Lazar lets his companions go first, checking on the tied man until it's time for him to see what's in the new room.
Cedric will follow maria and mishtes
E6. Grine’s Butchery
As much an abattoir as a bedchamber, this room contains not only a four-poster bed, but also numerous workbenches and alchemical gear. The walls are lined with shelves and strange looking objects in jars of liquid. Bits of rags litter the floor, and the air is heavy with the stench of spoiled food mixed with acrid chemicals. A ladder leads to a trapdoor in the ceiling.
This room is part alchemy lab, part slaughterhouse, and part bedroom. The many jars about the room contain alchemically preserved body parts from a variety of creatures. One bell jar full of liquid contains a small gold key at the bottom.
Treasure:
The room is packed with curios and medical oddities, including a complete alchemist’s lab and four vials of antitoxin that Grine has recently crafted. Altogether, the contents of the room would be worth 750 gp to the right collector.
Under the bed is a small metal strongbox. The box is locked. (Disable Device DC 30 to open)
What are you doing now?
"These two... I mean, this one has enough over him with slavery, kidnapping, probably homicide... We better find out what's in here" he says about the box. "Someone should be calling the guards already."
Lazar examines the box in case there's any nasty surprise, then proceeds to force it open.
Maria nods. "Yes calling the guards would be quite appropriate." She heads outside to raise a ruckus and try to get some of the local lawful authorities to come see the crime scenes.
"Hmm that Grine fellow, he's not a gnome. He's a Dark Creeper, a type of humanoid from deep below the surface in the Darklads. Destructive little creatures with a penchant for poison."
goodness... gruesome... cedric raises his scarf to cover his mouth and nose.
If the anti toxins are easy to identify Cedric will collect them for potential use later.
I wonder what that golden key goes too? cedeic asks outloud when he spots it at the bottom of the jar.
"Pah! Nasty business, this", Mishtes remarks.
"I'll check to see what's on the other side of that trap door", he adds as he starts climbing up the ladder.
Unless the trapdoor is locked, he will open and look out above...
The chest contains 300 gp, 6 vials of antitoxin, and a small purple velvet purse containing 6 small, cloudy diamonds worth 300 gp each.
Mishtes. The trapdoor is not trapped.
E9. Tower of Curios
Strange art and artifacts from distant lands fill this tower room.
Another ladder rises upward to a trapdoor in the ceiling.
As Mishtes pokes his head up into the room he is attacked by 3 small ugly creatures.
Snapjaw Homunculi
Variant advanced homunculus (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 176)
NE Tiny construct
Init +3; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +4
Defense
AC 16, touch 16, flat-footed 12 (+3 Dex, +1 dodge, +2 size)
hp 16 each (3d10)
Fort +1, Ref +6, Will +2
Immune construct traits
Offense
Speed 20 ft., fly 50 ft. (good)
Melee bite +5 (1d6/×3 plus poison)
Space 2-1/2 ft.; Reach 0 ft.
Special Attacks dislocating jaw
The ugly creatures have been waiting patiently for someone to emerge and attack viciously.
.
The party hears Mishtes make a surprised yelp and then fall back down the ladder asleep with bite marks on his face.
What are you doing now?
Cedric looks up to where mishtes fell from, trying to see his attackers and determine them.
After moving to get a look and determining their nature, Cedric stands at the bottom of the ladder hoping to draw their attention, and casts sanctuary on himself.
Gadren's mustache bristles. "Homunculus... custom construct creations as nasty as their creator. Time to teach them some manners." Reasoning that the little creatures were clustered around the trapdoor he casts grease hoping to make them loose their footing.
"What?" The homunculi took Mishtes and the rest by surprise, but Lazar reacts trying to put an arrow through one of them before he suffers the same destiny as the big man.
"Hurry, hurry! That place is a madhouse. Who knows what's going on there now?!"
Taking two arrows in his hand, Lazar shoots at one of the homunculi trying to clear the room fast.
"Hmm they made them with wings..." Gadren tosses some acid up at the creatures.
Lazar & Gadren both hit on of the ugly constructs. The three flap down to continue their attacks.
Yellow (-13hp) Attacks Garden
The other two attack Lazar.
The party may now act. I'll bot Phadedra. She is using inspire courage this round.
Cedric retrieves a scroll from his pack and speaks the small litany to activate it, the magic therein holding the poison in Mishtes at bay.
Come on now, can't sleep yet friend. Come on then.
For added effect, Cedric gives mishtes a couple light slaps to the face.
Gadren reaches for his longsword before falling asleep...
Maria keeps urging the guards "C'mon, c'mon! You lazy louts! We have to get there!" She doesn't know her team got in the middle of something while she was gone. She's just impatient.
Resisting the urge to have a nap, Lazar tries to step back and fire a pair of arrows to the most damaged homunculus. Invoking the power of the Lady of Souls, he hopes everything goes fine.
Lazar kills Yellow with one shot, his second spitting Red to the wall and ending it's existence as well.
Mishtes blinks blearily as Cedric slap's him awake.[/b]
Gadren starts snoring.
Maria is approaching the gates of the workshop now.
Green bites at Cedric
Missing badly.
The party may now act.
Maria shows the guards the body of one of the proprietors and leads them inside to see the aberrant workers. "Terrible things happening here."
Cedric holds his action until the others have gone.
Lazar finishes the last of the Homunculi just as Maria charges into the room. You have a few sleepy people to awake.
The room above is now clear of any threats.
E9. Tower of Curios
Strange art and artifacts from distant lands fill this tower room.
Another ladder rises upward to a trapdoor in the ceiling.
Treasure:
Among the curios and artifacts in this chamber are:
A ebony tribal mask from the Mwangi Expanse worth 175 gp,
A silver torc from the Lands of the Linnorm Kings worth 200 gp,
A mammoth tusk scrimshaw from the Realm of the Mammoth Lords with several spells carved on its surface. The tusk weighs 20 pounds and functions as a magic scroll containing the spells bull’s strength, ice storm, and phantom steed.
What are you doing now?
Lazar finally sweeps the sweat from his brow. "I hope we're done with nasty surprises for today, really." While Maria comes back with the guard, he keeps having a look around the house in search for clues.
About the findings, he's divided. "These things, I guess we're supposed to leave them here, unless the magistrate says we can have them. We're not burglars, after all." He thinks they should be used to pay for the prisoner's provision while he's in jail, or for a potential bail, to compensate for the expenses.
Gadren continues snoring...
Maria wakes up the sleepers and begins showing the guards around, telling them how the party was lawfully investigating but was then attacked by the proprietors.
Once everyone is up and moving again.
E7. Vorkstag’s Study
This room appears to be the study of a scholar. A roll-top desk with a leather chair stands against one wall, holding a variety of alchemical equipment and surrounded by hundreds of books piled on every available surface. A narrow cot is crushed into one corner behind a wall of books. A door stands in the north wall.
What are you doing?
"There must be something interesting here..." Lazar thinks aloud while having a look at the books.
"Anyone more expert than me wants to check , also?"
Cedric will move to the book and glance over them as well.
I'm.. no expert but I did study a lot with the late Professor, mayhaps I can find something among them.
Unsure how to help, Maria detects for evil objects or creatures.
Lazar will keep searching in the rest of the house for something suspicious.
A combination alchemy lab, library, and bedchamber, this room is almost fastidiously clean except for the heaps of books everywhere. A large bell jar atop the desk contains the alchemically preserved head and shoulders of a human man (a swamper from Morast).
The door to the north leads to area E8 and is locked with a superior lock (DC 40 Disable Device to open). Vorkstag has the key.
Treasure:
Vorkstag’s collection of books (mainly dealing with anatomy and surgery) would be worth 500 gp to the right scholar or a university. In addition, a complete alchemist’s lab sits on the desk, along with
three packets of flash powder and five pots of alchemical grease.
Clues: Examining Vorkstag’s unconscious body after he is
defeated, A Perception check notices the scars of a blood caiman bite on his shoulder.
The scar is healed enough to place Vorstag in Morast at the time the swampers drove off the Beast.
E8. The Cabinet of Skins and Faces
Beyond the locked door, a tiny room holds a single object—a large oak cabinet.
The cabinet contains the skins Vorkstag has stolen over decades of crime. Nearly a score of flayed skins—the answers to several of Lepidstadt’s unsolved crimes, some of which have been attributed to the Beast of Lepidstadt—hang within the cabinet like empty sacks of flesh.
Notable skins include the missing Miller of Hargen; Olga Slovech,
the scandalous “Harlot of Cerny Brothel” in Lepidstadt; Borgo Znojmo, a respected and reclusive Lepidstadt merchant; Doctor Katarina Vilt, an esteemed lecturer at Lepidstadt University; and countless others both missing or still occasionally seen.
Most importantly, hanging at the front is Vorkstag’s Shambling Man disguise—the grotesque, deformed skin of a 8-foot-tall mongrelman,
made up of flesh, fur, and scales and covered with fungal boils and hideous puss-filled eruptions.
Perception checks from everyone examing the cabinet please.
"Interesting..." Lazar murmurs as he keeps on discovering things. When they find the cabinet, though, he experiences a feeling he had never before known. "This is... saying it's gross would be too kind."
Lazar A DC 30 Perception check notices the cabinet has a false back, which slides out to reveal Vorkstag’s treasure—500 gp in assorted coins, a silver drinking cup inlaid with obsidian worth 400 gp, and a syringe of six vials of necromantic alchemical elixir.
Cedric looks over the items in the room and then over vorkstag.
Well, I'm no expert, but based on what I have learned, these scars are relatively fresh, I'd wager around the time the swampers drove off the Beast. Give or take of course.
When they open the cabinet Cedric pulls up his scarf to cover his nose before uttering a prayer.
Blessed light, please help these souls find a modicum of peace. May they make the journey of death easily, and with the knowledge that justice will be distributed upon their tormentor. When he finishes, he notices that Lazar has found something.
A beautiful cup to be sure... May I see one of those vials?
Cedric casts detect magic on the vials.
Maria nods grimly. "This is life in Ustalav. I'm glad we could bring justice."
While Cedric examines the elixirs, Lazar stops and tries to visualize what to do next. "Do we need to call the magistrate, or is the guard taking register of all we found here?" he asks to no one in particular.
Cedric This elixir is used on undead to preserve their brains and keep them capable of thought.
In addition to his private stash, the secret compartment also contains a ledger detailing customers who have purchased stolen cadavers and anatomical parts from Vorkstag and Grine.
Many of the names are local doctors and scholars, but two names
stand out: Doctor Brada of Sanctuary, and Auren Vrood.
Doctor Brada is recognizable to you due to one of the Beasts supposed crimes being performed here.
What are you doing now?
"For the Lady..." Lazar quickly thinks about the implications of this info, and fears the revelation of it if any authorities are implicated. Still, this cannot go unpunished.
"Someone needs to see this." Somewhere inside his brain, Lazar thinks that a cult of necromancers trying to corrupt an old prison and an alchemist experimenting and selling corpses as slaves have to be connected. Then he remembers this is Ustalav, as Maria said.
"We should go talk to the magistrate."
Maria nods. "Indeed. It is time." She turns to the guards. "You will bear witness to the finding of all these at Vorstagg and Grine's."
"Indeed, I'll start writing a statement for the record while the memory is fresh." His mustache bristles as if struck by an amazing idea. "I'll find a pot to make some tea!"
Judge Daramid sighs heavily when the evidence is shown to her. "I will be very busy for some time." Is her only comment.
She suggests you head to Sanctuary as quickly as possible before Doctor Brada gets news that Vorstag & Grine have been taken.
She writes out a writ authorizing you to arrest the Doctor.
What now?
Cedric places the vials and goblet into his backpack.
Let us hurry, before someone is killed for a crime they did not commit.
Maria nods in agreement. "We must arrest the wrongdoer!"
Lazar agrees with his comrades, and sets himself ready to depart. He hopes he'll have some spare time when he's back to invest some of his recent earnings.