Deshi watches from the rooftop of a shuttered tannery across from the Spirit Gate. The compound is a fortress -- wardens in black, Spirit Gate sigils on every door, arcane locks on the vault. Guard rotation: two at the main gate, one patrolling the wall every eight minutes. Entry options: drainage grate to the left (locked, requires finesse), service entrance to the right (one warden, controlled lock), or over the wall in the gap between patrol routes (Desperate, but possible). Rolling Prowess to get into position: 4, 4, 6 = 6. Full success. Deshi is inside the compound perimeter in the shadow of a storage shed, undetected.

Deshi checks the vault door -- a Spirit Gate arcane lock, heavy iron, sigils glowing faintly. He is not a spirit-mage, but he has seen the gang arcane specialist work. The lock responds to intent plus a key phrase. The key phrase is written in the gang ledger -- which is in the compounder office on the second floor. Two options: break the lock (loud, alert the wardens), or get the phrase from the ledger (quiet, requires infiltrating the office). Deshi chooses the second. Rolling Insight to assess: 2, 5, 4 = 4 (highest of 5, 4, 2 = 5). 5 = mixed success. He can get the phrase but there is a complication: someone is in the office. He can hear them moving.

The office occupant is a junior compounder -- not a fighter, but if they raise the alarm, the whole operation is blown. Deshi moves quickly. Rolling Prowess: 1, 3, 5, 4 = 5. 4-5: mixed. He takes the compounder down silently -- but they are wearing a spirit-binding talisman. When they go down, it emits a faint chime. Not loud enough to alert the outer wardens, but Deshi hears it. He has minutes before someone comes to check. He grabs the ledger phrase and moves. Complication: the talisman chime may have been heard inside the compound.

The vault is before Deshi. Arcane lock glowing, heavy iron door, wardens rotating in the outer corridor. The phrase from the ledger: "The dead remember the drowning." He speaks it. The lock disengages with a hiss. Position: Risky. Deshi could be quiet (Standard effect -- gets in, minimal trace) or fast (Great effect -- in and out before anyone notices). He chooses fast. Rolling Insight: 2, 5, 6 = 6. Full success. Deshi is in the vault. Inside: dozens of locked boxes, each tagged with a Spirit Gate sigil. One is marked "HERACLITUS - CREW MANIFEST". That is the target.

The box is heavier than it looks. Inside: manifests, crew records, death certificates for the SS Heraclitus -- a ship that went down with all hands six months ago. But there are signatures on the death certificates dated after the sinking. Someone faked the deaths. This is leverage. Deshi needs to get out. He has two options: the service entrance (slower, more patrol risk) or the drainage grate (faster, tighter space, cannot take the box through without noise). He chooses the drainage grate. Rolling Prowess: 4, 5, 6 = 6. Full success. Deshi gets the box and himself out through the grate without alerting anyone. Clean exit. Stress: +1 (he is pushing hard). He is now at 1 stress.

Deshi is out. He has the box. He has made it to the street. But the cost is visible: the tension, the push, the way he does not quite feel like he is fully here. He takes a trauma. Rolling Resolve: 2, 4, 5 = 5. 4-5: mixed. He takes the trauma -- Cold -- but it is manageable. He is at 1 stress and now Cold. The job is done. The Heraclitus records are in his hands. This will bring down the Spirit Gate compounder -- or whoever faked those death certificates.

Downtime. The crew processes the Heraclitus records. Deshi treats his harm (none this time) and plans next steps. The compounder faked death certificates for a ship that went down with all hands -- this is either a cover-up or a recruitment operation. Either way, it is evidence. Rolling downtime -- Lurk playbook special: 1, 4, 5 = 5. Deshi uncovers a connection: the compounder was receiving payments from someone outside the Spirit Gate -- a name. That name is worth holding as leverage.

The operation unfolds. Deshi uses the compounder name to plant evidence -- false shipment records that show the compounder stealing from the Spirit Gate own treasury. It will take time to reach the right ears, but when it does, it will be devastating. This is the Lurk game: information as weapon. Rolling Insight: 3, 5, 5 = 5. 4-5 mixed. The plan is solid, but the false evidence is noticed by someone lower in the gang -- not enough to expose the operation, but enough to create suspicion. Deshi is partially successful. Stress: +1 (he is gambling with the gang reputation). He is at 2 stress -- still clear of trauma, but the pressure is building.

The compounder counter-move: they have found the planted evidence. They do not know who planted it, but they know it is false -- and they are using that to turn the Spirit Gate leadership against whoever created it. Deshi hears this through the crew network. He has two options: abandon the operation (safe, but the evidence is wasted) or double down (risky, but if it works, the compounder falls completely). He chooses to double down. Rolling Resolve: 4, 5, 6 = 6. Full success. Deshi pushes the evidence directly to the Spirit Gate leadership, exposing the compounder as a thief and a fraud before the compounder can spin it. The compounder is arrested. Stress: +1. He is at 3 stress -- still clear of trauma, but the pressure is mounting.

Downtime. Deshi treats his harm (3 harm -- serious, needs attention), resolves his stress (he is at 3 -- Cold trauma from before, manageable but present), and plans. The compounder fall has created a power vacuum in the Spirit Gate. The crew is positioned to move into that space -- but they need to be careful. Deshi made three successful scores in a row. He is on top. But he is also carrying trauma (Cold) and stress at 3. One more bad roll and he breaks. This is Blades: you win until you do not. He is fine for now. The Heraclitus records are safe. The compounder is gone. The crew has leverage. Next score: consolidation.