Enough Sightseeing

Strategic overview: Your party has come to Korvosa to track down the plague rats. From the Red Gull the rats were handed over to a minor crime boss and all round despicable guy, one Gaedran Lamm. You are now outside Lamm’s headquarters, an old fishery he uses as a front for a pick pocketing ring. A coach has just pulled up outside and from it have stepped an aristocratic woman and her two armed guards, all very out of place in this poorest district of town. The woman and one of the guards went directly into the fishery while the other guard stayed outside with the carriage.

Tactical overview: Sasha and Xer have been dispatched to reconnoitre the site: The dilapidated old building is two stories; one at street level, then one below that at water level. A walkway, old and rickety like the rest of the building, runs along the south side.. As Sasha and Xer creep partway onto this walkway they hear it groan under their combined weight and quickly back away. They also catch sight of a large finned shadow moving below the water’s surface, easily six feet long. Afterwards Malvick tells them this is most likely a Jigsaw shark – man eating scavengers that prowl the docks.

There is boat is butted right up against the fishery and it is clear that it will never sail again. A gangway is hidden under the building connecting the boat to the lower level.

There are two main entrances to the fishery. The main street entrance sees little use – occasional orphans scampering in and out - though this is the entrance the woman and her guard used. There is a cargo entrance to the south, which sees more traffic – fisherman come and go, dropping off their spoiled catches or picking up buckets of rendered chum to use as bait or turn into “dock dumplings.” Sasha’s attempts to bribe more information out of one of the children ends in failure, the children of the area are clearly terrified of whoever controls the fishery, and Sasha’s sweet pastries don’t go nearly far enough to winning their trust. With more time perhaps, she and Xer might be able to win over one of them, but the woman and her guards are surely here with a purpose, and time may be of the essence if your group does not want the plague rats to slip out of your grasp.

Your group needs to decide on a plan of action now. There is no more time for gathering facts or getting the lay of the land. Even now Lamm could be handing over the plague rats to the mysterious woman and her guard. Will you storm the front door? It is obvious that Lamm’s child labourers are hard at work inside. Will you steal around the back via the walkway? It is known to be unstable and the water around it is stalked by at least one marine predator. Will you wait here, across the road for the woman to return, ambushing her on the road, hoping that she is indeed the villain of the piece and not simply a merchant’s wife in the wrong place at the wrong time?

Shingles to WestPier

It only takes Malvick and Ariva a few minutes to get their bearings back in familiar settings. Minutes later around some back alley and up a fire escape leads them up to the roof tops of Korvosa littered with tall tents and haphazard huts hiding the horizon.

The Shingles span multiple stories forming the slums above Korvosa. As the small group passes over a bridge from one roof to another two very young men leap the gap two stories above them fearless of the heights. Sasha's attention perked right up, "What the hell are they doing? Running from guards?"

Malvick replied, "Nope. They're Shingle Running. It's kind of like a sport up here."

Finally after rounding two more corners Malvick stopped in front of one of the scummiest doors of the lot. A sign was stapled across it in big red letters, Turn back! Chokers are about! He chuckled to himself and then knocked on the door. After a few moments two knocks came from the inside and Malvick immediately whistled. Ariva's ears jumped up.The door opened a crack and a gruff voice came from a gruffer shadow. "Speak up, why do I care?"

"It's Mal for Mas" Malvick said quietly. The door suddenly shut.

"What the hell was that?" exclaimed Sasha.

Malvick looked back not appearing too concerned, "Give it a minute."

A small mail slot opened beside the door and a parchment appeared. Malvick grabbed it and Sasha caught a glimpse. "Two blue circles and a green square. You've got to be joking." Malvick started off back the way they came. "Where are you off to now? Aren't you meeting your friend?"

"Just a few more minutes. We're close." Malvick got back to the street and after a few twists and turns came to the back entrance of a church. The back door was ajar and the group let themselves in. They followed Malvick up to the bell tower. From here you could really see all of Korvosa.

"Great, nothing!" Sasha still wasn't impressed.

A voice came from a second entrance to the tower. "Nothing. I would hardly consider this view nothing. You can spy on anything from up here. Malvick, you really need to teach that horse dog of yours to move more gracefully. She's as bad as a dwarf."

The group all spun at once. Malvick walked over immediately. "Masfaul! You're still a skinny elf bastard after all these years." The bear hug almost looked like a man trying to snap a twig. "You look well."

"What are you doing back here? I zigged and you zagged that night and I never saw you back. I heard you were doing fine in other places but the last place I expected you was here."

"The details can come out tonight over a drink, but I need to tie up some loose ends and you always know the people."

Malvick detailed his group's trip to Korvosa and Masfaul didn't look impressed. "The older, well dressed man is Yargin Balkro, the face man for long time con artist and black marketeer Gaedren Lam. You remember him I'm sure. The half orc is a two bit thug named Giggles who took up with Lam's crew of degenerates a while back. Word is Gaedren Lam has turned legit in his old age. He now runs a rundown old fishery on Westpier 17. I can only imagine what the despicable Gaedren is thinking. He still preys on Korvosa's street orphans and poorest children. The abductions and false hope to get them joining his gangs of pick pockets never stopped after you left. You know, Lam's Little Lambs. The old fishery is just his latest front for the operation. What Lam's involvement is with the rats and the Brothers of Seven, I don't know that one, but Lam is a practiced fence and often moves contraband goods through the city's tight customs for a hefty price. I'll try to dig up more... but I'm hoping this stuff is worth something."

"I'll see what I can do, Masfaul. I always did."

***

Later that day, as the sun sank towards the horizon, the group found themselves standing in a shadowed allyway looking across the road at the old fishery on Westpier 17.  Some investigation had revealed that Masfaul's idea of "going legit" was a little sketchy.  The fishery's actual owner had been killed by a devilfish last year, and the building had been held in escrow by the city ever since.  Lam and his crew were squatters.  The companions watched desperate fishermen come and go from the dilapidated building.  They exchanged spoiled or unfit catches for a  few coppers, or a couple of buckets of slurry.  On several occasions a man matching Yeargin's description had been seen in the doorway, arguing with a fsisherman or cuffing a child. Quite a few of these "water rats" as Sasha referred to them came and went as well, and seemed to make up the fishery's workforce.
 
The building itself was a one story affair.  A dock ran around one side and out to a broken down old barge moored behind it.
 
At almost exactly sundown, a well appointed carriage pulled by two horses - quite out of place in this neighborhood - pulled up to the fishery.  The carriage driver tethered the horses while an armed bellman open the carriage door and offered his hand to a striking red haired woman in an aristocratic dress.  The obviously armed bellman then escorted the noblewoman inside the fishery while the driver stayed outside with the carriage...
 
***

Welcome to Korvosa

Malvick chuckles and explains the Shingles, Korvosa's rooftop slum district, to Sasha. "Right," Sasha replies, "that's what I thought you meant."

Xer rolls her eyes at her friend's attempt at urban sophistication, and the group heads into Varisia's biggest city.  It doesn't take long to find the Red Gull.  As Sasha predicted, it has not yet left port so soon, though it is busy taking on provisions and a quick inquiry reveals that it is due to set out again tomorrow morning.  Its destination this time is logged with the port authority as distant Sargava, with a return time of almost six months.  Most of the loading is being handled by local dock workers - the majority of the crew, including her captain, have disappeared into town.

A few coins in the right young hands yields the name if the inn that Captain Hidemarch likes to stay at when he's in town.  A few more reveal that the cage of rats was picked up by a pair of men.  One was a sour faced man in his late forties.  He was well dressed but rude.  His companion was a one eyed half-orc that grinned a lot, like he found the whole world funny.

Malvick is fairly certain he can track down the names of the two that picked up the rats and where they were taken, but it will take some time, and it is unlikely that the group has time to do that and find Sasha's brother before nightfall...