"Did he have quarters elsewhere in the city then?" Bosch said. He was trying to get a sense of the man, if the Senschal vanished of his own volition things might get even more complicated than if he had simply been abducted.
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Bosch actually splits off from Ty as he searches the room, "I'm going to see if I can get anything out of the attendants. See what they have to say about this state of affairs. Catch up when you're done here." Heading back down to the lobby, Bosch approaches the desk. "I have a few questions if you don't mind," he started, the picture of ease, "Did you often wait upon the Seneschal?"
About how much free time do I have to work with for crafting?
He was frowning over a cup of mulled cider. The Queen made sure her name and authority was attached to the execution of the plague doctors. It was good publicity despite all the evidence pointing to her being complicit in their crimes. "When we visit the Seneschal's home, make sure to pocket something small and personal Ty, something a stranger would overlook. I don't want our deeds to hurt Corwin even if we use the Academae's services." Bosch took a sip, "We should reach out to Commandant Thalassinus as well... and perhaps Sabina. What do you think?"
Sorry, Gramdma took a bad fall, been busy with that
"Worth a shot," Bosch said, scratching his chin and putting together a question in his mind.
"Sorry, if we are being cryptic, I don't want to drag you or Wren back into our messes," Bosch said, "Things are messy these days and our little militia might be in over our heads as it is."
Useful loot distributions: Bosch
Roscoe
Tessa
Trey
Ty
Yrsa
I tried to make up for weaknesses where I saw them and distribute items to where they made sense. Yrsa, Ty, and Roscoe will get priority in my next round of crafting.
"C'mon, Ty, you know how often these wizarding types tend to blow themselves up. Did you forget to carry the one somewhere?" Bosch said, gently punching the older man's uninjured shoulder. Though it had merely been months, it felt like ages since Ty, Tessa, Bandru, Corwin and himself had set out together into that uncertain night. "I would have brought Roscoe but he always gets nervous around this much magic. I also don't think your fellows would much appreciate him wandering around."
"There are many unpleasant rumors about this place, but it is an institution of learning." Bosch said, remaining cool as he knocks on the door of the 'staff' building, "I don't intend to spend much more time than is necessary here, to be fair."
Oh, sorry! Let's see what Corwin can get us. He's the farthest removed from this whole situation so run practically no risk of tipping anyone off.
If no one speaks up on the loot list by Monday, I'm going to do some further liquidations and make suggestions on who gets what from the tastier pieces of loot. Also, I'd like to know if anyone has any specific weapons and armor they want crafted. Once the liquidations are out of the way, I'll divvy up the gold.
Got the loot list updated. I'm looking to liquidate some of our stores, I'll be marking things I intend to sell so we can have some gold to work with here. Please check the loot list and make any objections known. Going to go ahead and sell the mundane weapons and armor.
"Yes, but stay in the yard," Bosch says ruffling the girl's hair and pushing himself out of the hammock he had taken to sleeping in. In all the mess these past couple of days, he had yet to set up a proper bedroom for himself. "Roscoe," he starts but the big dog is already moving to keep an eye on the girl. Shrugging, Bosch joins Ty in the common room and helps himself to a bit of the prepared breakfast. "Our last visit to Vencarlo left a slightly sour taste in my mouth but he should be able to help us all the same, I'm sure Trey can rally the city's holy men to action against the plague now," mopping up some bacon grease with a piece of toast, he yawns, still sore from the previous day's struggles. "Can't tip our hand early, let's talk to him first."
Alright guys, I'm going to update the Loot List soonish. The last time I had done so was after the events at the manor. If anyone wants to help me collect the sundry items into an easily viewable form, I'd appreciate it.
"You may wish to consider candidates for his replacement, Cressida. The forces moving against our city do not do anything by half measures." It was not a pleasant consideration but it had to be made.
"Seems another vigilante has cropped up on the streets, no doubt inspired by Blackjack. Some kind of shapeshifting spirit of vengeance calling himself 'the Owl'. It was through this mysterious benefactor's intervention that a plot to spread the Blood Veil from within the Queen's Physicians was stymied and those responsible were brought to justice and handed off to a group of surprised guard auxiliaries. While acts of vigilantism should never be condoned, corruption should also be rooted out wherever it is found. Thankfully, this particular plot was destroyed lest the conspirators could threaten the Queen herself." "Play up our civic pride, pin the violence on the Owl, and pretend we were fortunate enough to come in after the fact to find the parts of the conspiracy laid bare. Our findings might be a bit too comprehensive but I'd rather have the Queen chasing shadows than us."
"We have captured two suspects for trial and interrogation," Bosch said, "As far as should be official known, they were acting in secret, hoping to spread the plague for the glory of a dark goddess. However, Yrsa is correct about the truth of the matter." Bosch paused and took a breath, the next part would never be undone and would likely set him and his friends on an even more dangerous course. "We believe the queen was fully aware of their actions. The principles in this case were all here under her specific invitation and insinuated they were acting with her blessing. Ysra's report details the situation and should be handled with discretion." "I trust you Marshall, I think you're one of the best things this city has going for it, but if you want off, then this is your stop."
"The guard just saved your lives," Bosch said staring down the one who had spoken so sharply and drawing himself up to his full height. "I am Sir Bosch Glasthane, citizen of Korvosa, and Guard Auxiliary. We allow the Citadel deniability while still doing what needs to be done and the more voices we have backing ours the stronger our arm."
That being said, he softened his disposition again, "Allowances will be made for those with families who accompany us and anyone uncomfortable in the presence of guards for... other reasons," he pointedly did not say criminal history but the implication was clear, "I will not force you to come but you have my word that no man will punish any of you for being a victim in this madness."
"I hate to say it, friends, but I need you to come to Citadel Volshynek with us so we can put this unpleasant business to bed," Bosch says calmly. "The people that held you against your will were powerful and obviously lack scruples. We need to make sure they are taken care of so you or someone else does not end up in their clutches."
I thought we had a wagon waiting for us at a set meeting point.
"Not much further now," Bosch says hanging back a minute to check the rear before rallying the others onwards. They would not be out of the woods until he had everyone under the protection of the Guard.
"We don't know who we can trust out there right now," Bosch said, "We have a contact waiting for us on through here and we can get you all to safety from there."
Bosch grabs arms with the others so no one gets lost in the smoke. "Chain up, no one gets separated," He orders, and begins leading the others back to the sewer entrance. Avoiding the obvious exits served a four purposes. Firstly, it insured that the rescued patients would not be simply folded back into the care of the physicians and silenced. Secondly, it made sure their captives would not be lost to those same hands. Thirdly, it would embarrass the Gray Maidens and make them look incompetent in the eyes of the public. Finally, his people were too drained to back him up should he need to stare down the Maidens. Ty had already sewn the seeds of discord in the public. "Trey, when we get out of here, can you go to your temple and gather some healers? We don't know how bad these infected are, or how many. Yrsa, you're on rear guard, warn me if anything nasty sneaks up behind us in the sewers."
Sorry, school work has been tying me up lately.
"Make sure the bindings and the gags do not slip, they have magics at their command," Bosch said, leading the way back to the elevator and getting everyone up as quickly as he could.
"We've cleared out the remaining threats," Bosch intones, "Now we can get you all out of here safely, but time is of the essence. Please follow us,"
"Let's get the evidence and the captives out of here first. Make sure we get the vampire's texts, they could prove invaluable," Bosch says, rallying the others to the task at hand. He collects the young man from the examination table and heads back to get the other captives.
"I will see about dropping a word to the Academae," Bosch promised as the vampire vanished into thin air. "One less problem to deal with," Bosch says, heaving a sigh. "Let's get these people and evidence out of here. Ty? Can you provide us a distraction until we get everyone clear?"
Going to be out of touch this weekend. Should be back by Monday at the latest.
Bosch quirks an eyebrow at title of the book, "I take it you know a bit about this plague. You provide us with some of your research, let the boy go and I can make sure your name and your texts will be famous throughout Korvosa. This plague, it's news. I reckon once it calms down, academics will be in from all corners to study what remains. What if they found out one Ramoska Arkminos beat them to the punch on it?"
"A fascinating discovery, no doubt, but we are not here to negotiate and the boy is not yours to sell regardless," Bosch said rubbing his eyes, "I am tired Master Arkminos, if you have no love for the others here, you can understand exactly how exhausting dealing with them can be. I can only imagine what a trial it must have been to butt heads with such egoists regularly. I am not a man to resort to base and empty threats or chest pounding so please surrender. I would rather not have to use force."
"Your companions are slain or captured," Bosch stated matter-of-factly, voice weary, "I would recommend surrender and cooperation, sir." He was still wiping the blood of the priestess from his sword as he entered.
"Stay back, she must have infected me with something," Bosch said looking visibly drained and pale, he could feel a fever raging inside of him already.
Excellent! Good to have you back, I had made arrangements in your absence.
"We put her down once, we can do it again!"
"Yrsa! Swap with Roscoe! Boy! Hold!"
"Back outta the room!" Bosch calls to the others, letting them move first and covering their retreat.
"Now would be a good time for some fire," Bosch says looking to Tessa worriedly.
Bosch has similar trouble, opening a gash along the cultist's back but missing twice when she got to her feet. He shakes his head and repositions himself.
I think an animal has to have an intelligence of at least 3 before it actually understands a language.
That's the puzzler. A command like fall prone would be something you could get a dog to understand but the reason Bosch handles Roscoe so easily is that he understands the dog very well.
Would a language-dependent spell affect Roscoe?
Bosch is intent on showing her the consequences of her choices.
Right, back with stable internet. I'll be good to go now. You should probably plan on controlling Yrsa for the near future though.
"Now Ty, we have infiltrated her home and put her servants to the blade. Insults will not do," Bosch sauntered forward, idly examining his sword for imperfections. "I have to applaud your plan, lady. Well executed indeed. I couldn't have done it better myself," he raps a knuckle against his blade eliciting a strangely warbling tone from the worked metal. "You see, I am a craftsman too. My sword, for instance, is wrought from the finest dwarven steel. It is the pinnacle of my art. Yet it hungers for something more, some missing element to make it whole, something to make it truly sing. Something you may have once hungered for as well. Unfortunately, you chose poorly. You chose to set your hunger against my designs," he rapped his knuckle against the blade again. "You come into our town and kill our people and then expect our surrender? I have everything I need here, so I'll give you one chance to leap upon your own scythe or be savaged by blade, beast, and holy fire." At once the good manners evaporated and fury remained in their place, "Dismiss me with pride if you want, hide in the skirts of your goddess if you so choose, but remember I gave you a choice."
Bosch studies the thing in the glass cage, happy that it is secure out of the way. "Once we have secured the building we can bring this thing to the attention of the relevant authorities," he said, wiping the blood of the cultist from his blade and joining the others. "Let's be done with this mess, I could use a good bath already."
Yrsa and I have very spotty internet right now.
As Roscoe pulled the misguided fool to the ground, Bosch hefted his greatsword and dropped it twice with the dispassionate air of an executioner.
Running out of options, Bosch heads to the west and motions the others close before trying the doors there.
Bosch checks the other southern door quickly.
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