins:

This letter describes the proper handling of the cure of the Urgathoan disease. Decode it with the common Taldane for the place of origin of the group which manifests immunity to the disease.

Of course, he can't read farther than that.

The other letter, the one the bank has now copied to far-off locations, decodes to a listing of his and Ileosa's sins: their plotted killing of King Eodred to ascend to power in Korvosa, their malicious stealing of blood from innocent Korvosans (though the methods used to steal their blood are carefully unspecified), and their plans to sacrifice the Korvosan population in a blood ritual to fuel their power at the cost of many thousands of lives. It ends with a claim that the Bank of Abadar can attest to this source being highly well-informed, a reminder that the Korvosan throne sits upon a great deal of coin, and a note that the Abadarans are generally loath to expend as much effort to safeguard the wealth of those who attempt to murder Abadaran clerics.

Of course, for now, this letter remains encoded. Only he, and whoever wrote it, know about it. And if the contract is filed within two weeks, that should remain the case.