Zahur is many things, but not a talker, so he sits nearby and fishes an apple from a pouch. If the girls need him, they'd call. Meanwhile, he'll keep an eye on the back doors in case there is any suspicious activity.
If no one responds to her request for face coverings, the blacksmith will go back to the end of the line and wait.
It takes a long and very boring amount of time before Brigita reaches the store.
C1 Perfumery
Heady scents twist throughout the cramped but stylish perfumery. A dizzying assortment of bottles—from gaudy ceramic containers to graceful crystalline vials—lines a variety of lace- and ribbon-strewn tables, shelves, and racks, as well as an eye-catching display in the wide front window.
Across from the front door’s lavender-tinted glass panes runs a long
counter, stacked high with hundreds of simple clay phials bearing round, magenta stoppers. Behind the counter, violet flourishes swoop across a sign reading, “Lavender’s Luxuriant Liniment: Either You’ve Got It, or You’ve Had It.”
Inside Vendra greets each new customer from behind the shop counter, leaving the actual sales to two pretty young shop girls.
Two large, well dressed men with purple cravats discreetly hold saps and
keep their eyes on the shop’s patrons, ready to put down any trouble at a nod from Vendra.
It is 2GP for a dose.
What are you doing? Buying a dose and leaving is easy.
As Brig goes through the process of purchasing doses, Ariadne approaches Vendra. "You are doing lifesaving work here, it's a wonder the lines aren't even longer."
Brig raises two fingers, and slips over four gold. A price that is a bargin if it truly cures the sickness. If...
Kayleigh looks around a bit, trying to get a read on the vendor and her two shop guards.
Kayleigh can see that the Guards are here to mainly keep order in the store, but do keep an eye on Vendra in case she has orders for them.
She can't pick up anything on Vendra besides great delight at the amount of gold pouring into her hands.
Brigita easily buys 2 doses.
You notice one middle-aged man seems to be idly browsing the perfumes, he's not shopping for anything. Just hanging around the shop.
What now?
Seeing that Vendra has no interest in small talk, Ariadne nods to her companions that they should leave once Brig seems to be wrapping up her purchase.
No one can get any read on Vendra. She's very good at putting up a front. :)
Zahur, Brigita & Vedika all make their perception checks and can now read the spoiler.
What are you doing now?
Enough time passed, Zahur appears by the door. "Ready girls?"
Brig has her samples, and it ready to go deconstruct them, but the older man tweaks her suspicions. Brig is rarely called subtle, so she looks to her companions, nodding toward him in case they did to see.
Klueless Kayleigh eventually catches Brigita's signal and tries to surreptitiously watch the man and try to figure out his intent in the shop.
Ariadne glances over in the man's direction, studying his face for any sign of recognition.
He looks bored, but occasionally glances in Vendra's direction. When she doesn't do anything he goes back to browsing the perfumes.
No idea who he is, from the weathered look and callouses on his hand you would say a manual laborer of some kind. An odd type to be browsing perfumes?
What now?
While the man is somewhat suspicious, Ariadne dismisses the nagging feeling for now, vowing to keep an eye out for him should they return to the shop after Brig is done with her testing. As Brig packs her purchases away, the magus leads her companions out, taking note of what the line looks like now, as they make their way back.
Once the party is outside and a fair distance from the shop, Kayleigh offers her thoughts on the suspicious man in the shop. "He definitely seemed interested in the proprietor," she begins, "but I'm not sure if he was another guard working undercover or maybe someone investigating the 'miracle cure' like us."
"I wonder if it was that mysterious vigilante in disguise."
"Hunh...wouldn't that be interesting? It's a good way to keep track of what's going on in the streets." Ariadne muses, considering Vedika's point.
Despite knowing the others are waiting on her, Brig goes slow and steady in breaking apart the tonic. Little twists, tiny drops, a dap to taste, she wants to be sure before announcing ...
?
.
The cure is administered to a sufferer in front of Marshall Croft. As you expected it does nothing.
Brigita takes an hour to carefully study the so-called cure, a pleasant smelling oily fluid with a bitter taste and discovers the ingredients are Sugar, perfume and river water.
Marshall Croft sends a squad to drag Vendra Loaggri back to a cell. After the crowd witnesses the setup in Vendra's apartment behind her shop the squad also needs to stop a mob from grabbing Vendra and stringing her up from the nearest pole.
.
.
While this is taking place Marshall Croft thanks you for your work and with a weary sigh tells you she has another matter that needs investigating.
Are you ready to go now or do you want to rest first?
"Why don't you outline this mission to us now?" she asks the field marshal with one of her simple yet disarming smiles. "I'm ready to go now, but if any of the others needs to rest up and recover resources, we could always talk things over and head out tomorrow with a plan already in place."
The Marshall indicates a very attractive young women, who has a very worried look to her. "This is Deyanira Mirukova. Her brother Ruan was hired to provide music at the Carowyn estate for a party."
A PC who succeeds at a DC 16 Knowledge (local) check recognizes Ruan as a Varisian prodigy and a youthful master of a most unconventional instrument, the ocarina.
"He didn't come back the next day and when Deyanira went to the estate to ask about him she found it seemingly abandoned—its entrance locked, its windows tightly curtained, and a sickly smell issuing from behind the
heavy door."
Marshall Croft sighs with gloomy tiredness. "She came to us next and we're run off our feet. Until you returned I had no one I could send out to investigate".
What now?
Brig wants to return to the shop and slug the fake alchemist a good three times. There is pure regret anger in her face as the lady is drug away. As Kayleigh talks to Croft, the blacksmith simply stands behind her and waits.
"Yeah, I can keep going," says Vedika. "Glad we got that huckster off the street."
River water. She was giving folks river water. Zahur isn't easily shaken by things, but this makes him sick. A pity the mob did not get to her and lucky for her the guards handled it. If was to him, he might very well had let the angry people get to her.
"I know Ruan. He has been in my place twice, pretty good with the ocarina, uh?" He says to the sister.