Tassira hands the 'Blue Horizon' perfume and complexion cream to Emi on the way back.
"Thanks for coming out there with me, Emi."
"Um, that's good that they want to help, but ... um, does that mean we'd be breaking the law while we were trying to help ourselves?" Nebbin asks, a bit confused. "That can't be right. This is going to upset people too much to be helpful."
Emi looks at the containers Tassira has handed her. "Thanks, what are they?"
Then she adds "So what do you think, is she a fraud?"
Kayleigh frowns at Nebbin, wondering how Nebbin came to such a wild conclusion from the crier's words. Then she reads the actual poster and her frown deepens. "I can see why you'd say that," the priestess says slowly. "I'd hope they'd display common sense and let the city's clerics do their part in the battle against the blood veil. If these physicians or Gray Maidens were to break into the temple and try to remove anyone I were treating...well, if the penalty for trying to save lives is death, I intend to go down fighting."
Realizing suddenly how grim (and anti-throne) she sounds, Kayleigh mutters, "Let's hope it never comes to that."
"I wouldn't let that happen!" Nebbin says, an unusual steel in his voice.
"Well, I'm certainly convinced she's more interested in making as much money as she can." Tassira wrinkles her nose. "When I put on that whole 'snooty noble' schtick, I could see the gold pieces in her eyes."
"By the way, that's a perfume called 'Blue Horizon'. I thought it'd be a scent that suits you. And that cream is supposed to help your plague scars heal--so long as you don't scratch. I'm reasonably certain she wasn't lying about that, at least."
Regeris stares at the plague doctors and the Gray Maidens coldly after reading the announcement. He looks to the others. "This is disturbing and is a tremendous power grab, seizing the opportunity of the plague to impose the Queen's personal military order's supremacy within the city. This also overrules the healing efforts of... everyone. Not just us, but significant players like the Bank of Abadar. Of course these laws apply to the poor first and everyone else second."
He grimaces. "The crowds at the Temple may make us a target for the Maidens and although it would normally make perfect sense for everyone to go to a centralized place of healing to treat the disease I do not trust this. We should speak with the Field Marshall immediately."
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Midland - Kayleigh, Nebbin & Regeris
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All at once Kayleigh spots two developments in the crowd that elude her friends. The first is a pair of city guards. They stand outside the crowd, eyeing the whole scene and particularly the Gray Maidens with something approaching malice.
The second comes to her as a fleeting glimpse through a gap in the crowd. A third plague doctor moves among the people in teh street, examining citizens and either directing them toward the lines or clearing them. Though the long robe conceals much, it's obvious that this third doctor is a woman and the trajectory of her progress through the crowd means she will be upon your little cabal in moments.
Kayleigh tugs on Regeris's arm and directs his attention to the closing plague doctor. "Time to get out of here before we're held up and lumped in with the sick folk." Taking Nebbin's hand, she asks the big guy to plow a path toward the two angry guards she also noticed.
Nebbin follows her request, trying to carefully maneuver their way through the crowd toward the two, hoping he doesn't draw any more attention to themselves.
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Midland - Kayleigh, Nebbin & Regeris
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People scurry under Nebbin's glare, making a lane for the group to beat a hasty retreat to the east side of the street, away from the table and the roving doctor.
The guards come out of their slouching posture when they catch sight of Nebbin and team approaching. They don't say a word in greeting - you don't recognize them and they evidently don't recognize you as members of the guard without your cloaks. They stare back with hard, wary eyes.
Before Regeris can try to scare people away with a look, Nebbin does a good job of it and he lets out a sigh of relief. "All this time we've been paranoid about Rolth... this may get far worse. Let's move."
---
Regeris slows up as he realizes the guards are giving them a look. Considering the misery he's gone through with the plague, he nudges Kayleigh, hoping her more pleasant demeanor will get them somewhere.
"We're with the Guard--with the Old Dock branch--ourselves," Kayleigh hisses tersely at the two men. "You look like you're about to do something foolish and regrettable. Please--come with us and tell us what's got you so upset."
Emi puts the cream away in her pouch, then unstoppers the bottle to sniff it. She smiles tentatively, as if she's wondering if she'd dare wear it. "It smells nice Tassira. Thank you."
Though the guards' initial hostility is gone, they refuse to budge from the spot they're in.
"Sorry, but our orders are to help these Queensguard knights manage the crowd. With them in charge. We can't go anywhere. There's an old warehouse just up the road that they've taken over and are setting up as a plague clinic. If we're going anywhere, it's there."
"My advice to you is to stay away from headquarters unless you want to have a pair of doctors assigned to you as your new commanders. Maybe news travels slow through the city these days. You should go back to Old Dock and warn the rest of the garrison there. Once they've finished here in Midland these doctors are sure to be headed into Old Korvosa."
He checks himself as his eyes leave the crowd and survey the three of you closely for the first time. He takes a step back.
"On the other hand, you might want to get to headquarters and see one of these doctors. I wouldn't go mixing in with this crowd if I were you, but you all three look like you should be examined. There's a doctor at the citadel who's there just to keep the garrison disease-free."
Kayleigh gives the two guard members a splotchy-faced smile and concedes, "Yeah, we're not looking too good at the moment, but we all managed to through off the infection this morning. No cough, see?"
Despite her words, Kayleigh can't quite hold in a slight cough when she finishes talking to the men. With one of her pouty frowns, the priestess amends, "Well, maybe a lingering light cough, but not the big, nasty, hacking cough of someone still infected with the blood veil. Nothing that a couple days' rest won't clear up."
To Nebbin and Regeris she adds, "Let's meet up with Emi and Tassira again and find out what they've learned." To Regeris she concludes, "If you still want to see the Field Commander, maybe they'd let Tassira in since she's uninfected, but I worry that the rest of us would be sent to a hospice in our current condition."
Regeris mutters miserably as their attempt to get through fails. "I like I'm trying to hold on to smoke right now. We found a horrifically murdered man in Penderghast's flat and there's still a serial killer on the loose. Not to mention our association with Croft may spare us an involuntary stay at hospice. Sending Tassira in may be best. Also it would have helped if we were wearing cloaks in advance, blood veil rashes or no."
"It smells nice Tassira. Thank you."
"I certainly hope it does. I might have good reason to regret buying it later." Tassira jokes.
"But..." She sighs. "...I really hope something breaks our way, and soon. I'm tired of feeling so helpless!"
Nebbin nods, willing to follow Kayleigh's lead, and unsure how they can deal with this latest problem. No matter what they do, things just keep seeming to get worse.
The party finds the temple settled and quiet when they meet back up. Garlan listens in as you swap stories of your afternoon, serving you cold leftovers from dinner and commenting at the interesting points.
"If you'll pardon my saying so, I think these doctors can only help the situation - regardless of your suspicions about the Queen. The House of Abadar can't control this sickness. The Pharasmans can't contain it. Kayleigh, bless your heart you're trying your best, but you can't defeat it by yourself. We're worse than useless - actually adding to your healing burden. Maybe these doctors will have a better idea what causes something like this, and what to do to slow it down."
"But it seems sure this charlatan in Bridgefront is making money off the poor, no?"
He takes a bite of hard, leftover bread and chews thoughtfully. Behind him, a fluttering form settles onto a shadowy pew, its golden eyes shining. When Majenko speaks up, Garlan jumps and nearly chokes on his bite.
"Another imp came snooping around earlier today," the little dragon says. "It thought it was being sneaky, but my sons and I spied it and surprised it. It was lucky to get away with its skin."
"No reason to be concerned," it adds quickly, "but I thought you should know."
"You haven't run into any more of those tasty spiders, have you?" Majenko adds, eyeing Garlan's heel of bread with disgust.
Kayleigh listens wordlessly to the reports of Emi and Tassira, and then to Garlan's pearls of wisdom. When Majenko reports the presence of a second imp, the priestess makes sure that the little devil is indeed different than the one driven off previously, wondering if this portends yet another enemy the friends will have to deal with.
"Sorry--no more spiders," she informs the little dragon. "We'll keep our eyes peeled for any infestations, though."
Though she's exhausted, depressed, and in need of sleep herself, Kayleigh plays the part of a Milanite martyr, forgoing sleep to give Crayden long-term care to ensure that the frail priest regains as much health as possible, should the blood veil again come for him.
"So what do we do now?" Nebbin asks. "I mean, the fake cure's bad ... but it doesn't seem like ... Don't we have bigger things to worry about?"
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Temple of Aroden - Tassira
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That feeling of helplessness follows Tassira into the dream world. As exhausting as the days have been, the mind cannot settle even in sleep. The mage's dreaming brain cascades from one confusing scene to another without any of it sticking to memory.
Finally the chaos ends in a warm place, between silken sheets, next to Helvara in her low-ceilinged cabin in the belly of the House of Clouds. The air is heavy with incense and subtly pulsing to other rythms in the ship. Helvara crawls over to her, letting the cover slip and covering Tassira with herself for a time. The dream wallows in seductive warmth.
A cry from somewhere else in the floating brothel brings her twice-dreaming mind back to alternate reality, and she's shocked to now find herself surrounded by other couples in every variety, filling Helvara's little cabin and spilling into the dark walkway beyond her open door. The woman next to her is bound, as is the man. Their bonds are white ropes. Entwined strands of sticky string stretching up into the shadows beyond her sight.
To her other side a man cries out in ecstasy, but when she tries to turn her head to see him her eyes are caught by Helvara's huge, beautiful, hungry eyes. They kiss feverishly, but before Tassira knows what has happened, Helvara's insistence takes on an aggression that frightens the young mage. She pushes back and is pierced by a wave of pure frightened shock.
The lines of the madame's jaw and forehead darken under her skin. Her face bulges with sickening motion and her fair, perfect complexion begins to stretch and tear. With a screech, her face stretches into a deformity as mandibles erupt from her jaw and spiked bony protrusions come bursting out of her shoulders and back. Tassira tries to scream, but no sound will come. She tries to fight back but her own limbs are bound in the same stickiness. Other people in the room are screaming too but the sound is muted and distorted in the mage's ear. She looks around desperately, and finds that they are all struggling in a vast web of strands that fill the whole cabin.
With another shock her dream mind is suddenly refocused on her lover and the monster she's become. Alternate legs protruding from her sides support the weight of her twisted body. Her naked human legs crouch piteously beneath. There's a terrible stinger that protrudes wickedly, poison trailing thick to a brown stain on the bed. It poises to strike.
Tassira tries again to scream, and again there's no sound. In a blink she's watching the scene from a third perspective, her mind's eye is backing away from the scene. Framed with a white border. The terror on her own face is etched there, frozen in the moment. The bodies of the other lovers hang around her in the web like marionettes dangling from strings. The monster's lethal rage is captured in the art. A warm female voice floods her awareness, drowning out the faint whisper of her own screaming. The thick varisian accent is one the mage recognizes.
Zellara, the dead fortune teller. The scene of her prior dream is captured on a card that she holds in her hand.
"Your enemies act off-stage to defeat you. They act behind veils that your sight cannot yet pierce."
Her face comes floating toward the mage, faster and faster. The mouth stretches in a scream.
"Bring the Deck!!" it screeches.
Tassira turns her face and feels the impact on her cheekbone and jaw, a solid, painful blow.
She wakes up on the cold stone floor of her priest's cell in the Temple of Aroden. She tangled in her sheet and she's fallen out of bed. Somewhere in the dark temple, a girl or woman is screaming.
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Temple of Aroden - Emileva
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Like her friend in the next cell, Emi is plagued by chaotic, foul dreams. The sickness that invaded her body twists itself through the folds of her psyche and stains the scenes made by her sleeping brain. In every encounter she's troubled and self-conscious of her appearance. The cream Tassira bought at Lavender's is not working. Her skin is getting worse and each scene in her dream is nagged by worry that Vencarlo will swoop in and see her in her hideous state. No one will treat her seriously. People cut her a wide berth in the street. As her rage builds she turns to threats, but the people she meets just laugh at her diseased impotence. Her withered arm can barely grip her heavy blade well enough to draw it.
She finds herself hiding in her room, gazing at her own reflection in the polished embossment of her sheild. Her wandering gaze settles again on her atrophied limb and she sudders in disgust at herself. A terrible boil on her forearm is black from infection and she lances it angrily. Kayleigh and Tassira would be horrified to see it, but she finds herself unable to bear the sight of it for another moment.
The wound burns and her blackened blood drips hissing onto the floor. Probing with the lance she finds the burning shifts into an intense itching. She digs to get at the mad itch, stripping away skin and flesh to reach it. At her feet, the pieces of rotted flesh melt into the form of tiny spiders that go skittering off into the corners of the room as they form.
Emi wakes with a start, brushing reflexively at her skin to shake off things that aren't really there. Her joints ache where her dream self dug at her own flesh. Afterwards she finds it very hard to get back into her bed, much less back to sleep.
She's dosing in a half dream state when the real screaming starts.
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Temple of Aroden - Kayleigh
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Kayleigh sits up and checks frequently on the old priest, sitting with him occasionally when he's awake. Kayleigh's never seen him look this old, and though she's confdent he'll recover, she has no doubt this disease will kill him if he catches it and he's left untreated for more than a couple nights. When she thinks of how many people in the city are in this state of health, and how contagious this disease seems to be, a cold thread of fear shoots down her back and settles like a stone in her stomach.
She's sitting there next to his bed in the small hours of the morning when her quick ear picks up the sound of a door opening. Kayleigh gets up to check on it. She wanders into the hallway and looks around. The only light is a meager candle she left burning at the dining table, around the corner. Nothing moves in the dark hall, but as she rounds the corner to reclaim the candle she's frightened out of her nightclothes by a piercing scream coming from the room where the younger orphans sleep. Before a second passes the one scream is joined by two or more others. She glances at the door to that room and sees that it's ajar.
Nebbin bolts upright as the screams pierce his dreams, quickly pushing away anything that might have been at all embarrassing if anyone were to ever learn about it.
Grabbing his sword, he rushes toward the source of the noise, ignoring that he's still in his small clothes.
Given to overthinking, anxiety, and more recently no small amount of paranoia, Regeris is if anything a light sleeper. Not this time. The days of battling the plague, his own illness, and the intensity and frustration of the problems of chasing Rolth have worn the inquisitor down to the nub. He collapses into a deep, dreamless sleep, not moving so much as an inch.
When the screaming starts he is slow to react, but nonetheless his training kicks in and within seconds he is bolting out of his cell, dragging his sword out of its scabbard as he heads for the children.
A shivering Tassira is only dimly aware of the screaming coming from down the hall. Still in a bit of shock, she mumbles a protective spell before stumbling out of her room in her underwear.
She's not wearing her arm-bandages.
Kayleigh quickly casts light on the candle to give herself some real illumination and opens the door to check on the Lambs.
Kayleigh is the first to make it to the kid's room. Within she finds Carawyn, standing in the center of the dark room screaming bloody murder. On the cots around the room are the younger kids, obviously just woken from their sleep and screaming their fool heads off right back at her. When Kayleigh places a hand on her shoulder she jumps with a start, like she didn't even notice the light Kayleigh brought in with her. She sways for a moment, unsteady on her feet, then leans on the cleric for support. Her screaming devolves into a confused crying and mumbling of apologies. The other kids likewise stop screaming, though all of them but Hal are now crying.
"I-I'm sorry," Jilly mumbles from across the room between her sobs. "I woke up and Carawyn was just standing there staring at me - at us! I got scared when she wouldn't say anything! But when I started screaming, she screamed right back at me."
"I-I didn't!" Carawyn protests, like she's been accused of some heinous crime. "S-She started screaming and it woke me up! And I was screaming too!"
"Then why are you in OUR room!?" Jilly demands back at her.
Carawyn looks at Kayleigh, her confusion written plain across her face.
"Why am I in their room?" she asks. "Did you bring me here? I don't remember coming in here. I think I dreamed it!?"
"Oh! I had a horrible dream!" She holds her head in her hands like it's hurting her.
Tassira blinks in confusion at the scene before her.
She looks at Carawyn and speaks another incantation, her eyes glowing blue as she stares intently at the confused child.
Kayleigh hugs Carawyn and does her best to comfort the girl. Once Carawyn's calmed down, the priestess suggests she have a quick talk with the grown-ups about her dream, knowing full well that she's had a few doozies herself over the past few weeks and that the frequency of vivid dreams has now passed the possibility of mere coincidence and fallen decidedly into the category of a troubling pattern. She then takes a few moments to tuck the littler Lambs back into their beds.
Nebbin -- pretty sure it's just a bad dream -- decides to go make sure, checking Carawyn's room to make sure there's nothing there.
Regeris charges into the room with a sword brandished, but quickly gets a sense of the scene and places his weapon out of sight. "Carawyn, you're not in trouble. We'll have a talk once the children are back in bed. That said I'm going to take a look around before everyone talks."
Grabbing his sword, Regeris proceeds to scout around the temple, looking for anything untowards. If Majenko is around he'll ask the drake to scout with him.
Emi looks around the building and grounds with Regeris and Nebbin, sure before they even start they won't find anything.
"Somethings up for sure. I was having crazy dreams too. This is going to have to end soon or we're all going to end up insane."
Regeris pauses as he stares at Emi. "I... didn't but still, that could mean something. We should speak with everyone to see who had strange dreams."
"Yeah, I don't remember any dreams," Nebbin says. "Maybe mine weren't that bad."
"Wait..." Tassira blinks. "Deck. Deck. Should bring the deck out."
When Kayleigh goes to comfort Carawyn she finds that the young woman is burning with fever. A close examination reveals more spottiness in her face than crying would explain. The Blood Veil is in the temple again, and looking around the room at the upset faces of the other children, Kayleigh realizes that this may mean all of them were exposed.
Tassira's scan of the room reveals no unexpected magical sources. Just a bunch of upset children. Looking around Carawyn's room reveals a similar bunch of nothing. Same with Kayleigh's room, or anywhere else in the temple.
Majenko flutters down from the bell tower to join Regeris and Emi's stalk around the perimeter of the temple. Dawn is not far off and the plaza is deserted of life. Majenko is joined by his sons and at your request they fly a wide circuit around the plaza before rejoining the two hunters.
"No imps. No threats. Just some sick ones, sleeping under the trees over there." He gestures with a stubby purple arm.
"What next, friends?"
"...the deck." Tassira replies.
"We should consult Zellara." She starts digging the haunted Harrow deck out, wherever it's been left.
Nebbin nods, and waits to see what Tassira will do. He grinds his teeth, knowing there's little he can do to help in this situation. He's not smart like Tassira, or wise (or beautiful) like Kayleigh, or a good leader like Regeris and Emileva.
Regeris finishes his patrol before tearing off some meat and tossing it to Majenko. "I'll find you something tastier. Good work."
As he listens grimly to the fact that Carawyn has plague and the lambs have been exposed, Regeris tries to think about any magical abilities that can cause people to have horrific dreams.
Not recalling much, he meets with Tassira as she speaks of Zellara. "I know the story but haven't had the pleasure yet. This should be.. interesting."
When Kayleigh spies symptoms of the blood veil in Carawyn, she moves the infected girl to her own small room, explaining the situation and the news that she'll probably have to live in Kayleigh's old flat until she can kick the illness.
"Try not to worry--I haven't lost a patient yet!" she tells the girl with a smile. "I'll see if I can get Nebbin and maybe Emi to escort us to my old place. But if we're lucky, once I pray for new spells I'll be able to lift it and you can stay here."
********************************
Kayleigh looks at Tassira curiously, wondering if the mage can conjure Zellara's ghost or somehow coax magic from the Harrow deck.
Carawyn insists on a bright lamp before she'll let Kayleigh guide her back to her room. Though Kayleigh tries her best to calm her, she still seems very rattled. She approaches hysteria as they get to her bed.
"Watch out for spiders!" she whisper-shouts at the good cleric as she pulls down the covers and searches around herself.
"Don't let them crawl in your mouth! I dreamed that one did - in my mouth. There was a flood of spiders. Hundreds of them. And they hung on to one another and clumped together and made a huge spider of spiders. It reached one of its huge legs at me and was so close to touching me."
"Its voice was loud in my head and hurt so bad, like it hurts now. And when I opened my mouth to scream, no sound came out. And one of the spiders jumped down my throat and stung me on the inside!"
"And after that I just watched things happen, saw myself get out of bed and walk around."
She scratches her arms in agitation leaving lines of hives - symptoms that Kayleigh's all too familiar with at this point.
Kayleigh frowns at Carawyn's mention of a spider-themed nightmare: She's has a couple of those herself. Then she has an epiphany that might enable Carawyn to get a bit of sleep before the priestess can pray for new spells and (hopefully) heal the young Lamb. Fetching Majenko, she asks the drake what his favorite thing to eat is. When he mentions a predilection for spiders, Kayleigh gives Carawyn a smile and asks Majenko to scour the room for any of the creepy-crawly delicacies.
"Majenko will make sure no spiders interrupt your sleep," she tells Carawyn. "Get some rest now; I'll be back to try to heal you soon."
Majenko's happy to give the small chamber a thorough search. In the end, he curls up on a shelf over Carawyn's bed.
"I'll sit up a bit and keep watch," the little dragon says. Still, Carawyn won't let Kayleigh dim the lamp when she leaves.
Tassira produces the haunted deck. She runs the cards through her hands, shuffling them, spreading them and then collecting them. She can feel that there's power in the cards, but they don't speak secrets in her ear. In the end the cards sit there in a stack in the center of the table, staring back at the group. The cards that each of you found in your possession a few mornings ago belong to the deck. Only the writing on the back of the cards mark them from the rest.
Outside, the sun has risen on the second day of Desnus.
A few weeks ago Emi would have scoffed, but now she watches Tassira prepare the cards with anticipation. Anything that might lend some kind of edge.
"Should we all sit a around a table? that's what we were doing last time."
Regeris, very unsure of what to do in this situation, realizes they missed something. "Maybe when we all mysteriously had harrow cards show up with an address, we should have gone to the address. Perhaps there's more to be done in a reading but this Madam Carington is owed a visit."
Nebbin nods.
"Yeah, but maybe in the morning?" he suggests. He'll be ready to go back to sleep once everyone else is.
After praying to Milani, Kayleigh prepares her spells for the day. She preps a pair of remove disease spells, figuring that at least one will be for Carawyn and one might be held in reserve in case someone else might show symptoms; the rest of her two highest-level spell slots she dedicated to lesser restoration spells to fix some of the lingering damage the blood veil has inflicted on her and her friends.
The priestess starts her spellfest by trying to remove the blood veil from Carawyn. Then she gives herself a little love, using two lesser restoration spells to heal some of the damage the disease has inflicted upon her. After consulting briefly with Regeris^, she then uses her last two lesser restorations in an attempt to restore the constitution of the group's best fighters, Nebbin and Emileva.
Seeing that her spell didn't help Carawyn (Shocking!), Kayleigh gives the girl some more mundane treatment and makes sure to create plenty of water for her new patient at her flat. Not wanting to leave Carawyn alone there, she asks Majenko if he might watch over the stricken girl while she and the others visit Madame Carrington.
After casting the spree of spells, the cleric gets dressed. Looking in the mirror, the image reflected back to her is that of a tired, haggard young woman with the blood veil's red splotches still marring much of her face.
I'm so damned ugly! Nebbin is a saint if he puts up with me in such a hideous state!
Tassira sighs. "...maybe we should investigate this Madame Carington. Isn't that what the Harrow cards we have say?"
She stares at the Harrow deck with a bit of frustration in her eyes.