Nyral nods and seems understanding as he replies "Well, if their current symptoms are not enough to make you worry then it possible we are quick enough to help them.  You see this curse has been deadly.  Everyone who has been affected by it has died.  Hench our desire to find your friend to see they get aid but also they may know something that might connect them to others that have been similarly affected.  Your friend is the first one I have managed to hear word of that has the signs of the curse that can still talk."

“Oh.” A long silence follows all of your words, and you see Cat staring at nothing on the wall behind you. “Right. Yes, I can take you to them. That won’t be a problem.” Her voice is monotone, without feeling. “And I can show you the pillow.” Another long silence. “That’s a strange thing to do, isn’t it? Put curses on people’s pillows. Strange.” She sighs, looking wearily alert. “If you guys are ready, I can take you to them now. I’m not sure if they’re able to talk, they’ve spent most of the day sleeping lately, but we can surely go and see if they’re awake. Or try to wake them.”

"Please, lead the way," Zanibi says. "It does seem a strange thing. And the magic involved is stranger still.  I just hope we know enough to help this Cat." 

"Yes, please lead the way."  Nyral motions for her to lead them to Nova and hopefully finding another clue.  As thry walk he also asks "It is indeed strange.  It seems to be a spell to inflict as much suffering as possible.  Would your friend happen to know of anyone that might be like that?  Perhaps a name came up recently or they mentioned something from their past that might be bothering them?"

"Right. Let me get ready first. They're staying at one of the trailers meant for the actors at the carnival." Cat disappears into the room, and only a minute later she comes back out in a black long-sleeve shirt and black pants, and a black cap with the words "TECH" in black letters is stuck on top of her head. She pushes through you, leading the way out of the inn. The sun has almost completely set, though a few long streaks of gold and orange paint the streets. The halfling keeps the brim of the cap down so it protects her face from the last of the sun's influence. "I'm sorry, but if my friend's awake I'd rather you get that information from them. I know they've had something bothering them lately, other than the obvious, but they haven't told much to anyone. I wouldn't want to give any of you the wrong idea." She leads you to the carnival, and walks right through the entrance. A few of the employees in front give her a confused look, but she doesn't seem to notice as she leads you through the carnival.

Looking around the grounds, it looks a lot bigger than it did from the outside. Warm lights are strung up everywhere, music playing from different stalls and booths mix and mingle in the air around you. Everything smells heavily of caramel. There are a couple tents a few yards away from the main grass path you now walk on, through the many food and game booths that line it. "Try your hand at the world-famous shapeshifter's statue! Guess it correctly before time runs out and you win a prize!" One vendor calls out, as another shouts, "Popcorn, get your popcorn! Caramel, cheese, and more!" A cacophony of noises, lights, and smells cross your field of perception, each more enticing than the last. But Cat leads you all past the excitement, towards the very back of the grounds. A line of classic, wooden trailers line the outside of a space dedicated to the performers for that evening. No one is outside, but the lights in almost all the trailers are on. Cat leads you to one at the very end; a small, banged-up trailer painted red. The paint is peeling off and the wood looks heavily weathered in places, and the only other indication of color are a few miniature patches of yellow on the door frame. On the door itself there is a wood plaque with 'Bella' on the door. Cat knocks on it and a hoarse 'Come in' can be heard from inside. She opens the door and motions for you all to enter, and when you do a single bed, a small night table, and a bench on the opposite wall is all that is in the trailer. A single lamp provides light scant enough for you to barely make out two figures: a pair of eyes peeking out from under the blankets on the bed, and a tabaxi standing in the corner next to them.

Lucky:

Zanibi follows the halfling along through the various enticing entertainments. She paid them little heed, intent as she was on where Cat was leading.

Once inside the dimly lit trailer, she appraises the two figures in the room. Certainly the figure in the bed must be the one who was ailing.  The tabaxi she was not sure about. 

"Hello, I'm Zanibi," she tells them. "How is the patient?" At least in her mind she thought of then as a patient.  But it then occurred to her maybe that wasn't the best term. "Or perhaps the person who is ill." 

After finishing his questions, Lucky would notice the group enter. He seems slightly startled upon their entry but composes himself. Standing up, he slowly approaches the group, quickly glancing at each member.

"Hello," he replies. His voice his quiet, gravely, and tired. He continues, "I'm Lucky, you must be the group working on this case." 

After Zanibi speaks, Lucky would turn and say, "To be honest, not that well." He turns to Nova and continues, "I tried speaking to them and so far, they've only given me basic responses such as 'sure' and 'fine.' I honestly don't think we'll get much unless we heavily prompt them." He'd then cross his arms and look straight down. It'd seem he was starting to get lost in thought about something.

Truador nods to the Tabaxi, "I'm called Truador." He says in his gravely voice. Stepping into the wagon he approaches the bed, then looks back at Cat. "Have you replaced the pillow?" He doesn't seem to concerned with Lucky at the moment.

As Nyral travels through the carnival they become a bit wistful as they look at all the fun and activities they were looking forward to but now they need to focus on the task at hand as Cat leads them onward.  They enter the room they were led to see the figure in the bed and the tabaxi in the corner.  The one armed drow nods to Lucky and says "I'm Nyral.  We are working on a case.  We don't know for certain if it's connected yet.   It's nice to meet you Lucky.  Hopefully we can help your friend here."  They look at the one that is sick and ask "Do you mind if we use some magic to detect things that might be cast on you?"

While pondering the implications of this latest vampire lead, Inquisitive followed Cat through the Esperal evening, from the Lazy Peacock to the carnival and to the small, banged-up wooden trailer at the very back. Walking through the carnival area the tiefling surveyed the different tents they passed, curious to see if the carnival had any fortune tellers or other attractions possibly involving older women. Before entering the red wooden trailer he ordered Redraziel to flutter around the place to check for the same thing, messaging back if he noticed anything interesting to the investigation.

Perception: 6 Redraziel perception: 15

As they entered the trailer Inquisitive briefly studied the tabaxi in silence before speaking. "I'm Inquisitive..." the old tiefling said after a while. He had white hair, red skin and red curved horns protruding above his dark eyes, wearing a dark green trenchcoat over a black suit, white shirt and a black tie. "...I would like to speak to Bella." He said with a firm voice, moving closer to her bed. "So you heard of the investigation then?" He asked the tabaxi.

"The pillow? No. I should probably go do that." Cat crouches by the bed, and whispers something into the person in bed. The person nods and she gets up again. "I'll be right back." She leaves, probably to go get a spare pillow.

Nyral, in response to your question, a hoarse "Yes" can be heard coming from the person in bed. And to you, Inquisitive, the person croaks, "Bella... Not here."

Zanibi glances over to Nyral. "Are you going to cast an Identify spell?" she asks, not wanting to duplicate efforts. "Or I can. Whatever works."

"You're not Bella?" Inquisitive said with a slight frown. "I just assumed...nevermind. Can I talk to you? It may be very helpful to an ongoing investigation. We can start with who you are?" The tiefling continued, taking a seat on the bench with a tired sigh. 

Nyral smiles as they look to Zanibi, "Actually, I was hopeful you could handle the identification spell.  I can detect magic easy enough but getting details..."  They shrug.  Then cast detect magic.  As they look over the person and around the room they try to gather information here while Zanibi get more accurate details.  Filling the gap they will begin a conversation, not directed any anyone in particular but to whoever can answer them. "Can anyone tell us when the hallucinations began?"

As Nyral uses Detect Magic, Zanibi begins to casting Identify as a ritual.   "It will just take a few moments for this, " she says.

Truador nods when Cat goes to get a new pillow, then looks at the patient, then to Nyral. "From what we've gathered it seems like they take a short while before they start. They also just slowly get worse and worse rather than starting all at once, gradually causing the victim to go insane." He looks back at the patient, "Have you started seeing things that don't seem right? Or have you noticed anyone following you? Please, your life is at risk here. We are trying to save you."

As the group begins to get to work, Lucky would take some steps away from the patient as the group closed in. He then would seat himself and listen.

As Truador mentions seeing things, Lucky would seem to start thinking about something. After what seemed as a moment of hesitation, Lucky would lean forward and say, "I don't know about if they've been seeing something, but when I visited them yesterday, they kept muttering something about their brother and a fire in their sleep. Maybe there's a correlation."

Truador listens to Lucky then frowns. This doesn't sound like anything any of the other victims went though.... Unless. He looks at the others. "From what we've gathered about the other three victims, each of them has lost a family member to some sort of tragic event correct?" He looks back at Lucky, "Do you know if her brother is still alive? If this is the case, this is the biggest similarity that i have found between each of the victims."

"I'm not sure I'm following you Truador. How is it important whether the brother is still alive? What did I miss?" Inquisitive asked curiously.

"I think we established that the guilt experienced by the three victims and the fact that they all lived here in Esperal are the only things linking them together. I believe we need to determine how the killer chooses his victims, which could be persons experiencing guilt, but we also need to determine how the killer finds them. If guilt is what makes the killer choose them they also need to be aware of that guilt somehow. No one would likely naturally know of these people's guilt unless they all turned somewhere to talk about it. There is nothing to suggest they had the same therapist for instance but perhaps there is some attraction at the carnival where this guilt might be revealed somehow, like a fortune teller. It is not much to go on I realize but as whoever lies in that bed doesn't seem to be able to answer questions right now I will explore the carnival for a while." The tiefling said, standing up to leave.

Unless stopped the tiefling will then continue his investigation of the carnival, accompanied by Redraziel, looking for places like a fortuneteller where a person in theory might divulge feelings of guilt, especially if the tent is run by an older woman. 

Perception: 2 Redraziel perception: 8

"Hmmm, so perhaps the guilt of each of them? An odd similarity, but it seems to be the only one we've found so far."

"I agree, perhaps we will find more answers in the carnival. Maybe there is someone around with a spell that can remove a curse. If not, i'm not sure what else we can do to help this one."