A large warehouse looms into view at the end of Gull Street. Its main level sits at the edge of the street above a ten-foot drop to the harbor’s waters below. A door in the western wall of the warehouse opens, and a woman clad in simple leather armor steps out. Her features display a blend of Taldan and Mwangi heritages, and her crisp accent is difficult to place. “I am Magali Delroya . You must come quickly, Pathfinders. We do not wish to be seen.” Delroya moves briskly, waving off protests or interruptions, and speaks with the rhythm of her steps. “Questions later. Much is at stake. First you must listen.” Her outward display of authority does not entirely mask her fear.
The small room through the warehouse’s western door features a round table and several chairs. “This room is for the guards. They are all too busy dealing with our disruptions, so no one is here for now. That door leads to the docks below,” she says, indicating a door in the southern wall. “Come this way. I will show you the warehouse.” She opens a door in the northern wall, revealing a cavernous storage room. Haphazard stacks of barrels and crates almost reach the ceiling twenty feet above. Two large skylights in the ceiling provide ample light during the day, and a dozen unlit lanterns are spaced around the room. To the east, a wide opening in the southern wall looks out over the loading bay ten feet below. A freight elevator platform rigged to a complex set of pulleys and ropes and a staircase both lead down to the loading bay.
[b]“As you can see, the Aspis Consortium maintains a sizable operation out of this warehouse, which they rent from the Kortos Consortium’s Locosta family in exchange for alchemical goods. After tonight, I hope that the relationship between Aspis and Kortos will be irreparably damaged.
“We may have delayed the shipment, but my sources tell me that both the Kortos and Aspis consortia are likely to investigate the warehouse later tonight. I had hoped for more time, but I will not able to move the goods until after midnight. I need your help in holding off the agents until everything is in order. They are not likely to work together, so you should prepare for multiple groups of agents. While I have no qualms about fighting the Aspis agents, if possible we should avoid further antagonizing the Kortos Consortium. Their agents may be willing to look the other way.
“Because the agents are on high alert, you should stay at the warehouse until they arrive. We wouldn’t want anyone spotted or attacked out in the city before we’re ready. That gives you several hours to prepare. Most of the items in the warehouse are simple trade goods designed to make this outfit look legitimate. You may want to take some time to look around, though—you never know what the Aspis Consortium might have stowed away here.
"I can stay here briefly, if you have questions or need assistance.”
"Lya, is it? Yes, I would start by talking to them, They'll likely be in uniform, unlike what the Aspis agents will be in, as they would be making a legal inspection of their warehouse. Treat them as such."
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Kiv keeps her back to the wall and her eye on the door, ignoring the contents of the crates. She cocks her head, as if to hear better.
Do the Lacosta have a sigil or symbol that would be on the uniforms?
She waits for the answer, then raises her eyebrow as she asks her follow up question:
How rough may we be with the Aspis agents?
"Ancel, the warehouse and many of the goods inside it belong to the Kortos Consortium, not the Aspis Consortium. We do not want to make them our enemies, if possible. As for the drugs, they are mixed in with a large number of goods that belong to the Kortos Consortium. It would take days to sort through all these crates — something I intend to do later, once they’re moved to a secure location. But there’s no time now. As for destroying the shipment, that’s out of the question. The drug is far too unpredictable. There’s no telling what effect it might have if we burn it or dump it in the harbor. No, we must deal with it later, in a way that puts no one in harm’s way.” she replies.
She describes the typical insignia that the Lacosta Kortos would be wearing. "Prizm, I don't know what the teams memberships are made up of, but expect that they will be well balanced teams. Both organizations value diversity, much like your Pathfinder Society, so I would expect to see a combination of melee combat personnel, support casters, and probably healers."
She looks around the warehouse, and says, "Since I got here a little before you, I was able to find some things, which might be of use to you." She hands Lya six smokesticks. "Also, I found a couple of secret doors in the warehouse that may be important for you to have located."
"Just to let you all know, expect that the agents from either team will have keys for the doors. I had to pick the locks to get in, so they are all open. You can, for sure, lock them again, but I wouldn't expect that it will help all that much.
"You are also welcome to move around the heavy crates. They might be a bit tough to move, which is the point if you are using them as obstacles, but they might help. I'd expect that you have between about six hours to prepare, from my intel, but it might be less, it might be more."
six smokesticks
Location 1: : Carpentry supplies and MW artisan's tools
Location 3: Wand of CMW w/ 5 charges
Location 4: A potion of Invisibility
Location 5: Bucket of Grease
Location 6: Stoppered glass of spiders
"Oh, and Kiv, the Aspis Consortium has been performing a variety of criminal acts in Diobel. It is the drug trade that they are messing around in that has caused me to break with them. Do as your Venture-Captain Ambrus Valsin would have them do... I am sure he'd want them to pay appropriately for their crimes."
As the group finishes their questions, she starts to leave, but seems to remember something. "“By now you should know that the Aspis Consortium is breaking Diobel’s laws. What we’re doing here is not exactly legal, either, in the views of the Kortos Consortium. I am hoping that we can get through this without drawing their ire, but as a last resort, you can use this document. It should eliminate any questions as to the legality of your actions. If you can avoid having to use it, I would be grateful, but do not hesitate to present it if necessary.” She presets a writ from Lord Avid to you all, and then leaves.
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I will follow Society guidelines then.She nods a goodbye to Magali, then turns to Lya.
Sometimes, talking is not the best course of action. We let these ones go, we will just confront them again later. Better to cut the head off the snake, that's the way I see it.
She scans the doors, including the hidden ones.
Want to start blocking these off? I can try to jam the locks but make it look innocent, like keys broken off or something.
The team searches the warehouse quickly, and finds the following.
Location 1: Carpentry supplies and MW artisan's tools
Location 2: A vicious looking caged dog
Location 3: A wand of CMW w/ 5 charges
Location 4: A potion of Invisibility
Location 5: A Bucket of Grease, which if you spend enough time you can unstick the freight elevator platform, allowing it to be raised or loweed with a standard action by one PC.
Location 6: Stoppered glass of spiders (which, if broken or unstoppered, will cause a spider swarm to emerge)
You have time to prepare.
You can move crates around, which will take time, as they are very heavy. It seems like it will take 5 minutes to move a 5' stack of crates 5', or a greoup can move it 10' in the same time. This will require a STR check. Knocking a crate over would require a full round action and a strength check.
If you are moving crates, place a box where the crate will be, with an arrow showing where it is coming from. Make the appropriate STR checks, and we'll see how long it takes to move.
The platform will take 2 man-hours to properly grease.
Using the dog will take some time and a handle animal check. kn:nature to know more about the dog.
Lya thinks that it is just a poorly trained guard dog, that someone could quickly train to be of use. She guesses that about three hours of work would do the trick.
Prizm and Kiv start working on jamming the locks.
What is everyone doing Hour 1?
Kiv/Prizm => Jamming locks.
Lya:
Zavra:
Ancel:
Okzat:
Kiv/Prizm => Jamming locks.
Lya: Greasing elevator
Zavra:
Ancel:
Okzat:
Kiv/Prizm => Jamming locks.
Lya: Greasing elevator
Zavra:
Ancel: Working on a makeshift pulley system? Is that anything like a block and tackle :P
Okzat:
Kiv/Prizm => Jamming locks.
Lya: Greasing elevator
Zavra: Working on block and tackle
Ancel: Working on block and tackle
Okzat: Dog training
Kiv & Prizm, please make disable device checks on each door (on each, you won't really know if it works perfectly or not)
Note who is making the roll. All doors are now labeled on the map:
A:
B:
C:
D:
E:
F:
G:
H:
S1:
S2:
Ancel and Zavra, I will need a knowledge: Engineering check... need to know who is primary, and who is assisting. It will take some time to locate and assemble all the stuff you will need.
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Prizm beams a huge smile up at Kiv and exclaims "Lets go nail some doors shut! Lets see those sneaky rogue types try to pick the lock on a nailed door!"
Suddenly the gnome realizes that he is talking to a "sneaky rogue type" and blushes.
Hefting the hammer over his shoulder he hums a little tune as he follow Kiv around the warehouse from door to door.
A: Unlocked
B: Unlocked
C: Unlocked
D: Unlocked
E:
F:
G:
H:
S1:
S2: Unlocked
Ancel and Zavra are able to rig up a block-and-tackle setup so that they can more easily move crates.
Hour 2:
Kiv:
Prizm:
Lya: Greasing elevator (one hour)
Zavra:
Ancel:
Okzat: Dog training (two hours)
Ancel determines that the complex system of pulleys and ropes that are used to lift or lower the freight elevator may not hold up well to their manipulation. If they use it for the motive power they are likely to screw up the mechanism, if not outright wreck it due to it being quite poorly maintained. Additionally, it only has a 10' drop, so would be incredibly difficult to use to move things very far.
While the rest of the team struggle mightily with the crates, Lya greases the lift, and Okzat works with the dog. The dog doesn't seem very amenable to training, but he persists. When done, Lya goes over and helps with training the dog. The two realize that the dog is starving, so give him some food, which helps to calm him down.
While at first, it seems like the dog is not taking to Okzat, in the
end, his training is successful.
Fighting Dog
N Medium animal
Init +2; Senses low-light vision, scent; Perception +8
DEFENSEAC 14, touch 12, flat-footed 12 (+2 Dex, +2 natural)
hp 13 (2d8+4)
Fort +5, Ref +5, Will +1;
OFFENSESpeed 50 ft.
Melee bite +2 (1d6+1 plus trip)
Space 5 ft.Reach 5 ft.
STATISTICSStr 13, Dex 15, Con 15, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 6;
Base Atk 1; CMB 2; CMD 14 (18 vs. trip)
Feats Skill Focus (Perception)
Skills Perception +8, Stealth +6, Survival +1 (+5 scent tracking);
Racial Modifiers +4 Survival when tracking by scent
With the time allotted, you are able to barricade the doors, with everyone helping Okzat move the crates around. It has been about six hours, and you think that by now you should be seeing someone soon.
It is about this time, that Bert starts to get excited...
Lya, Okzat, and Zavra notice a trap door in the floor near S2.
The break room door opens, and Ancel sees three folks in uniforms, of sorts. One is wearing what looks to be very loose clothing, who has stepped into the room. The next, is a cute blonde woman in a short skirt and top, while the third is a dour looking older man with pale skin, and what you assume to be a holy symbol upon his chest.
"Hey, what are you doing here?" challenges the first man in.
At almost the same time, you hear from the lower warehouse doors, "Hey! Someone's barricaded the lower doors!"
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Ancel kicks his feet up onto the table, leans back in the chair, and generally keeps his hands free for all to see.
"Mes Amis, please do not be alarmed, we are here to help you. Please, take a seat, and I shall explain to you what is afoot!"
"You have been betrayed by the very lucrative business deal you have crafted with the Aspis Consortium... Oh, and I do assume you are of the Kortos Consortium? No?"
Ancel waits briefly for an answer before holding his hand parallel to the ground and tilting it back and forth, "Perhaps not in the way you might usually think of a business deal going sour. Not your traditional betrayal of one taking all the money and running. No, using your methods of storage and dispersal to trade in a very dangerous drug, one which will cause much harm to many. And should it be discovered that the Kortos Consortium is involved could cause irreparable harm to your bottom line."
Ancel again gestures at the chairs.
"Please, sit, we will talk of that which I am explaining this very second... and of how we are currently in the process of helping you."