[ For prior connections, Vanessa usually has an edge when traveling the underworld, but even without, she's never been a stranger to accessing these sorts of spaces. The currency is the main difference.

...Perhaps her manner of access is also different, once backed into a proverbial corner. When the guard still insists on the passcode—despite the influence she carries!—Vanessa needs only to brush their arm with a faux stumble in order to borrow the necessary memory. Is it suspicious how she quickly guesses the correct fruit once righting herself? Yes, probably, but it's beneficial, isn't it?

Once inside, the cloud of incense and opium is overbearing for her sharpened senses, but she has powered through worse. Some self-made kings are the sort to sit on a throne at the top of a tower, but Vanessa is accustomed to lords who creep in the demimonde—the twilight between worlds. Sanctuary seems to be just that.

To whomever may have opted to join her in seeking out the gang leader, she'll whisper low. ]

I cannot imagine many men who take well to having another steal what's theirs. This one may be eager to be rid of Matthias.