Raising from the items Tural sees that the vampires are still alive.
"Baer could you like really kill the vampires? They seem to be regenerating..."
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Mavor helps Denario with decapitating the vampires, starting with the blue one and leaving Baer to deal with green as she sees fit.
"Guess the buggers don't want to die that easily. We need to keep this is mind if we ever face another set of them. We seem to miss one of them though. He or she might come back eventually."
"I haven't found anything," Allyph replies to Denario, "but it looks like Denario found something I overlooked. Some kind of lockbox."
Allyph holds her hand out. "May I, Denario?"
She takes a set of lockpicks from her pocket and the lockbox from Denario, and starts working on the box's lock.
Denario and Mavor decapitate the vampires, but the wounds on the separated heads and bodies still continue to heal. Baer throws the bodies and heads on the pile of burning wood, making sure the necks and torsos don't touch each other where they once connected. The vampires finally stop healing as they slowly turn into coal.
Allyph starts working on the lockbox's lock and immediately succeeds in unlocking it. The lockbox contains 2 gp, 8 sp, 22 cp, a silver tooth , and a brass key shaped like the holy symbol of Abadar and bearing the number 261.
Tural takes a look at the key and shrugs.
"This could be from anything. The only hint is the symbol. Any of you know any more about this?"
Quorthos collects some of the vampire ashes for later study, and continues to search the area.
"One vampire missing... Perhaps we should wait here and ambush it on its return?" Quorthos muses put loud. "I'd rather not have one out looking for revenge for its friends..."
Baer grunts, knowing little of such things. "I hope it comes looking for me, Quorthos, rather than more killing of innocents."
"Maybe I should re-dedicate myself to some new studies, like religion, when we get some free time. These are strange things to me and I should know more," Baer says of the holy symbol. "I think we have everything we need here, right Allyph?"
"Denario, where are we going next? Back to Cressida to have her send some troops to clean this place up? Or to report to youknowwho about what we found."
"I suggest going to thatoneweknow about it first, they otherwise might bump into eachother's way."
Denario looks at the 4th coffin, maybe there's a lead we can follow?
"I think so, Baer. Doesn't look like there's much else to do here."
She looks at the key and shrugs. "Maybe Vencarlo knows what it's for. Or maybe Cressida does."
You head to Old Korvosa, toward Vencarlo's place. After you've crossed the bridge leading to Old Korvosa you're stopped by a Gray Maiden, one of the members of the elite force the queen established and which is currently tasked with aiding the queen's physicians.
"The district of Old Korvosa east of this bridge has been placed under quarantine," the female knight states. "If you have any business there, I have to ask you to leave. Entering the area is strictly forbidden, to avoid the further spread of blood veil."
You see a couple of queen's physicians walk in one of the streets you're not allowed in, knocking on doors and entering houses. A combined force of guards and Gray Maidens make sure no one but the physicians enters or leaves the quarantined area.
"Why don't you set up your blockade on the other side of the bridge so we didn't have to cross it twice to find out? Or put a sign up? Might be a kind thing to do, you know!" Baer mentions to the guards, annoyed at having to have walked across the bridge twice, wasting time.
"Blood veil, huh? That's the official name, is it? And now it's quarantine time? Hmpgrf," Baer notes turning back to find another route.
Baer will try to find another way to Vencarlo's.
Know (Local)
"Bunch of busy bodies, aren't they."
While walking, he comes up with an alternative.
"If everything else fails, we could try the sewers. I don't think it likely they would be watching those, busy as they appear right now."
You move away from the bridge and the quarantined area and arrive at Vencarlo's academy not much later. Vencarlo opens the door when you knock. "What a pleasant surprise! Come in! Come in!"
"It is good to see you again!" he says as he closes the door behind you.
He escorts you to his living room and offers you to sit down. "I hope you had a pleasant trip outside of town? And tell me, were the goods I gave helpful?"
"Not for me! I wasn't given anything!" Majenko comments, also letting Vencarlo hear his telepathic voice.
Baer shrugs to indicated middling success and almost wishing they had brought the body back to Vencarlo to have something of value to show the man.
"They were really helpful, especially considering how ugly the creatures were that made their way into the wreck so quickly. There was a woman so ugly in there, it would make you want to turn to men forever," Baer quips, knowing the ugliness of women from first hand experience with her mirror.
"But let me tell you what we found..." Baer will describe what happened in as much detail as she can, trusting others to help fill in the gaps.
"And that's when I thought I was dead forever...but I wasn't."
Tural nods at Baer's explanation, he fills in where necessary.
-_o
"You kidding?
Taking a nap is the worst they do to you, you're resiliant."
"I see," Vencarlo says as he moves to the edge of his seat.
"This pouch with silver coins you found. Do you still carry it with you? If it's indeed the source of blood veil, then you may not want to carry it with you all the time. The chance of being struck with the disease may increase considerably."
Vencarlo leans back in his seat and ponders for a moment. "I recall the existence of a spell that detects disease, used by the clergy. Perhaps you can contact a cleric to inspect the coins for you?"
Tural suddenly remembers the coins they got from the beggar.
"Quorthos? Didn't you save those coins from the beggar? He told us those were the same coins. That would mean we are very lucky that no one got sick yet..."
Quorthos agrees with most of what Baer has to say about their adventure.
"Yes, I have the coins," Quorthos replies to Tural. "They're wrapped up in my waterproof bag. We should get them checked out."
If Vencarlo doesn't have anything to add, Quorthos suggests we visit the Abadarian priest who we encountered earlier. "I'd rather not have the whole city know yet," he explains, "and I think we can exert sufficient influence on that one to keep quiet."
Baer nods and keeps quiet as others fill in Vencarlo.
"That sounds like a good idea, Quorthos. Did you know the Bank of Abadar has the largest amount of stored money in Korvosa? A lot of money passes through the Bank. Maybe, if the clerics know which coins to remove from circulation, you can slow the spread of blood veil?"
"As for the unholy symbol you found on one of the physicians, I'd say it'd be a smart move to investigate these physicians a bit more. See if more of them carry the same symbol. Maybe also let someone take a look at the mask you found, to see if it holds special properties or is purely part of the physicians' garb."
Vencarlo listens as you tell him about the alley with the corpses and the vampires. He asks to see the key.
"This is the key to a safe deposit box at the Bank of Abadar. You should find out what's in safe 261 when you head there for your friend the priest."
"I suggest you also ask the priest about the weaknesses of vampires. I do not know a great deal about them, but I know they have weaknesses related to the church. Knowing those will likely help you if the missing vampire decides to come after you, with or without friends of his."
Tural nods to Vencarlo.
"The bank is a good idea. We can ask our good priest friend to assist us there."
He turns to the group and asks.
"Shall we head for the deposit box and our priest first? Then head to the bank? How we go about the investigation of these physicians I have no idea."
He glances outside and sees the sun hanging fairly low.
"After some dinner and a good nights rest of course."
Baer yawns.
"It's late Tree-al. Have none of your fronds not noticed the lack of sun?" Baer says grouchily after walking all over town. "The bank is probably closed and dinner is needed. Tomorrow. We can bank tomorrow."
"Baer's right about the bank, they close at six.
On account of supper, that sounds a great idea."
For no reason really, Denario looks at the location of where the harrow deck's stashed.
You wouldn't happen to have some insights or advice, would you?
Denario detects a faint reaction from Zellara's Harrow deck, but it appears her magic's currently too weak to allow her to respond to him.
You head back the the Three Rings or home when you have no more questions for Vencarlo.
------
The next morning Allyph, Mavor and Quorthos are coughing and discover their faces are covered in a red rash.
"Nooo! No nooo!"
Allyph grabs her hand mirror and shakes her head in disgust of what she sees. "This red rash! I'm so ugly now!"
Baer runs over to Allyph, carrying her staff and readying for battle. She looks Allyph up and down.
"What is that? Acne? Yeah, I get that on my ass sometimes. Makes it hurt to wipe," Baer offers helpfully.
"Yeah, looks pretty bad."
Denario takes his leave when they had supper.
"Good night all, see you tomorrow."
(Tavern door opens and closes)
......The following day.......
Denario arrives back at the tavern, taking a last bite from a pear he got from home.
Walking closer.
"Morning guys, how's it goi.....", he sees Baer examining Allyph.
Aw hell....., Denario binds something in front of his nose and mouth.
"Careful Baer, coughing can easily spread."
Mavor wakes up the next morning with a fitful cough and examines himself in a mirror.
"Blast! Should have been more careful."
When he comes to greet the others in the morning he looks grouchy, really really grouchy.
He sits in a corner away from the others and asks for just some slightly old and roasted bread.
"You can put it on another table if you want, better safe than sorry I guess."
Tural heads downstairs and sees that the sickness now has spread through the group.
"That... Is really bad."
He says upon first seeing them.
"You guys still feel up for it to head out? We need some more of those potions to heal you."
"We bought a potion of remove disease a while ago, when we received money from Cressida to cure the..."
Allyph goes into a coughing fit. It takes her a while to stop and continue talking.
"...to cure the girl. And didn't you also get one from your dad, Tural?"
She looks at Mavor and Quorthos. "I hate looking like this, but I'll try to tough it out. Don't feel like you have to do the same, there's a potion for each of you."
Tural starts rummaging through his backpack and finds the potion almost immediately.
"Ah yes, you are right!"
He offers the potion to the sick.
Baer covers her mouth and goes to look at Quorthos.
"Are you sick? How can you tell? Red skin, red blotches?" Baer says, not having any good solution.
"I think we go get a wand that might alleviate the symptoms...help you recover, maybe."
On the whole, Baer avoids the sickies.
Quorthos shakes his head when the pox appears on him. I drank the antiplague, and it still got me. This does not bode well...
"We should not go downstairs looking like this," he tells Allyph and Mavor. "The last thing we need is a panic... or to spread this to our friends here."
Allyph pulls her cloak in front of her nose and mouth, to prevent coughing on her allies.
"You and Mavor should each drink one of the potions of remove disease," Allyph says to Quorthos.
"The wand Baer mentioned sounds like a good purchase. You go get it and restore the damage the disease did. I'll drink one of my antiplagues and stay put for today. When you get back here you can also use the wand on me, and hopefully I'll feel better tomorrow."
Allyph digs in her backpack and places 750 gp on the table. "This should cover my share of the wand of lesser restoration."
She draws the wand of infernal healing from her belt and places it in front of Baer. "You should take it with you today. You may need it."
Baer takes the wand and the money.
"Oh yeah, I'll get what you need Allyph. You three should stay here and get better. We can handle the Bank. I'm sure my Abadaran 'friend' has forgotten all about what happened when we met," Baer says hopefully as she stows the goods.
"C'mon, let's get out of here before we catch what they caught."
Baer heads to the Bank of Abadar.
Tural joins Baer and heads out of the tavern.
"Rest and take good care of yourself. We'll be back soon."
He says just before they set out.
"Yes, take care."
On their way to the bank, Denario shares his light worries.
"You two are thinking it, so i'm just saying it.
Why'd they contract something?
It's not like got bit by the vampires.
Given which, since they didn't, they must've touched something contagious. What did they hold or touch, that we didn't, that could have caused their illness?"
"Hmph...And they are leaving us here just like that? I know I'm sick, but I'm not useless or anything. But given that, I'd rather not infect anyone else as well."
Mavor says before he takes the potion of antiplague in one big gulp.
"They'd better come back for us if anything is going down. I can still wield an axe when I'm sick."
Quorthos drinks the proferred potion, hoping it will make him better faster. if the potion works, he will accompany the others the the bank.
Baer grunts, having no answer to the questions posed about how some got it and others did not.
"Don't look at me for answers. I'm still thinking that the disease was passed on via drink, so clearly I'm more looloo than a drunk monkey."
Baer continues walking to the bank.
Quorthos drinks the potion of remove disease that the party bought a while ago, before they went on their field trip. His coughing fits immediately stops and the itching that indicated an invisible rash on his red face disappears just as fast.
You head to the Bank of Abadar, or at least most of you do, and arrive to find the entrance to it just as ridiculously crowded as last time you visited it. Telling the guards in front of the Bank that you've come to see the priest Ishani is enough to grant you access to the Bank.
When you ask for Ishani at the counter, a priest goes to fetch him for you. It doesn't take long for Ishani to appear. He seems very happy to see you. "It's so good to see you! Please, follow me to a private room so we can talk in peace."
Once Ishani's closed the door to the room he directly starts talking again. "I've cured Brienna, as per the promise we made. I haven't heard from the Soldado family since, which I'll take as a good sign. There's also something else you need to know. There's a woman who claims to have a cure for blood veil! Could you may..."
The priest shakes his head. "I beg my pardon. Please, sit down. I'll tell you more about this woman later."
Ishani sits down and looks at you. "To what do I owe this visit? Is there anything I can do for you?"
Tural opts to go to the deposit box first, he looks a bit surprised at the contents of the box.
"Weird combination of tools..."
He inspects the items but finds nothing special.
"We'll have to bring that to Cressida"
He continues with the others to the priest.
"Do you perhaps know the weaknesses of vampires? We also found the source of the blood veil. It's the coins that came from the cursed ship. If we can filter out the coins here we might be able to stop the spreading. We couldn't find anything amiss with the coins though."
Baer initially says little, only smiling when he learns that Brienne is healed. She recalls her earlier (link) encounters with the jerkpriest.
"I've cured Brienna, as per the promise we made..."
"So you have, Priest. It is good that you have done the right thing. And I am in your debt. Glad we were able to help each other out." Baer snorts.
An interesting find.
Denario tells the others what the nifty item is.
Baer and Tural being swift with their current words, Denario silently gestures Baer otherwise being angry if he'd been lacks in the girl's treatment.
"They might have been coated in something diseased, coins exchange hands swiftly. But yes, priest, anything you can tell us of what's been going on, and of vampires, would be much appreciated."
Ishani gives you a confused look. "Vampires? Uhm, yes, sure I can. Vampires can't take the strong odor of garlic and will not enter an area laced with it. Similarly, they recoil from mirrors or strongly presented holy symbols. These things don't harm the vampire, but keep it at bay. Though if the vampire's very determined, it can overcome these obstacles."
"Uhm... They can't enter a private home or dwelling, unless they're invited in by someone with the authority to do so. Knocking it out or inflicting most kind of normally lethal wounds incapacitates it. It'll change into a gaseous form and automatically move toward its coffin, where it'll start healing after about an hour. If it can't reach its coffin within two hours after it's incapacitated, it dies."
"Exposing a vampire to direct sunlight staggers it and destroys it not long after, unless it escapes. If it's immersed in running water it's dealt massive damage, and a vampire that passes out this way is destroyed. Driving a wooden stake through a helpless vampire's heart instantly slays it. However, it returns to life if the stake is removed, unless the head is also severed and anointed with holy water."
"When facing them you should be aware they have a natural resistance versus a cleric's channels, cold, electricity, and weapons that aren't made of silver or possess magic properties. They can assume the gaseous form I mentioned before at will and drain a victim's power by drinking its blood. If this causes the victim to die, the vampire can change you into a vampire. It can then choose to make you a full-fledged vampire, or a weaker version we call vampire spawn. It controls the vampires it creates, unless it creates too many or chooses to set them free."
"They're undead, so they're immune to all mind-affecting effects, bleed, death effects, disease, paralysis, poison, sleep effects, stunning, nonlethal damage, ability drain, energy drain, damage to its physical abilities, as well as to exhaustion and fatigue effects. Also, a vampire can see in the dark."
Ishani ponders for a moment. "Hmm... I feel like I forget something... Oh, yes, of course! The raise dead spell instead slays them, and they have reversed reactions the positive and negative energy. And I almost forgot to mention that various vampires can have other extra powers. Like controlling animals or humans. Or maybe one is a sorcerer, that's also possible."
The priest gives you a moment to let everything he just told sink in, after which he asks, "May I see the coins you mentioned?"
When you show him the coins Ishani looks them over and says, "Give me a moment. I'll get a colleague to look at these."
Ishani then leaves you for a moment.
Baer listens to the lore of vampire, unable to separate any fact from fiction. She shakes her head.
"Remind me to read up on vampires, I can't tell what he said was a wives tale, or religious doctrine. I'll not be carrying wooden stakes with me, however. Or donning garlic, that is just silly," Baer snorts after the priest is done. "My guess, knowing him, is that he is heavily invested in the garlic business and this is exactly the kind of thing he would want everyone to believe."
Baer chortles after having figured that out. She waits for him to return.
Tural scratches his head.
"With all those powers I wouldn't mind being one myself to be honest... None of the spells I have work on the freaks."
He laughs at Baer's remark about the stake and garlic.
"And useless besides, if it doesn't outright kill them."