Tolenn's eyebrows rise in alarm as the war of words between Daud and Croft reaches the burning point.
She is just about to intervene when Daud, predictably, collapses in self-pity and loathing.
Looking aside at Terri, she says "That depends on him, Terri. Some events in his past have broken part of him, parts it would seem he does not wish to fix. This is the result...We can only be there for him, and forgive him his occasional rudeness and outbursts."
She then walks over to Daud, and crouches before him. Pulling the gauntlet from her right hand, she reaches out to hold the side of Daud's head.
"Wednesday...Wednesday!" she says sharply, trying to break through to him.
"Unless ha can't keep a lid on it and gets us all killed." Amira mutters looking at Daud as one would a hound suspected of rabies. "How are we supposed to get anything done with him like this? The city is in peril and the lives of everyone in it are a bit more important than one man's demons."
"Yes, Survivor?" he says coolly after a dead silence. Lifting his head up he looks to Tolenn before his eyes go to Amira. "You could put me down. I'd appreciate it."
"Until you endanger the lives of the people in this city and it's overall existence, that is not an option." Amira says equally as coolly.
"You just said I was."
"There's a line. I'll let you know when you cross it."
"Please do."
"Deal."
"Thanks." he says, his voice forlorn but genuinely grateful.
Croft looks on the scene with a mixture of disgust and pity. She spares Wednesday's self-pity only a few moments before she weaves through the group to the door. Once at the door, she turns to look at the three ladies.
"If you choose to help Miss Deyanira, you have my thanks. If not, await word from me on our course of action." She then heads down the hall, presumably to her office.
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."[/QUOTE ]
"We will. Be safe," Terri says before helping Wednesday to his feet.
Shaking his head Daud doesn't say anything, nor does he really try to fight or help himself up while the priestess does so.
Tolenn stands and watches Terri help Daud to stand.
She looks him in the eye, as if to ask 'Are you fit to go.'
Daud's weak nod is all she needs, calling out to Croft as she leaves "We'll look in your friend, Marshall."
After Croft leaves, Tolenn says "I'd like to put these items in the vault in my Temple, if that's alright with the rest of you."
-Posted with Wayfinder
"I'll be fine, I always am." he says weakly to the paladin.
The group makes their way to the temple of Sarenrae, passing a couple of plague doctors with their Gray Maiden and Korvosan Guard escorts. These people are assailed in the streets by the citizens of Korvosa, begging for help and heaping praise upon the doctors. The companions know better. Behind those masks lurk murderers most foul, likely taking joy in the disease and suffering currently running its course through the City.
Near the temple of Sarenrae, another small wagon with ten corpses crosses paths with the group, the Korvosan Guard driver nodding in respect to you. A pair of guards flank either side of the wagon, all of their eyes sweeping the streets but are careful to avert from the sight of the dead in the wagon.
Finally, you make it to the temple, being admitted in readily by the acolyte near the door.
Terri is surprised to find her jaw hurting after seeing the second plague doctor. She hadn't realized she'd been gritting her teeth when she'd passed. She couldn't do much, but she could help a little. She keeps her eyes out for people suffering from the plague, and spots a mother with two young children showing signs of the Blood Veil.
"This will be our little secret, okay?" Terri says while smiling at the children. She turns to the mother hands and her the coin purse at her belt.
"I'm afraid that won't protect them from catching that horrid illness again, take this and go to one of the temples, and keep away form large crowds if you can. That should be enough to pay for the donation any of them so they can bestow the blessing I have given them. Wait there for a day and see if they are improving. I'll be by to check on you, just send word to the Shelynite temple. use whatever's left to pay for passage out of here, okay?"
After that, she hurries to catch up with the others.
"Acolyte. " Tolenn says with a nod as they are granted entrance, "Is the exchequer available? I wish to place some items in the Vault for safekeeping."
-Posted with Wayfinder
The mother nods, tears forming in her eyes as Terri hands her the purse full of coin. "Oh bless you, ma'am. We will sing the Eternal Rose's thanks for your gifts!" The children smile up at Terri, beaming up at her though they must truly feel terrible, considering the splotches all over their face and inside their elbows.
At the Sarenrite temple, the acolyte looks at Tolenn warily, "He is, Sister. However, if it is about potions to remove disease or make one more resistant, we have none left." The acolyte seems angry and saddened by his own impotence in the matter, and waves the group in if they state that is not their goal.
Walking with the others Daud pays no mind to the plague victims, dead or suffering, or to the plague bringers, mindlessly following along with slumped head and shoulders.
"She said she wanted to put something in, not take something out you twit." Daud mumbles to himself at the Acolyte's statement.
Frowning, the acolyte turns to Tolenn. "I'd like to respectfully ask that you leave your...troubled...friend outside, please, my Lady. We have no use for trouble-makers in our Lady's House."
"I have not once caused any trouble in this temple," is what Daud wanted to say, but that wasn't technically true. He instead settled for raising his head and letting the dead stare in his eyes fall on the acolyte.
Tolenn meets the Acolyte's gaze with a measured stare, and says in a conversational tone, "Fear not, Acolyte....Jorasin, isn't it? I would never think to bring a troublemaker into our fine Temple. Of that you have my word." The last statement was laced with an element of steel in her voice.
"Now then, please have the exchequer meet me at the Vault, I must first pay my respects to Priestess Solara." She says, before leading the others further into the cool corridors of the Temple of Saranae.
-Posted with Wayfinder
"As you say, Sister." The acolyte wanders off in search of the Church's moneyman as the group enters the structure. Tolenn and the others find the priestess Solara in a small knot of people, reinforcing that they needed to keep faith in these trying times.
The woman notices the paladin out of the corner of her eye and disengages, waving a lesser priest over to take her place mollifying the fearful as she approaches. "Welcome back, Tolenn."
"It is always a boon to return, Solara." Tolenn replies, gripping her friend's arms , drawing her away from listening ears.
"My friends, " she says indicating Daud, Amira, Terri and Cassandra, "and I have been working with Marshall Croft, looking into this terrible disease. We've found some...evidence. That is why I've come, to put these items we've found within the safety of our Vault. "
"I know it's highly irregular...your voice may sway the Exchequer to allow it." Tolenn states, hoping her friend would be able to help.
"It is an honor and a pleasure to meet you," Terri says as she gives a polite bow to the Sarenrite.
Though Tolenn had tried to get him to meet her Daud didn't think he had ever had a conversation with the priestess. Coming out of his melancholy for a moment he bows his head to the woman before it returns to its downcast hanging.
Amira gives the priestess a bow of respect, her eyes studying the woman intently for her reaction to Tolen's words.
Solara's brows furrow at Tolenn's words, and she motions for the group to follow her, smiling at Terri in the process. "It is a pleasure to meet you as well, young woman. And your silent friends." The woman's smile is amused, but sincere, as she leads you to the back of the temple, opening a door and stepping inside.
The woman's reaction is one of concern and a desire to help...certainly what you would hope for.
"I trust you always, Tolenn, but what is this evidence you speak of? Shouldn't you be taking such things to Doctor Davaulus and his Physicians?" The woman's manner is mild...she is more concerned about why Tolenn would not take it to them than she is about the paladin's request to use the vault.
Tolenn regards her friend, not wanting to involve her with the politics of what they've found.
Sighing deeply, she first looks to her companions, then back to Solara, "I don't want to reveal too much, Solara, but the evidence shows that the good Doctor and his Physicians are not what they seem. The Marshall has asked us to refrain from revealing what we know until there is more proof. I must ask you to do the same. "
"But in the meantime, the people of Korvosa need help. We travel to Marbledome to assist a friend of the Marshall, and would have our 'evidence' kept safe."
Solara's gaze rests on Tolenn for an awkwardly long time, the woman clearly thinking and weighing options. She finally sighs and clasps Tolenn's right hand between both of her own. "If that is how it must be, then so be it. I know you will get things straightened out." The woman smiles, then quickly leads them down to the vault, where a sour-looking young man wearing the vestments of Sarenrae awaits.
Solara takes on an officious tone, "Gawen, these folks have something they need to leave in here, a lock box, perhaps."
The woman smiles, but her tone expects no insolence, and none is given as the man steps to the rear of the room, unlocking a chest and removing the contents. He waves the group over, indicating they should put their evidence inside.
Tolenn places the plague box, mask and letter into the chest . She then stands and closes it, frowing at the need for such action.
Straightening, she allows Gawen to lock the chest, then holds her hand out, "The key please..."
The man's face screws up, but after a stern glance from Solara, he drops the key into Tolenn's hand. The priestess's mood instantly lightens, a smile returning to her face. "There now, that's settled! And here I was, holding my breath." The woman chuckles, winking at Tolenn as the exchequer makes his exit.
Once she confirms he has left, she sighs, putting her arm around the paladin's shoulder. "Be careful, whatever you are doing. And may the Dawnflower's Light guide your path." With that, she leans forward, kissing the paladin's forward before withdrawing, leaving the companions alone in the vault.
"So...what now?" Amira asks her companions.
Tolenn watches her mentor leave, adding the key to the necklace circling her neck.
She turns at Amira's question, "Marbledome, we might as well help someone while we wait for Croft's decision."
Exhaling deeply through his nostrils Daud stands upright, somewhat. Unfocused dead read eyes drift about as he waits for the others to agree or leave, though at this point he just looks drained rather then ready to jump on a blade.
Terri follows the others to the Marbledome. As they walk, she pulls Wednesday back a little from the group.
"I understand if you... If you don't want to talk about it," she says softly, "But why do want to die so badly?"
Not realizing he had slowed down in his pace it takes Daud a moment to realize the priestess had pulled him away from the rest of the group.
"Because after awhile you give up. You can only take so much, see everything around break and ruin before you're dead inside. When everything you do doesn't help or just makes things worse you just stop caring. I'm not a man but a corpse... and I'd very much like to rest, to close my eyes and not wake up... but I guess a part of me is scared seeing as how I haven't offed myself yet." he says lowly but plainly to Terri as they walk.
"Wednesday, is this about Trinia? Or is there something else? I want to help you, but I need to know what's going on and why you feel like you'd be better off dead," Terri says, "please, Wednesday, I want to help."
Turning his head he stares at Trinia, or more aptly, through her before his gaze returns to looking ahead. "The incident with Trinia was just one more clusterf$!~ after a long stream of clusterf!!+s in my life. Bad things happen to those around me. Very bad things. I'm only here with you all is because I know you can keep up with what's thrown at you, but even that won't last."
Stopping he lifts his head up, gazing up at the nothing above him. "And might I ask, why? If I'm alive or dead what differance would it make to you?"
The group weaves through the streets, passing yet another wagon with a half-dozen bodies on the way, the driver grim and dispassionate, the guards looking at a lack for morale.
After a few minutes of walking through the desolate city, the companions find themselves outside the modest apartment Croft indicated was the home of Deyanira Mirukova. The place looks well-kept on the outside, by all indications, and although perfectly ordinary, it does have a fantastic view of the Marbledome, just a few blocks away.
"Wednesday, we all make mistakes. We all do things that we regret, but it's okay, that's only part of living. We have to get past our mistakes and learn from them. We have to find the good things in life, Terri says, "You're my friend, Wednesday. I would be sad to see you dead. I would be sad that I wasn't able to get to know you better, or do anything for you."
Terri looks down at the cobbles where the two of them had come to a halt.
"And so what if bad things happen to us? Bad things happen all the time, and dwelling on them only makes it harder to move past them. I never knew my parents, but that never stopped me from trying to be a person they'd be proud to call their daughter. Life's too short to spend it moping and wondering when the next bad thing is going to knock us down, so cheer up. We're helping somebody that needs it, and that can make up for a lot of things."
---
Terri and Wednesday finally catch up as they reach the apartment. After taking a moment to catch her breath, she knocks on the door.
"Ms. Mirukova, are you home?"
Walking along in silence maybe what the petite priestess had gotten through to him, and then says "Some mistakes you don't recover from, you don't get to. They won't let you... when did you become my friend? What I have done to be considered yours?"
"All the more reason to get past the ones we can," Terri says, "as for being your friend, you helped get Trinia to a safe place. That, right there, is more than enough to make you my friend, and I thank you for doing that."
"Does it make up for me sending her to the executioner in the first place?" he asks back.
Terri swallows as she realizes how deep the waters she just entered are.
"Wednesday, I-- I don't know how to answer that. I have a feeling that I'll need to know more of the story before I can, but I can tell you that you dying won't make up for it. If you feel guilty, then help those in need. Do some good, and atone for what you feel you have done. That will go a long way towards making things better."
Daud motions out to Tolenn and Amira with a sweep of his hands before back to the area around him. "That's what I've been doing. That's why I'm still here. It's not working."
Tolenn cannot help but overhear Terri and Daud's conversation as they travelled through the city.
"Ah, Terri, you are a good soul. But watch out for the darkness in that one, it run's deep. " she thought as she glanced over at the two in earnest conversation.
When they arrive at the address, she catches Daud's eye and smiles encouragingly at him, hopefully giving him enough to open up to another like he did with her.