The next morning you briefly sell off the wand of charm person you procured from Lavender and then make your way north into Old Korvosa to find Racker's Alley following the Field Marshall's directions. When you arrive, there is no doubt that you found the right place.
The high walls of the surrounding buildings throw this awkwardly bent alley into constant shadow. Although littered with garbage and filth, the refuse isn't the most stomach-turning trait of this rundown sideway. Heaped against a bent wooden wall rises a pile of more than three dozen plague victims, their faces blistered and flushed, eyes open and staring. The scent of death is overpowered by the reek of rot, suggesting that some of these corpses have lain here for days.
The alley is thick with fat flies and rats gorging themselves on the corpses here.
The shop next to the alley bears a sign that says "Giotorri's Toys".
More than 40 corpses lie piled against the eastern wall. A search of the bodies reveals that several bear twin puncture wounds on their necks and wrists. You also discover a hole in the eastern wall that seems to lead into the back room of the Toy Shop.
Ayako has her hand over her face and wincing to much to notice anything. Let us check the store.
Lucien frowns upon the sight of the pile of plague victims. "Oh, Father, please guide their souls to a better place..." he whispers softly as he backs Ayako up. "Is this the right building? I can see the name of the shop next to the alley...Giotorri's Toys. Shall we enter?"
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The front door is locked but you can wipe the dirt away from the window and peer inside.
Unbalanced stuffed animals, poorly equipped toy soldiers, and dolls exhibiting myriad accidental deformities stare blankly out of the filth-smeared front window of this toy store showroom. Several heavy-looking kites dangle purple and crimson tails from the ceiling above, and a dollhouse recreating Castle Korvosa's intimidating towers dominates a table in the room's center. Festooned with tiny bells, the shop's entrance stands to the north, across from a counter cluttered with dusty candies and a doorway marked "Private."
Ayako peers through the door, her eyes becoming inky black as she pierces the gloom.
While the others turn their attention to the store, Sebastian examines the bodies more closely. "Ayako, what do you make of these holes here? They look like puncture wounds."
Ayako looks closely at the holes. They look like vampire bites, somehow words of blue fire appeared in my mind and spoke to me of them.
So shall we head into the shop? We need to get these bodies removed quickly, getting a cart and horse perhaps?
Sebastian gives Ayako a funny look. Talking blue fire...? "Yes, I shall see about getting a cart. You all go on without me."
Let us go through the hole. Ayako is ready!
"You think a creature perhaps is using that hole to come in and out and killed these people? Or is scavenging from the bodies?" Nadya considers if any manner of creature other than a vampire might be leave similar marks.
Ayako peers into the hole in the wall.
Dozens of crooked glass eyes—hollow and crazed—glare from the heads of malformed and half-carved dolls lining skewed workroom shelves. Rat-gnawed stuffed aurochs, disembodied doll limbs, miniature rolling elephants, unseaworthy wooden ships, and crooked blocks illustrated with deformed or poorly painted animals fill bins and racks about the room. A cracked wooden door leads to the north, while a rickety trap door breaks the sawdust-covered floor to the east. In one corner lies the drying corpse of an old bald man amid the wood chips, rusty tools, and oily rags of a scored workbench.
Did one of the dolls just turn its head to look at you?
This must be the body of Rodolfo Giotorri. A search of his body reveals eight puncture wounds up and down his neck, as well as a ring of small keys on his belt.
I think one of the dolls turned it's head to look at me.
Ayako casts light so the others can see.
Ayako casts light in the room. All of the deformed dolls seem to be staring blankly ahead. Ayako points out the one she claims moved but to the rest of the party it appears as lifeless as the rest.
Lead on, brave Lucian!
As soon as Ayako lights up the room, Lucien peers inside. He cannot feel fear for what he sees, but something inside of him is anxious. If I could feel fear, I'd be scared now...
Mustering his resolution, Lucien realizes that he's the only one who does not actually fear those creepy dolls. "Let's go" he says to his companions with a calm tone before getting inside the room. "Those are just lifeless dolls. Do not be afraid of them" he says as he starts to search the body.
"This must be Rodolfo Giotorri." Lucien takes a deep breath. "The corpse has eight puncture wounds up and down his neck, and...this ring of keys on his belt. Anyone have any ideas what these are meant for?"
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As Lucien searches the body, one of the dolls falls off the shelf. The doll is a button-eyed girl with a single eye and a tattered brown dress. Only a few clumps of coarse hair protrude from its head. It rights itself and a pull string on its back pulls itself. "I love you!" it proclaims as it wobbles towards Lucien. It holds one arm out as if to embrace Lucien's leg but its finger-less hand glows with a malevolent energy. Its other arm is bent behind its back and seems to hold a sharp piece of metal.
This is a soulbound doll. These small, sentient dolls contain a fragment of another creature's soul. The binding process strips most of the individuality from the soul, making a new soulbound doll an almost blank slate. Despite this process, fragments of the original creature's personality remain.
If you get a 17 or better, you also know that despite being a construct, the weakened conviction of a soulbound doll's soul makes it susceptible to mind-affecting effects.
"You love...what? Watch out everyone!"
Ayako steps back and aims a sling stone at the doll.
Ayako's sling stone cracks into the wooden floor board at the doll's feet.
Sebastian skewers the doll straight through sending stuffing flying in every direction. Despite the powerful thrust, Sebastian feels a slight resistance against the attack as if his weapon should have done even more.
The doll's head turns unnaturally towards Sebastian. "You've been a bad boy."
"For the holy name of Abadar, whatever this doll is up to, it means business! Come on, Sebastian, let's flank it!"
Lucien draws his greatsword and nimbly steps to his right ignoring the weight of his full plate. Then, as soon as Sebastian gets into a flanking position, Lucien swings his greatsword with deadly accuracy.
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Lucien's attack cleaves the doll's head from its body and it falls lifelessly to the floor. The room returns to silence except for your heavy breathing from the brief but frightful experience.
Trap door I guess.
The trap door is not locked and Ayako peeks inside. It is completely dark down here except for the faint light of Ayako's spell spilling in from above.
The trap door leads into a 3–1/2-foot-tall dirt-floored crawlspace. Amid numerous blocks of various types of mundane wood lie four simple but solid coffins.
Coffins. Perhaps the creatures are in them. We should remove them post haste to destroy them. Ayako gestures Lucian to help.
We could wait for Sebastion to get back with the wagon. I will help as I can. Ayako flexes muscles.
The cramped quarters to not offer a lot of room to maneuver and the coffins are heavier than they look. You quickly realize you aren't going to be able to move them in their current state.
Returning with a cart, Sebastian peeks his head back into the shop. "Are the toys giving you any more trouble? Gah, what are those?!"
These coffins either have corpses or undead in them, so we need to remove and dispose of them.
Perhaps we will need to remove floor boards to get them up and haul them out with rope.
Sebastian moves to comply with Ayako, prying up boards from the floor. Even as he does this, he questions the wisdom of this plan. "Have you checked to make sure this is really necessary?"
Umm...No? They are highly suspicious, we found bite marks on the bodies outside that seem to indicate vampires.
"So maybe vampires are resting within these coffins?" Lucien wonders, trying to remember what he had been taught about those infamous undead.
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You begin prying up the floor boards. The wood is old but solid and it is a noisy process.
A vampire has channel resistance, damage reduction overcome by magic silver weapons, and resistance to cold and electricity, in addition to all of the defensive abilities granted by the undead type. A vampire also has fast healing. If reduced to 0 hit points in combat, a vampire assumes gaseous form and attempts to escape. It must reach its coffin home within 2 hours or be utterly destroyed.
Certain attacks can slay vampires. Exposing any vampire to direct sunlight staggers it on the first round of exposure and destroys it utterly on the second consecutive round of exposure if it does not escape. Each round of immersion in running water inflicts damage on a vampire equal to one-third of its maximum hit points—a vampire reduced to 0 hit points in this manner 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.
Being undead, vampires don't need to "sleep" but some do so during the day to avoid sunlight exposure.
Vampires can also create vampires spawn which are weaker versions of vampires but they have the same weaknesses.
Amongst the noise of prying up the boards, you hear some stirring coming from below.
Ayako hears nuffink.
"Vampires? Shouldn't we get the Pharasmins involved?" Sebastian asks between grunts. I suppose that explains the bite-marks...
I suppose we'll need holy things like holy water. None of us are priests though so we can't use divine magic
As you are discussing how best to deal with the vampires, the air itself seems to coalesce into the forms of four pale and feral looking humanoids. They bear needle-like fangs as they move to attack.
Ayako startles! We are attacked! She then casts Bless
Sebastian curses as the gas coalesces into undead flesh. Unsure of how to best handle vampires, he pulls out the silver dagger just in case. "Any advice on how to fight them?"
Stepping to the side to prevent Nadya from being flanked, he stabs at the nearest vampire with the dagger.
Not really!
Sebastian's silver dagger pierces the nearest vampire. Its flesh hisses and bubbles indicating the effectiveness of the metal. However, once the blade is withdrawn, the wound slowly begins to knit itself closed.
Ayako casts bless.
Nadya looks for a position outside the vampires' reach but fails to find out. She pulls out her wand of disrupt undead and aims it at the vampire spawn in front of her but her hand shakes in fear and the ray wizzes through the air harmlessly.
Each vampire swipes a claws hand at each of you.
Nadya and Ayako each get claws. The vampires' nostrils flare and eyes widen at the sight of blood.
The scratch seems minor but immediately she feels weaker as if her life energy is being drained away.
Lucien was caught unprepared by the vampires, just as he tried to remember all those useful information he received long ago on how to fight them.
Sebastian's voice, however, brings the paladin back into reality. "Use silver weapons! Magic silver weapons! They're also staggered when exposed to direct sunlight, but..." explains Lucien as he draws his greatsword. Unfortunately, he has not an appropriate weapon for this kind of fight.
I won't be able to damage them appropriately if I just swing my sword...furthermore, they're too many.
Lucien is quick enough to dodge a vampire's claw. "I must choose, quickly! Shortly thereafter, the paladin reaches for his holy symbol at his neck, and displaying it high above his head he tries to channel the energy of Abadar. "Be gone, undead abominations!"
After doing this, Luciens steps back in order to prevent Ayako from being flanked by the vampires and puts his hand into his belt pouch, trying to find his silver weapon blanch. Once he's found it, he pulls it out from the pouch.
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The vampires recoil as Lucien presents his holy symbol. They cover their faces to protect against the holy light but they cannot prevent the flesh on their arms from burning and flaking away.
Ayako splashes the one that looks the most wounded with holy water