29-04-2012

Dividing the Spoils:

-50 gp: Living Costs

100 gp: Reward for Carowyn Manor

233 gp: Loot

Carowyn Manor
The next chapter starts with the heroes sitting at the Three Rings discussing the sunken ship. Eithain's presense was unfortunately still required elsewhere and Jamroar had recieved an urgent message that had riled him up somewhat and that made him leave immidiately.

To add to this, a messenger also arrived from the Guard, which asked the party for help. They accepted to hear the request and was taken to Castle Volshenyk, where they met with a noble who asked them to investigate Carowyn Manor. The place had held a masquerade several days ago, where a friend of the noble had attended. The manor had been closed since then and a foul stench could be smelled near the building, and the noble feared that something had happened to his friend.

The heroes got the impression that he didn't really care for his friend, when he asked them to retrieve a amulet his friend had borrowed, but did promise them 600 gold pieces for news of his friend and the return of the amulet. When they where leaving, they where also besieged by a woman, whose brother Ryan had been preforming in the manor, and begged them to look him. She couldn't promise anything for them, apart from free tickets to the Marbledome, where both the siblings performed.

When the heroes arrived, the curtains were drawn and the house was silent. After entering the building, they were met with a strange sight. Someone had killed most of the people inside and reanimated them as zombies, leaving three masked couples to dance mindlessly around in the hall. Soon the culprit revealed herself: Jolistina Susperio, a crazy and deadly elf dressed in bright clothes and brandishing a crossbow. In a shrill voice, she invited the heroes to join her "party" and began a lethal game of cat and mouse through the zombie-infested manor, utilizing spells, Invisibility potions and Screaming bolts, before being cornered in the cellar and put down.

The owner of the house, Ausio Carowyn, was also found in a secret room in the cellar and profusely thanked the heroes for clearing out the building and giving them anything Jolistina might have been carrying as a reward.

The body of the missing noble was located, and the amulet was brought along, but Ryan was nowhere to be found. This message brought little hope to his sister, who thanked them and asked that any news or rumors about her brothers whereabouts be brought to her.

Wreck of the Direption
After dealing with the situation at Carowyn Manor, the heroes turned their attention to the shipwreck which they suspected were the initial plague vector.

With Tosti being able to help the party breathe underwater, they did not need to use Eries's offer of potions, and set off for the wreck.

Entering the broken remains of the vessel, they encountered a large shark and its Sea Hag Druid master Yvicca, who attacked them on sight. After defeating the sharks and driving off Yvicca, the heroes located two interesting items: A lockbox with intricate skull carvings that Yvicca dropped when she fled and a low chest. The wreck also contained a corpse of a person wearing the now familiar robes of a Queen's Physician, who was also wearing a holy symbol of Urgathoa, the Pallid Princess, goddess of disease and undeath, which is not what you would expect from someone supposed to fight a plague.

Returning to shore, the heroes examined the rest of the items: the chest contained documents, shipping manifests and the like, all jumbled together by the ship wrecking. The documents looked brittle so it was clear that it was a prudent move by the heroes to bring the chest ashore before cracking it open. The skull-covered lockbox was revealed to be a Death's Head Coffer, designed to carry infectious material, which contained a dead rat, infected with Blood Veil, and a pouch of coins, also infected with the disease by the magic of the Coffer.

The heroes were now unsure who to trust with this information. Tosti argued for the Church of Abadar, since money could ensure their coorperation, Zyriel thought that the Guard was safe enough. Xian believed that it might be possible to pressurize the Queen's Physicians with the knowlegde that some of their numbers where decievers. Kyeran did not trust anyone and wanted to bring the whole organization down. They agreed to wait until they were all gathered before making a decision.