Manthos get´s sprayed by the blood.
With that the man dies.
The guard quickly moves forward and, seeing that the man has the golden ratch, drag him away, using the hook on of their polearms.
The crowd is visibly shaken and pushes towards the gate.
You are now ready to being searched.
The guards are respectful and orderly during the search, though their questioning is thorough and methodical. The guards interrogate the PCs as a group, first asking them to state the purpose for their visit and then asking that they declare any divine paraphernalia or illegal articles of worship for immediate confiscation. The guards describe, in detail, that such items include holy symbols, religious texts, divine artifacts, or even religiously suggestive tattoos or birthmarks. Any such items you declare are taken and placed in a nearby chest.
You have now a chance to hide an item by a slight of hand roll.
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Bielsi is clearly shaken by the death of the man. Fortunately, the victim is drug away before he can do anything that might incriminate him, like casting a healing spell. (Technically, it would be psychic and not divine...but he doesn't think the people here will care about the difference.)
"I have nothing that would interest you," Bielsi answers the questioning, holding his arms out to his side to make searching him easier.
@Alexis They do not know anything about your order, as it is a secretive organisation.
Your fortune teller cards are absolutely fine, incense you can see in every corner and a bowl, without religious iconography is the same.
The same is for your grimoire. All those items are occult and not in divine origin. As long as you do not have, for example, the symbol of nethys stamped on top!
The only items that would be questionable would be wands. Wands of cure light wounds are made by clerics/or druids so they would be definetly of interest. You think an item like that could be hidden, especially if you have such a clever expert in your group. You could also say that the wands are for arcane spells, but that would require a bluff check.
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After finishing retching from the encounter, Manthos looks haggard with dust and fluids covering him. With the guards escorting him to the side, Manthos looks up bleakly ”I have nothing that would interest you. I collect items of the strange, but not the religious. Additionally, i highly doubt you want to go through my pockets at the moment.”
Manthos, they do. And they are rather dilligent.
But all is fine with your items.
@Rhinshin please make your sleight of hand checks.
The wands of cure light wounds.
It is still enough.
You pass through the gates without problems.
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After the thorough search by the humorless guards, Manthos goes about restoring his items to their appropriate places. With special care, Manthos cleans off a small straw doll with button eyes and a little handmade apron. The doll has a strange aura and it appears to twitch of its own device in his hands.
@Manthos Is it coated in gold?
You are now inside the city. But how to find the person you seek?
Gather information is your friend.
Jadger learns that Torvad has an upstairs room in a tavern called the Efreeti’s Flame. The owner and keeper of the Flame hasn’t heard from him in weeks, but Torvad instructed the innkeeper to send any couriers bearing letters during this week to the Mendalari Estate in the Artisan’s Souk.
After spending some copper here and there Alexis learns thatTorvad has been seen coming and going from a manor in the Artisan’s Souk that belongs to Inusi Mendalari, a prominent architect in the region. It’s rumored Torvad has been appraising a large collection of artifacts for her, but no one knows exactly what he’s been examining.
Bielsi also learns that Torvad has grown exaggeratingly paranoid in the last few weeks, and several individuals report his claims that a strange creature with golden skin is stalking him. While no one has taken him seriously, he’s been walking the streets of Azir more heavily armed than usual.
Any other topics you want to find out?
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"Given what we know about the gavel that we got a hold of, does anyone want to bet what might cause a person to be covered in gold?" Bielsi asks.
But he does ask around, first to find out if anyone knows more about the golden skinned creature.
Then, if he can find any more information about Mendalari or her estate.
Jadger learns the following:
Torvad has been seen coming and going from a manor in the Artisan’s Souk that belongs to Inusi Mendalari, a prominent architect in the region. It’s rumored Torvad has been appraising a large collection of artifacts for her, but no one knows exactly what he’s been examining.
Torvad has grown exaggeratingly paranoid in the last few weeks, and several individuals report his claims that a strange creature with golden skin is stalking him. While no one has taken him seriously, he’s been walking the streets of Azir more heavily armed than usual.
Where to?
Without hitch you reach the estate.
The compound has 10-foot-high adobe walls studded with geometric mosaic designs, and the tightly closed double door is made of red-stained wood. Interior walls are made of stone, and ceilings are 10 feet high.
As you reach the door you notice something is amiss. The door seems jammed.
You are able to open the door. in the courtyard you see one dead guard lies slumped against the inside of the gate, another is facedown about 20 feet away, and the remains of both the live-in gardener and the part-time stable hand lie messily draped over the shrubs.
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Jadger doesn't hear what Ripsnorter said but the carnage in front of the party, unsettles him.
"We may need to hurry as I foresee that the removal of likely evidence is either done or underway. I certainty hope its the later and that we can stop it or we risk joining these lovely people......in eternal repose."
It is hours after entering the town.
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Bielsi looks around at the carnage then approaches the nearest body. He has no particular skill in identifying wounds but kneels to examine the wounds.
"Well, I don't have time to pull you out. It takes a full minute," he says to himself.
"Trust me, I'd much rather you be here to face whatever did this than do it myself," he continues after a few moments.
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As the others inspect the bodies, the dishevelled man begins to grunt and snort as his features distort and elongate, thick bristly hair begins to sprout from his arms, back and face. His nose elongates into a snout and large tusks protrude from his mouth.
He then reaches into a pouch and pulls out a small vial and drinks it, this seems to only further twist his visage, making his tusks grow longer and claws grow from his fingers.
"I did not come for the auction, I came to fight! let's find what did this and return the favour"
@Bielsi: As you search the bodies of the slain gardeners find a neatly written ledger and a wax-sealed packet of seeds.
A quick perusal shows most of the information is mundane bookkeeping, but several handwritten notes in the margins refer to Inusi Mendalari’s work designing gardens for one Madame Adenalar, who is apparently an enthusiast of exoticflowers. The notes indicate that Inusi has instructed the gardeners to test the viability of a rare lily imported from Tian Xia to see if it can be successfully grown in the Rahadoumi
climate.
You reach the private stable:
A single set of bloody footprints left by a young person trails from one of the corpses lying between two sets of hedges through the southern door of the stable. The footprints continue 25 feet to the east within the stable and then appear to stop and turn around, as if the person exited from where they came. The stall the footprints stop in front of contains several decks of cards.