Session 0: Four cops walk into a bar

My first night with the Edgewatch was pretty quiet compared to my usual patrols in the Puddles. I don’t know these gents well but they seem like good men. The mage has a pretty exhaustive understanding of Absalom legal codes and statutes but he might be a little idealistic. The Puddles have a way of beating that idealism out of you but maybe the Edgewatch is a better forum for that kind of progressivism. The cleric seems a stalwart companion. He and the mage appear to know each other from way back. I think they went the academy together or something. He’s a pretty good negotiator, a skill that came in handy during the evening.

We were walking our beat when we heard a commotion from a rowdy adventurer’s bar, the Tipsy Tengu. Entering, we saw a decent crowd, with the bartender up to his elbows in patrons. The particular commotion we came upon was of some human yelling about his stolen purse and pointing fingers at a slippery looking halfling behind him. The human claimed the halfling had pickpocketed 80 gold from his purse. Things were getting heated and we wanted to try to keep the peace- no mean feat since adventurers aren’t well known for their patience and diplomacy. I didn’t recognize the halfling as a criminal associate of any of the perps I know in the Puddles but that didn’t mean he wasn’t a no-good thief.

As we started questioning the halfling about his personal effects, a drunken cleric farther down the table leapt to his feet and started bellowing his defense of his halfling friend. The cleric was adamant that he and his halfling companion had just come back in town from some adventure that had yielded the gold that the human accuser swore was his. The halfling, of course, claimed himself a sovereign citizen and refused to consent to an investigation. Things were getting tense but between the cleric and the mage, they were able to talk down the human and halfling from escalating into an all-out brawl (I’d like to think my handy shovel had a bit to do with that too). As things de-escalated, the halfling shrugged, apologized, and handed the human 100 gold. Not sure where the extra 20 came from but the human didn’t question it. Come to think of it, if you were trying to launder some cash, that sounds like a good way to do it. Will have to remember that for our report…