BE7s Frozen Sick (IC)

Torvil hears muffled, shuffling footsteps moving towards the door.  "Hold yer durned horses ye dumb brute.  Cold 'nuff wit the gods damned thing in one piece..."  You recognize from the voice that it belongs to a dwarf, most likely female.  A soft 'click' can be heard as the door's latch opens.  Shuffling footsteps then retreat farther into the room before ending abruptly.

"Well, get on wit it den, ye bearded goblin," the voice says.  "N be quick wit it, it ain't summer out there."

As you begin to pull the door open the heat in this small cabin hits like a hammer blow. A table set with neatly stacked dishes, tools, and utensils stands at the center of the room. The smell of a simmering soup comes from a pot hanging inside a roaring fireplace. Another fire burns in an iron brazier at the opposite end of the room, filling the cabin with a smoky haze. Shivering at the end of a bed near the brazier is a dwarf wrapped in blankets. Bulging blue veins streak her face, neck, and hands.

***OoC: the room is lightly obscured with the smoky haze from the brazier.  DiS ADV on sight based perception checks inside the cabin.***

Kitsune enters, keeping a clinical distance to avoid surface contact.  The hammer blow of heat is noted as a desperate attempt to stave off the internal freeze, but her eyes are fixed on the blue roadmap of necrosis across Tulgi’s skin.

"Physical contact is highly illadvised" she states through her filter, her voice a cool, muffled command.  "Madam Tulgi...my sincere apologies, but your friend Urgon Wenth has succumbed to this necrosis.  To prevent your own cessation of life, cooperation is highly suggested."

She scans the smoky room, her gaze flicking between the dwarf's blue-streaked hands and the bulging blue veins on Tulgi's neck.  "Who was your recent visitor?  And more importantly...what did you and Urgon find?"

Perception: 10

Persuasion: 11

***OoC:  perception: 6 - The haze of the room is too thick to see anything.  Tulgi's ragged breathing and the crackle of a fire are all you hear. 

persuasion: 4 - fail **

Tulgi eyes up Kitsune, appraising her worth to her.  It didn't take long for her to make up her mind.  "Got no need fer yer big city words.  Ner did 'ave much need fer 'umans," she says.    She shifts a bit on the edge of the bed as a short coughing fit claims her breath.  Your keen eye catches a small hilt sticking out from her wide belt.  It appears to be the ornate handle of a dagger.

Kitsune’s eyes narrow behind her filter.  The dwarf’s stubbornness is a variable she hadn't accounted for...logic usually overrides bias when death is the alternative.

"My words are the only thing standing between you and permanent crystallization, Madam Tulgi" she replies, her tone dropping in temperature.  "Your bias is noted, but it is irrelevant to the pathology currently destroying your cellular structure."

She retreats a step, yielding the floor to Torvil.  "Torvil, perhaps your bearded commonalities will yield a higher rate of data exchange.  My presence is...counterproductive to her emotional state."

As she steps back, she catches a glimpse of the ornate dagger hilt at the dwarf's belt.  It’s too fine for a ridge-dweller, a highly important data point in this puzzle.  She catches Torvil’s eye and gives a microscopic nod toward Tulgi’s waist.

***OoC:  Kitsune : arcana or history check to see if you may recall anything about the design of the hilt.***

Kitsune's Arcana check (only because that's a +3 versus +1 for history...): 20

Kitsune: 

Anyone who cares to roll a history check (general knowledge of the campaign setting; I'm more familiar with The Forgotten Realms personally) : DC 7

Kitsune's History check: 2

Kitsune’s retreat halts.  Through the smokey haze, her focus locks on the dagger hilt.  The cold, functional design triggers a mental match: Aeor, the ancient flying city that fell during the Calamity.

"Torvil, hold up!" she says, her voice sharp.  She points toward the dwarf’s waist.  "That hilt is Aeorian.  It’s a relic from a city of mages that crashed into the ice centuries ago.  These items aren't just old...they’re often dangerous and unstable."

She looks at Tulgi, her gaze cutting through the smoke.  "You and Urgon didn't just find a pretty trinket.  You found a weaponized relic!  If that blade is the source of the sickness, carrying it is like hugging a block of cursed ice.  It is literally freezing you from the inside out!"

She looks at you through squinted eyes.  Her hand drifts to the hilt, pausing just before her fingers came into contact with it.  Her gaze is suspicious. 

***You may try another roll to persuade or intimidate (with ADV if another PC is giving aid)***

Persuasion: 12

Kitsune watches the dwarf’s hand hover over the hilt.  The hesitation is another datapoint: Tulgi knows the blade is significant, but she doesn't yet realize it's her executioner.

"The fact that you hesitate to touch it suggests you already suspect its malice" Kitsune observes, her voice steady.  "Urgon is dead, and the ice is claiming your lungs.  We aren't here for your gold, Tulgi.  We are here to stop a plague before it turns this entire village into a graveyard."

She takes a small, non-threatening step forward, her gloved hand open.  "Tell us where you found it.  If we can understand the source, we might be able to reverse the process.  Otherwise, you are simply guarding the instrument of your own demise."

OOC: Holy smokes...two nat 20 rolls in this same scene?  I should just quit now while I'm ahead!

The bluster seems to drain from her face before your eyes.  Dark circles lie beneath her eyes, difficult to see through the smoke, but noticeable even with the thick blue lines of veins drawing your attention.  The dwarf, Urgon, bringed it back wit' some other bits o' treasure.  Gone fer a year he was, 'cross da Frigid Depths fer Eiselcross, she says finally. 

Passive Insight:  15 or higher if in the room interacting with Tulgi.

 She pulls the dagger from her belt, and holds it out by the sheath to Kitsune.  Don't be fer thinkin' its a gift now.  I'm not fer needin' the pig sticker to takes back the pig sticker, she says with a growl.  Ye can sees it, dats it.  

Kitsune maintains a strict distance as the dwarf holds out the weapon.  "Gratitude is secondary to survival, Madam Tulgi" she says, her voice flat but with a faint sense of relief.  "If we can neutralize the catalyst, we may yet halt your deterioration."

She gestures to the table, refusing to take the item.  "Please place it there.  I highly suggest no one touches the item, lest we suffer the same consequences as Urgon."

As Tulgi sets the dagger down, Kitsune leans in—hands safely behind her back—to study the relic through the haze.

Perception: 22

"Vayne" she calls out without looking up, "your resonance with the arcane may prove useful here.  Come, analyze the magical signature of this artifact.  We need to determine if the contagion is a byproduct of the enchantment or the enchantment itself."

Akira follows her fellow adventurers into the cabin and shuts the door behind her, not wanting any more of the cold to get inside the cabin. She feels her fingers and toes thaw out by the warmth coming from the fire. She looks up and notices almost instantly that the dwarf woman in front of her has blue veins. Almost instinctively she places her hand on her mouth forgetting she had put her mask on before walking in.

Akira hangs back near the door while Kistune is talking to Madam Tulgi and while listening to the conversations unfold she observes the room.

Once Madam Tulgi pulls out the dagger Akira moves closer to the table to investigate it more closely.

Investigation roll: 12

“Madam Tulgi” she moves her hand across her chest and half bows to her, “Thank you for allowing us to come into the comfort and warmth of your cabin. You mentioned that Urgon also brought home a few treasures with him along with the dagger. Do you still have those with you in this cabin so that we may look at them as well?”

Akira: investigation 12

 Vayne has slipped in quietly, and taken up sentry duty.  He stands near a window, the shutter pulled slightly open to allow some visibility.  He seems distracted, but does respond to Kitsune with a question, "Does it radiate cold?"  He adjusts the mask provided by Kitsune, ensuring that it covers both mouth and nose while keeping an eye on the snowy landscape.

Tulgi: With a glance at Akira and a slight shake of her head she indicates no.  "Urgon sold the lot of it to dat snotty elf, Verla Pelc at her shop."  Turning her head towards Vayne she responds, "Ask yer friend here.  Can't say as I recollect it feelin' cold, but can't hardly recollect feelin' anythin' but the durn'd cold."  Almost as an afterthought, she looks at Kitsune, perplexed, "Ain't had no visit's but dat pointy eared tight a$$ mayor, and I wasn't fer talkin'."

Anyone who has been in town for a few days would know this:

Torvil enters and watches as Kitsune begins the interrogation, he crosses his arms and waits, watching.  He notes the dagger and his eyes go wide.  

History : 19

He registers what Kitsune is saying, then closes his fists and keeps watching this play out.  “Verla Pelc.  Perhaps that is the next step in this puzzle, perhaps there were other items from Eiselcross, something else that could be carrying this curse as well.”  He looks over, locking eyes with Kitsune.  “Would be worth a look”. He looks back at Tulgi, saying “Can’t get warm, eh?  How long have you felt this way?  How long do you think you’ve had the illness?  We need to figure this out quickly…”

With a shiver that sent her lips flapping, Tulgi glanced at Torvil then did a double-take.  For a moment, she looked at the burly dwarf like a piece of meat on a silver platter.  "Yer da bearded goblin what made threats on me door?" she asked, still eyeing Torvil up and down.  She opened her mouth, undoubtedly to say something vulgar, and was overcome by a coughing fit.  She buried her face in her blanket, kindly sparing you any shrapnel of snotty spray.  "Got sick 'bout two months back.  Da rest of da junk is wit me sister, Hulil," she managed to mutter beteween hacks and gasps.

Kitsune remains motionless as the cough echoes through the cabin, her clinical detachment acting as a shield against the snotty spray.

"Two months..." Kitsune repeats, her mind locking the timeline into place.  "The onset coincides exactly with the transaction at Pelc’s and the subsequent robbery.  This is no longer an isolated infection.  It is a distributed outbreak."

She turns her head slightly toward Torvil, though her eyes remain on the shivering Tulgi.  "The sister, Hulil, is a critical variable.  If she possesses the remainder of the Eiselcross haul, she is likely a carrier.  And potentially the primary source of the local spread if she has been more active than Madam Tulgi."

She looks back at the dwarf.  "Where can we find Hulil?  And more importantly...is she suffering from the same ice in her veins, or has she been more fortunate with her relics?"