The Hummingbird strikes deep and the deformed ogrekin falls, its last blow flying just past the vigilante's face.
Two of the pits hold a total of four emaciated looking humans as well as partial remains of at least three more. All of them tremble and cower without a word. The last pit however holds a naked man who stands up straight when the Hummingbird removes the cover, holding himself with what dignity he can.
"I will never serve necroma- who are you?" He asks, having clearly expected someone else. "Get me out of here and I'll help you if you're here for Rolth."
The Hummingbird peers down the pits to try and get a better look, and studies each person's face to see if she recognizes them.
"Im certainly here for Rolth and his crimes. Who were you talking about just now?" The Hummingbird asks as she finds something to anchor a rope onto and throw it down the pit.
"I thought you were him." The man replies, "My name is Ishani. This Rolth wanted my help in creating a golem. I refused and he attacked me. He thought that I'd 'learn my lesson' after a few days down here. Abadar forgive me but I wasn't sorry when that golem went beserk. It's the least he deserved. Anyway, if you can find my holy symbol then I'll offer whatever support I can."
"Grab hold of the rope and pull yourself up. Who are the others here?" Adriel asks. "Why were you down with here with this group of necromancers anyway?"
"They're vagrants and so forth that Rolth kidnapped I believe." Ishani says, pulling himself out of the pit slowly. "Like he did with me. I'm a priest in the temple of Abadar, he'd sent in a call - pretending his son was sick. I came to help and there was a boy there but he wasn't ill, beaten and badly fed but not ill. Rolth refused to let me leave, made his deal and then attacked me when I refused."
He reaches the ground level and heads over to the orgekin and starts rummaging in the creature's filthy leather. "I think... yes!" He removes a silver holy symbol of Abadar and breathes a sigh of relief. "Thank the First Vault. Give me a few minutes and I will be able to help you. I don't suppose you've found any clothes have you?"
He's been doing a good job of dealing with it so far but Ishani is completely naked, his brown skin streaked with dirt and other things that it's better not to think about.
"What was the name of the boy? Is he still alive? How long ago was this?"
The Hummingbird mutters, her mind only focussed on the one thing, not really noticing or caring that the man is naked.
"Theo? Tay-o? Something like that." Ishani replies, "For what it's worth Rolth did seem genuinely concerned about the boy, as far as I could tell at least."
Since the rest of the people don't seem ready or able to leave the pits for the time being, and since there are still enemies around, the Hummingbird leaves them there and presses on.
The room beyond is filled with a nauseating mixture of decay and strange chemicals. Glinting saws, pliers, long stitching needles, and other surgical equipment are organized on shelves and benches along the walls. A sturdy wooden table in the center of the room supports a large humanoid shape—a thing stitched together from a patchwork of dozens of different bodies. The thing would stand nearly seven feet tall if it rose.
Thankfully the golem is inanimate, and its head seems oddly small and decorated with numerous tribal tattoos. It appears the Hummingbird has found another part of Gaekhan's body.
Off to the side of that is a small library, furnished with two wide, freestanding bookshelves. The shelves are filled with row upon row of carefully arranged tomes and scrolls and a neatly folded set of clerical vestments sit on the end of one of the shelves - it appears Rolth kept them for some reason...
The books and scrolls are mostly treatises on necromancy or the art of crafting golems, but there’s also a surprisingly large number of books about diseases and plagues here as well. Adriel estimates that the collection of books as a whole is worth 300 gp. Of more portable interest are two magic scrolls wedged between the pages of a thick picture book on humanoid anatomy — these are a scroll of identify and a scroll of command undead.
Ishani is grateful to have his clothes returned. In the time the Hummingbird has been exploring he has prayed and been restored a measure of his divine power.
"Have you met any derro?" He asks. "The little blue men? They assist Rolth and at least one of them is a necromancer of some sort. If you haven't then they're probably in whatever chambers you haven't seen yet. We should be wary."
Adriel's heart jumps to her throat, bile rising from her stomach. My boy. He's alive. He's here, I have to reach him.
****
The Hummingbird pockets the scrolls, not wanting the necromancer to get to them anymore.
"Yes, I found one butchering a corpose further back and another two playing a game of some sort. Almost child like. I dispatched of the one dismembering the corpse, but its good to know that they are all dispensible." She says with anger tinging her calm voice.
"Do you know your way around here, which way should we be heading to find Rolth?"
"I've been down here... maybe two days." Ishani replies, "I have no idea where anything is, but if you came from the other direction then that seems sensible."
Together the Hummingbird and the cleric head into through the laboratory and into the next room, which proves to be a bedchamber. It holds a large
four-poster bed and a simple writing desk, along with a full-length mirror propped up against one earthen wall. A rough blanket lies underneath the desk as though for an animal of some sort.
With nothing immediately apparent the only source of danger proves to be in the next room. This is a dry, well-kept chamber which contains a narrow bed, a relatively empty shelf holding only a few books and some bones and skulls, and a long bench. A man’s torso, the chest bearing numerous tribal tattoos, lies on this bench. The right arm is still attached, and periodically thrashes spasmodically.
Standing over the thrashing limb is another derro - this one with a shock of white hair and a skull clutched in one hand. It turns as the Hummingbird enters but fixes on Ishani behind her.
"I told Rolth that you were a mistake!" It says, in a chilling, but oddly high pitched voice. "Now I'll have to kill you both."
Most importantly to the Hummingbird however is that there is no other way out of this chamber, and no human child. Teo is not here.
"You can try." The Hummingbird retorts as she leaps across the room, rapier in hand.
The Hummingbird lands a solid blow as Ishani incants a spell to help bolster her aim.
"How dare you?" The derro splutters, stepping backwards and raising its hands in complicated arcane gestures. A grey ray strikes the Hummingbird in the chest, sapping at her strength.
The Hummingbird can feel all her strength sap from her but her sheer willpower keeps her going. She steps forward, in the caster's personal space to pierce his abdomen.
The derro ducks back behind the table to gain room, but he's rapidly running out of space and he knows it, especially when Ishani fires a ray of dazzling bright light back at him.
The derro manages to shield its eyes in time but the light causes its blue skin to blister and bubble.
"Gah!" It yells, before casting again. Ishani yelps for a moment and then cries with renewed confidence.
"Abadar protects me, foul creature!"
Adriel glowers and steps up into the Derro's space yet again, looming over him. "Now, I strongly suggest that you stop what in the nine hells you are doing and tell me where Rolth and Teo can be found. I might even agree to not kill you if you do."
Unfortunately, Adriel's growl is more of a whimper as she struggles to keep a firm grip on her rapier.
The Hummingbird's threat falls on deaf ears but Ishani incants another spell and strikes the creature with a powerful beam of burning sunlight. That gets a reaction as the derro screams and then glares with utter hatred at the cleric behind Adriel.
The derro pulls back once more, but finds the wall at his back and a snarl forms across his badly burned face.
"Die!" He hisses and beams of fire leap from his hands!
The Hummingbird yells out as her cloak singes and the entirety of her right arm and shoulder is burnt, pretty seriously.
In retaliation, she lashes out, not giving him another chance.
"Tell me where Teo is, or I will have your head!"
The derro continues to ignore the Hummingbird as Ishani swears loudly behind her. It seems he is largely out of magic because the only contribution he is able to make simply eases the Hummingbird's wounds slightly.
The derro meanwhile, out of options attempts a protective spell!
A translucent shield snaps into place between him and the Hummingbird too quickly for the vigilante to react and the derro draws a wand from inside his robes.
The Hummingbird gives up on all reason and skewers the Derro unleashing her anger.
The derro gapes as the Hummingbird cuts through his shield with ease and clutches at his side where blue blood is pooling onto the floor.
"Not like this!" He hisses. "Not, like, this!"
His hand flickers with magic but the Hummingbird can't strike him down past the force shield.
Suddenly however she feels her strength return with a rush!
The Hummingbird notices a flicker in the shield and her strength returning, so she monopolises on it.
With righteous might the Hummingbird cuts the derro down and, as the creature dies, the partially animated body ceases its twitching and returns to the stillness of death.
With Vreeg dead the Hummingbird is able to take her time examining the last two bedrooms, which turn up a small treasure trove of items, including a spellbook containing a wide array of cantrips, command undead, darkness, feather fall, gentle repose, scare, sleep, and water breathing.
Between the derro's room and a cubbyhole hidden behind the mirror in the previous chamber the Hummingbird also finds two silver rings worth 100 gp each, a gold and pearl bracelet worth 150 gp, a mithral hip flask emblazoned with an etching of a house drake (worth 400 gp), masterwork thieve's tools, a pearl and silver sunffbox worth 250gp, a sustaining spoon and a traveler’s any-tool.
In posession of Gaekhan's head and torso the only task remaining in this grisly expedition is to recover his legs. The reeking chamber Adriel ignored proves to be a dump, inhabited by another otyugh but the Hummingbird ruthlessly pincushions it from a distance as the creature thrashes helplessly in the narrow tunnels. With it dead the shoanti's legs can be recovered from among the refuse, finally reuniting his dismembered corpse.
The two derro seem to have fled by means of some secret passage by the time the Hummingbird and Ishani depart and so nothing prevents their exit with a group of starving and desperate former prisoners in tow.
"I will take them to the Grand Vault with me." Ishani declares, "They will receive food and shelter there, I will see to it. Continue with your mission Hummingbird, and good luck in finding this Teo."
----------------------------------
Lugging a dismembered body through the streets and avoiding trouble is not the easiest thing the Hummingbird has ever done, but fortunately the cover of night, the distinct sounds of ongoing trouble and the rather fearsome appearance she receives thanks to the task at hand all combine to avoid any 'unpleasantness' until she reaches Castle Korvosa. The gates are no longer guarded, a sign of just how thin the guard are stretched but when she enters the Hummingbird finds herself confronted by an old friend - Sargeant Tallow.
"Halt and state your business!" He demands.
The Hummingbird curses under her breath, with her mind elsewhere she had not planned how she was going to return to Kroft without being noticed.
There was only one thing for it.
"Tallow. Its me. Adriel." She says, as quietly as she could manage and still be heard. "Im here on business for Captain Kroft and returning something to make her life easier."
Revealing herself to Tallow was the last thing she wanted to do, but at this point, she had little choice and she was exhausted, both mentally and physically.
Tallow leans forward slightly, peering beneath the Hummingbird's hood with a frown.
There's a long pause before he steps back and waves to the two men with pikes behind him to stand down.
"On your way." He says simply, giving the Hummingbird a tiny nod of respect as she passes.
Kroft is in the middle of donning a suit of armor when Adriel enters and she immediately dismisses her squire, a blonde haired girl that has served drinks a few times before on Adriel's previous visits.
"So?" She demands immediately. "Tell me you found the body. The city is falling to pieces and I need some good news."
Adriel places the large cloth "holdall" she had created containing the body on Adriel's floor.
"Yes, I found the body. Its not the good news you'd hoped for as this is the remains, they've been mutilated and dismembered - this is not going to go down well with the Shoanti." Adriel says, pulling down her hood.
Adriel collapses onto the closest chair and rests her head back, sighing. "Look, Kroft, before we get onto dealing with all of this crap, we need to talk."
Adriel looks up at the woman, half in her armor and momentarily admires her - the obvious physical and mental strength that she must possess is laudable.
"I honestly haven't had anyone I can trust or talk to for quite some time and I think I've messed up tonight - okay, not just tonight - my whole last few months. Right now I'm desperately tired and cannot think straight and I just want - no need - to unload. And maybe you might have some advice." She closes her eyes a minute to calm her emotions again.
Reopening them, she continues, "I don't know how much you know about me, but I need to explain a few things before this will make sense." She watches the other woman's facial expressions closely, to see any signs that the woman knows any of this already. "I used to work for the guard in Korvosa, they were my family, I relied on them and trusted them as you everybody does. At the time, I was raising my son on my own - his na- he wa - Teodore Moonflower." She says, her voice cracking.
"Raising my son by myself, and trying to make an income was not easy, in fact it was f!+$ing hard, but I made it work, at least I think I did."
"Not long ago, my son.... he went missing. He just vanished - it was not like him at all, he wouldn't just up and leave but I know other kids were going missing at the time as well. I searched everywhere for him, I went straight to my unit - my friends, and family at the guard but they did nothing to help." Her lips form a snarl as she recounts her abandonment.
"I searched on my own, high and low, until...I recieved some information from someone - that Gaedran Lamm was responsible. Well, I presume you have contacts that would have told you what happened to Lamm so I won't tell you. But after all that, I couldn't find Teo." She stops abruptly as she says her sons name, a lump rising in her throat, unable to talk for a moment.
"I've been looking for him since, whilst doing some work for you and tonight - there was a possibility my boy would have been there - with Lamm's son. I really thought he was....I thought I had the chance of saving him tonight - there was not one sign of him."
As Kroft goes to begin talking, Adriel holds up her hand pausing the woman.
"Look, I will try to figure out what happened tonight later - thats not what Im trying to tell you right now. What I have to tell you right now is ....this" She gestures down at herself and her outfit. "Yes, I go by Adriel Moonflower, but I also go by The Hummingbird, an alter ego if you wish. I have kept it completely hidden until tonight as a protection of sorts - a protection for Adriel - me. It gives me distance from my own actions but tonight, I had to reveal myself to another - besides you. Sergeant Tallow. Can I trust him? Is he like the rest of those guardsmen who abandoned me before? He looked like a good man when he took me to Jennie after the funeral, he seemed to care for his men....but I am not one of his men."
Adriel realises she has just told the Captain of the Guard a lot - probably too much - but she had to explain everything. Someone else in this world had to know and Cressida Kroft is the only woman, hopefully worthy enough, of Adriel's trust.
Kroft takes a seat when Adriel mentions unloading and sits silently throughout Adriel's tirade apart from a brief attempt to speak which the vigilante silences.
Once Adriel is finally done Kroft lets the silence sit a little longer before she speaks. "You've been honest Adriel so I'll do the same. I know about what happened to Gaedran Lamm and frankly I didn't care much. He was a cancer in this city, although a smaller one than his son. His death was good news and you aren't the first person in this city to don a mask in order to do good. Sometimes I wish I could do it myself, it feels like I'd achieve more then."
She gives a wan smile. "I'm sorry for your loss Adriel and I promise that as far as I can, I'll support you. Given all you've done for me in the last few weeks I could reinstate you, promote you even, but I think we can both agree you're better out of my command structure."
"As for Tallow, he's a good man. I could order him to keep quiet if you want, but he has a stronger sense of right and wrong than most. Talk to him, when you can. Tell him what you're comfortable with and trust him. That will be the surest way. And Adriel, if you ever need a friend, you could do worse than Vencarlo Orsini. I know you might not think it but he's more than he seems sometimes."
She sighs once more. "It's been a long night and a longer one to come. Don't worry about the body - Thousand Bones wanted it back, as long as you have all of it my surgeons can do the rest. Go home, get some rest. I fear that I'll need you and the Hummingbird again all too soon."
Adriel feels somewhat better and worse simultaneously, after Kroft's response. She listened, not just listened, but heard her plight and offered good advice, but also - remained distant. Adriel wasn't sure exactly what she wanted from the conversation but knew she didn't feel satisfied.
"Yes Captain, many thanks for your time, and I apologize for taking so much of it considering how long your night is still to come. I will leave you to your duty."
She bows her head slightly and pulls up her hood, slipping away quietly into the night.
Adriel disappears home and spends three days being as unobtrusive as possible. On the third day the violence in the streets dies down, thanks mostly to a royal proclamation that 'Trinia Sabor, the king's muderer has been captured and is to be executed for treason tomorrow!' The execution apparently is going to be something of a public spectacle, held in the castle, but with the gates open so that it can be witnessed by the masses. This news, or possibly just the prospect of a public execution, calms the mood in the city somewhat.
Adriel however receives a personal invitation from Kroft to attend, delivered by a familiar girl with blondehair.
I don't like this. Kroft's folded note says simply. Your running partner is still safe, so I want extra eyes on this.
The next day, slightly before sunset, Adriel takes her place in the courtyard along with other 'favored guests'. The toast of Korvosa is in attendance in garish gowns, fine capes, and enough jewels to blind the common citizen. The overall feel of the event is that of a grand ball or party, not an assassin’s public execution.
Queen Ileosa emerges amid a great flourish and pomp as heralds announce her arrival with a fanfare of music and drums. She has fully accepted the mantle of sole monarch now, and carries herself with poise, style, and grace. She wears a green and white silk dress worth thousands of gold coins and is attended by a small army of striking guards. Chief among these is a woman in a striking brand-new suit of full-plate armor with a closed helm sporting a flowing crimson plume. Ileosa takes her seat in a high throne-like chair at one end of the public courtyard, while a guillotine stands ominously at the other. The executioner is a towering, muscular man wearing an executioner’s hood and idly holding an immense axe. Whispers ripple through the assemblage—admiring comments on the queen’s attire, predictions regarding how the traitorous assassin might comport herself, speculations on the identity of the armored guardian who stands at Ileosa’s side, and even gossip about the Hummingbird's exploits during the past few weeks although none of the assembled throng seem to know the vigilante's name.
As an ominous drum beating begins, the gawkers fall silent. The drum sets the pace for a hooded woman's procession to the executioner’s block. As they reach the block, a guard removes her shackles and the hood, revealing a very frightened woman who bravely holds back her tears. The girl looks superficially similar to Trinia Sabor, but anybody who knows the artist can tell that she is an impostor. "Trinia" is led up to stand before the guillotine, her arms bound behind her back by a leather cord as Queen Ileosa addresses the crowd.
“Fellow Korvosans! You have suffered greatly these past few weeks. Homes have burned, family members have died, and fortunes have been lost. I feel your suffering, for not only have I lost a beloved husband, but with each act of anarchy that followed, my heart bled more. This has been a trying time for us, yet the torment is at an end. Before you is the source of your anguish and pain. Do not be deceived by this murderer’s timid nature—she is a black-hearted assassin. I offer you her death as a salve against the hatred and hurt you have suffered.
“And so, without further delay, let us usher in this new dawn with justice! OFF WITH HER HEAD!”
Yet just before the executioner forces the scapegoat into the guillotine, the man cries out in pain as a hurled dagger embeds itself in the back of his hand. As the executioner’s grip on "Trinia" falters, a cry echoes through the crowded courtyard: “By the gods! It’s Blackjack!”
An instant later, a man dressed in a hooded cloak and black mask springs up to the prisoner's side. Using a dagger, he cuts the bonds on her wrists and then throws the same dagger down to pin the executioner’s left foot to the wood platform. He then turns to address the shocked crowd.
“Yes indeed, my queen! Let us usher in justice, but let that be justice for Korvosa, not this shambles you call a monarchy! Long live Korvosa! Down with the queen!”
Blackjack’s words cause the crowd to erupt into action. Some demand that he release the assassin while others call for the queen’s resignation. Queen Ileosa stands stunned for a few moments, whispers something to Sabina, and then quickly turns to flee into Castle Korvosa, the armored woman and a dozen guards behind her to cover her retreat. The remaining guards in the courtyard move to apprehend Blackjack, but the gathered nobles, thirsty for blood, make it difficult to move. At the same time, the executioner recovers from his wounds and lifts his axe over Blackjack, who seems to have momentarily forgotten the man in his apparent delight at having forced the queen to flee!
Adriel cannot allow the inevitable to happen to her peer and yells out in haste amongst the chaos.
. She makes herself as small as possible and takes the opportunity that the chaos affords her to vanish back into the crowd out of view so the voice could have come from anywhere.
After she takes a few steps back, her outfit shifts from the previous split red and crimson silk skirt and cream linen top to an emerald jacket and black trousers.
Adriel's warning comes just in time and Blackjack pivots gracefully to one side and jams an elbow into the executioners throat, causing the huge man to drop his axe and drop to his knees. Blackjack wastes no more time, cutting through 'Trinia's' bonds and seizing her around the waist. In a spectacular feat of agility and strength he clambers up a hanging banner to a nearby wall, hauling the girl up behind him. As the two reach the wall, he swiftly drinks a potion and bows to the crowd, although Adriel gets a distinct sense he's looking at her, while backlit by the setting sun. He briefly raises his rapier in salute, then both he and and the girl leap from the wall to make their escape into the city.
With the Queen hiding in the castle and the nobility fleeing in all directions Adriel is able to slip away with the greatest ease.
Over the next week or two the tension in Korvosa ebbs away, to be replaced largely by confusion. Blackjack is a hero to almost the entire city and having the famous vigilante so publicly at odds with the Queen causes an almost physical tear in the city's zeitgeist. Discussions of the almost execution are almost the only thing to be heard in taverns, shops and dives across the city. Almost everyone has a theory and almost no-one's theories agree in anything more than the most basic details.
Adriel allows a couple of days to go past after the public humiliation of the Queen, before seeking out Sergeant Tallow, hoping to find him off duty to discuss the other night before he can get the wrong idea. Unfortunately, Tallow is nowhere to be found, as he is working a double shift like so many of the guard, but one of his men informs her of the time he is getting off as he recognised her from the pub.
After completing some more small household errands that day, Adriel heads back to the guards' station with more than enough time to spare - just in case the Sergeant managed to make it back early, but she needn't have bothered.
Sergeant Tallow traipses back into the station with hunched shoulders and a serious expression. As he sees Adriel standing and leaning against the wall, he looks uncomfortable for a moment and glances casually at the others' in the room. "Ah, Miss Moonflower, its been a little while hasn't it? Last time we spoke was the day after the wake was it not?" He asks, with a firm tone.
"Yes Sergeant," Adriel responds with a sad smile and walks over to the Sergeant, so as not to talk across the room. The couple of off-duty guards who were previously chatting here look over to the slightly harrassed sergeant and vacate the room, sharpish. "I hope that you have been well. I suppose that you and your guards have all been kept busy in the past few weeks. I had a request to make of you and thought that perhaps, if I could catch you now, I could - " Before Adriel starts the spiel she had planned earlier that day in order to get the Sergeant somewhere more private, the man interrupts, somewhat briskly.
"Look, Miss Moonflower, I appreciate that you may be in need but I have just finished 16 hours on my feet and right now, all I need is a warm meal before I get back to it tomorrow. My guards and I only have one thing we can focus on right now and that is not any personal favours - Korvosa is needing everything we can give her." The Sergeant starts removing his armor and weapons, putting them away in his own allocated spot.
"Yes, I really appreciate that Sergeant, but perhaps, if I offered you some of my homemade peppered rabbit hot pot then I could convince you to give me a moment of your time? If you dont want to help after you have listened, then I will not hold that against you and will merely be happy that I was able to give you the small amount of help that I can."
Fortunately for Adriel, Sergeant Tallow accepts the offer – or gives in, she wasn’t quite sure, but they find themselves heading back to Adriel’s small kitchen in the hunt for some good home-cooked food. Its fortunate that she had leftovers from her dinner last night. The whole walk home, and during preparation both Adriel and Tallow make small talk as if there is some unspoken agreement between them to not mention the night they last met.
As Adriel puts the steaming hot plate in front of the Sergeant and sits down to tuck in herself, she watches the Sergeant as he tucks in. After a fair few bites in silence, Tallow pipes up. ”So, what is this favour you wanted to ask of me then? Have at me.” Adriel puts her spoon down and takes a deep breath to steady her nerves. She can be faced with mighty enemies, blood, guts and gore and not blink an eyelid but a conversation like this - terrifying.
”In all honesty Sergeant, it wasn’t so much a personal favour as a conversation. About the night we met outside the Castle. I wanted to clarify a few things.” The Sergeant nods but doesn’t say anything in response.
”I…I do a few jobs on the side for Captain Kroft. She is a good woman and wants the best for Korvosa but is aware that the guard is stretched thin. And sometimes there are some jobs better suited for an individual than a well-recognised group of law-enforcement personnel. Captain Kroft and I have an agreement that is supposed to be kept quiet – both she and I would rather people did not know about it.” She pauses, not resuming her food, and watches the man closely for his reaction with nervous anticipation.
It takes him a while to respond but eventually, he replies. ”I trust my Captain, and if she deems this a necessary arrangement, then I am not one to question her judgement. Both you and Captain Kroft can trust in my silence Miss Moonflower.”
”Adriel, call me Adriel.” She replies, with a smile of relief.
That’s two people I can hope to trust now, ironically enough both members of the Korvosan guard. Perhaps I judged them incorrectly….
**************
For the next week after the encounter with Tallow, Adriel thew herself in headfirst to trying to feel useful for others. There was still a heavy weight on her shoulders with Teo still missing but she knew that she wasn’t going to be able to find out anything about the Necromancer, Rolth, just now, not with all the other wild rumours flying around about all the other events. She spent some time babysitting Jennie’s new infant, who was just born last week, so that Jennie could get some much needed sleep now she is a single mother. She also spent some time down at the fisheries with the orphans in the evenings, trying to encourage them to just have fun. She actually found herself laughing with them, telling ghost stories and playing dice games. It had been some time since she had laughed, but the children had that effect on her.
When she wasn’t helping others, Adriel doubled down on her physical training schedule squeezing it in where she could, barely giving herself any free time at all. Over breakfast, towards the middle of the second week, Adriel decided that she might benefit some professional tutelage and that, for once in her life could even afford such a privilege. Who better to ask then Vencarlo Orsini? Yes he was likely a bit of a charming scoundrel, but word has it that he certainly knew his stuff, and Kroft had mentioned giving him a chance also.
That morning, straight after breakfast, Adriel did not waste a minute, and as soon as she thought of the idea, she found herself heading to the Orsini Academy with surprising anticipation and looks to book an appointment with Orsini himself.
The young man manning the front room of the Academy, which is more like a nice sitting room than a scholastic area, smiles at Adriel. "Signor Orsini will be out shortly Miss Moonflower." He says. "He's finishing with a class of his younger students."
A few minutes later a door opens to a burst of chatter as a bunch of early teens, boys and girls alike clad in tight fitting, sleeveless tunics and trousers emerge from the salle. One has a rapier in hand and makes an animated thrust to prove a point before a loud throat clearing behind him makes him spin around and hurry back inside.
Orsisni emerges a minute later with the boy, one hand clapped on his shoulder. "Never carry a weapon where you don't intend to use it Gemino." He says genially. "You should know better."
"I'm sorry Signor." The boy replies, offering a salute although he's still grinning widely.
Orsini dismisses the boy with an affectionate cuff around the head and then turns to Adriel. "Miss Moonflower, how nice to see you again. Come in and we can discuss what you want to focus on today."
------------------------------------
At the end of the session, which leaves Adriel sweating and Orsini seemingly utterly unmoved, the nobleman offers Adriel a towel. "I'm glad you came Miss Moonflower, I was preparing to get in touch with you myself. We have a mutual friend named Trinia. Given what happened two weeks ago it's clear that the city isn't a safe place for her. I've been making plans to remove her and send her to some friends of mine in the country. I was hoping that you'd be available to come along for the ride. I can't be seen to disrupt my routines you see, and if I miss a class then people will ask why. Unfortunately, given the bounty still on her head she can't simply walk out either, so I thought you'd be the perfect companion to get her. You just need to get her to Trots on the road north to Harse. My friend Jasan will meet you there."
He smiles. "I'll happily throw in, say, half a dozen free lessons as an incentive."
Adriel considers the offer and nods her head slowly.
"Yes, I think I can be her companion for the trip." She replies, her brow furrowing with concern about the whole deal. She was not worried about the deed itself, but how did Orsini even know about her?
Then the penny drops. "I presume that you are also close friends and allies with Captain Kroft and have met with her this week?"
"Cressida and I have known each other a long time." Orsini agrees with a smile. "We both have the good of the city at heart, and although we go about it in different ways we both know that our goals align. Although perhaps I should have been a little less forceful in my denunciation of the monarchy recently..."
He produces a small pouch of gold and offers it to Adriel. "Here, dinner and a night at the inn on me. Taking you all the way out there and back in one day seems unkind and they do a wonderful leek pie you should try. Tomorrow then? I suggest leaving in the afternoon when the traders start to leave, then you have lots of people going out through the gate and you'll both be less conspicuous."
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The next day, as arranged, Adriel arrives at the rendezvous point and finds Trinia waiting there, dressed in an old and faded travelling cloak and hood. She smiles when she sees Adriel and falls into step with the older woman quite happily.
"Thank you." She says, "I know I led you a bit of a song and dance in the Shingles but you really came through for me. I'm impressed too - most people couldn't keep up with me over those rooftops, I've known them since I was a kid. How did you do it?" Her smile is open and friendly, unlike the look that one of the Queen's new guard shoots towards the pair as she pushes through the crowd...
Adriel's eye twitches as her heart skips a beat. What did Vencarlo mean about being too forceful about Ileosa recently? He can't be alluding to what she thinks...can he?
Now is not the time or place to make such accusations.
She takes the coin purse with a nod and sets out to prepare for Orsini's plan.
"Good to meet you - now let's talk pleasentries whilst getting the hell out of here." Adriel replies quickly with a fake smile plastered across her face. She puts a gentle hand on Trinia's shoulder as if she were close friends, and guides the woman away. "The guards are watching, we need to move quickly, let us just pretend we are childhood friends heading out to the village to see our families."
Adriel's disguise is hardly worth the name, but there are plenty of people just like her and Trinia walking at this moment so they pass by the Gray Maiden's gaze without incident.
Trinia keeps up a stream of inconsequential chatter as the pair head out of the main gate and onto the road beyond and fortunately the road beyond is free from hostiles.
After a reasonably pleasant days journey the pair arrive Trots, a relatively unremarkable roadside inn with bland fare and mostly vermin-free accommodations, apart from the leek pie which has a minor reputation as a local delicacy. There the women are met by Jasan, a wide-grinning, barrelchested man who greets Trinia like a long-lost friend. He is eager to be on his way back home and tells Trinia to say her farwells quickly.
Trinia turns to Adriel and clasps her hands. "Thank you so much for everything you've done for me Adriel. I owe you my life but in the meantime I hope this will do." She presses a beautiful silvery dagger into Adriel's hand and then leans forwards and presses a kiss onto Adriel's lip before pulling back again.
"Yes, I... see you again soon!" She mumbles, flushing red, and swings up onto the horse Jasan has brought out. Trinia turns back to wave, still blushing fiercely and keeps doing so until the pair cross a rise in the road and disappear from sight.
Adriel heads inside the Inn, happy that Trinia might have a better chance at life now she is outside Korvosa, but cannot think it a little sad she had to leave the city for that chance.
She orders some Leek pie and a very small glass of wine (she had never really had the money to try this before) and sits at a table getting out the dagger and turning it over in her hands, inspecting the quality of it closely.
How did the girl come into a dagger quite as well made as this?
Adriel spends a pleasant enough night at the inn and heads back to Korvosa again the next day, just beating a rain shower from the sea. There is an odd scent on the wind but she shakes it off as nothing more than imagination and gets on with the mundane realities of everyday life.
At their next session Vencarlo doesn't refer to the escapade apart from asking "How was the leek pie?" with a knowing smile. Adriel notes that the have remarkably similar fighting styles, although Vencarlo is a. more physical with his attacks than she is at time and b. a lot better than her, but that's to be expected given his much greater experience.
"You missed some excitement while you were away." Vencarlo adds at the end of the session. "A ship was sunk in the harbour by the mounted trebuchets on the castle. No-one knows why exactly and the Throne hasn't commented on the matter. Very strange..."
Another week passes without incident (and one more lesson with Vencarlo) before something troubles Adriel's routine. Early one morning she hears a knock on her door and finds, somewhat to her surprise, Jennie outside, along with her little son wrapped up in her arms.
"Adriel, can I come in?" She asks, looking thoroughly frazzled. Once safely ensconced at the table with a warm mug of tea she pours out her story.
"My niece is sick. I don’t know what she has and neither does anyone in Trail’s End. She’s broken out all over in red pocks and can barely keep down food, or even the swill that good-for-nothing herbalist gave her. Her sister’s talking about going to the Bank of Abadar, and she's not the kind to panic, or pay for something she can do herself. But the clerics charge a high price and money is tight right now for everyone. Adriel, I'm sorry, I remembered just how you generous you were after... the riots," (even now Jennie doesn't like mentioning Tobias's death) "and I thought maybe you could... I don't know, help somehow? I'm not asking for money, Abadar as my witness, but Tayce is at her wits end and you've been so good with little Toby I thought you might have some ideas that could help. Please Adriel."
Adriel holds out her arms to hold Tobias, and gently cradles him in her arms as he continues to sleep, giving Jennie a moment to rant.
"Jennie, whatever you do, you need to make sure that you keep your niece way from others, jsut in case its contagious. Don't let little Tobias near her, with him being so young. I...I don't know much about illnesses Im afraid, but I think I could go talk to someone to persuade them to help. Do you know if its just your niece, or have others' got it too?"
Regarding the ship, Adriel learns little more than Vencarlo told her. A ship bearing orange lanterns (usually the sign of a ship under quarantine) sailed up river and was sunk shortly before the Castle. There is much speculation but little hard evidence.
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"She's the only one I know about." Jennie says, shaking her head. "You're right though, I'll send Tayce a note to say I can't come and see her. Or could you tell her? If your friend is able to help you'll go and see them right?"
"Yes, I'll see what I can do. Stay safe Jennie - just focus on you and little Toby."
With that, Adriel heads out and tries to get a meeting with Kroft to find out more about both the ship, and any illnesses she has heard of.
Kroft unfortunately is busy, or at least she's not presently at the Keep. Although Adriel is reasonably well known there now no-one can, or will, direct her to the Commander at the moment.
If she wants information on the ship then the best option is probably to head to the river, near where it sank. If the plan is to try and deal with this illness then she could perhaps head to the Temple of Shelyn or Abadar to get divine support, or simply go and visit the family herself.
Adriel sighs, wondering if she has now dropped out of favor with the Captain for some reason before heading to the nearest Temple of Shelyn that she can find to speak to a
"Greetings, may the Eternal Rose bless you this day." She begins, "I am here to seek help or advice about a terrible illness of a child."
The acolytes of the small temple are mostly engaged in routine business and the one who comes to meet Adriel seems suitably shocked.
"How awful. Can you give me a description of the symptoms?" The young man asks leading her to a small side room which has many books and scrolls shelved along the walls. "Diagnosis is an important part of medicine, especially when it comes to the Church of Abadar, they are the largest afterall so they undertake much of the healing in the city - but one will always pay for what one requires!"
That makes Ishani, who Adriel recalls was a cleric of Abadar himself, something of an outlier, since he neither offered nor required payment from the Hummingbird when they fought together. Although perhaps saving his life counted?
Well I have not seen him myself, but he’s broken out all over in red pocks and apparently cannot keep down food or drink. Have you heard of anything like it?"
The acolyte frowns and flicks through a book, apparently looking for the symptoms Adriel describes.
"Hmm, there could be a number of things it is. IF it has come on so quickly..." He frowns. "I don't know exactly. Allow me to talk to a senior priest."
He departs and returns later with an older woman whose no-nonsense face. "Daren tells me you have news of a new sickness?" She asks. "Where exactly do you believe it has broken out?"
Upon being told that its in Old Korvosa she frowns. "This is unfortunate. An outbreak there would spread quickly but since no-one with money lives there I doubt the civic authorities will care much. Will you take me there? I must see what can be done."
Adriel nods, "Of course, they will appreciate all the help they can get as they definitely cannot afford to pay for the Priests of Abadar to help. I'll show you the way."
Tayce and Brienna Soldado live in a small community northeast of Korvosa called Trail’s End. Made up primarily of Varisians—with a few Shoanti and socially disaffected Chelaxians—Trail’s End is poor and reputedly dangerous, but the neighborhood feels more like a small town than any district within the city proper. The criminal element is obvious and impossible to ignore in the face of dozens of toughs and thugs who loiter on the streets, mostly Sczarni brutes who call themselves the Bashwater Boys and prey exclusively upon Chelaxians and other outsiders.
Knowing most city folks’ distaste for Varisia’s natives, the residents of Trail’s End return such prejudices, creating a community that thrives off Korvosan coin but reviles the city all the same. Fortunately the brightly coloured robes of the Shelynites' serves to ward off any trouble - no-one wishes to alienate the goddess of love and her clergy, especially since they are one of the few truly undiscriminating churches.
The Soldado home is a squat, two-story wooden building in desperate need of repair. Overall, the building feels like the home of a family too busy living to bother with tedious chores. Inside however, the house is remarkably clean and well kept, filled with worn furniture and decorated
with the crafts and scribbling of children. Tayce ceded the one bedroom to her children years ago and sleeps on a settee on the first floor. Since Brienna’s illness, though, the boys have joined their mother downstairs.
When you and Priestess Mirabelle arrive two boys, obviously half varisian based on their colouring, are playing quietly in the living room alone. Every few minutes, a spasm of ragged coughing fills the house from above. Mirabelle heads upstairs immediately and Adriel hears a short conversation before a flustered woman comes downstairs.
"Are you Miss Moonflower?" She asks, "Jennie's friend? Bless you for bringing a priestess! I can't afford to go to the Grand Bank and everywhere else is so busy! She hasn't been able to tell me what happened, she's been in and out ever since she got home!"
"Good afternoon Miss, Jennie said you needed some help and she had her hands full so I thought I'd see what I could do for you. What's going on anyway, your own little one sick?" Adriel asks.
"Brienna, she's my eldest, she came home t'other day and went straight to bed, the poor lamb." Tayce explains. "That was unlike her so I went up with some dinner and she was burnin' up. The spots started t'next day. It's been four days now, 'Ai was almost going to go to the Grand Bank for help, but we just don't have the coin..."
Mirabelle comes down a few minutes later with good news.
"I've been able to remove the disease from your daughter." She says to Tayce. "Keep her in bed for another day or so and then she should be much better. If there is a relapse, send a message to me at Songbird Hall and I will return. Shelyn's blessings upon you."
As Adriel and Mirabelle leave they see a small child scuttling across the road ahead of them, the boy is clutching a handful of silver and seems utterly ecstatic - such a display of wealth is unusual in Trail's End but the boy is obviously varisian so perhaps that's how he's safe to do it.
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Over the next week however it becomes clear that Brienna was by no means the only victim. Adriel's area, a little more well-to-do than the worse areas of the city, is largely spared, but in Trail's End and other areas of Old Korvosa there is increased panic as rumors, and more, of plague spread alarmingly around the city.
Adriel receives a message from Ishani, the Abadarian cleric who she rescued, asking her to come and see him at the Grand Vault but as she approaches she hears shouting, screams and all the sounds of a swiftly forming problem. Towering over the surrounding buildings, the Grand Vault offers a radiant vision of divine luxuriance amid a sea of mortal troubles. As its gray-veined white marble reflects the midday sun, there’s little question that this place is the house of a god.
Yet for a deity of law, the steep stairs and ramps leading up to the temple’s great bronze doors offer a strangely discordant scene. Dozens of citizens—mostly of the working class, although the silks of a few merchants show through the crowd—throng the entry, scarcely being held back by a group of gold-armored Abadaran clerics. All seem intent on gaining entry to the temple, but the clerics turn away nearly all comers. The clerics’ reasoning becomes clear as one desperate believer is turned away, his pitiful countenance mottled with violent red sores.
Adriel squeezes through the crowd, and with little effort, manages to slip through the doors as the other clerics are all distracted.
As soon as she is in, she looks for the closest acolyte. "Ishani has requested my presence, please can you direct me to him."