The Blood Veil

The group awakens the next day. The Singing Wind Inn they are in is friendly but with almost no one around. All is not well in Triel. Few people move about within the city. Most choose to hide away in their homes, trying to avoid others for fear of catching the Blood Veil. The sickness which had begun to spread throughout the city a few weeks prior has people scared.

The disease starts off mild, with cough and malaise. But within a couple of days, the disease progresses with a red rash covering the face, hence its name. Within another day most people, if not treated by clerics or the mages, will perish.

Seeing The City

When the adventurers assemble in the common room of the inn they plan their day. Messick wishes to get armor made for his dog, Justice. Eda and Sylvannas wish to seek out spells or other magical items. Tort, the tortle, wishing to learn more about the culture of the city, roams around, ignoring signs and warnings telling people to stay out of quarantined areas. The disease has hit certain sections of the city hard and those living in those areas have been ordered to stay within their homes.

Finding Another Death's Head Coffer

Tort seeing something familiar lying in among a pile of refuse bends to retrieve it. It is one of the Death's Head Coffers. A blackened wooden box, measuring about a foot and a half squared with it's borders decorated with arcanic looking white runes which swirl together sometimes to form the crude form of skulls. This one is open with a dark looking rat with red eyes nearby. Tort grabs for the box and decides to bring it back to show the others.

The Lavender Boutique Scam

Some of the others move about the city and come across a huge line of people. The line stretches for several blocks. When questioned they find out that a store called the Lavender Boutique sells for a gold piece, a potion which can protect one from the Blood Veil. People line up everyday and hope they can continue to afford the potion for everyone in their families until the disease is either cured or ceases it's assault on the city.

Eda and Princess Elora pay off a woman to take her place in line. There is a lot of yelling about this from the rest of the line but the line is appeased when the woman leaves the line and goes to find a place in the rear of the line. Moving along with the line, they soon enter the shop and it seems to be a fairly efficient process. A person takes their gold piece, another person provides a small potion vial, once imbibed, the empty potion vial is returned to another person, and the line then exits the shop.

 Once drank, the potion makes one feel warm and well, but the adventurers find out it is simply a warming spell. Not a healing or restoring potion. This will not protect anyone from the disease. This is made evident as some of the group start exhibiting signs of the disease. Messick uses his magic to cure them but it is clear, the longer they stay here, they more likely it will be that they will have to continually battle this disease.

When Tort returns with the Death's Head Coffer box and shows the group they immediately recognize it as the same type of box that they had found within the kobold warren, where they had encountered the humanoid cat-like creature whose form was rotted, mostly hidden under a hooded robe. Gunter, uses identify and tells the others that it is a box intended to hold a disease or diseased creature in stasis until it is opened. It then looses any magic it had.

A Deal To Good To Pass Up

Gunter and Sylvannas meet with one of the acolytes from the local apothecary. He tells them that they do not have much to sell in the way of magic potions or items. Lately, with the Blood Veil disease all resources have been devoted to potions of healing and restoration spells. They are having trouble keeping up and have had to reserve most of these for the nobles of the city and those that have coin enough. But once he is shown a gem that they have in payment, his story changes. He has access to a couple of unclaimed items. If they meet him the next day they can make an exchange.

Gunter and Sylvannas look at each other and look at the gem. They apparently have no idea what it is worth.

The group returns to the inn later in the day and share their stories of the city. They talk to Junia and she tells them that they should return to Daggerford soon. They ask if she can wait another day or two, the deals they have in place should only take that long. She agrees and says she can use her time to visit her estranged brother. She has built up the courage and besides he's getting married soon. She must see what insane female would marry him.

Michold's Meats

Sylvannas and Gunter accompany Junia to go meet her halfling brother. He runs the local meat shop, Michold's Meats. When they enter the meat shop two large cloaked burly men enter the store behind them. They carry a carcass strung up on a pole carried between them on their shoulders. Gunter says a greeting to one of the hooded figures. They respond with an awkward sounding, "Bring Meat.". Gunter shrugs it off. Junia introduces them to her brother Michold.

Michold, the halfling is not an attractive member of his race. He has straggly greasy hair and hunched back. This would not be half as bad if his personality compensated but he is brusque and rude. He and his sister argue soon after reuniting. They are interrupted by a beautiful statuesque human woman who enters the main room from behind the counter. She immediately goes up to Michold and hugs his greasy head to her chest as she professes her love for him.

Michold introduces the group to his bride-to-be, Ellaide. Her beauty is matched only by her unwavering sunny disposition. She constantly giggles as she twirls Michold's greasy hair in her fingers as she kisses him often. Michold is obviously enjoying both the attention from Ellaide and from the shocked expressions from the others in the room.

Michold tells Ellaide that he has brought her a drink and that she must drink it up like the good girl she is. When she tells him that she's not thirsty he admonishes her and tells her that they have talked about this and she must drink. It is for her health.

When Michold tires of his company he tells them he is busy and they must leave, as he gestures to the two burly men carrying a carcass to wait. Gunter casts detect magic and as he moves around the store he sees the liquid Ellaide has nearly finished drinking glows with a strong magic, as does something from within the animal carcass the two men are carrying.

With a flourish Gunter slices open the carcass to reveal a Death's Head Coffer inside.

The two creatures roar in surprise and they shrug off their large cloaks. As they rise to their full height they reveal themselves to be slaadi, a green slaad and a red slaad....and they have decided that hiding is not longer an option. Killing is preferred.