Lastria Sanitorium Infiltration

As promised Onyx got them to Lastria island unscathed, cruising past ships that looked like they'd been taken out by both magical and non-magical means. The group made a smart play and sent Rebmaris to scout out some abandoned buildings on the edge of the island that looked distinctly staff accommodation-y.

Here she helpfully found an induction pack for healers back when it was actually a Sanitorium. Including a map that gave a good rundown of the island, including reference to a tunnel from the morgue in the basement of the main building to the cemetary on the southern edge.

Returning to the ship, upon discussions with the gang who had scoped out the giant walls surrounding the main building the decision was made to have some chill and try to sneak in. On the way to doing this they killed 2 guards and stole the uniforms, may be useful, especially considering they were better than Tsenre's armour.

Infiltrating through the graveyard and catacombs that led to the main building required killing some skeletons and mummies as per. One thing Taeral noticed, through her years and experince of everyone she knows dying, was that the skeletons lining the walls of the catacombs seemed to get newer the closer to the morgue they got. Plus there was a definite shift in demographics going from relatively diverse with strong representation from Elves, Halflings, and all others. To largely human. Then a sudden transition in the newest skeletons, those from the past year or so, being heavily non-human. Signs of war crimes?

Unbenknownst to everyone else Tsenre was having a rough time, turns out someone here had a Shrine to Talona and she was trying to use the work happening at the Sanitorium under Malinus to get a plague spreading. Seeing the Illumiparty rocking up and probably ruining those plans, she decided to take advantage of Tsenre owing her a favour and use him as her messenger of evil. He felt a small vial of something appear in his pocket, and knew it contained a plague of some form and she wanted him to spread it, then she might get off his back.

As they got deeper into the catacombs/closer to the morgue a fetid smell started to grow - like bad booze and worse decisions. Eventually they found the source, an unconscious dwarf who looked like he'd had better days. A rapid fire interrogation took place where it became clear the dwarf was called Mongrim Ironpint and he'd been kidnapped by whoever was running the Sanitorium due to some rabble rousing. In his drunken stupor he managed to fight his way downstairs and where he passed out.

After a brief rest in the morgue where they strategised and got to know their new party member the group set forth, bar Mongrim who needed a nap, and Taeral who agreed to stay and keep an eye on him. The group tried to go quietly, largely keeping the fights to small scuffles where they quickly outmatched pairs of guards, with minimal fire damage. A brief jaunt into the kitchen provided some helpful health potions and a tea chart giving an idea of how many people were here, and reference to 'Prisoners'. The group continued to clear the ground floor, finding aforementioned prisoners, some of which seemed to be Merry's agents or at least informants. This allowed the group to get an idea of what had been going on here, largely relating to 're-education' and interrogations through magical means.