Taiga raises eyebrows, “At least one?” She gasps. “Let’s try not to kill anyone. We already had a burial today, no need to compete with this curse in terms of a death count. I mean for all we know they didn’t hurt anyone.”

Carina merely smiles back at Taiga as she gasps and speaks of not killing anyone.  As if to say:  we can certainly try...

Whoever is inside Pelc's Curiosities pays no heed to the Dwarf pounding upon the door, aside from the sound of the footsteps growing more erratic — as if the figures inside are beginning to hurry themselves. However, when the Warlock casts her Illusion spells and threatens the figures inside with the promise of burning them alive — your characters can hear the sound of the furniture being shoved loudly aside from its position blocking the entrance. The door to the shop is thrust open, and five Elven bandits burst out into the snow. Before your characters have attacked them, you all do notice that the cloaked Elves have exited the shop with their hands raised above their heads in desperate surrender. They had been prepared for a brawl, but they'd heard Carina's words — and one of the bandits hurriedly gasps out, "You want to help Hulil?"

Carina signals to her companions to start disarming the surrendering elves as quickly as possible while their hands are up.  She begins doing so herself, adding in some fake spell gestures as if she is snuffing out a magical fire that she set (and dropping the Minor Illusion).  She starts with the bandit who had spoken and answers them as she relieves them of their weapons.  Trying to keep them listening to her and not paying attention to the disarming.

Tying them up is next.  Hopefully they let us do that too!

"Help her?  Yes, among others, we very much want to help.  But to do that, we need information.  We wanted to protect Hulil first before she endangered herself, but it may be too late for that.  So now we need you to tell us.  Has she already taken possession of the scroll case and the little statue?  The silver ring and the two glass vials?  Anything else from her sister?  Answer very precisely, please.  The way you ask if we want to help her makes my next question obvious. The icy illness - has Hulil already contracted it too like her sister and Urgon?  Has anybody else at Croaker's Cave?"

Brix begins to uncoil some rope he had attached to his pack. Taking his time but making sure the interlopers can see what he's doing. 

(Giving the help action to the next intimidation roll if needed to get some answers or to get them tied peacefully. )

Taiga approaches the bandits and helps collecting their weapons while Rel’s spell has a hold on them. First she takes the obvious ones, then she searches for hidden daggers and darts. Her mannerisms is careful and respectful, despite knowing that these might be bandits that would not extend the same courtesy to her if roles were reversed. 

Elbert plants the butt end of his glaive in the snow and leans on it looking intimidating but somehow casual as well.

He pulls out his wine skin and takes another swallow as the bandits are being disarmed.

”So, someone want to tell us about the cave? Traps, critters, other defences? A map perhaps?”

Persuasion 19 

The Elven bandits exchange reluctant glances between each other. It is clear through their expressions that they're uncertain whether or not they can trust your characters, but they keep their hands up and don't outwardly protest against having their weapons confiscated. However, the party seems to know more about the situation and about their leader than enforcement of Palebank Village normally would, and so the first bandit speaks up. "Hulil is ill, yes. She is moving more and more slowly, and her veins are turning blue. You know of this?"

One of the other Elves grits his teeth at Taiga, staring the Fighter down defiantly as she searches his pockets for hidden weapons. She doesn't find any — each of the five bandits are armed with either scimitars or crossbows. But still, none of the bandits argue, and the first one continues. "She has the items that her sister had stolen. Hulil is the only one of us that has the illness." He turns to Elbert next, frowning. "Croaker's Cave is well-guarded, but if you bring us with you, we may keep you from being attacked."

With a sorry but firm expression in her face she bundles all the weapons in a blanket and attaches the bundle on her pack. Taiga tries to figure out how honest they appear in their claim to keep the party safe should they approach what sounds like a fortified outpost of bandits (Insight 9). “If it is all how you say, you can have them all back.” Then she continues to explain, “Hulil has the same illness as her sister and the very same that killed Urgon Wenth. We’re trying to figure out what causes this illness and prevent further outbreak and, most of all, we’re looking for a cure. For this, we need to isolate the cause first and backtrack its origin. For all we know, everyone who was in contact with the relics might be infected already. Any of you had physical contact with them?” She asks with a sorry face as if their lives were already forfeited in case of the affirmative. “Will you bring us to Hulil? Is she your leader?”

Carina is happy for the others to take up the mantle of talking for a bit and extracting informatoin while she finishes disarming the bandits.

"Hulil having the disease probably narrows it to the items that all the disease victims have come into contact with.  So not the one(s) Hulil has been nowhere near"  Carina means Tulgi's dagger but does not mention it specifically in front of the burglars.

"We still need to check inside the store as well, and on the owner, who may be in there."  (She assumes this is someone named Pelc, but is not sure?  Perhaps one of the locals knows?).  "To see whether they've also contracted the illness and look for a bill of sale from Urgon to confirm our list of possible disease vectors and other items that may provide clues to finding an antidote."

Carina means everything she says (above), though she is also hoping that by continuing to talk, she can keep the elves distracted enough that she can begin to tie them up with Brix's and her own rope (and anyone else's rope that helps) while we are speaking on such friendly terms!

"We need to trust each other for this next part.  We have not attacked you and you have not attacked us.  Outstanding.  We just need to bind your hands while you are in town.  You were just ransacking a local store, so this is just procedure.  But we need to work with you and Hulil, and you and she need us to find the antidote.  So naturally, we will untie you once we leave town together and head for Croaker's Cave.  Until then, we need to inspect the interior of the store as I said and report back to the one who charged us with containing the disease."

Carina is not quite as sincere about this latter part, though she imagines the party, particularly Taiga, will try to deal fairly with the burglars.  Especially since they can apparently help parley with Hulil and anyone else at Croaker's Cave.  But she continues chatting on calmly with a business-like tone, as if this is all routine procedure and the burglars will of course be set free in due time (though she is far from sure of that once the grassblades and Elro Aldataur are involved... but she does not mention this).  Just hold tight while we check inside the store for Pelc and for the Bill of Sale, then report to Elro...

Persuasion with help from Brix:  24 (again!).

Brix makes loops in the rope that look more binding than they actually are. A few tugs here and there and they'll slip off freely but it will take someone actually inspecting and tugging on the knots to discover this.

The intruders seemingly wrapped up, Ragnus steps inside the shop to look for signs of the owner, and hopefully the bill of sale as well.

He raises his voice as he looks around and says "Hallo! Anyone else in here?!"

Perception: 12

Taiga will help Ragnus to look inside the shop, “You think the owner’s here? I mean wouldn’t he have woken by now?”

"I'm not sure what tha intruders may have done before we got here, want ta make sure no one is unconscious or worse."

Taiga tries to meet the eyes of the Elven bandits — attempting to discern their honesty in the first bandit's promise that they'd keep your characters safe from harm. But they all merely appear angry or indignant at having their wrists bound by rope, and the Earth Genasi cannot be certain whether or not he's telling the truth, nor if the other Elves will abide by his words. They do not fight against their bindings, as they are intimidated particularly by Carina and Elbert, but they aren't happy with it, either. When Taiga speaks, however, the bandits listen, sharing quick glances between one another. Was it truly possible that your characters could assist Hulil in finding a cure for the disease? "We have not had contact with the relics — only Hulil. We are under her employment. If you truly wish to help Hulil cure her illness, we will take you to her," the first bandit responds.

"Verla Pelc," the Grassblade, Mila, speaks up when your party begins to discuss searching inside Pelc's Curiosities for further clues and for the shop's owner. Keeping her shortsword pointed at the tied-up bandits in case they attempted anything while your characters split up, the Elven woman glances between Taiga and the Warlock. "Now that I think about it, I haven't seen her in quite some time," Mila frowns. Inwardly, she wants to berate herself for not piecing together the information sooner — for as soon as the words leave her mouth, the Grassblade realizes what this might mean for the shop owner. But then again, nobody else in the village had pieced it together, either. Verla Pelc had always been rather reclusive, and Mila supposed none of it spelled danger before now.

Ragnus and Taiga push open the door to Pelc's Curiosities and enter. The main room of the cabin is occupied by an antique shop — or the remnants of one, at least. The bandits have ransacked the shop, although there was no telling what state it was in after Tulgi had robbed it before them. The wooden furniture, shelves, and front counter have been smashed to pieces, and the shop's wares litter the floor in a mess of shattered debris and broken remnants. Towards the back of the cabin, there is a single closed door. Dust floats through the air, and there is no response to the Dwarf's call. What will your characters do next?

With a sinking feeling in her stomach after the Grassblade’s revelation, Taiga opens the closed door slowly without waiting for anyone to stop her. 

Seeing the bandits bound and under guard, Elbert will enter the shop with the others and Help anyone who seems to need it, allowing them to take the lead in the investigation.

Taiga opens the door towards the back of the cabin, slowly revealing the living quarters of the shop's owner, Verla Pelc. Along one wall of the humble room sits her bed, upon which the party members that are inside the shop see what appears to be an ice statue of an Elven woman — bundled beneath her blankets and curled up, frozen in time. A small table covered with dirty teacups and a kettle stands beside the bed. Verla's quarters are even dustier than the rest of the shop, and on the other wall there is a shuttered window. Elbert's trap still sits on the ground outside beneath the window, covered by a dusting of snow.

"Ey!" Taiga calls for her companions. "I found the owner... the late owner." Taiga opens the window shutter to let some light in and looks around, with Elbert's help, if there is anything of interest here. Might be she kept a journal or a register that can shed some more light on what is going on but it feels awkward to her rummaging through the poor elven woman's belongings. Then she returns outside, "I think we need to step up the pace if we want to catch up with this illness." The turns to the bandits, "I don't know how much time there is left for Hulil. Do you know how many days ago she got the relics?" "And you," she regards Mila, "Please, make an effort, when exactly did you last see Verla Pelc, or when did her shop close?"

(Investigation: 5)

Upon seeing Verla frozen to death, Ragnus falls to his knees. He has seen countless battles, fallen friends, and villages destroyed, but the culmination of the day's events has taken a toll. He wishes he could do something to help, but he knows that the only thing to do is get ahead of the relics from the ruins. He heard what Taiga said about picking up the pace. Gathering his strength, he gets to his feet and heads outside to stand guard over the bandits, his eyes looking past them in the direction of Croaker's Cave.