Been super busy guys sorry for the delay.  I will try to update tomorrow.

Sorry for the delay on the update, yesterday was a busy day and I never even had a free moment to turn my computer on, much less post.

Upon recognizing the girl Asoel rushes in between her and Iaka, grabbing both of her wrists in his hands and pulling them up above her head so she cannot harm herself any further.  He holds her there as she struggles against him but is unable to free herself.  With his hands full keeping her restrained he take Kheric up on the offer for help and asks that the Dhampir bandage the wound, hoping that if they can stop the bleeding Aurae will calm down enough to allow them to help her.  Kheric was having a hard enough time with the smell of the sickengly sweet honey-blood from across the street, being right next to it caused his head to spin as he stumbles slightly, barely catching himself against the wall. However the Dhampir is able to quickly right himself and with no bandages does the next most logical thing and using one of his hidden daggers kits a strip of cloth from the length of Aurae's skirt, wrapping it tightly around the wound, having to start over several times due to her squirming, it may not be sanitary but it would stop the bleeding if she let it be. 

All the while Aurae does not seem to react to being spoken to anymore. Rather her behavior, now that she has been denied access to the sweetness that is her blood, is more akin to that of a cornered feral animal.  She hisses and struggles against the man holding her, though she once knew him as a friend, any memory she had of him is consumed by this insatiable hunger for her own blood. It becomes painfully aware to Asoel that he is likely going to have to restrain her for her own safety and escort her somewhere, perhaps to the jail as Kheric already suggested.

Unfortunately at this exact moment a passing guard patrol crosses your path and assumes the worst, that the Ratfolk, dagger weilding Dhampir, and Elf are holding this feral woman against her will and she is fighting to escape the dark alley you are in.  They approach, with short spears at the ready, "Release the girl!" they shout as they inch closer.

((Grapple attempt went well, but heal check failed, thus the call for aid. I imposed a Fort Save since you indicated the smell was sickening from a distance, so up close would be worse, Fort is not a good save for Kheric unfortunately.  Neither of you had Healer's Kit listed in your gear, so an improvised solution was used.  Heal is also not a great skill for Kheric, but after multiple attempts he made the DC and the wound is at least bound.  The sounds of her struggle though have attracted unwanted attention.))

Vegepygmies.  2HD, some regen that can be counteracted, forcing the players to get creative with how they deal with it.  Could give a good opportunity for Knowledge skill checks to determine the weakness.

Asoel knows this half-elf, she was practically your neighbor before leaving the Norwood because she felt out of place among the long-living elves.  As of yet no one seems to have taken much notice of your group, people are just going about their business.  The update to the update was me handling your previous post here by the way.  I apologize if that wasn't clear.  Also, you're welcome, glad you're enjoying yourself.

I have updated the update, sorry again about overlooking that.

Sorry, I must have overlooked that, I'll make the checks when I get home tonight.

The girl visibly flinched as Iaka berated her, whimpering as she licked blood from her fingers, "The candy man comes to you, noone knows where to find him, no one knows..."  She trails off, sucking blood from her fingers as she rocks back and forth on the ground in the dark alley you found her in.  She is obviously pretty far gone, so you are fairly certain she doesn't have the mental faculties to be lying to you about this "candy man".

As Iaka berated the half-elf trying to scare information out of her, Asoel crept closer sticking to the shadows trying to get a closer look, see if perhaps he could recognize this poor soul as a resident of his own Norwood.  As it turned out this young woman had in fact come to Chandar from the Norwood, a couple years prior looking for work, her human heritage leaving her feeling out of place among the elves.  Asoel recognized her, even now with her blank stare and unnatural hunger for her own honeyed blood, she had lived close to where his family lived, he knew her mother personally, this poor soul was none other than Aurae Tallstag.  She had not seen him approach though, his hunting skills easily beating her dulled senses in her current state.

((both Iaka's intimidate roll, and Asoel's stealth rolls were exceptional.  Sadly she has no information, and Asoel's sense motive was high enough paired with her personal knowledge of the girl to believe she is telling the truth, the dealers, it seems, are careful not to let their "customers" know where to find them, probably since crazed junkies could come breaking in their door any minute looking for a fix if they knew where to go.))

The young half-elf looked up into Iaka's beady rat eyes, and barely above a whisper spoke, "I can't.. can't feel the magic.. the magic is gone... " She gasps for air, scratching furiously at her arm, tearing the flesh, "The magic-man... he hasn't... come back.. no candy.. no magic.."  Her nails digging deeper into her arm, her blood starts to run down her arm, strangely it is not red though as it should be, but instead more honey colored and translucent.  The smell on honey rises from the wound, the blood doesn't just look like honey, it has become honey!  She raises her hand up to her mouth, sampling the honey dripping from her wounds.  "Sweeeet... like candy..." She begins tearing at her arm more, trying to get more honey/blood.

No update tonight, tomorrow perhaps.

After a hearty meal and taking a brief moment to stow away any items the group may want to pack away in their footlockers the group sets out to begin their investigations anew.

Asoel, having chosen to not eat a full meal spends the brief downtime chatting up various other patrons at the Inn, asking for any information they may have about Adamo's arrest. He managed to find a pair of chatty loggers who informed him that Adamo lived in the more northern part of the slums and would likely have been on his way home when he had snapped. With this newfound information he set off on his own to do what he did best, scout. The trail, unfortunately, was quite cold by now though, with the roads having been traveled all day. He did, however, find a suitable spot to watch people coming and going, ever watchful for any strange behaviour that may suggest any influence of the drug. However his keen eyes didn't catch anything out of the ordinary, just the everyday mediocrity of small town life. ((great roll on the diplomacy to gather info at the inn, but a 1 on the roll to follow any tracks, and there was just nothing crazy happening tonight, people are still a bit spooked by the Adamo incident and are not going out into public high))

Kheric, after a fine meal and a quick tour of their cellar lodgings, turned his curiousity to Wynna herself, “M’Lady. These accommodations may pale in comparison to your fantastic cooking, but they will suffice. You do a service to your town. Clearly the danger in this plague is something you recognize – and something that it has taken less than a day to be impressed upon us. Have you had previous experience with this problem? Has the drug ever made its way into your tavern? I don’t mean to pry, but the town and the drug are new to all of us.” Wynna shook her head and replied with the same pleasant tone she has used with all her interactions with the party, "While I have not had direct interactions with the drug nor any users I know that something like this, if left unchecked will cause great harm to my home and I want to do what I can to prevent as much harm as we can."

It seemed Iaka and Yan made up their minds to set out together, the witch, less confident in his ability to contribute, wanting to stick close the more vocal, and confident, Ratfolk. Kheric decided he would give the two a headstart before heading out himself so as not to draw too much attention, three after all is a crowd, and a crowd of outsiders would likely draw more attention than they wanted to draw to themselves. Heading south toward the slums they decided that since they knew Adamo had been a user that perhaps more users, and maybe even a dealer, would be more easily located in the slums.

It was not long before they crossed Asoel's line of sight. ((if you want to post signalling them somehow feel free, I don't know if Asoel would do that or not.  Or if you decide to leave your people-watching post and pair up with Kheric that is up to you guys.))

Iaka used his knowledge of the shadier side of society and approached people he thought looked most like they may be up to some shady dealings. He was quickly able to find a dirty young (early 20s) half-elf urchin who was showing signs of withdrawal, shaky, nervous, even a bit twitchy.

((I'll let you all pick up from here and we'll see where this goes.))

Okay guys, here's the deal.  I worked 3 extra hours today and am just getting in so I'm running behind on my update.  I will try to get something up ASAP, but first I have to eat dinner and wind down a little bit.  So I may or may not get the update up tonight, but I will get started on it and get it up!

WHOO! I did it, it's still Monday here!  Update is live, with about 40 minutes left in the day, and now I am going to crash because I am exhausted and have to get up for work in the morning!

Iaka:

As Iaka left the barracks he was stopped by Jirolin, who still oblivious to what had transpired inside, was curious as to what they had learned from questioning Adamo.  However, before he could even ask the desk officer came bursting out through the door, still rather pale from his "reaction".  "Captain!" he shouted with clear panic in his voice, "Adamo has died, blood was pouring from his eyes and mouth and he is lying there in a pool of blood!"  Jirolin, clearly peeved at the officer, turns on his heels and glares before berating the lad, "Do you think perhaps son, that this would have been information better delivered quietly, so as not to panic the townsfolk going about their days?!"  He turns again to Iaka, "I am sorry, as you can imagine I need to tend to this turn of events.  You know where to find me though should you need anything."

((Assuming a general course here, feel free to correct me))

Iaka then set across the square to The Two Moons Inn, flashed the medallion to the woman at the counter he assumed was Wynna, and asked for a meal.  One might expect a free meal provided to freelance investigators to be a paltry thing, with small portions of undesirable food, but this was not the case at all.  The barmaid, who it turns out is not Wynna, brings Iaka a wooden tray of various aromatic chunks of cheese, various juicy cherries, plums, grapes, and other assorted berries, and a fresh from the oven, still steaming thick slice of fresh bread with honey and butter oozing over the porous surface of the bread.  This was not only a great meal, but likely the best the Ratfolk had had in some time.  While eating his meal he was approached by Wynna, "My barmaid tells me you bear a guardsman medal, a sure sign that you have offered up your services in helping our little town deal with this Flux problem.  I thank you for the help, and want you to know that I appreciate it."  At about this time Kheric (and anyone else who may have followed him if you all want to just work off this update) also strolls up to the table where Iaka is seated and flashes a charming smile and his own medal to Wynna and politely requests a meal of his own.  Wynna offers yet another heart-felt thank you to the Dhampir and waves to the barmaid to bring him something to eat.  Kheric is presented with an equally amazing spread of prime rib, some fresh bread, and a steaming baked potato with melting butter and shredded cheese.  It seems that the Inn, for volunteers such as yourselves anyway, seems to try to cater their meal selection to what they hope the guest will enjoy.

Wynna leaves you to your meals, quite pleased that you seem to be enjoying the spread (unless of course for some reason you don't) and when you show signs of slowing, or even stopping she approaches the table again, "Allow me please, to show you to where you will be sleeping for the duration of your time working with the guardsmen.  It isn't much, but it is a free roof over your head when you need to take a break from helping us." She leads you around a corner and down a flight of stairs into what looks to be a storage cellar, but along the far wall there are beds lined up with footlockers at the foot of each bed.  Each bed is set with a soft down pillow and quilt, and the key to each footlocker is in its lock should you want to lock anything up and keep th key on your person. "I am sorry the accomadations are not better, but I do have a business to run.  You will continue to get fine meals on the house however, my way of making up for having to put you down here."

Let me just say I am thrilled to have some posts up already, and hopefully after work tomorrow I will be updating so we can move onward, keeping this momentum rolling!

I have updated a couple of the page 1 posts, including some character observations in each of the Character posts.

Just wanted to also offer some closure, though that may not be the right word, to this whole Adamo mess (no pun intended).
I had thought up the whole gory mess of having someone's tongue explode as a side effect long before the game had even started, I just was not 100% sure when I would be able to pull it off.  I had not planned on having a prisoner, nor having the party ask to interrogate someone from the start; so I improvised as any good DM will do.  I made the prisoner, assigned a crime that was fitting him sitting in a cell, and saw an opportunity to use the aforementioned exploding tongue gag (again no pun intended).  His deafness and blindness were simply side effects of his drug habit, and in fact the guards, including Capt Jirolin were unaware he was suffering as such; were they aware they would have first sought medical attention for him, and would not have even offered the opportunity to interview him at all.  What I expected to happen (and as a DM should already be well aware things rarely go as expected in a game like this) was for someone to try to speak to the poor S.O.B. and his lack of reaction frustrate the group to the point someone would throw something at him, try to poke him with a pole, or perhaps even nudge him with Mage Hand trying to get some sort of reaction, which would have then triggered the whole screaming fit you witnessed.  It appeared though that the game was stalling out, losing steam, and at risk of failing to truly take off; so I inserted by own outside stimuli to force a reaction out of Adamo in the form of the hungry rat that saw an opportunity for a free meal in the lunch left on the cell floor.  I may have gone a little overboard with the gore, vomit, and the entire imagery of the scene (and if it was too much for anyone I apologize), but I could not miss the opportunity to set a scene that could paint such a vivid picture of the tone I am hoping to continue in the campaign as we move forward.

Something has finally happened, something quite disgusting and unfortunate, but it's something!

Kheric stood right up on the edge of the cell, speaking in to the shell of a man sitting motionless on his cot.  While Adamo once again failed to react it became obvious why when Asoel was able to deduce from his observations that the lack of reaction was not because the prisoner was ignoring them, he could not hear them at all!  Finally it all made sense, he hadn't flinched when Jirolin knocked on the bar and snapped at him, he had not spoken when spoken to, or even reacted to the echo of steel on stone because he had not perceived these stimuli!  ((finally had a high roll for something!))

Just as Asoel was sharing what he had deduced a rat bolted from a hole in the wall and darted across the room toward the untouched tray of food, brushing against Adamo's leg as it darted by.  With a sudden start Adamo jumped to his feet and backed against the far wall, with his hands now away from his face his eyes could now be seen to be red and quite swollen, as if every vessel in his eyes had ruptured at once and his eyes were flooded with the excess blood.  His voice was muffled and hard to understand as he shouted, "Who'th there, what'th happenin', why can't I thee or hear?!" He continued to rant and rave, his speech becoming harder and harder to understand as he went on, until it was simply the mumbling nonsense of someone trying to talk with a mouth full of bread.  Suddenly there was a sickening popping sound and a veritable flood of blood poured from his open mouth and eye sockets as his tongue and eyes exploded from the excess blood buildup.  As quickly as he had started moving he fell to the floor with a soggy thud, having drawn his last breath.  Jirolin will have to add another to the death toll from the use of this drug, and it becomes clear that this problem is much more serious than you initially thought having now seen such drastic side effects up close and personal.  All said and done though it seems this lead has dried up.

Hearing the commotion the desk officer runs down the hall, panicked.  He lurches to a sudden stop when he spots Adamo's lifeless body lying there in a pool of blood and loses his lunch, vomiting all over the floor just barely missing your feet.  The commotion has also started the rat who grabbing the largest piece of dried bread on the tray takes off through the blood into it's safe hole, trailing tiny bloody footprints across the cell floor.  Collecting himself and wiping his mouth the desk officer turns away from the sight and can be heard muttering that he'll report this to Captain Jirolin immediately as he staggers off.

((Here we have it, the gory demise of a poor lonely man who had taken to drugs to try to liven up his dismal life... let's hope more people don't succumb to their addictions like he did...))

I really can't update until someone puts forth a plan of action, and so far there's really been nothing to work with.  I do not want to see this game come to a screeching halt when it hasn't even really started yet...

Adamo is in a cell, you are all in a hallway outside the cell.  The guards are not in the habit of just opening the cells of violent offenders.  You can see and talk to him through the bars (even if he isn't talking back at this point) but you're not going to be able to rough him up or anything.

Since very little has been proposed since my last update I will not be updating tonight, I'll check back Wednesday night and update if anything has changed.

((Just a bit of backpost for the Ratfolk))
Jirolin frowned slightly when the Ratfolk asked for a sample of the drug to use as a bargaining chip, "I'm afraid letting you take a sample is not going to be acceptable.  I want these dangerous drugs out of my town, letting you trade it for information would be counter-productive."   He made sure to keep a close eye on the Ratfolk after that, scowling anytime it looked like he may make a move toward him.  ((Sleight of Hand check failed, but not by enough for you to get caught.))

((Now onto the situation in the jail...))
The clunk of steel against the stone floor of the cell reverberated through the hall, yet Adamo didn't react, not even when Iaka directly asked, "Do you know what happened?"  He still sits silently with his face in his hands, almost as if he doesn't hear, or perhaps was entirely ignoring everything happening around him.

((Since no one else has said anything else, we'll wait for more input and I'll update.))

Just so we're all on the same page, I will try to post updates on Mondays moving forward, no particular time, just a day of the week.  If I find myself unable to post an update on any given Monday then I will post here in the QA to let everyone know.  I realize that Monday is only 4 days away, so if for some reason you don't get a post in before my update please feel free to do a backpost and I will edit my update as needed to account for backposts. 

Jirolin paused on his way out as more questions came his way, "The people we've had to detain in the past have usually come out of it by morning, Adamo is more the exception than the norm as he still has not stirred like those before him.  The others woke in the morning confused as to why they were in a cell, wanted to go home, and were released as long as they appeared to pose no threat to themselves or others.  I personally tried to question Adamo about the assault, so I can assure you he has been made aware of what he did last night and the extent of the injuries he inflicted on Daeron." 

The white haired man ((Chessic's character, just so it's clear)) who had remained silent before finally spoke up, deciding to take this opportunity as well to ask a question, "In addition to how long you've held him here, can you estimate how long since his last dose?"  Jirolin replied, "He's been in that cell since just after Midnight, and from what we do know we assume he took his last dose at the tavern sometimes between 8:00 and 11:00 as most people can take anywhere from one to four hours for the drug to take affect.  Now if you'll excuse me, I really must get back to work."  With that he turned back around to leave and was gone.

When asked to see a sample of the drug Jirolin reached back into the belt pouch he had stowed the drugs back into and pulled out one of the crystals and snapped off a small fragment and handed it to the elf. When Asoel asked if it would be safe to taste the "candy" he replied, "I would not recommend it." The texture was similar to natural forming crystals, if not somewhat granular. The crystals are transparent, allowing light to pass through much like stained glass. The ease at which Jirolin was able to break off this piece makes it clear this is not the sturdiest of substances. The fragment smells of a sweet blend of honey, cinnamon, strangely enough, bell peppers, and lavender. Despite the very natural, if not odd, smells it is very clear that this is not a naturally occuring substance, but you cannot ascertain a specific origin, be it magical, extraplanar, or alchemical. ((The Perception roll was high with a 19 on the die, but none of the other skill checks even came close except for Know (Nature) which is why you are certain it is not natural. I made checks in the following skills; Knowledge Nature, Arcana, Dungeoneering, Religion, Planes, Geography, History, and Local as well as Profession Chemist, Pharmacist, Stonecutter, Brewer, Miner, and Cook)).

Turning his attention back to the Dhampir he paused for just a moment before addressing these new questions, "Adamo has never caused any problems, he goes to the mill, does his fair share of work, and has a few drinks with his co-workers before heading back to his home in the laborer's quarter ((the slums on the map)). He's always been a quiet, if not somewhat lonely man, no family to speak of, and he's been here for at least 10 years or longer. He was on his way home from one such night of drinks, as always, when he suddenly started raving about horrible monsters and tackled a man in the street, violently slamming his head into the ground. One of my men happened to be on patrol nearby and was able to signal for assistance and 3 of my guardsmen managed to pull him off and knock him unconcious in order to get him to stop fighting and raving. The man he assaulted is still unconcious from the injuries he sustained. We have tried to interview Adamo, but he's not spoken a word since coming to in his cell, so we don't even know his preferred method of ingestion." Jirolin pauses for a brief moment, clearly thinking of the best way to answer the final question, "We are not entirely sure of the origin of the substance, whether it is a mad mage's doing, the craft of an alchemist, or if the gods themselves have decided to unleash this chaos upon us."

With a final nod Jirolin turns and heads toward the barracks door, "If you'll come with me I can lead you to Adamo and you can ask him any questions you desire, if you can get him to even speak that is." Once inside you notice the guard on "desk duty" quickly rise to his feet and salutes Jirolin, "No news to report Captain, Adamo has still not said anything and also has not bothered to eat when food has been provided." Jirolin offers no verbal response to the report, simple motioning the guardsman to return to his duties with a nod and a wave of his hand.

Leading you around a corner you find yourself in a room with several small cells for isolating those held in the jail. All but one cell stands empty, the barred doors sitting unlocked and ajar. Adamo is sitting still upon the cot in his cell, his face buried in his hands; he makes no move to acknowledge that anyone has even entered the room. The tray of bread and hard cheese that was provided to him remains untouched at the edge of his cell where it was left, it would seem as though he has no appetite, or perhaps is too guilt-stricken to even eat, you cannot be certain.

Jirolin knocks on the iron bars of the cell with his gauntletted fist and barks, "Ulfa! These folks would like a word with you about what happened last night. The sooner we get this whole mess figured out the sooner everything can go back to the way it was, so I suggest you cooperate!" Adamo still sits silent and still, again not reacting. Jirolin turns and heads back out to the barracks yard with a final, "Good luck."

((So here we are, questions answered, junkie to question, but nothing real solid to work off of.. let's see if you can convince the poor s.o.b. to speak to you.))

All good questions, and I'm sorry for not addressing this sooner, I knew in advance after all that you are new to pbp.
I handle dice rolls on my end, adding whatever modifiers from your sheet in order to determine success or failure to varied degrees and will then post results when I update.

Logging talks are scheduled for a week from your arrival date, you were sent ahead to gather information for the diplomats and offer insight that you are better able to provide due to your past among humans.  This "distraction" with the drug problem gives you opportunity to wander and gather information as needed and provide a positive service to the community as a whole which Asoel likely thinks will help the Elven cause in the upcoming summit.

I'll be pushing the game forward tomorrow if no one else posts any further questions for the Capt, so this is your last chance to ask him anything else.

Jirolin smiled a small and knowing smile, it seemed to him that this pale traveller may just have all the right questions and may be able to get to the bottom of the town's troubles after all.  "You'll have to forgive my temporary lapse in competence, it seems in my excitement at having so many able-bodied volunteers show up and offer to help I forgot to provide some very important information." Before continuing he reaches into a belt pouch and pulls out what appears to be a small handful of brightly colored crystals, "This is Flux or, as some are calling it, Magic Candy.  It seems there is no one way to partake in this substance as we've had users eat it just as it appears here in my hand, grind it into dust and smoke it in a pipe as one might smoke tobacco, others put the crystals into a boiling kettle and brew a potent tea, while some just inhale the vapors rising from the kettle.  We believe the various methods people use also have some impact on how they react to the drug and explains why the side effects are so varied, but we cannot be sure."

Putting the samples back into his pouch he carries on, addressing the other questions, "We do have one of the laborers from the lumber mill, Adamo Ulfa, in a holding cell here in the barracks coming down from a rather violent high, I see no reason you could not question him.  Perhaps he'd be able to provide you some information as to where and how he procured his supply.  As it were, the drug does not seem to be concentrated in any one part of town or among any specific demographic, rich and poor, young and old, the fiends peddling this poison do not discriminate with their customer base."

His right hand rises idly to the golden medallion he wears, the same stylized imagery of two ravens is strikingly similar to the medallions he handed each of you, though his is clearly of higher quality, "Any citizen of Chandar will recognize this emblem, but you need not wear it openly if you fear doing so will hamper your investigation.  You will need to present it to Wynna at the Two Moons when you decide to retire to your room or take your meals though.  As to your other concern, the Two Moons is a privately owned establishment with no direct ties to the Guard. It just so happens to be the only Inn we have here in Chandar and Wynna has agreed to set aside space for anyone willing to help the town, Desna bless her heart."

(( I'll wait just a little longer before we push onward in order to see if anyone else would like to address any questions, comments or concern with good Capt Jirolin.  As with the last post I am including visual references below.  I am including images for the other NPCs mentioned, just so I have images on hand. ))

Flux ^                             Adamo Ulfa ^                                  Wynna ^