Andjela looks on... she wasn't sure what to feel. She keeps am eye out.
Anna drive the stakes into the vampires. Their eyes open in shock and disbeleif as she does, but a few good hit and the stakes are deep in their chest and the vampires are rendered helpless. Looking at them, you recognize the two you just defeated in this room and the ones from the dye room. One is still missing however, as you can't see the one with the bladed scarf that injured Sonny.
"Nice going Anna."
Danica begins to craft some stakes out of the remains of the crates. "Just in case we come across any other resting blood suckers."
Danica is now equiped with a nice stack of stakes for future vampire killing.
"So, we drag these vamps upstairs to give them a little sun? I'll make sure no one's around."
If the group agrees, Anna helps drag the bodies up to the back alley of the shop and checks for any witnesses. If there are, she'll go out to the nearest street and pull out her tarnished silver flute. She strikes up a jaunty tune while twirling around in order to draw the eyes and attention away from the spontaneous combustion going on nearby.
Tolvan supports this plan, helping drag the undead into the light.
The spontanous performance by Anna attracts quite a good gathering of people, leaving the way clear for the reast of the group to drag the helpless vampires into the street. The daylight does quick work of most of them, but the two that drank the potion before the fight prove more problematic. Their bodies don't seem to want to burst into flame in seconds like the other ones. You start to worry when it has been a few minutes and are about to abort when they finaly burst into flame and turn to ashes.
Anna keeps playing until there's a thumbs up from one of her teammates. She bows after ending her impromptu performance with a flourish, then slips back to the group.
When the group goes back inside Tolvan will look for the empty that two of the vampires drank from and try to determine what their contents were.
Tolvan studies the vials. While he is unable to determine what the properties of the liquid are, he can confidently say that one of the ingredient is blood.
The resistance these last two had to the sun is related to the gathering of vampire blood that was going on when we interrupted them. Some kind of blood potion. Lets search these storage rooms next.
"On it," Anna says, more excited about looting than chemistry. She first checks everything for traps (and mimics) before touching anything.
Assuming that there are no traps or lurking creatures, Anna searches the storage rooms.
"Great distraction Anna."
"Being that these vamps took a while to burst into flame I just wonder if this is a potion that allows them to walk about in the sun."
That is what I just said Danica. I think it is what they were about, getting blood from vampires for more potions. And who among our enemies are known for potion brewing? Witches.
Anna inspects the two storage rooms, but finds nothing other than supplies one would expect from a shop like this.
Anna grunts in disappointment that she doesn't find any further clues. She turns to the others. "Okay. From the journals we found earlier, we know a little more about Radvir and got our proof that he's in cahoots with the Whisperers. We have two more names: Aisa and Hetna, who are in the market for vampire bodies but we don't know where they're supposed to be delivered. Two'll get you twenty that Aisa and Hetna are the mysterious witches that Luvick told us about." She points to the vials that Tolvan had studied. "That stuff's also probably the bloodbrew elixer that we saw in the notes."
She paces a bit, frustrated. "We're getting some puzzle pieces, but nothing that's telling us where to go next. But, delivery of vampire bodies has to be something that leaves some kind of trail. Maybe if we check upstairs we'll find some delivery ledgers that will correspond with some of the locations on our maps."
Sounds good Anna. You want to scout upstairs before we follow?
Anna rolls her shoulders. "Sure, I'll take a look."
She starts sneaking upstairs, flipping up the hood on her cloak.
Leave no stone unturned...
Anna smirks. "Sure thing. And remember when looting take everything not nailed down. And anything you can pry up isn't nailed down."
Anna silently climbs the stairs to the main floor. There, she finds herself in the dressing room section of the store. It is a long room with a serie of stalls on one side. Across from those, there is a single curtain hiding the main floor. Anna can hear people talking on the other side. Mostly idle chatting about clothes and colours. Getting closer, she peeks from the curtain and sees a very luxurious clothing store. There seems to be some employees and a few customers.
Anna listens for anything in the chatter that might sound like code for nefarious dealing, then slips back downstairs to report on what she saw/heard.
"Seems like a pretty normal store up there. There's people. Does anyone know how we can figure out if they're vamps other than just tossing them out into the sunlight?"
We could walk in looking for dresses... Andjela smiles.
Likely we are done here. You two can do some quick shopping if you like but then, where to next?
"These stairs lead up into the back changing rooms. To pretend you're shopping, you should go out and around to the front. If you're a good enough distraction, I could try to sneak into the offices and look through their business ledgers."
Anna ventures back up the stairs and activates her ring. Now invisible, she slips past the curtain trying not to disturb it too much and looks around for an office.
Danica begins to ponder on Anna's suggestion.
"I can actually do what you are suggesting."
Danica will go around to the front of the store and start looking about.
Danica walks into the boutique. All eyes turn toward her. One of the sale people walks over and instead of saying anything, just walks around the monk. "I believe you have the wrong place. The more store with the utilitarian are closer to the main market." She chuckles as she walks away from Danica, obliviously expecting the monk to leave after her remark.
As Danica distract all the people on the sale floor by sticking out like a sore thumb, Anna is able to explore away unimpeded. She does see a flight of stairs leading to an upper level and two curtains blocking other section of the main floor.
Anna will first check behind the curtain on the first floor. If there's nothing that interesting, she'll creep up the stairs to the second level.
Tolvan will make sure his Message spell is active on all the party before they split up.
Danica goes into her purse and pulls out an assortment of gold and silver coins. "So I guess my coins are not good in this establishment? I know I stand out and I know that I am overreaching here but I would like to see if I can make myself over. You know.... be more presentable to the young lad here. Any suggestions? Anyone here? Would be more than grateful for any assistance."
Danica puts her coins away.
The woman looks at the purse. "No amount of coins can turn you into a proper lady, but if you insist, I suppose we could find something to fit that masculine frame of yours.
Anna sneaks around the sale floor like a shadow. Behind the first curtain, she finds a private fitting room. Making her way south, she sees a kitchen where the staff most likely eat and rest during the work day. The second curtain hides a small corridor that leads to a door. Anna is about to heads upstair when she gets a wiff of rotting flesh coming from the door.
Anna bites her tongue when Danica is further insulted. She'd love to pop in and humiliate the sales woman, but she stays on her mission. "Guys, it smells like rot past that curtain on the main floor," Anna whispers to everyone through Tolvan's message spell. "I'm going to check the stairs going up to the second floor real quick."
She does just that.
Anna's make it upstair and find herself surrounded by an impressive collection of high end clothes. There are three doors in this room. Two of them lead into a storage filled with bundles of silk cloth. The third one lead to a balcony that overlooks the store main floor.
Tolvan struggles with doing nothing and tries to wait patiently while Anna scouts.
Anna slips onto the balcony, enjoying the vantage point. She whispers again through the spell, "Okay, I'm above you on the balcony, so I can watch you from here if you decide to check out the rotten smell past the curtain. I'll watch your backs."
Danica responds by showing off her flexibility, front split and a side split. Then she does a straight legged forward bend, rump towards whatever audience is around. Then she responds "I'll let the boys use their imagination on that one."
"Guys? You going to go through the door? I'll go if you don't want to," Anna whispers to everyone.
Sonny thinks for a moment and then says, "If we can get to that door unseen, somone could open it and I could channel. That would hurt any undead but leave the living unharmed until we figure out what we are up against. If we start a noisy fight they will be calling for the guards in the storefront."
Anna's patience finally wears thin. She hops down from the balcony and invisibly crosses the sales floor to the curtain. She peeks inside.
Anna leaves the second floor and makes her way back to the curtains. A quick peek reveal that Danica is still keeping the floor staff as they present her with different outfit options.
Twenty feet pass the curtain, Anna finds a large door. The stench of death and decay seep from the closed door.
Anna checks the door for traps, then disarms any that she uncovers, or unlocks the door if it's locked.
Once any danger is passed, she slips inside.
Anna finds no trap on the door. It is also not lock, allowing Anna to slip in unoticed if she really want to.
"I'm heading in," Anna whispers to everyone.
Anna slips inside.
We need to group up. Anna, we are heading to you indirectly as we gotta loose the sales force. Tolvan whispers. He then announces It is clear our coin is no good here. He heads for the front door.