Doctor Habe returns a minute later leading and supporting the man who must be Grayst Sevilla. He has a large frame and likely would have seemed intimidating when he was in better health. In his current state he seems more pathetic. His whole posture is slumped, badly. His face looks gaunt with dark circles below his eyes. He teeters as he walks and can barely lift his head, let alone focus his vision on anyone. "As you can see," the doctor remarks, "the patient is not at all well..."
Grayst appears completely unaware of the doctor's words and stands swaying beside him, quietly muttering.
"tooth and blood, and blood and claw; the Skinsaw man I saw...
thirsty blade, no sense running- the Skinsaw man is coming..."
Far too afraid to talk to the dying man before them, Marcus makes a mental note of the rhyme. Almost without realizing it, the youngest of the marked begins to whisper a prayer, asking Gozreh to give his companions the courage to speak with him, and asking for a blessing of peace for the mans final days.
Zache picks up the rhyme from the shell of a man before him, feeling the hairs on the back of his neck rise. I have heard many in my time, but not this one, he thinks, and his brow furrows as he tries to puzzle it out.
Shaking his head, he takes a half-step forward, just enough to place himself closer to Sevilla than the rest of the party. "Mister Sevilla," he says, keeping his voice keen and gentle, "We'd like to ask you what you saw the night of the murders. I'm terribly sorry for bringing it up, but please - anything you remember might stop such horrors from happening again."
Trying his best to conquer his trepidation, Marcus attempts to reassure the man, "I know what happened must have been horrible, and I'm sure you would put it out of your mind if you could. But in order to keep this from happening again, we need as much information as you can give us."
Tera, seeing the man and the state he's in, reaches out with a hand that only trembles slightly. A soft prayer and a warm light fill the room for a moment as she tries to give some succor to Grayst.
"Mr. Sevilla? Can you hear us? Did that help all," she quietly asks.
The condition of Grayst shocks Kaede almost insensate. "Wha....How???", she whispers, as she retreats away from her place near Tera until her back is against the nearest wall. "This happened in less then a week?!?"
The sick man struggles to look up at those talking to him. When he sees Tera he suddenly jolts upright. His milky eyes bulge and he rattles "He said. He said you would visit me. His Lordship. The one that unmade me said so. He has a place for you. A precious place. I'm so jealous. He has a message for you. He made me remember it. I hope I haven't forgotten. The master wouldn't approve if I forgot. Let me see ... let ... me ... see ..." An unsettling mania seems to take hold of him as he looks wildly back and forth, racking his addled mind for the words he needs. Doctor Habe instinctively takes a worried step back as the patient continues, "He said that if you came to his Misgivings, that if you joined his Pack, he would end his harvest in your honor!"
Grayst's voice rises in both pitch and volume throughout his final sentence; when his words are exhausted he just begins shrieking.
Without warning, the large sickly man tears open the special shirt that held him almost swaddled and lunges forward towards Tera.
Tera raises her hands and stammers through the incantation of her spell. Two missiles appear and slam into the madman as she stumbles back in fear. She knew, knew without a doubt, this man was after her and her alone. She trips as her boot heel drags on the ground and slams into the door. She had to get outside, had to open the range so she could bring her bow to bear. She had to get away from this monster.
Panic causes her fingers to grow numb as she fumbles at the latch. Those close to her can hear her beg, "Please, oh please open! Please!" Her eyes dart from her fumbling hands to Grayst as he roars and comes after her.
Grayst's mania and lunge finally shakes Kaede out of her ennui. Mentally cursing her inaction, she shifts her glaive out of it's harness while she steps forward to protect Tera. With a quick twist of her partner, she attempts to clock the mad man with the flat of the blade, though the strike is rather frantic and poorly timed.
Shocked by the sudden aggression, Marcus looses his net from his side and attempts to tangle Grayst and slow him down.
Grayst's erratic movements are not enough to avoid any of the responses his lounge elicits, save for Sal's awkward attempt to grab him. Wrapped in Marcus' net, he stumbles when Kaede slaps him in the face with the flat of her glaive's blade, and he collapses when Tera's missiles impact his chest.
"What have you done?!?" the doctor gasps, rushing to his side. Kneeling down he checks the fallen patient and sighs, "dead..."
Tera's head snaps to look at Salomae. Wide eyes filled with terror don't see anything for a moment before the young mage begins to rebuild her composure little by little. She whimpers as her heart slows and tears rim her eyes.
"He... He..." The words struggle to get out for a moment before Tera gives up and leans into her friend and does her best not to cry or fall into hysterics. Salomae can feel Tera shaking as the tremors of fear race through the slight woman.
Marcus reacts instinctively, leaping down to the fallen man. Quickly summoning curative magics, he offers what help he can.
A warm golden light shines from Marcus’ hand as he reaches out to touch the fallen man. The warmth intensifies until the dead man’s skin begins to hiss and blister. With a shriek Grayst’s eyes reopen, now colored in the corners with small pools of gathering blood. He rolls towards Marcus and tries to bite the lad’s outstretched hand.
Zache quickly mutters a line of verse, and his hand begins to glow with a soft, silvery light, not unlike the spell Marcus himself had cast not moments ago. He lunges for the creature that was Grayst, but fails to connect with the spell.
Two streaks of light weave through the bodies to slam unerringly into the ghoulish form of the late Grayst Sevilla. Her spell cast, Tera turns back to the door and fumbles at the latch for a moment before throwing it open and letting in the still chilly spring air.
Marcus panics a bit at the sudden unholy revival of Grayst and pulls his hand back. Grabbing for his spear, he tries to maneuver around to provide a flank to any of his allies.
Over her shoulder, Kaede barks to the orderly, "Get the good doctor out of here!" Then, she focuses solely on what was the poor man that they came to see. "Rose, bless my path," she whispers, before shifting over a little to take advantage of Marcus's positioning. The flurry of her glaive that follows in somewhat wild, but is focused on the ending the restless dead.
The tiefling nods at Kaede's command and draws Doctor Habe towards the open door.
Two more magical missiles impact the wretched creature where it lies on the ground, and Sal and Kaede land a series of blows against it. Now convinced that the Shelynite is more dangerous than the boy who scorched him, the dead man rolls onto his other side and looses a flurry of tooth and claw at his assailant.
,
,
Kaede hisses in pain as she is bitten and scratched by the newly risen ghoul. She takes a step back, and whispers faintly, "嵐、踊り" and nods as her glaive's blade glows faintly, before erupting into crackling lightning. As the first arc of lightning flickers, Kaede returns to her lethal dance, driving first the blade, then the haft into the restless dead.
Marcus feels the bite pass through the link he has with Kaede, searing the skin on his arm.
Trying to look brave, the young fisherman thrusts with his spear, hoping to connect.
for
The thing that was Grayst Sevilla shrieks as Kaede, Sal, and Marcus all succeed in their attacks. One of the doors on the western wall swings open and a slightly groggy man steps into view. He looks exactly like the tiefling escorting the doctor except that there are two small horns growing from his forehead and his fingers end in sharp talon-like claws.
Once more Tera sends bolts of magical energy streaking for Grayst as she backs away from the wild, undead monstrosity.
Shaken by Grayst’s violent transformation, Zache hesitates while everyone else attacks.
When Tera’s missiles strike, the undead creature fixes it gaze on her and screeches, ”he did this for you!” Still staring at the frightened Abadaran, the creatures tries desperately to claw its way through Kaede again.
,
,
,
,
A scared but seemingly rather interested Doctor Habe positions himself halfway out the door Tera opened, and his two tiefling employees move between him and the creature.
Tera reaches for her bow as she turns to see Kaede. Her hands tremble as she casts another spell, this time imbuing her bow with a spark of arcane energy.
"H-he's after me! G-get out of his way!" she calls out as she nocks an arrow.
Unsure how best to help Kaede, Marcus draws upon the link between them to heal her a little.
And hopes it's enough.
Keeping a close eye on the trio watching the melee, he stabs again with his spear.
For
"H-he's after me! G-get out of his way!" she calls out as she nocks an arrow.
"No." Kaede responds with an air of finality, as her holy determination slowly knits some of her wounds together. The whirling dance that she's performing continues to strike out at the corpse, as she stands firm. "I'm an defender and guard. This is what I've trained my life for."
The butt of Kaede’s glaive strikes the creature square on the bridge it’s nose with a wet crunch. It immediately falls limp and silent.
From his position behind the two tieflings, the doctor watches the lifeless body with apprehension and curiosity.
Marcus continues to draw the nasty wounds out of Kaede and onto himself.
Backing away from the fallen Grayst, he quietly begins to heal himself.
Tera shoulders her bow and rushes to look over Kaede. She finds that her friend is unharmed and deduces what must have happened. She turns to see Marcus already healing his injuries. As the adrenaline leaves her veins, she leans up against the walls and begins to shake violently.
"Why? Why would anyone do this to me?" she asks in a small, terrified voice.
Zache flexes his fingers and scowls at the lingering curative magic that will likely go to waste. "He must have, if he turned like that."
Kaede exhales a sigh of relief that this restless dead was destroyed before she had to argue more with Tera. With a quick shake of her glaive, the arcs of lightning dim and go out, as Marcus' powers cause her wounds to heal. For a moment, her thought is to clean her blade, but seeing Tera begin to convulse changes her mind quite quickly.
Dropping her partner, the Tian priestess goes to embrace her Abadaran friend, hoping to console her if possible. "We don't know why, but we were told where we can find that answer though. Where is this Misgivings?" She asks, hoping that one of the others will know.
"I-I don't know," Tera admitted, "I don't know of any place that goes by that name."
”Wounds? Yes... of course,” the doctor answers as he makes his way back into the room. His two orderlies continue to linger at the door as he looks nervously at Kaede. ”He had a rather nasty bite, and a multitude of shallow, painful cuts. Those are not my area of expertise, though. The Haven was built for the treatment of diseases, of the body and mind. Mister Sevilla had contracted ghoul fever, a terrible wasting condition which, I had heard, can end with the afflicted rising after their death as one of the undead themselves. Based on what we just witnessed, those reports certainly seem to bo true.”
When the doctor reaches the Shelynite he leans in uncomfortably close to inspect the red marks where the wounds from Grayst’s bites have just been healed. With a sigh he takes half a step back and announces, ”Well, I can’t possibly put you out into the darkness with all that’s happened, especially not after you’ve used so much of your daily stores of magic to deal with mister Sevilla’s sudden turn. Please, you must spend the night here and you can be on your way in the morning.”
Trying to think of what else the doctor might be afraid of, Marcus suggests a less crowded audience.
"There are some very sensitive details about this incident. We would like to speak with you privately." he says, clearly waiting for the assistants to depart.
”Of course he was infected,” the doctor retorts with genuine surprise, ”why else would he have been remanded to my custody?”
When Sal threatens to tell one of the priestesses on him, Habe becomes visibly agitated. ”Listen now,” he protests, ”I’m not the one who killed him. There was no real danger until after you all killed him! As long as he was alive there was still hope that my treatments could save his life. So maybe think about how your friends at the Cathedral would feel about that!”
Taking a moment to compose himself and consider Marcus’ request, he continues, ”They assist me in my work here and can hear whatever you have to discuss. You are correct about your friend though... you are definitely at risk of having contracted the illness. I need you to stay the night to watch you for symptoms.”