Fresh off your induction into the Society, the completion of your basic training within the organization, and then finally passing your test of Confirmation – successfully exploring and reporting as a cooperating group on the dungeon of Asad’s Keep – you find yourselves in the office of Ambrus Valsin, the venture-captain in charge of daily operations in and around the Grand Lodge. The efficient and straightforward chamberlain greets your group curtly and motions for them to sit before jumping straight into your assignment.
”All right, Pathfinders! Listen up. I know you are new recruits eager to make names for yourselves in the organization, but first we need to make sure you are up to snuff and won’t get yourself killed out there. I have a number of small assignments for you and your team, and it would be best if you could finish them before the day’s end.
“Every day we get some doe-eyed hopeful or some sniveling bootlicker willing to do anything to join up with the Pathfinders. Most of them are good kids, but not all of them have the salt to make it in a world like this. It’s rough out there and I’m not just talking about the ruins, tombs, and wilderness Pathfinders find themselves in on missions. We’ve got people who look down their noses at us, folks who think we squander our resources, and agents who want to take everything we have collected. This wealth of knowledge and these items of lore make us the most powerful organization on the planet. That said, since we are fractured and widespread, it’s difficult for that power to light on anything for too long. For every friend of the Society, there are two enemies.
“Your first mission, to test your mettle and loyalties, sends you to meet a few people important to the Society living here in Absalom. These are other venture-captains or close allies of our organization, so follow their orders as you would mine. I’ve prepared a list of things I want you to do. They’re not arranged in any particular order of importance, but I want them all completed as quickly as possible. Only report to me once you complete them all. Included in the envelope you hold in your hands is the list, complete with the name of your contact, and directions to the meeting location.”
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Tromos turns the envelope over in his hands. He slides a finger underneath the flap and breaks in two the wax seal, then removes and unfold the parchment.
Rare books... medicine for orphans... The alchemist scans down the scroll. His eyes catch the mention of Dremdhet Salhar, Osirion Ambassador to Absalom and representative on the Grand Council. He purses his lips. Tromos has heard stories of the man, and today may be his chance to gain a first-hand account.
He nods his head to Venture-Captain Valsin. "Understood, sir." Turning to his companions, he asks, "Where shall we begin?"
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I suppose they must appraise our skill before giving us real assignments, but nonetheless I do not like this man...
Amaruu nods, resisting the temptation to rest his hands on the hilts of his serrated blades.
He might get the wrong idea... or well the right idea.
"I hope these errands are of the utmost importance and my blades can spill the lifeblood of any who oppose."
You leave the Grand Lodge in the Foreign Quarter and head just east towards the Temple of the Shining Star, the Ascendant Court’s massive temple to Sarenrae, to meet with Ollysta Zadrian, a retired Pathfinder now operating the Silver Crusade, an effort to use the Society’s resources to help those in need and spread good deeds throughout the world. Following an additional paper given to you with directions to each task, you wind your way through the bustling city, often having to take some side street because of an extravagant religious procession or a simple jam of camel carts. (If you like, you can take two carts to get around the city - each holds about four people - for only one copper penny for each leg of your journey.)
“Thank the light of Sarenrae you have arrived!" you are greeted enthusiastically Ollystra Zadrian. "I knew Ambrus would come through for us in the Silver Crusade. I desperately need you to bring medicine to an orphanage and let me know if the headmistress, Gilga Baltwin, is deserving of our charity. Since our quest began, the needy have clamored for our aid, and I suspect some are abusing our generosity. It may sound cruel, but there are plenty of dishonest people out in the world eager for easy gold.
“Do you know of the Silver Crusade? After discovering so many factions splintered the Society, a number of us banded together to proliferate the cause of charity and kindness using the Society’s resources. As it is said, ‘The Dawn brings new light’ and I’ve made it my life’s work to use our recent darkness to bring a new light to the world and to the Pathfinder Society.
I apologize for straying off point. Will you bring this parcel of medicine to Auntie Baltwin’s Home for Recovery in the Eastgate district?”
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Storn walks to the quarter, scowling as he makes his way through the crowds of people. He eventually arrives at the temple along with the rest of the party. Quietly, he listens to Ollysta, his bushy brow furrowed in concentration.
"So deliver medicine and see if this Gilga is worthy of your charity. Gorum weeps as there are no opportunities to disembowel someone, but a healthy orphan can become a healthy warrior later on in life. And maybe we'll get lucky and Auntie will be a front for a diabolical plot to provide someone I can hit."
Ollystra looks at Storn in a curious way for a moment, then gives a small smile, seeming to see something through the big man's fearsome exterior.
You make it to the middle-class Eastgate without any significant incident.
... Except that, shortly after leaving Ollysta's company, many of you (Amaruu, Boomkin, Herman especially so, and Xeno) notice a strange little individual - a halfling, 'handlebar' moustachioed, with wild eyes and angry, clenched fists, intently staring at the group. But, before you can react or approach, it appears that a red-haired woman in an embroidered skirt pulls him backward by the shoulder. Then, a throng of revelers passes between you and them and - they're gone...
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Storn looks really excited for a moment before the halfling is pulled back into the crowd. He sighs miserably.
"Are we really going to spend time saving orphans through careful investigation and good charity? Pity. His tiny moustache would be an excellent trophy. Let us ask around the neighbourhood of this orphanage. If they are suspicious, the neighbours will know. Unless they are dumb."
People seem to just find and open up to Herman, who pulls in an amazing amount of information.
Miltivis, who runs a nearby market, claims he’s served Auntie Baltwin for over 30 years, and while a good customer, she is quite demanding and often rude to the other customers. He says she’s kept his supplier of fine whiskeys in business for decades.
Gilga Baltwin’s neighbors Travost and Tirelle Anthos are frankly tired of the noises the children make and the retinue of cats—though they do appreciate the latter’s mousing skills. They admit to being happy when Auntie Baltwin sends the children “off into the town” during the day, as it gives them a few hours of peace and quiet before they return in the evening.
At the estate across the street, Master Trebb Bonto, a retired builder, says nothing but nice things of Lady Baltwin, as he calls her. He recounts tales of tea and games on the sitting porch, though with a little nudging he lets slip that she often cheats at games and sometimes had some shady characters coming to whisper in her ear and palm her small bags of what might have been money before slinking away. “Otherwise a fine lady, indeed.” he quickly adds.
Auntie Baltwin’s Home for Recovery is known for being a place where sick kids go to get better, and the results seem amazing. Some people claim the place looks odd because people are always coming and going, sometimes taking kids with them, but Auntie Baltwin has explained that they are either visitors or parents taking the kids home.
Nearly swarming with cats and children, this fine upper-class home appears to be clean and in good condition considering the number and ages of its inhabitants. Three young boys shoot marbles in the dirt near the side porch. From a quick glance inside the windows, there are many toys strewn about and more cats lie about on the floors. A few children can be seen taking care of chores.
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Herman shoots the jumping-the-gun druid a wry look. ""Let me handle this delicate stuff," he whispers. The handsome halfling advances to where the boys shoot marbles.
"Hello fellas, how is the game? Mind if I shoot?" When able, Herman joins the game and while he plays for a few shots, he asks the boys about how they like the orphanage, if they are treated well, if sick children actually get better here, and how Auntie Baltwin treats them.
The boys seem to dart looks at each other, perhaps because of your obvious unusualness, perhaps for other reasons, and one of them gets up and goes inside the house, evidently to alert Auntie Baldwin to her visitors.
"She's a mean old lady," one of the boys whispers, looking around before talking.
"Yeah, but she makes great meals, and she tells wild stories at bedtime. Those are fun!"
"Yeah, that's true... but still.", the first boys wavers a bit.
"Oh yeah, kids get better here all the time. I did, and Auntie treated me, and so did he, and Alsie was near as death when she came and just went home yesterday."
"But I don't like having to do all of that work in those other homes. I don't mind do my chores, like at home, but those other people are mean and really treat us like nothing."
"My chest still hurts some and cleaning the chimneys made it worse than anything."
While, the stories of recoveries do seem to be true and numerous, there are a number of stories of the children used as cheap labor, mostly as maids and other servants, for the good citizens of Eastgate, who come and pick the children up at the Home.
Just about then, the front door opens, giving you an unfortunate face-to-face meeting with 'Auntie' Gilga Baltwin, who shoes the children away and says to you, "Now run along now, dearie, before I tell your mother on you for being a bad influence on my boys!" Apparently, she is either mistaking Herman for a child - or merely treating him as one.
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Herman is astounded to learn that the orphanage is renting out the children as child labor. That coupled with Auntie's drinking push him to an angry place.
"Madam! I am no child. I am from the Silver Crusade with a mission of mercy to supply medicine to the sick children under your care. But upon investigating, we find you are an imibiber of alcohol in substantial quantities and now find out that you are forcing the children to work. Renting them out to the neighborhood. We will be forced to report these infractions to the Crusade unless you have some compelling explanation!"
She is quite taken aback. "Please, there is no need for such a tone! At an old lady like myself, too. The children only do light work, like they would do at home, earning small amounts to pay for room and board - this all doesn't come free, you know. If anything else happened, I would be as appalled as you, I'm sure."
"And drinking, well, that is probably sadly true. Seems most days you need it if you want to make it through the day in this house. These children are killing me! But I will get help and end it all, I assure you.”
"Now do you have a package of medicines for me? The children do so need it, you know. Come in and I'm sure you will see I have nothing to hide. Just keep your hands off the fragile things."
Then she adds, "Or are you just here, down from your gleaming tower, to harass an old woman and her sick wards?"
If not obvious already, you can spot broken blood vessels in the eyes and nose, shaky hands, glassy eyes, and a fine sheen of sweat on the woman, all indicative of alcoholism.
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"No diabolical plot. No secret zombies waiting to attack. Just a sad old woman who drinks too much and a bunch of sick children. How depressing."
Storn steps up, towering over Herman as he stares at the nervous old woman.
"You drink so much that it will kill you some day, and you use sick children for labour. This will stop if you want these children to grow up strong so they may slaughter their foes. If you do not drink, you will not need the money the children bring in. Simple. But your children do get better and you try hard, so your heart seems good. Since you say we can look through the house, we should do that. Then we decide what to do."
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Tromos steps out of the doorway. He scans the old woman's features.
Ruddy nose, damp skin, twitchy gestures. Whether or not she is taking advantage of these children, she is at least abusing refreshments.
"We are just here, down from the Temple of the Shining Star, at the request of the Silver Crusade, to see if your charity is deserving of their aid." The alchemist tilts his head towards the twitchy headmistress.
"Only because other, less scrupulous citizens have attempted to take advantage of the guild's initiatives. As Storn says," Tromos indicates the bearded hulk beside him, "we would like to examine your facility, to dissuade ourselves that it is not more boarding house than orphanage."
Baltwin strides up to Storn with her hands on her hips and seems to practically dare him to hit her. "Just don't bring lice or bugs into my house. And wipe your feet."
Inside, coughs and sneezes are heard to softly erupt from the children’s dormitories upstairs. There are a more children, doing minor chores or playing, and there is a multitude of cats.
Casual inspection reveals In her sitting room is a nearly empty bottle of whiskey, as well as a half bottle in the kitchen.
"Thank you ... sir. Now I don't want a whole lot of nature in my house so don't go tramping around the place! And keep that furball outside - I don't need it clawing up the furniture or eating one of the children!"
Amaruu doesn't find anything out of the ordinary about the children.
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To the others "As long children have the choice to leave rather than work for their keep. I see no problems in getting to work, and it will give them skills for when they are older and have to support themselves. Auntie Baltwin seems to have some faults but who can say they don't. If we find nothing more I think we can safely give her the medicine."
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Tromos shakes his head. "We can see no crimes being committed here, true. But we were asked to determine whether the headmistress deserves the Silver Crusade's assistance--is absence of abuse truly worth commendation?"
"These children must work for their keep, we say. Then so too must Auntie Baltwin." The aasimar looks to each member of the group in turn. "I would be more at ease if we could learn the methods behind her miracle cures. But if I am alone in this, then so be it."
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Storn shrugs his brawny shoulders and starts making his way to the exit.
"She is unfit, drunk, and this place smells worse than I do. But you are right. It may be good for the Silver Crusade to check on her health and try to stop her drinking and having sick kids sweep chimneys, but the greater evil would be to deny the children the medicine. Everyone has said the children get better when they go here, so she does that part of the job right."
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"I don't think she sends the sick ones to work, she treats them. The children pay for their rent and they should, that should teach them to be responsible enough for themselves, unless one of you volunteers to switch places with this woman then I say we give her the medicine and go to the next on the list."