"I'll come back to you when I can Blythe, I survived one death sentence early in life, I'll outlive another. For now, I want you to stay safe, I've got fewer connections and ties in the city as the others and even less family, friends and loved ones."
He hugs Blythe again and kisses her forehead.
"But I count you among the last. So take care of yourself alright? I don't want you getting yourself in any trouble without me able to intervene if needed."
"Take care, Mavor," Blythe whispers weakly.
Theandra then hands Blythe one of the backpacks and says, "Don't you worry, big one. She's safe with me."
Blythe picks her cat up and gives you a weak smile as she exits the building with Theandra and you. Theandra locks the inn's door and guides Blythe down the street, the latter turning to look at you just once more before they round the street's corner. Her lips form a silent "bye."
There's another silence before Majenko continues, "She says she's just around the corner of the street, at the docks. Wants me to ask you if you think Lamm's old hideout is a good place to gather everyone at?"
Oh! That's a good idea. Perfect. Do that! Please!
Baer heads to the old Lamm residence, thinking Majenko's idea is pretty keen.
Quorthos continues with Denario back towards the house, hoping to meet up with his comrades.
If you decide to look around, you won't see the tiny dragon anywhere.
"Don't head back, there are gray maidens! Allyph and Baer are both at the old hideout of someone named Lamm. Allyph said Denario knows where it is."
"I have to go warn Mavor and Tural now! See you later!"
"Gray maidens arrived at the house, but don't worry! We all got out! We're gathering at the old hideout of this Lamm guy, I was told you know where it is?"
"Okay, I have to go now! I still need to find Tural!"
You feel something move overhead, but you see nothing. Then, out of thin air, Majenko appears in front of you.
"Gray maidens invaded the house, but we escaped! Everyone's gathering at the old hideout of someone named Lamm, but Allyph said you may not know where it is. She's shown me, so just follow me!"
Majenko starts flying in the direction of the docks, and leads you to an old fishery about a mile north of Zellara's home.
"Glad you're all here!" Allyph says when the last of you enter the old fishery.
"It feels a bit strange that we've gathered here, but nostalgic at the same time. Lamm did horrible things to me, but it was through that that I met most of you..."
"I don't know how much Majenko's already said, but he, Baer and I had to flee from Zellara's house," Allyph tells those who went to other places. "Two of the gray maidens arrived there shortly after you left. We turned invisible, and they did not see where we went."
"So... what's the plan from here on...?"
Okay, thanks Majenko.
"Lamm's place....it's the hideout of a former slaver.
He kidnapped children.
We killed him."
[b]"Oh, I know Lamm," Quorthos replies to Denario. "HE picked me up when I was down, got me hooked, and used me. One of the reasons I agreed to join you guys was that I heard you'd put him down. Thanks for that."
At Lamm's house:
"Glad everyone made it safely," Quorthos begins. "I hope your loved ones are safe, and I hope we will see them all again soon." He looks around, trying to sort out his thoughts. "I think... I think that we have to take down the Queen's Physicians, especially their leader, Devaulus. If he's behind the entire thing, then cutting the snake's head off should suffice. If there are other heads, higher up... I don't know."
"Didn't that Physician say Devaulus was hired by the Queen herself? If we cut off his head, we might slow the spread of the plague but not halt the threat on the city. If we attempt an assasination on Devaulus, we might be hunted down in the city even more."
Tural looks worried at Allyph.
"Everything alright? This is really bad news. "
He says shaking his head.
"I agree with Quorthos. My only fear is that if we take him down that a replacement will take his place and we have to start all over again."
Baer stomps and waits for others to arrive, a sigh leaving her with each new arrival.
"About time you got here, Boy. I was worried that I was going to have to go back to your 'father' and see if he had another one of you around," Baer says. "You sure took your time getting here." Baer is grouchy at the waiting for others.
At Lamm's house:
"Glad everyone made it safely," Quorthos begins. "I think... I think that we have to take down the Queen's Physicians, especially their leader, Devaulus. If he's behind the entire thing, then cutting the snake's head off should suffice."
Baer grunts.
"Yeah, stopping the physicians should be priority #1. Not sure I trust anyone at this point, save maybe Vencarlo or Cressida...and maybe the shopkeeper where we got Quorthos. And probably the Abadarans. But outside of them...and the Rats, them too...I trust them, and the ladies at the Inn, not sure I trust anyone else in the City. Oh, and that drunk guard, I suppose I trust him too. So...outside of Trina, and the rest, I don't trust anybody." Baer seems very certain of her distrust.
"I'm for taking out the snake's head. Just for the fun of it. And hopefully, to slow them down."
"Well, with the summing of those who are, and might be, on our side, we'll need to sort out a place of funding and place to work from.
I've sent my family out of the city, no Grey Maidens will find them anymore."
"Sorry, Baer... had to see my father off. Got here as quick as I could."
"I agree that another person could take over Devaulus' role - but that assumes us there's someone above him, and we don't really know that. I'd like to think that he's the evil vizier who's duped everyone." Quorthos furrows his brows, thinking hard. What else can we do? Incite a riot? Start a civil war?
"As for funding... I expect that by the time we cut our way through Devaulus' guards, we'll have plenty of loot to fence. Perhaps our subterranean friends can help us fence that."
"This place is as good as any to work from, perhaps we could use multiple safehouses to minimize the risk of getting caught while sleeping. Seems to me we might need a guard or two looking out for the rest while we sleep. The Three Rings is also empty at the moment, Theandra and Blythe are also going out of the city's limits."
Tural nods in agreement.
"It's settled then. Shall we scout out where he resides? Or shall we set up base first? It might be best to know what we are up against first."
For a moment he thinks back to his father's home.
He'll be alright...
A moment later he snaps back.
"Who's good at disguising?"
Baer yawns, looking for a place to sleep (and probably ends up in Crookshanks old bed).
"Let's set watch and wait for whomever might be looking for us to give up. There are thousands of criminals in this city, and they can't keep an eye out for all of them," Baer says, knowing how easy it is for most criminals and thieves to escape even with a description.
"Tomorrow, let's go find the physicians. Let's really earn the attention that we're likely to draw."
* * *
"Who's good at disguising?"
Baer shakes her head, not really wanting to change who she is though who she is is pretty ugly.
"Bah, I'll go invisible if I have to, but if we go separately or in small groups, and maybe if Majenko will fly overhead and keep us from walking face first into any patrols, we should be able to get closer without having to do too much disguising," Baer grumps.
Majenko, will you scout for us?
Quorthos agrees. "Yes, let's recuperate and wait out the trouble we've caused."
"Disguising? No, turning invisible's the best i'd do.
Anyway, Baer's got a good point, Majenko could navigate us."
"Will do!" Majenko responds enthusiastically, glad to be given an active role.
The next morning everyone's feeling fine, except for Allyph. A red rash is covering her face again, though it's not as bad as the last time she suffered from bloodveil.
"Noooo!" Allyph exclaims as she examines at herself with her hand mirror. "My face! Not agaaain!"
With Majenko proving aerial scouting to help avoid patrols, Baer will lead the group to where they can get a look at the warehouse without being spotted (or they are hidden, letting Mavor or Majenko scout).
Tural's face hardens as he sees Allyph getting sick again.
"This has to stop."
He follows Baer to the hiding spot.
"Use the wand on her, Tural," Quorthos encourages. "We need everyone at full strength for the coming task."
You head to the Hospice of the Blessed Maiden, an old warehouse rebuild to fit the needs of the queen's physicians. The building has two floors, one front door, and three double back doors that were probably used for the warehouse's cargo. People are buzzing around all the entrances and exits.
Baer gazes upon the warehouse, an ill feeling in her gut at the sight.
"I don't like the looks of this. Anyone have any good ideas besides assaulting the front doors?" Baer looks hopeful, but knows that direct confrontation might be the path forward.
"Maybe we should go about this at night. It is way too crowded over there."
Tural says in answer to Baer.
"Or maybe a disguise and go inside with the other people, but we do tend to stand out."
Quorthos watches intently for several minutes, trying to get a sense of who is going in and out. Is it all doctors, or are patients going there as well? Are there guards visible? Windows?
Quorthos observes there are physicians, gray maidens, and a large group of ill commoners going in and out of the building. There are no guards visible. The windows of the former warehouse are all ten feet above ground level.
Mavor pulls his cloak a little bit more tight and over his neck, then wanders round the building to see if there are any windows open by chance.
If one's open, he checks his gear, then goes back to the others.
Baer waits to see what happens with Mavor before enacting her planned chaos assault.
Mavor finds none of the windows open.
"OK, what is the plan? I think we should go in invisibly, and just recon the place first. I can give three of us five minutes of cover," Quorthos offers.
"My sneaking skills are really bad. I would most likely knock over something or bump into someone whilst invisible. If everyone stays within about a 100 feet from me I will be able to heal you if something goes awry inside."
He checks if the life link on everyone is in place and nods when he is sure. He refreshes the battlewards on everyone and lastly he rummages through is backpack.
"I still have this potion, of monkeyfish. This may aid the ones going inside."
"OK, what is the plan? I think we should go in invisibly, and just recon the place first. I can give three of us five minutes of cover," Quorthos offers.
"Does that make sense, Boy?" Baer grunts, feeling anxious. "No point in wasting magic when we're just going to lose it after we need to crack skulls. And we will need to crack skulls, I bet."
Baer scrunches up her face, thinking.
"You go and scout and come back, invisibily. Then we'll do a proper head cracking," Baer suggests. "Or you can let Majenko know when we should come in. That could also work."
"We may need to crack heads, Baer, but I'd rather only have to crack a few. Going in there are just attacking everyone, with Grey Maidens all over the place, would be... unpleasant." He nods. "OK, I will go in and have a look around, just to see what we're up against. I'll come back in five minutes, and I'll tell Majenko if I get into trouble."
He accepts Tural's potion, thinking that staying on the walls might make it easier to stay out of the way if it's too crowded.
When everyone is ready, Quorthos drinks the potion, puts on the plaguebringer's mask, and casts shield followed by invisibility. "Back soon," he whispers to the group.
Just when you head over to the leather curtain, it's opened by a burly nurse. She moves into the reception room and sits down at the desk. The nurse wears three scarves over her mouth and nose, and wears heavy leather gloves.
A man with red pox all over his face enters the reception room from outside. He heads over to the nurse and asks, "Can I get an appointment with the doctors?"
"Patients are admitted to the quarantined main hall when the doctors are ready," the nurse replies with a tone that reveals she's repeated that line quiet a few times.
The nurse point at the other citizens inside the reception room. "You'll have to wait here, until you're up."
"I agree with Quorthos on this, all out skirmishing wouldn't be advantageous to us.
But dishing out on the physicians, i'm all in favor of that.
Good luck Uorthos, we'll see you in a bit then."
Denario dusts off any dust his morningstar might have, readying it for inevitable confrontation.
The warehouse’s vast interior has been converted into one gigantic convalescent’s ward, the stench of alcohol, sickness, and waste choking each breath. Tight rows of low, stained cots cram the stone-floored hall. Every bed is filled with a pitiful story—men and women of all walks groaning and wheezing as they’re consumed by bloodveil, their sufferings multiplied by the echoing chamber.
Four Queen’s Physicians mill about the cots, cooing at their victims in unsympathetic voices as they watch the sick wither and die. More than 60 cots fill the area, each holding a helpless citizen—most of whom are too weak to even rise from their stinking sick beds. While most of the room is filled with beds and the dying, the northeast holds an improvised kitchen with room and supplies enough to make the patients their daily watery gruel.
One Gray Maidens stands guard in front of a leathery curtain that presumably gives access to another area, and another Gray Maiden stands guard in front of a door.
The ceiling of this room is nearly 30 feet high, though the catwalks above span the room at 20 feet. Two more Gray Maidens patrol the catwalks.
Baer waits anxiously to action, waiting for word from Quorthos or Majenko. Her feet step with impatience.
"Baer, he'll be alright.
He's shown able enough thus far."