Headquarters would be at the end of your beat, but on the road there there's a guard station that gladly picks up your arrestee. As you turn the pickpocket over, she turns towards Barka. "Honest coin, huh? Maybe." She smirks.
---
The gang proceeds. Eventually, you all find yourself looking at the facade of what appears to be a hotel, but the name strikes you as somewhat familiar. It's the Dreaming Palace, the hotel run by Hindrid Pratchett, who you met at the bar just a day ago!
As you pass by, you see him rush towards you from the corner of the street. "Officers! What fortuitous timing! They were excavating this old cellar chamber nearby and they've awakened, well, the dead!"
"Hm, well, yes, seeing her in cuffs is a relief, I can tell you that. Well, then, keep up the good work, officers."
The victim walks off, reunited with his money.
The thief looks up and raises her eyebrows, but stays quiet for now.
Her victim, however, looks at Barka with a frown. "You capture a thief, then offer her a job?" He grabs his pouch from the floor. "What happened to prison? She committed a crime, officer."
The thief grits her teeth and sighs. "Alright, alright, ya got me."
Her victim runs up to you and grabs the bag she was holding. He takes a quick look. "Thank Abadar, it's all still there. I don't have much to begin with, you see." He gives you all a satisfied nod. "That's the fastest response time I've ever seen. You must be the new department's finest, huh?"
The vine careens right towards the woman's legs, and wraps around them, locking them completely together. She falls over and hits the pavement, dropping the pouch to the ground.
"Augh, godsdammit!"
The thief is currently immobile due to the critical success, but she can still try to get away if you guys don't restrain her.
After your breather, you continue on with your beat. Things remain quiet for a little bit; you pass by more stalls (that are decidedly not on fire) and eventually your patrol route takes you to the Silver Lawn. The Silver Lawn is a large stretch of flattened grassland that hosts most of the big foreign attractions, the ones too big to fit the other host of foreign visitors and curiosities, the Hall of Nations.
And indeed, these attractions are big. Some standouts include the Graveraker, a massive Arcadian excavation machine the size of a building, and the Dragonfly Pagoda, a beautiful Minkaian temple, built right on-site in Absalom... Though you notice the construction effort isn't quite done yet.
Not all attractions are even stationary. One of them has been walking a large circular path around the other fantastical structures. A crowd of fairgoers stands watching in awe as, just beyond a line of guard ropes, a stone castle—complete with battlements and domed towers—marches along a wide, elliptical stone track. Dozens of thick mechanical legs support its bulk, and nobles in fine dresses
and coats wave from atop its walls. This is the Walking Castle of Kelesh, and it's been garnering a lot of well-deserved attention.
Suddenly, a commotion erupts from the crowd. A woman races out holding a dagger and a belt pouch. Behind her, a red-faced man points and yells “Thief! Stop her!”
The woman smirks as she looks at her hapless victim behind her... but she seems to have completely missed the guards she's about to run into. That's you!
You can try to stop the girl with an Athletics or Acrobatics check.
Note, the link I added in last post doesn't seem to be working anymore, but the link pinned to the campaign at the top of the page labeled Character Art does. Can't edit it anymore :C
From now on, I'll be keeping a little file of images of characters as they appear. Here's the link, and I'll signal whenever something new is added to it. https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1tTtovZYTPkuyK0k2a2WVpA-Mg7ru-OEUPki lR1_p9UM/edit?usp=sharing
You make your way to the stage where Acting Primarch Wynsal Starborn is set to hold his speech. You look around a bit instinctively, but it's just as Ollo said: a great number of stoic-looking guards keep watch, making sure the crowd doesn't go out of control. You sit down in a quiet corner and have a quick breather, when eventually, the opening ceremony begins.
Wynsal Starborn walks on the stage, a somewhat aged but still very healthy looking man decked in ceremonial armor. The armor's probably still from his time as Siege Lord and captain of the city's First Guard. He'd retired, but remained politically active and somehow ended up as acting primarch when the current ruling primarch, lord Gyr of House Gixx, vanished a good four years ago.
"Greetings to all here! I reckon this is the largest crowd I'll ever see in my lifetime, filled not just with faces of Absalom's own, but with guests from around the world! I bid you all welcome this festival, this event that truly comes but once in a lifetime: The Radiant Festival!"
Cheers well up from the crowd as he calls the name.
"Now, I don't intend to keep any of you here for long. At a time like this, you all have better things to do than listen to the ramblings of an old man. Be that as it may, I'd like to say a few words about the significance of this festival. For it is my belief that this century's Radiant Festival is a symbol of the new era we have been slowly ushering in, after the tough times we've had since the last festival!"
Free Lore Recap:
The last festival was in 4520 AR, 200 years ago. Since then, times were often dark for Absalom indeed. Aroden, the ascended man-turned-patron-god of humankind and founder of the city of Absalom passed away when the time of his return to Golarion was nigh. Aroden's failure to return marked the start of the Age of Lost Omens we still find ourselves in today. The world, but especially Absalom, grieved, and out of that grief the decision was made not to hold the 4620 Radiant Festival. They had better things to worry about. In the following century, the world slowly adjusted to the new status quo, but about four years ago, disaster struck again twofold. Absalom's primarch, lord Gyr of House Gixx, mysteriously vanished, leaving Wynsal Starborn as acting primarch of the city. To make matters worse, Tar-Baphon, a former enemy of Aroden and an incredibly powerful lich, managed to break free from his imprisonment and gathered an army to attack Absalom. The city managed to fend off the siege, in part thanks to the sacrifice of a group of adventurers.
"Our misfortune has been great, but I am convinced that ever since we broke the Whispering Tyrant's siege, we've entered into a new age for Absalom. An age of peace and prosperity! And let this festival stand as testament to that! Let our city show the world that Absalom's greatness cannot be broken, and that our gates are open to all! I hereby declare a start to the 31st Radiant Festival!"
And just like that, the armored Wynsal steps off the stage as the crowd explodes in cheer. It doesn't take long for it to slowly start emptying out as the people head to the different attractions. Eventually, the stage area is mostly empty, leaving you alone with your thoughts, each other, and the rest of your job to do.
1: I feel with the play by post pace in general, as well as us still finding our pacing-footing, navigating bureaucracy in RP is probably not anyone's idea of a good time. You've been briefed and you'll meet with the person responsible at the end of the beat.
2: You're free to take a moment to check out the speech. I'll just make that its own separate post and then you can move on to continue with the beat. Will you all be headed there next, then?
Grunka initially scowls at Tima as she approaches her, but upon being given a silver piece, her face softens. She drops the ladle and lets out a sigh. "Just get me away from this guy," she says, pointing to Pelmo. She then looks at Urach. "You told me you could get that done."
She slowly starts picking up the pieces of her cart, ignoring Pelmo's jeering laughter. The crowd around them lets out a relieved sigh and starts dispersing.
The ladle proves no match against the half-orc's solid armor, but she jumps up and gets a lucky, albeit weak hit in against his cheek!
"Do you have ANY idea how expensive that stall is? It's going to take me years to pay off the reparations! Typical, make one little fire related mistake and immediately all of Absalom is ready to gang up on ol' Grunka to ruin her property and tell her it's her fault! Aaagh!!"
Perception DC 15 / Lore Carpentry or related DC 10:
"Fried... pickles... Fried pickles..." The goblin suddenly turns back to Pelmo. "I was selling fried pickles! I didn't need this witch for it!" He hisses.
Pelmo responds "Pickles are MY territory, Grunka! I'm not letting you muscle in on my turf, stealin' my customers! Serves you right to have your stall pushed over!" Pelmo gives Leonore a thumbs up.
Grunka follows Pelmo's eyes to Leonore, and suddenly realization begins to set in.
Without missing a beat, Leonore focuses on the most pressing issue: the fire. She casts a spell, and a large burst of water emerges from her palms, covering the whole Everything Fried stand. Slowly it leans back more and more, until finally, it tips over, falling onto the ground.
After that use of the spell, the entire fire is doused, but the area around the stall is a mess of cooking oil and utensils scattered all over the floor when the stall tipped over.
The goblin, still rolling up his sleeves, turns back to his stall in and stares at it in dumbfound silence, all while Pelmo lets out a shrill, sadistic laugh at her expense.
Barka, Tima and Urach are up! The hostility in the scene appears to have subsided for now, but it can easily flare up again considering the circumstances.
The food carts are actually pretty close by, but the way this patrol routed, you'd go through the entire district clockwise and end it near the carts. Of course, you could also choose to head counterclockwise from here and get there a lot faster, so you decide to do that. After the carts, you'll still need to finish the beat, however, which would be the long counterclockwise way around from the carts to Marin's workshop.
After a brief walk, you hit the location of the dispute. Smoke and profanities rise up from a cluster of food stalls near a small park overlooking Absalom Harbor. The commotion centers on two particularly decrepit booths positioned across from each other, each little more than piles of haphazardly nailed boards, their peripheries scorched and smoldering. Everything Fried and Pelmo's Pickle Hut is what they're called. Suddenly a clay pot flies across the intervening space, smashing against one of the scorched stalls and splattering flaming oil across several others. As much as Leonore has had enough of confrontation and anger, it seems the group has found it.
The two food stall owners appear to be goblins, their stalls placed right next to each other. They're hurling things at each other, both insults and assorted items from their stalls. All other stalls around them have been vacated and their owners are observing the fight from a distance, worry in their eyes. However, their worry likely isn't about the fight itself. The goblins don't seem to notice in their focused rage at each other, but the front part of Everything Fried has caught fire, and it's slowly spreading towards a set of barrels marked with an cooking oil drop symbol that Everything Fried's owner stores behind the stall!
A concerned onlooker chimes in. "Guards! Get this madness sorted, before the whole place blows up!"
No map for this one: The stalls (and the angry goblins) are each about 20ft away and the barrels are another 10 feet behind Everything's Fried. Initiative Barka:1d20 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 = 7 Tima:1d20 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6 Leonore:1d20 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6 Urach:1d20 + 3 ⇒ (11) + 3 = 14 Fighting Goblins:1d20 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 2 = 17
The goblins, seemingly unaware of anything happening around them, simply continue hurling insults at each other. Eventually, Pelmo (of Pelmo's Pickle Hut) says something like "If yer so tough, why don't you come here and duke it out!", only to be somewhat taken aback when his opponent rolls up her sleeves and actually starts marching towards him. This altercation is about to get physical.
Eunice is absolutely delighted to meet Blue, and slowly but surely, softens up, to the point that he follows Barka's instructions as well. You all leave the workshop, allowing Marin entry back in.
After a little bit of an exchange between the two, the conclusion of this tale appears to be a positive one: Eunice offers his apologies to Marin and requests you to investigate, or at least report, his master's disappearance. Marin says she doesn't wish to press charges, and is more than happy that the kid's ended this siege of her workshop. Upon asking about the link between her and Kemeneles, she (out of earshot from Eunice) tells you she mostly remembers him as a creepy guy that glared at her a bunch back when they were both at the Arcanamirium. "Had I known I had a 'rival' I would've at least put him in his place sometime."
Finally, Marin and Eunice agree that he'll clean up the mess he caused and pay back damages by doing some odd jobs for her. With that, this case has come to a close. Marin and Eunice thank you for your efforts, though before you leave, Marin gives a little glare at Tima, muttering that as a team, your conduct with civilians could do with some improvement.
Eunice's mouth opens with surprised delight. "A magic lizard? Can I see it? I'm sorry miss, I didn't know you were a fellow patron of the arcane arts!"
His animosity all but melts away and is replaced with admiration towards Leonore.
The boy relaxes just a little bit further. "... Eunice. It's Eunice. Apprentice to the great Kemeneles. We... got to Absalom two weeks ago, then split up to run errands, but he never came back." He looks somewhat downcast as he recalls that time. You imagine he must have been through a lot. Then, he perks up with the same serious look he's had so far.
"But we don't need reports or bureaucracy or anything! This is a matter between great mages, and I have the upper hand! If she wishes her workshop back and intact, tell Porphyry to release my master! And the name Peace Makers stinks!"
Tima tries to open the door, but it's clearly blocked by something hefty: she has no success to get it open even the slightest bit.
Leonore, on her end, notices the door to the workshop-room is open and leads into a hallway; it's the front door that Marin's been locked out of.
The kid calms down a little, but he's still uncomfortable. "Help? Yeah, right. I know what's gonna happen, you'll cuff me for breaking and entering, I bet. But know that my cause is right! My teacher, a great wizard, has been abducted by this fiend!"
With Urach giving the two a boost, Barka and Leonore eventually manage to clamber up through the broken window. Leonore manages to get through safely. For Barka, it's a bit more tricky, but Leonore can pull her up to make it through the final stretch.
The interior of the workshop is an absolute mess. On a good day, this likely looked like a professional workshop that has everything a person could need for enchanting or potion brewing. Several cauldrons of different sizes, with a very large one as the centerpiece of the room. Tool shelves and bookshelves filled to the brim with arcane instruments you can't even begin to fathom what they'd do.
But this isn't a good day. The books and tools are all over the room, along with torn pages and liquids that you imagine were once potions in mid-brew, judging by the overturned cauldrons.
Only one cauldron remains upright, the big one, but not due to lack of trying. The alleged kid is trying with all his might to tip it over, but is having some hefty trouble, what with it being filled to the brim with some sort of brew.
The kid's a scrappy looking sort, with curly blonde hair and pretty nice (albeit dirty) robes. He can't be much older than 13, if even that much. When he sees you, he backs off and says, "S-stand back! I'm on a mission for justice! Porphyry is a villain and I won't stop until she releases Master Kemeneles!"
"Yes, just this chi-" Marin starts, then she frustratedly snaps to Tima once she had her say.
"Well if you CAN resolve this without flinging fireballs, splintering my door and starting things off nasty, by all means be my guest! I just want this little brat out of my workshop. I'd give you a key, but like I said, I'm locked out. I don't care how you do it, I just wanna get back in my house and have the kid be out there. Or should I have taken that as a threat?"
She sighs loudly and kinda frustratedly mumbles "city guards these days..."
And indeed, Barka leads the way. As you walk through the streets, you witness firsthand the bustle of the festival. Food stands are calling out to any and all, offering discounts on their wares and such. To those new to the profession, this walk also shows you just how different people treat you while you're in uniform: people tip their hat at you politely, smile at you nervously or scoff at your presence. One thing's for sure: everyone in a given place knows you're there... for better or worse.
Eventually, you reach the workshop. High-pitched shouts and the sound of breaking glass emerge from a narrow wooden building painted with mystic runes. A woman in a floppy, wide-brimmed hat stands outside the door, arms crossed and tapping her foot impatiently. She looks up to the sky in exasperation and snaps, “Finally! It took you long enough.”
She extends her hand towards you and introduces herself. "Marin Porphyry, wizard-for-hire. That over there..." She pulls her hand away again before any of you can actually shake it, and uses it to point towards the narrow building. Right at that moment, a cauldron flies out of the broken window. She takes a deep sigh and continues. "... That over there is my workshop. Some kid managed to break into it and locked me out. He's yelling a bunch about how he'll 'never forgive me' and to tell him where 'Kamminleys' or something is. I have no godsforsaken idea what he's talking about and he's trashing my house. I can probably take him myself, but I'm not about to fling fireballs at my own place, and this is your job, isn't it?"
As stars start covering the night sky above Absalom, the four new recruits head off. The alchemist in search of reagents, the others taking in the silence of their evening walk. It's been a long day full of orientations, briefings and the like, concluding with a brawl, a first taste of combat as officers of the law. Each of them, in their own way, reflects on the day and prepares for the day to come. What they don't know yet, and have no way of knowing, is that their bar brawl pales in comparison to what's in store for these...
Agents of Edgewatch!
Eventually, the night passes. Bright and early, you find yourself back at Edgewatch Headquarters. Though the fair has been gathering steam for months, with many exhibitors setting up early, this is the Radiant Festival’s first official day, and the streets outside the building teem with people. Inside the precinct, Sergeant Ollo stands before the Edgewatch duty board—an oversized map of the Precipice Quarter tacked to a large plank of wood facing the headquarters’ main floor.
He turns towards you. "Ah, if it isn't our tavern peacekeepers. Good job on yesterday's assignment. Today, we'll be counting on you to keep the peace now that the festival has officially started. We've been assigning patrols to groups all morning, and your group will be no different."
Looking closer, the map has been lovingly decorated with strings of various colors. Every string starts and eventually loops back to Edgewatch HQ, and each is labeled with a piece of paper. A lot of them are simply numbered, though a few have more creative labels like "Skinny's Sweeties" or "The Silver Hawks". As you inspect them, Ollo chuckles. "Our patrol routes. Some of our groups have chosen they'd prefer to be referred to with a group name rather than a number. It's a good practice, I think, gives them some pride in their job and boosts morale. You're free to come up with one yourself, but for now, you'll be Patrol Group 13. Aren't you lucky." He laughs.
Ollo points out one of the routes. It's the largest one, tracking most routes on the Precipice Quarter's edge. "This'll be your beat for the day. We thought it'd be a good idea for you to take a route that'll take you through most of the Quarter, so you can get accustomed to the place. All you really need to do is walk the beat one time and then report back. We've got two reports on the beat already that you can check out: some food cart owners seem to be having a confrontation, and on the opposite end of the path there's some sort of domestic dispute at a wizard's workshop. You can start with one of those, and then your beat should eventually take you to the other."
He pauses for a bit and then continues.
"Ah, that's right. Acting Primarch Starborn will be holding his opening speech for the festival at noon as well, you're free to take a moment to check that out. You can keep an eye out during the speech, but don't worry: the security during the speech is already pretty airtight. That's about it. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them, but otherwise, you've got your beat, time to walk it, officers!"
Taking in how your first job went, you all return back to the office to report to Lavarsus. He grumbles a bit, talking about how "at least you're not completely useless."
He tosses you your salary: a pouch of 17 gold to be divided among the four of you.
"Come back again tomorrow morning, I'll assign you a beat to patrol," he says, and you're excused once more.
The sun has since set. The bustle of the streets has subsided somewhat, but with all the fanciful lights and inebriated festivalgoers, you get the idea that the Precipice Quarter doesn't exactly sleep.
You can turn in for the night, but feel free to spend some time in Absalom doing anything you'd like before you do so.
This actually hits 10 above his AC, so that counts as a critical hit! ... That was a fast combat.
Crit damage:1d6 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7
After a single powerful swoop of his scimitar, Bolar the dwarf falls over, unconscious.
Skebs and the cleric look at Bolar, then at each other, then slowly raise their hands. "Alright, big guy, you've made your point," the cleric mutters. "It was just a bit of alehouse fun, really..."
From that point on, the adventurers cooperate, pay their tab, and leave the premises. The proprietress, who introduces herself as Belberry Breckenridge, is deeply grateful. "Guess that's what I get for not screenin' my adventurer guests!" she says, already all smiles and laughs over the incident. "I'll be closin' up the place for some well needed cleaning, but next time y'all come over, drinks are on me, you hear? ... Though you're always welcome to donate a good city guard story or two!" she says, with a wink. It seems this incident doesn't quite deter her from her adventurer's tale business model.
"You'll see what it's like to cross a hero!" Bolar calls out, and he lets out a... sound. You're sure it's meant to be a roar, but you suspect it sounded a lot more intimidating in his head. Nonetheless, you can tell that he's seeing red.
Bolar enters a rage.
Meanwhile, the arrow Tima lets loose gets lodged into a table, with Skebs smugly remarking that you missed them.
WELP
With PF2's rules, that diplomacy roll is a critical failure (10 or more points lower than the DC), so unfortunately, it's time for some consequences!
GM Roll:
Urach Perception:1d20 + 3 ⇒ (9) + 3 = 12
Urach, you notice miss Breckenbridge seems fine.
"Edgewatch, huh? Flaunting your fancy divisions around... I don't like the tone of yer voice, miss." Bolar says.
Skebs joins in. "And I dun like the look of your face!"
Bolar slaps Skebs' hand, and the two of you look at you, smirking. Skebs then turns towards his other party members.
"Fellas, these guys wanna spoil our fun!"
The elf continues her crying, not picking up anything of what's going on around her. The cleric, however, gets up. "Guess we'll have to fight for our right to be here, then!" He grins, the kind of mischievous grin of someone who has definitely had his fair share of tavern brawls.
The good news: you've diffused their bickering.
The bad news: They've found a common ally to rally against: you!
Tima Leonore
Bolar
Barka
Elf Wizard
Urach
Human Cleric
Skebs
As a reminder: any and all attacks you levy on them default to non-lethal, no matter the damage type. If you do want to attack lethally, make sure to mention it.
Listening to her crying and mumbling a bit more, you get the idea she's grieving the loss of a pet of sorts.
The halfling called Skebs and the dwarf called Bolar turn to you. Nearly synchronously, they look the party up and down. Skebs is the first to talk.
"You guys are cops, aintcha?"
Bolar immediately shouts at you. "I'll have you know, SIRS and LADIES OFFICER, that we were invited here by the good miss Breckenridge!" He points towards the proprietress, who can only stammer in response.
"So, what can we do for you, miss Officer?" Bolar asks. It's clear from his tone he doesn't exactly respect your authority quite yet.
If you attempt to talk them down, please also make an appropriate Diplomacy or Intimidation roll.
Your mission clear, the four of you set out. The Precipice Quarter is already full of activity, even though the official opening of the festival isn't until tomorrow. You navigate its streets, still shiny and new, though you imagine a full festival season probably won't do it much good.
Eventually, you reach the Tipsy Tengu. The interior of the bar is a raucous mess of tipped-over chairs and spilled drinks. A motley group of drunken adventurers is the clear cause of the chaos, including a dwarven bruiser wearing a horned helmet, a sloppy elf in robes, an armored human worshipper of Cayden Cailean, and a leather-clad halfling.
“Ah, there you are!” A well-dressed man with an ornate cane and bold blue eyes leaps to his feet from where he was seated next to the door. “The city’s finest, come to deliver us from churls and belligerents!” He lowers his voice conspiratorially and adds, “Honestly, I’d never allow their sort into my hotel, but poor Belberry thought they’d add flavor, and they certainly have.” He sticks out his hand to shake. “Hendrid Pratchett, proprietor of the Dreaming Palace. This is my associate, Ralso.” He nods to a hard-looking half-orc woman. “We thought we’d come down and enjoy a quiet night of dinner and drinks before the opening-day festivities tomorrow. So much for rest and relaxation, though, eh?”
A cup suddenly smashes the man in the face as one of the adventurers howls with laughter. He clutches his bleeding nose and steps aside. Ralso immediately starts covering him with her back, as though she was his bodyguard protecting him from assassins. “Right then. I’ll let you be about it.” he mumbles towards you, and the two rush out of the bar.
Taking a closer look at the group, they don't seem to have noticed you yet, and they're too preoccupied amongst themselves. The elf is hunched over the table, wailing, though it's hard to make out what she says aside from the occasional words like "Fluffy feathers", "Such a good boy" and "He didn't deserve this!" The dwarf and the halfling are arguing with each other, very loudly.
"Splendid Spelunkers!" the dwarf shouts.
"Burning Banshees!" the halfling shouts in return.
"Listen, Skebs, there's no way in any of the Hells that I'm going to embarass myself by calling myself a banshee!" "No, I guess that's true, you've embarassed yourself enough already when I took down that bugbear before you-" "NOT. ANOTHER. WORD. I don't want to hear that from a rogue who can't even pickpocket a damn copper from a drunken-" "You wanna GO, Bolar?" "I'll crumple you up like paper, you little-"
Both of them have their fists clenched, but neither of them seems to have the courage to actually take the first swing. Meanwhile, their last companion, the human cleric, is just taking another swig and laughing at the chaos, clearly extremely amused.
Behind the bar you see the proprietress, who is clearly happy to see you and is pointing you towards the rowdy bunch... Though you've kinda figured out as much.
The address you've been given is in the Precipice Quarter, the current festival grounds. From that, you expect it to be a pretty young establishment, one of the many hospitality ventures that popped up to earn a profit from the festival after the district was renovated.
Just Barka:
The Tipsy Tengu rings a bell. You've heard the name drop once or twice in the Irorium in recent days. Its proprietress is known to welcome adventurers and gladiators and offer them a free drink or two if they entertain the clientele with tales of adventure.
After a short while, the door opens, and you're brought in.
The lieutenant rises from behind his desk, glaring out from beneath brooding brows as he silently studies his new agents. After a long moment, he shakes his head, muttering “unbelievable.” as he pulls his well-chewed cigar from his mouth and gestures disdainfully.
“This year’s Radiant Festival is the most ambitious peacetime undertaking the city’s seen. The Edgewatch is responsible for the safety of thousands. I told the council I needed the best of the best. And instead they send me you—a bunch of rookies so green you’ve practically got gills. Did you pin those badges on yourself, or did Sergeant Ollo have to do it for you?”
He sighs and sits. “Abadar only knows what sin I committed to deserve you. But we work with what we’re given. You do what you’re told, learn from the veterans, and maybe you’ll come out of this proper guards. But if I catch you shirking work or tarnishing the reputation of this precinct, I’ll bounce you out of here so hard you’ll land in Absalom Harbor. Clear?”
He doesn’t wait for an answer, instead snatching up a scrap of paper from his desk and holding it out.
“Here’s your first assignment. A bunch of dung-heeled wannabe adventurers are smashing up the Tipsy Tengu. Clean it up—book ’em or fine ’em, just don’t kill anyone.”
He shuffles through some more papers on his desk before looking up pointedly. “Well? You want me to hold your hand on the way there? Get going. Dismissed.”
... And just like that, without getting in a word edgewise, you find yourself outside of his office again. At the very least, your first task is clear.
Absalom, the great capital city, is abuzz with activity. It usually is, but the coming months are promising to be a degree of busy some people don't even see in a lifetime. People of all ancestries and homelands are flocking to Absalom, all to take part in the massive, once-in-a-century celebration: The Radiant Festival! The city council has taken the Precipice Quarters, a ward full of uninhabitable ruins lost to an earthquake decades ago, and completely rebuilt it into festival quarters. The result is a veritable wonderland of new people, strange sights, fantastical stores and lots, lots of merriment!
On the other side of the curtain, however, the festival is barely held together. With construction delays, legal disputes between attraction owners, increased criminality and dwindling budget it's a small miracle the festival managed to open up yesterday as planned. And now that the festival has started in earnest, it needs to stay afloat for three whole months! Clearly, there's a lot of work to be done, in no small part by the city guard.
To keep the peace in the Precipice Quarters, the Absalom city guard has put together a new division, the Edgewatch. Due to the lowered budget and the temporary nature of this need of security, it's not as meticulously organized. Adventurers and agents from other divisions are all welcome to join, but act more as freelancers than full fledged guard members. Show up, get assigned a job, do it, report at the end of the day, get paid. Good, honest work, right?
For reasons that are all your own, each of you have joined the Edgewatch, and you've just been outfitted in your new Edgewatch uniforms. You've met with the local sergeant, Moldun Ollo, an older Dwarf with dark skin and black hair, who calmly briefed you about what to expect working for the Edgewatch: irregular work and hours, and payment on a case by case basis. You're not authorised to kill, but you can make arrests if need be. He admits it's not the cushiest gig, but he emphasizes that all help is greatly appreciated. The Radiant Festival is once in a lifetime for many inhabitants, and ensuring it will be a good time for all involved is a noble goal. "The chaos that comes with the festival is massive, and it's obvious I'm getting too old for this sort of thing!" he says with a grin, though you can kind of tell that he might not be 100% joking.
Now, you wait your turn to meet with the chief of Edgewatch, Lieutenant Grospek Lavarsus. If you didn't already know each other, waiting here is the first chance you've had to get acquainted with your new fellow patrolmen.
You'll be invited into the lieutenant's office in a little bit, so feel free to introduce your characters! Thanks again for joining, here's to a good campaign!
They've been having some difficulty keeping up in the other game I'm with them in, as well. I'll wait a little while longer, and if it stays quiet for, say, another week, I'm just going to start the game proper. Sorry for the wait, everyone!
Ooh, that sounds great! In case you weren't already familiar with it, you might be interested to learn about the Irorium in Absalom:
PathfinderWiki link
I will neither confirm nor deny that the Irorium may play a part in this adventure path.
The player's guide has a bit of a writeup for every class, including Monk and Druid, so if you'd rather pick one of them, we can definitely work that out! That said, the Investigator definitely sounds like a good time.
This is a closed Agents of Edgewatch game. There's 4 players, I'm sure they'll introduce themselves in due time. So I'd like to start by just doing some housekeeping, the regular stuff, you know.
First of all, character creation. I can be pretty simple about this: Regular ol' standard Pathfinder 2e character building. All official Paizo resources are fair game. The setting, Absalom, is pretty dang cosmopolitan, so if you ask me, feel free to have as much fun in character design as you'd like! I'd suggest you take a good look through the official Players Guide as well, which comes with backgrounds for different branches of the City Watch that could help with inspiration for character creation.
https://paizo.com/products/btq024wj?Pathfinder-Adventure-Path-Agents-of-Edg ewatch-Players-Guide
The Players Guide also gives background information to Absalom as well as the big festival that the campaign uses as its backdrop. I won't call it required reading, but I'm going to assume at least a little bit of familiarity with the setting.
Speaking of the Players Guide, one thing I do want to draw attention to is the content warning early on. A lot of those content warnings are relevant as early as Book 1, though a cursory overview gives me the feeling most of them stop being relevant after that, even more after the second book, and then from that point on it's pretty standard Pathfinder dark fantasy faire. Feel free to communicate any themes in the content warning (or not in there if you'd like to communicate them). I'll try to be as conscious of it as possible to make sure everyone has a good time throughout!
I'll be tossing my personal alterations and flourishes throughout the campaign, but there's some things that I'd like to touch upon, especially in terms of how playing an Agent of Edgewatch is a li'l different from a typical adventurer. You're more than free to ignore all this, but I figured I'd share these for the sake of some transparency:
The basic concept of the AP is that you'll be new recruits within a new branch of the Absalom City Guard known as the Edgewatch. As guardsmen, any combat, at the very least in the initial stages, can be assumed to be nonlethal by default. This changes nothing mechanically, really, it just means that when you finish off the enemy, they'll be knocked out and they'll get back up soon enough. We could get really in-depth about how sharp blades can KO someone instead of slicing off limbs, but, honestly? I was just planning on handwaving it as convenient Absalom City Guard magic. Hope that's alright with everyone.
The AP describes the Edgewatch as comprised mostly of freelancers and mercenaries with, at the moment, very little budget. As such, Edgewatch officers are authorized to keep the money they get from fining people in lieu of a salary. This, I imagine, was mostly introduced to make it easy for the campaign to fit a typical "fight baddies and loot them afterwards" mold. But, thematically? This is extremely silly and makes the party seem like corrupt cops, imo. So there'll be no fines, and instead you can just expect the office to grant the party a salary that just happens to match what you would've gotten from looting.
Also a relatively small thing. This has no bearing to the AP's plot, but the Players Guide gazetteer mentions a camp of Precipice Quarter inhabitants that got displaced to make place for the big festival grounds. Aside from being pretty dang grim, everything I can find in the AP about the Precipice Quarters made it seems like an uninhabitable wasteland full of dangerous monsters. So as far as I'm concerned, there's no big displaced people camps because there were no people to be displaced to begin with.
Anyway, that's really all I wanted to share. If there's any questions, I'll gladly answer them of course! hope we can have a great game together, and good luck on making your characters! I look forward to seeing them.
Once it becomes clear that no one in the room has any intent to hurt one another, the tension drops, and weapons are sheathed. Korva and her three sisters express excited gratitude to any support you offer to lend them, and once you call Laria down and explain the situation, she is genuinely upset to hear what the sisters have had to go through, as well as to hear what happened to her friend.
"Nan, you idiot... We could've worked things out if you'd just tell me..." She takes a deep breath. "But... What's done is done, and we have a job to do. Let's get the Wasp's Nest up and rolling!"
For the next few days, you all help in turning the place into a workable base of operations. The signs of violence, including the submerged corpse that Laria identifies, with supressed yet visible distress, as Nan. Cleaning the Wasp's Nest is a somber affair, but at the end of your work, the newly furnished basement, defiantly decorated with more of Zacarias' flags, is filling you with the determination to defy Barzillai.
Two days later, repairs are done, and the four of you and the Fushi sisters hit the pavement to take the first steps of your rebellion. The Fushi sisters are requested to pickpocket juuust a little bit from any Asmodean clergymen.
Meanwhile, your group tries to rally supporters for the cause.
Unfortunately, the initial momentum is... rough, and little progress is made.
-----------------
Rova 19, 4706 AD.
Four days until the next Rebellion Round.
Laria calls all of you to the Wasp's Nest. "Alright, kids. Strategy meeting. We've gotten settled nicely now, so it's time to get back to work. I've got... a bit of experience in this area, and typically if you're trying to undermine some sort of organization like this from the underground, there's five steps.
Step one. First, we need to increase our numbers. Enough people out there that don't like Barzillai, but it takes more than that. We need to take action, show the people that the Ravens are a cause that will help them! I've got some ideas, but I'll get to that later.
Step two! Once we've got a sizable force going on, we look for a more suitable base of operations. The Wasp's Nest is fine, but it's gonna get cramped soon enough. We'll need to look for something better, a true Raven's Roost! At the same time, we might be able to court other unsatisfied groups and factions within the city to ally with us. Power in numbers!
Step THREE! Even more allies! Once Kintargo's underground is , we look even further! We turn the whole Archduchy to our side, find friends within the city's aristocracy, anything to pull the rug under Barzillai's feet!
STEP FOUR!! When our power is at its peak, when the wave of rebellion hits its highest point... we come CRASHING DOWN on Thrune and take back the city! Once we truly open war against Barzillai, there will be no turning back, so we need to be sure of our strength first.
And then... Step five. We need to solidify our future. Pushing out Barzillai is one thing, but Westcrown could send more Thrunies and armies after that. But if we focus on that now, it'll just be theorycrafting. We'll need to consider things closely after the war is won.
Laria takes a deep breath, and some others with her, as though even talking about these plans in secret poses a deadly risk.
"But for now, let's focus on that step one." She motions you to a map of Kintargo, with a few pins down. Small, custom-made pins with the Silver Raven's symbol as the pinhead. You wonder where she found the time to make these, but she continues.
"We'll need to keep our ear to the ground, hear about what we can do to help the people. Rexus will be working on decoding the documents from the cache, and meanwhile I've got these things I'd like you guys to look into."
Shiba interjects, telling Laria and the others about some of the rumors he's heard during his listen-ins at the protest. Laria appreciates the input and formalizes these into missions.
Mission: Investigating the Fires:
The Night of Ashes was... suspicious to say the least. During that night, three buildings went up in flames: The Victocora Estate, the Thrashing Badger tavern, and a music store called the Hellion Hall. The dottari had been patrolling the ruins of the three ruins for a while, but the patrols have died down. Rexus would like to see if anything of value has survived the fire, and the other ruins might also hide something of interest.
Searching one of the ruins will take half a day.
Mission: Clenchjaw's Tavern:
Laria has picked up stories of a tavern called Clenchjaw's. From what she understands, it used to be a very quiet case, but the past week, brawls have become a nightly occurence where this usually was never the case. Something might be off.
Mission: Prisoners of Salt:
Shiba's rumor hunt revealed the idea that Sallix Salt Works might be putting prisoners from Barzillai's reign to work. Freeing the prisoners here might be both low-profile enough for Barzillai to miss, yet impactful enough to boost the Ravens' reputation. Laria mentions she's lost contact with a mercenary friend, Forvian Crowne. She suspects he might be taken to a place like this, and asks to keep an eye out.
Mission: Murders in the Nursery:
Shiba mentions the killings of Tieflings in the Devil's Nursery. Laria proposes looking into it, as this has a number of benefits: first and foremost, a crazed killer would be neutralized, but this would also help the Ravens' reputation without drawing the dottari's ire. What are they gonna do, arrest you for capturing a criminal?
The sisters huddle together real quick for a while, then their leader turns to you and says the following.
"Well, the man was going to help us find a place in Westcrown. He is dead now, so we have nothing." She turns to her sisters. They nod. "We... are thieves. Always have been. I am unsure if we would find legal work in Westcrown. At this point, the where doesn't really matter. We are far away from those hunting us in Varisia. We just want a place to call home."
