Sebastian reaches the hole just in time to see the vampire take control of Lucien. "What?! NO!" Unsure whether to try to attack the vampire or to draw his rapier and engage Lucien, Sebastian slowly circles the two. "Ayako, the vampire has him under some kind of spell!" Stepping, perhaps foolishly, into striking range, keeps his buckler at the ready as he makes a quick strike at the vampire.
What?! Blast it, good thing we came back.
As Sebastian steps up to the vampire, Lucien's body moves against his will, controlled like a puppet with the vampire pulling the strings, and swings his greatsword at his ally. Unsure of what to expect but not wholly caught off guard, Sebastian shifts back so that the sword cuts through the air in front of him. Sebastian reverses his momentum back towards the vampire and pierces it through the chest. The silver dagger cuts through its resistant skin with ease. The vampire clutches its wound incredulously then silently crumbles to dust.
With the vampire's destruction, its hold over Lucien dissipates. The last vaporous cloud sinks down into the crawlspace and settles silently into a coffin.
Lucian, are you well?
Lucien, finally free from the vampire's hold, kneels over, his hand covering his face. What...What have just happened? Did I...fall under a vampire's control? My...My will is too weak. P-please Father, forgive me. I'm not worthy of your favor!
Lucien seems shaken, but still he manages to warn his companions. "We...We need to expose them to direct sunlight, otherwise they'll come back soon." His voice is hoarse and dry, bearing witness of his inner troubles. I...I need to atone for that...
Very well, let us work together to get them into the light.
Ayako will help getting the vampires into the sunlight, after a long piece of wood is driven through their hearts of course.
Sebastian breathes a sigh of relief that Lucien's back in control. It doesn't take a genius to see that the other man is shaken, probably struggling with an overburdened conscience. Sebastian places a comforting hand on Lucien's shoulder. "It's over. You've beaten it."
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The coffins are much lighter now and with effort you are able to drag them out of the widened hole that you made. You drag the coffins, one by one, through the showroom and out the front door; one of the keys on Giottori's key ring unlocks the door.
Once outside, you crack open the coffins. Inside, the gaseous clouds are slowly reforming into solid forms; currently, they are little more than translucent skeletons. As soon as the sun hits them, their bodies begin to burn and they sit straight up and unleash an unearthly scream. Seconds later they are completely consumed in a conflagration of black flames. As the flames die down, only ashes remain that are quickly scattered into the wind.
A quick look around the room turns up a rusty, pathetically jingling lockbox behind the counter.
Another one of Giotorri's keys unlocks the lockbox. Inside is 2 gp, 8 sp, 22 cp, a silver tooth (worth 1 gp), and a brass key shaped like the symbol of Abadar and bearing the number 261.
You recognizes the key as belonging to a private deposit box at an Abadarian temple.
A lockbox with a few coins in it, plus a key. This looks like something Lucian would be familiar with. Ayako holds out the key.
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Iolana Altumas walks the early morning streets, troubled by her experience from last night:
Iolana was walking home after completing a job for Cressida Croft when she encountered a mob of Midland citizens dangling a bound and hooded man upside down from the rafters of the Shingles. Upon closer inspection as Iolana approached, she realized that the victim was actually an alley-prowling wererat strung up by its tail. Giving voice and violence to their fear of the plague, the mob blamed their problems on the lycanthropes believed to dwell below the city. Out of curiosity, Iolana stuck around long enough to witness the poor creature get publicly executed by a silver axe. Afterwards, the mob's misguided violence quickly extended to a few drunken dockworkers who dispersed and braved the sewers to hunt for more of the wererats within. Unable to stop the mob alone, Iolana waited until everyone has left the scene, then took the nameless wererat's body down to afford him some semblance of dignity as penance for her inability to prevent his death.
As Iolana is walking, a mousy, second-hand fishmonger with jaundiced eyes approaches her.
"Hey!" she calls out. "My name is Eries Yelloweyes. I saw you the other night. You helped Vrek. The wererat. You are the only one whose shown compassion to my people so I turn to you now for help. As you saw last night, some of Korvosa's scared citizens have taken to hunting us in our homes. Used to fear and abuse, most of us have responded to the attacks by abandoning our dens and hiding elsewhere in the city. One wererat, however, a firebrand called Girrigz Ripperclaws, refuses to do so, instead calling his kin to war against the weakened humans above."
"I'm an old woman. I've lived in secret in this city for over 50 years. I've seen much suffering in my time, including devastating government-directed rat-purges, a return of which I fears Girrigz's warmongering ways could quickly incite. But alas, my efforts to talk sense to the violent wererat and his gang having failed completely. Please! I see the way you carry yourself. It is clear you have power. Something must be done about Girrigz before more lives are lost. Please speak with him and, if necessary, offer him an example of the force the city will doubtlessly employ should his rebelliousness continue. But I beg you not to kill my people if it can be avoided."
"Here are directions to Girrigz's lair beneath Midland." She describes a sewer entrance a few blocks from your current location and then a pathway through the sewers which will lead to the lair.
"In exchange for your help, all I can offer you is any spoils of Girrigz camp and, once you've disbanded his ragtag army, information on what might be the true reason for Korvosa's plague."
"If you don't think you can handle it alone, I've heard of some other heroes working within the city. Perhaps some of them could aid you."
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The small half Varisain woman leans against a wall as she listens to the old wererat respectfully. Her age grants her Iolana's respect for the moment. The wisdom of her words earns more. Iolana's dark clothing and hair make it hard to see her unless she moves.
She smiles, "You are a wise one Eries Yelloweyes. Girrigz will certainly be leading his people, and any other lycanthropes in the city to their deaths if he continues with this plan."
You also realize that anyone would want information about the plague. If only to sell it to the highest bidder.
"I'm interested in your proposal. I have some questions. You called it an army. How many weres does he have following him? Do you think if he's convinced the rest will disband or continue to fight? Is the camp well defended?"
She thinks about what Eries said about not handling things herself. Getting some help wouldn't be a bad idea. I'll ask Cressida if she knows anyone who is trustworthy and might want a job. I won't tell her what the job is just yet. No sense getting the guard all excited over something that could be trivial.
Sebastian draws his cape around him to ward off the chill of the wind. Watching the vampires burn with black fire in the sunlight had to win the prize for most disconcerting sight of the year. But the year was still young. "I still think I would rather have a let a cleric handle that," he says, still uneasy over the whole thing. What other foulness lies in that alley? He shifts his attention to the skies. The thought of his impending hippogriff ride brings him some needed comfort.
Turning to Ayako, he eyes the key. "It looks important. What do you make of it, Lucien?"
I believe that if we went to find a cleric that we would have returned to find Lucian gone and in the thrall of that thing. It is unwise to split the group.
"We need to take care of them now, Sebastian. I know, it is not pleasing, but we have to. We just need to expose them to direct sunlight. Come on, help me with that coffin."
Ayako hands the key to Lucian to see if it means anything to him.
Eries responds to Iolana, "Currently Girrigz only has about a dozen or so wererats following him, but the size of the army isn't what matters. He won't succeed. But if he marches onto the surface, the people of Korvosa will retaliate and innocent wererats will suffer. There are probably over a hundred of my people who just want to live in peace. Do I think he is going to able to be convinced to disband? It is highly unlikely but I'd like you to try. The camp probably won't be overly guarded. I doubt he'll think anyone would be foolish enough to intrude into his territory. But I can tell you that the camp employs a kind of fungus called a shrieker that acts as a natural guard. The fungus can detect movement and light and will emit an ear piercing sound that will alarm the pack if you aren't careful."
"Thank you for the advice Eries. I'll be careful on my way to the camp. I'm heading out now to see if I can find someone to help me with this task. Iolana strides away down the street quickly to seek out Cressida.
So let us head back to Croft and report that vampires have been destroyed, then we can plan our next move. Ayako bullies everyone away from the shop
Iolana arrives at Citadel Volyshyenek while the party is still waking the morning they head to Racker's Alley.
The guards recognize Iolana and nod as she passes by. Iolana finds Field Marshall Cressida Croft in her office and she smiles at the sight of the sorcerer.
"Welcome, Iolana. It's good to see you again. How goes things? It looks like you've managed to keep healthy so far. Are you looking for more work?"
Iolana grabs a cup of tea, and takes a seat. She crosses her left ankle over her right knee and leans back comfortably in the chair. Smiling at Cressida she says, "Things are going well. Staying healthy is high on my priority list. Speaking of staying healthy I have a lead on information about the source of the plague. It's not the weres not matter what the good people of Korvosa may think. I ran into a group of citizens who lynched this poor wererat this morning. There were too many for me to do help him, but it's not right. No one has proven the weres have anything to do with the plague."
She continues to sip her tea. "You know that I'm always looking for work. I've got to keep the flat paid for. I have something lined up, but I need some help with it. I can't do it alone. Do you know anyone who might be interested in heading into the sewers for some diplomatic work? If this works out, I may get some information about the source of the plague. Of course I'll share that information with you."
Ayako keeps walking towards destiny!
"The people are desperate. With the churches too overwhelmed to help the masses and the root of the disease still a mystery, people are wildly spreading unfounded blame. I feel for them but thinking like that will only create further chaos and put innocents in the cross-hairs as you witnessed. Rats have historically been carriers of disease but as far as I know, I have not heard of any proven case of a rat suffering from the Blood Veil. And even the wererats are suffering from the Blood Veil, and I'd bet that some of them are, I doubt they are any more likely to spread the plague than the other citizens of Korvosa. Unfortunately, I have no resources to spare on them. I didn't have any other work for you at the moment, but if these wererats know something about the plague that might help us I support you following that lead. I do know another group of adventurers who have been doing some work for me as well. I'm expecting them back at some point today. You are more than welcome to wait for them." Cressida Croft chats with Iolana.
A few hours later, Ayako, Sebastian, Lucien, and Nadya arrive back at the Citadel from their expedition to Racker's Alley.
Ayako arrives and heads to Croft's office. We managed to dispose of a group of vampires that were lairing at a Racker's Alley store. Plus bodies have been improperly disposed of there.
"Indeed! Lucien was magnificent! He cut through those fiends like a holy knife through festering, undead butter!" Sebastian slaps Lucien on the back, a bit harder than necessary. "And now that we've taken care of that little errand, we'll be off to the Great Tower."
Lucien smiles as Sebastian slaps him on the back. His smile is genuine, witnessing his joy for both the outcome of their mission and the closeness showed by Sebastian. I was hoping we could really become friends...Well, maybe it just happened and I didn't realize it.
"My friend Sebastian is too kind, Mrs. Croft. We did our best to dispatch those undead abominations, and Abadar bestowed his favor on us, ensuring we could prevail."
It's only after he has compensated for Sebastian's praises with a display of humility that Lucien notices the other woman sitting in the room. He looks quizzically at Cressida, looking for an answer, but he immediately realizes that waiting for another second would have made a rude out of him. The young paladin smiles kindly at the woman, and moves closer in order to kiss her hand with his usual savoir-faire. "Lucien Endrin milady, I'm pleased to make your acquiescence".
Iolana smiles at the young paladin's polite manners, and raises an eyebrow at Sebastian's exuberance. She nods in greeting and says, "Iolana Altumas. The pleasure is mine."
She sizes up the group. I wonder if these are the people Cressida was telling me about. They look like a capable lot. I hope they are good at diplomacy. It's clear they can fight.
She looks at Cressida questioningly, "Are these the people you were telling me about?"
Iolana has more than enough time to chat with Cressida and wander around a bit before the other four arrive. When they do, Cressida greets them as well.
"Vampires! That's bad news, but if you managed to dispose of them, that's one less worry I have. Hopefully it was an isolated case. Thank you for the help. I'll see to it that the cart workers responsible are arrested. Even if it was just out of sheer laziness, such irresponsibility is a danger to us all in a time like this. The corpses must be disposed of properly or they'll only help spread the disease faster. Although the cities resources are already stretched thin, I'll find a way to arrange for a new cart worker to be reassigned to the area immediately."
"Ah yes, Iolana. These are the people I was telling you about. This is Lucien, Sebastian, Ayako, and Nadya." Cressida gestures one by one to each of you. "And this is Iolana Altumas. She's been doing some side jobs for me as well and it sounds like she's come across something of importance. I'll let her explain it herself though."
Ayako nods politely to Iolana. Charmed, I hope our efforts can help curtail this plague.
Sebastian doffs his feathered cap in greeting, smiling to cover his chagrin at what looked to be another detour. Usually he never passes up the opportunity for a grand introduction, but this time was different. As much as he liked meeting beautiful women, he was badly looking forward to meeting a hippogriff. Besides, I can hardly expect to outdo Lucien, now can I?
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Iolana says, "This isn't an official Guard job, we shouldn't take up any more of your valuable time Cressida. If anything of interest comes out of this, I'll let you know."
"It's almost time for the midday meal. Would you like to join me at the Goldmarket? We can talk on the way, and grab some food from the market stalls when we get there."
She starts to stand and then remembers the shriekers. "Cressida do you happen to know how to get around a fungus that shrieks when it detects movement or light?"
I would be happy to, it has been a while since I had a good meal. Ayako will leave with the others.
Lucien looks at the others as Iolana invites them to a meal together. Not catching any sign of denial, the young paladin smiles kindly. "I'm glad to accept the offer too. Fighting vampires had killed my appetite, I almost forgot to eat. Lead the way, then"
She starts to stand and then remembers the shriekers. "Cressida do you happen to know how to get around a fungus that shrieks when it detects movement or light?"
"You must be referring to a Shrieker. The only way to get around one is to kill it or stay out of its range. They don't detect movement more than 10 feet away."
"Good luck to you all." Cressida bids you farewell. "Let me know what you find. Keep up the good work."
You head up Field Marshall Avenue and arrive at the Gold Market. Dozens of tents and stalls line the market. The scents of every imaginable food wafts through the air from food stalls. Colorful scarves and jewelry hang on hooks from others. Despite the plague, the market still bustles but the merchants are much more subdued then usually. Instead of shouting and hawking their wares, the merchants are more cautious and turn away anyone who shows any sign of sickness. However, with your pseudodragon marks you are all more than welcome by the merchants.
All manner of foods and handicraft from Korvosa’s holdings and the rest of Varisia appear in the Gold Market. Several carts sell fresh-made meals and sugary snacks, from Varisian borsht to Oliphant Ears (fried on the backs of tower shields). The wide variety of foods available make this a popular market, and some city leaders speculate that at least half the city’s residents visit the market at least once a month.
One small and irregularly appearing stall sells trinkets that the proprietor, Sagitar Tiguan, claims are minor magical items or elixirs and tonics created through alchemy. Although many locals wonder about the authenticity of his goods, whenever he appears in the market, the shining silk tent in which he holds forth is constantly surrounded by adventurer types.
Ayako buys some grilled meat that she is fairly certain is properly cooked along with bread and some ale. So you have some more info on the troubles that have befallen the city? We have several leads ourselves such and investigating the river and a ship that was sunk by catapults.
Iolana purchases a couple of kebabs and some fried bread. "The wererats are being blamed my some for the plague. I came across a mob that hung one of them. Thre wasn't much I could do until after they left. After I cut him down, another were approached me." She takes a moment and purchases a glass of ale. Taking a drink she continues with her story. "She says that there's a group of wererats in the sewers who are ready to bring the fight to the citizens of Korvosa. She asked for my help to dissuade their leader from doing that. We all know if they start a fight the Guard will finish and no were in the city will be safe. She offered what we find at the camp as a reward. More importantly she offered information about the source of the plague."
Looking at the other four she asks, "Are you interested in working with me on this? We don't want to kill any of them if it can be helped. If it can't be, she asked for as few deaths as possible." Iolona says to Ayako, "What's this about the river, and a sunken ship?"
I would be most interested. As for the ship, a ship floated into the city and was scuttled due to not responding to any hails and is now on the bottom of the river. We plan to investigate to see if there is any connection to the current troubles.
An investigation that this distraction is delaying. Sebastian, munching on a reeflcaw pasty, wrinkles his nose. "Wererats? What do we want with them? If they want a fight, let them bring it and we'll finish it. I hardly think the rat-woman knows anything we haven't already discovered."
So does anyone have any knowledge on wererats? I am not familiar with them.
Natural wererats tend to be short and wiry, with constantly darting eyes and frequent nervous twitches. Males often have thin, ragged moustaches.
Wererats prefer cities where they can blend in with the humanoid and rat population. Their abilities make them especially good at thieving and spying, and in many cities the thieves' guild employs numerous wererat members.
Wererats are shapechangers and can shift between human and dire rat forms as well as a hybrid form between the two.
All lycanthropes are resistant to damage and require silver weapons to hurt them fully.
A natural lycanthrope's bite can also afflict someone with the curse of lycanthropy.
Someone afflicted by the curse of lycanthropy shows no symptoms until the night of the next full moon, when the victim involuntarily assumes animal form and forgets his or her own identity.
As the group walks through the Gold Market, Lucien buys a bowl of Varisian borsht, eating it as he follows the others. He listens to his companions, his mouth full of the borsht rich flavor, as they talk about wererats. "As with all lycanthropes, they are divided in natural and afflictes, depending on how they contracted lycanthropy. In my experience, natural wererats tend to be short and wiry, with constantly darting eyes and frequent nervous twitches. You can discern male wererats from their thin, ragged moustaches."
Lucien pauses to buy a glass of Ulfen mead to clear his throat. He sips the mead and after a few seconds he continues: "They usuallu prefer cities where they can blend in with the humanoid and rat population. They're very good at thieving and spying, and I've read in some records that they were found among the thieves' guilds ranks more than once in the past, even in our city. This is all I know, Ayako."
_______________________
I remember now a little of the information on them, the same as yours.
Talking around a mouthful of reefclaw pasty, Sebastian adds his own perspective. "Don't forget that they can inflict their curse on others, like rabid dogs. All it takes is one bite." Swallowing, he dips his pasty in a little clay container of thileu bark sauce. " And they're almost as hard to kill as those vampires. You need silver weapons. We keep silver daggers in stock at the smithy for just such a purpose; they're a perennial favorite."
"Sebastian, do you think there's any chance I find a silver greatsword here? If we're going to investigate on wererats, we should prepare for a fight and silver blanch is too slow as an option...besides, it needs to be exposed to a flame in order to be applied to a weapon".
With that said, Lucien insists on spending some time to find a weapon seller offering silver weapons.
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Iolana looks surprised with Sebastian's attitude about the wererats. I shouldn't be surprised most Korsovans don't care for them much. I wonder if he feels the same way about Varisians? An annoyance in his city who doesn't matter.
She turns to Sebastian and asks, "What makes you think you already know everything there is to discover about this plague Sebastian? I don't see a cure yet. I still see people dying. Your group is four people in a very large city. She may know nothing. Are you willing to take the chance and possibly endanger more lives because you think she can't possibly know anything." By the time she is done talking she's almost standing on tiptoe in an attempt to look Sebastian in the eye.
She takes a couple of deep breaths, and a step back. "You are right the guard would put them down quickly, but not fast enough to keep the wererats from taking down many citizens before they get to them. We're losing enough as it is. We don't need to be fighting among the different groups of citizens. The wererats are caught in this plague too. They have a vested interest in finding a cure."
"I have a twofold mission here. Stop bloodshed between the wererats and the other citizens, and giving any information my contact has about the plague to Cressida. Are you willing to help or not?"
Lucien's eyes widens as he listens to Iolana's words. His eyes darts from the woman to Sebastian, and back again. I wonder how he'll react... For a moment, Lucien considers the idea of stepping in the conversation and add his own view to the discussion, but eventually he decides it would be best to let Sebastian explain his own words. One thing I'm certain, though...this woman is resolute. I don't trust her. Resolute people are dangerous people. But if her motives are genuine, she could prove a useful helper, no doubt about it...
I am not skilled in melee but I suppose I could purchase a silver short sword.