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Darkness fills the warehouse, any 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 Perched in the middle of the hole, teetering on split planks, sits a large crate which Kishara notes is stamped with three crows arranged in a triangle thanks to the light being held by Yhen, handholds cut into the stout wooden crate ring the rim. Initial investigations of the worrying coffins revealed them to be in an unused and unoccupied state, Grimaldus not needing to cleave any denizens with his blade.
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. A crane, used for loading and unloading boats, clings to a rail running the length of the warehouse, hanging five feet below the high ceiling, and can slide out to extend past the loading doors along the west wall.
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Grimaldus eyes the loading crane, assessing if the party can access and/or use it to move the desired crate away from the hole in the deck. He also looks at the crate and the planks upon which it rests to assess his chances of reaching the crate and pulling it back manually without ending up on the bottom of the bay with the crate...but he doesn't actually step out on the planks!
"Anyone know how to sail that boat outside? Just in case the crate decides to go swimming?
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Kishara eyes the crate and it's precarious perch with sudden anxiety. "Isn't that convenient... Do you suppose it's like that so it can be easily taken by boat below?" She kneels down and pulls a few items from her pack. 50' of twine, a fishing hook, a grappling arrow, and a magnet. She then looks carefully around the room for any loose planks or boards they might be able to use to slide under the crate and reinforce it.
Perception
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Kishara starts unpacking some items, and calculating her plan.
Yhen talks through her plan involving the crate, though no one is certain how heavy it might be, but is confident a small rowboat on still waters shouldn't be too hard to manage.
Mandrak follows the conversation between the women with interest.
Grimaldus looks at the crane closely, draws upon his Engineering lessons and all that time he felt wasted on Sieges and their engines of war, and establishes that he could probably get it to work, but it would require someone strong to hold the crate in place if they wanted to control it safely, after all, if it went down heavily who knows how hard it might hit the boat below.
Just as he is about to get to work, the warehouse becomes abuzz with activity as you are joined by a few tenants unhappy at the party poking about near the hole. This consists of three oversized rats, bigger than alley cats, coming right after some fresh food... you.
Aegon
Grimaldus
Kishara
Mandrak
Tikrit
Yhen
RATS!
Initiative Order:
Grimaldus
Yhen
Rats
Mandrak
Aegon
Kish
Tikrit
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Grimaldus wades forward calling on the will of his liege whilst his blade swings like a scythe, slamming it through the rat which is thrown violently aside into the crates, clearly deceased.
Yhen channels her powers at its fellow...
Will save -
...and smiles as she feels her magic take a hold in the rodents will.
The rats scurry to converge on Grimaldus, attacking him with their nasty yellow teeth.
Attack
Damage
Attack
Damage
Whilst one finds the attempt futile, the other manages to draw blood, albeit only really a scratch.
Rat at J10 is Cursed (Lowered AC)
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Hearing sounds of combat coming from inside, I'll head in and chuck a starknife at the rat that seems to be most injured.
Attack Roll:
Damage:
"Grimaldus, we are supposed to be avoiding notice. Much as I respect your enthusiasm please try to contain yourself until we find a mission more worthy of your skill, I would hate for a guard to come upon us and for us to have to abandon our mission."
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After the rats complete their initial assault, Mandrak hustles forward and launches his attack at the cursed rat, which he only just managed to tag with a brutal strike, killing it instantly.
Aegon steps in the door, issuing his warning, a starknife flashes from his hand but misses the rat to Grimaldus' front.
Kish just admires the brutality of the clash, whilst Yhen implores the need to preserve some of the rats for a meal.
Init...
R1
Tikrit
R2
Grimaldus
Yhen
Rats
Mandrak
Aegon
Kish
Tikrit
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Tik runs forwards, Grimaldus swings wide, Yhen throws a curse at the rat and smiles as she feels its will succumb to her magic.
The rat attacks Grimaldus but only manages a mouthful of mail, whilst Mandrak swings for the creature...but his caution in avoiding him hitting his friend means he cant place an effective shot.
From out of the darkness, a starknife flashes, impacting with the rat and opening a significant wound, but the fight goes on.
Kishara will draw her rapier and step forward and stab at that rat.
Attack
Damage
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Grimaldus will clean his blade on some scraps of cloth in the warehouse, secure the greatsword on his back, and goes back to the crane. "If I can just get this to work, we can relocate the crate to someplace more secure..." he mumbles. "Aegon, do you have any experience with these contraptions? Perhaps together we can make it work to our advantage."
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Grimaldus is confident he could get the crane operational, just the risk is the crate falling prematurely and the weakness of the wood around it, meaning he could possibly move someone over the crate who could either hold it whilst it was lowered, or using some sort of tether...
Kishara and Aegon look outside, and there is no evidence their activities have drawn any attention, other than from seagulls who seem to feel their arrival signals some sort of meal to be had.
Looking at the nets outside, they mostly consist of fishing nets in poor repair and it is unknown how well they'd catch the crate if it is heavy, but the rowboat could certainly be used to help get under the hole and rig them up, or indeed catch the box...maybe.
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Grimaldus blushes and busies himself with the crane...but can't help stealing glances at the two women...and blushing harder...
"Umm. So...my thought is to have two of you work this crane mechanism, while I hold the crate in place. Perhaps Tikrit or Mandrak or Kishara could get the rope secured from the crane to the crate. Then we lift it up and move it away from the hole with the crane. Maybe we can swim later..."
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Grimaldus prepares himself to be lifted by the crane, ready to grab a hold of the crate and lift it away from the rather dubious looking hole, meanwhile Kishara quickly gets to work with boats and nets below in case the whole thing goes awry. Tikrit stands ready to jump in the water should need be.
Mandrak and Yhen manipulate the man-crane over the box, and after some too-ing and fro-ing, Grimaldus manages to get a firm grasp and pull it from the hole, which manages to start disintegrating pretty rapidly now it has been disturbed.
Winching the man crane back to safety, the party now has the opportunity to examine the object; Cracking open the weighty crate reveals a bit of a surprise haul, 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.
You now stand with your job done, ready to return to Gauril, or are you?
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"What about these ordinary books and manifests are so important to that shifty character? There must be more to them than meets the eye. Especially if he has overlooked the rest of the items in this crate. Are they magical, perhaps? Or coded in some way? We definitely need to report with these back to the Society to ensure leadership knows and approves of our next steps."
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Despite their suspicions, neither Grimaldus nor Aegon can find any heresy within the tomes on first reading. Aegon detects no evil or devilry hidden amongst the pages. Yhen likewise detects no magic, nor notes any mystical scribings, and in her professional opinion there is nothing magical or mystical about any of them.
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Sleight of hand -
Stealth -
"If you're satisfied that there is nothing untoward in Karelas package, I would like to return it to him now. Valsin told us to follow his orders the same as we would his own. You disrespected the man in his shop and now you want to further offend a friend of the society by running with his much needed goods back to Valsin and question his orders. We are already behind schedule, I don't think you will receive the pat on the head you are expecting, no?" she is pacing with her arms crossed in front of her and tapping her fingers on her forearms.
Perception - (watching for patrols approaching)