True to his word. Dante spends exactly one day outside the city before heading back in. He merely grunts in acknowledgement of Tyrus suggestion. He was more concerned with finding out about the source of the infestation. He loads back up and joins the first group he can find.
You sign on with a Purger gang that works the docks, a group of primarily elves and half-elves contracted under the Order of Illein. Most of them are believers, worshipers of the gods of the Order, but they bring you along because they are shorthanded and you've demonstrated some skill.
At first they don't seem to want to talk much, but after Dante proves himself in a couple of fights with roving zombie packs, they warm to him and begin to answer his questions. Most give a rote answer of 'elves and dwarves chose hate over compassion and the gods abandoned them here in Keldradt.'
One of them, a priest, finally says something more substantial. "There are records in the archives, of the studies the Order has carried out on the city. There really isn't just "one" curse here. There are layers of them, curses and counter-curses and blessings, consecrations and desecrations. The elves and dwarves fought battles in this city for weeks, and each tried to bring the might of their gods to give them victory. They each treated each other like the worst of evils. It was the conclusion of one scholar - and I think I believe this myself - that at some point all the spiteful deific energy took on a life of its own, usurping the curses and causing them to interweave. Thus the gods that originally allowed them to be laid cannot remove them anymore.
If this is true, there might not be any one source, but many - each supporting and reinforcing the others. The Order has cleansed parts of the city before, during the first crusades against the evil in Keldradt hundreds of years ago. But over time, they darkened again."
One evening as you are sitting by a campfire amongst your new fellows in the Purger band, a familiar thread of awareness stirs in your thoughts. You hear the archaically-accented voice of the Black Blade once more.
"Dante, lad? You live, thank goodness - but who are these around us? Were your previous allies lost to this cursed place? Are we yet in danger?"
Dante straightens as a voice enters his head. He looks around for the source, almost having forgot his weapon could do that. He stands gives the others an excuse about going to the bathroom and wanders off to have a chat. He finds a suitable place out of earshot and stabs the black blade between the cobblestones and takes a few steps away. He glares at the blade. "I think we have a few more important questions to answer before that. First and foremost is why should I not leave you here to rust? Why did I see, or feel, the souls of my ancestors in you? Are they trapped in you? Will I suffer the same fate if I die?"
The Blade does not reply immediately. When it does, it's voice is hesitant.
"I... I do not know, Dante. I know I have been wielded by many hands. I feel... echoes, of them within me. But I cannot remember anything clearly before awakening in your grasp, not so long ago. But trapped souls? I cannot believe that. If they truly exist within me, I'm sure it was a fate they chose, the better to continue the fight. But could not all of this have been a dream?"
"That was no dream." Dante shivers just remembering the voices speaking as one in the void. He looks at the blade with a mixture of fear and confusion. It didn't sound like it was lying. Maybe it didn't know what it was doing. But that didn't make him feel better either. Using it might unlock more secrets or bind him more fully. Or both. It wasn't worth the risk. "My aunt said it was a gestalt. Many as one." He pauses to consider his choice. "I'd rather be me." He sheaths the blade and tries to block its...connection? hold?, intending to toss it into the ocean the next chance he got. He'd rather not leave it here for some poor soul, literal or not, to take possession of it.
Dante feels the blade's consciousness hovering at the edge of his mind, but the strong willed youngster has no troubles blocking its thoughts and its words from his thinking.
Dante holds the blade over the water, waiting. For what he wasn't sure. Maybe he was just waiting for his mind to be made up. It was a family heirloom and he hated them. But it was a powerful blade. Certainly better than any he'd find given a lifetime. But were the souls of his ancestors trapped within? Did they do it willingly? Was it worth the risk? He let's his mind back open in case it had one last thing to say. "Did my ancestors willingly choose this fate? Without being deceived?"
"They must have, Dante. But I will not lie to you: my memories are as yet too vague to remember my own nature with certainty. I do not even remember if I have always been as I am now, or if I was once a person."
"That doesn't help!" Dante yells. He rears back to toss the blade as hard as he can. Every muscle is primed to do it but he stays locked in that position for some seconds. With a large exhalation, his whole body sags. "Guess we both don't know who we are." He stabs the blade into the ground once again and sits by it. He looks out over the water and tries to empty his mind for a moment and just listen to the waves. "Alright, so what do you remember?" he asks.
"Flashes of battles past. The impression of being wielded by many warriors. Some, guiding - others, guiding me. But the things I know best are not due to memory. I exist for the purpose of fighting Evil, and promoting Good. It is everything I desire. To shield the weak and he helpless; to suffer in their stead and destroy that which makes such things necessary. This is what I am. This is what I have always been."
Luca spends her weeks in the dusty archives of the Order. She is given ink and supplies and is expected to transcribe old scrolls and tomes over to fresh parchment, a painstaking and headache-inducing bit of work. She is embarrassed when in the second week she spills ink over one of the final two remaining copies of a particular scroll, rendering it irretrievable - but the following week she very carefully reproduces its fellow, which had been in a different language (but fortunately Luca was able to use her skills with linguistics to decipher it.
Tyrus begins his first week with the Order in grand style. While delivering the fruits of his first day's labor to the infirmary, Tyrus saves the life of a man who had been dosed with several rare herbs to treat his exotic, curse-acquired disease. Two of these herbs combined in the blood to form a virulent poison of which Tyrus had read about, and knew how to cure. Impressed by his knowledge, the doctors of the Order immediately bring Tyrus into a role treating the wounded and sick, where he feels much more at home. After a week, the Order is certain of Tyrus's skills and allow him to take the position of a full-time doctor. The rest of his time passes uneventfully.
Dante shows good prowess with the Purgers, and is quickly welcomed into their group. In the second two weeks they come across sizable numbers of undead sweeping towards the docks from the denser ruins, and Dante lives a dream of battles day-in and day-out. In the final week, they come across the creature that had been driving the hordes - a free-willed undead the Purgers call a Grave Guard. Dante takes a wound while destroying it that will put him up for at least the next week recuperating.
Doing scribe work wasn't the most glamorous thing in the world, but it was much safer than facing monsters... and to be quite honest, Luca didn't particularly mind periods of quiet. She often came back with ink-stained fingers, but the silver in her pocket helped to make up for that. She was, however, definitely interested in finding some good tools for calligraphy at some point. Alas, they'd probably have to visit a larger town for that... so she made do with what she'd been given. Fortunately, aside from the occasional mishap, she managed to do a decent enough job for the time being.
Respect works a special alchemy on Tyrus. Made a full doctor in his first week! Here, out of his wife's shadow, he was respected. He starts to stand straighter. His diffidence disappears.
It is the last day of the 4th week when his attack occurs. Fortunately magic managed to keep his patient alive long enough to undo the mistake he's made, but it is a close thing.
Rubbing a home-made topical ointment on his feet that evening, he looks forward to catching up with Dante. Undoubtedly the younger man has many shocking stories to share.
Despite keeping an eye out - and dropping what he hopes are surreptitious questions and hints to his fellows in the infirmary - Tyrus has no idea if anybody has seen or heard of the person he is seeking, and he does not hear about any such figure re-entering the city in the month that he works.
Speaking to some of the other Purgers and Looters at Mistwatch, Dante learns that while nobody knows of where the "center" of the curse might be, there is at least one place they know to be free of it: a small wooded area within the city, overlooking the cliffs and just barely visible from the docks. Sadly, the area is extremely difficult to get through and the only man you met who claims to have been there is somewhat cracked in the head, speaking only of a "angel" which guards the area.
Luca speaks with the other archivists and various people she meets about possible opportunities for the group. Most of the rumors of wealth in the area concern the ruins of Keldradt themselves - but there are several other locations. One of them catches Luca's attention: an ancient Makon temple complex somewhere north of the city. It will certainly be crawling with orcs - perhaps even inhabited by them - but the Makon were notorious for locking up their treasures in clever ways. Of course, should such treasures be achieved, Keldradt is a less than ideal place to attempt to sell them - prospectors would probably have to return to more cosmopolitan areas to get a good price.
If anybody had bothered to ask, Luca would have noted that she wouldn't mind an excuse to go to a more cosmopolitan area. Dante seemed to be enjoying all the fighting, but if they wanted to do some real work to gather money for a better expedition, cities generally had more opportunities... and more chances for her to be just another face in the crowds.
She was, however, a little curious about the 'angel' Dante had heard about.
After one month in Keldradt, Dante doesn't appear to be doing any better. He approaches the others with a new limp and that much seems to take everything out of him. He was obviously recently injured but tries not to draw attention to it. "Well, its not going good and doesn't like it ever will," he says, easing into a chair with a grimace. "The curse is not in one location. Its spread out and reinforces, even heals itself over time. Some places have been purified only be corrupt a few years later. And of course the coordination here isn't good enough to hit all the sources at once. Only place that isn't cursed is a small wooded area watched over by an 'angel'." Its obvious he's skeptical about that but its the only thing he has to go on. If they can figure out how that one place stayed purified then they might be able to amplify or duplicate the cause. "I want to go there. After I feel better."
"Much as I suspected." Tyrus affirms "I don't doubt an area can be kept clear - but at a cost of constant vigilance, of blood spilt, and of lives lost. Study may hold the key - but Luca has been telling me of the Order's archivists, and there is little hope of a breakthrough there."
"This angel of yours is no doubt simply a force powerful enough to consistently keep an area free of curse. I doubt it has any secret beyond sufficient power."
"For my part my intangible advisor has proven elusive - if not outright illusory. Still, I must take his advice - any chance is better than none."
"All of us are being underutilised in our current jobs. Luca mentioned a Makon temple nearby last week. I wonder if we should consider attempting to retrieve its treasures. Such a mission could provide sufficient coin for a trip to the Healer's Isle!"
"I think we should retrieve the foreigner first. Then the temple. I agree that there isn't a lot we can do here anymore. Not without more," he stumbles, trying to think of one thing and coming up with many, "of everything really." Unfortunately, its obvious they won't be able to take on any venture just yet. Even sitting down, Dante does not look well.
At Dante's words, Luca nodded slightly. They'd gotten an experienced guide, and their main expedition had gone horribly. Without a real change, there was no reason to believe anything better would occur the next time they tried it - and that meant there really wasn't much for them here. Better to move on to somewhere that was a better fit.
Another week rolls by as Dante recuperates - under Tyrus' care, in fact, and this time with the company of his friends.
Luca's week passes quietly and more or less pleasantly. Tyrus, with deft surgery and alchemical treatment, manages to excise some manner of diseased cyst another young adventurer had brought back from the ruins, allowing the divine magic of the Order to purge him of the disease entirely. The man gladly gives Tyrus what little wealth he can spare in thanks.
"Luca. Did you have any luck finding out more information on this temple?" Tyrus enquires politely.
Alas, it didn't seem like she'd had much headway there... not for lack of effort, but hey, there were only so many people willing to spend their time talking to a kid with ink-stained fingers.
Dante tries to leave before being fully healed only once. An accurate poke from Tyrus is all it takes send him to the ground. If that was all it took, he was not ready yet. So he lays back down and stops resisting.
All Luca can say about the temple is that she knows its rough location and that there have never been any large-scale expeditions to recover its treasures due to the large amounts of orcs that occupy the general area. Smaller expeditions have managed to get in and out, but the complex is large. Furthermore, several of them have mentioned underground vaults they were unable to break into.
A high-ranking member of the order asks the staff to locate and transcribe an extremely old scroll. Everyone looks high and low, but Luca is, after several days, the one to find it - and the one with the linguistics skills to make sure it is transcribed properly. She is given a monetary bonus for the service.
However, the next week, she feels a familiar and unwelcome pressure in her mind. The presence of the Void has returned, and it is restless.
Tyrus performs another difficult surgery. One of the younger staff has gained a very high opinion of you, and inquires about becoming a direct apprentice to you in the healing arts.
The next week, however, the hospital sees hard times. A wealthy patron has withdrawn his support after losing a great deal of money gambling. The hospital are forced to reduce staff and salaries.
Dante returns to the Purgers, who are glad to have his blade again. He continues the ceaseless work of destroying the undead who come near the docks, getting an equal share in whatever is found.
What did it want!? She was quietly transcribing things, away from the kinds of dangers that usually made it stir!
...But after a few seconds, Luca just sighed and slumped a bit. Sometimes it acted to push her towards danger, sometimes away from it... sometimes it wanted her to stay put, sometimes it wanted her to go. Maybe it knew something she didn't - actually, that was almost certainly the case - but all she knew was that it had no interest in explaining literally anything to her. Sometimes she just wanted to beat her head against a wall and hope the pain made its way back to them, but getting angry was a futile effort at best, and by this point she'd mostly given up on hoping for answers. All she could do was press forward and hope things didn't go horribly wrong. Again.
"Let's find a seat." Tyrus suggests to the young lady, then leads her out to to a table overlooking the Hospital's gardens. In the distance a pair of nurses try to help a young man learn how to walk with crutches and a new prosthetic leg.
"First of all, I'm flattered - obviously. Apprenticeship is no small task, however. Such arrangements last years. I feel that it is important to think this through thoroughly. I have a number of questions for you. I assume you have a number of questions for me. Let us keep these questions and answers confidential, but be open. The last thing we need is a surprise ruining our relationship years from now."
At the young lady's assent he continues. "Let me state my questions first, then we can go through them at length."
"How old are you? Forgive me, I know the question rude, but I have trouble telling ages on non-humans."
"Do you wish to learn only healing and alchemy? While not an especially accomplished wizard, I do have a lot of experience teaching the basics of wizardry."
"I intend to travel. Quite likely into dangerous situations. While I will do my best to keep you from danger, I cannot guarantee it. Further an apprentice's wages are poorer than one might earn as an independent operative. Are you content with this?"
"Have you apprenticed previously? If so, what happened?"
"What studies... no, what activities on my part would your moral code compel you to act. Dissection? Forensics? Necromancy? Use of magic to kill in self defence? Abiogenesis? Controlled Summoning? Illusion? Enchantments? When has your moral code compelled you to act previously?"
"Why?"
I love the idea, but I need to check
(A) is she going to freak out at what we do?
(B) how much do we pay her?
(C) are the others okay with this?
Figure A first.
"Well. I have news - but not good news. Turns out one of the hospital's patrons - I forget the name - has all but ruined themselves, and can no loner support the hospital. They've cut back everywhere, including my salary." Tyrus sighs.
"Much like academia, it seems a lot of the true work is in convincing people to pay for such an abstract service. Those who are injured seldom have the money to pay for treatment." Tyrus looks down at the floor "I think I may ask to have my hours reduced, and see if I can assist Luca in finding more information on the temple, and the surrounding areas. I can't help feeling a little guilty at abandoning my patients - but we'll need to move soon enough anyway."
"I do have something else - but does anyone else have any bad news first? I'd like to try to end on a high note."
"Just more undead. I have tried testing a few different kinds of destruction but nothing seems to keep them down except that incense. You'd thing years of destruction would have eventually exhausted the supply of corpses even if most die that go in there. The Purgers alone should have ended it. Either the war years ago involved more than anyone imagined or the curse is drawing or creating dead."
Luca swallowed nervously as Tyrus talked. "Um... the... y-you know... is a little restless. I d-don't know why, but it might be best to stay on the lookout." As much as she absolutely despised the Void, she had little ability to go against it - it could and would simply seize control of her and force her to do what it wanted, so in the end, all she could try to do was stay within its bounds and encourage it to not take over. It might have been no more than an illusion of control, but she would take whatever advantages she could get.
"Well, then. On a more positive note, I've been approached by a young lady. She's interested in taking an apprenticeship with me. Not for wizardry, but to study the healing arts."
"Opal is 22. She's a halfling, and raised by the order. A trifle naive, but sincere. She's prepared to accompany me into dangerous situations, but is not intending to be a combatant. Traditionally I'd pay her way, give her a small allowance, and a large gift at the completion of her training."
Tyrus looked apologetic "I'd no idea my theoretical knowledge could be so useful in the field. I feel as if I should ensure there is someone to record it, in case..." he hesitates, then continues "Well. I had an attack a few weeks ago. I thought I had a few years left, but it could take years to learn what I know."
Tyrus turns to Luca "I'd offer you an apprenticeship my dear, but frankly your abilities make you a more formidable combatant than myself. I'm certainly willing to teach, if you want to learn, but you've never shown the curiosity about how bodies work that Opal does."
He turns to Dante "Your magic is beyond apprentice grade anyway Dante. I'd like to think mine is a little more advanced, but you don't have my squeamishness. Frankly, you're more of a peer, at this point."
"I've held off answering until I've spoken to both of you. I'm happy to answer more questions, but if you are against it, I will tell her no."
"No," Dante says with finality. "If she doesn't have the will to fight she is only going to be a liability. We can't protect someone who won't or can't fend for themselves." Then more quietly, "couldn't even protect someone that could. She stays here."
He nods at Tyrus compliment but it is hard to tell if he appreciated it or not. The perpetually sour look was either from the scars pulling at his skin or the having to deal with undead everyday. Maybe both. They needed to get him out of here. They needed the funds from that temple.
Dante... definitely had a point about their rate of success in working with other people. "Um... that depends... on where we'd go..." she said hesitantly, always nervous about speaking her mind for fear any kind of disagreement would ostracize her. Goodness knew Brent had never even tried to stand up for her - nor Caleb, for that matter, the moment she'd been different. "I-it might be okay i-if we weren't going places w-with undead or a-anything... b-but I think Dante's right, a-and we can't protect anyone in a t-truly dangerous area." They could barely even protect themselves... as history had already shown.
Tyrus deflates a little "Perhaps I misspoke. She's not hiring on to do fighting. I'd no intention on taking her on a mission like Keldradt - or even this temple. I meant more about when we were hired to deliver that message, and discovered too late how dangerous it was. Or the sea voyage where we were taken captive by pirates."
One night a group of scribes whom Luca has befriended leave their tasks early to take a well-earned holiday. Despite her youth, they invite Luca to join them in taking their ease and drinking fine wines at the villa of a wealthy paramour of one of the scribes (though from what she can see, her own family would consider the man barely wealthy enough to bother speaking to - and the wines barely good enough to bother drinking).
Talk turns to some of the more interesting knowledge the scribes have come across in their work, and Luca mentions the Makon Temple. One of the others nods sagely. "Oh, it's true enough. Definitely exists. There's a historian fellow in town who tried to raise an expedition, had a map to the place and everything. Sadly for him, the Order doesn't care about anything except Keldradt itself, and eventually he gave up on it."
"I haven't the slightest idea. I'm not even sure he's still in the city - he lived over by the west wall, though. You could ask around there."
The next day Luca uses her off hours to head across town to see if she can't locate the historian or confirm whether or not he's left the city. New Keldradt is a very compact place, and the walk doesn't take her long.
She asks several friendly-looking people about such a man, and finally one of them - a street vendor selling pastries - says the historian still lives in Keldradt. He makes a living as a cartographer, buying, selling, and copying maps - mostly of the ruins. He warns Luca that the man is not very friendly.
Tyrus deflates a little "Perhaps I misspoke. She's not hiring on to do fighting. I'd no intention on taking her on a mission like Keldradt - or even this temple. I meant more about when we were hired to deliver that message, and discovered too late how dangerous it was. Or the sea voyage where we were taken captive by pirates."
"Well, good." Dante reels back a little. He hadn't meant it to come out so abrasive. He'd be the first to not underestimate a bookish type but this mission was not one to take someone with little to no experience. "Those are terrible examples by the way. Both those didn't seem too dangerous but turned bad very quick. Those are better examples of how we seem to soak up danger. We need to prepare for this temple run. What do we need that we don't have?"
Confirming the man's location was the only thing Luca had really wanted to do - Tyrus was much better at talking to people, and she was pretty sure this... historian and cartographer... would never take her seriously if she was by herself. Instead of going to talk to him, she returned to Tyrus and Dante to report what she'd found and see if they had an opinion on it.
"Well - " Tyrus seems ready to argue the point, then drops the topic.
"This map Luca mentions. I think we'd be fools not to follow it up. Perhaps we might even convince thegentleman to partner with us, and thereby recruit a ready made team."
"We'll need healing supplies. Armour for those who need it. I'm still keen on the idea of crossbows all round - we might be dangerous, but we don't look dangerous. Camping supplies. Climbing equipment - we may well have to descend into some vault. A journal to record our findings. Information on the local Orc tribes - knowledge is power. There's a good chance this scholar may have arranged some or all of the above - I think we should talk to him first."
While the jungle is deep, thick, and hazardous, the pervasive evil of the ruins of Keldradt have kept most natural beasts away for a long time, as even the mightiest of animals has a natural aversion to things beyond the mortal world. However, for those who venture beyond the walls, they should be aware that there are beasts who may well decide to try and take a morsel out of even a decently numerous group. It is advised to always be on guard.
The orcs of the jungle likewise generally keep away from the ruins, except for the occasional mystics and looters who enter through gaps in the outer walls to the north. They are known to inhabit much of the jungle itself, but many of the tribes are semi-nomadic and large stretches of jungle could very well be free of them at any given time. The orcs of the jungle are somewhat warier and less aggressive than their northern kin in Liria. They are less likely to attack unprovoked unless they think they can achieve an easy victory for slaves and plunder.
Tyrus is advised by several people that there are many common diseases and sickness that are easily caught by those wandering through the jungle. Blood-sucking insects, spore-clouds released by nearby plants, even occasionally the damp miasma of the jungle itself can hide dangers. He is shown how to create a stock of preventatives for many of them, though the ingredients are somewhat pricey.
By far the most dangerous parts of the jungle are its main waterways, which feature as gathering spots for many animals and hunting grounds for many more. It is recommended to avoid major rivers if you can.
Climbing gear is highly recommended, as is a working compass. In some places the canopy is thick enough that you will not know where they sun is. Carrying one or more lit torches at all times is good practice, as many of the dangerous jungle creatures, for all their ferocity, still fear fire.