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Chapter 1 - Session 9

The Grunge Lane Gambit: Stolen Papers and a Mysterious Map

Events and Actions

Following the public executions at the docks, which ran long into the afternoon, the party gathered at the Crow's Nest as evening fell to plan the recovery of papers stolen from Lieutenant Barrows during his trial. Knick Nab identified the thief as Stick Stab, a knife-specialist from his former gang, run by Nigfa out of a hideout beneath a bakery and chandlery on Grunge Lane. Knick Nab warned the others that Nigfa was an unpredictable, scraggly man with long, filthy yellow fingernails, who carried little more than a stick but kept a few older toughs on hand and was known to punish underlings by cutting off their toes. As they weighed whether to get involved at all, Cosimo argued it strained belief that a pickpocket would pass over a purse for paperwork unless directed to, and reasoned that someone must have hired Nigfa for the job — a theory Noddy waved off as beside the point and Werner worried might expose them to whoever's guards were footing the bill. Undeterred, the party reasoned that clearing Barrows' name — and exposing that his papers had been deliberately targeted — might win them a valuable favor from a naval officer who could help arrange passage out of the city. Cosimo went further, framing their unlikely freedom as the grace of the Father and Mother and the recovery of the papers as a call to adventure the party was bound to answer. With night falling and the gang due to retreat into the hideout to sleep, the party knew they had only a narrow window to catch Stick Stab in the open before any raid grew far more dangerous.

The party formulated a plan: Werner De Rendal and Manuel de Barret (Mani) would enter the bakery, and Infurious Montesigna (Riu) the chandlery, posing as ordinary customers buying bread and candles to provide cover and a distraction. Riu played the part of a sailor freshly ashore, browsing the chandlery's stock of tallow and beeswax candles for his reading, while Werner and Mani lingered over the bakery's leftover morning loaves. Meanwhile, Knick Nab, recognizable to the gang, would lead Cosimo Cellini Scivio, posing as a prospective recruit, in through the bakery's back entrance and down into the hideout itself. Noddy positioned himself across the street to keep watch, directing his bird familiar, Pocket, to orbit overhead and peer into upper-floor windows.

Grunge Lane proved to be an unremarkable block of three shops — a chicken butchery, a stone-built bakery, and a wooden chandlery — separated by narrow, little-used alleys. Beneath the bakery and chandlery lay Nigfa's true hideout: a damp, cave-like basement reachable by a staircase behind either shop, with no other way in or out, and fed by a foul stream the gang's children used as their only water source and latrine alike. A perception sweep on the approach turned up no sign of Stick Stab in the open, so the party moved ahead with the plan as arranged.

Knick Nab and Cosimo descended into the hideout, where they found Stick Stab and two other young pickpockets playing dice around a table. Stick Stab was startled to see his old crewmate — doubly so when Knick Nab let a hidden rapier show beneath his coat. Confronted, Stick Stab admitted Nigfa had already taken the stolen papers upstairs, and revealed that Nigfa had told him beforehand to watch the trial for anyone carrying important-looking papers and steal those instead of a purse if the chance arose — Barrows had simply been the one person there who looked worth targeting. The detail only deepened the party's suspicion that someone had hired Nigfa for the job. One of the other pickpockets bolted upstairs to warn Nigfa; Cosimo's attempt to intimidate the second into staying put failed, and he too fled.

Knick Nab and Cosimo pursued up the back stairs, where they found the door to Nigfa's room in the bakery locked. Cosimo's attempt to pick the lock failed, so Werner — waiting nearby with Mani after their own alarm was raised — set to breaking it down with a chisel and stone-mason's hammer. As the door gave way in pieces, an older teenage gang member came pounding up from the basement to raise the alarm; Werner's shouted order to stop cracked halfway through in his adolescent voice and did nothing to intimidate the boy, but a follow-up kick caught him square in the head, sending him tumbling unconscious down the stairwell. Moments later, another young pickpocket — a boy named Al — burst past them shouting a warning up toward Nigfa's room before Werner finally forced the door open.

Inside, Nigfa — armed with a knife and flanked by two sailor associates — was already trying to escape, having thrown a bed frame across the alley to bridge the gap to an open window of the chandlery's upper floor. Combat erupted as Werner hurled his harpoon across the room, catching Nigfa low in the body and opening a grievous wound while he was still crossing the makeshift bridge. Mani kicked at the bed-frame bridge to collapse the escape route; his first attempt only left it more precarious, but a second knocked it loose. By then one of the two sailors had already tried to leap the gap and was left hanging by his fingertips from the chandlery's window ledge — dropping his knife in the process — until his grip finally gave and he tumbled roughly twelve feet into the alley below, landing on his feet. Nigfa, badly wounded and with nowhere left to run, chose to jump from the window himself rather than keep fighting, and landed in the alley in a bloody heap.

In the alley, Cosimo leapt from the window to press the attack on the fallen Nigfa, though the blow went wide; Mani followed close behind, vaulting out after him with rapier drawn in one hand and his half-eaten baguette still in the other, landing beside the sprawled bodies with a triumphant flourish before searching the unconscious sailor. In the chandlery, the second sailor — unarmed — came down the stairs after them and advanced on Riu, who leveled his pistol at the man's face and warned him off with a flat "not today." Noddy jammed the door shut with his scimitar to buy time, but when the sailor tried to bolt past them and flee, Werner caught him from behind with a sweeping blow that wrenched his arm from its socket and dropped him. The party stripped him of 12 bronze pieces — he carried no weapon — and let him go. Werner then went down into the alley, found Nigfa still clinging to life, and made sure of him, recovering his harpoon in the process.

With the fight over, the party gathered the loot: a small chest of papers from Nigfa's room, a sack of 64 silver coins, a second sack of valuable goblets and chalices, and the dagger the dangling sailor had dropped. Rather than heading straight back, they doubled around through side streets to make sure they weren't followed before returning to their secret cubbyhole beneath the Crow's Nest.

There, by lantern and candlelight, the party laid out what they had taken. Among the papers was a sealed letter from Captain Maynard to Lieutenant Barrows, a stack of assorted naval orders and correspondence — some sealed, some not — and one item that matched none of the rest: a very old, fire-damaged map on skin-like parchment, marked with Elven-style runes and the name "Gildenhome," apparently depicting a door. Riu, drawing on his bookish knowledge of old documents, judged the map to be at least twenty years old, made from some kind of skin or parchment rather than paper, and clearly a fragment of a larger original. None of the party could place the name Gildenhome or make anything further of the runes, despite attempts at history, regional lore, and what little Elvish anyone in the group could muster.

The party weighed the risk of carrying so many naval documents into the Admiralty, reasoning that the stack alone could expose the fleet's movements if it fell into the wrong hands or if they themselves were searched — and wondered aloud whether the theft was less a coincidence than evidence of an established spy operation feeding fleet intelligence to the North's enemies. They agreed to leave the map and the bulk of the recovered papers hidden in the cubbyhole, taking only the sealed letter to deliver, and to hold what they'd found in reserve as potential leverage once Lieutenant Barrows was free to advise them. With Mistress Mary away for the day with the Prince, they went upstairs to consult Mistress Clara instead, framing their questions as concern for a friend of Mary's rather than revealing the full truth. Clara examined the sealed letter and advised them to present it directly to someone in authority at the Admiralty, or, failing that, to Lieutenant Barrows' own guards at the docks, reasoning that Barrows himself would know whom to trust. The session ended with the party setting out for the docks to attempt exactly that, while Werner stayed behind briefly to give the remaining unsealed naval papers a sailor's once-over for anything of obvious value, careful not to break the seal on anything still closed.

NPCs & Creatures

  • Knick Nab (PC)
  • Werner De Rendal (PC)
  • Cosimo Cellini Scivio (PC)
  • Infurious Montesigna (Riu) (PC)
  • Noddy (PC)
  • Manuel de Barret (Mani) (PC)
  • Lieutenant Barrows (Mentioned; his stolen papers were the objective)
  • Nigfa (Knick Nab's former gang leader; a scraggly man with long yellow fingernails, killed by the party)
  • Stick Stab (Member of Nigfa's gang who initially stole the papers)
  • Al (Young pickpocket in Nigfa's hideout who raised the alarm)
  • Older teenage gang member (Encountered on the bakery stairs; kicked unconscious by Werner)
  • Other young pickpockets (In Nigfa's hideout)
  • Baker (Proprietor of the bakery on Grunge Lane)
  • Chandler (Proprietor of the chandlery on Grunge Lane)
  • Sailors (2) (Nigfa's associates in the chandlery's upper room; one fell, one disarmed and fled)
  • Pocket (Noddy's bird familiar)
  • Mistress Clara (Healer and harlot at the Crow's Nest)
  • Mistress Mary (Mentioned; healer and harlot at the Crow's Nest)
  • Captain Maynard (Mentioned; author of the sealed letter)
  • The Prince (Sir Piers) (Mentioned; was with Mistress Mary)

Locations

  • The Crow’s Nest (The party's base of operations and secret cubbyhole)
  • Grunge Lane (A street in Low Town)
    • Bakery (Stone-built; one of the fronts for Nigfa's operation, with access to the hideout below; its upper floor holds Nigfa's locked room, with a window facing the chandlery's upper window across the narrow alley)
    • Chandlery (Wooden; another front for Nigfa's operation, with access to the hideout below; its upper floor is a storeroom where two of Nigfa's sailor associates were quartered)
    • Chicken Butchery (A shop on Grunge Lane)
    • The Basement Cave (A damp, cave-like space beneath the bakery and chandlery, reachable only via either building's back stairs, with a foul stream running through it)
  • The Docks (Mentioned; where Lieutenant Barrows is being held)

Conflicts

  • The party infiltrated Nigfa's hideout to recover stolen papers.
  • Knick Nab and Cosimo confronted Stick Stab and other pickpockets verbally, with Knick Nab revealing a concealed rapier.
  • Werner vs. an older teenage gang member: Werner's intimidation attempt failed, but a follow-up kick sent the boy tumbling unconscious down the stairwell.
  • Werner De Rendal vs. Nigfa: Werner severely wounded Nigfa with a thrown harpoon/javelin. Nigfa later jumped from a window; Cosimo pressed the attack on him in the alley but missed, and Werner finished him off there.
  • Party vs. Nigfa's Sailor Associates:
    • One sailor leapt for the collapsing bed-frame bridge, was left dangling from a window ledge (dropping his knife), and fell roughly twelve feet into the alley when his grip gave out; Mani searched his unconscious body.
    • The other sailor, unarmed, advanced on Riu and was warned off at gunpoint with a flat "not today"; when he later tried to flee past Noddy's jammed door, Werner caught him with a sweep that dislocated his arm. He was searched and allowed to go.

Learnings and Discussions

  • The party confirmed Nigfa was in possession of Lieutenant Barrows' stolen papers.
  • Stick Stab confirmed Nigfa had told him beforehand to steal any important-looking papers he found at the trial rather than a purse — Barrows just happened to be the one person there worth targeting — strengthening the party's suspicion that someone had hired Nigfa for the job.
  • The recovered sealed letter is from Captain Maynard to Lieutenant Barrows.
  • An ancient, fire-damaged map on skin-like parchment was found, bearing Elven-style runes, the name "Gildenhome," and a depiction of what appears to be a door. Riu judged it to be at least twenty years old; none of the party could identify the name or read the runes.
  • The party speculated that the theft might be evidence of an established spy operation feeding fleet movements to the North's enemies, rather than one unlucky coincidence.
  • The party judged the other recovered Naval papers too valuable, and too dangerous to be caught carrying, to bring to the Admiralty, and left them hidden with the map as potential leverage for later.
  • Mistress Clara advised the party to deliver the sealed letter to the Admiralty or to Lieutenant Barrows' own guards at the docks.
  • The party decided to go to the docks to attempt to deliver the letter.

Items Gained

  • Sealed letter from Captain Maynard to Lieutenant Barrows.
  • Ancient map on skin/parchment (the "Gildenhome" map).
  • Various other Naval papers and orders.
  • A sack containing 64 silver coins.
  • A sack containing valuable goblets/chalices.
  • 12 bronze pieces (from the searched sailor).
  • A dagger, dropped by the sailor as he dangled from the window ledge and recovered from the alley floor.
  • Werner De Rendal recovered his harpoon/javelin.
  • Noddy recovered his Scimitar, used to jam the chandlery door.

Items Lost

  • None reported by the party.