GM Harrow’s Curse of the Crimson Throne - AE

Game Master GM Harrow

Investigating Lavender's

The sight of the long line and the people in it with obvious symptoms fills Elric with concern.

"Even if whatever they are selling in there can cure the plague, this whole show is likely to make people more sick, not less. We would do well to steer clear of that line and we'll attract attention if we try to bypass it. Perhaps we should see if we can find another way in or come back when the shop is closed?"

After learning more about Lavender's and its proprietress, Audria decides that dressing to the nines would draw too much attention. Instead, she dresses in a simple outfit of a cream shirt with long sleeves and a green skirt held up by a simple brown leather belt. Seeing the crowd and hearing Elric's observations, she finds herself agreeing with them.

"If we're going to wait until tonight, anyway, then we should see what is going on with that place Majenko saw someone dumping the bodies of dead," she says. They'd have to stop by Shane's again so she can grab her armor and glaive in case this turned out to be more than some corpse hauler being lazy, but that should take only a short while for her.

"Be lots more sick because of this circus by nightfall." Shrike has materialized from a narrow alley between one of the tightly packed shops off Summoning Street. "Let's look for a back door."

After explaining what she knew of Lavender, Vendra Loaggri and the free imps stunt at the Sanctuary of Shelyn, she had offered the use of the magical haversack to store extra gear to Audria or anyone else who wanted to appear unthreatening for the moment while keeping the option to prepare for trouble close at hand. Now she holds out the pack to Audria.

One vote for sneaking around and looking at the back of the building. Audria's armor and weapons will have been at the Sanctuary this morning, since she ran there directly from the sewers yesterday and spend the night there, yes? So if Audria doesn't want to or can't carry her agile breastplate in her backpack, it and the glaive can go in the handy haversack and still travel with us. It might take a minute to throw on the breastplate over her clothes, but this just seems easier than needing to travel to a secondary location every time.

She's been staying at Shane's/Zellara's, so she would have had to run by there to grab the outfit she's wearing unless Shrike decided to grab it for her before coming to the Sanctuary. Honestly, it really doesn't matter except to me since I like to keep track of things like that for some odd reason. Might be worth looking into a bag of holding sooner rather than later for hauling around our gear in case we need to go from unassuming to ready to rumble in a hurry.

"Yes, your right," Audria tells Shrike with a sigh as she realizes that waiting would mean more people cramming into that small shop or the growing line. "I don't suppose we could us Elric being a Sable Company Marine to clear them out? Say that the shop's closed until it's--" Audria's voice trails off as her reason catches up. "No, that'd never work. It might set off a riot if people think the city's trying to stop people from getting something that could cure blood veil."

Audria thinks for a moment.

"Are we all going to try sneaking into the backdoor?"

Shane mutters "Perhaps invisibility is the way to go for whoever tries? I think if we all dog pile in on a break and enter we might reduce our chances."

"Mmmmmr, I wish you hadn't phrased it like that, Audria grumbles at Shane, wondering what it says about her moral compass that she would rather fool herself into believing that this was part of an investigation than admit that she is contemplating breaking into a shop. Yes, the owner of said shop was likely making things worse and cheating people out of their hard-earned coin, but still! Maybe she still believes that she needs to uphold the law to make up for all the times she'd broken it just to survive.

"We're--We're gathering evidence," she blurts out quietly. "We have reason to believe that this Vendra Loaggri person is not being truthful about the efficacy of her product and could be causing untold harm to many of the people who live here in Korvosa. We won't be stealing from her or anything, so we aren't doing anything illegal."

Tally looks less than impressed by Audria's reasoning.

"Even I know you're reaching with that one," the little songbird on Audria's shoulder says flatly.

Shrike twists her head around to stare at Audria. "You care about that now." If anything, the evenness of her low croak expresses greater bafflement at the idea that simple illegality should matter than a question would. "I'll do it then. Come if you're quiet. Stay if you're not. I'd save the spells till we know we need them. But up to you. Back soon." This last is addressed to the group at large.

She suits action to words, circling the building on cat-quiet feet, sticking to cover and looking for a window to snoop through or failing that, any back way in. This had been less nerve-wracking under cover of darkness at All The World's Meat, but the tight alleys do provide some cover, and they have to learn more about what is going on here before they can make an informed choice about what to do.

Taking 10 Stealth for 25 under my best guess at current conditions (daytime, no dim light, Shrike has practiced with her belled catsuit in the last 24 hours.) Talanaliel is actually stealthiest at +23 if she wants to go scout like she did with All The World's Meat, but since she isn't volunteering and I really want us to be moving towards a goal, Shrike is next best and will go. Everyone but Shane has decent Stealth, I think, so it's fine if you want to come along. If Shane wants to make himself invisible to come along, that's fine; otherwise Shrike will just come back to discuss before actually breaking in, if it looks like breaking in is good/possible. Taking 10 is a good idea under such circumstances, as always.

"Yes! I'm weird like that," Audria says as she blushes. "I'm a street urchin that never learned how to sew, a warrior that gets torn up inside every time she kills someone, and a person who will break into to drag a criminal out to face a court of law. I'm just a big roiling ball of emotions and contradictions! It's a minor wonder I'm not even weirder than I am."

As Shrike turns to leave, Audria looks at Talanaliel and sighs as she stops the vigilante.

"Tally? Would you mind going with Shrike? I'm sure she'd appreciate the extra eyes and a way to send for help if she needs it."

The songbird considers things for a moment before nodding her head.

"Alright, I'll go, so long as someone stays with you. You know, to keep you from getting any weirder," Tally teases before flitting over to Shrike's shoulder. She twitters a soft laugh when Audria sticks out her tongue at the thrush.

One birdy scout, reporting for duty. Tally will do as Shrike tells her to.

"No harm in waiting if you want, Odds. But we all know we're not taking a peek out of self-interest, but if this was the sort of thing the guard was actually for, they'd be looking for answers too." Pava ghosts along behind Shrike, dogging her every step. Take-10 for Stealth 21

"Yeah, if this place turns out to be on the up-and-up, we'll be on our merry way, but we're here because we suspect that they are taking advantage of a desperate population and making things worse. And if they are, we'll figure out the best way to stop them." Elric says as he checks his bow and prepares to trail after Shrike and Pava, covering them.

Stealth Take 10 for 21

1d20 ⇒ 9

Those skulking behind Lavender's find a narrow alley; one side of it is the back of the perfume shop, a blank windowless wall, while the other side contains the entrances to several apartments. One of these entrances is boarded up with dusty timbers and the building looks condemned. The entrance next to it has the name of "Vendra Loaggri" in neatly calligraphed letters on the door. Further down, a side entrance into - presumably - the basement of the perfume shop can be seen.

Map updated.

Shrike notes the lack of windows in the back of the shop and the alley-facing apartments — both convenient and inconvenient for their purposes. She examines and gently tries the door of the apartment labeled with Loaggri's name in passing, to see if it is locked, but her true object is the stairs to the basement of the perfume shop. If she were a sharper, this is where she would organize the sham cure.

Taking 10 on any necessary Stealth or Perception checks here, for 25 and 19 (27 and 21 if dim light or darkness.)

P.S. Looking at the map, I'm actually not sure if that door into the shop itself, right by the basement stairs, is supposed to be the only door into the shop proper. (I'm assuming the shop is the building that seems to be facing the street, with a big front window, etc.) If it is the main shop door, it presumably has a long line of customers standing there, etc. So Shrike would not try to go down the stairs right in front of them, of course, and would stick to examining Vendra Loaggri's apartment door.

The map is a little strange in that the shop does not seem to have a front door (but it does). The customers are lined up in front of the building.

Shrike finds the door to Vendra Loaggri's apartment locked.

. "I'll do it then. Come if you're quiet. Stay if you're not. I'd save the spells till we know we need them. But up to you. Back soon." This last is addressed to the group at large.

As it has been suggested spells not be used yet, Shane finds himself in the 'not so quiet' category so hangs back and tries not to let his worry show.

Deciding that she'd only increase their chances of getting caught, despite being quite sneaky and quiet herself, Audria stays back with Shane. She does pull out a staff from Shrike's bag before the others leave, wanting something a little more substantial than a dagger in case things get violent and she needs to help the others.

"Shane," she says a little while after the others are gone, "what makes people think its fine to take advantage of others' fear? What makes them think its right to enrich themselves on the suffering of others?"

Does it not seem like we can get into the basement of the shop first, GM? If that doesn't look interesting or related to the perfume shop, or is clearly boarded up as well, then I guess Shrike will go for Vendra Loaggri's apartment.

After a moment peering down the set of stairs that descend next to Lavender, Shrike turns back to the apartment with Vendra Loaggri's name in neat script. She settles herself in front of the locked door, tugs off the mailed hand protector she wears over the back of one hand, and brings out from her backpack the set of fine lockpicks in a leather roll bag. The lock does not seem especially elaborate or complex, so she tries first a standard approach with two long, thin tools of slightly differing shapes. After only ten seconds or so, she twists one hand and a quiet click can be heard. But she stays put, listening at the door, for a few more seconds.

Taking 10 Disable Device for 23 with masterwork thieves' tools and taking 10 for 19 Perception to try to hear anything alerted on the other side of the door.

She stands, puts away the tools, slides her vicious glove back on, and takes up the sap in one hand. She gestures Pava and Elric over and counts down with her fingers from three before pushing the door open as silently as possible and looking around at the very pretty and very out-of-place imitation of what she thinks of as a comfortable salon. It seems that Vendra Loaggri has aspirations of joining the noble classes — or at least would like to live as they do. All the wall hangings, painted dishes, beautiful teaware, sculpted furniture, and exotic scent from the candles or hookah, crammed into a small though neat space, reminds her of a less expensive version of the Queen's sitting room in the castle. To her native Korvosan sensibilities, it seems a bit overstuffed and ostentatious, but perhaps that is the fashion in Cheliax at the moment.

She drifts through, examining the room without speaking and cocking her head to read the titles of the risque books and sentimental poetry, and privately thinks Pava is welcome to those. The purple silk bedding catches her eye. As bedding, it passes merely ostentatious and tips straight into tasteless, but such a luxurious and beautiful fabric would make an excellent reward for Majenko and his kin to put in their nests.

She doesn't notice the concealed door at first behind the delicate wall hangings amongst all the other fine furnishings and decorations, but fortunately Pava does.

Perception DC 25, dim inside(?): 1d20 + 9 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 9 + 2 = 22

When Pava points it out, Shrike wordlessly signals Talanaliel to get Audria and Shane. Whatever Loaggri is hiding will be concealed through here. She wants their help to look it over and decide what to do.

She creeps silently to the hidden door and listens there, as well as examining it to see if it is locked or even trapped. Taking 10 again, for 25/27 Stealth, 19/21 Perception. If she sees and hears nothing, she waits for Audria and Shane to arrive, then opens it.

Perception: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (7) + 14 = 21

Tally nods at Shrikes signal and flits out of the apartment and out into the city. She didn't see what has Pava and Shrike so interested in the wall hangings. Personally, she found them far too gaudy for her tastes.

===

Some time after the others leave, Tally flies back to where Audria and Shane are waiting for the others.

"They found something and wanted me to come get you two," the little thrush says after landing on the top of Audria's staff. The young paladin looks to Shane, an anxious look on her face.

"Sounds like there might be something nefarious after all," Audria says. "Think we can pass for a couple visiting a friend?"

===

If needed, Audria will take 10 on the stealth check for a total of 23. If we're feigning nonchalance as we visit someone...
Bluff: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2
Oh, there's a part of me that hopes Shane goes for Operation Paramour. It'll be hilariously bad.

As the small team enter the apartment, Elric moves in and then hangs back to cover the door, keeping a close watch on the ally.

When Pava uncovers the secret door, he nods and waits for Audria and Shane to make it safely to them, then closes the door.

"Looks like that would be leading to the boarded up apartment next door. Seems to me like Vendra Loaggri has something to hide. Let's have a look."

Crouched to examine the revealed door, Shrike twitches slightly at the sound of Elric's voice, and nods in agreement but makes a 'low' gesture with one hand toward the group at large, by flattening and pressing down with her palm in midair. They have no notion what may be on the other side of this door, and while a whisper is hard to hear through walls, talking at normal volume is not. She herself has said nothing since entering the alley behind the shop.

Apologies, I skipped over the basement.

Glancing around the corner to where the stairs down to the basement are, Shrike spots a large padlock on the door. At the end of the alley there is a chest-high fence with a gate, and Lavender's waiting customers are currently clustering up in front of it - getting in unseen would be tricky, although not impossible.

Through the secret door

As dilapidated as it looks from the outside, the apartment next door to Vendra's is spotlessly clean on the inside. The door to the street is boarded up from this side as well, and thick fabric has been nailed over the shuttered windows. Crates of vials and perfume bottles, jars of ingredients and alchemy equipment occupy the kitchen nook of the apartment. The air delightfully of spices, flowers, and exotic oils. There is a trap door in the far corner.

"Shane," she says a little while after the others are gone, "what makes people think its fine to take advantage of others' fear? What makes them think its right to enrich themselves on the suffering of others?"

Shane sighs "Inside every mortal soul, there are two wolves.... and really, that means theyr'e both sons of bi..."

Some time after the others leave, Tally flies back to where Audria and Shane are waiting for the others.

"They found something and wanted me to come get you two," the little thrush says after landing on the top of Audria's staff. The young paladin looks to Shane, an anxious look on her face.

"Sounds like there might be something nefarious after all," Audria says. "Think we can pass for a couple visiting a friend?"

"Not sure we can fake that but we can try if need be. If it were true, I'd be very disappointed in you, Audria. You should have higher standards than an Acadamae graduate." Wryly. And he moves with her "Let's try sneaking first."

Assuming they make it, he is glad to have the door shut between them and exposure as Eric explains

Audria winces as Tally's arrival cuts Shane off. Whether it was because of the depth of cynicism it revealed or the awful pun he was about to make isn't really apparent even to her, at least until she hears his reply to her suggestion about pretending to be a couple.

"Sneaking it is," she says.

Shame, it would have been great to play out that Nat 1 Bluff check. :P

===

Seeing inside Vendra Loaggri's apartment was like getting hit across the face. She couldn't fault any individual piece, but when taken as a whole--

"Her tastes are just as gaudy as the queen's," she murmurs before Elric's explanation brings her back to the task at hand.

She nods to the marine and hefts her staff as she hopes she won't have to use it. Seeing inside the boarded off apartment, Audria raises an eyebrow and wonders why Vendra would try hiding this, at least until she sees the trapdoor.

"I guess down we go," she says. "Um, Should I change first? This isn't really for traipsing around the Vaults if that's where that leads."

Shrike is no alchemist, but everything in the secret apartment looks and smells like perfume and the ingredients to make it, not medicine. Which would be perfectly understandable for a perfume shop that to her knowledge has never claimed to sell cures of any kind before the current crisis. This trap door, on the other hand, could well connect to the shop's basement, which had been padlocked and inconveniently close to the line of waiting customers.

She looks to Audria and holds up a fold of her own chain shirt and then the sap, to indicate that she thinks the girl should be wearing her armor and holding a weapon in case of trouble.

While Audria makes whatever preparation she is going to, Shrike pads silently to the trap door and gives it the same examination as the concealed door had gotten, even going so far as to lie flat to press her ear to the wood, in order to hear if there is anything in the room below. If she hears and sees nothing out of the ordinary, she carefully attempts to open the trap door in silence and peek down.

Same routine as before. Taking 10 again on any needed checks, for 25/27 Stealth, 19/21 Perception for both the door itself and the room beyond, 23 Disable Device if it turns out to be necessary. If Disable Device is necessary and 23 doesn't do it, feel free to roll several more attempts for her.

Audria nods and grabs her armor and replaces the staff she carries with her glaive. As she holds the breastplate bundled with her normal adventuring clothes, she realizes there's not going to be much privacy here, and there's not anywhere else she can really go to change. Her face turns bright crimson as she tries to push past the embarrassment and does her best to get changed as quickly as possible, stripping down to her underwear and pulling on a pair of trousers and a shirt before she has time to reconsider and chicken out. A few minutes later, red-faced and not looking anyone in the eye, especially Elric, Audria is wearing something more appropriate for a fight, and a part of her desperately hopes that she didn't just embarrass herself for nothing.

Until everyone are ready to open the trapdoor, Elric makes a point of keeping watch by the door, covering both sides of the alley beyond. If he manages to catch a glimpse of a Chosen of Shelyn in her underwear, he certainly does not let it show in any way.

The trapdoor is not locked, and since Shrike doesn't hear any noises below, the group opens it. Underneath is a wooden ramp set over a narrow flight of brick stairs descending into a corridor - what looks to be a far older building buried under current construction. The passage leads north, then veers to the left and opens into Lavender's basement, a low-ceilinged brick room of similar construction as the corridor. It is filled with crates of glassware, neatly labeled jars, pouches and boxes on shelves, small casks with pungent smells or no smell at all, and stacks of faded promotional flyers.

Audria Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (14) + 8 = 22
Tally Perception: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (3) + 14 = 17

Audria Heal to see if the ingredients here have medicinal properties: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8

Taking 10 on stealth for 21

Audria and Tally carefully look around once they are in Lavender's basement. The young paladin tries to recall what she knows of the healing arts, specifically what could be used to treat the symptoms of blood veil, unfortunately, her mind comes up blank.

As for Shane, when he follows the others, he casts detect magic.

If needed
Perception: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 2 = 16
Spellcraft: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (20) + 13 = 33

Using just her candle lamp now they are underground, Shrike pokes around the dimly-lit basement carefully for any evidence that the Lavender's Luxuriant Liniment was made here and what might be in it. She spends several minutes to make a thorough search.

Taking 10 Perception for 21 and also rolling. I would take 20 for 31, but I'm not sure how long you would rule that takes for a full room, GM, and I don't want to spend more than 10 minutes here in case someone comes in. If there's no evidence of skullduggery here, we might have to try a social route in the shop above. This is definitely a time when it would have been really nice to have Abella's Craft (Alchemy) skill to learn more.

Shane cannot find anything magical among the shelves and crates, although he does recognize a few more expensive alchemical reagents. All in all, the ingredients stashed here and the alchemical equipment in the "abandoned" apartment would fetch a few hundred sails from the right buyer.

Audria and Shrike find a few wooden boxes stuffed with cotton, wherein a few dozen of the amethyst vials labeled "Lavender's Luxuriant Liniment" are carefully nestled. Just then, footsteps on the stairs and the muffled clink of keys announce the imminent arrival of someone who - unlike themselves - is within their legal rights to access the shop's basement.

We won't roll initiative just yet, but each of you can make a roll (with whatever skill you think appropriate) to try to flee before you are discovered, or to try and talk your way out of this.

The box opens to reveal several dozen vials of the Liniment exactly as she hears the first footstep on the padlocked stairs outside she had considered trying to break in by earlier. Shrike jabs with two fingers back the way they came in — time to go — swiftly grabs a pair of the amethyst-colored ampoules, closes the lid on the box, and slips them into the side pocket of her haversack as she quietly beats a retreat back the way they came, to the brick stairs and trap door. She does not rush, as that will make her footfalls heavier and more likely to be heard, but ghosts along the corridor as usual. The candle lamp stays lit for now, so she is not staggering blind and crashing into things. She is counting on the fact that it will take a few moments for the shop employee to get down the stairs, unlock the padlock and actually come in.

Taking 10 Stealth for 27, at the usual half speed. Or if a roll is necessary:

If at any point she hears the door actually opening, she will blow out the candle lamp and freeze where she is.

Affirming Shrike’s signal to retreat with a silent gesture of his own, Elric moves back in the passage that led them to the basement, striking a balance between stealth and speed.

Take 10 stealth

Pava makes note of the best reagents to redistribute, then slips away on Shrike and Elric's heels.

Stealth: 10 + 11 = 21

Noticed that the GM specifically asked for a roll

Stealth: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (13) + 11 = 24

Tally's riding on Audria's shoulder, so I don't think I need to roll for the little songbird. Included just in case.

Audria Stealth: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (13) + 11 = 24
Tally Stealth: 1d20 + 23 ⇒ (2) + 23 = 25

Audria pulls the hood of her cloak up and looks to the others as she hears the key turning. Her heart pounds in her throat as she prays that Shane is graceful enough to slip away without making any noise. She brings up the rear, Tally trying to keep quiet as she rides on Audria's shoulder.

GM, if it looks like we're about to be discovered, Tally will launch off Audria's shoulder and flit about the person's head as they open the door to distract them before trying to get out of the shop through the front door.

Shane watches everyone blend into the shadows.
Of certes. Let me briefly reflect upon how I came to this predicament.
It was requested spells be held in reserve. No Invisibility dweomer, only practiced and honed stealth. Those who could not do so, should hang back. I hung. I was then informed I needed to join the others as they had found something. I had to sneak by folks anyway. By chance and fortune. I did. Once rejoining the others, Of COURSE fate would send someone down here. And each of my allies, apparently part Minkai Ninja, vanishes. Leaving the tiefling to hold the proverbial bag.

He is careful not to take too loud a breath I hate my life.

Deciding NOW is the later the spells were waiting for, he casts invisibility quickly and disappears.

Casting invisibility on himself :P

Audria watches, growing ever more tense as Shane starts casting something. She isn't trained in the arcane arts at all and is left wondering what he is doing while she waits for him to proceed her through the passageway when he suddenly vanishes.

Oh, that would certainly help, but how do I know when he's past me?

Her hands nervously wring her glaive's haft as she waits for some signal that Shane is safely away or until she has to leave or be found out by whomever is opening the door.

I really wish we'd found a different way to look through everything. The thought flits by as logic tells her there really wasn't another way to do it without tipping Vendra off or getting flatly denied.

Such was life, she supposes as she slips into the passageway and hopes that the person at the top of the stairs doesn't see her and that Shane is well past her.

Rolling for Pava: 1d20 ⇒ 16
1d20 ⇒ 2

As Shane begins casting, the footfalls outside pause for a moment. The sound of a key being inserted and jiggled around is audible before the padlock clatters loudly and the door swings open. One of the shop girls steps inside, lifting a lit lantern to illuminate the darkness of the basement.

"She better pay extra for havin' to deal with all those sick people..." she mutters disgruntledly as she steps between the shelves and picks up the boxes that Shrike was examining only brief moments ago. "Lessee... four dozen, should be good for a coupl'ours." Her prize safely clutched under one arm, she makes her way back out, locking the door behind her.

Shane now invisible, and blessed with night vision, tries to memorize the shopgirl's features and uniform as best he can. While disguise self wouldn't allow an exact copy, it might let him pass from a distance later.

Seems like a great use of invisibility to me! I almost mentioned that Shrike would assume Shane would be fine because of his ability to turn invisible in my last post, but didn't want to step on any toes.

Hidden on the stairs with her candle lamp still sending up a thin curl of smoke from its snuffing, their dubiously-acquired sample of the dubiously-effective merchandise stashed safely in her backpack, Shrike waits for the sound of the shopgirl's footsteps to fade away aboveground before moving again. She re-lights her lamp with flint and tinder, and takes stock. Everyone seems to be here except the frogmaker. Probably the brief sentence of chanting had been him taking no chances with discovery by turning himself invisible, as he had offered to do for someone before this expedition. It was wise to have kept the spell in reserve for himself as a hedge against exactly this situation, although a bit unlucky that someone had happened to come down during their intrusion and he had needed it.

Shrike points upward, and because she does not know if Shane is in a position to see her, also whispers in the silence of the basement, "Got what we need. Regroup in the alley."

Although no one was in the apartment before, it pays to remain careful, and so she does, listening at each door again for any motion beyond the barrier before passing through it. Being seen coming out of an apartment they had no business being inside would be almost as disastrous as being caught in the act of trying to pick the lock. Taking 10 on Stealth and Perception again as needed. If Shrike can be the last one out of the apartment and lock it behind herself easily, she will do so, waiting for Shane to signal in some way that he has gone through. If she knows the door will not lock again easily, she will close it behind them but leave it unlocked.

While passing by the bookcases on her way out, this time Shrike notices that in amongst the more lurid chapbooks are four thick volumes with sturdier bindings, the first one's spine inscribed with the words Gambler's Luck. Maybe this is a copy of the series of Blackjack novels Audria had recommended a few weeks ago. She wouldn't mind reading them, if she ever has time for reading again. Interesting where Vendra Loaggri chose to categorize them, though.

***

Once back in the first alley, away from both the shop and apartment, Shrike retrieves the two small vials of amethyst-colored liquid from a side pocket of the haversack. "These're moonshine. Just need to prove it. Don't know if it's illegal. But I'd see her outcast." She doesn't actually know if Loaggri is breaking any Korvosan laws, but she strongly feels that defrauding people during a plague — and worse, spreading the disease faster by gathering the sick together with the healthy — is an act worthy of being made outcast: an exile, stripped of all possessions or claim to relationship with one's former kin. Verik Vancaskerkin had deserved the same. It is the most serious punishment short of death among elves, who are reluctant to kill their own since they are so few in the first place and can change so much over their long lives.

”Good job, everybody. That was close. We should probably have someone skilled in alchemy or healing take a closer look at those vials. Meanwhile, we can investigate some of the other leads we have.” Elric says quietly once they are all back in the alley.

When told to move to the back alley, Shane whispers "On my way.". He doesn't waste one minute of invisibility and goes to the back alley.

When they get there, he says "I'm with you."

Audria carefully makes her way out and towards the alley they all started in.

"Jessica's the only alchemist I know. I don't know of anyone that knows the medicinal arts," Audria says before flushing again as she adds, "at least I'm ready for any fights we might run into now."

Travel from the Heights to Old Korvosa is done fastest by crossing one of the over two dozen wooden bridges spanning the Narrows of St. Alika between Endrin Isle and the mainland. From there, the alley where Majenko reported the smell of death is only a short way away.

The high walls of the surrounding buildings throw this awkwardly bent alley into constant shadow. Although littered with garbage and filth, the refuse isn't the most stomach-turning trait of this rundown side way. Heaped against a bent wooden wall rises a pile of more than three dozen plague victims, their faces blistered and flushed, eyes open and staring. The scent of death is overpowered by the reek of rot, suggesting that some of these corpses have been here for days, but even a casual glance reveals that certain bodies seem strangely pale compared to most of the victims who succumb to the sickness.

Knowledge Local 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (5) + 10 = 15

"I don't claim to know much about underbellies, but Racker's Alley is one of them. Dark trades, silent homicides, and shady business abound they say. Not even the sun reaches here... great place to dump plagued corpses." He shudders a bit, and makes sure his mouth is covered.

Pava closes their eyes, breathing out through their nose until the wave of nausea passes. "Lady Despair's plague isn't the only predator here. Spec the pallor, yeah? Not that Racker's hasn't seen its share of bodies, but that's something new."

Knowledge (local): 10 + 7 = 17

"Pallorous predators," Audria asks. She had noticed the paleness as well, but she isn't sure what the significance is. If something dangerous is waiting here, it probably wasn't anything living, or anything sane if it was. She covers her face with a kerchief, more to mask the smell than to prevent her from getting sick.

"I think I should lead," she says before taking in a deep breath as she closes her eyes. A moment later, she opens them and reveals a soft, iridescent glow to them. She readies her glaive and slowly stalks forward, wary of anything looking to spring an ambush.

Casting detect evil.

Abella has Craft (Alchemy) and Heal as well as various healing spells. Can we send one vial off to her at the Sanctuary with an urgent request to identify what's in it and what it does?

I was hoping Elric would know more than Shrike about if the Liniment scam is actually illegal / something that the Guard would care about. If Abella can show the stuff is inert, is it more efficient to take that information to them? Or will we have to take care of it ourselves in secret because Loaggri is a businesswoman who pays her taxes, etc.?

Racker's Alley, Old Korvosa, mid-morning of Oathday, Sarenith 18
Shrike tries to breathe shallowly through her mouth. Even apart from the overwhelming stench of death and rot, she is shocked to see how many corpses have already piled up here in the scant four days since they had heard the first whisper of this illness, at the Soldado home on Sunday. And some of them have clearly been at Racker's Alley for several days already. The blood veil is more advanced than she understood, or else it progresses more rapidly. She wonders if the croaksmen whose job it was to take these bodies to the Gray had just been lazy, or if something had happened to them. Before crossing the Narrows, she had paused long enough to ready all of her weapons, which now bristle from her back in silent warning.

She nods agreement or acknowledgement to Shane and Pava. Passing through this particularly shadowed corner of Old Korvosa on the ground is a risk she would not take under normal circumstances, and even if only observing it from the Shingles, it is the kind of place where she keeps one eye on the closest escape route at all times. Her shoulderblades itch even now as if an arrow is pointed there. She stays slightly back, and as hidden as she can be while Audria paces openly forward, her bow out and ready to respond to an attack from any angle.

Taking 10 for Stealth 27, Perception 21 keeping guard.
Any relevant check - what happened here/what caused the pale corpses/what to be wary of?: 1d20 ⇒ 20 Huh. Her Knowledge modifiers are +6 Local, +4 Nobility or Dungeoneering if any of those are relevant.

House Drake Delivery Network

Enticed with a cut-crystal vial stopper that sparkles beautifully (pilfered earlier from Vendra Loaggri's collection), one of Majenko's many winged kin agrees to deliver one of the liniment vials to Abella at the Sanctuary. If the stuff turns out to be river water, the Korvosan Guard would definitely want to know about it. While the city regrettably lacks a consumer's protection agency per se, it can be argued that such a dishonest business practice contributes to the spread of the deadly disease and endangers the population.

Racker's Alley

It looks like the blood veil has not only spread rapidly throughout the population, but that it also kills in only a few days, as there are more than forty corpses piled up in this alley. Shrike notices that many of the bodies are drained of blood, and that nearly half of them bear no signs of blood veil at all - merely twin puncture wounds on their necks, wrists, or inner thighs.

5d20 ⇒ (3, 4, 6, 10, 17) = 40

While examining the corpses more closely, the group notices a hole in the eastern wall, at street level, looking like perhaps the kind of passage that a dog would dig under a wall. On the other side is a shadowed and dusty interior space.

If you touch the bodies to investigate them please roll a Fortitude save.