Spellcraft holy symbol
Spellcraft ring
Spellcraft pipes
"One threat averted. But we should get back and left Commander Kroft know about the citizens turning this place into a dumping ground."
Can Corbyn see who is dropping off the bodies through the crack the vampires originally passed through?
Ruperta look very angry, and leaves the store to confront those men!
"Who the hell are you? Why are you dumping the bodies here?"
The thin greasy man lets out a yelp of fear and shock as the angry cleric appears from amongst the dead bodies! He falls backwards onto his butt, skittering back away from her, while the tall Mwangi man looks back, his eyes wide and takes off at a dead run.
For a moment the greasy man's mouth moves but nothing comes out. Then he finally is able to make speech. "I...I...I.. I mean, we was, we was just... We was told..." He seems to be trying to make a coherent sentence and failing miserably as you can see him grapple around for an excuse. Finally under the righteous glare of Ruperta he seems to deflate.
"We was just tired and it's a long way to the Grey District and nobody'd miss these types. They's just scum from Old Korvosa, right?" He ends his mumbling on a plaintive note, looking pained.
Furious Slumper steps brandishing his shield "I'm just scum from Old Korvosa."
Ruperta casts Expeditious Retreat on herself and gets of to follow the escaping "guard"
"Hey! Stop! You won't be able to escape me!"
As Slumper steps forward, the greasy guard's eyes go wide and there's the definite smell of urine spreading from below him.
Ruperta's supernatural speed allows her to swiftly catch up with the guard and tackle him to the ground. He rolls away, his hands up and spread out in front of him to ward the angry cleric off. "Hey lady! I just push the cart, you know! Rizzo's my boss, lady! I just do what he tells me to do, eh!"
"Tell that to the judge! "
She takes him to the rest, and to his partner she chastises:
"Those people are parents, mothers, sons and daughters. They will be missed and are loved by their families. They deserve respect and care. You will pay for this."
The two guardsmen are rapidly bound and thrown into their own corpse-cart, and taken back to the Citadel, where they are stripped of their guard uniforms and taken into custody. Marshall Kroft is grimly satisfied when you inform her, but shakes her head. "I knew things like this would happen, but it doesn't make me any happier to know for sure."
The Marshall thanks you for your aid and tells you to get a good night's sleep.
Pai looks around, listening to Ruperta admonish the two guards. She's tough! Remind me not to make her mad...I'd better stop Stinking Cloud-ing her...
edit:
After a day or two break, Pai was ready to investigate that magical key. "We need to see what vampires would deem important enough to keep safe. It could be icky."
Ruperta tells them to check the Vault.
Approaching the Grand Vault, you see a lot less people than the last time you were here. Masked physicians move in and out of the temple, escorting people who appear to be ill with blood veil. A young and very tired looking acolyte greets you at the door, and seeing the key, takes you to a side chamber where an elderly man in senior priest's robes sits behind a counter, writing in a large log book.
Once introductions are made, he takes you to a small private room holding only a table. He removes the key, leaves the room and returns with a small closed chest. He places the chest and the key on the table, then leaves.
Opening the chest you reveal a small leather pouch holding 68 gold, a set of well-made thieves' tools, a pair of sturdy boots and a sheaf of papers. Some investigation reveals the boots to be Boots of Escape. They resize to fit the wearer. The sheaf of papers are instructions on how to make toys. Giotorrio, the late owner, seems to have been very bad at following these instructions...
"Well, I suppose we need to see if Giotorrio has any family left in the town. They would appreciate these items, I'm sure. Although, it does make me wonder exactly what sort of hijinx he was up to. Sounds like a master thief to me."
At arriving at the bank Ruperta asks her friends to go without her...
She goes towards one of the sick people that the "doctors" are escorting.
"Hi! Who are you? Why are you here? "
Slumper will follow Ruperta to make sure she doesn't get into trouble.
The doctor holds up a hand to stop Ruperta. "Please, miss, stay back. This patient is infectious." The woman the doctor is escorting coughs and holds up a rag stained with blood to her lips.
Ruperta cuts the "doctor" short:
"I am not asking you... "
She gets between the doctor and the patient.
"What is your name? How do you feel? Why did they bring you over here?
She looks at Slumper as if asking him to get rid of the "doctor" (she is no bluffer so she is very obvious about it).
Pai followed the other two when she heard Ruperta raising her voice. "What's going on here? How can we help?"
Slumper interposes himself between the patient and the doctor with a grim smile.
As Ruperta interrogates the patient, Slumper steps between the doctor and his ward with an imposing smile. The woman coughs more blood. "Me name's Merelda MacHain, miss. I came here fer healin' but the priests tol' me ta go with this here doctor, miss. He said we're goin' to a healin' house. He wuz escortin' me there, miss." The woman looks confused by the attention and the sudden appearance of more party members.
From behind the doctor, two women in faceless grey helmets and armor appear. You recognize them as Grey Maidens, the Queen's soldiers charged with assisting the doctors in their duties. One of them has her hand on her sword hilt, while the other steps forward.
"My eyes must not be working so well, for I believed I had seen citizens interfering with a doctor in his pursuit of the Queen's orders. Which would be a very serious crime, indeed. Doctor, take your patient to the Hospice. As for the rest of you, interference with a Royal order is considered equal to treason. And I'm not in the mood to fill out the paperwork for treason today. So, unless you have any clear or compelling reason to suspect the doctor here of malfeasance, I suggest you finish your business in the Vault and be on your way."
Pai looks around at the others, wondering if they were as suspicious of this as she was. Healing house? Sounds like another scam!
"No, we don't want any trouble, do we everyone? Just making sure the sick are getting proper care. That's what we all are after, right?"
Ruperta looks defiantly to the Iron Maidens...
"Interference? I'll give you interference!
She takes out the wand of Remove Disease and uses it on the sick woman.
"Is that enough interference to you? "
She interjects the maidens again...
"Where is this healing house? I want to see it!"
She asks the doctor...
The sudden healing of the woman causes her to let out a wild whoop as her skin clears and the coughing stops. She smiles broadly and hobbles away toward the door. The doctor shrugs and heads toward the door as well, not answering any questions.
The Grey Maiden's voice is amused when she responds. "Congratulations, you just healed one woman. Now if you've got ten thousand more charges, you can save the city. Or you can be a part of the actual solution and help quarantine the sick and work on a real cure. The Hospice of the Blessed Maiden is in West Dock, near the Jeggare. You'll know it when you see it; you see, there they're actually working on a cure instead of throwing hissy fits in temples." She nods to her companion and both walk away, following the doctor.
"Ooooo, I don't like those Gray Maidens! But they saved me the trouble of going invisible and following that doctor, so I say our next mission should be to go check out that Hospice house, to see how the sick are being cared for," Pai hisses under her breath as the two guards walk away.
Ruperta shows her tongue to the departing Grey Maidens:
"Purrrff... "
She nods at Kiri suggestion...
As the steel women walk away, Corbyn examines their armor for weak points.
Gathering up the items in the lockbox, you chat with the elderly man who brought it to you. It seems Giotorrio has no living kin and no relatives the Church of Abadar know of. As you possess the key, in the eyes of the Church, the contents of the Vault are yours to keep.
Leaving the Vault, you head south in the city toward the West Dock, which is located north of the Citadel. As you travel, you find yourselves in a warehouse district, where one warehouse in particular seems to be bustling with activity. A large makeshift sign above the door notes it as the Hospice of the Blessed Maiden.
Once inside you find yourself in a small reception room. The stinging scent of alcohol and medicine floods this dingy reception room, an odor typical to hospices, morgues, and battlefields. Across from the entrance sits a long wooden desk, beyond which a stained leather curtain covers an open archway, muffling moans from beyond. Sitting behind the counter is a large imposing woman in a stiff white dress and a leather apron. If she doesn't have orc blood somewhere in her lineage you think, you'd eat your armor. She stares at you with a hard stare, clearly appraising you for symptoms. Standing around the room are six citizens, all sitting in chairs or standing, clearly suffering from the effects of Blood Veil.
"You are not diseased. What do you want?" She says in a gruff voice, unimpressed with your weapons and armor.
"We work for Marshall Kroft and want to inspect the facilities, and see how we can help... Do you need for something? Have you been having problems? "
The woman glares at you. "Which is it: you're here to inspect or help? Nevermind. This facility is under the aegis of the Grey Maidens; Guards got no business here." She glowers at you and doesn't seem inclined to help.
"Apologies Madame, our friend here," she jabs a thumb toward Ruperta, "has come down with the early stages of the plague. She's been tending to the sick and has recently started talking, and hallucinating. She thinks she works for the Guard. The Maidens over at the Temple of Abadar sent us to make sure she gets cared for. Could we take her back and get her settled?"
Bluff
"Good try, shorty. If she's sick, she signs in and waits like the rest of the people here," She gestures to the obviously ill people standing and sitting in the reception hall. "But I do believe she's crazy. Now last chance: this is a place of healing. If you're not checking a patient in, then get out. I don't have time to deal with distractions, and the doctors damn sure don't." She crosses her arms and by the bulging muscles you have no doubt she could physically throw each of you out of the building.
"Alright, let's go, everyone. We have somewhere else to be anyway, right, " Pai grabs Ruperta by the arm and tries to escort her out of the building, so she can try something different.
Once outside, Pai gathers the group. "Something weird is clearly going on in there. We need to take a closer look. I can cast Invisibility Sphere which will cover us for about 10' each way. It'll only last about 5 minutes, but might give us a chance to take a quick around and poke our head into some spots we might not have been able to do before."
Ruperta at first seems mad at being taken away, but at hearing Pai's plan she smiles.
"OK, let's do it... I'll try to be quiet... "
Clustering close around Pai, you suddenly feel a strange lightness cover you. You slip back into the reception hall, where the battleaxe nurse glances up as the door opens, but seeing nothing, goes back to reading something behind the desk. You slip through the leather apron to the room beyond.
The warehouse’s vast interior has been converted into one gigantic convalescent’s ward, the stench of alcohol, sickness, and waste choking each breath. Tight rows of low, stained cots cram the stone-floored hall. Every bed is filled with a pitiful story—men and women of all walks groaning and wheezing as they’re consumed by blood veil, their sufferings multiplied by the echoing chamber. The room is about 30 feet tall and a catwalk runs around the room about 20 feet up. On the catwalk you see 4 grey maidens in grey armor patrolling. Amongst the beds you see 4 Doctors, looking like great carrion crows in their masks and dark coats. They move among the patients, checking pulses, reading charts and murmuring quiet words to the sick.
At the rear of the room you can see three sets of doors. The first are large sliding warehouse doors. The second are smaller double doors into an office or similar room and the third is a single small door into a closet or stairway.
"The small door" - mumbles Ruperta
"Corbyn, can you check it for a trap," Pai asks, as she tries to keep the time the spell has remaining In the clock in her head. "Make sure no one is looking before you open it."
In a whisper, "Why would they trap a closet door?"
Perception
Disable Device
"They wear huge bird masks and clearly didn't want us here. Why wouldn't they," Pai whispers back.
"Shhh...
Corbyn examines the doors, finding no traps, but he does hear 2 female voices talking in conversational tones on the other side of the door.
"So Merrine breaks her arm! Just like that! SNap! and I thought, damn girl! I guess that'll teach her not to speak out at drill! And then Merrine's back to inspection like nothing ever happened! Remind me not to piss in her cereal!"
"Well, it is not a closet. It sounds like it is a room for the Grey Maidens."
Ruperta looks if there is a way to block the door.
"Then lets check the big door..."
The larger doors are quiet.
"Check out the big door then, Corbyn...something strange is going on here," the gnome mutters.
Perception
Disable Device