Heward nods once somberly. "Bad news. Did anyone check out his old house or his family? The high priestess said these things don't usually remember their old life, but if it's not in the area then we need someplace, any place to start the search."
Heward turns to the team. "Do you guys have any ideas?"
Wizzo shakes his head. "From what you had told me about these creatures, I thought it the smarter play to stick to the graveyard and surrounding areas. If you're looking to try its old home, we'll hold the fort here and keep looking."
"OK. I guess we'll move on, Sergeant." Heward nods to the others, then turns back to Wizzo. "Mig froze two of us with his scream, and the first vargouille froze all four in Robal's gang. Now I think three isn't a big enough patrol to be totally safe. That's why we're sticking together. If you took my first advice about three in a group you might want to recall and reorganize your men."
Laya frowns and paces a little. "I'm afraid we don't have many clues of where to start. His old home is as good as any, I suppose. We'll have to pray for luck, because otherwise, we're going to end up with a bunch more of these things spreading about the city." She pauses in her pacing. "Do we even know where his old home is?"
"At least it will be a starting point."
"I think we can find out. Records will be closed, but the Cryptmistress may be able to tell us."
You arrive at the Cathedral, to find it far busier and noisier than normal. Several clerics, along with the Cryptmistress herself, are scattered about the grand narthex, offering comfort to the sobbing victims of the vargouille Mig. Cryptmistress Pierce tries to get up as you come in, but the young woman sobbing into her lap clings to her even more tightly, hauling the older woman back down onto the bench. Pierce waves you over.
"We have successfully removed the taint from all of them, with no turnings. Restoring their mental faculties will take another day - to prepare the required spells - and as you can see, they are all very childlike in their current states. Poor dears. Have you found more victims for us to tend to?"
"Not at this time, luckily," Laya says, bowing slightly to the Cryptmistress. "But we fear there may be more victims. There is one vargouille still unaccounted for."
"From Rag's End...or do you mean...Sir Mital? Of course, we cannot forget about him."
The Cryptmistress looks sad, and strokes the crying woman's hair in that way that says she's comforting herself even more than the distraught woman.
Phil follows along in tow, keeping the gold piece turning over and dancing in his fingers as they walk. Once they reach the temple, he keeps to the background.
Before going into the cathedral, Awgin tries to make himself presentable. He runs his fingers through his hair and straightens his clothes. Inside he walks as quietly as he can and speaks respectfully in whispers. Awgin gives a donation, then after seeing the work being done, gives a larger donation. He also stops at the shrine to offer prayers to the Reaper of the Dead. He is as timid as Heward or Laya has ever seen him be.
Like Awgin and Phillip, Heward keeps to the background. He is quite content for Laya to take the lead on her turf.
"We're unsure where Sir Mital might have gone," Laya says to the Cryptmistress. "We've had people searching the entire graveyard and the surrounding vicinity, but there's no sign of him. We know vargouilles don't usually remember much of their previous lives, but with nothing else to go on, we wondered if maybe he might have gone back to his previous home or a place special to him in life. Would you know of any such location, or anywhere else he might have gone?"
She lowers her voice. "With the repose ritual I used on him at the moment of his death, I fear it may br possible that he remembers everything. If that is the case, he was very attached to his family home in Vista."
She gives you the address.
"I'd come with you, but..." she gestures helplessly at the sobbing woman and the other victims.
Laya nods. "We understand. Thank you." She turns to Heward. "Shall we go?"
"Wait a moment. I can ward three of you against fear before you go. It will only last ten minutes, but that should be long enough to get you to Mital's town house if you hurry. Whom should I ward?"
Pick three of you. Those three get a +4 morale bonus versus fear effects for ten minutes.
Awgin is too scared to ask, but if he's chosen, he'll kneel to receive her blessing.
Heward ponders the question.
"I'm probably not the best choice," Laya says.
The sergeant looks at the rest of the team.
So shall we say those three, then? Calatin seems to think there's no point in putting it on himself, so Awgin, Phillip, and Heward. The three come over to the Cryptmistress, and she quickly lays her hand on each of you in quick succession, then dismisses you with a super-quick blessing, so you can get the most out of the ten minutes of buff you just received.
You bolt for your carriage (maybe giving Calatin and Laya a head start), and drive quickly to the given address. You'll arrive with just under three minutes of time on the buff to spare. I'll describe the scene for you, but feel free to discuss strategies/plans/tactics en route.
The Cobbers townhouse (now the Tarrigan townhouse according to the name plate at the front gate) is the fourth of a row of five two-storey, marble units. The sloped roof is tiled in slate, and seven chimneys poke towards the sky. Tall graceful windows would let plenty of light into the interior, if it were day time and the thick curtains were not all drawn. A light flickers in the downstairs right window. A marble staircase leads up to elegant double doors in the front.
remove fear - 26 rounds remaining
Phil rests a hand on the heavy hilt of his cutlass before following Heward up the stairs to the front door.
Awgin has his flail in hand and is the first through the door.
"Well, the place is definitely occupied," Laya says, indicating the light from the window. As Awgin heads for the door, she adds, "Of course, a vargouille doesn't have need of light. Presumably his family still reside here, so we shouldn't go barging in, Awgin. The vargouille may not even be here."
In the carriage: Heward says, "We should stick together when we get there so we can protect anyone of us who gets frozen. If the vargouille does scream, what do you say to all pretending to be frozen to lure him in?"
At the scene: "Laya's right. Knock first."
"I would say that it's stupid to give him the initiative. We should rush in and take him down fast. Don't give it time to catch its bearing."
Awgin 'knocks' on the door by trying to kick it in .
The door shudders and groans (and now has Awgin's boot print on its clean paint), but it is well-made and doesn't yield to his kick.
You hear a man's cry of fright from inside.
"Wait, Awgin! We should make sure the windows and other doors are closed first!"
"On it boss!" Phillip says and heads off along the grass to head around to the rear of the building.
The windows on the front of the house seem to all be closed.
At the cry from inside, Heward frowns thinking of citizen complaints to Percival. We might be in trouble here.
He could easily have flown that far.
Awgin stops and looks at Heward like he doesn't understand what was said before backing from the door slowly.
"Who--who--who's there?" the man's voice calls out. "Go away, or...or I'll call for the Watch!"
Laya sighs and just hangs her head as Awgin rushes the door.
"Oh!!" the voice calls from inside. "In that case, everything's fine here. Thank you for coming! Bye now."
That didn't sound right.
Heward looks at Awgin, lowers his halberd to horizontal and jerks his head toward the door.
Awgin returns to bashing in the door, though this time he uses his flail rather than his foot.
Flail:
to hit damage
Awgin gives a mighty swing at the door, but in his efforts to smash it hard, mgsses completely.
So what are you going to use then, Awgin? Disable Device with the lock picks, DC 20 Strength check to force it open, or flail to smash through hardness?