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Vencarlo's Home - Emileva
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Once Erold has done the deed and disappeared once again down the dark hallway towards his room, Vencarlo turns his full attention back to Emi. The day has been a terrible mess, smuggling herself with the city's dead, hanging out in a tomb, walking around all night in a scratchy, damp robe. Vencarlo senses it and restokes a dying fire so bath water can be warmed. He refills her glass and fills the time with questions about the Jeggare river-bottom until the water is boiling.
He pours the steaming water into the bottom of the bath and points over to the other pails in the bathroom.
"Cool as you like," he says, offering her a soft towel.
"So Tassira dried out the text," he continues, turning his back to allow her to undress, "and the only legible addition was just the one word? Andaisin. What does it mean? I wonder if she could tell from the context if it was a place or a person, or maybe a substance?"
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The Streets of Bridgefront
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Any good cheer you may have found at Vencarlo's home is rather dashed as you make your way back down into the city. Trinia pulls up a scarf that covers her lower face, pulls the cowl of her robe down and follows your lead.
A chilly river fog has settled in the streets of the lower districts. It's hard to mind the cover, but it also limits your visibility as you pick an efficient route back to the clinic. You don't linger long on the Boulevard. A few of the lamps along the street are lit, including the one that marks the doctors' checkpoint. Instead you bear right, to take one of the roads that crosses the face of the hill.
Well before Old Dock turns to Bridgefront the assault on your sense of smell begins. The reek of the dead and the sick seems to hang on the fog, taking it dangerously close to that place where a smell becomes a taste. You're getting closer to the clinic, but it's not just the clinic. The buildings along these streets have dead in them. The wain service cannot get here fast enough.
You approach the clinic from the south side. The alley behind the clinic is cold and quiet. Turning the corner to come to the front door of the place, your heart falls at the site of more bodies lines up under the eaves. Kayleigh is two strides away from the nearest body when she notices the breath, and realizes with a start that these are people sleeping in the street, waiting for a chance to see her in the morning.
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Emi quickly and eagerly slips into the bath, leaving the water as hot as is bearable. Her estimation of Vencarlo rises to greatest man in the world.
The decadence of the alcohol and hot bath relaxes her like she hasn't been in a long time, and a pleasant floating drowsiness takes over. She has to think hard about the word Vencarlo brings up, andaisin. Emi hadn't really considered it something for her to ponder. It was a subject for her more well-educated friends like Tassira to think about.
She struggles to remember what Tassira had said.
"Maybe a name? Tassira said Urgathoa had been marked through, and andaisin was written in above. Like switching one name for another. I've never heard the word anywhere though. The other book had all sorts of strange names I'd never heard of too, like Mog Lathur, they're dream creatures or something of that sort."
"Also Regeris mentioned he thought andaisin is an elven word. Some kind of flower maybe."
All her information spent, Emi's mind drifts back to the pleasant caress of the bath, and onward to how incredible it must be to have all these things within reach at any time. From there it only a couple of light steps to thinking maybe she could live here too if she asked Vencarlo. Justifications are easy, she'd offered up her room to Trinia, it would cut down on suspicious traffic into and out of the new clinic. It is very reasonable to think Vencarlo might be under surveillance and need extra protection...
Kayleigh gasps as she realizes the pile of dead bodies yet lives! Part of her is secretly thrilled that she has some patients to use her remaining disease-removing channels on before her daily allotment is replenished after her dawn prayers. Mostly, though, she's concerned about Ishan. She slips inside to make sure her partner in healing is all right.
Nebbin reaches suddenly for his sword as the body seems to move, but takes a deep breath as he realizes that they're not the living dead, but just the sleeping living. Still, he's only slightly more happy. This many people here are just going to attract attention, and of course Kayleigh's going to work herself to exhaustion and maybe even death.
Still, he stands vigil at her side as she works, amazed as always at how she's so heroic. But he can't help but hear a nagging voice saying that this isn't the right way to defeat this plague. Masks and social distancing and Kayleigh's amazing power will only take them so far. They need to get to the bottom of it, which means finding Rolth!
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Vencarlo's Home - Emileva
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The exhaustion of a long day, the booze, the warm water and the flickering play of reflected candlelight threaten to drag Emi down into a deep well of sleep.
"An obsession," he offers back quietly. "A love interest or a drug. It's hard to get into the head of someone who would worship the Mother of Flies."
"So one crazy obsessed guy, and worshipper of Urgathoa to boot, pilots an otherwise deserted ship into the river mouth, clearly displaying plague lanterns to ensure the city's catapults would kill it?"
He shakes his head after a few moments thought and goes to get a second pail of hot water to freshen Emi's bath. She catches him stealing glances as he pours the steaming water.
"And you find a hag at the wreck, along with undead and a parcel of aquatic goblin slaves to push around. All of whom share the dead pilot's reverence of Urgathoa. Maybe it will all mean something to Cressida."
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The Bridgefront Clinic
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Ishan's face thrust around a curtain answers your rapping on the clinic door. He looks disheveled and tired as he opens the door to let you all stream into the place. He shuts the door behind you and turns the key in the lock.
The place already looks a lot better than it did this morning. It's clear Ishan has been keeping himself busy. In places where you've claimed rooms there's sheets on mattresses and even washstands. You come to find out that Ishan has done the work of many days in one by hiring healthy locals to do anything they would accept pay to do. There's water. There's wood for a fire. There's the framework of a meal. Most importantly, there's acceptable places to sleep and care for the sick. There's less money in the pouch though.
Ishan accepts Trinia's presence in the party like it's the most natural thing in the world. He takes her upstairs to show her Emi's room, then shows her the escape window and how the latch operates. He comes back downstairs just in time to open the door and start taking patients, one-at-a-time to be seen by the priestess and either sent home or given a pallet inside to sleep on.
Sometime after her eighth desperate case and use of remove disease, perhaps an hour shy of sunrise, Kayleigh follows a persistent cough to its source only to find Ishan himself there, seated for the first time since she's seen him. His eyes are red and his temperature elevated. Checking the others in alarm, she finds Nebbin has some of the same signs of early onset Blood Veil.
When Vencarlo brings up the ship, Emi becomes more focused. She does have some opinions about that subject. She sits up a little, but just a little. Vencarlo's peeks aren't unwelcome, but they do make her a little self-conscious, even if there's really nothing for him to see that he hasn't before.
"The ship doesn't add up right. There was one person aboard and one person can't sail a ship of that size. It's doesn't look like there were more people aboard earlier either. Not only were there no bodies, but also no possessions, not hammocks for sleeping, nothing. The ship didn't have a cargo. If there had been more people on board for any length of time, there would be some sign of it, even if they'd died at sea and been thrown overboard, or swam for it when the ship sank."
"For a ship to come in like it did with a single person on board, it must have been launched from very close to the city. The course is set beforehand and then it comes at the city with a person to keep it from veering off its target."
"The Red Veil might have arrived here by way of he ship, but I doubt it. If the ship was infected, whoever sent on it's course wanted to infect the city on purpose. There's no other reason to send it. But it never made it to land. It sank before that. Why? It was lit with a plague lantern. But why would it have a lit plague lantern if the purpose was to infect the city? It must have been clear the ship couldn't comply with orders to stop before docking with a one person crew. It would be sunk before it could make it to the city and have the best chance of working to spread the disease."
"The whole plan is set up to fail from the outset. But if the ship was not infected and was sent to divert attention the plague lantern makes perfect sense. It was supposed to be sunk. It shows everyone an obvious cause for the plague by shining it out for everyone to see. Then it's sent to the bottom so nobody discovers they're wrong to think it's the source."
"If this is all correct, I think someone, or more likely some group, in the city is responsible for the Red Veil and they've started the plague on purpose. The ship just covers their tracks. The problem is I don't know who or why. But if they're Urgathoa's worshippers maybe they don't need a sane reason."
Emi stops although she has more to say. The rest is her gut feelings and conjecture though, and this is certainly not the time to make Vencarlo think she's crazy if she wants the rest of the night to go like she hopes it will.
Silently thanking Milani that she didn't use up all her disease-removing channels on the sickened throng outside the clinic, Kayleigh gathers Nebbin and Ishan. "Can't have my two best helpers slowed down by the blood veil!" she says, trying to sound cheerful but looking awfully weary after yet another long day of spinning her wheels trying to help Korvosa and its people. The cleric uses the last of her daily allotment of channels to remove the disease from both men, giving each a quick examination to see if any telltale signs of their sickness show; with a sigh, she realizes that she'll likely have to pray for a full complement of lesser restoration spells to cure any lingering damage and hide any of the rashes that might give away to the Queen's physicians that the men had been recently infected. Finally, she uses her restorative touch to remove any fatigue the men might be feeling from the long day. She gets one of those herself.
With dawn and prayer time fast approaching, Kayleigh doesn't bother to try to grab any shut-eye; instead, she casts a light spell on a scrap of wood, finds an isolated corner of the building, and curls up with her old, beat-up copy of Milani's holy text--"The Light of Hope." The cleric flips through to a section whose homilies feature the themes of perseverance and hope.
She's awakened from an unintended sleep when several pairs of rough hands drag her to her feet and present her to one of the Queen's masked plague doctors. "Ah--the rebel who has hidden the infected to spite the Queen and try to claim the glory of defeating the blood veil for herself!" a mechanical yet hateful voice echoes from within the full headpiece. "What do you have to say in your own defense?"
Stunned, Kayleigh tries to speak but a cloth loops over her head and she's gagged before she can utter a single word. The physician gives a soulless laugh and adds, "Then I pronounce you guilty of treason against the crown. Take the scum away!" A pair of silent but strong Gray Maidens drag Kayleigh forward; a third punches her in the side with a mailed fist. The blow cracks a few ribs but also rouses the cleric from her brief nightmare.
Dawn is at hand. Kayleigh starts her prayers in earnest, hoping that her nightmare won't become reality in the waking world.
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Vencarlo's Home - Emileva
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"Yeah," he agrees, nodding along as Emi lays out her case, "yeah that's solid thinking. Though it is possible to put a ship like that on a heading and leave just one or two people aboard to make fine adjustments. The thinnest of skeleton crews. That one guy's not going to be able to manage much, but as long as the wheel's tied and the wind keeps blowing, she'll keep on sailing."
He rummages through a closet, pulls out a robe and leaves it for Emi when she's finished.
"Come find me," he teases, before closing the door behind him.
When she does find him, Vencarlo is waiting for her in bed. Soft, cool sheets. Pillows, soft light and warm skin are what she finds. And much less mood for more small talk, postulations or crack-pot conspiracy theories. Somewhere in the throes of it all Emileva's searching fingers find an unfamiliar crease across the latissimus dorsi under Vencarlo's arm. A wound, old or well-healed. He grunts it aside, less tender than aware of her discovery, and the moment passes, and is overwhelmed by everything that comes after.
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The Bridgefront Clinic
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Desnus 6
When Kayleigh rises she finds that all of the others are stealing moments of sleep in the small, quiet hours too. As Milani's power flows back into her she has a moment to appreciate the store of it entrusted to her. For all her self-doubts and struggles against the Veil, she's been consistently rewarded with an ever-increasing share of that divine power.
When she peeks out the door, she's pleased to find that the rising sun is quickly killing the fog. The day's breeze seems fortuitous, laden as it is with the undercurrent of nearby, neglected death. No new cases means she's able to examine and attend to the patients already in her care. Ishan works beside her, easing their suffering as Kayleigh works through her inner calculus, trying to tell the desperate from those who have time. She knows now from experience to save some powder dry for dangerous cases she may run into later in the day.
Despite her impromptu sleeping situation, Tassira plows through the morning hours deep in sleep. The fibers of her arcane being are exhausted and badly in need of the recharge.
The door to Trinia's (Emileva's) room stays closed throughout the morning. It's easy to let the paranoid mind wonder if something's wrong, but then the young woman had a harrowing day the day before and probably more liquor last night than she's used.
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By the time Emi is in bed it's very late, and it's even later still before it's time to sleep. Still, Emi has difficulty, remaining awake for a long while after she starts trying for sleep.
The scar on Vencarlo is one she hadn't noticed before. Of course it's possible for her not to have noticed it, but she thinks she knows his body pretty well from before, especially given its location. It's not an out of the way place. It brings to mind bits and pieces of other things that lead her to a line of thought in which Vencarlo and Blackjack are one and the same.
"He was wounded! Slashed by an arrow fired down on us when we were still standing on that awful gallows. I felt so bad that he should bleed for me."
Trinia said that... Of course it's too soon for that wound to be healed into a scar. But, maybe not. What about those scrolls I found in his office? What would they be for? Why were they out at that time? Maybe he can use them to heal himself, or has someone who does it for him?
And what he said in reply was a little odd. "I think rather he bled for the city, and not for the first time." Vencarlo is a gentleman if nothing else. Maybe he was trying to deflect Trinia's guilt, but to do so in a way that diminishes her to a pawn in a political statement by Blackjack seems unlike him. How could he be so sure what Blackjack thinks anyway? He spoke with certainty, not like he was speculating.
And I know there's more to it than Blackjack simply showing up at Vancarlo's door and dropping Trinia off like a neighbor who needs their dog watched while out of town for a couple of days. Vencarlo is holding something back. Even if it's only that he knows who Blackjack is.
Of course the usual reason for rejecting such thoughts is 'what are the odds? How likely is it that one would meet, much less be the lover of Korvosa's near mythical folk hero when anyone among the city's inhabitants could be Blackjack. But such thinking is mistaken. Actually only a few people would have the skills and talents to be Blackjack, a fairly small pool of possibilities.
Emi is sure Vencarlo is one of those in that pool. She's going to have to ask a few more questions at some point. The idea he could be Blackjack isn’t troublesome to Emi. She certainly understands the need for secrecy about such a thing. it’s rather thrilling actually.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
When Emi does finally drift off, she sleeps hard. Inevitably it’s for less time than she would prefer, but she makes no attempt to start the day early, instead remaining in bed to doze and lounge until Vencarlo rises. Along with a big soft bed and someone to share it with, sleeping in is an almost forgotten luxury, which she greedily takes for all it’s worth.
At breakfast Emi decides she will in fact broach a subject she’d considered the previous night.
”I loved being here with you last night Vencarlo. I wish we could see each other more, but I don’t know when I’ll be able to come back after today, so many things to do all the time. Of course it’s probably not safe to come often anyway since I’m living directly above a plague clinic. Although I did give my room to Trinia… There’s also the problem of your security. If you have come to the attention of the Queen or her people your place might be raided. I’m not implying you can’t defend yourself perfectly well by any means, but we both know that numbers matter as much as anything else. I could help you if there’s trouble…”
Emi hopes Vencarlo will understand the oblique request she’s making. But if he doesn’t, or pretends not to, she doesn’t press it.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Emi doesn’t leave until the early afternoon or Vencarlo’s signaling that he has things to do and she should go, whichever comes first. Then she will return to the clinic. One thing she absolutely must do is have a conversation with Trinia.
Emi had explored the scar again when the opportunity to do so arose in the night. It would have taken little more than a slow hand brush to find out what she wanted to know: the scar’s length and shape (straight, jagged, linear, circular), it’s length and thickness, it’s orientation (horizontal, vertical, somewhere in between), and it’s softness or hardness as an indication of its age.
She has questions for Trinia about the specifics of Blackjack's arrow wound to see if there's a match.
With no specific plan set in stone for the day, Kayleigh prepares a hodge-podge of spells. She does, however, prepare four lesser restoration spells, both to deal with some lingering damage from the last time she contracted the blood veil and to restore strength lost at the sight of the horrid hag that guarded the wreck of the plague ship. And also to fix up Nebbin and Ishan, in case either man has any outward sign of having contracted the blood veil the previous day: It wouldn't do for them to show symptoms should the Queen's physicians arrive at their door.
Kayleigh a bit annoyed that most everyone else opts to sleep in the following morning, though she understands the reason for it. Emi being late irks her the most.
She knows darn well that I'll be worrying about her right up to the moment she strolls into the clinic! the priestess silently fumes. But, as with the others, deep down she gets why Emi's in no rush to return to the non-stop madness that has been their existence for the last few weeks.
After using three healing channels to remove the blood veil from the clinic's sick folk and a couple of spells to restore herself, Kayleigh checks on Nebbin and Ishan, casting the remaining lesser restoration spells on them if necessary.
"How would you like to take a little walk with me?" she asks her handsome, hulking boyfriend, flashing a smile. Then the smile flickers a bit as she adds, "I want to check in with Madame Carrington. Between the blood veil and the spider cult, well, I just want to make sure all's well with her and her assistant."
Then her smile returns in full and she offers Nebbin her arm.
Nebbin, as usual, is happily unaware of most of the difficulties facing his girlfriend. He stayed up late, but her touch as always seems to make his tiredness disappear, like magic. He still has no ability to actually help her, or Ishan, with the sick. If there's trouble, he's ready, but he knows he's not good for too much more than that.
He nods at her question, of course happy to make sure she's safe in the dangerous city.
"That's a good idea, but ... I don't think Emi came home last night! I think we have to go to Vencarlo's and make sure she's OK!"
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Vencarlo's Home - Emileva
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The scar is a soft, straight line in the flesh of his back and under his arm. Viewing him in profile sleeping next to her, Emi can see it goes from high on the back of his lat to low across his ribs.
Vencarlo pauses over his toast when he picks up on Emi's line of thinking, then resumes chewing over a barely suppressed grin.
"Have you found yourself homeless, Emileva Mavrakis?"
Then more seriously, "Would you stay here with me?"
"I mean most of your friends are genuinely clueless about us, so far-fetched is this relationship. There are three decades of years between us, you know?"
He shakes his head, still smiling.
"What kind of fool would I have to be? Please stay here. You're certainly in no more danger here, should the Queen believe that I'm my friend's lover, than you might be at the clinic harboring her accused. In fact, if I am being watched and you're here, it actually reinforces both of our innocence. You can tell your friends anything you want to about me, and I'll happily play along."
"It's just... I lead a very compartmentalized life in some ways. There are only a few people in my life that span compartments. If you come here and stay, you'll eventually see all of them. Like Erold."
"It's ok. It's becoming increasingly obvious to me that there are more compartments that you should be in."
"Will you come stay here?"
Vencarlo bringing up their age difference gives Emi's head a mild spin, almost like a moment of vertigo. Of course, obviously Emi knew there was a substantial difference between them. However she hadn't realized it quite as much as his flatly stated "three decades". She'd figured something more like two, not that it matters. It's just a surprise to hear it from him so bluntly.
Emi plays half-coy. "I supposed I am in a bit of a lurch. I doubt it's easy to find a flat in the city these days."
"Thank you Vencarlo, I will. You're a generous man, but more than that I love your kindness."
Having the question resolved leaves Emi feeling a little playful. She's also never really been able to talk to anyone about the relationship except for Tassira once back ages ago, and then just barely. She feels that Vencarlo and her situation is well defined enough that she can gossip a bit to him about it.
"I don't really think I'll need to be cagey about things with anyone. They know more than you think, at least some of them. Tassira knows for sure and has for some time. I didn't tell her outright, but she's smart. Regeris certainly knows too. If he hadn't figured it before, he has after last night."
"It's harder to say with Kayleigh and Nebbin. They're shocking innocent about so many things. But I think Kayleigh might have her suspicions after last night at least. It doesn't matter anyway, I'll just tell them."
Emi lays her forearms on the table and leans in toward Vencarlo, eyes narrowed mischievously.
"Were you thinking I'd be embarrassed to tell them because you're older than me? Are you embarrassed that I'm younger than you?"
Emi leans back, her demeanor shifting to seriousness.
"I don't feel young as my years. I think I was younger than my years for a long time, and I learned enough by being taken advantage of so much that it aged me considerably."
"Another thing I learned well was compartmentalization. It's a good survival tool. Ask Kayleigh about me, she'll vouch for my skill. If you peel like an onion, I understand. I have a few layers too."
Emi doesn't pry about what exactly Vencarlo means by describing his life as having several compartments. By bringing up the subject he has all but answered Emi's last big question. Her coming talk with Trinia isn't as urgent as it was before. Now it will be the last thing needed for confirmation.
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"That's a good idea, but ... I don't think Emi came home last night! I think we have to go to Vencarlo's and make sure she's OK!"
Kayleigh pauses, uncertain of how to break her suspicions to Nebbin. In the end, she goes with her usual standby--telling him the truth.
"I think Emi has a special someone at the Academy," she begins. "Until last night, I thought it was another student. Now I'm wondering if she's involved with Master Orisini himself. He's so old! Yet, at the same time, a bit younger than I'd expected. I hope she knows what she's getting herself into. I've heard bits and pieces about her previous relationship with someone closer to her own age before Zellara brought us all together. I hope that one bad experience didn't drive Emi into the arms of someone older just because she figures he'll act more mature."
After a longish pause, Kayleigh adds, "Then again, Master Orisini may be able to protect Emi as well as anyone in this city can. Assuming, of course, the Queen doesn't set her sights on him during her search for the seneschal."
"I hope Madame Carington and Felix are all right," Kayleigh comments. With a smile she adds, "I think they are: I haven't had a spider invade my dreams for several nights!"
In the afternoon Emi finally walks back to the new lair. She finds Nebbin and Kayleigh absent so she decides to wait on saying anything until they're back.
She goes up to check on Trinia and pack up her few things from the room. After greeting the young artist Emi asks her if there is anything she needs, telling her to think ahead about things that could help occupy her time. She goes on to warn her that there will be public traffic around the first floor, so she should avoid going down that far unless absolutely necessary. The same goes for windows.
Emi tells Trinia she's sorry she will have to remain semi-confined for a while, but assures her Vancarlo is resourceful and a solution will be found. But, until that time comes Trina will need to be cautious and expose herself to situations where she could be recognized as little as possible.
Eventually Emi turns her chat with Trinia to Blackjack's amazing rescue. she leads with how she didn't believe such a person really existed until then, figuring it all just tall tales. She inserts a few questions casually here and there about the things she really wants to know.
What did he look like? What was he wearing and how was he armed?
Where exactly did the arrow wound Blackjack? It must have been just a scratch if he was able to keep going like he did?
Escaping from that place with the crowd and the guards is so impossibly incredible! Did he use magic at all? It seems like magic would be needed to do it.
Did Blackjack explain anything about leaving you with Vencarlo? How long were you at Vencarlo's place? What was your impression of him?
After her chat with Trinia, Emi moves her belongings downstairs and waits for Kayleigh and Nebbin's return.
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"Emileva and Master Orsini?" Nebbin repeats, a bit shocked. "Are you sure? I don't think Emi really needs protecting, though. I know she's studying with Master Orsini, but maybe she's there keeping him safe. At his age, he's probably slowing down a bit."
The young man thinks, not wanting to say anything bad, but sure that must be the situation. That makes a little more sense.
He shudders a bit at Kayleigh's mention of dreams. She's mentioned her nightmares before to him, and they sound horrible, but there's not much she's able to do to help. Maybe if he were sleeping in her room -- on the floor, perhaps? -- she'd be more comfortable, but he wouldn't want to suggest something like that. People might think the wrong thing.
He smiles down at her, wishing he could do more, as they make their way through the city.
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Vencarlo's Home - Emileva
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"Hoo! I'd say I'm hard to embarrass. I will have to think on the right way to introduce you to my students. When you're here during lessons. That has nothing to do with embarrassment, though. When we're together in public, people will think what they think about our motivations - but that's really a reflection on them."
"The fact is, you are more mature than your years. Otherwise, this would never work."
When Vencarlo starts getting ready for lessons, Emi finds her excuse to head out.
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Madame Carington's - Nebbin & Kayleigh
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Kayleigh and Nebbin's walk to Madame Carington's is not a short one, and the noon blaze makes the walk a never-ending search for stretches of shade. Knocking on Carington's door doesn't bring any immediate answer, but you've seen this scene before, and knocking a second time and lingering longer than you should need to eventually brings Felix the halfling to the door.
His reaction to you, though, does take you by surprise. He grabs Kayleigh's hand with both of his and practically drags her inside.
"Y-y-you must come to see M-madame! Y-y-y-you b-brought her the damned book!"
The parlor behind him is lit only by candles. The arch beyond, where he intends to drag you, is also dark.
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The Bridgefront Clinic - Emi, Tassira, Regeris
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At a light tap, Trinia opens the door that Emi once declared her own. She smiles and lets Emi come in, returning to a seat on the bed where a book and a wooden plate with an apple pit on it await her return. Over in the corner, Regeris works on the lock he's installed on the window leading out to the shingles.
"Glass for the window couldn't be found," he says, "so I just used some boards to make it secure." He raps the boards for emphasis, then makes himself scarce so the ladies can talk.
Trinia notices Emi's motions and reaches out to her.
"Please don't let me drive you from your space! I won't be here long. Master Orisini is going to get me out of here quick. I know it. Otherwise Blackjack wouldn't have taken me there. He said Master Orisini was just the person to get me out of the city."
She nods at all of Emi's instructions, and barks out a laugh when she apologizes for being confined.
"Oh Gods! I sat in a cell in the castle dungeon for days thinking some bad man was going to come down and rip out my entrails to get me to confess to the murder of the King! Please don't apologize. I owe my life to you and your friends, and Vencarlo, and Blackjack."
When the questions turn to Blackjack, the look on Trinia's face turns a little mooney.
"He was dressed all in black leathers. No shiny metal bits or anything flashy. He had on a black cloak with a hood and a black mask that covered his mouth and cheeks. He had a rapier, but he only waved it around. No one ever got close enough to us to fight. I saw him throw a dagger, but not much else. The executioner had me facing the gallows so I only really knew something was happening when the crowd noise changed."
"Oh! And I think he has blond hair. It's long for sure, but I think it's blond. His hood slipped in the chaos and I caught a glimpse."
"Yeah, I think he used magic. But the people in the crowd were the real magic. The people we dove down into, who concealed us. But some folks had to see, so I think there was magic too! I'm... not good with magic. Like at all. I don't know what it was."
She grows more somber when Emi mentions the wound.
"It was an arrow and it grazed him here," she traces a line across Emi's side, under her arm.
"I didn't know it at first. He didn't make any sign he'd been hit, but when we jumped down we got tangled up a little bit and when I got up and we were moving I saw all the blood on my arm and I knew it was his. I mentioned it, but he waved it off and pushed us to keep moving."
"When we came to Vencarlo's, Blackjack led us around the back of the house and found me a place to hide in the garden, by the old wall. He said he would explain everything to Master Orisini and he left. A few minutes later, Vencarlo came out and called for me, and that was it. He let me clean up and then just tried to make me comfortable, like you've done."
"How can I ever repay you all?"
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Emi sits with Trinia for a little while, deciding to tell her more about how their paths had first crossed.
"We started looking for you after you were posted as wanted. We do jobs now and then for the Korvosan Guard, or, more specifically Cressida Kroft, their captain. We're not guard ourselves, and that's why Regeris and I were there in the Artists Overground that night. Regular guard wouldn't have gotten in without it being a scene. Kroft had asked us to find you before the Gray Maidens did."
"I don't think anyone who gave it a passing thought believed you were actually guilty of killing King Eodred unless they had some motivation to do so. Kroft wanted you picked up so there could be some sort of honest legal process. Looking back I guess we were all naive that soon after the King's death."
"Anyway, Regeris and I botched the job. You noticed us paying attention to you, or something of that sort. Once you went out the window and fled, Regeris was the only one who had a chance to catching you, and you escaped him, just to be scooped up by the Maidens."
"We f*&!ed up. But I think the very idea that the Guard could have protected you was stupid anyway. It wouldn't have worked. At the time we cursed your running. 'If only we'd had a chance to tell you' we thought. You were right to run though. There's nobody who's working within the law who could have helped you."
"It burned to fail. I'll be honest, part of it was knowing you're innocent. But part of it was pride. That's true of me at least. I thought I was better than to let the Maidens get you and it stung. I'm sorry I weighted things that way when I thought about it afterward."
"You don't owe us a thing. We're happy to be able to do something to help clean up our mess. You know, I was on my way to your planned execution when I heard about your rescue. I thought there should at least be someone there who knows the truth to witness it, so the truth wouldn't be buried. That was the limit of my imagination. I intended to stand there and watch you die, with the purpose of telling people later it was wrong."
"I'm embarrassed that's all had had to offer you at the time. I'm just glad to be able to do a little more than that now."
Kayleigh looks at Nebbin with alarm while drawing her morningstar. Once he's drawn his greatsword, the young Milanite casts a light spell upon it.
Felix's words echo accusingly in her head: "Y-y-y-you b-brought her the damned book!"
Though Kayleigh had come here mainly to make certain that the blood veil hadn't reached its long fingers into the fortune-teller's shop to try to claim someone who might well prove to be a great ally in their various causes, the halfling butler's words made it clear another threat had crept in instead. An image comes suddenly to her sleep-deprived brain of a puppet of herself, being manipulated to the shop by a hidden marionette with eight arms or legs.
The priestess physically interposes herself between Nebbin and the dark parlor, casting guidance upon the big warrior and herself...just in case.
It sounds like Madame Carington's been in distress for a while now; another few seconds shouldn't matter. Better safe than sorry!
As Kayleigh tries to move in front of him, Nebbin takes the rare step of objecting, gently pulling her behind him.
"If there's trouble, I'm not going to let it hurt you," he says, his voice as hard as the steel of his blade.
"What's wrong, Felix?" he asks, again his voice far more assertive than his typical demeanor.
"OK--I just didn't want you rushing in unprepared," Kayleigh answers quietly, not resisting Nebbin's repositioning. She's simultaneously proud of Nebbin and ashamed of herself when her boyfriend asks the halfling what's wrong.
Yeah--asking beforehand is an easier way of not rushing into something unprepared....
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Madame Carington's - Nebbin & Kayleigh
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Felix winces and shades the sudden light with his little hands. Tear tracks on his cheeks reflect the glare. When he recovers he waits for Kayleigh's prayers to complete, then gestures for them to come with him through the arch.
"She r-r-r-read your b-book. And she hasn't w-w-w-w-woke up s... s.... since!" The little halfling turns purple trying to deliver the last word.
"P... p..." he starts, then gives up and hurries down the hall.
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The Bridgefront Clinic - Emi, Tassira
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Trinia sits in rapt attention, listening to the alternate history of her own capture.
"Oh! I remember. It wasn't you that started everyone running. It was someone calling that the guard was outside. Everyone in that place has a reason to flee from the city guard. I was sitting with two of my friends... other painters. It was a dumb chance to take, but the artists there are a tight group and I believed I was safe among them. That sounds so dumb now."
"I don't suppose I'll see any of them again. I guess there are things to paint out in the sticks, right?"
When Emi gets to the part about the execution, Trinia tears up and covers Emi's hand with her own.
"What the hells is happening in this city!?" she asks suddenly. "How does such a transparently false person hold so much power and influence among so many people who seemed sane prior to the King's death? I painted King Eodred's portrait in the days before his death and everything in life seemed so amazing! No Blood Veil. No murder trials. No riots. Just Korvosa, and the luckiest break of my life. And it all just turned to ashes."
Kayleigh fights back the panic she feels. This was just supposed to be an unscheduled wellness check of sorts, to make sure Madame Carington and/or Felix hadn't contracted the blood veil. She'd never experienced something like this...and wasn't sure she'd ever heard of something like this! As she combed her memories for any stories she might've heard (probably at the Pantheon of Many), the cleric asked Felix for as much detail as he could remember.
When had Madame Carington first started reading the book?
Had she read from it more than once?
How long had she been reading before she fell asleep?
How long had she been sleeping?
Some Possible Results: Heal 23; Knowledge (arcana) 16; Knowledge (religion) 18.
Tassira eventually wanders into the clinic, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.
"Ugh... how, uh, how much did I miss?"
Emi doesn't have an answer for Trinia. She also isn't very well equipped for giving emotional support. Her early formative years weren't rich in friendships.
It seems to her she should do something though. Emi wraps her arms around Trinia and draws the young woman into a hug.
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"Have you tried shaking her?" Nebbin suggests.
Beyond the arch there's a short, dark hallway. Going straight back, past a door to the right, you come to the open door of Madame Carington's bedchamber. Thick curtains line the walls embroidered with the faces of the Harrow. They obscure any hint of the day outside so that the only light is the room is that of a half-dozen guttering candles.
Madame Carington lies slumped among the blankets of the bed, partially propped up by a wealth of pillows. Her breathing is shallow, labored and fetid. Her hand, when Kayleigh takes it, is frail, cold and knotted by the disease she bears. The most basic of checks clears her of the Blood Veil.
"Puh...." Felix tries. "P...."
The little halfling turns colors before your eyes.
In the back of the room is her wheeled chair, along with the tome in its black leather bindings. It sits in her seat, presiding over her catatonia from the corner, mad and hateful.
"It doesn't appear to be the blood veil!" Kayleigh tells Nebbin as she examines the harrower by the light shed by her boyfriend's sword. Feeling panicked and somewhat helpless, the cleric considers her options. The black book draws her eyes, and the Milanite casts detect magic, checking both the tome and Madame Carington for any lingering magic.
"We might want to take that book as far from her as we can!" Kayleigh adds before peeking at Felix to make sure he's (relatively) all right.
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As an old boat slowly approaches the piers of Old Dock, coming ever closer to Old Korvosa, a young woman standing at the bow muses on the irony of her circumstances. "A strange place to start anything new," she mutters.
"What?"
Fírinne's head snaps up to see a deckhand staring at her from just a few feet away, his face full of suspicion. She quickly turns away from him, grateful yet again that the purplish hue of her skin masks the flush of embarrassment.
"It's nothing," she tells him with a wave of her hand, "just a bad joke." She's already rushing toward the stern when he calls out something else, which she pretends not to hear. She needs to pay the captain the rest of his fee, of course. That this takes her away from the chatty crew member is just a bonus.
She lingers back there for some time after handing over the remainder of her fare. It was an absurd amount for what was, essentially, a ferry trip across the river, but he had been willing to break quarantine for her. And whatever poor manners his crew might have, the captain's face wore only pity when he looked at her, not scorn or something darker.
Once the boat is only a few feet from the pier, Fírinne strides forward again, plants a foot on the rail, and leaps the remaining distance. Behind her, the boat immediately turns and beats a swift retreat, eager to be away from the diseased island.
What follows is a tedious cycle that is well familiar to her. First, Fírinne gains the attention of a local. Then, once they have decided whether she is to be an object of contempt or fear, she asks after a human man, black of hair, about yea big, possibly carrying a symbol of a rose. The answers she gets are rarely useful, but they do start to paint a picture. After several hours of sifting through various bits of hearsay, she's heard precious little about her man himself, but has enough to lead her to one of his companions.
It is still morning when Fírinne arrives in front of a clinic, chasing down rumors of a priestess who can cure this "Blood Veil" with a touch. She rubs at an uncomfortable spot just below her left ribs--magical healing always felt wrong, somehow--before raising her hand to knock on the door. Three loud raps, and then she backs away, hands out from her side and away from her weapon. She'd always had trouble with first impressions, no need to look like a thug come to collect.
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"Should we destroy the book?" Nebbin asks. "If it's responsible, maybe stabbing it or something will free her? I know that sounds crazy, but I read a tale of that once. Of course, I think that book had to be stabbed with a basilisk fang or something."
It doesn't happen right away, but when the door is pulled open, a young woman stares down at Firinne. She has at least a foot in height over Firinne. She's pale-faced with very dark, almost black hair, clearly Chelaxian ancestry. Her expression is serious and slightly tense.
Emi figured she might as well get the door since Ishun is busy and Kayleigh and Nebbin are nowhere to be found. She opens the door enough to get a good look, but not so much that her body won't easily block an unwanted entrance before she can slam it shut.
She's surprised to see a rather small tiefling (she supposes, could be a fetchling maybe but she's never seen one.) standing outside. Emi sees she's armed, but also downplaying it. Emi's surprised, but doesn't let it show.
"You here for the healer? Blood Veil?"
"Not quite," Fírinne replies, giving a slow shake of her head, red eyes never leaving Emi. "I'm looking for a man who runs with her."
With a barely repressed sigh, she raised a clawed hand up more than a foot over her own head and speaks in the tone of someone reciting a well-rehearsed script. "He's about this tall, with short black hair. He might carry a symbol of a rose on his person." She drops her hand back to her side and her eyes flick past Emi's face for just a moment, trying to take in what little of the building's interior is visible. When she speaks again, her voice is full of forced casualness.
"I have a letter for him. Seen him?"
Emi doesn't budge.
"Sounds like a lot of people. Got a name for this man?"
Fírinne opens her mouth to say something sharp, but just manages to restrain herself. Instead, she just answers the question.
"Regeris," she says, then nods. "Send him out here, he'll recognize me." She shifts briefly in discomfort before trying to cover it with a smirk. "I'm hard to forget."
"No!" Kayleigh cries out when Nebbin suggests destroying the book. Calming a bit, she adds, "At least not yet. Let's try your other idea first...."
The cleric gently shakes the oneiromancer and calls out to her softly, imploring her to wake up or come back. Afterward, she turns again to Nebbin, a troubled look in her eyes. "If we do end up needing to destroy the book, I have...well, it's not a basilisk tooth, but I've still got this."
This, pulled from a sheath on the cleric's belt, proves to be the night-black magical dagger looted from the half-orc bookstore owner/cult leader.
When the tiefling woman suggests sending Regeris out, Emi's eyes quickly dart about the street. She considers for a couple of seconds then steps back to make room for the tiefling to come in.
"No, come on inside. I'll go find him."
Though she initially balls at entering the clinic with this stranger at her back, a quick glance up the street--and the sound of coughing all around her--changes Fírinne's mind. She draws the hem of her cloak up and over her lower face before bounding up the steps, heading inside.
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Madame Carington's - Nebbin & Kayleigh
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Kayleigh's quick scan of the room reveals faint sources of magic everywhere. On consideration, that might not be so surprising standing in an occultist's bedchamber, though. The tome itself radiates Necromantic magic, as before.
Carington doesn't rouse at being shaken. She feels dangerously light in Kayleigh's hands, certainly malnourished. She voices the faintest noises occasionally, like her mind is active. Like perhaps she dreams.
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Bridgefront Clinic - Tassira, Emi, Firinne
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Ishan nods thankfully to Emi as she gets the door. Nebbin and Kayleigh have stepped out and he's half-way dressed the lesions on this morning's worst walk-up when Firinne's knock comes.
When Emi finds Regeris he's sitting in a chair in one of the ground-floor offices you recently opened, leafing through a dusty sheaf of papers.
"Fruit!" he says with a grin as Emi enters. "They imported fruit. At least this office did. They had an arrangement with the trade shop next door to use the ground floor storage sometimes during harvest when their stocks were highest."
"I've changed the locks on the exterior doors of both these places, but that job's Nebbin's." He points to the corner with his paperwork, where a heavy sledge leans against the wall. "If we're gonna connect them, I reckon the first hole goes there."
When Emi describes his visitor, Regeris's grin falters.
"Alone? Just Firinne? Here? She must be in some kind of trouble."
He puts down his papers and leads Emi back around to the clinic's door.
He greets his old friend with a smile that drips anxiety.
"How are you? How did you come here?"
Fírinne returns his smile with one of her own. "Well enough. I was in the region and thought I'd drop in to see you, since it's been so long. Besides," she says, reaching inside her cloak and pulling out an envelope, "I've got a letter for you, from Aurora. And no, this time I kept my little letter openers to myself." She clacks the talons of her free hand together for the benefit of anyone who didn't understand her magnificent euphemism.
After pairing up Firinne and Regeris, Emi finds a place to sit where they'll have plenty of space for their business.
"Maybe we should take it away from her?" Nebbin suggests. "Or see if Tassira can make any sense of it?"
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Bridgefront Clinic - Tassira, Emi, Firinne
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Regeris doesn't bother bluffing in front of Emi. The blood drains from his face when he processes Firinne's message and he gives the letter an inscrutable look before taking it and slipping it into his pocket.
He introduces Emi, Tassira and Ishan to his 'friend from a past life', Firinne.
"I... don't have much for quarters," he explains. "We've only just moved in. But maybe let's talk up stairs. Give me a chance to read this and catch up with you away from the ears of every sick person in Bridgefront."
He leads Firinne towards the stairs and the private rooms above.
After examining Madame Carington, Kayleigh's glad that both Nebbin and Ishan showed no signs of damage from their brief infections with the blood veil. She uses both of her remaining lesser restoration spells to treat the oneiromancer's failing constitution.
"I've bought her some time," the priestess reports to both Nebbin and Felix. "Nebbin--I need you to go get the others, Tassira in particular. She's read that book and might know what's happened to Madame Carington or have some idea how to bring her around. Leave the book alone...or maybe cover it with a blanket. I'll stay here and make sure she doesn't get any worse."
Then she looks for a paper and ink quill so Felix will be able to answer her questions. First on that list is how long Madame Carington has been unconscious.
Nebbin looks torn, but finally nods. As he leaves, he turns back. "Make sure you lock the door. And don't let anyone in but us!"
Then he rushes back to the clinic, not hunching down for once so his imposing size helps usher people out of his way.
Emi extends her hand and returns Firinne's greeting.
"I'm Emileva. Nice to meet you."
She lets Regeris and Firinne take their business upstairs and goes back to waiting for Kayleigh and Nebbin to return.