Yes.

Worth a try then. Of course, we could just simply cold cock him and carry him out, telling his kids to flee.

The latter should be done with some finesse. I have a feeling the kids will not react well to someone who just knocked out their boss and savior.

What time of day is it, and how close is the redoubt to the city walls?

It is evening, past dusk, and as it happens, the redoubt is not that far away from the city walls - maybe a few minutes on a brisk jog. The question is how to get past the wall, then.

How feasible is it that Faggin, er, Adler and his kids could eke out some sort of life beyond Kargbeck's walls?

Not very feasible. Adler could possibly survive out there, some of the older ones, too, but for better or worse most of the thieves won't make it outside of Kargbeck. Not to mention that such a gaggle of foreigners will draw a lot of attention outside of Kargbeck.

How much Hanse does Takao understand? Probably at least Stadtwache.

Do any of the present have any reason to be worried about the Watch? I think even Takao now has a valid reason for having a broken seal on his sword; after all, it should be known that we have enemies around.

Takao isn't officially working for Van Synt, though - at the very least, they'd have cause to arrest you for that on the spot, and then you'd have to rely on Van Synt having you released on the strength of his deal with the team, which is looking rather shaky at the moment. Sadatsugu obviously cannot be caught. Toshi might not have done anything bad himself (that the watch knows of), but he's guilty by association.

Is there a second exit? I think I'll start with blocking the door with something heavy; it looks like we'll have to move Sadatsugu, and that'll take time.

Okay, general announcement:

Adler has used chemical means to brainwash the thieves into obedience. The thieves will act to protect him and follow any order that is not blatantly suicidal. ("Defend me against overwhelming odds!" works, "Put the gonne in your mouth and pull the trigger!" doesn't.) Other than that, he has no special powers over them. He'll be rubbing the brainwashing in your face when he escapes, which is where it was supposed to be revealed.

I told Kasey about this in private to forestall a plan that relied on the thieves being able to turn on Adler, and after some deliberation, it's clear to me that the only fair way to handle this now is to tell all of you here.

Mea culpa for not doing enough to highlight the hints. For those of you keeping score: I mentioned that the thieves were acting very disciplined in their defense of the stronghold, and I expected that the sight of kids taking up arms for a shootout with the city guard would raise eyebrows. Further, Adler off-handedly mentioned that he provided the poison that Kagemaru's been carrying since the whole adventure started, so one could infer him to be a capable alchemist. I didn't draw more attention because I wanted the reveal to come as a shock and also rated it as not critical for you to find out, or else I would have pushed you toward finding out earlier; it was supposed to be a complication, yes, but not a method to screw over your plans.

That said, I'm sticking with this plot point. It's been on the plan since Adler's conception and I still believe that it is a wrinkle you can collectively deal with - plus, honestly, he's a bad guy. So, I'm opening the floor to a general discussion about a plan to proceed with. There hasn't been a lot of OOC activity about this yet that I know of, so that's kind of hobbled your planning, too.

Assume that your characters don't know the exact twist but are aware that Adler's thieves are likely to be extremely loyal and therefore hard to sway away from him. Because I've been lazy about this, I'm telling you here that there are six thieves in the room with Yukio, Aiko and Adler; Kagemaru knocked out two more on the way in and Toshiba didn't see any going in his way, so it's likely that this is it as far as thieves you would have to take out immediately if it comes to blows; most are still on the ramparts or turning themselves in right now. Also, Adler does not know that Toshiba and Kagemaru are very close by; I'm sure you can use that to your advantage.

No problem. This game has a lot to keep track of over a very long period of time, and GMs are human too. Thanks for coming right out and hitting us with the clue bat. I think that the hint about the poison was too vague. It didn't imply that he made the stuff, just that he supplied it. But like I said, it's all a lot to keep track of. And if you had come right out and said "Adler made the poison, he's a skilled alchemist", I STILL probably wouldn't have connected that to brainwashed thieves, although that wouldn't be your fault. I would've started watching out for poisoned daggers... which, actually, I'll be doing anyway.

"Get the thieves to turn on Adler like the hyenas in the Lion King" is news to me, though. I suppose I assumed the parley would:

1) degenerate into fisticuffs, at which point Kagemaru and Toshiba leap in like, well, ninja.
or
2) reach the point where Adler flees, and once again I assumed he'd flee out the way Toshiba was hiding. Backstab, knifey-knifey, problem solved. Or at least "problem is now leaving a blood trail that we can follow". If he has another secret exit, then, well, good for him. It's his house. I would assume at this point that Yukio would go for him, thus leading to situation #1 possibly immediately followed by #2, outlined above.

Okay, after some conferring with Robert, here's my idea for the plan:

1. Aiko and Yukio stall Adler long enough for Kasumi to get back, if he tries to bail.
2. Kasumi brings her Social Powers Laser Beam to bear on Adler and uses the fact that she negotiated his life in exchange for leaving Kargbeck to get him to spill on Olafsen, who he thinks betrayed him, anyway.
3. Once Adler starts cackling about how he's got all these kids under mind control, we set on the bastard like dogs on a fucking steak and kill his ass before he can sic the kids on us.

I did assume that the kids were either fanatically loyal or at least brainwashed. I mean, how hard can it be: he picks them up in the gutter, gives them a home, gives them a job, gives them food and maybe recognition. Sure, there might be harsh punishments along the way, but to most of those kids, those might not sound out of order. The guns didn't strike me out of the ordinary in that context; Africa's kid soldiers are often similarly motivated. Hence I assumed trying to take control of the kids after knocking Adler out wasn't going to fly. I did not suspect any chemical involvement, though. Most psychopharmaceuticals take off the edge that a good thief or fighter needs to succeed.

Anyway, Takao's still huddled up in the safehouse, awaiting the onslaught of what may or may not be city watch.

Well, there's also the idea that Aiko goes with Adler, again as an insider, to get the dope on his secret HQ/redoubt and the others, being elite ninja, track the runner sent to retrieve her sword from her lodgings and follow said minion back to Adler's.

Or we could do Adler and question the runner

Takao and Toshi have maybe half a minute before the guard busts down the front door. I recommend you make those seconds count.

How many men does Takao see?

Is there a second exit?

Anybody else have an idea what might have brought Van Synt here, or any good ideas of what to do beside run? Starting a fight doesn't sound like a good plan, and surrender sounds even less good.

Is anyone else puzzled by Van Synt's actions?

I thought he cared about bringing someone very publicly to justice, but Holger's is implying that V-Sizzle wants to kill the real assassin quietly. How does this make sense? Unless the real assassin knew something that could harm VS, and VS cannot afford that he be heard at a trial...

Did Sadatsugu mention anything? Has he even been conscious?

Or he's just more interested in consolidating his power than he is with protecting the people, like Adler said.

I'll throw another question into the fray: if Van Synt really is interested in getting rid of the real killer quietly, why does he have a group of city guard with him?