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A tall hooded man, grunts as he walks down a narrow alleyway. A rapier is attached to his belt, and the man wears a black cloak which is covered in grime and blows in the wind. He says in a deep gravely voice
"Faceshifter's Journal, 7 Abadius 4716, this city is afraid of me. I have seen it's true face, the streets are extended gutters, and the gutters are full of blood. And when the the drains finally scab over all the vermin will drown and shout "Save us" and i'll whisper "No!". Message from Vaslin this morning, says to meet at docks."
Boarding the Sixwing Drake Faceshifter glances up at the workers revealing underneath his hood a thin white mask that conceals his facial features apart from a strange shifting tattoo that moves with whatever facial expression appears on his face, this puts the dock workers on edge. He enters the office where the Venture Captain is and nods as he leans against the closest wall to the door.
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Valsin...
The prematurely greying, tanned medium built man mumbles as he shuffles along the docks. Peering with steel grey eyes that hold an intensity enough to cause the occasional passerby to start, he scans the ships moored in this dark corner of Absalom.
Ne're did like that Valsin. Always barkin' orders and shufflin' his papers. Doubt he's seen the b'ness side of a weapon in o're a year. Slaine continues to carry a dialog with himself in a low gravely whisper. Dressed in ragged, but serviceable studded leather, he's carrying a musket that appears either well loved or ready for the scrap heap. He carries himself slightly crouched and walks with a crisp gait that looks like a caged animal ready to pounce. As soon as the Sixwing Drake is in sight (and before most people would have seen the ship), Slaine shifts and scampers up the plank and into the captain's offices.
Ev'nen
He mutters at the venture captain as a shadow of a sneer crosses his face. With a glance at the strangely visioned rogue without an external sign of his internal shock, he rests his musket against the table and takes a seat with the best view of the door.
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The Sixwing Drake is a sleek sailing ship.
As Faceshifter and Slaine arrive they don't find the Venture Captain but instead the Drake’s captain, a Varisian woman and fellow Pathfinder named Zarah Zendrani. She stands at the helm of her vessel.
“It’s not like Valsin to be late,” she mutters, furrowing her brow.
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"Ev'nen Captain." Slaine states as he approaches the helm. While scanning the docks for signs of the VC and of trouble, he continues to talk with the captain. That Valsin is a paper pusher and likely to get lost comin' out from 'hind his desk. But he's a punctual varmint. I agree, it's a bad sign that 'es late. Any idears on what 'es got us down 'ere fer?"
Slaine keeps his musket at casual ready, more as if it's just a part of his being, rather than out of fear or necessity. He looks to Faceshifter and gives him a long look. While not unkind, Slaine is not the sort to trust new people easily. Nodding in return, he continues to size up Faceshifter while conversing with Captain Zendrani.
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Throck wonders his way through the maze of masts and ropes, looking for the boat he was told to find. To the sailors and pedestrians on the docks he appears to have a vacant expression...which he does. The riggings, flowing and waving high into the sky, weave in and out of his vision, keeping him distant and quite clumsy. Finally after roaming around for a while and boarding several ships on accident, he sees that old guy with the boom stick he had met before board a ship. Throck, somehow putting 2 and 2 together, finds out that the mystery ship is probably the the Sixwing Drake. Throck pats himself on the back and grins, reveling in his intellectual deductions. As he boards the ship, the gang plank creaks and bends under his feet, though Throck barely notices, thinking about his opening speech for his entrance to the cab. As throck opens the door (once again almost blowing the door off of its hinges) he draws his breath to deliver his meticulously prepared speech:
Grunt
Throck nods to himself and stands right next to the door, not noticing the half-orc only 2 feet away. He searches through his bag to find his soap and with the utmost concentration upon his face, begins to clean his steel shield, eyeing the gunslinger and ship captain.
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A pale elf in icy blue robes and cold winter gear holding a white wood quarterstaff explores the streets of this enormous city which he has been called to. For him, never being in a place this big he needs a map, which he finds at a small booth. After a few minutes, the soft parchment becomes cold, stiff and brittle. he hides it away in his cloak hoping that no one noticed. When he finds his way to the docks avoiding torches and fires, he sees an illustrious ship called the Grinning Pixie. The elf shivers at the thought of the fey creature and moves on to look at other ships. A few boats later he sees the ship called the Sixwing Drake and thinks Dragons and drakes are most associated with fire, let's hope there is none.
As he boards the ship and reaches the door, he checks his staff for any dirt or grime, then puts the arcane mark of frost upon it in frost colored runes with his hand. When he turns the doorknob which has turned strangely cold, he takes a deep breath and enters. Seeing os many people of different races in one place was enough for one day, but the four people in this room was worse. These people looked strong and looked like they could take a beating before falling to a foe, that was fine with Fost Seeker, but he still went to the corner with no smelly buff dwarf, no tall masked man and no man with the strange contraption that looked of death. Still the elf acknowledged them with a nod of his head but no verbal interaction. He stands there watching with his pale blue eyes, waiting for something to happen.
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A average sized humanoid paces the docks making sure there is not trouble. From under his cloak you would assume he is a human but as he approaches you notice a tail tucked under his cloak and small horns that appear to be grinded down coming out of his head and under his cloak. He has reddish skin, and is very possible the ugliest Tiefling you have ever laid eyes on.
I am Kados He says quickly then sits down scanning the area once more.
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Saying in his mind and writing in his small journal
"Did some research on my comrades had to make sure they were good, trustworthy. Slaine, a shifty and untrustimg character but trustworthy enough.Throck Boulderhead so called because he's as dumb as a rock. Frost Seeker a man wrapped in the frozen shroud of mystery. Dimble son of Groin, good soul, but tends to be late to the party. And Kados, Tiefling, I'd worked with him before, good fighter."
Taking in a deep breath he closes his journal and quickly steps outside the room and scans for his next Dwarven comrade.
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Well, finally found this blasted ship! Was worried I'd missed the party! Slaine, great to see you again...see you haven't lost that blunderbuss yet. Throck, also a relief to see your solid presence.
Turning around the room the short and slightly wiry looking dwarf takes in the rest of the crew assembled on the captains ship.
I was told to meet Valsin here. I assume the rest of you where told the same thing. Captain, you sure have a nack for gathering a motley crew around you. I'm Dimble for those I've not met yet. Glad to meet you all.
He tries to shake hands with the new members of the group but is not sure of the reception he'll get, so short of awkwardly shuffles around half air shaking his hand and bobbing his head.
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As Dimble arrives to complete the team, and as if on cue a tall and meticulously groomed man pushes his way through the crowd and up the gangplank, cursing audibly.
“Whoever supervises this mess of a port needs to be dumped in the sea!” he grumbles.
The tall man looks around at those gathered before him. “Just the group I requested. Perfect. I’m Venture-Captain Ambrus Valsin, and I took great care in selecting just the right Pathfinders for this assignment.”
Valsin reaches into his belt pouch and withdraws a small, folded paper before continuing. “A few days ago, I received a curious note from a rather unexpected source. It’s not every day that I get a request from an agent of the Aspis Consortium.”
Captain Zendrani’s eyes widen, and Valsin smiles knowingly. “But Magali Delroya does not appear to be your typical Aspis agent. As you surely know, the Aspis Consortium pursues a variety of activities across the Inner Sea that the Pathfinder Society finds abhorrent. It seems that Delroya has been working with them for some time, but can no longer stomach the snakes herself. She wants to stop a shipment of an experimental drug from leaving Diobel later this week. It’s bound for a number of locations across the Inner Sea region. According to Delroya, she can’t ask the local authorities for help, because the Aspis Consortium has already struck a deal with a faction of the Kortos Consortium, a powerful merchant collective. Her hands are tied, so she’s come to us for help.
In this note, she outlines three different tasks that would help to disrupt the Aspis long enough for her to move the shipment to a secure location, out of the clutches of the consortium. Once you accomplish two of these tasks, she’s willing to meet with you, but not before."
Valsin gives a knowing glance to your skeptical looks. “Normally, I wouldn’t trust an Aspis agent at any hour of the day. But our sources in Diobel have confirmed the Aspis and Kortos consortia’s activities. Everything checks out, so we are presented with a unique opportunity. If we help Delroya, we might not only strike a financial blow against the Aspis Consortium, but we could also reveal their dealings with the Kortos Consortium—and possibly prevent their arrangement from turning into a more formal alliance."
He clears his throat, "Furthermore, we hope to stop this drug from spreading across the Inner Sea region, and if we—if all of you—do a good enough job, we might even convince Delroya to join the Society. A turncoat agent would be a valuable asset in our ongoing run-ins with the Aspis Consortium."
“Take some time to look over Delroya’s note and the tasks she has set for you. If you have any questions, now is the time to ask. Remember, the Aspis Consortium is a long-time enemy of the society, but the Kortos Consortium, while certainly suspicious, is not our enemy. It is a complex organization with many factions, and we should avoid antagonizing any of them, except when necessary to oppose the Aspis Consortium.”
And with that he hands you the letters to read:
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Seeing Throck and Dimble come in the room, Slaine's dour face brightens considerably! With enthusiasm that is almost shocking given his previous suspicious demeanor, he leaps to his feet and claps the iron clad dwarf warmly on the back.
"Well met Throck! If I had known ye'd be one o' our lot here for this 'venture, I'd have been havin' a brighter start ter my day! Glad to have you and a mighty fine speech ye gave there!"
When Dimble enters, Slaine gives a similar warm greeting and his overall mood is much lighter for the remainder of the meeting. Before Dimble can make his way around the room to shake his hand, Slaine strides up to him and pumps his arm warmly.
"Well met and well met, sir dwarf. Ye be a sight fer me sore eyes. This motley crew'd be welcome to have yer fightin' skills."
Slaine swings his gaze to Faceshifter, Frost Seeker and Kados (before Valsin boards) and nods and gives them a confident smile. This day be ternin' out better than be expect'n. The three 'o ye look to be solid and sure and with these two dwarves, we look to be ready ter deal out some justice. Abadar be praised!" Slaine's smile melts to a frown when he hears the voice of Valsin on the docks.
After reading the letters that Valsin presented, Slaine grunts and assent in the general direction of Valsin before turning to the rest of the party.
"Agree wit Kados and the Faceshifter. Laszo appears to be a varmint that deserves a sweet taste of justice," He sneers as he pats his musket before turning to Kados and Faceshifter. "And you fellers seem ter be jus' the type 'o creepers to get us on a ship without no hassle." He finishes with a smile at the three new allies that he expects to become friends very soon.
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When the tiefling and dwarf arrive Frost Seeker hopes this is the last of everyone, if there were any more he thought he would lose control and freeze his hand solid again. Seeing that people might know his name or at least his sobriquet was unsettling. His society did not give names to the outside world unless the snowcaster knew the others first. He will have to talk with the venture captain later about this, and not knowing anyone he would venture with accept for Dimble which was he thought the kindest person there.
After the venture captains speech Frost Seeker was overwhelmed with the information. He was already going to fight aginst the Aspis which meant this was important.
Once done quickly reading the note Frost Seeker in a soft elven voice says
"I agree with this plan.' and hands it off to whoever wants to read.
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Throck watched the rest of the party file in and continued to 'clean' his shield. When the rogue, still unnoticed by Throck, addresses the party, Throck nearly throws his shield across the cabin in surprise. After recovering from shock and giving the creepy man the stink eye, Throck follows Slain as he moves over to Dimble. As Valsin enters, Throck listens, quiet as a rock.
After the flurry of more than one syllable words, Throck is mentally blown away. While the blue cloaked elf was overwhelmed with information, Throck was completely oblivious to it. Throck leans over to Slain and asks in a deep voice What he say?
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With the look of you two, nodding to Faceshifter and Kados, it looks like we could pretty easily get on board a ship. The question is the timing. Normally if a ship is just coming into port, the night they arrive might be the best as many of the crew are off visiting local watering holes. It might be quietest then? Captain Valsin, would the ship be arriving the day before Oathday? A night mission to liberate those documents and then a morning jaunt to the sewers to gather a few things from the leper? Maybe he and his crew will be sleeping off their previous nights experiments? It doesn't sound like we have a set time to deal with the leper but we wouldn't want to tip our hand too early if things go south in the sewers and he comes floating out for all the world to see...
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Valsin speaks up in response to Dimble, glances to the ship's captain for agreement.
If the Sixwing Drake makes way in the next couple of hours, you should arrive in Diobel by early morning on Oathday.
Captain Zendrani nods agreement. Valsin continues,
By the time you arrive in Diobel, you will only have that day to complete the tasks. So you would need to complete both of them before Fireday dawns for sure. If you wait till after dusk on Oathday, you'll have a busy night ahead of you. But still your plan seems sensible, just make sure you give yourself the time you need.
Any other questions?
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"What's the story of this Laszo feller?" Slaine growls at Valsin. "Any clue's in them papers of yer's ter tell us what sorts of trouble we migh' be findin' ourselves in? I ain't got time for no law breakin' alchemist that takes advantage of the weak fer material gains. Also, any information on Diobel and that Blue Dragon's Bite that we be known' abou'?
Slaine thinks hitting the sewers first (in daylight), then going after the ship (Blue Dragon's Bite) in the dark would be best given that Valsin has only given us one day to accomplish this. But, he'll concede to the group's ideas.
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Valsin responds regarding Laszo, "Don't know much, sounds like he works in the shadows. A couple of contacts of mine confirmed his existence and word is he isn't a very nice person, but that doesn't really offer any more detail than the letter."
“So you’ve never been down the coast, hmm? Diobel is often called the ‘Doorway to Absalom.’ Shipments to and from Absalom often go through Diobel, which has lower taxes than Absalom. Trade with Diobel is an important part of Absalom’s economy—which is why we must tread lightly around the Kortos Consortium, given their influence in Diobel.”
As for the Blue Dragon's Bite, it is an Aspis-owned ship, sounds like they haul legitimate trade goods with it too, probably to avoid suspicion.
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Well we best get a move so we have as much time a possible. I would hate for a job to go unfinished.
He pauses for a moment then says To Diobel then into the sewers to take care of a rat!
Kados then exits the room then gets to work silently preparing the ship to set sail hoping to give the group a head start on the quest.
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Valsin bids you farewell and very soon the Sixwing Drake is on its way along the coast of the Isle of Kortos. Captain Zendrani is impressed by Kados' sailing skills and welcomes an extra hand on deck.
As you go you have time to reflect on what you know about the Kortos Consortium, a major player in Diobel commerce.
The Kortos Consortium claims to be a legitimate merchant guild dedicated to stamping out smugglers, but it participates in its fair share of illegal activities. It is powerful enough to rival Diobel’s teriarch, or governor, Lord Avid. A fair number of prominent people in Diobel are in the Kortos Consortium’s pockets, or are prominent members of the guild themselves.
There is no formal alliance between the Kortos Consortium and Aspis Consortium, and the two groups are likely working together in a limited capacity—at least for the time being.
Although the Aspis Consortium seems to have an agreement with part of the Kortos Consortium, neither group is centralized enough for such an arrangement to be very stable. Causing a major disruption in their operation would very likely sever ties between the two groups.
House Locosta, the faction allied with the Aspis Consortium, claims that its major interest is in Qadiran spices, but the family derives most of its profit from buying and selling Qadiran slaves.
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It's sunrise on Oathday. Captain Zendrani and the crew of the sleek Sixwing Drake steer the ship up to the massive barrier of broken war-barges, crumbling walls, and jetties of iron and wood that protect the port of Diobel.
“Well, here we are,” says the captain. “I’ll make sure everything is in order with Diobel’s inspectors and charter you a barge to the port. You aren’t carrying anything particularly valuable, so you shouldn’t draw much attention from the inspectors or pilots, so long as you don’t run your mouth. My crew and I will wait here with the ship. You can return here to rest, if you need to, but remember—there isn’t much time!”
Zendarani and one of the crew members get in a dingy and head to shore, returning fairly quickly. "It's all arranged."
Shortly thereafter a barge approaches, the captain is a stocky middle-aged man with weather-beaten skin and calloused hands. "I be Markus Karbie, I hear yeh need taken to the docks?"
Captain Zendrani tosses the barge captain a small pouch. "This lot here." She motions to you, "Do me a favor of sticking around the docks for the day in case they need to return to the ship."
Karbie opens the pouch smiles and says, "Pleasure doing business with ya."
You board the barge and are soon at the docks.
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I'm not wild about meeting in the overflowing oyster but it is a bar and option one was to disrupt a meeting between two groups. We could look for info on where to find Laszo by asking about trying to move larger quantities of whip. Could ask that I suppose on the streets or at least about whip and who sells it. Work our way up the chain so to speak. Not exactly sure we have silver tongued foxes with us so initially dealing with the drug peddler and stealing the info from the boat seemed to make the most sense.
Comes down to if their is a best place to look for info.
Turning to Karbie I ask, So, if a guy is new to town and wants to get a little funky, where would one go? Good bars you can think of, or maybe someplace a guy could get something to take the cares of the world away for a while?
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Karbie doesn't seem the type to offer a lot of information and you can tell he doesn't appreciate the strong way Dimble talks to him.
I ain't being paid to make conversation.
However he is clearly intimidated by Dimble and offers the following.
I dunno about funky, but the docks are full of watering holes and I see plenty a fool stammering around like idiots. One's as good as another I reckon.
Dimble thinks about the instruction letter from Delroya and recalls it said that Laszo operates out of Diobel’s sewers beneath Rat Street. It's easy enough for Dimble to find and he leads the group there.
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Delroya’s directions lead to an isolated alley in the Bristles, and then down into the sewers beneath Diobel. The stench of sewage mixes with the sharper odors of chemical fumes and decay and permeates the damp tunnels. From this intersection, tunnels lead west and south into the darkness. A third tunnel heading east is filled with detritus, filthy beddings, food scraps, broken glass, and rotting furniture. An alcove lies beyond a collapsed portion of the tunnel’s southern wall, and further east, a statue of a giant rat rests in the dead-end passage. Countless empty flasks and discarded alchemical ingredients lie on the floor around the statue. On a nearby workbench sit several organized but empty flasks and jars.
Four dirty, malnourished, and apparently mostly incoherent people lay on the filthy bedding.
The statue of a rat depicts Hanspur, a lesser-known deity of waterways and smugglers.
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Giant rat statue? Slaine mutters to no one in particular. This some law-breakin' sacrifice table? I don' like it 'tall. You.." Stabs a finger at the frosty elf and realizes that the elf's never said his name. Gimme some ligh' over yonder while I suss abou'.
Slaine has his musket loaded and at the ready. Knowing nothing of religion, he does take a good look around: mainly at the bench and the haggard people.
- to better understand the condition of the people in the beds.
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Shall we approach those lurking in the sewers? Maybe we could ask them about Lazco?
Dimble will walk to the east approaching the women on the north side of the tunnel. If possible I'll ask her about whip and if she knows who makes it. Looking for the good stuff right from the source.
Have you heard of some guy named Lackey? I hear he makes the best stuff to help you loose your fears....Know where I can find him?
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The center section is full of sewer sludge and drops down at the center.
Faceshifter and Kados move to the other side, both duck into the shadows and are hard for you all to see. The rogues both look for traps and don't find any.
The light is dim down here everyone can see pretty well, except Slaine who struggles with the darkness. Frost Seeker casts light on Throck's shield, who blinks absentmindedly and doesn't seem to notice. The four people don't even seem to respond to the sudden light. Kados thinks they look pretty out of it.
Seeing thing better Slaine gets a better look at the place and notices something moving in the sewer pipe near the statue.
Dimble moves forward talking to the a skinny, dirty looking woman to the north. She notices Dimble and looks up with a blank stare, she feebly reaches out her shaking hand.
Blap..sudn iy She mutters.
Slaine urges closer behind Dimble and accesses the woman's health, she does not look good at all.