Do some investigation and come back the next day (after planning at the mansion)

As the two of you walk, you gently talk between yourselves; eventually the conclusion becomes that there's simply not anything you can do right now: the two bodyguards on their own would likely be more than a match for you, and the various thugs on top of that would just make anything you do quickly become a failure. As such, you two start walking with more than just planning in mind: rather than observing the slaves for sale, you're now observing the room itself, seeing if you can't find a weakness.

An hour later, the two of your find yourselves in the mansion, drawing up a map of the area. You draw the room as a perfect circle: the entry stairs at one end, cutting in at an angle, and the exit stairs at the opposite, parallel to the entry stairs. Twenty stands are in the room, sprinkled almost haphazardly across it. Irina marks the locations of the two bodyguards, the doorman's path, and the thugs.

Suddenly, a voice comes from the ceiling, "so what's that?" Irina looks up, "shouldn't you be at the library?" "I needed food. Violet's watching in my stead right now." "Wait, just how often does that happen?" "More often than you'd like." "I'm not sure I approve of the warlock watching very regularly;" a look of mild consternation appears on Irina's face. "Ya, I know. But one positive of telling you, you get cute when you're flustered." "I do NOT." "Do too;" Faexina drops down and steals a kiss from Irina's lips.

"But anyways - what's that? Looks like you're planning a robbery. Sounds more up my alley than yours." Irina rolls her eyes, "not everyone drawing a building layout is planning a heist you know." "You didn't deny it, either." "It's not technically a heist, it's a liberation." "Yes, that's how I was taught to talk about looting too; good on y-." "People aren't loot." This causes Faexina to pause. "People?" "Yes, we've discovered a **** ring and we're trying to break it up."

Faexina stays silent for a solid minute before speaking again, "you're going to do this no matter what I say, aren't you?" "Pretty much." "At least get the boys to write some scrolls for you." "You're not helping out? Normally you'd be all gung ho to help out with something like this." "And become elven breeding stock? No thanks." "Oh. I forgot about that. Good point."

The elven rogue takes another look at the map, studying it for a moment. "Don't fly." "Why not?" "This room was designed to prevent escape. You'll want to stick to the edge of the circle if at all possible." And with that, she slinks off, presumably towards the kitchen. With the initial analysis complete, you and Irina head to bed, intent to get some rest so you can finish planning tomorrow.

The next day, you and Irina have breakfast with the sun well risen, back to studying the map. In walks Giovanni, "I don't suppose the two of you would mind telling me what the map is about?" "Liberating slaves," replies Irina without looking up from the map or her food. Giovanni looks to you, with you simply nodding in response. With a sigh, "I'll go grab Aaron and Qilen and we'll start writing some spell scrolls for you." Irina simply nods in response. With that, he leaves the room and the two of you resume planning.

Later that day, Giovanni comes in, a stack of scrolls in his arms. Placing them on the table one by one, he states each in turn.

"Disintegrate: use this on an opponent who doesn't look like they can dodge."
"**** Ward: it should buy you extra time if one of you is about to go down: use it wisely."
"Banishment: use it to take one of your opponents out of commission for a minute."
"Summon Celestial: it should even the odds a bit."
"Geas: variety of uses, but should be most useful to command one of your opponents around. Use it before combat starts."