The Ethereal Hand is an up-and coming gang in the Charhollow neighborhood of Duskvol. The current membership consists of Reynard, a hound; Eklipsis, a leech; Raven, a lurk; and Foggy, a whisper.

They reside in a tower in the Old Village section of Charhollow, which is an abandoned abbey. This area is teeming with working class people and they are high above.

So far they have been able to add quarters to their lair, so everyone can sleep there. However, the materials they used were stolen from the Cabbies, so that group is antagonistic to the Hand at the moment.

The Hand are looking to operate in the Charterhall area which is home to the government offices and university of Duskvol. They pay off the City Council (1 coin) so they can operate here.

The Council also provided to them some documents about local figures (double XP for training Insight skills) and the Hand pay 1 coin to increase their relationship with the Council.

Trying to decide what they could do for their first job as a gang, the Hand consults Fitz, a collector with a large antique store in the market district of Charhollow who also happens to be a member of the sect “The Path of Echoes” which believe that the traditional wisdom of the Church of Ecstasy is wrong. They often commune with the dead.

Fitz’ store is about to close for the evening, but the members of the Hand are waved in and led to the back room where Fitz is enjoying some kind of a drug out of a hookah. He blows a cloud of purple smoke and asks the gang what they are interested in. They explain that they are looking for work, and he says that he has just recently gotten in some artifacts from Tycheros, which is where Raven hails from. Raven seems interested.

Fitz explains that three of the boxes from his Tycheros shipment are being held by the bluecoats across the river in Charterhall at a warehouse. They often hold things that they consider contraband without any warning and keep them there as long  as they wish. Some of the items are war artifacts like old swords and shields, and some are vases that are quite old and fragile. One of the items is a strange relic called a Spirit Focus. Fitz says that if his items may be procured, he would pay the group for their trouble.

Fitz also has several other Tycheros artifacts like clockwork toys that depict monstrous people, and also some vases. Reynard asks for items from Severos, the nomadic tribes, and Fitz shows him a statuette of a horse rearing up.

Foggy asks for more information about the Spirit Focus artifact, and Fitz dusts off an old tome that is from the Path of Echoes’ own knowledge of arcana. It depicts the Spirit Focus as a square object with a hole sort of like a frame, that is made out of glass or some bright material. It is a beacon for spirits, and when activated they will approach the device.

Foggy reads more and discovers that with a skilled practitioner, the Spirit Focus can be made to not only call spirits, but direct them and cause them to harry or attack someone. He does not reveal this to Fitz.

The Hand accepts the job and goes off to find more info. First, Raven goes to his friend Darmot, a bluecoat, probably the only honest one in town. The man seems upset and he explains that his boss has been all over his ass about one of the local diplomat’s vacation homes (normally empty) who keeps getting broken into. It’s happened five times over the past several weeks and the bluecoats are stumped. Nothing is stolen, but windows and furniture are regularly broken. Raven asks Darmot about the warehouse and he specifies the location and says that it is heavily guarded.

The Hand case the warehouse and find that there are three entrances, one to the south, one to the east, and a large garage door to the west. There are normally three guards at the garage door and two at each other door during the night, and one less at each during the day. Reynard’s dog is able to see that the storage area is to the west and there are offices on the east side and pallet jacks in the middle area.

Searching through the canals, Reynard scopes things first and then draws a map for Raven. He notes that there is a spirit well and a group of spirit wardens nearby that Raven shouldn’t go near. Raven follows the map and sees a ladder that leads up to a barred doorway with a thick metal lock made out of a dark gray steel.

Eklipsis wonders how she can open the lock and visits Stazia, an apothecary friend of hers. Stazia is a short balding man with dark skin and a thick accent. He mixes Eklipsis a strong acid that will help her break through the lock. He says to only use a few drops and gives her a glass eyedropper.

Before Eklipsis leaves, Stazia asks her to check on their mutual friend Veldren, who was in a few weeks ago to buy a bunch of materials but hasn’t been seen since. Stazia is worried that he has overdosed.

The Hand go back to Fitz and ask for a gondola to take them back to the access door in the canals. Fitz agrees but he says that the money will have to come off of their pay. Reynard has an idea to cause a distraction with a beer cart outside the warehouse. He plans to have the beer spill everywhere and cause a scene so the others can get to the score undetected. Again, Fitz agrees but says it will come off of their cut of the score.

At the appointed time, during the day, Reynard indeed drives by the east entrance and makes a big scene with spilled beer, drawing the attention of many bluecoats and also getting some of them to take the beer. He is totally convincing.

In the tunnels, the Gondolier named Billy brings the rest of the crew to the underground entrance though he is nervous to be here, knowing that the Spirit Wardens are nearby. Eklipsis tells him to stay put.

Eklipsis, Raven and Foggy go to the ladder and Eklipsis ascends, starting to work on the lock with his picking tools rather than using the acid first. She is able to loosen one of the bars that is holding the door shut but it falls and clangs loudly to the floor. The guards are more aware but not alerted yet.