The next morning finds the five new squad members waiting at the precinct office. Some kind of new storefront is under construction down the street. You enter the station, let by a rotund red-faced officer with the unfortunate name of Chubb. "Commander Duncan Griff", he announces. Griff looks strangely familiar as you realize he was the bartender from across the street. Griff smiles as recognition dawns. "You can learn a lot about a person when they don't know they are being watched. Lesson Number One. You've all been selected for this job because you're the best..." He flips through the stack of applications. "...because you were available. Never mind that. We've had some unrest in this city. Established citizens not liking all the newcomers. Newcomers feeling like they aren't represented. Well, this is a prosperous city. It's a busy city. But a city's only as good as its laws. And the laws are only good as long as they are respected. So that's where you come in. We're the new face of the city watch. We're going to show that anybody who comes here, and respects the laws, and is willing to work, has a place in this city. We want everyone to trust the Watch, from the nobles down to the dirtiest goblin at the city dump. Because that's the best way to keep order."
"You'll get assigned to patrols soon enough, but first you have to complete some basic training. You each need to study this." He plops down a book big enough for a halfling to use for weight training. "Laws and Regulations of the City of Absalom, with Official Procedures", it reads. "Chubb here will take you to combat training."
Test.
test
aaa
Testing again.
Corvus waits by the armory for his assignment to be called.
Does it work?
HERE is the start of the gameplay, which we can continue here.
Oz picks himself up and watches with interest as the least imposing of their number tries her hand at hurting the half-orc.
Hazel executes a flawless feint only to strike hard muscle ineffectually.
After the training session, Chubb swears you in, reading flatly in a loud voice. "I swear to faithfully uphold the laws of the City of Absalom. I will not abuse my position. I will protect the innocent. Over....." (Here he flips the page.) "I will faithfully follow my superior officers and be ready to confront danger. I will support my fellow officers. To each other we pledge our lives. So help me insert deity."
There is a small ceremony where Griff gives each of you a badge. "Wear this badge with pride, and be worthy of it. You're going to go on patrol with senior officers. Two of you with Chubb and two with Osku. You, Frizell...you seem to know how to handle that bird of yours. You're the eye in the sky. Keep an eye on the two squads and let them know if there is any trouble about. Oh, speaking of birds....we have a sophisticated and modern communication system here. HIDGE!!!!"
A disheveled and thin old man with wisps of hair enters the room, dressed in a coat forty years out of fashion. He has four pigeons on his shoulders. He presents each of you save Frizell with a pigeon. "Yep...the latest thing. Genuine carrier pigeons. Specially trained to find you anywhere. But you have to carry them around for a while so they can attune to you." Osku and Chubb give each other an amused look.
Griff speaks up again. "Don't worry, it's just for a day. Leave your books here, you can study them later. Any questions, the senior officers will help you. Your assignment today is to get to know the precinct. Walk around, listen for rumors. Talk to the shop owners, people on the street. Boots on the street. These boots here...they know every cobblestone around." He motions to his own well-polished but definitely broken-in boots.
Lets head to the Cheliax bakery off Market Street. Not only do they have the best honey cakes in town but every housekeeper for 10 blocks gets bread there every morning. I am sure if something is happening we will hear about it from the shop keeper, he is an amazing gossip.
"You can do that mate," Oz said, "I've got an old friend or two I should stop by and visit." Despite his easy demeanor, it was clear Oz's visit was not exactly going to be much of a lovely how-do-you-do. He was not exactly the sort to knock politely on doors and see who answers.
Like policemen everywhere, Havel and Corvus head for the bakery, accompanied by Chubb. They notice that the new shop under construction promises "Fried Dough Rings". Osku goes with Oswyn and Everest to make their rounds. The sight of the pigeons is somewhat comical but it the citizens are pretty blase to strangeness and don't give more than a second glance. Frizell takes to the air and that does get some stares, a little man on a bird is a strange sigh most anywhere.
A group of children, ragtag street kids mostly, do pause their ball game briefly to stare at Frizell and then the android with a bird on his head. A trio of older ruffians takes the opportunity to steal their ball, running off around the corner laughing.
Corvus shakes his head. In 3 years those bullies will be doing worse than antagonizing younger children. Does the department get involved with this sort of thing or leave it to parents and kids to settle unless it gets out of hand?
Chubb shrugs dismissively, as if he's got more to worry about than a bunch of kids.
I am sure we will hear of something more substantive at the bakery. I don't think getting involved in a children's squabble is a great way to start the job but I will walk back this way after I get off duty to see how things settled out. Street kids know things before the happen sometimes. Plus I can't stand a bully.
Oz takes point with Everest and Osku, navigating the city streets well enough.
"So what are you?" He asks the towering armored figure, "Gonna need to know if we're working together."
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"My designation is Everest," he says plainly. "Nice to meet you."
"I am an automaton. My primary protocols include maintaining security networks, team dynamics, the live capture of perpetrators of infringement upon the law, efficient lethal take-down maneuvers and general social pleasantry."
"One moment," Everest says, and quickly approaches where the older children scurried off to, his expressionless visor scanning for them.
Everest follows around the corner and finds them laughing. When they see him, they drop the ball and scatter.
The kids look at Everest with genuine awe, crowding around to thank him. They all seem to want to touch him. They are mostly human kids but there are a couple of halflings and a goblin among them. He has won their admiration with a simple act.
"Check your purse, mate," Oz said to the machine-man, he had not been looking for any overly curious hands but none-the-less. Strange new things in Absalom rapidly went from 'will it eat me?' to 'can I make a coin off it?' Oz doubted that Everest would end up as much of an exception.
"Like you said, lady, small things matter to children." Once upon a time, Oz might have been one of those children, running through the streets, getting into good-natured scuffles*, and mobbing strangers.
*When Oz was young, the urchin gangs ran on Kings' Street Rules. No broken bottles or shivs and you were ignored when you hit the ground. As long as you stayed down, the victors were expected to dump you at the nearest mission for the priests to look after. There was not much enforcement but the threat of what the other gangs might do if you started breaking the rules was enough to keep most in line. Knuckle dusters had been in vogue back then but things had probably changed with this newer generation.
Taking to the street, the new recruits do their best at getting the pulse of the city.
Oz drops in at a seedy hotel called "The Slice of He..." (some letters are missing from the sign, nobody knows what it is supposed to say) where he knows the manager, Old Man Spoons. Spoons says "Something's going down at the big museum tonight, can't say where I heard it but Robbie Fingers tol' me. 'E knows all about the thieves' guild." Winking to his companions, he adds, "If you need information, I can get it. Everybody knows I'm discreet and won't say who's lookin'."
There are wild rumors about some kind of man that can turn into a shadow. One drunkard says he stole his shadow (but it came back).
There are a few kobold families living in the flooded slums of the Puddles district. Everest, interviewing people pretty much at random, hears some rumors that the kobolds are afraid of a strange sewer creature called the Gwubbamaa, although most disregard it as a kobold superstition.
There are rumors of someone breaking into highly guarded shops, taking nothing, and leaving only the "Joke" harrow card. Some say it is some kind of elaborate Thieves' Guild challenge. Others say it is the Shadow Man.
In non-criminal news, a highly regarded opera singer, Violotta Credenza, is visiting the city.
Thee wee blue man Frizell, riding on a hawk, lands on a nearby statue with a message from the Commander. (The pigeons coo nervously.) He speaks in a thick brogue. "The chief asks if ye can pick up a wee flure fur 'is woomin. It's 'is annivers'ry and e's nigh sliggered the mookie. Sumthin' called a Jalmeray pink orchid, if ye can find it, it'll save 'im frum a wuggle of mickins.
"The museum thing is the only one we have a solid timeline for," Oz noted, as Frizell descended and said... something. The sounded like they were words, hey went were words usually go, and it would make sense that they would be words but for the life of him he could not make heads or tails of it. "Yes?" Oz ventured, uncertainly.
I agree. It is the most important, actionable thing we have heard. If things get slow following up on the pranksters could make sense. Better to stop that sort of thing before it gets out of hand.
Corvus licks his fingers and looks disappointed when his hand comes back empty after reaching into a brown paper bag that was once full of honey cakes.
There are only a few groups with the skills to pull off a museum heist or fence the items. I suggest we start there. Any Ideas on who or how such a job would be pulled off? We can stop by a few florists on the way back.
I know there is a florist around the corner. We can see if they have ever heard of this Jalmeray pink orchid. I am hoping the chief's wife doesn't have obscure taste in flowers. I would like to see if I can track down this Robbie Fingers before heading back though I am sure it will take several hours to catch up with him.
Give me a moment I am sure I can find Robbie Fingers.
"Could just head back to Spoons and see what else he knows," Oz offered after the first hour seemed to be going poorly.
Good idea. It will also be a good place to pick up Robbie's trail since we know he was there.
You gather that Fingers is a small-time crook with a big mouth. He seems to have made himself scarce, nobody seems to have seen him today. After some thought, Spoons remarks that it was kind of strange that Fingers just came and offered him that information without asking for anything in return.
"I don't like this," Oz mentioned but did not elaborate. "Corvus, you seem good with people, can you take Hazel and figure out who Fingers' friends are and where he might have gone to ground? Everest, you and I are going to head back to the precinct and look over any relevant files we can dig up... and get that flower on the way."
I agree. Something doesn't seem right. Either Robbie has a grudge against someone or he is looking to cover up something else going down tonight. We will see what we can dig up on the streets. One way or another we will meet up at the precinct in 4 hours unless we bring him in sooner.
Hour 1
Hour 2
Hour 3
Hour 4
You find Robbie playing darts in a dive bar near the docks. Some well-muscled men loitering about near the door seem to be paying close attention to you but they don't make any move to stop your questioning.