The Hospice of the Blessed Maiden was once a warehouse in the West Docks owned by the Arkona family through their charter company, Arkona Imports, but was sold about four months ago. Nothing about the sale was strange, Arkona owned dozens of similar warehouses and property on the docks was sold or leased all the time as part of standard business practices.
For a month it stood empty as it was slowly remolded and again as far as the locals are concerned there was nothing strange about it. It wasn't until it reopened as the Hospice of the Blessed Maiden a month ago that the locals took notice of it. The poor and working class of the West Docks were thankful for a place of healing so close to their homes although it did rely entirely on traditional medicines instead of divine healing magic as there were no clerics working for the Hospice and as such its effectiveness was more as a place where the sick could die in peace. A few weeks after it opened up the Blood Veil plague started spreading and the Queen's Physicians established their base of operations there. The sick that could not afford healing at the temples were channeled here so the physicians could study the disease and try and find a mundane cure for it. So far while the Physicians have claimed they are getting close, no cure has been discovered and those that enter the Hospice's doors rarely ever leave.
A few survivors are found and from their accounts it seems perfectly legitimate. The sick are kept in the large open warehouse while the physicians have set aside the offices for individual patient study and research. The survivors that the party can find never left that main central room but they do talk about how the physicians would select some of the sick to be taken to the back rooms for further study. None of the survivors recall anyone ever coming back but they admit that there was an extreme amount of turnover and with their own illness they weren't paying particular attention. Anyone sent to the Hospice was severely ill and without a cure the death rate was quite high. The nurses were always clearing out dead bodies and there was always more sick waiting to take their place.
The building is not a military compound and while there is some security it is easy enough for a stealthy operator like Kraw to climb the walls and peer through windows. Combined with interviews with people who had stayed there as well groups that have supplied food and supplies to the building the group has a good idea of the overall layout and security of the building.
- Entry - A waiting room where those sick with blood veil can wait until a bed opens up. Entry to the Hospice is guarded by a burly nurse named Bhrunlida Torthus. By the survivor accounts she is completely devoid of any kind of compassion for the sick and has zero bedside manner. In fact they think she hates working with anyone who is ill and takes extreme precautions to avoid any contact with victims of the plague. She runs the Hospice entry with an iron fist and turns away family members and well wishers with cold efficiency. If the group plans on getting into the hospice they will likely have to find a way to bypass or bluff their way past Bhrunlida.
- Sick Ward - A large open area in the central warehouse with about 60 cots for the sick to lie on and die. The northeast area has been turned into a makeshift kitchen so the Hospice can serve a watery gruel to the patients who can even still swallow. Typically there are about four Queen's Physicians moving about the area, studying patients and a half dozen civilian nurses who as far as the group can tell are volunteers from the area.
- Loading Bay - This used to be where cargo was loaded in and out of the warehouse but now is unused. Nobody has seen the Physicians or nurses use this room for anything and the three large loading bay doors are locked and chained shut from the inside (DC 30 strength check to force open from the outside).
- Lift & Stairs Up - When this was still a warehouse it was used to bring cargo up to the catwalks above. Now it is used heavily by the Queen's Physicians as they seem to not take the 3-story stairs very often to the upper offices. They also use this as a way to transport patients who are often too weak to climb the stairs. Access to the lift and stairs are guarded by a pair of Grey Maidens at all times.
- Catwalks - Used by the warehouse to allow workers access to high storage, now it is patrolled by a pair of Grey Maidens armed with crossbows in case any of the patients get unruly or anyone forces their way past the entry way without permission. The catwalks are 20' above the warehouse floor.
- Private Hall - Originally used as the entryway to the clerks and managers office, now it serves as a guard room with another pair of Grey Maidens.
- Experimentation Ward - Three Queen's Physicians work here on patients in an attempt to find the cure. Originally it was a communal room for clerks to process the books but about a dozen or so cots were brought up here and patients are brought up for "additional research" although so far none have ever survived their treatment so the exact nature of their experiments and research is unknown.
- Doctor's Office - Originally the manager's office, Doctor Davaulus has taken it over as his personal office. The windows have been covered in heavy curtains so the exact details of his office are unknown.
In terms of infiltration and disguise there is a potential opportunity. The Queen's Physicians rarely travel alone, typically they move around in groups of 3 or 4 and so it might be possible for the group disguised as Queen's Physicians to move straight through the entryway and sick ward and go straight to the lift and stairs without having to say a word to anyone. Survivors have mentioned seeing other groups of physicians do the exact same thing. However presumably such a group is moving about on specific business and once on the upper level the party's intelligence is almost nonexistent.
In addition after observation and interviews the party lands upon a very interesting question: where do the queen's physicians sleep and eat? There are about a dozen queen's physicians in total based upon when they first arrived with Doctor Davaulus and at any given time about half of them are present in either the sick wards or the research room above so where are the others? There are no signs of them staying in local inns or temples and nobody who has survived their stay at the hospice talks about a physician removing their mask to eat or drink. Either one of the upper rooms has been turned into some kind of sleeping quarters for the physicians or there is more to the warehouse than the "official" blueprints or the queen's physicians somehow have no need for mundane requirements like food or rest.
Of one final note the group was able to shadow a group of Physicians as they went out to collect a few dying citizens from the ditches of the city and the party was able to subtely scan them for magical auras.
On the Queen's Physicians, everyone had a single aura of faint Conjuration.
On their Grey Maiden escorts there was no magical auras detected.
Finally Figus after watching the Queen's Physicians move and work discovers that while they are completely silent they seem to communicate to one another through subtle hand signals. He recognizes it because the dark elves of the Darklands would use hand signals to coordinate ambushes in perfect silence. Unfortunately Figus is not famiilar with these specific signals and he would note there is no universal signal language. Each city or house of dark elves might develop their own set of signals and it is entirely possible any other race or organization could develop their own set of signals.
Not knowing the signals would be a dead giveaway if the group tried to disguise themselves as physicians.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:54, Tue 23 Nov 2021.