Grau looks at Tolenn with gratitude on his face. "Thank you so much, ma'am. I might have been drunk, but I remember that is was also you who contained your companion when he saw fit to more forcefully move me from your path. You are a font of mercy, my Lady."
He turns his attention to Amira, shrugging lightly. "Tayce didn't give me any information...just told me that she was very sick and to get what help I could. She being my niece, Brienna. Oh, Tayce is my sister by marriage. Did I already say that?" The man chuckles nervously.
He grows confused as he turns to Wednesday. "What is that? Some kind of weird butcher or something? Have they got tainted meat? That might explain everything."
The man rises, looking mainly to Tolenn. "Well, I guess we should be off, then. Tayce made it sound really serious." With a worried expression, he heads out the door, waiting on the group before leading the group east, towards North Bridge. With Grau in tow, the group encounters little resistance from the guards on duty, and soon find themselves making their way up the riverbank, heavy north towards the poor district of Trail's End.
Grau stops at a small, cozy-looking two-story home, turning to the others. "Alright, here's the place! Once again, I sure do appreciate your help once again." He reaches forward and knocks upon the door.
"Hello? Can I help you?"
Grau smiles shyly, clearly still embarrassed about his recent addiction problems. "I've brought some help for Brienna, Terri. Is Tayce around?"
Grau responds, looking embarrassed. "I've brought some help for Brienna, Terri. Is Tayce around?"
"Yes, she's upstairs with Brienna. She's... We don't know what's wrong. If you and the merry band will come in, I'll go get her."
Terri goes upstairs and comes back a few minutes later with Tayce in tow.
"By the way, Grau, it's nice to see that you are doing well."
Daud nods to the cooper headed woman who greeted them, but hangs back to let the man, Grau apparently, and Tolenn take the lead to the ailing girl.
Tolenn enters as Terri bids, waiting patiently until she brings Tayce.
"Thank you, Terri. Tayce, I am Tolenn, this is Wednesday, Amira and Cassandra. We'll help if we can. May I see your daughter?"
Amira enters taking note of the dwelling. The home was in a decent enough part of the city, not especially prone to disease or infestation making the girl's illness that much more of a mystery.
If I'd known this was where I'd be today I'd have called on the power to understand disease. Hopefully Tolenn's skills can help
As you all enter and Terri goes upstairs to retrieve Tayce, you see a man dressed in the vestments of Abadar in the small kitchen, brewing a foul-smelling elixir. He sees you all and takes the pot off the oven to cool, stepping over to introduce himself. "Ishani Dhatri, of the Bank of Abadar. A pleasure to meet you all." He shakes hands with those who seem willing to do so, then goes back to what he was doing.
Grau gives the man a dark look, then his sister-in-law an irritated look when she descends the steps with Terri. Tayce is in her early 30's, and pretty in a common sort of way. Run down by life, there are currently deep bags beneath her eyes, evidence of her lack of sleep.
"I am so thankful you are all here. She's upstairs, I'll bring you up there right now." As she turns to go, Grau motions her over to the corner of the living room away from the kitchen. As he starts talking, Tayce turns to Terri, "Could you see them upstairs, please?" As Terri starts to take you upstairs, you can hear the guardsman asking Tayce about the Abadarian priest, and that she can't afford to pay the Bank's bills for their services.
Terri leads you to a small room, and a very sick child. The girl's brown eyes seem mostly alert, but her face is covered in a deep red rash, a large blister covering a generous portion of her left cheek. When she sits up as you enter, she goes into a coughing fit, the sound wet and phlegmy.
Leaving her gear and weapons below, Tolenn mounts the stairs behind Terri.
Entering the girl's room, she pauses as she sees the poor girl. Entering she kneels by the girl's bedside, gently patting the girl's back as she coughs.
Once she's caught her breath, Tolenn says "Heloo, Brienna, my name is Tolenn. We look alike, you and I. " she says smiling, showing the girl the scars on her left cheek.
"Let's get you back under the covers." she says gently, helping the girl get tucked back in.
Looking back at Terri, she says "I will attempt what healing I can..." then lays her hands on Brienna, one on her forehead, the other on her chest.
Bowing her head, her lips move in silent prayer...
Although entering the house and moving up the stairs with his usual apathetic saunter he errs once inside the child's room. Morose takes hold of him as he sees her in such a pathetic condition. Thursday would probably be about her age...
Left to his wandering thoughts of days and choices past he's brought of his reverie once Tolenn channels the gift of the Dawnflower through herself in order to cure, or at least help the ailing girl. Stepping up lightly he looks the girl over, trying to remember if he'd seen this grouping of conditions before.
The girl meekly complies with Tolenn's movements, smiling weakly at her as the holy warrior mentions the scar on her own face. As Tolenn reaches forth, calling on Sarenrae's blessing, the girl instantly brightens, her heavy-lidded eyes opening wide. A bright smile comes to her face, though the rash and blister remains. She opens her mouth to speak, "Thank..." She can not get out the rest of it, as a wracking cough again goes through her.
Examing the girl alongside Tolenn he instinctively grips the Paladin's shoulder and pulls back when the girl breaks into a coughing fit. Knowing he wouldn't be able to pry the healer completely away from her ward he resign to simply lean in and whisper in her ear.
"The coughing has to do with her lungs, not fatigue or malaise, the disease probably sprouted in there. But the rash... her body is getting attacked at multiple areas, and whatever this disease is, it's very, VERY effective... almost unnaturaly so."
Amira studies the scene quietly, a quiet anger building within her at the feeling of helplessness.
Tolenn's eyes narrow as Daud reveals his thoughts on the nature of the disease.
Turning back however, she keeps her face pleasant for the girl's sake.
Closing her eyes, Tolenn centres herself, then looks upon the unfortunate girl, through the lens if Saranae's judgement, seeking a darker origin for her malaise.
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"It seems like she's gotten worse since yesterday. I don't suppose any of you can cure her?" Terri says quietly, just out of earshot of Brienna.
Tayce comes up the stairs to join you, her look hopeful as she sees her child more alert. "Can you help her?"
Tolenn is heartened that her healing made the girl more comfortable, rests her hand on her head, "Rest now, Brienne." She rises and shoos the others back downstairs.
She looks at Tayce with compassion, "My gifts are not enough to cure your daughter. "
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Cassandra's quiet along the way. The truth is, this whole thing sits poorly with her. Plague can run rampant and those who try to help are often the next victims. She goes along but she has to wonder what they can do with as a group. Obviously, magical healing isn't enough.
Still, something nags at the back of her mind.
So, in the girl's bedroom, Cassandra takes a step back. She controls her breathing and opens her eyes to the wonders of the universe. She says the words that draw the magic through her body.
From the arcane perspective, you haven't heard of anything, but you do recall hearing or reading once about a building near Sandpoint, a vassal town of Magnimar, a structure belonging to some minor nobleman. A rather potent mold or fungus was found in the basement that you recall caused a short-lived disease that had similar, but more virulent properties.
When you all arrive back in the living room and the paladin tells her true, Tayce looks at Tolenn as though not comprehending for a moment, then bursts into tears. Grau comes over, holding her tightly as the sobs wrack her body. Accompanying coughing can be heard from upstairs.
The priest of Abadar finishes his concoction, marching up the stairs. He comes down minutes later, shaking his head. "My herbal lore is insufficient to combat this disease, whatever it might be."
"There's a town called Sandpoint. Near Magnimar." Cassandra says. "There was a disease there similar to this one. Caused by some sort of mold of fungus. I read about it in my class on the mystical properties of molds and fungi in alchemical reactions. Which, by the way, is boring. Anyway. Could she have been exposed to something like that? If so, we need to track it down. If someone can analyze the fungus maybe a cure can be found."
Terri almost cries along with her friend, but something in the back of her mind worms its way to the front.
"Are you certain that this is a disease and not something else?" She asks the Abadarian.
Tayce absorbs what Cassandra says, then shakes her head. "No, I don't think so. We get a little moisture in here, but not enough for mold or anything like that!"
The Abadarian chews on his lip, then nods firmly. "I might not know exactly what it is, but I know disease when I see it." His tone is not challenging, just mildly upset and matter-of-fact.
"She might have been exposed somewhere else." Cassandra points out. "A friend's house? A place she played? A school? A temple?"
Tayce sniffles for a few moments, her eyes on the ceiling, lost in thought. "Her and her brothers are usually at their respective jobs/hobbies during the day. They go down to the waterfront to play in the afternoons, though. With it being wet, could that be it?" New worry seems to sprout on her face as concern for her two sons starts to compete with concern for her daughter.
"Maybe," Terri says before looking at Tayce, "If it is a disease, I have something that may help."
Terri goes to her belongings and fishes out a scroll and heads to Brienna's room. After checking the girl to see if she's okay, Terri begins to cast the spell on the parchment.
The scroll burns to nothingness as the divine power it releases consumes it.
"Feeling any better, Brienna?"
Terri gathers her things and her precious scroll, walking to the girl's room. Her eyes are already starting to sag again as the priestess unrolls the parchment, going over the words and lines unsurely before starting to chant the words in a sing-song way, almost as a hymn. The scroll crumbles to dust as the small woman reaches forward, placing her hand firmly on Brienna's forehead.
Nothing seems to happen. The girl starts to have another coughing fit, but as she coughs, the sound of congestion lessens with each contraction of her diaphragm. She breathes again, the sound clear of any of the rattling from just moments before. The rash remains, a legacy of the disease, but the spell seems to have turned things around for the young girl, who had surely been doomed. Her eyes open again, bright and alert.
"Yes, ma'am."
Following Terri back upstairs, Tolenn nods as the divine power is released from the scroll.
"That was well done, Terri" Tolenn says grinning down upon the now well girl.
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Brienna smiles shyly at Tolenn, only now seemingly aware of the large audience in her bedchamber. She slinks down into the bed, pulling the covers up to her neck.
Tayce walks up to Terri, wrapping her in a fierce hug. "Thank you so much, Terri! I...I..." The woman is unable to finish her thought, bursting into another round of tears, this time leaning on Terri's far more slender, and lower, shoulder.
The Abadarian priest comes upstairs, his expression grim. His expression turns to puzzlement as he looks at Terri, then Brienna, then his face relaxes into a relieved smile as he walks up to the young girl, placing his hand on her back as he listens near her chest. He nods. "The worst is over. Your doing?" He asks Terri as he backs away from the child to talk to the adults.
"I'm sorry I couldn't be more help. I'm able to treat most minor illnesses with my herbal lore. My knowledge was clearly outclassed by this mystery illness. The first order of business is to figure out what she had and where it came from. I shall go back to the Vault and conduct some research." He bids you all farewell, shaking each of yours, Grau's, Tayce's, and even Brienna's hands before making an exit.
Terri nearly falls over when Tayce buries her head into her shoulder.
"Sorry, I didn't know if would have worked earlier," she says as she hugs the other woman.
"Yes, I had a scroll that another priest had made, one that had the power to cure a disease. I'm just happy it worked."
"Neat!" Cassandra says when she learns about the kid pulling through.
"Now. TO THE WATERFRONT!"
Amira feels relief that the girl's life would be spared, but her focus remains.
Luck. If she didn't have access to someone else's spell we'd still be able to do nothing. This becomes an epidemic it won't be that easy. We need to get to the bottom of this.'
Looking at Cassandra as she blurts out her thoughts, she sighs. Being socially appropriate was ever really her strongpoint.
Withholding a smile at seeing the girl recover Daud just rolls his eyes as Cassandra voices her thoughts, though granted to he was rather curious about it as well.
Sifting through the information in her head, Amira thinks about the areas of the waterfront most likely to be where the children were playing recently.
To Amira's knowledge, there is no preferred stomping ground on the waterfront for the children. This side of the river offers a gradual slope all the way to the eastern bend, leaving it accessible.
"Of course, the waterfront's huge..." Cassandra says to herself.
"To the not sick girl!" And Cassandra will do her best to get into the room with Brienna.
"Not sick girl. We need to know where you played. Please. I'll do a magic trick for you if you show us!"
At Cassanadra's "initiative" Daud switches tactics from simply rolling his eyes to turning around and applying his forehead therapeutically to the wall.
"Why do I even let you talk?" Amira mutters under her breath.
The 'not sick girl' giggles as the goggle-wearing wizard comes rushing back into her room, the girl's mother looking a bit perplexed by the whole thing until Cassandra asks her question. Nodding in understanding, Tayce goes back downstairs to do some motherly stuff.
Meanwhile, the girl thinks for a moment, her cheeks reddening. "Ummm..sure, yeah, I guess I could show you where me and my brothers played at. There's nothing there, though...just mud and water and some grass."
The girl is clearly lying, or at least withholding something.
"Are they always like this," Terri asks, pointing to Wednesday and Cassandra.
Hearing Brienna's story, Terri gives her an impish grin and shakes her head.
"Brienna, we're not mad at you, why don't you try again. This time, please tell us everything. We may have to help your brothers next."
Tolenn smiles and responds to Terri "Him? Yes. Her? Proabably".
She then crouches and smiles at Brienna , "Indeed, you've been a very brave girl. Help us find what happened to you."
The girl looks down, then exchanges her gaze between Tolenn and Terri.
"Yesterday morning, before I went to clean at Miss Adoline's house, me, Charlo, and Rello (those are my brothers) went down to walk at the shoreline. We saw something in the shallow water near the shore, so I went and got it. It was some weird box! I told them to hang back, in case there was a trap on it, or something, but it popped open easy! Inside was a bag. When I opened the bag, silver coins fell out of it!" The girl smiles, reaching under her bed.
"I bought candy for everyone, and for all the kids we know, too. Here's the candy I brought home. I don't think I want it any more." She looks at everyone shyly, holding out the retrieved bag of sweets.
Halting his abuse of the poor wall Daud walks over and to look at the offered candy. Offering her a slight smile he asks her "Where did you buy the candy from?"
So either there was something in that wreck that's causing this, would explain why they didn't return the city's hails. That, or some sick f$@& is poisoning candy to give to children. Gonna fix that reeeeeaaaallll quick.
"From Delmarr's, down the road. He operates the general store here in Trail's End. He's real nice." She smiles uncertainly at Wednesday as he inspects the candy. As far as he can tell, it looks like a standard variety of sweets that might be found in any candy store. Nothing visibly seems wrong with any of it.
Tolenn frowns, "So, its the candy , the coins or the box."
Smoothing her brow as and smiling , dhr afks the child "Where is the box, Brienna? Did you spend all if the coins...first you still have some?"
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The girl looks down sheepishly. "We threw the box to the side, ma'am. I don't know where it is. I spent all the coins, too. I guess I should have gave some to momma, but I got carried away, and it made the other kids happy."