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For example, since Captain Osterman of the Specularum Militia had prior knowledge that the good ship Gargoyle was in fact not-so-good, and was in all likelihood carrying illegal contraband, the Specularum coastal forces were able to intercept the Gargoyle and deny landing privileges. Hence the expected shipment of illegal drugs (black lotus to be specific) didn't arrive in the Lower City, and the little known overlord of this particular trade found his supply running rather short. Short supply subsequently required the street price of said illegal drugs to temporarily rise, quite considerably. This in turn led to a short period of increase in petty theft and other, rather less than petty activities, as habitual users were forced to raise the necessary cash to cope with these elevated prices. Fortunately for the City, this increase in unsavoury behaviour tended to occur amongst the less savoury members of the community themselves, and relatively few instances were reported in the Upper City itself. Many inhabitants of the Lower City were of course unable to meet the rising costs, and pretty soon the supply almost dried up completely, which led to a substantial increase in trade for the morticians, undertakers, and street cleaners of Specularum. This clean-out of Lower City "trash" in turn led to a quiet period for the City militia, and Captain Osterman was duly recognised by the City officials in the annual Honours bash held in the Grand Duke's Palace.
And how did Captain Osterman learn of the imminent arrival of the Gargoyle?
Why, a psionic mental communication from one of the new Specularum Special Squad members on undercover assignment aboard the good ship Shibboleth. The "Specials" as they are commonly referred to, was none other than Stanley Doff, on his way to Jorn with the rest of his Specials to investigate the source of the illegal black lotus trade. This relatively new Special squad had been investigating the disappearance of one of the militia recruit trainee teams and had managed to uncover a major black lotus trading ring operating in the Lower City of Specularum. All the evidence uncovered had pointed to Jorn as the source.
"I always knew they would be good for something," Captain Osterman was heard to say.
Unfortunately, this rather sudden change in the Lower City's illegal distribution of black lotus didn't help the standing of its local overlord. Known as Zorro in the underworld circles, he was distraught as his meagre stores of black lotus was diminished, his distribution network found other things to do, and his normal cash-rich business suddenly collapsed. Zorro was forced into a flurry of desperate activity, trying to establish a new source of lotus, maintain his prominent position in the local guild of Thieves, and get revenge on the bastards who had brought all these problems about.
In fact Zorro had already utilised the very efficient communication system provided by the Gnome Postal service, to speed a contract through to his companions in Jorn. He knew who had caused all the problems, and that smart-arse half-elf thief called Lon Gon was going to get it! Lon was a member of the same Special squad as Stanley (mentioned above) and had travelled to Jorn with him on the Shibboleth. He was also a member of the Specularum Guild of Thieves and was supposed to have tempered the recent investigation into black lotus trade so as to "catch" a few shady characters operating in opposition to Zorro. Unfortunately, the investigation had uncovered a little too much and had unravelled Zorro's own supply lines from Jorn. Lon was suddenly infamous throughout the Specularum Guild of Thieves and was happy to accept the assignment to head out to Jorn. Zorro immediately arranged with the Wizards' Guild to have a magical wanted poster created, and shipped via Gnome Post to his associates in Jorn.
The magical wanted poster is in itself a marvel of communication, and shows the current appearance of the wanted individual, no matter how he may disguise himself, includes the current value of the contract, no matter how it might change over the course of its term, and even manages to keep track of any alias the wanted individual may be using at any given time. How does this work? Well its just magic really!
Unfortunately for Lon, the said poster had arrived in Jorn days before the Shibboleth, with a 5000 gold piece bounty on his head. This made working openly in Jorn very complicated and Lon was forced to "disappear" soon after arrival. In fact, Lon was very lucky that he spotted a copy of the poster as soon as he checked into the Jorn office of the Guild of Thieves upon arrival. Mind you, he is a lucky chap!
The Specials soon suspected that their local contact, Tim Meikle, was not who he seemed, and with the help of superior communication confirmed with that he was indeed unknown to Captain Osterman. Deciding that the Jorn environment was not going to be too conducive to healthy living, the Specials devised a cunning plan to return to Specularum without raising too much suspicion on the part of Tim Meikle and his suspected employers, the Jorn Guild of Thieves.
A false communication from Specularum was prepared and duly "received" from the local Gnome Post office. The squad reported to Tim that they had been recalled to Specularum to follow up some leads with the slavery side of the recently uncovered illegal activities. Since the Shibboleth was due to leave that very afternoon (by happy coincidence) the squad would have to leave immediately. Tim was very helpful and arranged for passage (all except for Lon who was still in deep cover as Philbert Bayi elsewhere in Jorn) and a few additional "militia" men, who coincidentally seemed to have a good grasp of the local Thieves cant. These four operatives were kept under close watch by the Specials, as they were suspected of being agents of the Jorn Guild of Thieves, and obviously up to no good. Unfortunately, the Specials had no information as to what the mission of these four operatives actually was, but they seemed to keep mostly to themselves.
The voyage was generally uneventful until the Gargoyle was spotted bearing down on the Shibboleth half way through the trip. What did this mean for our intrepid squad of Specials?
Much discussion was held between Captain Trondheim and Stanley as to what may eventuate, and when the four suspected Guild of Thieves members were spotted climbing into their armour, speculation was rife. Was there some cunning plot to take over the Shibboleth and kill the party? Were the four thugs going to wait for the Gargoyle to attack, and then "surprise" the party by attacking from within? What?, what?, what? Was the question on everyone's mind.
Fortunately, the Jorn Guild of Thieves didn't have a communication system between land and sea, and the Gargoyle was just looking to swap boats so they could off-load their illicit cargo under the name of a different ship.
"So what's going on?" one of the four thugs was overheard to ask.
"Specularum will not let us dock" replied one of the Gargoyle sailors.
"Thank Funken their left hand doesn't know what their right hand is doing" muttered Bookem.
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