Jeremy is looking shaken moves with considerable pain, not surprising given the number of rat bites and scratches all over his exposed skin. The trauma of the situation, despite no longer being in direct danger thanks to Cassandra, makes him retch and heave. Tobias and Holt respond to the sound and come running back up the sewer.
"Jeremy! Jeremy! Are you alright?" they initially shout but skid to a halt as Tolenn, Amira, and Cassandra come into view. Tobias is the first to respond.
"Uh, thanks for rescuing Jeremy...but who in the Hells are you?"
"Heroes." Wednesday quips as he waives the rapier inbetween the women present.
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A small smile crosses Tolenn's lips at Wednesday's comment, but her face become stony as she looks at the would-be vigilantes, "The Hells have nothing to do with me!" she says sternly, then continues, "You are welcome for the life of your friend. What pray did you expect with this little excursion. You were bested by mere rats, be glad you didn't encounter the rat-lings that reside here, we may not have been able to save you."
Tolenn has the manner of a mother scolding her children, hands on her hips, leaning forward a bit, waiting for the expected idiotic answer.
"Or be so inclined." Amira adds darkly.
Tobias seems briefly taken aback, but he comes up with a retort. "We may not be able to afford such expensive armor and gear as you, no elite training either, but we try to do our part. If Korvosa's going to be saved, it isn't going to be saved by just the high and mighty."
Holt stands by, eyes wide. And Jeremy... well, Jeremy finally stops heaving and just breathes heavily.
Wednesday chuckles. "You assume we paid for our stuff."
"That's the problem. What this city needs saving from isn't at all what you think."the city guardian says pointedly. "What's really trying to tear this city apart....the lycanthropes suffer the same as everyone else...maybe a little worse because the misinformed turn the blame on them instead of where it belongs."
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Tolenn nods as both her friend's comments, her face softening a bit at Tobia's statement, "Your heart is obviously in the right place. People like yourself make Korvosa worth saving. However, you've been led down the wrong path. The rat-lings, though different, are citizens of this city, and desire it's continued health and prosperity. And, yes , some of them are bad, just as some of us surface city-folk are bad. Your information that the rat-lings were the cause of the outbreak is false. We would know, we found the source. "
The paladin pauses a moment to let her message set in, "You desire to help...to do something...Murder and more death is not the answer. Go home, look to your families. We are not high and mighty, but we are better prepared that yourselves for the dangers that need to be faced if korvosa is to be saved."
The expression on Tobias's face makes it clear that he doesn't have a quick retort to the latest arguments against the anti-rat/disease eradication campaign.
Holt speaks up, "Tobias, maybe they're right. They got magic we can't get," he particularly nods in the direction of Cassandra. "Besides, if they figured out the source and it's not the rats, we don't need to be doing this no more. My wife's tired of me stinking like the sewer anyway."
"Alright! Alright, we'll withdraw," Tobias throws in the towel. "C'mon, Jeremy. We got you." The two men help their companion back to his feet and start to limp their way out.
The immediate environment of the sewer tunnels quiets down, rat squeaking can still be heard in the distance, as can the ripple and flow of the water. But all sounds of boot steps and clinking equipment fade away into silence.
"So all that's left is the crazy fuzzball in charge I guess?"
Before Tobias leaves, Tolenn will halt him with a hand on his arm, "A moment, Tobias. Where did you get the funds to buy the silvered weapons? And, where did you get the idea that the ratlings were the source of the plague? And who among you killed the ratling known as Redback"
Her pointed stare tell him that she won't let off until she's answered.
Standing silently behind Tolenn, Amira gives Tobias a pointed glare while twirling her starknife, making the wisdom in answering Tolenn's questions abundantly clear.
Wednesday absentmindedly begins wiping the blood on the rapier off.
"We pooled our money," Tobias answers. "We heard the rumors of wererats under the city, so we were prepared with some protection. They were expensive but it turned out to be a good plan when the rat attacked the girl in the alley. I don't know about anyone named Redback, though."
"As far as disease, you ever been bit by a rat and come down with the fever? It ain't fun. Rats spread disease. They don't let plague ships dock and it ain't just because the men and halflings on board are sick. They don't want the rats coming ashore either. We figured that if the rats can spread the fever, they can spread the veil." He shrugs as he says it as if the conclusion was obvious to them at the time.
"Humans can spread the veil too, you putting them down too?" Wednesday murmurs before adding "The rat in the alley, was he doing anything else before he attacked the girl? Was he trying to steal anything or attack anythone else?"
"If some scumbag attacked a girl in an alley, would you kill everyone in his neighborhood?" Amira asks pointedly. "Should I hold you responsible for the actions of anyone who looks like you, or sounds like you or has the same name?"
Beset by both Wednesday and Amira, a bit of defiance works its way back into Tobias's voice. "How the hell would I know what the wererat was doing in the alley? He attacked a girl, we heard her scream, we defended her. I ain't gonna lose any sleep over that. And I wouldn't lose any sleep over dead wererats if they came at us in the sewers either. We all know the stories about them preying on normal people during the full moon."
"Yes, stories..." Wednesday adds with a roll of his eyes. "I'm from Ustalav, and I've more problems with humans murdering humans than any were-creature."
"Okay. Since the actions of one count for all, I'll tell you what. You better hope none of your friends does anything to come to my attention." Amira says calmly. "Becasue if one of you does, I'll hold you all responsible, and by the same rules, the second one of you or any of your friends crosses the line, I will hunt each and every one of you down."
Tobias grumbles but makes no further protest. He then stalks off with his two fellows, heading toward the exit grate.
It is well into the night. Most of the city fitfully sleeps, worried about what new cases of the blood veil will be revealed in the morning, while the healers at the churches of Abadar, Sarenrae, and Pharasma work late into the night in their efforts to produce the cure.
"So we still don't know for sure who was responsible for the murder, and while we've forestalled the hunts down here, that'll only last until the were rats do something stupid if we don't remove their reckless leader from the equation." Amira says tiredly.
"I'd caution against planning anything while we're right down here with them." Wednesday mumbles out.
Tolenn nods, "Wendy's right, lets get up above and then discuss our next steps."
The paladin leads the others back out the way they came, allowing Tobias and friends to ascend before her.
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Cassandra follows along, knowing that teleportation SAVED THE DAY!
"You are so attractive when you're all dark, broody, and threatening." She says with a hip bump to her partner as they head to the surface.
While the hoodlums move ahead of them, Amira's grim mask cracks, like the sun coming out from behind a cloud as she smiles at Cass giving her a wink. "And you're the hero of the day.....and will be treated like one."
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"That's true love for ya, we're all wading through other people's filth and they're not slowed down in the slightest." Wednesday muses to Tolenn.
Spots of color appear in Cassandra's cheeks. "Like I'm going to argue with that! Do we need to go right to the rats or can we stop at the baths?"
"The baths would definitely get my vote." Amira says with a quiet smile of her own.
"Are there even any around?"
The public bathhouses (of which there are a couple) have been closed since it became clear that the blood veil was a public epidemic. Zellara's home does have a washtub in it (at least since you've all been kind of squatting there).
"Ugh! Fine! Cassandra moans when someone points out the baths are closed. "I'll summon my secure shelter and we'll haul in some water and heat it up. The unseen servant inside can give us all sponge baths. It isn't the same but its still awesome."
"... wait, so you can just make a whole house or something?" Wednesday asks.
"Pfft! No." Cassandra pauses. "Not yet. The thing's a cottage. Twenty foot square. Door and two windows with shutters. Fireplace. Whole thing is fire resistant. Impervious to arrows and bullets and magic missiles. Arcane locks on the shutters and door. Iron grate on the fireplace. Comes with eight bunks, a table with eight stools, a writing desk. There's an invisible spirit that serves you while you're inside. Lasts about... fourteen hours before it goes poof? Something like that. I've never needed it for more than twelve. I conjured one back when we were rescuing people, remember? We put them inside so they'd be safe in case the nasties came to take them away."
Wednesday stares at the wizard for a moment. "... that's a house."
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"O suppose you could loo at it that way. Either way it can ve pretty....cozy.....or useful in a pinch. I'd rather be cleaned up before we did anything else." Amira says with a grin, noting Wednesday's amazement. "And yes..she's amazing."
Wednesday just smirks knowingly and shakes his head from side to side.
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The sewers might be a little cramped for a secure shelter, but in and around Korvosa, they usually turn out as quaint little cottages made of red brick with terra cotta roofs. Occasionally, they pop up with nests near their chimneys in imp or house drake (a local mutation of pseudodragons) style.
If you do create one up in the streets, you might be visited by a wandering patrol since cottages appear in the streets infrequently...
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Tolenn smiles a the banter between her friends, waving off the offer of baths, "I'll forgo the bath for now, Cassandra. I will report back to Kroft on what we accomplished here and will meet you back at Zellara's." she says as the rest of you realize that the stink of the sewer just doesn't seem to stick to the Paladin.
Noting the dynamic with Tolenn leaving, Wednesday speaks up "I'll go with you then, I can just get a bath at Zellara's later."
The corner of Amira's mouth tugs into a hint of a smile. If it happened to pan out that she and Cass got a moment to have a bath along, she definitely wasn't going to argue. "If you're sure."
"Very." he responds with a knowing smirk.
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"We'll see you in the morning, then." Cassandra says. "Meet for breakfast."
If she's summoning a cottage for over twelve hours, she's going to sleep there and not flop on a borrowed bit of floor.
"Take care you two, don't stay up too late," Wednesday says as he turns around, throwing a hand up in goodbye.