"No promises on that note," Amira says with a smile, a twinkle in her eyes as she glances at Cassandra. "See you at breakfast." she says moving over to slip an arm around her partner's waist.
"It was rhetorical." he replies with a chuckle.
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"Last one there has to make dinner!" Cassandra shouts before teleporting out of Amira's arms and onto a nearby roof.
... and she's off.
Poor Park looks vaguely bewildered. He's still on Amira's shoulder. Playing with her starknife.
How'd he get that?
"I take it she's likes your cooking?"
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"Almost as much as working up an appetite."
The laugh that erupts from Amira is one of the purest joy as she once again embarks on her all time favorite chase. "Hang on Park, this is going to be a wild ride!" she says moments before racing up the side of a building wall as if it were level ground. She could feel the city smile. For all the death, there needed to be acknowledgement and celebration of life, and love and all the things worth fighting for. Tonight they would do just that.
"Well at least those two are happy." Wednesday glumly mumbles before turning and continuing on towards Croft.
The streets are dark and quiet for the most part with little more than the sounds of a few stray animals scrabbling for food and the hiss and twitter of house drakes living in the eaves of buildings. But there is some activity around Citadel Volshynek.
Lanterns light the courtyard where several carts are being loaded with crates. A couple of dozen guards stand about, alert for trouble. A number of high representatives of the local temples are in attendance including Bishop Keppira d’Bear from the church of Pharasma, Archbanker Darb Tuttle from the church of Abadar, and High Priestess Iolana Kerekes from the church of Sarenrae. Field Marshall Kroft stand with them, overseeing the operation.
The guard at the front gate, escorting you in, catches Kroft's attention and she waves you over.
"First batch of cure for the blood veil. The guard are delivering it to distribution centers to be ready for first light. What bring you to the Citadel so late at night?" she asks.
"Rat problem."
Tolen inclines her head in respect to the Pharamin and Abadar-ite, giving her Priestess a wide grin of greeting.
Turning to Kroft, she gives Wednesday a glance, and with a wry smile responds to the Field Marshall, "Indeed, Field Marshall, rats...or rather rat-lings. They were the ghost's in the Bookkeepers shop, using it as a way to enter the sewers. Most are normal citizens, discounting thier shapeshifting, but there is an militant element that desires retribution for a number of assaults and a murder of one of thier own. Seems a number of 'concerned' citizens consider rats as bearers of the 'Veil and decided to take matters into thier own hands. As it stands now, both sides have been 'talked' to. The rat-men's leader was not particularly amenable to holding off action, so there may still be trouble there. The rabble-rousers seem sufficiently cowed...they shouldn't pose a problem...unless provoked by the rat-men."
Her report delivered, Tolenn clasped her hands behind her back and awaited Kroft's response.
Kroft sighs, "At least that's closer to a problem seen by cities other than Korvosa. It's almost like normalcy," she adds with a wry smile. "I figured the issue under Bookkeepers would be related to smuggling or some other schemes by the Cerulean Society. A vendetta between wererats and rabble-rousers is worse, but at least it makes more sense than everything else going on around here."
"Thank you once again for looking into the city's trouble spots. The Guard is shorter staffed than ever with my budget being cut further. But you shall not go unrewarded for your efforts. I will instruct the quartermaster to put some of our armory contracts at your disposal. It may be a slower process than a cash reward, but the queen has yet to throttle that connection."
As far as the rest of the people gathered in the Citadel's courtyard, Bishop d'Bear seems particularly intent on sizing up Tolenn and Wednesday.
"Budget cuts?" Wednesday says without thinking.
---
"Problem?" he says with a side glance to the Pharasmin, unconsciously rolling the haft of the scythe in his hand.
Ignoring Wednesday's outburst, Tolenn inclines her head to the Field Marshall, "A thoughtful reward, Marshall."
Then she turns to Wednesday, "Manners, Wendy." she gently chides her friend, then addresses the Bishop, "Can we be of assistance, Bishop?"
"He was staring." Wednesday mumbles.
The elderly bishop of Pharasma seems quite small compared to both Tolenn and Wednesday, but she stands confidently before them. "Peace be upon you, Wednesday Daud. You have no enemies here unless you seek to make your own."
Turning to Tolenn's query, she answers, "You have already been of great assistance, child. I sense that it is you who will soon be seeking assistance of your own. Strength alone will not get you what you need, but strength tempered by timely wisdom will. So I have foreseen in these days of limited prophecy."
The loading of the carts soon finishes and they roll out to take doses of the cure to various points in the city.
Meanwhile, Amira and Cassandra have set the secure shelter up in the area most infrequently patrolled in the main part of the city - the rooftops. There, the evening passes uneventfully.
"I've heard that in one form or another many times before."
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The next morning sees Cassandra entering the meeting spot via one of the windows. Park leaps off her shoulder and begins searching for treats.
"Amira will be by in a moment. She stopped to beat up a mugger."
"Poor bastard."
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A few minutes later Amira appears crouching on the windowsill. "Morning."
"Get any sleep?" Wednesday asks with a smirk.
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Amira snorts in response as she steps in, pretending not to hear the question.
Happy with the answer Wednesday follows them in to the meeting area.
The elderly bishop of Pharasma seems quite small compared to both Tolenn and Wednesday, but she stands confidently before them. "Peace be upon you, Wednesday Daud. You have no enemies here unless you seek to make your own."
Turning to Tolenn's query, she answers, "You have already been of great assistance, child. I sense that it is you who will soon be seeking assistance of your own. Strength alone will not get you what you need, but strength tempered by timely wisdom will. So I have foreseen in these days of limited prophecy."
Tolenn listens carefully to the bishop, then nods, "I thank you for your warning. In these unsettled times a divination of any kind is a welcome boon. I will consider your words carefully, Bishop."
With a further nod of thanks, she then bids farewell to Kroft and the others and walks with Wednesday back to house.
As Cassandra and Amira make their usual entrance, she says, "The cure for the Veil is in the process of being distributed, our work has born fruit, my friends. " she says with a smile.
The with a yawn and an enormous stretch, "Now I must retire and give thought to the Bishop's words."
"Sweet dreams." Wednesday says to the yawning Paladin as he lounges in the meeting area.
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With the morning (presumably a relatively late morning given the shenanigans of the night before) and the return of Cassandra and Amira to the home of the late Varisian fortune teller Zellara, the group is able to reunite while breaking the night’s fast. It isn’t long before a fifth presence is detected. Sure enough, there is the ghost of Zellara near the hearth, brewing what smells like a very strong coffee… ghostly coffee.
”Welcome back, my friends. It seems you are fast becoming the talk of the town for your success in rooting out the plague. It pains me to see my home suffer such troubles, but I am glad it has you to defend and protect it. I sense you have some questions about the fortunes of the city and of yourselves. I can perform another reading for you so we may see what the Harrow reveals.”
Her deck of cards mysteriously appears in her hands again as she fans out a subset of the cards for each of you to select one. All are of Book suit, the suit most associated with money, literature, education, and intelligence.
Tolenn’s card depicts a figure wearing chains and vestments and brandishing a book. ”The Inquisitor. A fitting card for someone who will accept nothing less than the truth and has the power to and skill to foil deception. I feel you will persevere to find the root of the mysteries before us.”
Wednesday’s card shows a bold adventurer standing before a giant collapsing in laughter. ”The Joke. You face terrors that you cannot overcome with your strength alone, rather a sharp mind is your best tool to discern a way through the difficulties and to triumph.”
Amira’s card depicts a dapper creature with a crocodile head relaxing on an oppressed person. ”The Rakshasa. Normally, this indicates dominance or mind control. But as it is so at odds with your nature, it can also indicate the casting off of control in the face of new information. A card that shows a path to cutting through conspiracies.”
Cassandra’s card shows an artisan literally receiving a bolt to the head from a divine figure. ”The Vision. Arcane knowledge, a clear match in that regard. But it may also indicate an impending encounter with madness. Something to be wary of.”
She then takes the cards back up, shuffles the deck thoroughly, and lays out an array of 9 cards in a square.
She turns over the three cards on the left and starts in the upper left. ”The Crows. A dangerous bunch of thieves or murderers in the recent past - taking that which is dear. And surely the cultists spreading the blood veil took many held dearly by their loved ones. They have been exposed thanks to you.”
She indicates the middle card. ”The Queen Mother. She knows, oh she knows, but she will only reveal what she knows to the right people. There are secret societies about, not all of which are clear.”
At the bottom, she sighs, ”The Liar. A false love. A love most treacherous has set these events in motion.”
The fortune teller then flips the middle column of three cards. She points at the top-most one. ”The Twin. Someone is unsure of the path before them and wavers between two different options. Which way will they choose? Will it help you or will it harm you and all of Korvosa? Given its position, I think the choice will be for the best rather than worst.”
About the middle card, she says, ”The Uprising. There is someone swept up in a situation beyond their own power. Much of Korvosa must feel this way too.”
She points to the bottom card in the middle. ”The Sickness. This is obviously linked to the blood veil, but since that is passing thanks to you, I believe it is also linked to a corrupted soul, and a significant soul it is indeed, perhaps even beyond salvation.”
She then flips over the cards on the right, studying the upper right card before proceeding, ”Some of these cards we have seen before. The Lost. This card often signifies a loss of identity, but placed here I believe it will be with a clear mind – so maybe an identity willingly relinquished.”
Her attention moves to the middle card. ”Another old friend. The Idiot. His cares are foolishness and greed and he is surrounded by madness. You may soon find yourselves in a situation beset by his insanity.”
And then… The Theater. A card about prophecy itself. The position of this card indicates that something once foretold is now false, or possibly something once deemed impossible is coming true. This one is always difficult to read but is deemed to not refer to the reading in which it appears. It is always something external to the current Harrowing.”
”That is what the Harrow has for you for the present. Though you have already seen Korvosa through a deadly trial, I fear more is ahead. Perhaps you will derive some insight from the Harrow’s revelations.”
Tolenn sits back after the reading, her face thoughtful, "As always, Zellara, you give us much to discuss...the bishop of Abadar told me 'Strength alone will not get you what you need, but strength tempered by timely wisdom will. ' This does seem to cleave to what the Inquistor you drew for me entails. "
She grows quiet, staring into space as she ponders the fortuneteller's words....
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Cassandra hunkers down and listens to the harrowing as she sips from very real coffee.
When the spirit has finished laying out her cards, she sets her coffee down and throws up her hands.
"Lady of Pain!" Cassandra cries out. "This is why no one at the academy likes divination majors. All cryptic warnings and riddles and 'You will meet a stranger who will be unhappy'. Well, of course I will! You meet strangers every day and some of them are BOUND to be unhappy!"
While Cassandra rants, Park sneaks in and begins drinking from her coffee mug.
Wednesday lounged silently as the others talked. He tried to take in what the Harrower had to offer, but it was all starting to blur together like a song. Taking it all in, but unable to process it until afterwards.
Amira listens intensely, though Cassandra's outburst conjures up a smile. They were still in the midst of dark times, but as she looks around the room she sees both the strength and the will to prevail. She could feel that city was still confident in their ability to prop prevail over what was to come.
As the heroes take a much needed rest and refit, the cures distributed by the churches take hold and over the course of a couple of weeks outpaces and arrests the spread of the blood veil. The quarantine on Old Korvosa remains in place. The plague seems to have subsided there as well, though civil unrest clearly continues.
At local businesses, slowly reopening as it becomes more and more obvious the plague is spent, you find that the various people are quite well-disposed to you. Small discounts or additional trinkets are given over, perhaps an extra roll of bread or a 15-egg baker's dozen, as rumors get around of your involvement and people show their appreciation. Of particular note, a lot of Varisians from Trail's End (across the river and the neighborhood of young Brienna Soldado - recovering from the plague quite nicely now) drop by with gifts of clothing - including lovely embroidered scarves, shirts, and skirts.
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Cassandra wraps one of the scarves, a daring number with lots of tassels, around her neck and leaps up onto the wall. She stands there in a daring pose, scarf flapping in the wind behind her.
"Fear me, mortals! For I am... gack! AMIRA HELP!"
Because her scarf just got grabbed by a passing bird and now Cassandra's being dragged along the roof and strangled at the same time.
Its a strong bird.
The dragging comes to a swift end as a spinning starknife is met with a squawk and a shower of feathers. Running along the roof in time with her throw, Amira leaps to untangle the scarf without destroying it. Cass did look really cute in it after all.
"Was that really necessary?!" Wednesday calls out with some annoyance as what's left of the bird plops to the ground. "Poor bastard."
Cassandra steadies herself, getting to her feet. Then she does a handstand. Just because.
"Thanks, Amira. I think that bird is the same one that crapped on me the other day. It was obviously evil and hated me."
"Then it got exactly what it deserved." Amira replies, smiling as she watches Cassandra's display.
Wednesday's eyes shift from the lovers to what's left of the bird then back.
It has been a couple of weeks since events in the sewers and the situation there seems to be much calmer.
The city armorers put together a beautiful specimen of mithral armor for Tolenn (feel free to describe it as you like, Tolenn) but she's not their only customer. Quite a few Gray Maiden recruits are in and out of the armory over the days it takes the journeymen and masters to measure Tolenn, meet with her over its embellishments, and try several fittings and adjustments. The recruits' morale seems pretty high and they speak of serving the queen and their upcoming initiation ceremony with some enthusiasm, often describing it as a path to better things compared to the poverty of places like Riddleport and Orolo's Quay, the paranoia of Nisroch, or even the diabolism of Egorian. A few call out to Tolenn to ask if a warrior of her obvious standing will join the Gray Maidens, but helmeted officers usually tell them to keep to themselves.
The word on the streets that people seem pretty willing to share with heroes include a number of stories and rumors:
"The blood veil may be taken care of, but the quarantine remains on Old Korvosa. But this time, it's to keep out agents of the Emperor of Korvosa. They say he's taken over and he carries a magic scepter that creates outrageous and dangerous spells on his whim."
"The queen's got her eye on the Sable Company and the Guard. Mark my words, she'll be dismantling them in favor of the Gray Maidens. That's all well and good for the women in the forces, but my Wilfrick's cousin Raddulph will be out a job if that happens."
"The blood veil is our just deserts for our sins and materialism. Now is the time to give up your worldly possessions or the next plague will be even worse."
"They Gray Maidens have been given the Longacre Building and even the Arbiters have been put out. I hear Arbiter Zenderholm was so mad she's gone into a convent."
"The Hellknights are fed up with Korvosa. The queen apparently refuses to pay them any further and they're pulling out to head back to Cheliax."
It's hard to determine the veracity of any of those for certain (some being mighty speculative), but of the movers and shakers in the city, it's true that Arbiter Zenobia Zenderholm has been scarcely seen and court proceedings have slowed considerably. The Gray Maidens continue to enforce a quarantine against Old Kovosa quite vigorously. The Acadamae continues to be tightly locked down with access carefully and strictly managed.
There will also be a public address by the queen at noon on the morrow to address the situation in Korvosa and make announcements.
Having kept an ear to the ground over the past few weeks, Amira sifts through the rumors, compiling them with what she has heard or observed.
The quarantine has been pretty harsh. The Gray Maidens blew up or burned all of the wooden bridges between Endrin Isle and the mainland, set up a barricade on the stone bridge, patrol the channel, and have been spotted shooting anyone attempting to cross. That said, the length of the channel is considerable and there's no way the queen's forces can be 100% vigilant everywhere. A good plan put into effect by some reasonably skilled and hardy people can probably get a few people in and out of Old Korvosa.
Amira has heard of a few smugglers getting in and out of that part of the city and the portrait they paint of the situation there is not a pretty one. The plague did ultimately burn itself out, thought the full death toll in the older and poorer neighborhoods is unknown.
The so-called Emperor of Korvosa is a prominent sleaze ball named Pilts Swastel. Swastel was best known, until recently, for running the Exemplary Execrables - a fairly notorious playhouse and performing center. The painter Salvator Scream was one of his biggest discoveries and draws. But clearly, Swastel's ambitions have grown and his mobs control a large portion of the island. The Arkonas, whose estate lies on the island, don't seem to be contesting the "Emperor's" control of the streets.
Amira has also heard scuttlebutt from reliable people that the queen has had surveyors out in a few places across the city, particularly around The Great Tower at the head of the channel between Old Korvosa and the mainland. The Great Tower has long been the home of the Sable Company and its flight of hippogriffs, though they are seen flying overhead less and less these days.
"Things are getting worse out there. Especially on Endrin Isle. Even I'd have trouble getting out there." Cassandra notes as the group meets up for a rooftop picnic.
"I don't like the Hellknights but they're being driven out and Sable Company and the Guard are being diminished. Meanwhile, the queen is building a force of brainwashed women who will defend her and do her bidding at the costs of their lives."
"In fact she's had her people surveying The Great Tower and it's surroundings. Makes me wonder if she'd planning a final assault on the Sable Company, or setting up to use that waterway to bring something even more nefarious into the city." Amira adds.
"On top of that, there's as dirtbag they call the Emperor of Korvosa, Pilts Swastel a piece of $#!+ crimelord who's thugs basically run Endrin Isle, with apparently no objection from The Arkonas, despite their estates being on the island."
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"Amira really wants to get to Endrin Isle and take Pilts Swastel down, in case you hadn't noticed. Unless we've got a way to infiltrate the palace or something, it might at least give us something to do to make the city better."