PANDEMONIUM erupts! Some of the people standing in queue shriek and panic when seeing the hostile shadow. Cries of "It's the Pestilence, himself, come to kill us all!", "It's a ghost!, and "Necromancer! rise up in the air. Quite a few people break out in a run, others cower in place.
The guard at the door cries out, "Alright! Alright! Call him off! I'll take you inside to talk with the boss." And he leads the way inside - holding the door for Victor.
Vendra Loaggri, inside the shop, isn't very pleased to see Victor. She berates, "Who in the Hell do you think you are, scaring away my customers like that? What did you do?"
As the rabble starts to panic Wednesday is unable to contain himself as he turns to the nearest civilian and says "Boo."
Don't hate me over this Victor risked a very brief glance towards his fellows before he went on inside.
"I represent the interests of some very important people, who if the circumstances work in yer favor could make ya rich" The sorcerer pulled on the hems of his leather vest "Very rich" He let out a subtle snort.
"Ya see they want to buy some of this cure ya have been selling, but...don't look at me that way ya know there is always a 'but' when dealing with people of status, they'd like to know where ya got this cure from, and more importantly if it is a true cure" Grey eyes lazily looked about the shop, as a casual smile appeared on the face they were a part of "Don't worry they have no interest in competing with ya" Victor put his hand to his head and then nodded as if he just remembered something.
"And please save us all the time of thinking ya have some kind of bargaining power here, in short if we don't get the cure some of my employers might die...but their relatives, their much more merciless and soon to be angry relatives will be very much alive and desiring to lash out at something"
"Oh, for the love of Asmodeus," she sounds exasperated. "Whoever you're working for is an idiot if they think you can barge in here and make demands of me. Let me guess. It's Pilts Swastel, isn't it? Only he'd be dumb enough to cross the Arkonas like this. I don't care if he thinks he is the "Emperor" of Old Korvosa now, if he wants to do business with me after this insult, the price just went up! 200 gold coins a dose or get out!"
Tolenn smiles at Victor's clever use of his shadowy tricks, but watches the crowd in alarm as the people panic. Her eyes dart here and there, watching for any indication that anyone is in danger of getting seriously hurt....
Giving Cassandra a nod, Amira sticks to the shadows of the hallway moving silently towards the stairs.
Arkonas eh? They are slowly becoming my favorite nobles Victor let his sarcasm stew inside instead of airing it out and turned towards the shopkeeper, his small smile unaltered by her words.
"My employers don't pay me to announce their names in the streets" His vision went from the angry woman to the different items she had in her shop "What they do pay me to do is solve any problems they have, and ya aren't one of them yet, in fact didn't ya here me when I said they could make ya rich?"
"Before we discuss how much every dose will cost I need to know where ya got it from and if it really works"
Cassandra follows behind her partner, doing her best to be stealthy. It isn't easy. She's built and trained for acrobatics, not sneaking.
So, when Cassandra's footfalls sound on the floor like angry elephants invading, it probably isn't surprising.
Remember, you're only as stealthy as the quietest member of your party.
There are several people who appear to have been knocked about in the panic outside the store - some twisted ankles, a bit of bruising and scrapes. Nothing appears to be imminently life threatening, though.
On the second floor, Amira moves like a cat to the top of the stairs (I would consider it indoors rather than outdoors since it is moderately well-sheltered). Cassandra - not so much. Wednesday and Tolenn, both near the bottom of the stairs, notice her moving about.
Victor's words don't seem to be calming Vendra very much. "So it's a shakedown, is it? I'm not a problem yet, and if I throw in with them I won't become one but if I don't, I will. I've been on the receiving end of that line before - and it hasn't worked out for the other guy too well. Lord Glorio looks after his friends," she states defiantly.
"Now are you going to get out or do my boys have to show you out?"
The other open crime boss is Guildmaster Boule of the Cerulean Society. A more traditional thieves guild - and, perhaps ironically, the only legal guild of any sort in Korvosa.
Lord Glorio is probably the most popular noble among the lower classes of the city because of his philanthropy. Aside from operating kitchens for hungry people and giving out coins to the poor as he walks the streets of the city, he has even had his own businesses (including taverns and brothels) torn down to provide cheap housing. His right hand, his cousin Melyia, represents the family in functions of the fancy people. Rumor has it, even the queen is jealous of her beauty, but rumor also has it that her relationship with Glorio is a bit more than "cousinly".
As she hears Cass footsteps behind her, Amira closes her eyes for a second, bringing her fingertips to the bridge of her nose. She could never for the life of her understand how the same person could have such a gentle touch and pounding footfall at the same time. No matter how much they practiced. The juxtaposition of images, Cassandra leaping effortlessly across rooftops with a grace tat was practically inhuman, alongside a rueful Cass shrugging as she knocked over a nightstand covered in crystal glassware brings a smile to her lips. "Can't take you anywhere." she whispers, the twinkle in her eyes as she looks over her shoulder making her teasing clear.
Hearing the name that leaves Vendra's lips brings a frown to her face. Glorio. She'd not so much turned a blind eye yo him as measured the balance of his dirty deeds with what good he did for the people no one else seemed to care about. There was a place for men like that in a city, those who straddled the line between menace and boon. And up until now his balance had kept him off her list. That might be about to change.
"I can see that ya are allergic to money and ambition, that is fine" Victor swung his hand upwards without warning and a shadowy creature with no facial features rose from his silhouette. It's body appeared to be mostly amorphous, nothing save for its clawed hands and lanky arms appeared to hold a solid structure.
Moments of silence passed before the creature "stood" up straight, its height brought it's head closer to the ceiling than any of the people within the shop. A line moved across the lower part of it's facade and ended at it's other side, the line grew in width revealing a horrendous set of bluish teeth within and a sound of soft breathing that was anything but natural.
"Ya see I can't really be held responsible if yer short sighted, so this is how we are going to play this game from now on. Ya will put a dose of the cure on the table, ya will tell me where ya are getting from. I'll pay whatever the sods that were lined up at yer store were paying for it and I'll leave with it in hand and leave ya to yer business...or I can let smiley here bite off yer head and the head of anyone else who works here and look for the cure myself" The teeth of the tall shadowy creature parted revealing no tongue withing, nothing but a black void that seemed endless and frightening.
The two girls behind the counter scream and duck behind cover. The guards in the shop all draw saps from their pockets. But Vendra's eyes widen at first, then narrow. Her face darkens in anger. She reaches for a dose vial and throws it at Victor. It's small and solid enough that it doesn't break even if it bounces off him to the floor, nor does it hurt.
"I make it!" Vendra says through gritted teeth. "Now, GET OUT!" she shouts.
Meanwhile, with the initial panic outside subsided, the part of the queue of sick customers that was farther back and didn't bolt and run, moves up to fill in the front of the line. The drama unfolding in the shop draws a lot of stares through the window.
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Cassandra leans against the wall, recovering her balance. She opens her mouth to say something when the perfumer's voice drifts up from downstairs.
"Did she say Glorio? I haven't seen him in forever. Not since that ball where I almost caught him slipping the tongue to Melyia."
Cassandra taps her forehead, fingers drumming.
"I've got an idea. Follow my lead."
Cassandra pushes her way downstairs and into the shop.
"Did someone mention cousin Glorio?" Cassandra says, keeping to the truth because she's a piss poor liar.
And it is the truth. The Wagners and the Arkona family are somewhat related. Many noble families in the city are.
Striding down the staris behind Cassandra, Amira practically emanates waves of authority and menace. A silent retainer of a noble family, her deadly calm and icy glare practically daring anyone to so much as interrupt her Lady.
Watching Victor's shadow play withing, Tolenn can't help but smile at the man's theatrics.
She edges closer to the doorway, hoping to be able to enter quickly if needed.
Her eyebrows rise up with Cassandra's dramatic entrance.
"We consort with interesting individuals, Wednesday." she mutters to her dour friend.
"That's quite the understatement, Miss Tolenn." he mutters back as he moves up alongside her.
After placing the dose in his pack, a grim and somberly designed gauntlet of darkness materialized around Victor's right hand. When the veiled fingers snapped together a lightless black pillar engulfed the mage.
After but a few seconds the pillar dissipated into thin air, with no sign of the threatening sorcerer to be seen. The fearful expressions of the people's faces within the shop were all the evidence that he had been here at all.
"He's disappeared!" one of the guards calls out. Vendra sighs in relief from that event, muttering "Wizards. Pfaugh," as she turns to face Cassandra. "I'm sorry about that, just some scum trying to shake me down. Now who did you say you were? Related to the Arkonas?" She doesn't even wait for a response before she's also chiding her shop girls to pull themselves together.
Meanwhile, Victor makes it out of the shop with ease.
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"Cassandra Wagner." Cassandra offers her hand to the shopkeeper, trusting that her noble family's reputation will proceed her. Sure, the Wagners are on the outs with the current rulership but, hey, who isn't?
"You know how noble families are. If you aren't sleeping with your cousin you're doing something wrong."
Vendra recomposes herself quickly as she takes Cassandra's proffered hand. "Vendra Loaggri. Welcome to Lavender. You don't look the type in need of my Luxuriant Liniment. Are you here for the fragrances? I'm sure we can find you one that complements your... um," she sizes Cassandra up, "personal style"
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"I'm not. But my one of my friends is a priestess who has been trying to treat victims of the disease. Could I bring her in to talk to you about this?"
Cassandra ignores the quip about her style. After all, her style is awesome.
Amira's eyes shift, piercing into Vendra as if trying to determine if there was even the vaguest hint of insult in her tone.
"The town churches already have their own cures - one more expensive than mine judging from what I hear about the First Bank of Abadar. They can talk about cures for the blood veil as much as they want among themselves. Me, I'm selling to the people cheaply and I don't care if I am horning in on their holy turf." Vendra says with an air of defiance.
"Now, as you can see, I've got a lot of customers lining up. So if you have something you're interested in, I'm happy to sell it to you - even work a deal. I've got some wonderful leather-based scents that I think would work well with your action-oriented attire."
"Oh." Cassandra scrunches up her nose. "Well, you're selling it to the people and I'm a people so can I buy a vial, please?"
Victor moved to where he could see Tolenn and Wednesday. Once more he moved carefully and slowly, almost as if he wasn't invisible to most naked eyes.
"I have the cure she's selling. Don't know if it is real or not, she said she made it herself, also she said the Arkonas and a Lord Glorio are supporting her" He whispered to his two armored fellows "Do ya want me to head on to Kroft and give her the cure?"
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Vendra nods at Cassandra's request, "Of course you can purchase a dose of my liniment. It pays to be prepared even if you don't have the dreadful blood veil." She motions to one of the girls at the counter who picks up a vial of the liniment and holds it ready for Cassandra.
Meanwhile, amid the reformed queue, rumors are already flying about Victor's escapade in the shop.
"It was a necromancer - probably from the Acadamae. If they need the cure, what hope do the rest of us have?"
"It was a Sczarni shakedown if ever I saw one. They must be trying to muscle in."
"That was a priest of Zon-Kuthon comin' to stop Vendra sellin' a cure to his plague, I tells ya. But Vendra, she showed him, run him clear off."
"Oh, I just know a curse has been put on this place."
"Then why are you still waiting in line?"
"I've got 3 little ones sick at home."
Wednesday shrugs at Victor's inquiry, not even bothering to futilely search for the unseen sorcerer. Any more in-depth response is robbed however when he overhears the rumors spreading among the rabble.
"It's from The Pallid Princess, not The Midnight Lord you plebe!" he loudly corrects whoever made the original assumption.
Without a word, Amira reaches into a coin pouch in her belt and places the required gold on the table.
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Cassandra will take the vial.
"Have a day!" the wizard will say happily. Then she'll lead Amira right out the front door. Slick as spit.
Some people cower under Wednesday's verbal assault. And many more eyes watch him warily, suspiciously, and people in the queue quiet down... but the whispering continues.
A pair of gold coins (and a bit of threat and bluster) and you now have two of doses of Lavender's Luxuriant Liniment. The vials they are in are relatively sturdy perfume bottles - small but durable. The fluid within has a slight yellowish tinge and an oily sheen. Little else can be discerned from just looking at it.
"So what now?" he asks Tolenn and Victor, whom he was sure was till lurking about.
Tolenn looks from the re-gathered crowd to the bustling commerce transpiring within the shoppe, "We have the samples and know she makes it herself, as well as the invovement of the Arkonas. Let's return to Kroft with this information and see if this cure is legitimate."
Striding out into the street, watching the crowd untrustingly, Amira whispes to Cassandra. "Back to Kroft, and meet the others there?"
Cassandra nods and winks at Amira.
"See you at Croft's!" the wizard says before she parkour leaps her way up to the rooftops and begins the run there.
With a grin and a shake of her head, Amira vaults her own way up, taking off above the daily bustle of the city after her partner, reveling in the freedom that only Cass could understand.
The people in front of Lavender don't even try to hide their relief when Wednesday starts moving away from the area in front of the store.
The walk (or roofrun) back to Citadel Volshyenek goes reasonably swiftly in the quiet streets of Korvosa. As you get closer, you can see a cloud of black smoke rising from the Gray District at the south end of the city. Unable to keep up with burials, the Cathedral of Pharasma today starts a program of mass pyres to cremate plague victims.
At the Citadel, you find Field Marshall Kroft on the wall with a set of maps and officers. Marcus Endrin, Commandant of the Sable Company, is with her. They're looking out over the Jaggare River, coordinating forces. At your approach, Kroft welcomes you.
"Welcome back, I trust things went well at Lavender?" She then notices a curious look from Endrin. "Ah, yes. These are the people I was telling you about, Marcus." She then makes introductions about since, to her knowledge, many of you have not met Commandant Endrin before...
The smell of burning bodies only served to fuel Victor's foul mood, and to think he was having such a great day before this recovering the cure business came about.
Another unknown factor thar could turn out to be annoying was the person standing next Kroft. The sorcerer knew better than to immediately judge people but it was hard when these people were friends withe guard commander.
"We got your order" He replied simply doing his very best to keep any venom or sarcastic jabs to himself.
"Two actually." Amira chimes in.
The Sable Company is also suffering substantially under Ileosa's rule. They're run ragged flying out to meet incoming ships regarding the plague and their own recruitment and budgets are suffering with the rise of the Gray Maidens - though not as badly as the Korvosa Guard thanks to their generally higher prestige.
Commandant Endrin extends his greetings throughout the group cordially, but otherwise doesn't interfere with your conversation with Field Marshall Kroft.
Kroft accepts any samples offered. "Samples, excellent. I will see to it that they are examined by one of our alchemists today. Vendra Loaggri had better hope these check out. I don't think the magistrates will look kindly on her if her remedy is harmful or even useless."
With a flick of the wrist and a simple point in the Field Marshal's direction, Victor's shadow lurched towards hers and began whispering in her shadows ear as Victor began speaking under his breath...what is even stranger is she could hear the voice in her ears.
"I don't know who this Marcus is, so I am giving ya the details this way...Vendra mentioned that she was being supported by the Arkonas and Lord Glorio, the same Arkonas that originally owned the Hospice, makes ya think doesn't it?"
Tolenn inclines her head to Commandant Endrin at his introduction, then responds to Kroft, "Is there anything else you need us for, Marshall?"
"Victor, Marcus is a friend and completely trustworthy. You can speak freely in front of him." She dismisses her other officers.
"The Arkonas have their hands in lots of petty criminal affairs, including "protection" rackets. It wouldn't surprise me if Lavender is one of the businesses under Arkona protection. It would probably generate a lot of money for his coffers and get him influence in one of the nicer neighborhoods. Spreading a plague doesn't seem like it would be in Glorio's interests, though. The people most affected are the poor souls he pays and, ultimately, preys upon."
"It's hard enough understanding a motive for spreading a plague in the first place, even harder to reconcile why a crime boss would do so."
In response to Tolenn's query, Kroft offers a suggestion. "If you're looking for something to do that would help us out, there was a bit of trouble at the Bookmaker recently and we've been too busy to follow up on it. The proprietor, Costa Serimus, thinks his shop is haunted. A priestess of Pharasma checked it out and found no presence of ghosts or undead creatures, but my men did find a hidden entrance to the vaults under the city. It might bear checking out."
"Victor, Marcus is a friend and completely trustworthy. You can speak freely in front of him." She dismisses her other officers.
Wednesday immediately lost any small amount of respect or concern he had for the man.
"Or maybe he's just making a profit off the people's panic and paranoia during a pandemic." the man all but growls out in exasperation as the Commander tries to blame the plague on some underworld boss.
"My cousin's a weird little man." Cassandra says with a shrug. "But we should go talk to him about this. Its possible he knows something we don't."