"The journal we handed to Luvick would have worked great for that." Darius comments. "How would we know something is his and good enough for the purpose?" he asks Stam.
By all that is holy, you're right... We should have though about that. So might the scarf the fake was wearing. I suppose we can look where he wrote the journal, or by his coffin for anything he might have left. Or we can go back to Luvick and see if we can get the journal back....
"But the journal was in the basement, where the voices went to. Are we going to take them on? Or shall we wait and see if they leave anytime soon?"
"I could offer a silence spell, in addition to the invisibility. But it will make further conversation impossible. And if we meet them and they pass through the silenced area, they'd still notice."
"We can maybe just wait them out, I can always teleport us around but it will drain my stronger reserves of magic and then I will not have spells to move us out of here."Stam says quietly
We could kill them all! No one would miss them! Spugnoir thinks to himself
I can try sneaking down there
Spugnoir sneaks down to see what he can see and snatch
Spugnoir sees that the employees - probably dominated humans - dispose of all evidence in the sewers. He sneaks into the room where the staked vampires were fixed to the wall. There in the desk is a silver ink well in the form of a turtle and a quill.
Once he is sure that it isn't another mimic, he pilfers both ink well and quill and heads back up[/b]
"That was quick. You're great at that sneaking stuff."
"Can we leave now?" Darius asks.
Spugnor nods. However no one sees this since he is invisible
So lets get out of here so Stam can Scry.
Stam nods holding out his hands so everyone can take one as he doesn't know where Spugnoir is. Invoking his magical Powers Stam Teleport everyone back to his room at the inn. "Now what do you have for me to help with this magic?" Stam asks where he things Spugnoir is.
Spugnoir hands over the ink well and quill. All I could find
Stam takes the belongings of Radvir and prepares himself to scry on the fugitive vampire. He lays out an oiled cloth on the soggy floor and pours the content of his waterskin on it. As the water stands still with a smooth and mirror like surface, he casts the spell from the scroll.
As the image appears on the water's surface the surroundings are rather dark. All windows are covered with dark heavy curtains to keep the light out. And only the dim light of a single torch lights the room the vampire is in.
You see and hear Radvir arguing with a woman about priorities. Radvir thinks, that precautions have to be taken about a possible attack of those coming after the Whipering Way or for Luvick coming after them for the vampire murders.
The woman he argues with, doesn't seem to share his view of affairs. "There are other things to do. We're prepared and won't stop with the work at hand. How about helping? The tin can you brought still failed to find Oothi's skull amidst the bones. Or any skull for that. Make yourself useful there!" she orders him out.
You remember having seen that woman before. Like in a dream.
Radvir angrily leaves the room. Walking over a pentagram drawn in the middle of it and through a wine cellar he comes into a ossuary. Carved stone columns resembling angels with outstretched wings support the ceiling of this wide, long chamber. Decayed bones and half-rotten burial shrouds spill out of ten five-foot-wide alcoves in the chamber’s walls.
There he bawls at the tin can. A pale looking man in full plate armor, who searches through the bones. The aromor has the insignia of Iomedae all over it.
Then the spell ends.
"This heresy! Making such a hellhole out of an abbey named after Saint Lymirin!" Darius harrumphs.
Time to unleash some holy smitings!
Did you by chance see the room with the Iomedan Knight well enough to teleport us there?
And does anyone know who Oothi is?
Wait Oothi... Why are they looking for the bones of a hag?
Secret knowledge to be extracted from the dead I think.
Stam hums over the name for a few moments before recalling where he heard the name. "She was a hag, that they burned here in Ustalav, the county not this city specifically. They placed her bones all over the country so maybe they only need the head?" Stam turns to Spugnoir, "Maybe yes but I don't want to get stuck in a wall or put one of you all into a wall. We can ride there during the day as they may have only Human guards which we would be able to over whelm." Stam says looking at Grergof.
The Abbey is only a few miles out of Caliphas and can be seen from here, if one is in a building with an open view to the North.
Daytime is reasonable. Remember, lots of undead, so life protection is a must.
"How much death wards have you prepared? I don't think it is feasible to protect us all, all the time. Spell duration is too short." Darius comments as he remembers that he should have prepared more of those this morning.
Two, and I have two Restorations
"As long as we stay above ground, we can simply open the curtains and be safe from vampires. The other undead haven't caused us that much trouble so far. But have we some means to get hold of vampires, so we are able to introduce them to the cleansing light of the sun?" Darius points to the obvious issue.
The only thing I could right now is grab them, and I really would perfer not to do that. And really, I think this would have to be something magical. Because just physical constraints they could probably just turn to mist and get away from. Unless we have a way to stop the mist form? Like maybe a bottle that sucks in gas?
"Maybe our esteemed user of arcane magic has some options to halt undead?" Darius suggests, looking at Stam.
"I can try to paralyze them but it isn't a sure thing and I am not sure if it will stop them from turning to mist. We should be buying lots of holy water as well for this outing." Stam says
I could blow down walls with my bombs, but that would take a lot of bombs
"We only need to get them into a situation, where they can't escape being staked. Worked well enough for the vampire murderer. If your magic can hold them long enough for this, we are fine."
"And I would really appreciate if it wasn't necessary to blow up the whole Abbey. If it was one dedicated to the mother of monsters, ... but Sante Lymirin?"
I guess you are right, you could consecrate it so it becomes a sanctuary.
Actually that could be a good idea. If nothing else it ensures the abbey is not corrupted to another deity.
That area would help us fight the undead, however I seriously doubt it will stop a vampire from escaping.
Bless the surrounding grounds! Then we can do that 'invisible box' thing those voiceless street performers do.
"And that would help how?" Darius asks, doubt written all over his face.
With everything clarified, more or less, the group is on their way to the abbey. The sky is cloudy with sunny intervals. There are sheep on the lush meadows and and the lake to the east is calm. It could be a happy day in the fresh air. But the atmosphere in Ustalav really doesn't help with that. The people coming your way look the other direction. The few farmers that are outside don't greet. Everyone looks gloom.
After a few miles a simple dirt road forks from the coastal road. It climbs these high bluffs overlooking Avalon Bay, leading to a two-story stone abbey connected to a squat carriage house by a tree-lined terrace. An adjoining bell tower rises sixty feet from its southern exposure, commanding a wide view of Caliphas to the south. Looked at from the outside, it is not overly busy. Besides some noise from the carriage house everything is silent.
Knock on the front door, or do we try to sneak in? Given what we have seen I think we try to sneak in, as something seems wrong at the abbey.
"Sneak? My old bones make enough noise to alarm any guard. Let alone the metal I'm carrying around." Darius jokes. "You mean to send in Stam and Spugs, while we wait here?"
Splitting up is a bad idea, even if it gets us great clues. I suspect some undead horses in the carriage house, but becoming invisible in order to get in is a good idea.
"I can make us all invisible if we stand close enough, a hand on each others shoulder and we stand like we are line dancing then we should be good." Stam says as he waits for everyone to comply with a slight smile on his face.
"I'm too old for that sneaking around. I go in as bait and you follow invisible? How about that." Darius suggests and starts walking towards the carriage house.
He looks in and calls "Hello anyone there?"
A man wielding a broom steps out of the shadows. "Yes. Me. What do you want?" the standoffish man hollers back.
"Dunno. Look around the abbey? Maybe try some of the wine you make here, to see if it's worth buying a barrel or two? Where would I go here to do that?"
"We will be close do you don't get eaten, if they have dogs or other animals that can smell us the jig will be up." Stam says before they proceed.
The stablehand points to the double door. "You go through that and straight through the next door too and you'll be right there."
Darius walks halfway in. "You mean those doors, yes?" Darius asks to be sure.
Spugnoir whispers to Varsk. Can you sense if he is evil?
As the invisible part of the group enters the stablehand shortly looks in their direction.
Uh oh! He can see us