Chapter Four: The Manifest of the Harikan Squall

Assuming you're all ready to leave the House of the Zapanim...

You are on a quiet residential street in a wealthy neighborhood in the northeast part of Hazard. It is just after dawn on a cool, misty morning. Zora indicates that you can reach her mother's place of business by heading west, towards the mercantile district on the north side of the river in the very center of the city.

Do you want Zora to lead you to the Trading Company HQ, or does anyone have any alternate plans/suggestions?

"I don't know," Zora says quietly. "I don't know if they know who my mother is. Dad usually wasn't very forthcoming about who she is and what she does, when people would ask." She sighs. "But what can we do? I have to see her. It's the last thing he asked me to do."

"I think we should go as well, but we should scout the area carefully before approaching your mother's shop. Standard practice in my line of work is to walk past the target building at least once and then double back. We should all be on the lookout for ambushes and stakeouts."

Let's all make Perception checks as we approach the building. As the party gets close, Mordred will pass by the entrance and attempt to look further down the street for anything out of the ordinary, whether or not the rest of the party follows him or goes right in.

Also, for what it may be worth, Mordred has the City Secrets ability:

Quote:

You know the secret patterns and flow to cities and can find passages through the urban sprawl that others would miss.
When you are not in combat, you (and companions you lead) can travel between any two locations in the city twice as fast as your speed would normally allow.

Zora leads the party through this residential area down toward a large public park near the river's edge. As you follow a path that runs alongside a canal, a city guardsman uniformed in a cylindrical cap and short cape makes small talk with a young man and woman selling fruit from a cart. He glances over at the party as you approach. Zora beams at him and makes a shaking gesture with her hand; the guard smiles back and returns to his conversation. Under a tree, a man in a turban with a silver prosthetic nose takes a few coins from his purse and tosses them in a basket at his feet as he goes through a singer's vocal exercises. You take high arcing bridge over the canal and continue on near the outskirts of the park, past a gang of adolescent boys fishing and swapping crude jokes. Far ahead and to your left, you can see the Isle of Ilhaz in the middle of the river and the few ancient structures that remain on it, the oldest buildings still standing in this city. Through the misty morning gloom you can make out the familiar shape of the broken tower whose likeness is stamped on so many of the Hazard-minted copper pieces ubiquitous throughout Bload.

After leaving the park and passing through a block of expensive-looking inns and taverns, the relative quiet gives way to the noise of hooves and shouting, barges being loaded, prices being called out and objected to. Zora and Mordred exchange a quick glance and nod at an intersection and turn there, bypassing the waterfront to make their way west through less-trafficked side streets. Here you cross over another canal and pass another guard, who doesn't even bother to look over at you as he leans against a stone wall and watches the blades of his spetum spin as he idly fidgets with it.

A little further ahead, you step through an olive oil spill in the street as a fat, red-faced man stands over a broken amphora and loudly berates the teary-eyed worker who dropped it. On the corner of the next block is a four-story wooden building with a small crowd milling about the entrance while two ox-carts are being loaded. A city guardsman is posted near the main entrance, watching the activity dispassionately.

"That's it," Zora says. "You wanted to go past it and circle back around, right?"

[To be clear: there are no signs of ambush or anything so far. Does anybody want to do anything before coming back around?]

Zora elbows through the waiting clients to speak to the guard. "Duly noted," he says, but does not leave his post.

Mordred scouts around the building. There is a side entrance, but the door is closed; and there looks to be a small warehouse attached to the back of the building with a few large men hanging around it.

Zangua steps into a spacious lobby, followed by Mordred and Zora. There are benches arranged along the walls, and a long desk opposite the entrance. The place is liberally decorated with potted plants.

A head pops up from behind the desk. "Ay, ay. It's not business hours yet. Wait outside until --" The fellow's gaze finds Zangua's catchpole. "Crackers, that's an interesting piece. Is the arms appraiser expecting you?"

Is everybody else coming in, or does anyone intend to wait outside?