"Watch your head!", Lyla yells to Ortik as she throws yet another bomb at the undead beasts.
Lyla's bomb sails right into the spawn's open mouth.
Its eyes widen in surprise, but it doesn't have time to blink as the bomb explodes in a burst of alchemical flame. The spawn's skeleton is briefly visible as it reverts to a gaseous form.
The bomb's splash damage cooks off much of the remaining spawn's skin.
Demitri steps forward where the undead exploded in front of him slashing at the remaining one.
Demitri's blade runs right through the beast's gut, but it's still standing!
Nalun swings with all his might!
"Is that the best you've got, beast?", Ortik shouts, leveling taunts at the spawn as he circles it widdershins. "You best bare your neck to your master again, maybe he'll actually make you a threat, then!" He continues to make guarded strikes, though his real goal is setting up Nalun for a deathblow on the spawn.
Moving to give Nalun a flank option, and continuing to fight defensively. AC 19 still.
Ortik's hammer connects with the spawn's hide, but the bruise it inflicts heals over almost instantly.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Nalun's blade. It hews the thing in half, reducing it to gaseous form as well.
The mists retreat under the floorboards. The trapdoor leads underneath the floor...
Lyla catches her breath staring at the floorboards. "Alright, what does it mean when vampires turn to mist after taking a beating? Are they dead? Like, again?"
The girl walks up to the trapdoor and examines the lock and mechanism. "Guess we'll have to go down to find out..."
As the mistform vampires retreat into the floor, Ortik visibly relaxes. "Too damn close," he muses, stowing his shield and pulling out his healing wand. "This place is riddled with the undead, and that could have gone much worse than it actually did. Gather round, I'll do what I can." He surveys the wound that struck Demitri, frowning at the blackened skin. "I can heal the wound to your body, but healing the wound to your soul is beyond my ability right now. We'll get you fixed up at the Bank once the grisly deed is done."
"No, but it will be a while until they can fight again. In the meantime we need to find their coffins so we can end them for good. It is alright, Ortik. I appreciate your aid in any case."
The trapdoor is open, and the way down doesn't appear to be trapped.
Lyla shrugs shoulders and looks at the group. "Well, it's not like we have the element of surprise...", the girl points out, and then she jumps down the trapdoor without worrying about being sneaky.
At the bottom of the trapdoor is a 3-1/2-foot tall crawlspace with an earthen floor. Peeking through it, you can see a room with identical dimensions to the workshop. From what you can see, it contains several blocks of wood... and some sort of mist.
She puts her hands around her mouth and shouts to the upper floor "Yup, they're here, alright!"
Karri pushes her voice echoes, "Follow the girl. Kill anything that threatens her." The Elemental follows Lyla down the stairs, it's essence searing the air near it.
Lyla crouches down and advances to explore the blocks of wood, holding a bomb in her hand. She looks at the elemental and says "Light the way, fireball, but don't burn anything down, ok?"
Thanks to the fire elemental's light, you see four coffins among the blocks of wood. Each of them are open, with the maimed vampire spawn inside.
Their wounds are beginning to heal, but they're helpless for now.
The elemental jumps on one of the coffins and wraps it's burning self around one of the helpless spawn, it's flesh cracks and burns under it's scorching attentions.
As it's own essence begins to peter out, Karri invites it to stay in this world longer. "No, Legion can wait to have you back; for now serve. Burn them all."
Lyla goes back to the trapdoor and sticks her head out. "Well, they're lying there in their coffins and it looks like they're already healing. What's the standard procdeure now? Stake through the heart? Cut their heads off? Silver chains—or perhaps chains?" She thinks for a moment and finishes with a question. "Is there a cure for this?"
Upon hearing a cracking noise, she peeps under the floor and sees the elemental burning down the coffins. "Well, that could work, too..."
The fire elemental's fiery touch provokes an unholy scream from the spawn as it's reduced to gaseous form once again... and this time, its coffin goes up in flames.
With a grunt of mental effort, Karri reaches to the front of herself and reasserts control, pushing Legion away. Far away, for now... As her eyes lose their preternatural color she whispers hoarsely, "That was too much. I can still feel it leaving me. But it's done, right?"
"Good work. We don't need more threats to the city. Are you going to be alright? We should be able to locate the coins quickly enough."
The smell of burning wood & dead flesh underneath the floorboards, followed by the pitiful screams of the vampire spawn as their bodies and coffins are consumed in fire, are enough--if the spawn haven't met their final deaths by now, they will soon enough.
Searching the toy store yields a rusty, jingling lockbox behind the counter in the front of the store. After a minute of trying the ring of keys, the lockbox opens to reveal 2 gold pieces, 38 silvers (most of which bear the seal of Absalom), 22 coppers, a silver tooth, and a brass key bearing the symbol of Abadar on one side and the number 261 on the other.
Demitri will take care not to touch the coins. "This key is for a safe deposit box at the Bank of Abadar." He says shutting the lockbox as to not accidentally drop anything in it.
We aren't considering stealing this are we? Nalun asks with a raised eyebrow
You find three leather pouches, containing a total of 300 gold pieces and 15 platinum pieces, a ring that looks like intertwined spider legs, and a set of bone pan pipes.
"No. Most of these are contaminated with the disease and is therefore evidence. The rest we'll give to the Bank."
Lyla goes through the coffins' ashes and collects the pouch. She opens the bag carefully and takes a look inside, checking if there are any infected silver coins, but it is the ring that catches her eye. She picks it up and tries it on with a smile on her lips. "Nice!"
Crawling out of the hole, she throws the pouch on the floor and announces her discovery. "Hey guys, found us some gold down there. There's also some eerie bone pan pipe inside, and also this", she says, showing the spider ring on her finger.
"Good. We'll take it with us. Let's get going."
"Looks like we have several reasons to head back to the Bank," Ortik says to Demitri. "I can fill you all in on what I discovered as we travel."
"Spill it out, Ortik!", Lyla exclaims , curious to hear what the dwarf has found out. She stores the newly acquired treasure in her backpack and follows the group out of Giotorri's.
Ortik begins speaking as they head of to the Bank of Abadar. "The Forgottenfolk have been hit rather hard by this ague, but now that we know how the damnable thing is spreading, we might be able to stem the tide of sickness. This has, of course, created a run on the temples, and they can't keep up with the demand. One of the Ffolk, Denora Shaumly, said that she'd heard of someone offering cures at a bargain price. Now, either someone's profiteering, or they're actually able to provide this service, or, worse still, they're in on this whole mess. I think we ought to pay this person a visit - Lavender's Luxurient Liniments, over in South Shore. After we get to the Bank and take care of business, of course."
"That is a good lead. You're right, we should pay this person a visit."
Nalun thinks about what Ortik reported
Hmm. South shore you say..I know a few fellows on that side.
In the middle of a plague.
Something's DEFINITELY fishy to you.
The walk back to the Bank of Abadar is surprisingly uneventful, save for the constant reminder of the illness & suffering among the commoners of Korvosa. If anything, the plague appears to be spreading faster than you thought--it seems that you can't walk past an alley or street corner without seeing a group of huddled men & women, their faces & bodies wracked with bleeding, oozing sores and sharp coughs.
The crowd in front of the Bank seems to have grown larger than it was last time you were here, but this time the guards notice you first. They immediately begin barking orders at the diseased masses, commanding them to step aside and let you pass. This time, they point their crossbows at the crowd to get their point across. It works--the crowd practically recoil from the party, save for a few stragglers that call out to you pitiably.
Judge Zenderholm looks up from treating a man & his young daughter as you return. "You have returned. Have you returned successful?"
"Yes, we found the tainted coins. And something else. Vampires were hiding out in the shop. One got me and drained a little from me. I could use a little help."
Curious that a business would open during a plague yeah? Nalun remarks to the others as they travel Very curious...
To the Hanging Judge Nalun says Well. We slew a nest of Vampire Spawn, I guess that's success.
"It's an accomplishment, to be sure, Nalun," Ortik says, nodding at the man's words. "But whether the spawn were part of the plague or merely capitalizing on it, it's hard to say. Until we check out the vault, that is. Show her, Demitri."
Demitri hands over the lockbox with a nod.
Zenobia takes the lockbox as she listens with a grim cast to her eyes.
"The presence of vampire spawn in our city is troubling enough, but compounded with this wretched plague..." She shakes her head and looks over at Ortik. "What sort of vault are you referring to?"
"One got me and drained a little from me. I could use a little help."
Judge Zenderholm nods. "I thought as such--vampires and their ilk have a nasty habit of doing that. Our supplies of diamond dust are not excessive, but I believe I can help you."
"Regrettably, despite your sterling service in Korvosa's name, I still need a donation to compensate for the diamond dust."
"Yes, that is fine. I will contribute what is needed. We have a lead as Ortik will explain."
"The spawn had gathered some trinkets - coins, gems, mystic baubles, the usual sort of thing. They also had a key to a deposit box here. Now, maybe it's just something they looted off one of their unfortunate victims, but maybe it's not. We won't know until we open it."
"Hm... if you're saying those guys were vampire spawns... well, where's the vampire that spawned them?" Lyla asks, intrigued with the idea of a vampire loose in Korvosa. "Anyway, Ortik got us another lead, a brand new linement shop in South Shore. Talk about seizing a business opportunity...", she adds sarcastically. "But let's check that vault first."
"There's that too," Ortik says, nodding to affirm Lyla's words. "And that's our next lead, once we're done here, Your Honor."
Zenobia takes the vault key the party found and looks it over, sighing. "Ah. I suppose old Alfonso met a bad end... very well. Follow me."
She turns on her heel and leads the party across the bank floor to a stairwell in the back.
-----------------
The marble stairs lead down under the ground, spiralling to the bottom. With a small prayer, Zenobia conjures a ball of light from her holy symbol and leads the party onward.
"Mr. Giotorri didn't have any next of kin that remained in Korvosa--not entirely surprising, considering his history with my courtroom." She says, stopping in front of a great stone door. She takes her holy symbol off of her neck and slides it into a stone keyhole in the door before turning it. A *click* escapes the lock, followed by the *grinding* of stone against stone as the door swings open.
The walls of the room beyond are lined with countless safes, each of them bearing a number and an engraving of Abadar's holy symbol on their steel doors. The marble floor of the room is kept spotlessly clean, and surprisingly enough, is free of engravings of anything related to Abadar. Instead, the entire floor of the room is engraved with the coat of arms of Cheliax.
"261... 261... 261--here it is."
Judge Zenderholm stops in front of a safe that looks much like the others surrounding it and inserts the key into its lock. After half a minute of working the key back & forth, trying to open the safe, it finally swings open. "I REALLY wish he took better care of this blasted key..."
Inside the safe are the following things:
--A pouch containing 68 gold pieces;
--A set of masterwork thieves' tools, kept meticulously clean and in good condition;
--Dozens of papers detailing the construction of (rather shoddy-looking) toys;
--A well-worn pair of brown, comfortable-looking, laced leather boots.
Huh, well. This doesn't look like any clues... Nalun shrugs So, I guess we are heading to the South Shore