Session 2: The Unfriendly City

Makatza, Hattori, and Ikep make their way into Great Glade after Ikep has a change of heart and chooses to not storm the Spire. They manage to sneak their way through the southwest gates through various means: Ikep goes over the wall, Makatza relies on blending in to the crowd, and Hattori relies on pure style and charm. They regroup inside to find wanted posters of them posted everywhere, offering huge rewards - though slightly more gold for Ikep's capture.
As they make their way through back alleys, a strange man accosts them, offering protection from the warforged guards and town enforcers roaming everywhere. The party reluctantly accepts, and the man, known as Raal Vendrix, leads them to a unique circle of stones within the factory districts. Ikep creates a barrier to allow them to enter the circle without allowing the Warforged Guards to pass, and the group then teleports away to a shady bar. There, he reveals that he is part of the Spiderweb, a secret society that works to undermine the Bureau's hold on the city. He asks the party to join him, in exchange for helping them clear their names. 
The party accepts. The next morning, Raal sends them to meet Clifton Mowbray, an illusion wizard who provides them with disguises to make them slightly less noticeable while roaming the city. They arrive without major incident, after dodging some Warforged guards, and complete their dealings with Clifton - though not before fucking with him for a while. No factory workers were harmed in their endeavours, although one will certainly be disappointed the next time he visits his favourite brothel and can't find anyone called Big Hanzo.
That night, Raal introduces them to their first real mission: Reclaim a magic item of dangerous power from an inventor's fair held in an old theatre. This item has the power to duplicate any material, and it would offer far too much power to the Bureau. 
On the way to the theatre, the three cut through the Mere District in the heart of Great Glade. As they pass by an alchemical store of mass-produced potions, it explodes in a chemical blaze. An eco-terrorist artificer emerges from the blaze, marking this as an intentional crime. The party dispatches of him quickly, and foils his attempts to escape. They retrieve some curious items off of him before handing him off to the guards. The guards attempt to detain them for questioning, but Hattori convinces him that they need to meet with his wife, who has gone into labour.
The party finishes their journey to the theatre, and begins their plan to infiltrate. After several failed attempts to make their way past the usher at the front, including invoking his fictitious boss Shannon, they manage to sneak in the back doors. Hattori and Makatza pose as replacement chefs and are immediately put to work in the kitchens. Ikep convinces the Stage Manager that he is an inventor of the showcase, and simply wandered backstage. She shoos him back into the main floor, where he takes up a position next to a friendly dwarven artificer who had given him advice while they waited outside. Ikep displays a curious magical puzzle-box as his invention, though it doesn't seem to attract much attention.
Meanwhile, Hattori and Makatza make the best of a bad situation with poor ingredients, creating basic, deconstructed hors d'oeuvres. The first round goes over well, the subsequent ones not so much. They insist on making the rounds with the trays as an excuse to tour the floor.
The three adventurers begin to eliminate potential targets until the identify Valour Duststone, the inventor they are searching for, as he demonstrates his machine. Makatza immediately puts a plan into action, using a surprisingly convincing story and a convincing replica of a signet ring to spread the rumour that one of the noble families of New Hive is at the fair as a potential buyer. Ikep subtly builds this rumour up while ensuring Valour is within earshot. Makatza and Ikep then pull off a "deal" and exchange money, hoping that Valour notices. Valour seems either disbelieving or disinterested, though he begins to open up to the possibility. He maintains that The Bureau would likely offer him more money, and they will allow him to retain the rights to his work. 
The party recognizes they need a new plan. Hattori, having spent several hours desperately managing a failing kitchen with three useless sous-chefs, walks outside and convinces one of his sous-chefs to take a swim for a substantial bribe. The chef can't swim, however, which throws a bit of a wrench into his plans. Nevertheless, Hattori uses the canal and a drowning chef to lure the usher over to the water, then pull him in.
Hattori rushes into the building, and then into the bathroom, with the usher hot on his heels. Inside the bathroom, he encounters Ellered, a nervous half-elf heir who's night is about to get much worse. Hattori forces the teenager to strip, but as guards begin pounding down the door, he rejects that plan. Hattori uncovers an invention that Ikep handed him - a small pebble that smells precisely like a magical explosive device. He slips it into Ellered's clothes, then takes him as a hostage.
Things quickly turn into a standoff in the main hall. After a few tense minutes of negotiating, Hattori has Makatza bring over Valour's duplication device. Makatza shifts into one of her wild animal forms, and the two escape into the night with the device. Ikep remains behind to ensure no one is following them, and then makes his own break for it. 
The three reconvene in an alley as alarms begin to sound all around them. Desperately, they make their way back to the teleportation circle from the day before. They manage to sneak their way there, but when they arrive, they find that there are dozens more guards around it. Thankfully, a sharp whistle cuts through the night, distracting the guards just enough to allow the party to slip in and teleport out once again. 
Back at the Harrowman's Hut, the three find themselves completely alone. They discuss what to do with the machine, having decided that Raal deserves control of this power just as much as the Bureau does, which is to say not at all. After discussing it, Ikep subtly sabotages the machine in the hopes that no one will easily identify what he has done. Shortly after, Raal arrives. The party confronts him about the machine, and Raal seems unbothered by the party not willing to hand it over. He gives them the go ahead to destroy the machine, seemingly confirming that his only goal was to keep it away from the Bureau. 
After the machine is dealt with, Raal introduces them to other members of the "family": among them are several familiar faces from the Fair. Raal reveals that the mission was a test all along, and that the other Spiderweb members were present to retrieve the machine should the party have failed. Raal urges the three protagonists to get some rest, indicating they would have a busy day tomorrow. 
(FUCK I didn't realize how much happened until I had to write it out)