Quote from cyreon >>

“If they have a few hours on us already, then, I think, we can rest an hour. It won’t change much, right?”

Sterling sighed. "Yes; I was afraid they had just run out. But if you need a rest, we should probably take it now."

Quote from Charwoman_Gene >>

"Neverember, are you willing to fight with us to rescue your friend? I don't think we have time to escort you out of this area safely and these are rough streets to travel alone."

The bard open his mouth for second, then shut it. He wasn't fond of the idea of having to babysit a noble as they chased after their quarry, but Wagner was right; considering the mess the man was already in, leaving him on his own now might just lead to them needing to rescue him again anyway.

Content with taking a breather, Sterling snatched another discarded rope from the room, then walked back into the main area, casually double-checked the scene. A thought crossed his mind, but then he spotted the still-breathing avian. "You stay put; we're not done with you yet!" he hissed at the restrained foe before turning back to the others.

"I'm going to try to check the balcony area while we rest!" he called out. He thought he'd heard something from there earlier--might as well check it out too, he figured. "Then we can collect all this equipment. No sense letting good coin go to waste."

(( @DM: Do I see any stairs to the balcony? Also, I'll add rope to Sterling's inventory if that's kosher. ))

He goes and picks up a dagger and a rapier scavenged from the dead thugs in the main room. "I would gladly help rescue Floon, seeing as he is only in this mess because of me. I have not been in many fights, but I have had plenty of fencing training which should come in handy."

He has the stats of a swashbuckler if you wish to plan combat tactics around him.

There is enough rope that you may all take some if you wish, and there are stairs to the balcony area. The open second level is stacked with crates where it overlooks the main warehouse. There is also a suite of offices which have a bell hanging above the door with a thread connected to it that runs into a wall. You gather that this thread gets pulled when the secret door below opened, as a way to alert people in the office if someone was entering that room.

Sterling headed up the stairs, checking over the second level (including the offices) and inside any easy-to-open crates.

(( Perception: 21, Investigation: 20 ))

It is mostly junk, including moth-eaten bolts of cloth, bottles of spoiled olive oil, and hundreds of pairs of wooden-soled sandals that were all the rage last summer but are now out of fashion. The offices are covered in cobwebs, and look hardly used. There is one box, with instructions, of paper birds, but only one sheet left. 

Sterling paused for a moment as he examined the paper and read over the instructions. Taking the box, he made his way back down to the lower level, and showed it to the others. "Seems someone overlooked this! I imagine it could be quite useful."

(( Sterling will hand it off to anyone who asks. Except maybe the noble. ))

Oriace located the most comfortable corner in the room and lay down for a nap. All what had transpired this day was too much for the small halfling and he drifted away into sleep mere seconds after he had laid down. Some 30 or 40 minutes later he woke up to a cramp, suggesting the place he found was not as comfortable as it had seemed initially. Slowly he redressed his bandage that had moved during his sleep and listened to what Sterling had found (short rest). “What should we do? We have to follow Xanathar’s thugs, right? I guess with Lord Neverember at our side, we have a fighting chance.”

"Following the thugs is what we should do, we need to rescue this Floon guy, a name like that, he can't handle himself."

Sterling took out the paper from the box. "I don't have my quill on me, but then I don't think we actually need a message to make this work. We should be able to just speak his name and then follow the creature it summons. We may have to run, but we should still be able to keep up, and it'll take us straight to him."

The bard went and opened the door to make a clear path, then found a clear spot on the floor to lay the paper down. Dipping his finger into a bit of muck on the ground, he smudged a small circle onto the paper, then stood up (obviously wiping his finger clean on a handkerchief as he did.) Sterling focused on the magical item while concentrating on the description of their quarry, and then finally spoke: "Floon Blagmaar."

(( Sterling readies himself to Dash after the bird to keep up. ))

Wagner will follow  Sterling as best as he can.

Oriace grabs his pack and look after the other two, „Come, quick,“ he says to their newfound ally and turns to break into a jog to follow Wagner and Sterling.

Although a good plan, there is two things that lead to its failure. Firstly, the paper bird flies up and over the buildings, where there are no alleyways for you to follow it quickly enough to keep up with it. Secondly, as you go to start running after it, you see a dozen of the city watch coming through the gate to the warehouse. "HALT!" they fan out and prevent any of you from leaving, and a few of them go in, see all the bodies, and take the one survivor into custody. They quickly identify the dead men as all Xanathar or Zhentarhim, and start arresting you all as well, "Are you going to cooperate with us and tell us which of the gangs you are part of, or are we going to have to beat that out of you." "Excuse me sirs but you are mistaken. You know who I am right? They just rescued me from the thugs, so they don't deserve to be arrested." The guard captain steps forward. "Let them go. This is Renaer Neverember. I believe he is telling the truth. As for you lot, I assume you didn't rescue him from just one thug which implies you have killed some people. I am prepared to overlook this crime this once due to your heroic actions. But please do remember that murder is murder, no matter the victim. Not all City Watch officers are as nice as me."

I will say you could see that the "bird" flew at least 3 or 4 streets away, and then you couldn't see it. It didn't look like it was leaving the Dock ward.

"Well, what now, do we have a conventional lead on tracking them?"

(yes you do. And I am not talking about the guard who are still around)

"The Kenku said we should follow signs in the sewer. So I guess we could go to the nearest entrance to the sewers and look for the described signs and follow them. We should be careful, though, it could be a misdirection or even a trap."

Sterling, still glaring at the backs of the guards walking away, turned back toward the others in resignation. "Might as well try that," he began. "I'm not... partial to the idea of having to enter sewers. But with our luck, it's probably where the bird was heading anyway."

He looked around on the streets, almost hoping he didn't see a sewer entrance nearby.

(( Perception Check: 2 ))

„Hey!“ Oriace calls out to the departing guards in his deep rumbling voice that totally belies his stature. „You wouldn’t happen to know where the nearest entrance to the sewers is? I mean no disrespect, but we are still looking for another victim and believe he was dragged into the sewers around here somewhere.“ He points to their noble friend, „Best don’t ask, official lord‘s business.“

 The guards give you directions. The nearest entrance is just over one street away. "We believe that the Xanathar use the sewers. Watch out down there, and remember, keep the blood off the streets."

"Thank you!" Oriace cries after the guards and turns towards the indicated direction, ready to find the entrance to the sewers. "That sounds about right. Xanathar use the sewers, and we search for Xanathar. Follow yellow signs, he said, didn't he? And straight to the boss... I'll have you all know that I'm fresh out of spells for today. A few tricks I can manage but nothing with... say... some oomph." 

You follow the direction and find a circular metal cover inset in the pavement. Anyone with  The cover is easily lifted, revealing a ladder down into the sewers. Oriace you notice what looks like drag marks, about the size of a body, leading to the cover. You look like you are in the right place.

A putrid stream flows along this sewer tunnel, which leads in two directions. In one direction, you see a tiny symbol drawn on the wall in yellow chalk: a palm-sized circle with ten equidistant spokes radiating out from its circumference. Once you start travelling (and immediately if you close the cover after you), the sewer is pitch black. And none of you have darkvision (Renaer included).

Casz looks at the stream and the smell, and walks back. "I know we were being paid for this, but I am not willing to go down there even for money. Good luck" and off they go back to a tavern to find some people looking for a good time.

Oriace looks down into the sewers and gulps. "Are we sure about this? I totally didn't think how awful this would be and it's so dark. I don't see anything. And this smell!" He looks at each of his companions until his gaze follows the departing Caszimir wondering if it was not him who is the smart one here, "I only have one candle and even if we were to rely on that I didn't even think on bringing anything to light it."