After she closes the door behind her, Emi takes a couple of steps forward and calls out her presence.
"Hello? Vencarlo?"
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Vencarlo Orisini's home
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"Hello!" Vencarlo's voice comes answering back from somewhere down the dim hallway to Emileva's right. The man himself strides out of the gloom a moment later still dressed in laced dueling britches and vest. When he sees who it is standing in his foyer a smile lights up in his eyes.
"Emi! Come in and tell me what you've been up to! I've heard a bit and guessed more about the happenings in Old Dock. Are you ok?"
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The Temple of Aroden
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The kids break out in spontaneous reprisals of Oliphaunt Ear as they noisily plow through the treat. Carawyn looks younger than she has in a week, almost a child again. Peri and Jilly tease one another as siblings and compete to create the least coherent and silliest next verse, giggling throughout like lunatics. Standing there watching that scene, one would have to have a hard heart not to laugh a little.
"That is a sound we've heard precious little of in this house over the years," Garlan says, wistfuly.
No sooner are the words out of his mouth then a ball of twisting, hissing monster falls out of the dark vault above your heads and onto the dining table with a crash. Plates and Oliphaunt ear fly everywhere. Children scream and cry. And the ball of twisted monster flails about on the table, beating four wings and thrashing two tails. The purple head, jaws agape latches to a red neck. A little voice cries out an infernal curse and breaks the hold, and before anyone can so much as save their drink from disaster, the one ball of monster resolves into two. A red imp leaps into the air and flies straight up into the belltower gloom over the party's heads.
The cobalt head fixes golden eyes upon Tassira.
"Madame Wizard! You have a devil in your house!" It's the house drake, Majenko. With a spring of his tail he vaults after the fleeing imp.
After her initial shock wears off, Kayleigh is quick to act, jumping out of her chair while drawing her silver morningstar at the same time. Invoking Milani's name, the priestess fills herself and three friends with a confidence none of them felt the last time they battled imps. She offers her weapon to Nebbin, saying that silver is anathema to the little devils.
"It's the spy!" Nebbin cries out. "Everyone get out of here!"
He looks up amid the carnage of oliphaunt ears -- thinking how they are so far superior to their rival alchemist cakes (made by dribbling batter through an alchemist's funnel into hot oil) and how sad it is that he won't get any -- to try to spot the two creatures.
He takes the weapon, ready to throw it at the imp if need be!
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Emi returns Vencarlo’s smile and steps forward, into conversation range. ”It’s been a very busy and eventful few days.” She digs inside her shirt and pulls out the bundle of letters. ”Here are Amprei’s letters.” Emi hands them over.
”Things didn’t go the way we wanted them to with Barvasi, but we got them. I’m sure you know by now he’s dead. I don’t know if that will be for the better or worse going forward, but it’s hard to imagine it’s for the worse. At the least we didn’t have to pay him for the letters so you’ll get your money back.”
Emi pulls the bottle of wine for her bag and raises it. ”The details will take some time in the telling, but if it’s not an imposition I’d like to lay them out for you. We could use some advice I think. Maybe this bottle will help things along, and I don’t have anywhere I need to be until tomorrow.” As she says the last part Emi looks at Vencarlo in what she thinks is an approximately demure way, hoping he will pick up on what she means.
Once they’re settled with their glasses, Emi begins the story from the beginning, at their initial meeting with Barvasi. ”He was far more hostile to us than I expected, but then he did agree to sell the letters, and with very little bargaining. In hindsight I guess it should have seemed fishier than it did, but it wasn’t until Tiora told us about the bounty that we really understood what he was planning.”
Emi explains who Tiora is, as well as her revelation of a bounty placed on them by Pilts Swastel. She relates their preparations for the worst ahead of their meeting to make the exchange with Barvasi, as well as Madame Helvara’s assistance.
”Of course Barvasi had not intended to turn over the letters. He didn’t even try hard to disguise his intentions.”
She describes the fight that broke out and it’s outcome. Then she moves on to her offer to protect the businesses at Eel’s End and the owners' reactions.
”So Eel’s End is empty except for Bezzeraty. Since he’s all but refused to stop selling shiver, I’ll have to remove him soon enough as well. I thought we’d be better received by the business owners, but I must admit I’m relieved we won’t be getting involved there. We’re probably not quite so popular as we used to be in Old Dock though” Emi adds with a rueful smile.
”We are also still left with the problem of competition to fill the empty space Barvasi left behind. Things could get ugly in our part of town if there are many rivals fro his position, and the violence gets ugly. And of course there’s still Pilts Swastel behind all of this stuff, offering to pay anyone who wants to try collecting our heads.”
Emi pours herself a second, heavy glass. ”That’s Act I. Act II began this morning. We were summoned by Cressida Kroft. I think she’s mostly alright with what happened at Eel’s End. If she isn’t, she’s at least more interested in having us investigate a new murder than in berating us. You may not have heard this yet, but Kentarion Jeggare was murdered last night at the family museum. It was the Key-Lock Killer.”
Emi skips the meeting with the Pharasmans, it would be too difficult for her to relate it all clearly. Besides, the basic arc of events doesn’t require it for Vencarlo to understand what’s happening. She quickly relates the events involved with Tassira’s brother’s murder and that investigation. She tells him briefly about the discovery of Rolth’s “laboratory”, and their (almost) certainty that he is the Key-Lock Killer. Then she continues by filling him in on the investigation earlier in the day. Unlike the Eel’s End story, where Emi edited out details that didn’t matter to the outcome, she lays out the murder investigation and everything surrounding it in as much careful detail as she can. She hopes something will catch Vencarlo’s notice that they did not see, or prod his memory about the Jeggare family, their associations, and/or their history.
”So yes, the last couple of days have been eventful to put it mildly. It’s all so frustrating because every time we seem to have solved a problem, another looms right behind it. There are so many urgent, hazardous things competing for our attention that we’re always reacting to events rather than taking the initiative. Anyway, we would be grateful for any advice you might have concerning any of these things.”
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Regeris actually smiles as Kayleigh sings the song and passes out the pastries to the children.
The Everbloom is a caretaker, protector, and warrior. These are our flock and we will put down everything for them. I feel her in Kayleigh. Tiora knew it too. This i---
As the imp hits the table Regeris is already reaching for his bow. "How could have we been so foolish! Majenko, don't let it get away, we wnat it alive if we can!"
He quickly chants a spell to the Everbloom, and sets off in hot pursuit.
As he moves, he tries to signal to the drake without explicitly stating his purpose - if it gets away, find out where it goes.
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Vencarlo's Home
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Vencarlo glances over the notes as Emi tells about the fight, cringing when he hears of the swarms of spiders and the monster below decks.
"It's a shame it cannot be cast off the pier and set ablaze in the river. It sounds like it wouldn't make it that far. And I suppose there are the corpses to recover. There might be identifying clothing, something to close a missing person case someday. When sanity returns to this city.
He runs a hand through his hair in frustration, drains his first glass of wine and refocuses his attention on Emi's tale.
When Emi starts to talk of criminals reoccupying Eel's End, Vencarlo interjects with a reassuring hand.
"I think you are probably under-estimating the effect your raid will have on Eel's End and the drug trade here. It's one thing to take out gangs who sell shiver on the street. It's quite another to destroy a place the drug is produced, along with the rare monsters required for its production. These local producers of the drug are what makes it so prevalent here. In other parts of the world, shiver is quite hard to get because these spiders are so rare, and hard to control."
"I suspect Grau's men will leave nothing to reclaim at Eel's End, and that this Bezzeratty character may find it harder to re-establish his business than he let on."
He slides a little closer to Emi on the divan as she launches into Act II of her description.
"I did hear about Kentarion! A shocking loss for his family, for the city and for the University. My first thought is to pull hard on this Penderghast thread. I don't know this man, he must not be from the traditional noble family circles of the city. He's either foreign-born or he's come up from nowhere. For this necromancer and his understudy to have a signed volume in their possession incriminates him most directly."
Reaching his near arm around Emi's shoulder, Vencarlo lowers his voice
"I am, ahem, mature enough to remember the original Keylock murders. These killings you describe today are connected to the old through the exotic weapon, but they aren't really anything like the old murders in character. The older murder victims were not connected at all - part of the terror caused by those murders were the randomness of the victims. Another part was the sheer horror of the scenes themselves. The corpses were 'artfully' arranged, dismembered, disemboweled... every insult you might imagine was visited on the corpses of these victims. These new murders lack that aspect entirely. Against the backdrop of everything else happening in the city today, they are practically unremarkable."
"Like. Yet truly not alike."
He leans in to kiss Emileva. When they pause to breathe he asks if she's hungry.
"My butler will be setting a table soon for my dinner. Let me just lock up the house and let him know there are two diners, and we can continue this excellent bottle over something more substantial."
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Temple of Aroden
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There are steps in the dining room lead up to the small belltower above. Peering up into the shadows of that vault you can make out the underside of the steps. Majenko followed his prey over the railing of the open-sided staircase and went straight up the belltower. Pursuit of the beastie consists of climbing those steps or rushing out into the street. Outside you would just be looking into the night sky for something that can easily slip back into invisibility, a likely lost cause.
Ascending the creaky steps you find the small door to the tower to be unlocked and open. Examining the simple lock, Regeris finds that it's been picked. Standing at the window of the tower there's no sign of either flyer, at first. But after waiting there for a minute or two Majenko does eventually come gliding back out of the night air and lands on the belltower window rail.
"The devil fled where we could not go," it explains in its sandy undertones. "It shot straight over the bridge, then veered towards the hill. The skies around the hill belong to the devils, of course, so I could chase no further."
Regeris bites back a word he probably shouldn't even know considering his good upbringing, and nods tersely to Majenko. "Thank you, you've done us a great service."
He takes a moment to look over to the hill from the tower, trying to determine what part of the city the imp has fled back to before returning down to the temple.
"Whatever Majenko likes we should make sure he gets a lot of it. Fairly apparent that Rolth has been using imps as spies - which makes incredible sense."
Emi finds Vencarlo's gradual journey across to divan to her both amusing and quite adorable. In return she plays ignorant of the intent behind his sporadic advances, only putting her arms around him after he's leaned in to kiss her.
When he suggests dinner, she leans back pulling him along with her. She smiles, looking back into his eyes only a couple of inches away. "Mmm, some dinner sounds wonderful."
Butler?! Emi hadn't been aware anyone else was present in the house. It also occurs to her that all she and Vencarlo ever talk about is her and whatever problems she's seeking advice about. She vows that must change.
Emi doesn't find the butler's service at dinner intimidating. Her uncle would never have condoned such an unnecessary expense, but he was a stickler for propriety and she knows her way around a table setting. It's unlikely anyone would guess but such graces has been well drilled into her in her younger years.
She does start to wonder how many times the butler has seen similar scenes with other women before, but she stops herself immediately. I'd be silly and unfair to expect he would have spent all his time before just waiting around for me to finally appear. And after all, isn't that part of his appeal? Vencarlo's someone who knows his way around in the world."
When they are settled and alone Emi thanks Vencarlo for dinner. "It's lovely." Then she asks as a conversation starter "why do you teach? It doesn't seem to be of necessity."
Although Kayleigh shares Regeris's basic sentiment and is appreciative of Majenko's efforts against the imp...the inquisitor had missed the little house dragon enthusiastically (and grossly) feasting upon dozens of oversized spiders in Barvasi's cabin at Eel's End. The memory of the swarm attacks causes the priestess to involuntarily shudder, and then she's certain she feels something crawling near the small of her back and does a nervous little jump while scratching at the spot with a free hand.
"Yes, some sort of reward is in order," she says eventually. Then she quietly adds, "You know, the first thing I thought of when Majenko mentioned a devil in the house was the priest from the Temple of Asmodeus who tried to incite a riot the other day. But it being a servant or familiar of Rolth, Penderghast, or some other quasi-academic from the Academae or University is more likely. Whatever the case...all those suspects would dwell in the Heights."
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Vencarlo's Home
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Perhaps sensing a little surprise or unease in Emileva, Vencarlo explains a little of his circumstances over an excellent joint of roasted beef. He formally introduces his manservant, and Emi realizes she's seen the man before, but assumed he was an employee of the school.
"Erold is butler, cook and cleaning for my home and the school. He lives in a room on the other end of the house and has served me now for more than a decade. And he's an excellent cook."
"The school is really my passion in a couple of ways. Teaching young people - recognizing and nurturing the next great talent. Keeping my own skills up to snuff without hurting anyone. And the income is very welcome. It's true that I came into some wealth both through family and luck in youth, but some of my ventures are quite expensive these days and have little chance of any return, so every silver sail help keeps the ship afloat."
"And running this school keeps me connected to important families and people in this city, which is important to me. Something my mother taught me about investing in family and community. It is ironic that my family has dwindled so in number here in Korvosa. I'm the last of us."
He drains his glass and refills both. Dinner invariably moves to a comfortable sitting room with chairs, a sofa, shelves of books, low lighting and another bottle of wine.
"But Korvosa is home for me. So I do what I can to make her stronger. I think you and I are alike in this, and that I don't really have to explain."
He takes Emileva in his arms, kissing her neck and speaking very low in her ear.
"Of course if you do want a fuller explanation, my night is yours..."
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Temple of Aroden
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Majenko makes a comical attempt to cross his little arms over his reptilian belly and fails. He snorts out a cloud of silver glitter and stamps his foot on the rail.
"No. Majenko doesn't deserve a reward. Majenko repays his liberators. Without your freeing hand and your help to escape the spider den, I would not have ever seen my brood again. But I have now three sons! I would never have flown with my brood, without your rescue."
He swivels his long neck around to take in the lit plaza below and the bridge crossing the Narrows and entering North Point.
"This place would make a good perch. Maybe this house of man-gods would not chase off a friendly drake who took home in their belltower?"
Kayleigh raises an eyebrow at Majenko's words. Turning to Garlan, she asks the old priest, "Is this something you'd accede to? It sounds like a great fit...and an extra layer of protection for your temple."
Tassira smiles when she sees Majenko again.
"I think this place would be a lovely home for you."
"What?" Garlan asks, coming up the stairs behind the group. "A house drake. I assume it bites. Will it keep out the imps?"
Majenko answers for himself. "Mmm. I definitely do bite every once in a while. But I hate the devils of this city above all. And I can see them even when you cannot. I would look around in your church for you whenever you like too, as long as you promise not to bite."
Garlan doesn't have to think on it long before he shrugs and smiles. "It does sound like a smart arrangement. Welcome to our brood little dragon. Come down stairs with us and I'll show you around the church. And you can tell us if we have anymore imp issues."
He turns to Kayleigh as he passes back down the steps, leading everyone back into the church, "It might do the children well to meet our friend. The young ones had a shock."
Emi gives in to the moment and quits with her chit-chat. The the morning over a bit of breakfast she asks a couple of questions about his family, but here is no particular aim to them. It's simply her desire to get to know Vencarlo better rather than any attempt to dig for information that motivates her.
She expects another busy day ahead so she tries to get back to the temple reasonably early. She promises to bring Vencarlo his money as soon as she can as she leaves.
Kayleigh nods at Garlan's wise words and takes some time to introduce the house dragon to the Lambs, telling the children that he'll be staying in the temple to protect them. She also does her best to assure the skittish kiddos that now that there's a dragon guarding the place, no imp will dare enter.
Still, the priestess is noticeably peeved at the intrusion.
Why can't we ever seem to have a nice, quiet, happy moment in this city nowadays?
Regeris nods once. "Thank you Majenko, please let us know about imps and other spies you may see. We have enemies who would harm us all."
Nebbin's happy to see the drake and pleased that it chased off the imp.
"Maybe that was the only thing watching us ... now that it's gone, hopefully we can have a little more peace. But I didn't really think Rolth would be working with devils..." he concludes dubiously.
The house drake makes courteous noises at all the young ones, solemnly promising to keep the house free of devils and blowing little puffs of glittery smoke to amuse. Eventually he excuses himself and flies back up into the vaulted ceiling of the church to explore and make himself at home.
Taking the dragon around to meet the children reminds you of all of just how packed you are under this roof. The priests bunk together, the male children together, the girls together, and of course your party shares rooms. Eventually you're able to settle in to your own rooms and find rest for your street-sore feet.
When you awake, each of you finds a harrow card waiting for you. Kayleigh's card is The Midwife, stuck in her hair. Regeris wakes up with The Crows in his hand. Tassira's card is The Keep and she finds it resting over her heart when she stirs. Nebbin wakes up with The Beating stuck to his cheek.
Up the hill, Emileva rolls out of Vencarlo's embrace to find The Paladin laying on the pillow beside her.
Though each person's card is different, they all are from the same deck and have scrawled on their back the same handwriting:
Madame Carington's Oneiromancy
14 Brittlewood Lane
Bridgefront
Tassira blinks a few times and plucks the Keep from her chest. Ravnos hops up in bed next to her.
Ravnos makes a series of mews and trills.
Tassira gets out of bed and starts walking out into the temple's worship area. "When did you become so articulate, Ravnos?"
The tabby responds with some annoyed-sounding meows.
Regeris is a light sleeper, and almost lets out a shout when he wakes up to see the card. He examines it carefully, turning it over in his hands. He examines the address, trying to see if he kn
He rejoins the group looking troubled. "Can anyone explain what just happened here? Did any of you receive these Harrow cards?" He holds up The Crows. "I would not consider this a particularly pleasant omen - or welcome advertisement. Who is Madame Carington?"
Nebbin looks concerned as he gazes at his card.
"Is it Madame Zellara's ghost again, do you think?" he asks. "Maybe Madame Carington knows her? We should probably go see, right?"
With part of the sheet wrapped around her, Emi sits in bed looking at the the front and back of the card over and over. It's chilling to her to find another card. Not so much the card itself. Really the first one had been a benign thing in the end, helpful to her and the rest of the temple group in accomplishing something they all wanted to do.
The disturbing part is its appearance. Whether it was placed on her pillow by hand or by some kind of magic, the thought she can alway be reached, at anytime or anyplace, is incredibly unsettling.
When Vencarlo wakes Emi shows him the card. "This was on my pillow beside me when I woke up." After giving him the card to look at and pausing for another moment to consider, she goes ahead and explains what she can of it to him.
"What I'm about to tell you is very hard to believe, but this isn't the first time it's happened..." Emi tells him about the first time finding the cards and address, as well as Madame Zellara's ghost. "I'll be very surprised if each of us hasn't found a card, not just me."
Emi crawls over to wrap herself around Vencarlo and rest her head on his shoulder. "I'll need to leave for the temple soon. We're going to have to talk about this. Do you know what oneiromancy means?"
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
By the time Emi walks into the temple, everyone else has had ample time to learn about their cards. She holds hers up. "All of us have one, right?"
When Kayleigh joins the others for breakfast, she too is holding a Harrow card: The Midwife. Noticing that each of her friends likewise holds a card, the priestess quips, "So, which one of you wants to tell our new watchdragon he's fired?"
Regeris actually barks a laugh at Kayleigh's joke. "She has our attention if anything. I believe our first priority shoudl be deciphering the journal before we get distracted with fifteen tasks at once. I can start asking the children and other residents - I think our spy was the imp, but it's possible that Rolth has a fallback. I would if I was him. Kayleigh do you want to help me? They like you better. We just need to ask them one by one if anyone has asked them lots of questions about us or has given them presents."
Kayleigh nods to Regeris, asking Nebbin to watch over Tassira while the mage examines Gaedren's ledger...without disturbing Tassira too much in the process.
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Temple of Aroden
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Kayleigh and Regeris pretty quickly realize the low chance they have of learning anything from the kids. The priests very rarely let them leave the property of the temple, and then only under the supervision of someone. You satisfy yourselves that they cannot be the source of the spying.
The remaining items from Gaedran's aren't revelatory. The inscription on the key-blade, "For an inspiration of a Father," screams at you in retrospect.
The notes from Rolth's lab make it pretty clear that he's a complete psychopath with no regard whatsoever for the humanity of his subjects. The anatomy volume authored by Penderghast gnaws at you though. The notes scrawled in the margin are all in Aklo and not in Rolth's hand at all. The inscription on the last leaves, signed 'Randolphus Penderghast' makes your brains itch.
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Vencarlo's House
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Vencarlo walks Emi to the door as she leaves and gives her a parting kiss.
Be careful out there, Emi. I know I don't need to tell you how dangerous it is out there right now. Friends you can trust are very hard to find. Even the guard here on the hill can't really be relied upon, with all the money they take under the table from the Arkonas, it's better to be on your guard at all times."
"And don't be away too long." he calls after her with a smile.
The morning weather is clear and the walk downhill to the temple goes without incident.
"No surprise there," Kayleigh says with a sigh to Regeris. "They're just regular kids, not sinister spies." She excuses herself, grabbing a hunk of leftover salvaged-off-the-floor oliphant ear, her armor, buckler, and a bag of reagents before heading to a quiet spot to upgrade her gear. It takes a couple of hours, but soon Kayleigh's ready to meet the day dressed smartly in her city watch garb, her breastplate and shield looking sleeker and shinier than they had previously.
"I can ask two questions of the murdered Jeggare's body," she reminds the others. "We should finalize what those two questions should be and visit the Pharasman temple once we're done at the University." After a thoughtful pause, she adds, "Perhaps Lady d'Bear or one of her priests can decipher Gaedren's ledger as well."
There's good news waiting for Emileva at the temple. The imp who was seemingly most of the spying problem is chased away and Majenko will be staying on to guard against the return of any more. It seems none of the children have been meddled with.
She congratulates Majenko on his new family, and suggests there is probably room for more than one drake should he wish it.
On the other hand, trying to help Tassira with the books quickly becomes frustrating.
She eventually asks Tassira "what about the college? Do you know anyone there who could translate this stuff?"
In a complete turnabout from the previous day, and due to her conversation with Vencarlo, Emi is very hot to pursue the Penderghast line of inquiry.
"We should seek an appointment with him first, and plan the rest of the day around the meeting time."
"Well, I suppose if we had the time, we could speak with Master Leroung... assuming he'd even give us the time of day." Tassira grumbles. "He'd probably speak to Regeris or Kayleigh with no issue."
"Let's get to the university then. If we can get any information on the book in short order, we can use it for further questioning. And if it will take a while we can re-assess."
"I bet someone at the university could help with the book," Nebbin says, willing to try to do that at the same time as they go try to talk to Penderghast.
"I don't know if it's a good idea asking about Gaedren's code at the University," Kayleigh interjects. "We don't know how many people are involved with Rolth, the previous bit of body-snatching, and the recent activities with the derros...not to mention the spate of murders. There could be a whole cult of sickos at work there, for all we know."
Tassira tried to think of someone who could help with deciphering the coded journal...
Tassira's memory lights on a friendly old gnome librarian at Theumanexus named Tandi with pink hair and spectacles who had a passion for puzzles and ciphers. A friendly acquaintance she hasn't renewed in some time.
Outside the temple you find a warm morning and a scant crowd in the street. As you thread your way across the square towards the bridge into Northpoint, you cannot help but notice two bodies lying on the ground by the roadside. Bypassers cut a wide lane around the two, and as you get closer one shakes with a meager cough.
Kayleigh, dressed in her watch garb, moves closer to the two roadside bodies. Assuming they're victims of the blood veil plague, the priestess checks to see if the second body still draws breath.
Stewing over the fifty different things the group has to keep track of, Regeris stalks swiftly along the road, occasionally having to slow his stride. While doing so, he tries to recall anything he knows about the name Penderghast.
And almost knocks over Tassira as he does a double take, noticing the bodies. Muttering an apology he moves over with Kayleigh. "Could be plague."
He steps back, watching the crowd and their reactions while he lets Kayleigh do her work.
Also wearing his cloak, Nebbin follows in Kayleigh's path, making sure no one bothers her. He looks around, just in case, having learned that sometimes things of this nature are more of a trick than he would have ever believed possible.
He does try to cover his mouth as they get close to the bodies, though. He doesn't want to get sick again.
Yes both of them still breathe shallow, rattle-trap breaths. And neither stirs as Kayleigh draws closer. They're both adult men with patchy beards and dirty faces covered in grape-sized boils and patches of black skin. The older of the two has bloodstains around his mouth that Kayleigh can see from arm's-length.
Kayleigh stoops over the two men and examines their symptoms, realizing these aren't just two more cases of blood veil.
Emi carries her guard cloak folded up inside her pack. It could be useful later at the university and so forth, but she'd rather not wear it around all over the place.
She waits well back as Kayleigh looks to the sick men. She can't do anything to help, so there's no point in exposing herself.
Not wanting to expose more people than necessary, Regeris simply hangs back to let Kayleigh to her work.
"I think we know what happened. This is going to be very bad."
If these men are dying from blood veil, it is a very advanced form of it - the horrifying end stage. Each of these men have mere hours to live. The one coughing blood may draw his last rattle at any moment.
Kayleigh grimaces when she sees the sorry state of older man. Waving Nebbin a bit closer, she whispers, "Could you please screen what I'm doing from people passing by?" The she casts remove disease on the man, putting his fate in the hands of Milani.
Tassira stands back, quietly grateful she opted not to wear the watch cloak as Kayleigh gets to work.
Nebbin looms, trying to hold out his cloak to block anyone from seeing.
Though Kayleigh knows that her prayer was granted and Milani's power flowed into the old man, she can see no discernible effect from her or her goddess's efforts. He draws another raspy, gurgling breath, exhales and is silent for several moments before repeating. The second man makes a terrible retching sound, a ragged cough by all appearances, but makes no other sign of consciousness.