The Bait Shop

Tucked into the middle of a block in the West slums, there is a barn and a bait shop. The two are seemingly unrelated, their operations completely different. Appearances are deceiving, as underneath the street, the two are part of a larger complex.

The barn is situated in the middle of the block, about a 500 feet from the gate. It has stalls for twelve horses or oxen. More can be housed in a pinch. The barn is usually full, except for brief periods in the winter. Caravans making a stop over, or visitors to the city who don't want to ride the narrow streets are the clients. The proprietor is a man with a long scar that starts on his forehead, and splits his cheek. It gives him a "dead" eye. He goes by the name of "Scarred Sam." He has two "lads" who work as grooms.

The Bait Shop faces the river, and is near the retaining wall that keeps the river from encroaching, and the slums level. The shop has recently reopened– it was inexplicably closed for about six months, with no explanations given for the closing. Some in the slums speculated that the owners had died. Recently, a Giorand calling himself "Ashe," was seen in the area making preparations, and the shop reopened. It quickly became known that the shop was owned by the adventurer, Potenzia.

The shop sells bait (mostly chum for deep sea net fishing), nets and other fishing supplies, and provides other services to customers in the slum and further east from the Fisherman's Wharf District.

Key — Street Level

Maps - Street Level [ GIF | PDF ]

1. Barn

The barn is a rough timber building with a peaked roof and adobe plaster walls. It is solidly built, but rough. There are two large main doors that slide to give access to the main room. Above them is another door that gives access to the hay loft. A stout wooden yard arm with large block pulleys enables the stable hands to lift the hay bales up to the loft. The ladder up to the loft helps to conceal the door into the Secret Store Room (2.).

There are stalls for 12 animals in the barn, each 10 feet wide and 15 feet deep. Scattered throughout the room are hay bales, tools, and barrels of water. A stack of empty oat sacks collects dust in the Northeast corner.

There are two full-time grooms (young boys about 12) and a stable man, "Scarred" Sam, who make their quarters above in the hay loft.

2. Secret Store Room

This storage room is 10 feet wide and runs the length of the building. There are two barrels near the concealed doorway. The room is empty, an inch of dust on the floor.

The room is accessed by swing the ladder to the hay loft out of the way.

The floor of this room is actually a ramp. One of the barrels at the head of the ramp conceals a winch. Inserting a sturdy wooden dowel into the bung hole of the barrel, the barrel can be turned like a windlass, tilting the floor of this room to meet the basement landing below (11.). This is the only way to get into the basement from the street level of the barn (without punching a hole in the floor.

3. The Back Door

Behind the barn the hand cart that the grooms use to carry water barrels to the river is parked. There are two large, empty barrels here as well.

The large barrels are big enough to conceal an unarmored man for a brief period, and are specially constructed to be made to fall apart from the inside.

4. The Rear Entrance

The back room of the bait shop is usually a mess. Garbage is stored here until it is loaded on the hand cart at the rear of the barn (3.), and hauled away down the alley to be dumped down a sewer grate, or dumped into the river. Deliveries are also taken here in the morning, before being hauled into the front room for sale.

Any one observing activity here will find it odd that the garbage is hauled down the alley and dumped, instead of using the grate at the back of the building (9.). The manager of the bait shop, when asked, claims that the sewer grate in that area is "clogged." (In reality, it has been modified to give access to the sewer level of the complex, see Area S1.)

5. Quarters

The proprietor's quarters are rather rudely furnished. "Snails" McNeil, the "manager" is a bachelor, and long passed caring about his appearance, or hygiene, it seems. The room reeks of bait, body odor, and a full chamber pot. The shop's owner, Potenzia DuBarone, forces McNeil to bathe in the river at least once a summer, whether he needs it or not. Often, he needs to be reminded to use soap.




6. Front Room

All of the transactions at the bait shop take place here. The buying and selling of bait usually takes place early in the morning, just before sunrise. Bait is mostly chum (cut up pieces of fish) for the vessels that are headed out to deep sea to hunt marlin, tuna or other big fish. The shop also sells small nets, rigging equipment, gaff hooks and other miscellaneous items for the fishermen. The shop will also, pickle, salt, or smoke fish in the basement, for a fee.




7. Preparation Room

There are two long, sturdy wooden tables in the middle of this room. Their surfaces are marred with thousands of blows from cleavers. Underneath each table there are holes in the floor. Strings of drying fish crisscross the low ceiling.

In the afternoon, this room is used to clean and prepare fish. Several of the fish mongers use the room before filling their carts and heading out into the streets to sell the day's catch. After the mongers are finished, the scraps are cut into chum for bait the next day. The mongers give the scraps to the shop as payment for the use of the room, since many own only a cart and a few possessions.

The room is cleaned by dumping buckets of water on each table, the runoff is swept into the floor drains, which in turn spill into catch troughs in the basement (16.). The troughs are emptied into floor drains, which feed into a small sewer pipe, and eventually into the city's sewers.

8. Store Room/Office

Dried goods and salt are stored in this room. A small desk with a few pigeon holes is tucked away in the corner. An open ledger and a stack of paper on top of the desk obviously hold the business account information.

Once a week the bookkeeper, a female gnome named, Perk, does the books for the shop. She sits with — and as far as possible from — McNeil and goes over purchasing supplies, gives McNeil cash to cover the weekly expenses and wages, and takes whatever is left to Potenzia as profits.

9. Sewer Grate

A shaft, covered with a rusty iron grate leads down about 30 feet to darkness below and — presumably from the smell —  the sewers. There are no rungs or a ladder of any kind in the walls of the shaft. The walls are slightly damp and slippery.

The section of the main sewers below this pipe has been altered. The instead of feeding into the sewer main, this shaft leads below the main pipe into a large chamber (See Subterranean Level - S10.). The sewers themselves have been blocked to create the rooms at the sewer level (S1. - S8.). This has gone undetected, since sections of the sewer system in the West Slums have not worked in years.

Careful examination of this grate will show that, although it is rusty, it is dry, and has been for some time. The shaft also appears dry, and the overwhelming stench that can issue from a typical sewer grate is suspiciously mild here. It is either welded or bolted securely onto the shaft.

Ten feet from the top, just at the edge of the light from above, some care has been taken to smooth the stone of the sewer pipe. The 5 foot diameter shaft is too wide to comfortably climb by bracing against the sides, and the smoothing (some kind of magic?) has eliminated all handholds. Treat the shaft as sheer or slippery (check every 20' feet) and give a -25% chance to a thief's base climb walls percentage.

10. Abandoned Building

When these stores where owned by more nefarious types, this was an excellent spot to hide and keep watch on the buildings. Since the new owner is totally legit (nudge-nudge), this feature is no longer used.

[ TOP ]

Basement Level

Maps - Basement Level [ GIF | PDF ]

11. Shelf

There is a shelf (shaded area) about five foot high on the east wall of the basement. Large wooden columns from floor to ceiling hold it in place, and presumably lend support to the structure above. The shelf is ten feet deep, and covers almost the entire east wall. It holds a number of barrels and creates, as well as horse and ox harnesses and tack. Scattered about the room are a number of other barrels and crates, some bearing the markings of various trading groups in the Western Hemisphere. There are no exits in this room.

The concealed door in the Northeast corner is found normally.

The floor in the Concealed Room (2.) above can be cranked all the way down to form a ramp down to the south end of the shelf. If emptied of its contents, the shelf can be tipped to make a ramp to the floor. In this way, barrels, crates and manner of other goods can be quickly loaded into the basement.

12. Basement

Scattered about the room are a number of barrels and crates, some bearing the markings of various trading groups in the Western Hemisphere. There are no exits in this room.

The concealed door in the Northeast corner is found normally. The barrels hold water, ale and rum. The crates have oats, straw, or are empty. There is nothing of real value here.

A crate has been set up like a table, with three or four barrels arranged around it like stools. Atop the crate, a candle has burned down to a lump of beeswax and a tiny wick. Underneath the crate is a deck of cards, and some elegant ivory dice (25 gp).

13. Closet

This door has a large padlock. Inside, there are three large, locked chests, each with a good quality inset lock.

None of the chests are trapped, but each are locked. One contains two traveling spell books, some miscellaneous spell components, vials of ink and quills. Each spell book contains only one fist level spell, read magic. Each is trapped with a Sepia Snake Sigil. A second chest holds approximately 7,500 gp, and a teak box lined with velvet. Inside the box are two vials, one is labeled "Antidote." The third chest contains two identical ledgers, and some parchment. Each ledger is also trapped with a Sepia Snake Sigil.

Examining the ledgers at length will reveal that the owner keeps two sets of identical business records. Some notations in the second level speak of "extra" cargo, other entries labeled "surplus, or waste," appear suspicious. These notation that talk of "extra" cargo generally correspond with dates and events listed in the unaltered ledger.

14. Smoking Room

An oven in the Southwest corner is it with a smoldering peat fire. The smoke is routed up through a chimney in the ceiling. Fillets of fish are hung above the fire for smoking.

There are strings of drying fish, and a few hods of coal in this room. There are also several cords of hardwood and a bucket of rank-smelling water.

15. Cold Storage

The walls of this room are clad with an extra course of bricks. Fish are set here in ice, to keep them fresh for a day or two, or are put in earthen crocks filled with brine to pickle. Whole fish are also packed in salt and lye to preserve them for winter.

The secret door in the northwest corner is difficult to spot.

16. Basement

This large room is essentially empty. The floor slopes slightly to the south, and there are large holes in the floor covered with crude, rusty iron grates. Strategically placed wooden troughs catch water from the preparation room above. The driest corner of the room (northeast) is used as a temporary storage area.

The wooden troughs are emptied twice a day into the floor drains. These drain into a sewer pipe which carries the water to a main sewer junction to the south (towards the river), not towards the sewer directly behind the shop, oddly.

17. The Slide

The secret door in 15., and the concealed door in 12. lead into a smooth stone chute, which spirals down around the sewer shaft at 9. at a very steep angle. The ceiling is low enough that a normal man cannot stand upright.

The easiest way to negotiate the chute is to slide down feet first. This is difficult in heavy armor. And noisy, too. Climbing up the chute is also difficult in heavy armor. And even more noisy.

[ TOP ]

Sewer Level

Maps - Sewer Level [ GIF | PDF ]

The sewer level is built a collapsed section of a main sewer aqueduct. The aqueduct is 6 feet tall at the sides with a vaulted ceiling that is 16 feet tall at the top. The pipe is ten feet wide. It is dry, because this aqueduct, which runs east-west, has been deliberately caved in at either end (S8.).

Since the sewers in this section of the city (as with most of the city) are designed to empty into the river, the main pipes run basically north-south. This junction was bypassed (at great cost to the original owner), and rebuilt to the south of the shop. At high tide, backwash from the system still spills into the pipes on either side of the collapsed section.

The rooms on this level show evidence of a recent cleansing and whitewashing. The walls are scoured smooth, perhaps by water directed at a very high pressure. Niches and corners have been shaped smooth as well, and in places the walls show traces of runes or glyphs which have also been smoothed.

S1. The Slide

The slide makes two complete revolutions and ends up here.

S2. Quarters

This room is used infrequently as a temporary quarters. The usual cot, foot locker and sundry items occupy this room.

S3. Quarters

This room is locked. It is also empty.

S4. Wine Cellar

This room has been lined with cedar planking, and saw dust has been spread on the floor to keep moisture to a minimum. There are several built-in cedar racks here, enough to hold a few hundred bottles of wine. Only about a quarter of the racks hold any bottles. There are also several casks of brandy, whiskey, and fine spiced rum.

Altogether, the wine and liquor in this room is worth around 1,000 gp, give or take a few bottles.

S5. The Cells

The walls in this room haven’t been white-washed yet. They were covered with runes and glyphs that had been carved deeply into the wall. Niches which once held incense or religious icons have been filled in, or chipped away. The repairs here seem to be a work in progress.

The floor has a small hole, about 8 inches in diameter. It opens into a dark chamber below.

There are 4 alcoves, each five feet wide, and five feet deep. Each has inset bars and a sliding door made out of bars. There are iron rings in the wall, but the iron shackles and manacles have been removed. Each holds goods of some sort.

The owner of the shop, Potenzia, is a skilled mage (illusionist). This room was once used for sacrifices and other dark rites to a foul deity. He has been slowly removing the markings with a stone shape spell, which he can take once per day. It is slow going.

The hole was once a shaft 8’ in diameter, and leads to a chamber below. It has been stone shaped down to 8 inches.

1. This alcove is piled from floor to ceiling with wooden crates. A careful search will uncover the fact that the crates are mostly empty. The back of this alcove is an illusionary wall. Behind the wall, there is a five foot square area. It is currently empty.
2. This alcove has a cache of weapons. Short bows, broad swords, long swords, daggers, and suits of leather armor and ring mail are piled neatly in the area. The rear wall is an illusionary wall. Behind the illusion is a five-foot square area. It is also currently empty. A standard-sized spell book has been stone shaped into the floor.
3. Empty.

S6. Crawl Space

This narrow opening slopes up and narrows to about two-feet wide. A normal-sized human must crawl on his/her stomach at the end of this crawlway. The narrow fissure ends in the ceiling of the main sewer aqueduct. It is difficult to spot from the outside.

S7. Sewer Aqueduct

The main aqueducts in Rastgoth have a curved bottom, and a two-foot wide ledge on the south side.

S8. Collapsed Tunnel

The aqueduct has been collapsed at both ends. The collapsed area has been shored-up on the inside, to keep it from sliding, but it is a bit unstable on the outsides. Digging or searching in the rubble, it is possible to bring the ceiling down (1d6 chance per turn spent searching). It would take a day or so of digging to tunnel through the collapsed section. The Plumbers and Cellarers Guild of Rastgoth has taken bribes in the past not to do just that.

S10. Shaft Terminus

The shaft that begins at the Sewer Grate (9.) end in the ceiling of this room. It has been smoothed for the last 20 feet of its 30—foot length, making it extremely difficult to climb. There is one other entrance to this room, an 8 inch hole in the ceiling about the center of the room. The ceiling in this room is low, about 5'-feet high at its lowest point (the southeast corner) and about 8'-tall at its highest (the center). The floor in the southeast corner slopes up in rough stair-step fashion.

The walls are covered with carving and runes of a base and vile nature. In some places, the more obviously disturbing runes have been smooth over with a creative application of a stone shape spell. Niches that once held religious symbols are empty. The debris from shattered stone litters the floor.

This was once the high altar of a Yaun-Ti cult, run by the infamous renegade abomination, Dragon Fly. When the property changed hands, the new owner simply made this room difficult to access, and left it pretty much intact. Like the more vile room above, transforming this area into something less vile is a work in progress.

[ TOP ]

© 2007 Christopher Pryce