At the Temple of Aroden the party finds Tiora and Garlan in close conversation. She smiles and presses something into his hand, hugs the old man and turns to Kayleigh.
"I was just thanking Garlan for his hospitality and want to do the same to you. With your permission, I've taken one of the copies of The Light of Hope, volume one from the shelves in the back. I'll bring it back for volume two eventually, but I never was much of a singer." She laughs and hugs the other members of the party as she can.
She holds Emileva's hand as they embrace, drawing her away from the group and speaking softly, though not so much so that they can't easily be overheard if anyone tries.
"That street war we were talking about before - it's heating up fast. And Devargo Barvasi is right in the center of it. He's pushing some shiver that isn't coming from Arkona sources. It's a big fight he's asking for, that's for sure. The Arkonas play for keeps. But that's not the part that most concerns you."
"Barvasi's also allied himself with Pilts Swastel, who's reemerged as a power in Bridgefront after his place in Old Dock burned down. I don't know what Pilts's issue with you guys is, but he's placed a bounty on each of your heads. I'd expect Devargo means to collect that eventually."
Night falls over Old Dock and still the rain holds off. Though you can taste it on the breeze, the thunder is always far off and the rain refuses to fall.
Tassira lets out a noise that sounds like a mix of a growl and a sigh. "Let's get this over with."
She will recast mage armour before the party departs.
As Tirora tells her what she's heard Emi grimaces. "That's not good news, but it's very timely. We're set to meet with Barvasi tonight."
Emi asks Tiora to tell everyone so they will be filled in.
"So, this may explain why Barvasi dropped his price so much so quickly. He plans to collect on Swastel's bounty. I say we keep the appointment and settle this. I'm tired of looking over my should for too many things. What do you think?"
Then Emi turns to Tiora. "I hate to ask, but there is something that could help us tonight. We're supposed to be buying some letters from Barvasi at the meeting. He delayed until this evening because he said he needed to collect the letters from the House of Clouds at Eel's End. Could you pay a visit to Madame Helvara there and find out of the letters were actually there, and if they've been picked up? If Barvasi doesn't intend to keep our bargain, I doubt he'd bother to collect them. You'd not be noticed going to Eel's End like one of us would."
Tassira nods in agreement. "Yes--Helvara warned me that Barvasi would be bound to attempt to collect a bounty on our heads..."
"...and considering she told me she wants to be free of him, this seems like as golden an opportunity as any."
"So ... he might try to attack us when we turn over the money? If we have to fight him, we should probably be ready. Especially if we have to fight spiders too!" Nebbin says.
Kayleigh gives Tiora her blessing to take the first volume of The Light of Hope (even though she's barely perused the book herself). When Emi mentions Pilts Swastel, Kayleigh again flashes that petulant, angry look she sometimes gets. She bottles her anger, however, later to release it upon the King of Spiders.
The priestess agrees with Nebbin's idea to get some antitoxin. "I'll have plenty of healing available, but no other spells save some orisons. Still, I'm ready to end this tonight."
"I'm going to see if I can procure some flasks of acid--unless we want to do a repeat performance of Exemplary Execrables, and if we do there's always the concern of civilians getting caught up in it."
"Yes, both antitoxin and acid for the spiders. How much do we want to bet Barvasi's hooded flunky is a magical practitioner of some sort? There's not much we can do about him directly, but if he knows how to make people invisible, there is a decent quick counter."
Emi takes some small cloth bags and fills then with flour. She ties off the opening to each bag, then lightly scores the cloth with her knife. "These will burst when thrown and produce a nice, white cloud that will coat anyone within it."
"I'll also go pick up some caltrops in case we need to block off any surprises to our rear or flanks."
Back at Eel's End
Regeris chuckles coarsely as Kayleigh asks him about the kick. "Part of the art of dealing with these sorts of people is to say what you intend to say."
--------
Back at the Temple, Regeris listens grimly. "Do we have a means to incapacitate this ambush before it takes place? If we're going to walk into a spider's web, we need to cut the strands in advance. Starting a fire on his boat may be simple enough way to do that but I'm open to ideas."
He looks to Tassira. "Helvara is our best ally here right now. Find out how he likes to kill people so we can prepare for the worst. Nets, trap doors, poison gas - whatever evil tricks he likes to use."
Tassira purses her lips after Regeris addresses her. "...so, who's going to get the acid? I can handle speaking with Helvara, but I'm not going back there alone. Someone's going to have to come with me to watch my back."
Kayleigh stops frowning when Emi mentions the hooded fellow in Barvasi's entourage. "My first guess was that he was a priest of Asmodeus in disguise. They tend to like showing off their flashy red-and-black color scheme, though, so now I'm leaning toward a disguised Abadaran priest."
Kayleigh stays behind while the others do their shopping and information gathering, taking the opportunity to have a difficult discussion with Garlan and Crayden about the future of the temple. She tells them that she's finally becoming a true Milanite in that she'll be actively opposing all the little tyrants--and likely the biggest one in Queen Ileosa--and that she's worried this might endanger those at the Temple of Aroden. She's afraid to just up and leave the temple to set up shop elsewhere in the city, as it came under attack even before she and her friends made additional enemies of Pilts Swastel, Devargo Barvasi, and Rolth the Necromancer.
She throws out some potentially painful ideas, such as making it a multidenominational church of Aroden, Milani, and perhaps even Iomedae, if she can broker a deal with that religion's priests at the Pantheon of Many. She also asks if either of the priests wants to accompany her and her friends to the Cathedral of Pharasma on the morrow or if they'd prefer her to speak for them at the meeting with High Priestess d'Bear.
Tiora pulls up the collar of her cloak and ties her hair back in a kerchief. She easily adopts the rolling gait and quipped tongue of the sailor as she skips along to Eel's End to deliver her message. You recall her mentioning being rated Able. It's a good disguise.
As pirate-Tiora crosses the plaza, Regeris spots a tail leave a spot where he was holding up a wall and fall into her wake. She moves very fast through the crowd and Regeris is left doubting the tail actually tracked her, but he's not sure as he loses sight of both of them.
Garlan's face clouds over when Kayleigh mentions her personal conversion and her thoughts of leaving.
"I don't have to tell you Milani's own teachings - that the road you choose is one paved in blood and trimmed in grief and sacrifice. If you take up the mantle of breaker-of-houses, you surely can have no house of your own remain unbroken. You've filled this house with children. Drawing the focus of response away from here sounds wise. For your own sake, you need someplace more concealed to base your efforts from."
"I think rather that for this house, we would disarm, and serve the people in this hour of upheaval and sickness rather than seeking to protect ourselves by aligning with unknown Iomedeans."
"As far as going with you to meet with Keppira - yea, that sounds like the right course. I don't have any formal claim to the leadership of the Arodenite community here in the city, but I am the most senior worshiper in the city."
Tassira finds herself pacing anxiously while the others run their errands in preparation for the night.
Where will Helvara ask to meet? Likely somewhere outside of Eel's End--but who's she going to leave in charge of the premises in the meantime? Barvasi will likely notice her absence--he relies on her services for information gathering. This is the best shot we're going to get--
She's interrupted by Ravnos rubbing against her leg. She sighs, sits in a pew, and pulls her familiar into her lap for pets and cuddles. Her nerves calm somewhat, if only because of her faithful cat companion.
Emi suggests she and Nebbin use the same tactic Regeris had used earlier when Emi went to see Vencarlo.
"Nebbin, you leave for the market first, and I'll follow behind you a little. If anyone is waiting to follow us, you'll pick them up and I'll follow them. We'll meet up at the market and compare nots. At the least we'll know if we're being followed. If there's some sort of trouble we won't be taken by surprise. Also it will take another set of eyes off the temple, which will help Helvara and Tassira avoid notice."
"We should be able to get most of what we want at an apothecary's shop. There's disease spreading so it shouldn't look too out of the ordinary. We'll revisit the idea of getting some caltrops later at the market."
Nebbin nods, and once he's sure he knows what everyone wants, he bids farewell to Kayleigh -- still too embarrassed to give her a kiss in public -- and heads out. He makes no effort not to be seen leaving, though he does try to notice if anyone other than Emi is following him.
Kayleigh's still in conference with Garlan when Nebbin pokes his head around the corner to say his farewell; she flashes a smile and tells the big guy to be careful.
Regeris runs down and relates what he saw from the bell tower to the rest of the party, provoking Emi's plan. He mollifies Kayleigh's urge to run after the young woman by arguing that she's a street tough who's in her own element - more likely to succeed without Kayleigh's help in this kind of mission.
Emi can join Regeris to watch over Nebbin's departure. The big man does indeed pick up a tail of his own. A scrawny little street punk quits his circle of dice and skirts along in Nebbin's wake. Emi is able to do double-time down the steps and out the rear door, giving herself a fighting chance of spotting the boy at street level.
Nebbin picks his way through the crowd, up the shoulder of Garrison Hill and finally to Reefclaw Run. An apothecary stands just off the main square, but Nebbin can see from afar that there's a huge crowd clustered around the doors of the place. The closer he gets to the front doors, the slower his steps become. The people in this crowd are sick. Some of them way worse than Kayleigh or Nebbin were, these folks are debilitated. Some seated in the line look very close to exhaustion. They cough as one, reinforcing each other's fear and infection.
"I'm sorry momma," one man explains to an elderly woman who sits delirious against the side of the building, "The man says he's got no physic for us. Nothin but well wishus, not fer any price. We could try another place..."
The shop is open, but there's more people waiting here in this line already than this shop is ever going to see before it closes. Nebbin stands there gnashing his teeth. If all these people are just waiting on rash and cough medicine that's not coming, then he should be able to walk into the apothecary on different business. Right?
Kayleigh's patented perturbed pout makes a return when Regeris tells her not to rush after Tiora. "But what if she turns out like Neziana?!" she asks in earnest. Though she concedes to the inquisitor's wishes and doesn't chase after the Garundi gal, Kayleigh's nerves are obviously frayed and her paranoia level high.
"Holy Roses! How many people are watching this place?" she asks Regeris. "Could it be that Barvasi and Pilts have set up another raid on the temple tonight once they know we're at Eel's End and unable to protect it?"
Kayleigh suggests a ruse to flush out any more eyes on the temple: She'll put on her healing whites and visit a family or two in the neighborhood she's assisted before, to see if any of them are sick . Regeris can watch from the bell tower for more tails and follow after her if he feels she may be in danger.
After slipping into her white breeches and tabard--but still wearing her armor and bearing her buckler, morningstar, and other usual gear--Kayleigh give Regeris the addresses of the two families on nearby St. Alika Street she's intending to visit and waits for the inquisitor to climb up to the bell tower (or possible try to dissuade her from her plans).
"But what if she turns out like Neziana?!
"We trust that she can handle herself. We need to be one step ahead of our enemies right now. I like your plan."
With Emi tailing Nebbin, Regeris heads to the bell tower to keep an eye on anyone posted to watch the temple, and to see if there's a tail of any kind being placed on Kayleigh.
Nebbin waits and watches, expecting Emileva to turn up any moment. He knows they need supplies, but it wouldn't be right to just cut to the head of the line, even if his size would allow it.
"Is everyone waiting for medicine?" he asks someone nearby.
The news that the temple is being watched sends an unwelcome crawling sensation down Tassira's spine.
She sets Ravnos down and starts looking through her spellbook.
Ravnos, meanwhile, wanders over to Kayleigh and decides to give her a reassuring rub along the leg.
"Meow." The calico tabby looks up at the priestess with wide eyes, her whiskers twitching.
Kayleigh, so upset with all the spies waiting outside the Temple and intent upon her own upcoming ploy, doesn't notice Ravnos approaching. She jumps when the cat unexpectedly rubs against her leg...which, of course, causes Ravnos to jump in turn. The priestess apologizes to Tassira's familiar, squating down to pat her and give her some scratches behind the ears and even a chin rub.
"I'll be careful," she tells the cat with a smile. "You keep Tassira safe, OK?" With one last pat, Kayleigh heads out the front door and onto St. Alika Street, surreptitiously looking for any tail.
Emi trade her breastplate in for her less conspicuous mail shirt before her and Nebbin's trip to the market.
When she sees the street kid start following Nebbin, she immediately begins following the kid. Since she knows the destination everyone is headed for, she worries less about losing sight of the kid than keeping some space between Nebbin and herself to let the tail move along undisturbed.
The line at the apothecary's shop is a problem, but maybe also to their advantage. If hey have to stand in line, maybe the tail will decide it's best to report what he's seen (very mundane trip lots of people are making right now) rather than wait along with them.
On the other hand, maybe there's an express entrance for someone wanting to to pay premium for something other than medicine.
Before she joins Nebbin, Emi slips around the building to check for side or back entrances.
--------------------------------------------
The Temple of Aroden
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From his perch in the bell tower, Regeris watches all the comings and goings. Essentially, the temple is being cased by a gang of young roughs. They're not likely to pose any physical threat, in fact they can be practically impossible to bring to combat. Rather they'll scatter is confronted. And in the meantime... subject A tails Tiora (poorly). Subject B leaves the group to tail Nebbin to Reefclaw Run Market. No sooner has subject B left his post, than subject C shrinks away from their little group and heads back in the direction of Eel's End.
When Kayleigh comes out of the temple none of the remaining streetlings takes notice or follows. Shortly after Kayleigh leaves, subject C returns to the corner, accompanied by a more serious looking individual, subject D. This is a full grown man, evidently armed and talking avidly with subject C. They speak for awhile there while Emi takes to the street in loose pursuit of Nebbin. Shortly thereafter, subject D starts off in the direction of Reefclaw Run Market himself.
Regeris maintains his vigil, happily downing a sandwich Carawyn brings to him in the late afternoon. Subject A returns to the fold as Regeris sits there watching. He joins the group sitting on a wall in the shade of a huge old tree that dominates one corner of the square.
Perhaps an hour and a half since Tiora's first departure, the temple doors are approached by a waif of a creature dressed in stained rags. It scratches weakly at the doors and coughs into the crook of its arm as it waits for someone to answer.
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Reefclaw Run Market
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The man at the back of the line turns to Nebbin and nods the affirmative.
"The one time in my life I have some spare change in my pocket, and my whole family up and gets sick, and ye can't find medicine anywhere in the city! Don't that beat all?!" he pleads.
"Please mister! You're a big fella. Let me pay you, and you push your way through to the front where I can get a word to the shopkeep. Once he sees I'm a man of substance, he'll sell us a bolus and set us all to rights!"
Emi finds the apothecary is part of a series of adjoining shops that she must walk all the way around to find the rear of. She finds that there is a rear entrance and that it's shut and guarded, but not swarmed with customers. Casting a last glance around the market square, she ducks in behind the shops and approaches the guards at the rear door.
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St Alika's Street
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Kayleigh finds exactly what she expected among the houses she visits. The symptoms she herself defeated only this morning in various stages from mild skin rash to open skin lesions. One old man shows signs of significant internal bleeding in his fever-filled limbs. She doesn't intend to stay as long as she does, to follow so many people back to their homes to say a prayer over their sick relatives. The breadth of the infection just in this small part of Bridgefront is far beyond her ability to arrest.
Hearing the knocking at the door, and realizing that she's the only one close enough to the door to answer it, Tassira does so.
She opens the door enough for her to get a good look at who's knocking without opening the door all the way. "Yes?"
Ravnos comes along behind her, peeking out from behind her legs.
"Meow?"
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The Temple of Aroden
--------------------------------------------
Tassira is relieved to find she's opened the door for Tiora-the-beggar. As soon as she's behind closed doors she pulls off the rags around her head to reveal herself.
"Helvara said Devargo has a man inside Jeggare's Jug, so she said to meet her at the Sticky Mermaid. She's going to be there in an hour."
"I got in and out without any issue. If she's being watched closely, I can't tell it. The little scrub Barvasi paid to tail me was easy to shake, and Helvara let me shift my clothes before I left her place, so I feel you're secure so far. But Barvasi does have a gang of punks watching this place from across the road."
She crosses her arms and waits for instructions from Regeris and Tassira.
Tassira lets Tiora inside so she can give her report.
The news of the temple being watched troubles her, but she focuses on the more important issue at hand. "The Sticky Mermaid... I'm not familiar with that establishment."
"...actually, wait--I think Jacoren mentioned the place a few times..."
Nebbin dithers at the man's request.
"Oh, it wouldn't be right to just push ahead," he says. "I mean, everyone else was here first. But I can try to get the shopkeeper's attention, I guess ..."
He carefully begins trying to push his way through the crowd, though he asks for space instead of forcing it.
I do need to get to the front to get the things we need, he thinks. I wish I knew where Emileva was, though. I hope she's OK. If she doesn't get here soon, I'm going to have to go find her. At least Kayleigh's safe in the temple.
Down from the bell tower, Regeris heads down to talk with Tassira and Tiora. He nods approvingly.
"Good. So we've got four people I've spotted. Three kids, one professional. One fetched the professional from Eel's End and is outside. One tailed Nebbin and isn't back. One tailed you, Tiora who you shook and is probably looking for you. The last is this professional who went off to the Reefclaw Run Market."
He groans, leaning against the wall, rubbing his temples. "We need an end game. It is really not to our advantage to have Emi and Nebbin spotted buying weaponry and then your meeting with Helvara observed. We need to either fool them or scatter them, and maybe disrupt what's going on at the Reefclaw Market."
Kayleigh is distressed to see how rapidly the epidemic has spread already in Old Korvosa. Though she's vowed to concentrate on the 'bigger picture,' the kind-hearted priestess finds herself unable to turn her back on the citizens she came to know and care for during her few months of charity work on the island. She does what she can for the sick to give them a fighting chance . She also uses her last remove disease spell for the day on the man with internal bleeding, praying to Milani for a miracle.
When she's done, she slinks back to the Temple, feeling small, insecure in her ability to beat this relentless disease, and rather depressed.
Emi walks up to the two guards smiling, her arms casually at her side, but with her hands held far enough from her body to make it clear to them she's holding nothing.
Good afternoon gentlemen. Would you be interested in making some extra coin on your shift? I need something from the shop, not medicine, and I can't wait the time in line for it."
"There's five gold coins for each of you if one of you will take my order inside and ask it to be filled. I'll wait right here with the other of you. All I need are five doses of anti-toxin, and five vials of acid. I have an infestation to take care of and it can't wait until tomorrow. Tell the proprietor I'll pay half again over market price to get the stuff right away. What do you say? A simple request and everyone benefits."
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Reefclaw Run Market
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The guard smiles at Emi and nods his head. "Watch the door mate, while I get this lady what she needs and I'll split the proceeds." The other agrees and in three minutes Emi has what she sought and is making her way through the crowd out front to get Nebbin. The big man stands in the thick of the crowd, trying in vain to advance on the front door. Happily he stands a head taller than almost everyone else, so Emi easily spots him and calls him off his fruitless task.
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The Temple of Aroden
--------------------------------------------
The Sticky Mermaid is a notorious pirate dive on the northside piers of Old Dock. It's reputed to be a dangerous place, filled to the bumpers with sailors any time a ship of note is in port.
Tiora reads Tassira's doubt on her face.
"The port's uncommon dead right now. Makes me wonder if word of the street illness has already made it out of the city. In any event, I'd bet the Mermaid is likewise dead."
"...ah. The Sticky Mermaid's a pirate dive." Tassira cringes. "No wonder Jacoren loved talking about it so much."
"Well, if Barvasi is having the temple watched from across the street, I don't know if walking out the front door is a good idea..."
Emi pays up and thanks the guards for their trouble. She tucks the containers away out of sight and sets out to collect Nebbin. Since she wants any watcher to think their market outing is completely mundane, Emi circles around to appear to be coming from the Cathedral, hurrying to make up for the extra time it takes. Once she's approaching the shop and Nebbin from the right direction, she drops any attempt to conceal her approach, and keeps an eye out for the boy she saw following Nebbin. She wants to be seen from this point on.
She's uncertain of Nebbin's acting ability so Emi decides to not tell Nebbin she has the goods right away. When she finds him in the throng in front of the apothecary shop she tells him they need to go.
"Nebbin, this line is impossible. We don't have the time to wait to get in. Let's just forget about this and pick up a couple of other things we need."
Emi is generous with her body language indicating the line, and their surrender in the face of its size.
"We need a few things for dinner tonight" she tells him. Emi leads him to buy bread, some cheese, and a couple bottles of wine. Afterward they start back to the Cathedral. She lets the idea of getting caltrops go since she's fairly sure their tail, if he's still with them, has nothing of note to report and she wants to keep it that way.
"Oh, OK," Nebbin agrees. "I wasn't having much luck getting to the front, anyway. Maybe we can get our supplies somewhere else? I really do think we're going to need them..."
He makes his apology to the man he was trying to help.
"Sorry. I thought maybe I could get their attention, but I think there are just too many people. Good luck!"
[i]I wish I could tell them all to come to the temple. I know Kayleigh could cure them all -- she's pretty amazing -- but there are just too many.[i]
He blinks back a few tears as he turns to leave, abandoning all the sick cityfolk.
Once back at the Temple of Aroden, Kayleigh isolates herself from everyone just in case she's again a carrier of the relentless contagion that's tearing through Old Korvosa.
If there's any justice in this world, I'll pass it on to Barvasi!
Regeris looks over to Tiora. "We can maybe distract the one watching the temple so Tassira can get away, then see if we can disrupt things at the market."
Emi reassures Nebbin. "I have a strong feeling that when we get back to the cathedral we'll find the things we were looking for will have been taken care of. Don't worry."
Tassira pauses, then scoops Ravnos up into her arms and slides the kitty into her backpack.
"I don't think I feel comfortable walking the streets alone. Even if the Sticky Mermaid isn't doing much business lately, it still doesn't sound like a place I'd go without some backup."
"Tiora? Think you could come with me and we can slip out the back of the temple? It should make us more difficult to spot--or, at least, make me more difficult to spot--I kinda stick out already."