"...Yes. Druskelle - they're identified by uniform, badge, and the presence of their isenvulf. You're not supposed to treat just the isenvulf alone as having the authority of a druskelle, but - it's one of those things people get disciplined for a lot." Meaning people do it a lot.

"And if we manage to take down a druskelle and take their uniform - it doesn't take much Tailoring to pass as male at a quick glance, and I know enough about the order to not immediately give us away. And that would get us even into the better guarded places, where they actually stick to procedure - like the checkpoints on White Island. That'd be... Risky, though."

"And Trassel's - distinctive. And the druskelle are a small group. So if we run into anyone who'd know the druskelle, or anyone who knew my brother - who lived here for years - we'll get caught. But... If we can avoid them, we can probably get into most places."

"And an isenvulf overrides Red or Black Protocol."

"The guards get extra cautious during Black Protocol, so we'd need a druskelle, but... Yes, a druskelle and isenvulf can get just about anywhere during Black Protocol, and an isenvulf who looks like they're in a hurry could probably get around pretty well during Red Protocol."

"All right. Here's the play. Jesper, take Jana and get set to break the druskelle gate. Jam it shut. Two hours. Nina and I will go in the embassy route. Inej, help Helvar pull together a druskelle disguise to pass us through the interior checkpoint before the alarm goes off. We find the target in the confusion, put a hood on his head, and get the wolf to walk us out."

"Setting off Black Protocol while locking the druskelle in their compound?"

"At least most of them, ideally."

"...Would delay them, at least. And would cut down the chance that I get stopped."

"Right. Any other points?"

"Things might get dicey if we're on White Island when Black Protocol goes off, especially if we're anywhere near the royal family. Druskelle aren't allowed free movement then and there. But they'll be most concerned with protecting the royal family - not with a druskelle redeploying or escorting out persons of interest. And they might decide to remove foreigners from White Island."

"I doubt our target will be near the royal family, so we'll just try to avoid that section."

"That'll... Simplify things."

"Ideally."

"Plan sounds good to me."

"Let's make it happen, people."

She and Inej slip off - she's no wraith, but she's surefooted, and knows where she's going. 

"...Guess we've got a party to crash." She'll head for the druskelle sector with Jesper watching her back.

And Kaz and Nina will start their own part of the plan.

It doesn't take too long for them to slip into the gala. They wind up with some time to kill before meeting back up with Susanne and Inej, so they split up to try to gather some additional information before that.

They need to know where their target actually is for one - White Island is rather big - but there's plenty of higher ranked men here, who might get sufficiently distracted by a pretty face...

Inej, meanwhile, is scouting - her mission went off well (druskelle don't look up nearly enough), and she even acquired some shoes and less conspicuously 'prisoner' clothes for herself, and a suitably fancy but not particularly eye catching cloak for Susanne to cover her uniform when she's not pretending to be druskelle.

And now she needs to find possible locations for their target, identify anyone who might be a problem (there's druskelle here, for one), and confirm Kaz and Nina are in place... 

It's while she's doing the second that she overhears one of the druskelle commanders - sounds like Jarl Brum himself, though she'd thought he was supposed to be dead - relaying plans to some of the druskelle with him. He's identified a grisha infiltrator, and is planning to extract her without making a fuss...

(Nina.)

She slips back to Susanne, first. She needs to know about this. They'll need to plan together to rescue Nina -

"...Find Kaz," is what she says instead. "And tell her there's a new plan: improvise." She pulls the fancy grey cloak about her and whistles to Trassel. "And to not wait for me and Nina. We've got our own way out."

(She's Tailored herself a little. Just enough to pass for male, especially with how she adjusts her posture.)

"I need more detail than that, Helvar."

"...I'm going to distract Brum." Among others. "You'll have a limited time to act. And you won't have me for getting out of here." She bites her lip. "The target's most likely in the old treasury off the courtyard with the sacred ash. There's places to hide around there - if you hunker down long enough, I'll come get you - but there's also a set of hidden stairs leading to a crack in the rock under the sacred ash. You can get out that way, but not back in, and it's... Dangerous if you can't fly."

"...If you or Kaz sell off that information I will hunt you down and kill you both myself."

"...Understood."

Deep breath. She straightens. Her Tailored appearance begins to fall away in favor of her usual face; it helps that it was never on firmly. 

And: "Come on, Trassel. We've got a friend to save."

And an unworthy superior to kill, right? Well, a wolf can dream.