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Briefly, Mae and Ashur confer.
“We’ll have to take them to headquarters,” she says.
“It’s too risky,” says Ashur. “We have a hideout nearby.”
“And no one to guard them,” says Mae. “We’d essentially be handing the safe house over to them.”
Ashur heaves a frustrated sigh, but it’s clear he finds it as hard to argue with Maevaris as you would (not that you’d ever dare to try). “Fine,” he says. “Headquarters. Under heavy guard.”
You walk your assemblage of maleficars back to the Shadow Dragons’ headquarters, Tarquin marching at the front in quiet fury, the two mages flanking while you bring up the rear. The other Shadow Dragons are none too pleased at the prospect of babysitting the mages the Venatori thought were too evil to tolerate, but they understand why it’s a necessity.
True to his word, the magister releases Tarquin once everyone is safely inside the pawn shop. He’s clearly still not thrilled about having been ransomed for protection, but the night isn’t over yet. You still need to retrieve Neve.