"I brought her here hoping you could cure her, Father," Istas explains, "She is beyond my help. And this girl's family could never afford the assistance of Abadar's church. In truth, it is we who should be paying them for bringing this to our attention. It is as I feared. My vision is coming to pass. And, as the derro told Stannus and I, Urgathoa threatens all of Korvosa. There are others, not just in the Shingles, who have contracted this same illness. It appears to be contagious. And, if we don't act swiftly, things could turn dire indeed. Can you make sure Stannus and the Bishop know of this development, please?"
Heathers look goes bleak.."Well it is as I thought..the poor woman had no chance..and now we have inquisitors and all the baggage that goes with them in the city."
She looks to Istas and Jeorik.."It is our duty to see this through to the end my friends...we should go see the final moments of that unfortunate girl and then think how we can assuage our guilt in having caused it"
Heathers look goes bleak.."Well it is as I thought..the poor woman had no chance..and now we have inquisitors and all the baggage that goes with them in the city."
She looks to Istas and Jeorik.."It is our duty to see this through to the end my friends...we should go see the final moments of that unfortunate girl and then think how we can assuage our guilt in having caused it"
"I shall certainly make an effort to be on hand when Trinia's fate is sealed," Istas replies. She has little else to say with regard to the girl's verdict, remaining impassive and stony-faced as usual.
Heather informs Emerion of where Trinia is likely to be held..and the fact that the execution will probably be in the castle courtyard.
Next three days activities..
Do a Harrowing for the group...(something tells her she should do this)
Assist in the search of the riverbanks
Visit some friends she has neglected including Silena Murrond
Kenan will spend the next three days
1) learning more of the situation around Trinia and what the group are so concerned about, especially when its like she isn't guilty.
2) take the party back to where the ship went down and help with the search along the riverbank.
3) keep tabs on Brienna and talk to Ishani to try to find out what went into his infusion. Gut feeling is I kind of trust him but the Father's right to mention it.
Jeorik, on hearing the news of Trinia's sentence is stunned and incredulous. Her innocence was so plainly proven that he cannot doubt there is corruption of some sort at work. Troubled, he accompanies the others and listens concerning the plague.
Afterwards he returns to his uncle's house, slightly depressed.
After a sleepless night, he dresses and arms himself and heads to the shrine of Erastil on the south side of the city. He spends the day there, without food, praying and meditating upon the best course of action. It is clear that he alone will not be able to save Trinia, nevertheless he decided he must do what he can. He resolves to go to the execution armed and ready for Erastil to show him the way to go to be of the greatest service.
That evening, he writes a letter to the Field Marshall, expressing his disapointment in the outcome of Trinia's trial but informing her that he will continue to help her, should she need it.
The next day, he sends his letter and then hunts up Istas. Finding that they want to search the Riverbanks, he agrees to help, though he would like to know exactly what he is searching for.
Heather:
Jeorik:
Istas: Aided by you and Father Corvin, Telisha struggles against the disease. The morning of day 2 finds her doing very poorly indeed. Some things seemed to stabilize her for a while, but the disease always won out and she would get worse. Fearing she may not survive, Father Corvin casts remove disease. You may take her home on Day 2.
Emerion: The dagger may be fenced. It is masterwork.
Kenan: next post
Kenan will spend the next three days
1) learning more of the situation around Trinia and what the group are so concerned about, especially when its like she isn't guilty.
2) take the party back to where the ship went down and help with the search along the riverbank.
3) keep tabs on Brienna and talk to Ishani to try to find out what went into his infusion. Gut feeling is I kind of trust him but the Father's right to mention it.
Kenan: on the face of official Court releases, Trinia is just guilty, but rumors swirl. Trinia killed King Eodred because he wouldn't leave Queen Ileosa for her. Ileosa framed Trina to settle rumors that the queen killed Eodred. Trinia and Neolandis Kakelopolos (sp?), the Senechal of Castle Korvosa, did in the king, but their planned coup failed. Trinia was the pawn of various noble houses with royal ambitions. It seems Heather, Jeorik, and Istas, the acclaimed heroes of Trinia's capture could be the only ones with substantiated reason to believe she's innocent.
Give me two heal checks and I'll tell you how Brienna does.
Ishani is happy to talk to you regarding his infusion's recipe. Curiously, in a world full of potions, etc with animal ingredients to invoke some aspect of an animal's power, the infusion is entirely vegetable. The ingredients are mostly quite common. A few imported spices are the most exotic ingredients. Works out to about a silver per dose. Expensive in a world where a laborer earns a couple silvers a day. but cheaper than magical healing.
You have three inquiries from people that have heard you're treating Brienna. They have similarly sick relatives. One heard his friend's cousin has already died of the disease.
When visiting Morino to fence the dagger, Emerion will mention that the Church of Pharasma are interested in any rumour of a strange sickness, and ask him if he can keep his ear to the ground on any odd objects that might show up from the river.
Morino grunts and nods his head. (that means he'll keep an ear out.) "The gravediggers are interesed in a sickness, eh? Funny, I had to fire my errand boy. Said he was too sick to work yesterday. Just a little fever."
Istas: When you leave Grey with Telisha there's a thicker crowd than usual near the gate. Not a mob or press, but a thicker crowd. You see a Shoanti food vendor from whose cart you and Kaddok sometimes pick up a bite. He's got a long queue of customers, much longer than usual.
Tauni is glad to get her daughter back. "Thank you, thank you. Please take this. Whatever we can do to repay you...." Sinner is absent.
Heather: Silena is in the late stages of her pregnancy now. She's uncomfortable and irritable, but grateful for the visit. Her maid was been coughing all yesterday and Silena sent her home. "It's not lucky to have a sick person around when you're carrying a baby." SHe's been somewhat lonely without the maid though. She congratulates you effusively for capturing Trinia and wants to know all about the adventure.
Jeorik: Evening of day 2 after the riverbank search there's a note for you from Croft. She thanks you sincerely for your aid and offer of future help. Crossing Northbridge you notice the salvage crews have abandoned their work for now. The river is still high.
That brings us to early afternoon the day before Trinia's execution.
You meet at the east (mainland) end of North Bridge for your trek along the riverbank.
"The gravediggers are interesed in a sickness, eh? Funny, I had to fire my errand boy. Said he was too sick to work yesterday. Just a little fever."
"Aye, well I know a good healer if it persists, Keenan O'Flarna his name is," Emerion assures his friend. "I shall see you soon, I hope - my regards to Rowena."
At the Riverbank:
"Well met again my friends. I trust we are all still in good health?"
Heather plays down the capture of Trinia it's fairly obviuos even to Silena , who isn't the deepest of people, that she doesnt want to talk about it..The subject of the maids illness concerns Heather though and she promises she will look in on Silena in a couple of days.
She greets her friends quietly at the bridge it's noticable that the normally exuberant, outgoing noblewoman is distinctly withdrawn.
Kenan: Brienna is doing much better. It looks like with another day or two of rest she'll be fully recovered. Tayce is grateful. Donitello says, "I told you Kenan would pull her through."
Riverbank search: The party assembles and walks north through Trail's End. After weeks of rain in one form or another, you're finally treated to an overcast, but rainless day.
As you walk you notice that Kenan seems to be a bit of a celebrity. Four people approach him to ask if he'll visit their home today to look at a friend or relative. Many more stare after him, as if they would like to approach, but something, Jeorik's arms, Heather's and Emerion's upper class garb, or just -- well lots of things about Istas, prevents them.
It's easy to find the willow described by Telisha to Istas. It's a few tens of yards downstream of the last riverside building, a rather pungent tannery.
Kenan smiles and greets everyone with a double handed shake and a pat on the back, promising to help when he finished at the riverbank.
He also in a roundabout sort of way suggests that Donitello take his family out the city at the first chance, "just for a while, until the disease has run its course. Give Brienna some fresh air and all that." Kenan will pay for this if necessary.
He sends word to Father Corvin of what was in Ishani's infusion and tells the priest how Brienna looks to be pulling through. Explains that the infusion can be costly thanks to the rareness of the herbs involved.
Once that is all dealt with, Kenan concentrates on the task ahead at the willow tree.
Reaching the willow you fan out and begin moving along the riverbank. (Somewhere during your walk Istas has told you that you're looking for carved wooden boxes, about two thumbwidths square and a little over a full handspan (tips of outstretched thumb to outstretched pinky) long.
There's a scruffily clad Varisian apparently on the same errand. He dusts off his orange shirt and straightens the faded red and blue polkadot bandana on his head and asks, "So are you looking for the devil's silver? " He grins sheepishly, "It's all gone by now you know."
Many more stare after him, as if they would like to approach, but something, Jeorik's arms, Heather's and Emerion's upper class garb, or just -- well lots of things about Istas, prevents them.
There's a scruffily clad Varisian apparently on the same errand. He dusts off his orange shirt and straightens the faded red and blue polkadot bandana on his head and asks, "So are you looking for the devil's silver?" He grins sheepishly, "It's all gone by now you know."
"I assure you, we have no such affiliation with the Deceiver," Istas responds, "Despite Korvosa's penchant for consorting with imps and other devils at the Acadamae."
"What do you mean about silver, though?" she asks.
"So Istas, what is in these boxes we are looking for?"
"Answers..." Istas cryptically responds, "Other than that, I have no idea."
"Aye, the devil's silver. A treasure beyond description. For a mere token I'll tell you all about it." He tilts his head down to look at you from under his eyebrows and holds out an upturned hand.
"Ah. I see," Istas replies, reaching for her coin purse to hand the man a couple of silver pieces, "Here's you own devil's silver. Now, explain what you mean."
The Varisian takes the silver with a smile, although his face falls slightly at Istas' last comment. His hand rotates palm down, passes along the front of his shirt, then swings empty palm up in a wide arc toward you.
"In Egarian, the darkest city, of CHeliax, the darkest nation in the world lived a wizard. A foul, grasping servant of the thrice-damned House of Thrune ....
As part of a bargain with a devil, the wizard was supposed to deliver a number of boxes of silver to various nobles in Korvosa. He kept the money instead. His family was wealthy, they didn't need the cash. Indeed the bozes were nver opened. But keeping the money triggered a curse which plagued the first-born of each generation of the family, finally falling on a beautiful young woman. Her wizardly, and none-to-moral lover uses his infernal means to discover that the curse can be lifted if they deliver the boxes to the descendants of the original assignees. They gather up all the boxes in the family vault and set sail. Their last stop is Korvosa where many of the descendants now live.
At a swampy river where the ship takes on water a will o' wisp slips aboard. It becomes a race against time. Each night the will o' wisp picks off one or two crewmen. Finally the ship reaches Korvosa with just the two lovers and the will o'wisp aboard. In a raging storm the girl lashes herself to the tiller while her mage-husband tries to work the sails to bring the ship upriver. Big fight in the rigging, but all is lost when the Grey Maidens sink the ship because it won't answer their hail.
...
The story-teller drops his head and falls silent.
"Carved wooden boxes...with silver, you say?" Istas frowns. "And yet, now it's all gone? Is this but a myth? Or is their some truth to your story?" she asks, "Some children recently found intricately carved wooden boxes here. And, at least one of them also came into possession of some silver coins he otherwise would never have managed to earn on his own. Have you seen such things here along the shoreline? Speak plainly."
The storyteller looks up from under his eyebrows and sighs, apparently disappointed by the lack of appreciation. "I see you would strip the magic from my tale. The end of the tale is woven from the tragic sinking of that ship three nights past, from the rumors that a will o'wisp was in the rigging, and the almost certain fact that carved boxes containing silver were found along the shore the next day. "
"Alas I have not seen any of those boxes. Nor do I really expect too. The poor of Trail's End will have been most diligent in their search for such bounty. I thank you that my afternoon has not been wasted."
"Aye, a good tale it was too," Emerion chuckles. "But I am wondering how you would have the knowing of it, if there were no survivors from the ship that sank. Still, I'll cross you palm if you can tell us all," Emerion sweeps his hand over the story-teller's, transferring two gold pieces rather than silver ones.
Sleight-of-hand:
Sense Motive:
Istas makes a half-hearted attempt to search the shoreline while the others continue conversing with the storyteller.
Eventually, she circles back to rejoin the group, confident in the knowledge that she already knows at least one location where such a box exists...though, she frowns as she recalls Sinner Voe's absence from Tauni's household when she returned Telisha.
The storyteller stares at the gold in his palm. Then he raises the coins up to face level, stares another heartbeat, and bites one of the coins. Smiling very broadly he declares, " Well, thank you, sir. 'Twas merely poverty that drove me out here and a far flung hope that one of them boxes had been overlooked the last couple days. You've made it more than worth my while. "
"Truth is, I made the story up. Sure I put in some facts, but I stretched a lot of those. That ship coming in all silent and not answering the hail, that yellow light in the rigging - you don't see that often, and the Guard or the Maidens sinking it without a word. All strange stuff that's got folk talking. And treasure, trouble for Chel--iaxians and star-crossed loves always make a popular story with the crowds. Mix it up so they think they're part of the tale and you've got a winner almost every time."
"I think this's worth more than my tale, so I'll save you some time if you've come to look for the boxes. I've been all along this bank for a mile or so this morning. I was just drying out my socks when you came along. You won't find any boxes or silver along here. Give up, or if you must, walk all they way around the bend. There've been plenty of folk looking, but mostly they're lazy. They won't have gone more than a mile or two to look."
Istas: Nothing to find here, not even in the knot of ropes and a well-worn block caught in some branches straining the river.
"I be thinking that the ship sits safe and pretty at the bottom for now. But the boxes and dat silver be poisoning people as we tell tales. Maybe I should be trying to find all of them and stopping the fevers before they become a full blown plague in dis city. Me, I swim like a brick so dat's another reason for keeping me da's favourite son on dry land."
Kenan waves the man away and helps Istas in her search while decisions are made, after all that is why he came.
"Stay your search," Istas announces as she returns from examining the shoreline, "There is naught to be found here. But I do know someone in possession of such a box. It is, after all, how I became aware of their existence and possible connection to what's happening. If this ship carried as many as our storyteller claimed, however, I sincerely doubt we'll be able to round them all up. Especially considering they had silver coins inside. Exactly which of the poor souls living here in Korvosa do you expect to part with such coin and believe our tale that it might be harmful to them?"
The priestess sadly shakes her head. "No. I fear we can't curb this disease by eliminating its source," she concedes, "We can however attempt to learn more about it. See if we can find a cure based on a sample. And prepare whatever houses of healing exist in the city..."
"Kenan?" she nods at the newcomer, "Your aid is most welcome. Let us return to the Voe household...and perhaps your friend...and see if we can find such a box."
"I shall bow to your wisdom on the matter," Emerion bows with a grin. "Think you it may be worth it for one of us at least to search beyond the bend? I know not much of these things, but if this disease is an aspect of a curse, mayhap it smites whosoever opens one of these boxes, and afterwards is gone."
"If that is the case, we alone will only manage to affect the fate of the select few we encounter still searching for such boxes," Istas shrugs, "In the grand scheme of things, Urgathoa's taint will still find its way past us. I'm more interested in insuring we get a sample of this disease to the Pharasmen for further study. Then, we might calculate a better defense."
She pauses, realizing her pragmatic approach probably isn't as popular as it seems to her own ideology. "Hmmm...perhaps we can venture there on our way then?" she offers.
"I understand your point of view ... let's divide ourselves: I'm happy to search the shoreline for a box, and if I find one I'll bring it to your temple. If you want to obtain one from those sick, go ahead. We can meet back up there."
"That sounds like a decent plan with me. I can aid those searching the shores."