Quickblade takes a look around the flat, but he finds nothing useful.
Makai decides it's time to ask around. Envy Row's residents differ from the people at the pier or near the Rockfish Inn: they are quite talkative. They love slinging rumors, and Flitch has a lot of 'em.
"Flitch? More like Filth! I bet he invited every young lass he could to his home, then kicked 'em out right in the morning."
"Flitch? More like Flinch! The Hounds didn't bother recruiting him- he cried the first time someone pulled a butter knife on him!"
"Flitch? More like... Rich, I guess? He donated some of his earnings to a bunch of beggars in the neighborhood. What a nice guy."
Makai hears a lot about him, but nothing about where he went.
Makai spends another hour talking to people, and she finds one group of beggars who are quite talkative and manage not to meander too much.
"Oh yeah, he came to us, paid a pretty penny, too. He wanted to know if this Guaril person showed up recently. I laughed and told him the Emerald Guard asked the same question. Turns out the runelord is offering a hundred gold pieces for him. Flitch turned white as a sheet, scared out of his mind. Then he asked if anyone checked the sewers recently. Not me, that's for sure."
Another beggar interrupts. "He's always been sneaking around this one entrance, about 10 minutes from here. I bet he crawled up there, hunting for Guaril now."
As you enter the sewers, you notice a few things. Well, besides the stench. You more importantly notice the change in abrupt change in architecture - from old to new. The modern styled walls are disused, damaged, or destroyed by the ancient-style sewer walls. The old city must have crushed the newer sewers when it returned from the past.
Quickblade and Ysoldt notice Flitch's handwritting on one of the walls, and a simplified drawing of the graffiti in his home.
The sewers are a maze of dank, walled passages, alike. You’ll need some good navigation in order to avoid getting lost.
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"There's something similar to the drawings near Flitch's home here. Look.", Ysoldt points out the handwriting.
"But it's getting late. Curwef will be in effect soon. We probably have time to get back to Rockfish, or ...", she raises a finger to her lips. "Or we could chance it and stay here in the sewers overnight. I don't think the guards come here often. But we should take a look at the innkeeper's daughter, too. An option is to separate, but I wouldn't want to do that, personally. Thoughts?"
Jacknife looks carefully among the grime and crud. He notices footprints- a good lead. He feels confident someone has been here in the last week, with a very clear route.
Ysoldt holds him back a bit and warns him about the time. She has a point, they could return to the Rockfish Inn. Who knows how long it would take to find Flitch?
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"We need a map of the sewers, I doubt there are many Emerald Guards getting their pretty uniforms dirty down here. It was always a good way to escape the guards in Katheer." Jac says, thinking we could extend the curfew, if we could travel through the sewers, pretty much like Flitch.
"Let's get back to the girl, and see if we can get her back to health."
Jacknife is pretty certain he has a good lead, but Flitch can wait, Vurna cannot.
As you leave Envy Row and return to the Rockfish Inn, you can already see the Emerald Guard patrolling the streets. Fewer citizens are around, and they scurry to their homes. Some of the guards watch you carefully, waiting for you to give them an excuse. Any excuse.
You step into the Rockfish Inn and head to Yuleg. Vurna lays asleep, several wet rags on her head. "Her forehead is so warm..." He mumbles. "Were you- were you able to find supplies? Or maybe a healer?" He sees you haven't brought anyone else and tries to hide his disappointment.
A loud bell sounds off in the distance, reverberating through the inn's walls. Vurna snores a bit louder. Yuleg exhales. "Take whatever you need- Vurna and I need to take a nap."
Avonathalanthalasa knows her skills are better spent with the barrel. She carefully removes the rings binding the barrel, then gently removes the nails to free the wooden boards. She even turns the endcaps into additional surface for people to sit on. By the time the sun rises the barrel becomes a raft that can hold 6 people.
While she busies herself with the barrel, others decide what to do with Vurna.
Jacknife studies the symptoms carefully, and finds a bite wound in Vurna's left leg from a small rodent.
Rats and the Sewers hint towards Filth Fever, where the diseased cannot recover on their own and need help from healers. She's probably at stage 3 of the disease and maybe has 2 days left until it claims her life.
With Jacknife's information, Quickblade takes care to help Vurna. Fish oil, lemon juice and mint mixes into a sweet tincture that hides the pungent medication in the healer's kit.
For the first time in a while, Vurna snoozes through the night. Her snoring barely shakes the rafters, but she doesn't break into coughing fits. She sits up and yawns as the morning breaks. "Ah, that was the best sleep I've had this week. Da, I can walk again..." She tries to hop out of bed and nearly loses her balance. "Okay, I'm not there yet. But I'm much better now. Thanks mister." She hugs Quickblade.
Yuleg hugs both Vurna and Jacknife, showcasing a never-before seen bout of strength. "I can't believe it... I was so worried. I thought... oh never mind what I thought. We may be able to leave this wretched city, now!"
The morning bell rings throughout the city, releasing curfew for a few precious hours.
She nods. "Yeah Da. Me, you and Filtch can go to Shard Cove and get out of here. I know his hiding spot- I can lead all of you there." Vurna laughs.
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Quickblade breathes a sigh of relief that Vurna feels better. Then he realizes what she just said and turns to her.
"You know his hiding spot? That makes things easier. Would you happen to know where he would go if someone was after him?"
Turning to the others, "Maybe we should go find the other people on Guaril's list. We could bring them here. "
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Quickblade breathes a sigh of relief that Vurna feels better. Then he realizes what she just said and turns to her.
"You know his hiding spot? That makes things easier. Would you happen to know where he would go if someone was after him?"
"I would guess in his hiding spot. That is why it is called 'hiding' spot." explains Makai
"How about we first go and find this Filtch. How about the teacher next?"
She pats Jacknife and Quickblade at their shoulders "Well done with the healing!"
"Wait, which way are you going?" Vurna looks to and fro, frowning. "If you're not gonna visit Flitch, then I'll stay put. I'm gonna eat some smoked fish. And bread. And chew on food for once!" Vurna plops herself into a chair and pouts while Yuleg prepares a hearty breakfast.
"A map of the sewers?" Vurna looks up. "The sewers are pretty big, you could spend an entire day getting lost in there. Plus the guards love to arrest people who smell bad. True story." She grabs a bread roll and a handful of basil, rosemary and thyme. "Dad, I'm gonna show them Flitch's hideout." She brightens up immediately and leads you out the door.
Verna Bluingot exhales carefully as she releases the pinch on her nose. ”This smells worse than my dad’s fish stew. I know where Flitch is. Follow me, alright?”
Vurna's youth leads her to point out routes, avoid dead ends, and she leads you into the sewers. Her impatience also leads her to rush ahead of the group, tap her feet waiting for you to stop inspecting everything, and throwing rocks at rats to scatter them.
"I hope Flitch isn't sick too. Or maybe he is and I could heal him. Oh that would be nice. He'd be in my care, and I'd help him out, and he'd say oh thank you Vurna, you're the sweetest and maybe he'd thank me with a kiss. Or maybe he wants to take it slow." It's pretty clear the Emerald Guard doesn't patrol these sewers, or Vurna's rambling would have given you away long ago.
Inside the depths of a sewer maintenance chamber you find a small campsite. One human man looks up at you and reaches for his weapons, ready to draw them out. He pushes a black curl of hair away from his eyes and looks at you. ”Say there. Any messages for me?”
"Flitch, what're you doing? They helped me out!" Vurna stays with you, but Flitch has never looked so scary.
He gives her a look. "Vurna, how do you know they're not part of the Guard?" Vurna frowns, wondering if she's been had. He looks back at you. "So, any messages for me?"
”Ah, thank the gods.” The man sheathes his dagger. ”I was worried Uncle Guaril abandoned me. I was worried I made these travel papers for nothing.” He walks up to you all for a handshake. ”I’m Flitch Napovic. When do we get out of here?”
Makai and Ysoldt carefully scan the documents and deduces it’s a poor forgery. The sentences run on for too long, there are too many grammatical errors, and he wasn’t supposed to write “This page intentionally left blank!” Good thing you caught these mistakes now, it may have caused trouble down the road.
"My short cut?" Flitch thinks for a moment but he's cut short as Vurna runs up and hugs him, lifting him off the ground up to her ankles. "Oh, hi Vurna."
"'Oh, hi Vurna'? That's it? Come on, you sack of spuds. They want to see our secret spot." Vurna drops him and he stumbles back before regaining his balance.
"Shard Cove, right? It's maybe 10 minutes from here. You can see all the way out to the sea. The tide is a pain, though. There's all sorts of sharp spires that shows up during low tide."
”I understand if anyone needs to… er… forge their own documents. You can use mine as a template.”
”Since we’re working together, I’ll let you in on my secret stash.” Flitch pulls out a satchel containing a disguise kit, repair kit, and a potion of minor healing. ”Not too bad, eh?”
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"The best would be to ask" responds Makai
"Hey Fitch, How well do you know sewers? We need to visit few other individuals, could you lead us to ..." she gives district names where they need to go, without sharing any details.
Makai looks at the papers
"Yeah, we would have to forge new ones as these are not good. With those, you can get to jail without any issues."
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Ysoldt looks at the documents presented. She looks at Flitch again after skimming them briefly.
"You can't really use this. It's an obvious forgery. Unless the Emerald Guard are complete imbeciles, they will notice it on the spot. Like this, look.", she points to the paper. "You put down a double T in the word 'permit'. This is quite literally the second word on the paper, and it's wrong. We're better off copying our own papers for all of you. Unless we can sneak past the checkpoints. Where any chance through the sewer? Or old city, or whatever you call this place besides Stinkhole.", she covers her nose and mouth with some cloth.
"Permitt isn't spelled... Uh... right, I knew that..." Flitch mends his bruised ego. "The new sewer system wrecked the old sewer system. Most of it is inaccessible or drains directly to the sea, which isn't very useful for running around town. The sewer entrances aren't guarded, but once you get anywhere interesting you'd better believe there's a checkpoint. Or inspection. Or a rival gang."
"The Ministry and the Arcanium? Yeah, I know how to get there. Maybe I can lead you through the sewers to one of those spots? Then me and Vurna can return to the Rockfish Inn... assuming Yuleg is alright with that."
Vurna laughs. "Da will be fine with you. He trusted a bunch of strangers, why wouldn't he let you in? Besides, this place does stink."
Flitch and Vurna head through the sewers as much as they can. They seem surprised at an intersection; an old time wall collapsed and blocks their route. Taking a detour they manage to keep you dry.
This wizardry school has suffered heavily. Ruined columns line the front entrance while newly made vellum banners cover the stonework. A newly restored statue of Runelord Bellimarius stands outside, yet there are many repairs to be made. You don’t see many patrols as you approach the building, as if this building has been abandoned to time itself.
Vacant classrooms cover the first floor of the Arcanium Abjurant. A stone staircase leads to a number of modest academic offices on the second floor, each lined with cramped bookshelves, archaic charts, and chalk-filled slates.
You walk through the schoolyard to reach Professor Daffrid Chaverly’s office. It has an impressive view of the courtyard and its many damaged rocks and stones, abandoned to the ravages of time.
One human woman matching Daffrid’s description sits at the desk, speaking to a man and two children. She looks up as you approach. ”Quiet children. I need to speak to these visitors.” One of the children sticks his tongue out and runs to the human male.
”Greetings everyone. I am Professor Daffrid Chaverly. Pleased to make your acquaintance.” She curtsies to you, then adjusts her glasses. ”How may I help you today?”
You notice her wall is filled with books, journals and research papers.
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Before they part ways with Flitch she asks him to speak to her privately.
She grabs him by his clothes and says in a gritting voice
"Look sunshine, it seems that Vurna likes you. When we were looking for you we learned that you are a womanizer. I warn you, if you are playing this girl, the rest of the trip out of this town you will make as a fish bait dragged behind the ship!"
She then walks behind others. As the professor approaches she allows Quickblade to speak. The dwarf tries to look casual.
Flitch continues to sweat when Makai grabs him. "Oh! M-m-me...okay, listen. That's just a rumor I spread to sound cool among my mates, ya know? Besides, I'm a mild-mannered paragon of virtue!" He puts his hands on his hips and stares off angle.
”All of you are with… oh, perfect!” She smiles and seems to be even more energetic than before. It takes a moment to calm herself. ”I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I get… excited sometimes. Little more than Tellith can handle.” She gives a coy smile to the human male, who turns a bright shade of red.
”We’ve had to relive this same week for… hmpf! Imagine falling asleep Sunday night and waking up the previous Monday, losing the entire week’s progress. My children… never growing up. Poor Taffrit has had to celebrate her birthday for the last thousand years and she has nothing to show for it.” The young girl hides behind her father.
”We are eager to escape this… temporal prison. But money is tight. I know you only have enough to get one of us out of here. So, I will go first, begin a new living, earn a good wage and then send for the rest of my family. And you can take any of the books in here. Knowledge is power, after all.” She smiles. ”I must… must speak to my family, bid them goodbye for now, that kind of thing. Excuse me.” Daffrid turns to her family.