1) Besides the big nurse at the front gate, added a harassed little clerk (Exp 2). The clerk is the only employee of the city government on the premises; he's there to record entries and deaths. If the PCs wait for a while in the anteroom, there is a 10% chance every 10 minutes that a doctor will emerge and murmur for a few moments to the clerk, who will look intimidated and then make some entries in a ledger.
Game significance: pretty much none; he's basically wallpaper. Will flee screaming if a fight breaks out, which could eventually attract the city guard.
3) Add a DC 10 Fort save the first time PCs enter the main floor of the hospice. Fail, and you're Shaken for 2d6 rounds; fail by 5 or more, and you're Nauseated.
3) Added a couple of orderlies, Bodey (human) and Stuggs (a dwarf). These guys are low level thugs, War1/Rog1. They're not wearing armor and have no weapons other than a dagger, club and cosh. They're there to move furniture around, run errands for the doctors, and remove dead bodies. Bodey and Stuggs spend most of their time sitting in a corner, playing cards for copper pieces ignoring the pathetic pleas for help of nearby patients.
Game significance: Bodey and Stuggs will flee from any well-armed party, fighting only if cornered. They know nothing about the cult of Urgathoa, but are familiar with the layout of the warehouse above ground, and (unlike the doctors or the Grey Maidens) could be intimidated into telling what they know. Bodey has the key to the chained back entrance; he will occasionally unlock it so that he and Stuggs can slip out for a smoke. If PCs watch the back of the hospice, there's a 30% chance per hour that they'll see this happen.
Most of the dying patients here had nothing of value, but the two orderlies have found a couple of small pieces of jewelry worth 80 and 30 gp.
4) Added a dozen dead bodies in the back room, waiting for a wagon to come up and take them away. No game effect, except that the back entrance is opened once per day to take them away, perhaps giving stealthy or invisible PCs a chance to slip in.
5) If Dr. Davaulus has time to prepare, he lights some incense. Ostensibly this is to fend off the revolting smells coming up from the main floor below. In fact, the incense is a subtle poison; anyone breathing it must succeed at a DC 15 Fort save, or be at -2 to Will and Reflex saves for the next 10 minutes. (The Doctor is of course immune.)
If not attacked at once, the doctor will suggest that the party leader sit down and discuss "how to resolve all this" like civilized gentlemen. He'll offer some wine from a flagon he has conveniently on hand. The wine is of course poisoned (choose an ingestion poison) and the Doctor is once again immune.
Thoughts?
Doug M.
