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Mira stays at the entrance, picking wood out of her hair with her right hand, pointing her crossbow loosly in direction of the smashed door with her left.
Not to self: Never get between those two and a closed door. They seem to throughly hate them.
Very nicely done, you oh so very strong and powerful paragons of men! I´m deeply impressed by your physical might! Now, if you could not get yourself killed by running in an ambush, that would be so nice of you! Wasting such fine flesh as yours would truly be a shame!
For ease of play i assume you all enter the warehouse and you have to go round the corner to see everything.
Darkness fills the warehouse, the ambient light from outside blocked by a filthy, oily film on the structure’s few windows. Darting illumination comes from light reflecting off the water through a splintered hole in the floor. Throughout the warehouse, crates, boxes, and barrels lean against each other in vaguely sorted stacks. A lingering smell indicates some of the contents are certainly spoiled.
Perched in the middle of the hole, teetering on split planks, sits a large crate stamped with three crows arranged in a triangle—the very crate you have come to find. Handholds cut into the stout wooden crate ring the rim. Other barrels, boxes, and crates sit stacked along the walls of the warehouse. Just inside the door sits a handful of crates and kegs of beer. Most of these smaller crates and barrels contain foodstuffs in various states of freshness. Some crates reek of rot. Stacks of simple coffins sit against the east wall. The rest of the
crates stacked along the north and south walls contain simple sundries including, but not limited to beer, blocks of clay, coffee, coils of rope, dried fish, lead ingots, nails, nets, raw cotton, rough wool, spare sails, timber planks, various pulleys and tools, and cheap weapons.
A crane, used for loading and unloading boats, clings to a rail running the length of the warehouse, hanging 5 feet below the high ceiling, and can slide out to extend past the loading doors along the west wall.
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Standing near the entrance, having a wall at her back, Mira scans every corner of the warehouse, intensely looking for any danger, while see wrinkles her nose, seemingly displeased with the different smells.
Looking very tense and concentrated, her usually long strechted speech shortens to a short
Anybody sees something?
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Holding up her hand, Mira whispers:
Crate´s trapped. Move it, come near it, you´ll probably drop into the water, and get eaten by sharks. We need something the get it from a save distance!
Mira looks around, resting her gaze on the coils of rope and the crane.
The crane! We could use it and not get near the crate. Take the ropes, pull them over the crane and drag the crate from the dangerous area.
Dropping back in a slower, steadier and more musical voice, Mira looks at her companions, saying:
But I´m afraid my hands are too small to pull this very heavy and bulky chest away from there. If only I would be as strong as one of you three proud men, I would drag the crate all by myself. But oh well, that is not the case. But I could give you cover when you get it to safety. If anything threathens you, I will scream to warn you.
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"That sounds like a good idea my companions! Buliwyf and Karthacus can use their strength to pull the ropes. Miss Mira, I think you should throw the rope as you seem to be the most nimble of our pack. Me and Caradeum could look for any disturbances and hold ourselves at the ready should anything unexpected happen."
Laying out the timber planks you can secure the floor surrounding the hole enough that even heavyweights like Karthacus can walk there without sorrow of sliding or breaking through, which brings the crate within gripping distance.
There is nothing special about the crane. It would be fairly difficult to fish for the crate with just the crane, somehow the crate has to be fixed there. You could fix someone on the crane to get him near the crate, but you already secured the floor there, so you can now just walk up to the crate.
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Although it is now possible to walk to the crate, we should first see if it is still dangerous to move it anyway. Let us try to use the rope as I said.
Grabbing a rope, Mira makes a loop to create a lasso. She then tries to throw it around the crate.
Pah, thats SO easy, that crate is as large as a horse. Just hit it Mira, go!
Incrdibly Mira doesn´t hit the crate the first time, but after some tries she hits it. It then becomes clear to her, that if someone pulls that rope now, the crate will fall into the water. After all, it´s just a heavy crate sitting balanced on a fragile construction.
All the noise you made seems to have awakened some inhabitants of the warehouse.
Perception Check:
Caradeum is the only one who notices three big rats appearing out of between the debris.
Seemingly out of nowhere you are attacked by big shrieking rats, which target the ones who were loudest before.
plus disease DC 11
plus disease DC 11
plus disease DC 11
After Caradeum acted, initiative order is normal: Dire Rat 1, Dire Rat 2, Mira, Caradeum, Dire Rat 2, Karthacus, Buliwyf, Onvyr.
Surprise round is over, now normal combat begins. You may post out of initiative order, but your actions only take place in initiative time, so consider what others might do.
Everyone has:
-1 move and 1 attack, or
-2 moves, or
-you can take a defense action,
-you can run x* your speed depending on armor
also you can take a 5 foot step for free.
Buliwyf and Karthacus both bring the rats before them to explode in clouds of gore from their mighty swings, but Karthacus manages to even splash some parts up to the ceiling with the impact of his chain.
Mira unfortunately doesn´t hit, but Buliwyf decapitates the dire rat with his axe while Onvyr and Caradeum manage to guide the third dire rat to the afterlife with their staves.
Silence returns to the warehouse and you stand there covered with the remains of dire rats. Only the moises you make yourself, boots scraping on the wooden planks, the creacking of leather and your breath are audible after your first mutual victory on the battlefield.
Nothing but your reluctance holds you now from claiming the crate and it´s contents.
Straining his muscles and getting red under his slightly green skin in the face Karthacus lifts the barrel over his head and slowly moves with it deeper into the room, away from the hole, where he puts it safely to the ground.
The rescued crate holds a smaller mahogany box inside, which contains five books and a few loose sheets of paper in a leather folder. The titles and subjects seem completely unrelated to each other: Practical Thaumaturgy
In Accordance with Creation, Geographic Anomalies of the Inner Sea, Under Kaer Maga: A Trial and Travel, Physiology of Dragons: An Illustrated Reference, Lost Sarusan. The leather folder contains cargo manifestos, warehouse inventories, and other financial logs from a dozen different merchant houses and trade guilds.
The crate also contains 10 sets of masterwork thieves tools, three flasks of alchemist’s fire, a flask of acid, a dozen jars of various inks, a footprint book, adamantine weapon blanch, three bags of powder, a deck of marked cards, and two sets of average loaded dice.
As you walk out of the warehouse, nobody seems to care. The few fishermen are busy watching their fishing rods intently and the trip back to Karela is without incidents. With a lot moustache tilting and sneering, Guaril Karela is pleased to see you back with his belongings. He was worried you would perhaps drop them into the water and pays everyone 111gp for your good work. As promised he lets you keep the rest if you want and then with a final tilt of his moustache and a sneer shoes you out of his curio shop, suddenly seeming very busy.
You go on your way to the temple of the shining star in the Ascendant Court District. You have to pass through the Coins where if something can be bought, it’s for sale there. Money is the only authority here, and you get what you pay for. The Coins is the most crowded and noisy of all Absalom’s districts, and the shouting and haggling does not quiet much at night. Taverns never close, the open markets light up with torches and spells of illumination alike, and public Time Callers wander about shouting out every hour on the hour. Even when not in a store or the bazaar, a visitor can see buying and selling on every street corner and in every restaurant. It’s been joked that wives in the Coins bargain the price of their husbands’ dinners, and for at least some families it’s true.
After about an hour of walking through the wiggling district you finally arrive at the Ascendant Court district. The Ascendant Court is a large district in central Absalom, and acts as an intersection for more districts than any other section of the city. It is the hub at the center of the city’s great thoroughfares and the ultimate destination of the majority its visitors, making it one of the most traveled—and most crowded—areas. The vast preponderance of Absalom’s churches are to be found in the Ascendant Court, with the largest and most powerful located close to the center of the district. The Starstone itself rests in a massive cathedral perched atop a pillar of rock in the very center of the Court, and every major road in the Ascendant Court leads there.
Near the street circling the pit of the Starstone is the Temple of the Shining Star, the largest church of Sarenrae north of Katheer. Here Xerashir of House Shamyyid, Bey of Sarenrae, greets every morning by standing before the Mark (the largest sundial in the known world) and witnessing the f irst rays of the sun touching it. No one knows why this must be done, other than it was the command of the Dawnflower centuries ago, and not a day has passed that some priest of Sarenrae has not witnessed the event since that command. The temple is also the only church of the Dawnflower in Absalom, though many homes have small shrines to her. Those in the city who worship her travel here no less than once a month, but their primary way of honoring her is to carry her guidance with them in their everyday lives. The church itself constantly strives to promote honesty, redemption, and healing throughout the city, running several small pavilions where younger priests offer guidance and healing arts to all the people of the city without cost. Xerashir sees her calling as a secular one, and is very involved in the politics of the Ascendant Court and to a lesser extent the city as a whole. The temple is also a center of training for paladins of Sarenrae, especially those from Taldor. Many Taldan paladins travel to Absalom within the first few years of their calling and receive advanced training in scimitarcombat, healing arts, and enough Kelesh to read The Birth of Light and Truth in its native script. Those cadets who have not faced agents of Rovagug are also instructed in the ways of the Rough Beast’s harsh priests and how to look for signs of their hidden shrines.
You go on and enter the temple of the shining star, where you are immediately directed to Ollysta Zadrian. This paladin of Sarenrae is young in her years, but holds herself with the poise of a queen and warrior simultaneously. As she notices your arrival, she strides forward, addressing you in a strong voice.
Thank the light of Sarenrae you have arrived! 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?
Aunti Baldwin runs an orphanage and takes in children that got sick from the streets. While there is no explicit pandemia, the children easily get a cold or similar things and this helps to cure their ails.
After some hesitation Zadiran adds:
Many people try to take advantage of the silver crusade help. We need of course to make sure that doesn´t happen and our aid reaches the needy. I frankly don´t know wether that Auntie Baldwin is honest or not and how she is operating that orphanage. Children are among the most defenseless, that´s why i want you to deliver this medicine and take a look if everything is right there. I hope to receive your report before the evening.
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With big eyes and a friendly smile, Mira listens to what Ollysta Zadrian has to say.
My Lady, it will be our pleasure to bring your medicine to the poor. Gladly we will search for any clues this woman is the one she claims to be or if she is an evil hag looking only to better her own live and not those she apparently cares for.
If this witch takes the medicine for herself I´ll make her choke on it.
Where is or was this watcher you just talked about?
Do you want to make your way to Auntie Baldwin´s orphanage?