Tera looks at Kaede with growing worry as Habe lays the blame at their feet. Then there was Sal's revelation that the Misgivings was the name for Aldern's manor near Sandpoint. Half-forgotten feelings from the events over the past fall come welling back up and mixed with her fear. She had thought about writing him a few times, but could never work up the courage, and now she felt a fool for not having done so. Maybe then she would have realized sooner that he had not written her either.
"Kaede, I'm sorry," Tera whimpers as she buries her head into the Shelynite's shoulder.
"What happened to Grayst was tragic, but the blame for his death lies squarely at the feet of whatever did this. There has to be more here. A small detail, a smell, or a look, anything he said when he got here. Please think, Dr. Habe. No one wants to see anyone else suffer his fate." Marcus pleads.
Looking carefully over Kaede's arm, Marcus tries to check for any sign of infection, though he is not sure something like this would present as a normal infection.
The doctor sighs and shakes his head. "Mister Sevilla was already in the grip of the fever when he arrived here..." he recounts, "I tried the standard treatments but he was so far gone that there was very little chance of recovery. The disease had left him so frail that even a blow with the flat of your blade might have killed him if those magic missiles hadn't..."
Walking slowly towards the door, he nods to his orderlies who visibly relax and then he stares wistfully out at the pink dusk sky. "I'm trying to spare people too, you know..." he continues a moment later, "there probably is someone at your Cathedral who can cast a spell and take away the disease, but how many people will they be able to help? There's plenty of research available about the mid and late stages of the condition but almost none about the first few hours and the initial onset..."
He turns to Kaede and concludes, "if you would just spend the night and let me monitor any changes around the site and to your general wellbeing, I could include the early symptoms in my next published work and it could help the next generation of doctors and healers to save countless lives. And, I'm sure that I, or someone from your church can have you put right in no time after that."
"You have nothing to be sorry for, Tera. I did what I felt was right," Kaede quietly says to Tera as she slowly releases her. Picking up her glaive, she looks at Doctor Habe appraisingly for a seconds before speaking.
"I'm sorry, but I'd rather just get rid of any disease quickly if I did contract something. Besides, the fiend that's behind all of this is still out there, and he's a serial murderer that we have to stop as quickly as we can. Zache, don't the Desnan clergy prepare at dusk? If we hurry, we can ask for the good Father and Sister Callinova to take care of this."
"We better hurry," Tera says, not so subtlely pulling Kaede towards the door.
”Very well,” Doctor Habe replies to Kaede’s decision with a frown.
As the marked begin heading for the door, he sighs and instructs Grotus and Gurnak (his orderlies) to clean up the mess from the fight. Then he follows the investigators out onto the wooden veranda and somewhat hesitantly says, ”Obviously I know that you need to report what happened here to Sheriff Hemlock... but... if you could please exercise some discretion... not everyone in Sandpoint is supportive of my work and I would prefer quiet indifference to active opposition.”
"I understand, Kaede says in agreement. "The only people that we would inform of what happened is the sheriff and our superiors, both people we have to tell anyway. We don't want a panic in Sandpoint either."
Tera nods her agreement. She isn't sure she can trust her voice at the moment.
On the way back to Sandpoint, once they are away from Habe's, she finally speaks up.
"I think Aldern might be in trouble," she says in a voice just above a whisper, "I didn't realize it with everything else happening afterward, but I haven't heard from him since the boar hunt."
She does not mention that her very public and humiliating caning was about the same time.
Despite the worried conversation, the walk back to Sandpoint is uneventful. The growing darkness does necessitate a somewhat slower pace towards the end of the journey and by the time the marked are back in town lanterns and torches have already been lit. This proves to be a double edged sword as it's too late to join dinner at the Cathedral or Barracks but there are also much fewer people out to pester the investigators as they make their way through the city.
"plenty of time to report to the sheriff in the morning, we shoud go have Kaede checked as soon as possible." Marcus offers, hobbling a little more visibly after the long walk.
"Yes, we should," Tera agrees before adding, "We should also not mention what happened too loudly. Gossip spreads faster than a wildfire in Sandpoint."
"Agreed, unless a couple of you wish to see the sheriff while I see Father Zantus," Kaede agrees as well. And with that she quickly and efficiently heads toward the temple.
The marked arrive back at the Cathedral and seek out Sister Amet'Ra, the chief healer. Her room, however, is empty and there is no sign of her in the halls, the courtyard, or the sanctuary. When the investigators arrive at the kitchen--still looking for the priestess, but also curious about what leftovers there might be from dinner--they find Mother Hera alone putting away the last of the dishes.
"Well, you look like you've had a long day," she greets them with a warm smile. "Pull up some chairs and let's get you all fed."
Within a few minutes the matronly priestess has rewarmed some rich lamb and lentil stewed, baked a pan of fresh skillet biscuits, and explained that Sister Amet'Ra is not at the Cathedral because she is accompanying Kaelaah on a journey. "As I'm sure you all know..." she offers. "Well, as most of you probably know," she corrects herself, smiling at Marcus, "Kaelaah has always had questions about his lineage. He hung back this morning when you all left so that he could talk to the Sister about it. And then they both spoke with Father Zantus... and to Garridan Viskalai... and then to the High Priest again... well, it seems they've decided that the only way for him to get any real answers is to spend some time with some Shoanti who still hold to their traditions. So, he's left to do that. He wanted to quietly slip away on his own, I think he was afraid of disappointing you all, but Sister Amet'Ra insisted on escorting him, just in case he should run into trouble on the road. From what Abstalar said, he looked like he was gonna miss all of you every bit as much as you may miss him."
When she hears that the marked were looking for the healer because of concern that Kaede may have been infected with ghoul fever she begins to fuss over the young Shelynite. "She's not likely to be back for a few days, but I've treated an illness or two in my day," she assures everyone. Looking over the spot of the wounds she nods and mutters, "yes, could be... could be... okay," before rising and beginning to gather an assortment of herbs from around the kitchen. She quickly combines them into a tincture and hands it to Kaede to drink.
"That seems to have done the trick," she says after watching the faint redness of the wound disappear.
"I think that Doctor Habe was more interested in studying the disease then healing the sick," Kaede retorts as she studies her arm where the corpse bit her. "He was hiding something, though I don't know what. If we didn't find from the late Mr. Savilla where to search next, I'd want to watch that sanitarium." She shakes her head.
After stretching it a couple times, she smiles at Sister Hera. "Thank you, Sister Hera," she directs to the senior clergy, "for the food and the tending. I'm glad that that plague is dealt with. We'll have to prepare for dealing with this sickness more, though. Are there any good preventative things we can do before we go into the beast's lair?"
"I'm afraid not..." Sister Hera answers with a frown, "If you need to fight another one of those things make sure you're well rested and well fed, a healthy body will be better at resisting those sorts of things... other than that, come see me when you all get back safely and I'll mix up some more tinctures if I need to."
Producing six large cookies from the pouch in the front of her apron, she begins passing out dessert and adds, "They're cinnamon-raisin... I'd hate for anyone to get their hopes up thinking they were chocolate chunk. Now, is there anything else I can do for you tonight?"
Marcus wolfs down the food, once again showing his youth. When finished, he asks about the next step.
"Should we try to find Sheriff Hemlock at this hour?"
Rubbing his overused bad leg he mumbles "I could use a little rest."
"Would it help if you had someone to lean on," Tera asks Marcus as she nibbles at her cookie.
Amused by Sister Hera's ever-readiness, Kaede nibbles on the cookie absently, as she thinks. "We should talk with the sheriff swiftly. He'll know about what's been happening around there hopefully." With a couple more nibbles, she adds, "We are heading toward this place tomorrow morning, right?"
With full bellies, and Tera giving Marcus a little aid for his bad leg, the marked leave the Cathedral once more and head for the Barracks. Much to their surprise, halfway there they run into Sheriff Hemlock on Tower Street. He is accompanied by two watchmen who are escorting a muddied and bloodied older man whom Tera and Sal recognize as Maester Grump, a farmer from the Hinterlands south of the city. When the sheriff spots the marked his pace slows and he nods a greeting. "I'll stop here, take him over to the Cathedral and see if there's anything they can do for him," he instructs one of the watchmen.
As the three men walk past the marked, Maester Grump shrieks, "" A not-so-subtle smell of moonshine wafts off the wild-eyed man.
Sheriff Hemlock shakes his head. "When it rains, it pours, eh," he mutters. He lets out a hard sigh and gives his forehead a quick squeeze before straightening up and addressing the marked more directly. "Evening. I don't want to keep you from whatever you're on your way to, but have you found anything yet?"
"Whatever attacked Grayst infected him with Ghoul Fever. It... It wants me. It wants to make me... make me a g-ghoul," Tera stammers out as she huddles under her cloak. "Grayst said that it'd stop if I went to the Misgivings and... and..."
She buries her head in her hands and lets out a soft sob. She struggles for a moment to regain her composure as she relives the horrible scene that had played out at Habe's.
"I fear something terrible has happened to Aldern. I haven't heard from him since the morning after that whole mess with Lord Kaijitsu."
Empathetic to his friends fear and discomfort, Marcus tries to find the words to console Tera. As with most things outside his comfort level, he is met with little success.
Still subconsciously rubbing his leg, he tries to remember all the details of the encounter at the asylum.
As he finishes his tale, careful to mention how brave they all were, he begins to ask about Maester Grumps issue when his brain seems to catch up and instead he asks "Who's Aldern? Who's Lord Kaijitsu? What mess?"
Sheriff Hemlock seems intensely uncomfortable when Tera begins crying. His discomfort, however, gives way to grave concern as he listens to their reports. By the time they finish all he can mutter in response is, "...sh!t..."
He lets out another exhausted sigh and explains, "Grump's a farmer in the Hinterlands south of here... down towards the old Foxglove place... my men grabbed him on the way into the city ranting and raving about scarecrows come to life... you smelled him... I figured it was the drink- he mighta stumbled through a cornfield, crashed into a scarecrow, and tore himself up trying to run off; or maybe he got mugged by a fellow in straw hat and burlap shirt... whatever it was, I thought we could get him cleaned up and get a better report from him in the morning. If there's a pack of ghouls down there, though, the truth could be a whole lot worse..."
The tall Shoanti pauses and looks around with a troubled expression. "...if they're on the hunt down there, it's already too late to stop them tonight... at least the city should be safe for the night though... There's nothing we can do right now. You should all try to get some sleep. I'll send a couple scouts down to see if they can find anything- I've got a pair of half-orcs who don't need any torches. Any chance you all might want to go follow up once the sun's up?"
Kaede looks distinctly worriedabout a second set of ghouls nearby. "I think we were intending to head to the Foxglove estate to deal with the problems there, Kaede says, "but if this farmstead is on the way, we should deal with it first. I'd hate to be caught between two undead infested places."
"Two?!?" the sheriff gasps.
"I hadn't even thought of that... I just assumed it would be one pack moving around..." he continues, looking truly crestfallen. "Listen, I can't afford to send many men down there, we're already spread thin trying to make sure nobody else gets murdered in the city, but there's an officer here from Magnimar... he didn't come for the murders, he came to see how things were going after last fall's 'incident' but obviously I couldn't keep what's going on a secret... I'll send him with you in the morning, in case you need help. And, if you get down there and it's too much for you, come back and we'll scrape together a few more men..."
”Lieutenant Dolkov,” Sheriff Hemlock answers.
”Ivan, I think he said... or maybe Igor... I don’t know. He arrived today and things have been kind of crazy.”
"Is he around," Tera asks, sounding a little more composed than she had been.
"I don't know where he is right now," the Sheriff answers rather indifferently, "but I'll see him at mess in the morning and I'll send him over to the church after I brief him."
"Scarecrows come to life?" Zache murmurs, biting his lip. Seemingly lost in thought, he simply nods along with the conversation.
Kaede slowly nods to Salomae's list. "Both of those items sound like a very good idea. Maybe some basic supplies too? Is there anything that we should get from the general store in the morning?"
"I think that's everything," Tera mutters as the planning winds down.
As the conversation turns to provisioning, Sheriff Hemlock gives a quick nod a begins to walk away. At the mention of 'ropes and tents' he calls back, "We've got ropes and basic equipment at the Barracks you can use, probably a couple old tents too, although you can walk out to the Misgivings and back in a day... I'll leave a note for the quartermaster if you want to stop by in the morning."
The Sheriff wanders off, leaving the marked milling about the street. Eventually they make their way back to the Cathedral and head to their separate rooms to turn in for the night.
In the morning they begin to gather together in the dining hall as they eat breakfast. It feels strange to not have Kaelaah eating with them, and equally strange for Tera to be late for breakfast... but before she arrives a man dressed in the uniform of the Magnimar citywatch is led in by an acolyte and directed to the table where most of the marked are seated...
The man walks with purpose to the table the God Marked sit at, quickly evaluating each of them as he approaches.
The two women look more fit than the two men, well, a boy and a man. Even sitting the boy favors a leg. An injury perhaps? Ah, it hardly matters now.
"Ivan Dolkov," the man says in a smooth Ustalvian accent, "at your service. You must be the Marked I have heard so much about since arriving."
"Welcome, Ivan." Marcus says, through a mouthful of bread. "Please, sit with us and tell us about your visit to Sandpoint so far."
The young man thinks for a second while chewing and says "Heard about us? What have you heard about us?"