"Don't be so hard on yourself Terri. Without you we'd likely be walking into our own demise by trying to go to them for help. You may have very well just prevented them from getting away with a cover up that would doom this city." Amira says, laying a hand on the pretty priestess' shoulder.
Daud just shrugs while holding the priestess. "I'm still here, still standing, able to hold you. Besides, I've gotten plenty of wounds, a few more never bother me."
Tolenn places her other hand on Amira's shoulder briefly, then motions Cassandra to join them.
Smiling at each in turn, she says "There are forces arrayed against us and this city we love, that seem daunting and impossible to overcome. But together , together we can make a difference. Come let us bring our discoveries to Croft and see what transpires."
"D-did anyone ever open that coffer we found," Terri asks as she gently turns so that she can see Tolenn.
"Nope." Daud quips, just now remembering they brought back the additional coffer.
"We should see if there's anything in there, any evidence we can bring or something that could shed some light on what's going on."
Letting go of Terri Daud wordlessly leaves and retrieves the coffer. Bringing it back he sets it on the table before opening it.
Wednesday places the darkwood coffer on the table, waiting a couple of breaths and then flipping the latch. Remarkably, the coffer was apparently well-built and waterproof, for the documents inside are dry and free from any kind of water damage.
A quick sifting through the documents reveals that the deed to the Direption was sold by a group titled 'B7' to an 'R Davaulus'. Furthermore, there is a cargo listed as the rather ambiguous 'specimens'.
Daud lets out a low dark chuckle. "I knew I didn't like that guy."
"Daming evidence, indeed. B7? What does that mean...." Tolenn mutters. "They must all have some device to shield their ill-hearts from Saranae's Light. Nefarious!" she spits, obviously incensed.
She stands abruptly, and begins to pace agitatedly before stopping and looking back at the others, "The hag's effects, the bracers and spear...if they have potency, we should put them to good use. We'll need them I'm sure."
Daud arches a brow at seeing the Paladin so angry. He was also smirking. So she does have a cute side...
As you all talk things over, Cassandra studies the spear and bracers. "This spear is magically sharpened and designed to increase both the odds of striking and the damage of such a strike. These bracers would act like armor to someone who was not wearing any such."
Cassandra's Spellcraft check on the Plague Doctor's mask on the Direption:
The mask looks like a common doctor's mask, but after a bit of examining, you notice is has a few magical properties. The first is a certain resistance to nauseating scents (+2 resistance bonus). The mask is also intended to give the wearer immunity to one disease (as Cassandra would probably guess, the disease for this mask is Blood Veil). Finally, the mask veils the wearer's attitude and allegiance, making him register as ordinary for those searching for good or evil.
Tolenn catches Daud's expression out of the corner of her eye, and takes a deep breath. She shares a rueful smile with her friend then says "Hmmm, Cassandra is the best for the bracers then. As for the spear...Whomever can make best use of it...Daud?"
Then a bit later, "I would know the contents of the plague box. Please all of you , for your own safety, retire to the hall, I will only open it if you are all out of the room."
After everyone clears the room, the paladin takes a deep breath and tries to open the coffer, but it does not open. After a couple of minutes of tugging and wrestling with it, the holy warrior takes out her dagger and wiggles the point under a hinge. She steadily applies pressure until she hears a loud pop. She does this with the other hinge, then flips the lid forward.
Within, perfectly preserved, is a dead rat, along with 50 silver pieces. A slight scent of decay accompanies the opening, the silver glinting in the morning sunlight streaming through the window.
Tolenn looks down on the rat on its bed of silver, a curious expression on her face, then her expression hardens and she shuts the box.
"There we have it. I assume the rat goes into the water supply and the coins into the population...." she says softly.
"So there were probably two of these, one opened when the ship went down." Amira reasons. "Do you think those at the Academy or one of the temples could create a cure with the source of the disease to work off of?"
Seeing that smile Daud just hangs his head before rubbing the back of his neck. "It would probably be better to give it to Trumpet or Dessert, they could get better use out of it than me probably."
---
Although he leaves the room once asked he spends those next few moments quite agitated.
---
"There's probably not enough priests and priestesses to stop this now." he muses frankly.
As she secures the lid of the box with a length of rope, Tolenn replies to Amira, "That may be, however, our first task it to present our findings to Croft. "
She then addressses them all, "If no one else has use for the spear, perhaps we should sell it...."
Then she frowns at Daud's observation, "Indeed, Wednesday, that is probably the Urgathoa-ians aim in all of this."
"Come, let us go to Croft....and see what awaits us."
"What should we do about that," Terri asks pointing to coffer as she busies herself with gathering her gear and donning her armor.
At Tolenn's suggestion Daud shrugs. "Okay by me. Or trade it to your temple's quartermaster and see if you can get your own enchanted Scimitar."
Staring hard at the disease carrier he speaks without looking at Terri. "I guess it's just evidence as well... or we could take it to a doctor-an actual one..." Or I could always go pay Helvara a visit.
Tolenn's brow furrows in thought, "The letter is incriminating, but without the plague box...I think we must show Croft everything, else she finds a reason not to help."
Tucking the secured box back into her pack, she says, "Gather your gear..." and leads the group back to the familiar environs of the Citadel.
The group once again travels to the Citadel, the trip becoming quite habitual as of late. As the companions walk along the street, they see a couple of men guiding a horse-drawn cart down the street, heading toward the Gray District. As you get closer, you notice that the cargo is none other than bodies, a half-dozen of them, all with the telltale red blisters of Blood Veil. The mood along the streets is somber and worried.
You make it to the Citadel without further incident. A few plague doctors mill around in the courtyard, along with their Korvosan Guard escort, otherwise it seems quite empty. A single guard at the gate grants you quick entry, and you enter the nearly deserted halls of the Citadel.
Finding no challenge inside, you proceed to Croft's office. The door is open, and you see the Field Marshall, looking utterly exhausted, peering at a map of the city, placing tokens around the map. It seems that the majority of the tokens are in the City's North district and Old Korvosa. She looks up and sees you all, a tired smile stretching across her face. "Friends, please enter. How can I help you today?"
Moving into the room Daud takes up his previous spot along the wall, not showing any reaction to Croft's greeting he crosses his arm while waiting for the other to enter.
"I-- I'm afraid that we are the bearers of terrible tidings, ma'am," Terri says quietly, pain twisting her face into a grimace.
"We searched the wreck of the ship the guard sank the other night and discovered that not all is at appears. This plague has been engineered, and the Queen's Physicians are the ones that are helping it spread, it would seem," she adds once everyone is inside and the door is closed.
"The source of the plague was not only coins but infected rats meant to get into the water supply. The wreckage of the ship is littered with the sets of both, designed to completely turn the city into pretty much a mound of corpses at the rate this thing spreads." Amira adds.
As the party starts pronouncing their findings, Croft puts her finger to her lips, beckoning the party to follow her. She walks down the corridor to a conference that has no windows, waving them inside, then shutting the door. "This room is protected from magical scrying...or so I hope."
She listens intently as Terri finishes her statement, then Amira adds her two cents. "So far we can account for over 100 dead, and it seems it will only get worse. But, if it is as you fear, then we need concrete proof, something the Queen can't dispute publicly. Let me think on this, if you will. I know time is of the essence...but a misstep and we all might join the growing pile of bodies."
Tolenn extricates the plague box from her pack, and puts it on the table in the conference room. "This is the twin to the box the children found on the shore. Coins and the rat Amira told of are inside. There were many more in the hold of the Diretor, a ship , that as this document shows was given over to our good Doctor Palavus. "
Here she pauses, then continues, "This mask you recognize? It was found on the body of a man we found in the captian's room on the ship. That man had a symbol of Urgathoa. Cassandra examined the mask...she found it protected the wearer from a specific disease. Guess which one. And most telling, shielded the bearer from attempt to discern the nature of ones heart, appearing normal and inoffensive."
"Marshall, this is a very organized and determined assault on our city, you may not have too much time to think on this." Tolenn says bluntly.
"I agree, Tolenn. But from an outsider's perspective, it's your word against Davaulus', as far as the plague mask and coffer being from the ship. Why, the Gray Maidens might even try to use it as an excuse to arrest you, insisting that you must have accosted a Queen's Physician. We must tread carefully with this. More damning proof is needed. I will contact you tonight, after I have thought things through."
"How can we help until then? Surely there's something you can use us for," Terri asks, obviously worried about how deep the rot seems to go.
Daud just rolls his eyes and sighs, Probably going to go tattle to the Queen...
"Surely there's something you can use us for,"
"But of course, using people is what she does." set off by Terri's question he wasn't able to hold that one in.
"That's enough of that, Wednesday," Terri snaps, showing anger for the first time among the party. Brown eyes glare out from under a delicately furrowed brow at Wednesday.
"Keep you snide comments to yourself. We don't need to antagonize each other if we are to keep this from hammering Korvosa to pieces."
"Merely stating a fact, Dessert," he replies curtly. Besides, I don't see what we or she could do at this point, if she is even going to do anything."
About to gently admonish Daud herself, Tolenn is interrupted by Terri's outburst. A look of bemused surprise comes over Tolenn, then Daud opens his mouth again.
With a sigh, she says "Easy, Wednesday, Terri..." then shakes her head, seemingly at a loss for words as she looks from one to the other.
Then, with a shrug , she gathers up the box, mask and letter, then gives Croft a solemn look , "Don't think too long, Marshall. I aim to find out where these 'physicians' hold court, and hold them to account for their actions."
Turning to Tolenn, a look of disgusted disbelief on her face, she asks, "is he always this rude?"
Just with people I hate, he wanted to respond with, but since she was asking Tolenn he bit his tongue to see if she'd respond.
Croft's lips tighten and threaten to disappear at Wednesday's outburst. She locks eyes with the man from Ustalav, her cheeks glowing red. After a rather long, awkward silence, she says through gritted teeth, "You and your companions have done Korvosa great service, and for that I thank you. I have had ENOUGH of your insults, though, Wednesday Daud. I refuse to be mocked or belittled, and if you think you are man enough, come out and challenge my honor in the courtyard and be done with it. I have no more time to waste on your sarcasm and loathing. If not, shut your f++@ing mouth and let more clear-headed people speak!" Her gaze lingers on him for a few more moments before she turns to the others, brows still knit in anger.
"I am FULLY aware of how little time I have, as it is I assigning the poor guardsmen and townsfolk who are taking the dozens of bodies to the Gray District. If this goes as high as you think, though, we must be careful, and we must prove beyond doubt or excuse. I will think on it, QUICKLY, and contact you when I have come up with what I believe is the best-case scenario."
Her voice softens, "In the meantime, if you wish to follow a lead and be useful, find Deyanira Mirukova off Overton Way, near the Marbledome. She has been asking for help finding her brother, and it could possibly be related to Blood Veil, for all we know. I would be most grateful if you could help her."
"Yes ma'am, we will," Terri responds quietly. She turns to leave , but before opening the door, she looks back and says, "Shelyn's grace be with you, Field Marshal."
With that, she opens the door and quietly slips outside.
The woman sighs, then nods wearily to Terri, "And may Iomedae shower you with wisdom, Terri."
At her outburst Daud actually cracks a smile, a rather friendly one. It lasts only for as long as she keeps talking.
Once she's finished though that all fades away, leaving just a barely contained snarl. "Honor? You don't have any! You used us to try to kill an innocent woman! You lied straight to our faces and made us believe we were doing the right thing and instead we walked Trinia straight to the executioner's block! We convinced her! We made her trust us and it almost got her killed! You didn't even try to let us know what we were really doing."
Stopping for a breath little red streams of his life start to seep out, from his eyes, his nose, his ears. His anger just crumples in on himself as his shoulders slump and his body bleeds. "I should have tried to stop it then. You or your guards would have killed me, and it wouldn't have changed anything, but I should have done it. So please, let's head outside so you can fix my mistake. This isn't about who's got the bigger dick, it's that were both just as worthless. I may be a waste of skin, but at least I F~!!ING ADMIT IT!"
Any calming effect Terri might have had on the woman is immediately undone by Wednesday's continued diatribe. Her eyes narrow, "I never lied to you, a&*+~*#, so don't presume to call me a liar." Croft sneers at Wednesday, "It must be nice, to always feel sorry for yourself. To completely cast off responsibility and deem yourself worthless, so you never have anything to live up to. You don't know what a day in my life is like, you piece of s*!~, so don't sit there and judge like you do."
She takes a deep breath, then spits out, "Now, come outside so I can teach you to keep your rude ass mouth shut in my presence."
"You could have suggested we take her somewhere else, you could have done something, anything..." he starts before his words are broken by a crooked cackle. "I know just enough to know I never want to be like you. I'm just so tired of this, so godsdamn tired. So let's go to the killing field, come on. You just better f%~!ing kill me. Please, just kill me."
Croft's face twists with fury at the man's continued finger-pointing, but all her anger seems to be drained as he starts carrying on about wanting to be killed. At a loss, she turns to his companions, "He needs help. Habe's Sanatorium got closed down a couple of years ago by some adventurers who found out Habe was performing illegal experiments on patients and was housing a necromancer, but I'm sure there's someone around who can help him."
She looks back at Wednesday, the woman seeming to age five years in a few minutes, "We're both wiser, now. I don't need lectures, Wednesday. I need help. Korvosa needs help. Are you going to help? Or continue to chastise me and yourself for roads not taken?"
Seeing that the Field Marshall isn't going to indulge his wishes he starts to cringe, his face looking pained. A starving man who just a meal dangled in front of hem and then snatched away. "Please..." his voice is weak and breaking.
Slumping against the wall in defeat he just lets his head hang. "No, you may be wiser, but I'm still the same. Still worthless. Still suffering. And I deserve it. For what I've done. For what I didn't do. For what I'm going to do. For what I won't do. Suffer in the wretched corpse of a city until it burns."
Sliding down to a crouch he clutches his head with both hands. "Please... Please! Tuesday! Lorraine! Don't leave me here... I don't want to be here anymore... please... take me with you... don't leave me here."
"T-tolenn, i-i-is he going to be okay?"