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Brig blinks in surprise at the cleric's anger. Pride to be her friend making the big woman do something that she rarely does as well.
Smile.
Then she turns to the doctor. "We've treated the disease and want to help." as proof she describes the disease, symptoms, and what they know.
Ariadne strides purposefully through the door, taking a moment to size up the situation.
Zahur follows, but doesn't add anything. There is no way for him to convince anyone that he wasn't out of place there.
Vedika easily slips in behind the two Physicians carrying the corpse downstairs.
.
.
F6 Private Hall
The rough functionality of the warehouse below gives way to beige tile and a whitewashed hall on this floor. Double doors engraved with images of rampant gazelles stands to the south, their once fine teak bearing obvious scores and chips from rough use.
This hall once served as an entryway to the clerks’ and manager’s offices beyond. Now it is little more than a guardroom. Two more Grey maidens stand guard here.
F7 Experimentation Ward
Rows of white-sheeted beds line the walls of this room. Each bed holds a patient restrained by leather straps that bind the figure to the sturdy metal frame. At the room’s center stretch simple wooden worktables, each covered in fluid filled beakers, intricate glass tubes, small burners, and other alchemical instruments.
As the corpse is taken into F7 Vedika can see Physicians in the room experimenting on the patients strapped to the tables.
Much noise and shouting up top, but no real violence yet. What are you doing Vedika?
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Since her vanish spell has a very short duration, Vedika slips back out to rejoin the team in the midst of the chaos. When she reappears, she does so from behind Brigita.
She peeks out from behind the helpful warrior and adds, "Just so you know, they're doing medical experimentation on the helpless victims in the room below."
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Brig startled slightly as Vedika's soft voice announces an atrocity behind her. A low growl comes from her chest, followed by her grabbing one more of her potions and drinking it down, her skin become rough as bark.
Eyes narrowing at Vedika's revelation, Ariadne draws her sword. "That ends today"
Zahur enters the building and closes the door behind him.
The Physician calls for the Grey maidens desperately, while blocking the doorway.
The Nurse raises her hands and edges towards the door, "Whatever they're doing I don't have anything to do with it!"
Footsteps as the Grey maidens come towards reception in a hurry. Physician is oddly standing his ground? What is everyone doing now?
.
The alchemist has had enough waiting and charges into the room, pushing past the doctor, before trying to hammer him into running.
The Physician swings desperately at Brigita.
He misses and Brigita pulps him.
Next.
With combat fully engaged, Ariadne wastes no time, taking the nurse at her word and dashing past her, turning to face the oncoming physicians and Grey Maidens, as she utters the words to a spell, causing the multicolored sand in her palm to explode outward, unleashing a vivid cone of clashing colors that washes over those before her.
All resist Ariadne's spell.
Orange slashes at Zahur and misses.
Lilac swings at Brigita missing.
Purple swings at Zahur missing.
Black attacks Ariadne and misses.
Yellow lines up her bow on Ariadne and fluffs it.
Green & Blue shoot from the catwalk at Ariadne and put arrows into the walls.
The party can now act!
Vedika licks her punch dagger and then shanks the minion to her right.
Brid deflects the clumsy sword with her bark skinned arm, then stalked around him to smash him in the stomach with her hammer.
Between the doctor and the maiden, Zahur feels the maiden is more dangerous, so he focuses on her first, stepping back and attacking with his hook.
Ignoring the physician's flailing attempt to strike her, Ariadne assesses the arches at the biggest threat, focusing her spellcasting to leave no opening as she conjures an arrow of pure acid, sending it up at one of the maidens on the catwalk.
Brigita splatters the Physician that attacked her.
Zahur hits the Grey Maiden once. He then disarms her easily.
.
Ariadne hits Green with her Acid arrow, getting a foul oath as the acid sizzles into her skin.
Vedika can't reach anyone this round.
.
Kayleigh squeezes past Ariadne into the fetid main room.
Green & Blue decide the spellcaster is the most dangerous and both again shoot at Ariadne.
Orange curses and swings her shield at Zahur.
Yellow hustles forward to assist Orange but is slowed by the cramped quarters.
The party can now act.
Her clumsy attack missing badly.
.
Black swings desperately at Ariadne
Purple swings at Zahur.
With her hammer over her head, Brid charged the armored warrior threatening Zahur. Thundering boots, knocking a tiny bed out of the way, then she swings hard at the woman.
As the arrows slam into the wall behind her, Ariadne effortlessly deflects the physician's attack, her quick, intricate spellcasting leaving no opening for her enemies as she steps forward, leaving her attacker for Vedika to take care of as she step forward, her blade glowing with a cold blue energy as she slashes the advancing Grey Maiden.
Zahur weaves back in where he was, now swinging his hook at the doctor to also disarm him, before continuing to attack the maiden.
.
You roll over the guards and Physicians without any trouble. Aside from the moans and groans of the many sick patients in the beds. You do notice that the Physicians fight more like Rogues than academics?
.
.
Time to move below. Vedika can tell the party what awaits them down the stairs.
What now?
.
.
What are you doing now?
Taking the time to relieve one of the slain Grey Maidens of her armor, Ariadne packs it up to take with them when they leave, ideas for its modification and use already occurring to her trained eye.
"Okay, so two more Maidens and two more physicians down there, we should focus on taking the Grey Maidens down first as the bigger threat."
"The thing about keeping it quiet is out, so we should do this as fast as we can... reinforcements could arrive at any moment." Zahur tells the others. "So we rush forward so they can't bottleneck us and I'll try to disarm than as fast as I can."
"Sounds good. I'll try to hit one with my venom, maybe we'll get lucky."
"I can cast a bless spell on us all as soon as we hit resistance and save my stronger spells for later," Kayleigh chimes in.
"Alright, let's do this!" Ariadne says, renewing the enhancement on her armor and leading the way down the steps, preparing to throw open the door as soon as everyone is ready.
You move to the back room.
F4 Warehouse Lift
Several cubbies and wooden lockers line the walls of this small workroom. Four rickety chairs surround a water-damaged table, and a well-used but solid-looking cargo lift rises up through the ceiling.
And then down the stairs.
F6 Private Hall
The rough functionality of the warehouse below gives way to beige tile and a whitewashed hall on this floor. Double doors engraved with images of rampant gazelles stands to the south, their once fine teak bearing obvious scores and chips from rough use.
Vedika remembers two Grey maidens standing guard here, they are not doing so now? The door to the next room is now barred on the other side.
They've forted up. What are you doing now?
Kayleigh holds off casting bless until the group actually has someone or something to fight. Instead, she spams Brigita (if we're trying to break down the doors) or Vedika (if she tries to disable the bar on the door, if possible) with guidance orisons to boost her friends' chance of success.
Brig tightens her hands on her hammer's shaft but looks to Vedika first to see if she wants to try disabling first.
Vedika checks to see if she can slip a thin blade through the door and lift the bar.
Vedika surprises the people on the other side by slipping her thin blade through and easily lifting the bar blocking the door.
.
What are you doing?
Sword in hand, Ariadne briefly touches a random brass key hanging from her belt, uttering an arcane word, and makes a gesture toward the door, flinging it open.
Kayleigh gets ready to cast bless on her allies if more than one foe is revealed when Ariadne pushes open the door.
The door flies open in response to Ariadne's spell, revealing two very surprised Grey Maidens and another two physicians standing ready.
.
The party may have a surprise round on the enemies.
Kayleigh casts bless on the group (duration 7 mins., +1 on attacks and saves vs. fear) and lets the more martially inclined do their thing on the Grey Maidens blocking the doorway.
"Hit 'em before they can react!"
Her face a mask of utter focus, Ariadne quickly utters and arcane phrase extending her hand in a fluid motion that leaves no opening in her defense as a sudden gout of flame erupts forward, completely enveloping the Grey Maidens, washing over them toward the physicians.
The doors open and Zahur swings his hook at the nearest maiden.
Brig knows enough about armor that she needs to hit the target in a way that does not deflect the blow. So she rams the heavy head into the faceplate of the nearest sister.
.
While you were dealing with the Physicians and Grey maidens the door at the back of the room swung open and then closed again. You couldn't see anyone though?
What are you doing now?
The resistance goes down easily, though with each crushing blow, shattering bone, Brig gets more and more angry. "What are they defending?" she rumbles.
"Dunno, but we shouldn't waste time in case they start destroying evidence—or killing people!"
.
F6 Private Hall
The rough functionality of the warehouse below gives way to beige tile and a whitewashed hall on this floor. Double doors engraved with images of rampant gazelles stands to the south, their once fine teak bearing obvious scores and chips from rough use.
F7 Experimentation Ward
Rows of white-sheeted beds line the walls of this room. Each bed holds a patient restrained by leather straps that bind the figure to the sturdy metal frame. At the room’s center stretch simple wooden worktables, each covered in fluid filled beakers, intricate glass tubes, small burners, and other alchemical instruments.
Each of the beds is occupied, but the patients are unconscious.
They are being kept unconscious with drugs?
From the terse notes and the various equipment setups on the worktables it seems the patients are immune to the disease and the Physicians were trying to work out why?.
F8 Doctor’s Office
Blood, bile, and other humors bubble away within oddly formed beakers
and twisted tubes in this sizable laboratory. Any wall space left in view between cabinets or over-laden bookshelves is covered by worn parchments depicting magnified aspects of human anatomy in grisly
detail—many pierced with pins and flags like the war maps of a veteran campaigner.
In the corner, a desk of elegantly carved white ash bears the image of a herd of antelope, but stains from dark chemicals and gore disfigure the once-beautiful piece.
This seems to be Doctor Davaulus's office, he is not there.
With a successful DC 16 Perception check made while searching the desk, a PC uncovers Dr. Davaulus’s scattered notes on the source of some Varisians’ immunity to blood veil.
As you are searching the rooms you faintly hear the elevator in F4 moving. It is going down below the warehouse? There are no stairs or doors leading down. The elevator must have a secret way of reaching hidden levels?
What are you doing now?