Selawyn shuffles forward to take more of the creatures attention off Korriban slicing at the one standing in the grease hoping to take it down to allow Korriban some breathing room.
Between those two attacks, the last two creatures shriek and writhe before evaporating into their misty forms. They hiss at you--then turn and whirl away, vanishing back into the building.
Out of Combat
Korriban smiles as he continues to bring down the creatures. That's when he notices the creature talking to him. He feels the presence enter is mind. However, he shakes it off. He smirks. "Thanks for the compliment." He levels his blade at it. "But, I'll have to decline." That's when things end. Panting, Korriban turns to the others. "Good job, team. Now, it seems like we need to go in there." He takes his time to look around the area.
Korriban smiles as he continues to bring down the creatures. That's when he notices the creature talking to him. He feels the presence enter is mind. However, he shakes it off. He smirks. "Thanks for the compliment." He levels his blade at it. "But, I'll have to decline." That's when things end. Panting, Korriban turns to the others. "Good job, team. Now, it seems like we need to go in there." He takes his time to look around the area.
Pietro gives the area wide berth and is hesitant to follow the monsters in mist, "Do any of you know what these things are?"
He looks at the hole where they went through, "I mean what are we likely going to find in there."
With another flask of slowly bubbling, greenish liquid in his hand, he waits for answers.
With the last of the things gone Lantressa tentatively stepped forward and asked in a shaky voice, "What in the ABYSS were those things?"
Selawyn bent over and picked up her torch. "They went into the building so let's follow and make sure they can't regroup in their." She holds her torch Hugh and begins to advance towards the open hole in the building lookin around for threats or traps.
"Before that..." Lantresa loked around and then finally grabbed a cot from one of the dead, dismissed the grease, and jammed the clothing into the whole, "There, now if thhey try to run they might have some trouble geting out that way."
Korriban looks at Lantressa. "I have no idea. That last one tried to do something to me. I think it was trying to take over my mind." Korriban looks over the corpses. "I think the Field Marshal needs to know about blood-sucking, mind-controlling freaks and dead bodies in the alleys. Lucky that she didn't send her men here. No doubt she'll ask us about it. Hold on..." Korriban looks to the sky and thinks out loud: 'Majenko. We need your help.'
Korriban's search reveals nothing in the filthy alleyway besides the corpses, some rubbish, and the hole. In response to his thought, he hears a distant reply: I come, Korriban-friend, I come! May take some time. Long ways away!
As the party makes its way into the store, Selawyn holds her torch high and peers around for traps. When she sees none, she leads the group into the store. In the light of the torch, you see a bizarre room. Dozens of 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 work bench.
Korriban thinks to Majenko: 'It's okay, Majenko. Don't wear yourself out.'
Korriban walks in the building, sneaking about. He makes sure that there are no enemies or traps. However, even though he's sneaking, he still makes comments.
Korriban looks at the toys scattered around. "Well, these... aren't very good toys. Very crappy, actually. Well, they're better than anything I had growing up... which was not much."
Korriban cringes at the sight of their eyes. "Eew. These creepy looking things definitely bring back some bad memories."
Korriban heads over to the guy and kneels down. "Well, this is ominous. At least we found out what happened to the owner. Looks like those things got to him."
Korriban carefully heads to the trapdoor. "Hey, guys. You might want to look at this."
Pietro examined the body to see the cause and time of death. He was particularly looking for any puncture wounds like he had seen on the cadavers out side.
The misshapen dolls and broken toys gave him cause for concern and he was more than a little jumpy at this whole ordeal.
He decided to go see what Korriban had found.
It doesn't take long for Korriban and Pietro to find the bald man's cause of death: eight tiny puncture wounds wind up and down his neck, in pairs. Pietro estimates that he's been dead for a day or two. You also find a ring of keys in his pocket.
There doesn't seem to be anything else of interest in this workroom, and Korriban doesn't find any traps on or around the trap door. Moving cautiously, the young man opens it and peers inside: it seems to open into a crawlspace about 3 1/2 feet high, just bare earth under the floor. Just pushed out of the way of the trap door, Korriban can see the end of what looks like a long, narrow, open box, though he can't quite see what's in it.
Korriban looks over the body with the Doc. "Yup. Just as I thought, those things got him. Eight holes in his neck in pairs." He then ruffles through the body's pockets. "Man, first the king dies. Then, a disease starting to spread. And now freaky monsters are popping up. This city is starting to go insa- Hello there. What's this?" He pulls out a set of keys. He smiles. "Well, well, well. Look what I found. Man, I love keys. I can open all kinds of chests and boxes with them." He smirks and looks at Lantressa. "Now that I think about it, I'm probably not the only guy to say that."
He then moves over to the trapdoor and carefully opens it.. His eyes widen as he sees the box. He smiles. "Hey, guys! I found something. Looks like a box." He starts by examining the now open trapdoor for any further traps.
He then works on getting it out. "Now, this is the part of my job that I absolutely love. Finding lost loot. There's something so... satisfying about it, you know? So rewarding. Now let's see what we got here."
Pietro, not being the risk-taking adventuring type takes a backseat and lets the other experienced adventurers do the exploring.
"This guy hasn't been dead long, maybe a day or two and you're right, it was because of the puncture wounds and his lack of blood."
He hesitantly looks about and grips his ready-bomb tighter, "I'd be careful..."
When Korriban (seeing no traps to worry about) begins to pull on the box, it quickly becomes clear that you're not going to be able to pull it out: the box is very heavy. As some of it starts to come into view, though, you see that it's full of earth, and that it's shape is recognizable: it's a coffin. What's more, it has someone in it...
It's one of the creatures you fought outside.
Though Korriban recoils quickly, the creature in the coffin doesn't stir. In fact, it seems completely insensible to you: it just lies in the coffin, hands folded on its chest, pale as wax, immobile. Its open eyes stare, white and pupil-less, upward.
Korriban gets back from the box as quickly as possible, screaming. He does manage to see the other coffins. "Guys, there's four of them down there! What are we going to do?!"
Selawyn pushes past Korriban as he screams. "Stand behind me!" Selawyn then approaches the first coffin and looks inside. Seeing the creature from before makes her lip curl in distaste. "Do any of you know what these things even are?" Selawyn glances back over her shoulder while saying this and then brings her guirsarme down in an arc slamming it into the body of the creature hoping to kill it quickly.
Lantressa nearly freaked out until her darker side began to whisper in her ear. In usual fashion it wanted destruction and death and in this particular instance Lantressa was in complete accord, "I don't know what those are but I definitely don't like them. We should burn them, burn them with fire."
Korriban quickly hides behind Selawyn. When she asks about the identification of the things, he pokes his head out. "I don't know! They're in coffins, though! That means they were dead, right?! I don't like walking dead things! They freak me out! They're supposed to stay dead!" When Lantressa suggests that they start some fires, Korriban turns to her. "Wait! Before we delve into our inner pyromania, let's first get everything in this building of value. There's still other parts of this place we haven't gone through yet! Think of the loot! The poor, innocent loot!"
Selawyn rams her guisarme into the creature's chest, but it doesn't seem to have much effect, good or bad. For all you can tell, it's as though she just skewered a long-dead corpse.
Pietro suddenly remembered. No, it couldn't be.
He then spoke in a hushed voice as if afraid to wake up the vampires. "I have heard tales about these creatures but always thought they were the result of too much superstition and/or too much to drink."
He paused to make sure he had their full attention and then proceeded to tell them what they were and how to kill them.
He looked at them, "We have to destroy them but do we have the right tools?"
Selawyn grins as the good doctor informs her of how to take care of these dark creatures. She puts away her weapon and moves back among the group and hands the burning torch to Teodor. "Hold onto to this for a moment." Then she reach into her pack and pulls out four more torches tossing one to Lantressa, Korriban, and Doctor Pietro before pulling out her dagger. "These should do as stakes until we can drag them out into the daylight if we shapren them, right?" Without really waiting for an answer Selawyn begins to sharpen the bottom of the torch into a fine point with her dagger.
"Oh, Holy Lord! We give ye thanks and praises, that such needed Ends would be made through us. Let this remind us all that Everything Ends."
Korriban catches the torch as Selawyn throws it to him. He sheathes his rapier, draws a masterwork dagger, and begins to carve a sharp point. All the while, he's angrily muttering and cursing. "This is b******t! Complete and utter b******t! Stupid bloodsuckers! Stupid vampires! Stupid undead! Why can't they just stay dead?!"
"My sickle, I'm told, of course, could slice through neck and bone, ever severing in severe ways, aheh."
Selawyn and Korriban have four stakes sharpened in a matter of moments...then comes the hard part. Taking a deep breath, they plunge the first stake into the exposed vampire's heart, and Teodor brings his sickle down to sever its neck.
The creature rears and thrashes slightly, but Teodor's blow stops it in its tracks, and it falls back, body going rigid, as the mad priest lifts its head away. The other three do not stir, despite the ruckus, which emboldens you to proceed with the other three. This requires a couple of you crawling into the space under the floor of the workshop, where you can crouch, but not stand, and clambering around to peer into each coffin and dispatch its resident. It's unpleasant and uncomfortable work, but it proceeds without incident. You feel immensely relieved when you're finally done, and everyone crawls out of the trapdoor to reconvene inside the shop.
Piper groans as he gets to work stabbing all the bodies. He just wants to get this over with as quickly as possible. However, he does see something within the dirt. He digs it up. When he sees the pouch and the coins and instrument in it, he grins. "Well, at least this wasn't for nothing. Hey, guys! I found something! And, boy, is it good!"
He looks around at the others when it's done. "So... that's it, right? They're dead? Like dead dead?"
Selawyn shrugs at Korriban's question clearly not sure. "I don't know maybe? To be safe we should wait until morning and drag them out into the sunlight. Better safe than sorry right?"
"Vampires?" Lantressa was shocked at the revelation of these things, "Yes, they must die, and let's do it right, it wouldn't do to have them rise on us again. In fact we should take off their heads now and sprinkle them with holy water just to be sure. Then maybe we can burn them."
Korriban shakes his head. "Well, I don't have any holy water. They have stakes in them and they're decapitated. Does anyone have any holy water?"
Korriban is answered by silence. He looks around at the others. "Okay. So, what do we do? Stay here until sunrise?"
Selawyn nods. "I don't have holy water to make sure they stay dead, so we'll have to wait until morning and drag them outside into the sun or find some running water nearby. Besides staying here might allow us to look and see if we overlooked any clues that these creatures may have left behind as to why they were here." She then heads over towards the front room to begin setting up a small sleeping area for herself.
Lantressa nodded at Selawyn's suggestion and said, "That seems like a reasonable plan to me."
Peering into the front room, you're reassured to find that it's just the (admittedly haphazard and disturbing) show room you saw from outside, and no bodies linger here. Only poorly designed toys, kites that look like they could never fly, and a dollhouse shaped like Castle Korvosa. You set up "camp" for the night, and with a watch established, it shouldn't be long before the dawn comes.
Selawyn wasn't always good at paying attention to her surroundings, but in this place she felt like she was picking up on more and more just by glancing around than by focusing on each area individually. On one of her walks to keep herself alert and fit she noticed a jingling lockbox under the counter. Pulling it out and dusting it off she tried to open it and seeing that it was locked walked over to Korriban. "This lockbox may have some of the silver that was used to buy the dolls if you could unlock it then we'd have even more evidence of this disease. If any of the coins are infected that is."
Korriban walks in, grumbling. "Jeez. Staying here with dead undead bodies until the sun comes up. This is just fantastic." As he sets up his spot to sleep, he manages to see the box. However, Selawyn gets to it first. When she asks him to unlock it, Korriban smirks. "That I can do." He puts the pipes and ring on the counter, Korriban takes the box and puts it next to them. He digs through his coat and pulls out his finely crafted thieves' tools. He rolls the case out and begins to try and pick the lock.
When it comes to the pipes and the ring, Korriban looks them over. He then turns to Lantressa. "Hey, Lantressa. Bring Zellara's cards over here." When he gets them, he takes out two of them. "Sorry to bother you, Zellara. But, is there any magic attached to these?" He taps the panpipes and the ring.
The lock on the lockbox is old and wasn't too complex to begin with--it takes Korriban just a few moments to pop it open. Inside, you find a rather paltry sum: 2 gold sails, 6 silver shields, and 2 copper pinches, and 2 silver coins of Chelaxian mintage. There's also a silver tooth and a gold key in the shape of Abadar's holy symbol, inscribed with the number 261.
When Korriban holds the cards to the ring and the pipes, he feels a slight warmth from them, and then a surge of affirmation. Knowledge pops, unbidden, into his mind, explaining that the ring enhances a jumper's abilities, and the pipes can be used to create an eerie, terrifying melody.
-------------------------------------------
The next morning, you waken to find the sun streaming into the front windows of the shop. It's still early for anyone to be out and about, but you can hear people starting to move around on the streets. Dragging the (now headless) corpses into the front room confirms their nature as vampires of some kind: when left in the sunlight from the windows, weak though it is, they smolder, crackle, and then slowly shrivel into dust. You all breathe a sigh of relief as the last of the bodies is disposed of, and you're left free to resume your business.
Lantressa nodded and brought the cards over to Korriban. She took the deck out and handed them over to Korriban.
Lantressa rose after a fitful sleep, spending the night in this freaky toy store with vampires in the basement made for a nerve wracking sleep. Still she managed to get enough rest to function the next morning and rose as the bodies were brought into the sunlight. Seeing the things turn to dust in the light she said, "Well, I'm glad they've been dealt with." She paused and heard her stomach rumble which prompted her to ask, "So, what do we have left to do today? Whatever it is I think we can discuss it over breakfast."
Korriban looks at the contents of the box. "I want to take this. All of my instincts as a rogue tell me to take this. But, my brain is telling me not to."
He smirks as the items are identified. "The ring enhances a jumper's abilities and the pipes create a terrifying melody when used. Not bad. If no one wants the ring, I'll take it. I am the most acrobatic of the group, after all."
When the morning comes, Korriban stretches and yawns. He smiles. "Well, I feel better. It's like whatever that vampire got into me is gone!" He aids in moving the corpses into the sun and smiles as he watches them crumble to dust. When Lantressa asks about what to do today, Korriban turns to her. "Well, let's go get some breakfast. We can discuss about what we need to do today. I can think of at least three things to do."
"If the infected silver is in there you will only be exposing yourself to the disease Korriban. Wait until tomorrow when we can identify it at the temple of Abadar. We should also see if the dead man has any next of kin." Selawyn set down upon a chair for first watch of the night and when her shift was over spent some time just taking off the full plate to finally go to sleep.
The next morning Selawyn wakes up with a scowl. Grumbling, she walks over to the vampire corpses and roughly tosses them into the sunlight clearly not in a good mood. She also kicks the heads of the vampires into the sunlight just to ensure they're all dead and to partially satisfy her grumpiness this morning. Selawyn merely nods at the mention of breakfast while she puts on her full plate and as they go to breakfast tries to find some damn coffee so that this morning could truly begin.
"The temple will be the best place to begin. Most clerics there won't have prepared all of their spells yet so we could stop a few and have them prepare some spells to detect the disease to prove our point. Then we can visit Vencarlo Orsini to see what he wants and finally head back to Kroft and tell her about the vampires since we're just going to tell her that we killed them."
"If the infected silver is in there you will only be exposing yourself to the disease Korriban. Wait until tomorrow when we can identify it at the temple of Abadar. We should also see if the dead man has any next of kin."
Korriban nods at Selawyn. "Alright then. I'll wait."
When Majenko arrives, Korriban explains the situation a bit about the murders and the vampires. He also gives the little dragon a description of Kroft and where she can be found. He asks Majenko to deliver that message to Kroft about the situation. In thanks, the rogue gives him a bit of meat.
"I can cast that spell as well, and we need not sully ourselves with those Abadarian moneyf@#$ers."
Korriban shrugs at Teodor's statement. "That's true. However, they do have the box that the key goes to. I do wonder what's inside that box."
He slips on the golden ring of jumping onto his right middle finger. He admires it with a smirk.
Last night...
Majenko nods as he hears Korriban's instructions, and gulps down the little piece of meat that the young man offers him cheerfully. Thanks thanks, Korribanfriend. I tell Kroft. See you soon! Then the little dragon launches himself back into the air above the stinking alleyway, and is gone into the night.
--------------------------------------------------------
This morning:
Your group pays the bill at the small coffee house where you had breakfast, and sets out into the street. As you move, you all notice that Teodor seems rather pale and short of breath, but he troops along with you gamely.
"Oh, sweet Desna," you hear a voice murmur. Turning, you see Pietro staring at his hands: his wrist shows several bright red blotches, identical to the kind some of you saw on Brienna the other day. As some of you start to move toward him, he steps back quickly. "No! No one must touch me. Whatever this disease is, it's clearly highly contagious." The young doctor is breathing quickly, but he seems relatively calm--like he's thinking furiously. "I cannot come with you to the Vault of Abadar. The worst thing I could do now would be to infect one of the largest collections of priests this city has to defend itself from the sickness." He seems to make a quick decision. "I'm going to go back to my practice. If you need me, you can easily find me there. In the meantime, I plan to isolate myself so as not to contribute to the spread of this disease, and see if I can work to develop a cure at all. Please," Pietro smiles at you, though you can see some fear in his eyes, "do not worry about me. And let me know if there is anything I can do to help." After you've said your goodbyes, he hurries off down a side street away from you, weaving to avoid accidental contact with anyone. Hearts heavy, you turn toward the temple, which is now only a few blocks away.
Towering over the surrounding buildings, the Grand Vault of Abadar offers a vision of divine luxuriance amidst a sea of mortal troubles. Radiant, as its grey-veined marble reflects the morning sun, there's little question that this is the house of a god. A pair of gold-armored priests carrying crossbows eye you with calculation, but not hostility, as you approach, and once inside the doors you are greeted by a more clerical-seeming priest in long, gold-trimmed white robes. "What is your business in the Grand Vault today?" he asks primly, barely glancing up from the account book he is balancing on the massive desk in the entrance.
Distantly, down one hallway, you think you can hear the sound of coughing.
Korriban nods at Majenko with a smile. "It's no problem. Take care!" He waves to the dragon as it flies off.
Korriban continues to chat it up with his friends. However, he notices Teodor's short breaths. "Teo? You okay?"
Korriban's limited medical knowledge doesn't help in identifying what's wrong.
When Pietro shows signs of getting the disease, Korriban shrieks in fright a bit. He watches as the Doctor decides to separate himself from everyone. "Take care, Doc. Don't do anything stupid while finding a cure!"
Korriban is impressed by the building. "Okay. The Rosa has to get like this. It would be amazing!" When the priest asks for their business, Korriban decides to take the lead. "Well, we are here for several reasons. First, there appears a slight sickness going around. We just want to talk to whoever we can because we may have found the source of it. Also, we found a key that's shaped like the holy symbol here. We'd like to speak to Dhatri or Archbanker Tuttle. Tell them that Kroft's special group is here. The Archbanker will know who we are."
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"Fine and dandy, Special K! Really tied one on, long day fighting vampires. Can't say I'm sorry to see that sick pretender of a doctor go. The rich .
.they'll never understand us real folk."
Teodor smiles widely with yellowed, incomplete teeth at the Abadarian. He coughs into his hand, wipes it, and clasps the priest's face. "Such a pleasure to meet a fellow priest!"
The priest jerks back as Teodor reaches out to him, his face revealing disgust but nothing more. Turning back to Korriban, he says curtly, "I appreciate your concern, young man, but have no fear--I'm certain that our priests are more than equipped to handle any illness that should arise in Korvosa. Now of course, the Archbanker is quite busy, even for your 'special group...'but I could dispatch an orderly to see if Underbanker Dhatri is free. Although policing the 'source' of diseases is less our concern than dealing with the fallout. People will insist on getting sick, after all."
He tuts, then glances at you, somewhat askance, and adds, "The key sounds like it may be to one of our safe deposit boxes here...may I see it?"
When the priest asks to see the key, Korriban chuckles nervously. "Well, that's the thing. The key is in a lockbox full of coins... and the source of the disease seems to be coming from some contaminated silver coins. A bunch of the coins have been used to buy things... and now, they're circulating throughout the city. We know that at least 2 of the silver coins were used to buy things at the abandoned toy store we found the key in. However, we don't know which coins they are. I personally believe that they are the Chelish coins."
If the priest asks about the store that they found the key in, Korriban explains. "We were investigating the coins and the disease and went to the toy store. We found a bunch of corpses in the alley, found some vampires, and found a dead guy in the store. It might be the store owner."