Adventure Log XIII
DOCTOR VISIT
Night was fully fallen by the time The Flowers returned to the Citadel with their new prisoner Jolistina in tow. The wind blew from the south, bringing the oppressive scents of the burning body pits from the Grey Ward. In the lantern light previously white buildings showed more than shadow as the soot began to build up, creating a physical representation of the sickness that had infected the city.
At their arrival the rescued noble Ausio Carowyn, satisfied the deranged clown had been delivered to the authorities, took his leave. At Calli’s inquiry he said he’d spend the night at the Posh & Turtle and begin picking up the pieces of his life in the morning. The old man’s eyes welled with tears and Calli took hold of his shaking, weathered hands. “I’ll look in on you in a couple of days. Stay strong.” She felt some guilt at her ulterior motives, but he has other homes and the people Byron and Trevor saved from Old Korvosa did not.
He left in a coach as Cressida Kroft appeared, having been summoned by a door guard now familiar with the group’s credentials. She looked with confusion at the bloodied jester, but beckoned them to follow her inside when asked for privacy to relay the latest findings. Once past the gate, the party was shocked to see an eerily empty courtyard. Even at this evening hour there would usually be people on patrol, training, or laughing amicably together as they went about their business. The vacant yard silently reinforced the urgency of their mission to end the plague.
Kroft led them first to the holding cells to ensure Jolistina was safely locked away. Gale recovered their manacles, and Calli turned the clown to look deep into her mad eyes one last time. “What did Rolth look like when you last saw him?” The bard used her magic to recover a memory of Rolth Lamm, whom they had yet to see in person. He was an ugly human male, covered in scars, with a high hairline emphasized by shaved sides, leaving only a narrow mess of hair on top of his lumpy head. He was bearded, and in the henchwoman’s memory was wearing a long leather apron with many pockets and pouches for cruel, sharp instruments. The memory was not a kind one, he had been cruel to her, but Calli still felt the woman’s fondness for him in that moment, which left her confused and disturbed.
They then moved on to Kroft’s office, where the weary Field Marshal sunk into her chair with a sigh. “Did you find the missing brother? Did that clown have him?”
The group launched into explanation of their gruesome discoveries, and finished with the bombshell news that the missing necromancer was supposedly working with the special doctors the queen had brought in from Cheliax. Cressida looked at each of them in turn, hoping to see signs that it was a terrible prank. When none could be found, her face grew stony. “I had my suspicions. What do you all propose we do next? We will need more proof than the word of a crazy woman, and we don’t know how high the corruption goes.”
The group learned Doctor Davaulus was a hard man to pin down for meetings, but seemed to spend most of his time at the Hospice of the Blessed Maiden, where the queen’s physicians had set up practice. The other doctors, in their strange bird-masks, had regular patrols they attended in twos guarded by a mix of Grey Maidens and the town guard. While discussing ways to get doctors alone for questioning, Byron had a brilliant idea. “You’re clearly short-handed, assign us to watch over two of the doctors on their rounds.” The rest of the group liked the plan, as it would give them the opportunity to watch the doctors at work and assess if they were doing any good at all before deciding whether to take stronger interrogation methods. They’d also have a cover to stake out the Hospice and possibly catch Lamm when he came calling. Cressida told them what time to return the next morning for their assignment, and the Flowers departed.
The only thing left for that night was to collect Taylan from the Bank of Abadar. They were relieved to find him awake and looking much better than he had after the goblin attack. They caught him up on everything he missed, and then the party split to get what rest they could manage. Byron and Trevor returned to Trail’s End to check in on their people, while Calli, Nightingale, and Taylan returned to Zellara’s. Some supposed sleep would be hard to come by with the eagerness to get to the root of the troubles, but after a long day of multiple fights and strenuous planning, it took them all before long.
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The morning came and everyone went about their routines of checking on those they hold dear. It was mostly good news for everyone, the miracle elixir of Trevor’s keeping many just out of reach of the worst. But not all. Susie, one of the workers from Ruby’s Rest, slipped away in the night. Byron took her out to bury with the others in the serene wooded spot Trevor had shown him. Calliandra had a whiplash of emotion at her mother’s house learning her father had been cured, and then that their maid Penelope had succumbed to her prolonged illness. The bright eyed young woman had worked there for years, often enthusiastically enlisted in Calli’s schemes, and Calli had loved her like family. She was late to rejoin the rest of the party at Zellara’s, but the enchantment in her hairpin allowed her to hide the signs she’d been crying.
The group shared their news and rumours overheard as they’d moved through town. Gale gave Calli a tight hug when she let him know about Penelope, after which she remarked to the group, “When we find Rolth, we’ll end him like we did his father.” To her surprise, this became a deep moral debate over whether or not killing him was the right action. Byron and Trevor were on the side of bringing him to Kroft and letting the law handle it. Calli and Gale felt the rabid dog needed putting down before he had a chance to do any more harm. The bigger men pointed out they needed him as evidence, but the others countered that the Queen had plucked people out of the citadel before and may do so again. Debate continued over what could be considered justice, the trustworthiness of the current establishment, and how far The Flowers should be going in their missions. Byron told Gale his views were too harsh, and told Trevor his were too extreme in the other direction, as the two polar opposites sparred with their words. Trevor asked Taylan his feelings on the matter, and he said he’d been many places where common people suffered harsh punishments for minor offences, and surely an evil man like Rolth with so many deaths at his hands deserved to die. At this Byron reasoned that all Rolth’s victims deserved to see justice, not just themselves, and there were many loved ones out there who should get to see that justice done. This was enough to finally sway Calli. Gale and Taylan retained their reservations, but relented. If it came to it in a fight and Rolth’s death was unavoidable, so be it. But they’d try to bring him in alive.
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The Flowers finally made it to the citadel as the assignments were being handed out. Cressida gave them an exasperated look before pointing them out to the Grey Maiden she was speaking to. A pair of the beaked doctors was sent their way, and the group escorted them to the far side of The Heights to begin their rounds that would travel south, then along the walls to South Shore and Grey Ward, before turning back up towards the Citadel.
The party made small talk, slipping in questions about the medicine they were passing out, their routines, and what they thought about reports of natural immunity scattered through the city. The two seemed to converse with a type of hand language before answering the trickier questions, which they tried to be subtle about. When mentioning the immune, they claimed one had been found recently in Ridgefield, but that Devalaus had examined him and sent him on his way as a dead end. Their answers were slippery, superficial, and tinted with deception.
The doctors tried asking them to wait outside when they got to the infected homes, but The Flowers refused, pointing out they couldn’t protect them if they weren’t by their side. The doctors agreed to one of the group watching each visit, but they weren’t to touch anything. The Flowers took the extra precaution of breathing through the bottle of air the party still carried. The group determined other than giving the patients a swig of alcohol disguised as a tonic and rubbing their skin with a lotion to lesson the irritation from the pustules Bloodveil left behind, the doctors weren’t doing anything at all to heal the people they saw. Even the sympathetic things they said to their patients rung hollow. Trevor asked why the doctors weren’t concerned about catching the illness, and one lifted the strange mask to answer. The masks were specially enchanted, a lengthy and expensive process, but while wearing it they were safe. Nightingale used detect magic and found the masks radiated conjuration magic, but there was also a feint illusion spell that he struggled to place.
The party was starting to eye each other, wondering if it was worth Calli trying to dive into their memories for more conclusive answers, when the doctors reported they’d run out of supplies and needed to restock at the hospice. Learning the lead physician, Doctor Reiner Davaulus, should be there, they chose to turn their attention to trying to finally get an audience with him, instead. As they followed the suspicious duo they realised the Hospice was incredibly close to both the Citadel and their base at Zellara’s. Trevor recognized the large warehouse as one that had previously been owned by the Arkonas, and wondered how much they had to do with the ongoing plague. It couldn’t be good for business.
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The doctors warned them to wait outside, and entered. Through the front doors the group saw a waiting room full of sick people obviously heavy with plague. A single wooden desk was manned by a large woman whose features were concealed behind scarves carefully wrapped around her face. The doctors passed the desk and disappeared into a door beyond.
The group quietly shared their observations, and were united in their suspicions that the doctors were definitely up to something, but they needed more to prove malicious intent as opposed to malpractice. Byron sent Little Focker to do a loop of the building and check for ways in and out. The drake flew off, and swiftly returned to report any entrances there might have once been had been fully boarded up, windows included. Byron instructed him to keep watch outside, and if they didn’t return to let Cressida know where they’d gone. One of the doctors returned, and sounded surprised when he reported that Doctor Davaulus was in and agreed to meet. He lead the group inside, who did their best not to breathe any more than necessary.
Once past the inner waiting room door the room opened up wide, the majority of the warehouse was without walls and the ceiling was two stories up. Windows were boarded over and allowed no light through. Rows upon rows of cots filled the room, every one contained the sick and feeble, who coughed and moaned in their suffering, and a handful of bird-masked doctors moved among them. People of all backgrounds were rendered equal in agony here, rich and poor alike. There were a few closed doors along the back wall, one guarded by two Grey Maidens, and a staircase led up past a series of catwalks on the first floor level where more Grey Maidens patrolled with crossbows. The group wondered why a room of sick people needed such careful guarding.
They followed their doctor into the furthest door up the stairs, past the catwalks, past the ceiling into the third floor. He led them past a whitewashed hall, through two large doors decorated with damaged depictions of gazelles, through another hall of beds. These weren’t all full, but many of those who did occupy them were bound to the bed with leather straps. None were conscious. When questioned the doctor lamented that some of the patients became violent and delirious in the late stages of the disease, and the restraints were to keep them from hurting anyone else in their outbursts. They didn’t believe him. The doctor knocked on the single door at the far end, and Davaulus quickly opened it and ushered the Flowers inside.
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They crowded into his office, which was full of bubbling beakers and strange ingredients, shelves of books, and a large desk covered with notes. Reiner was a clean-cut human who seemed a handsome fellow with short stylish hair, high cheekbones, and large blue eyes. Under his long coat he wore a distinctly un-medicinal rapier. Calli launched into cheerful conversation, praising him for his efforts and bemoaning that he’s been to busy to join her for a meal, leading him back towards his desk. Nightingale made sure the door locked behind them, Taylan went to browse the books, Byron kept close to Calli and the Doctor, while Trevor got a good look at the experiment table.
What Trevor saw chilled his blood. Far from working on a cure, it looked as if whatever Davaulus was doing was actually refining the virus. He joined the ongoing conversation and asked about the person with immunity that had been found. Reiner repeated what they’d heard earlier, that he had indeed taken samples from a few people with immunity, but as of yet he was no closer to finding any cures, and he’d sent the volunteers on their way. Some of the party saw through the lie, and let the others know with subtle head shakes.
Trevor then called him over to ask about what he was doing with the equipment. The doctor arrogantly tried to brush him off, saying he didn’t have much time to explain the intricacies to a layman, but Trevor caught him off-guard by casually describing the set-up before him with complete accuracy. Reiner joined him at the table, beginning to make up an excuse for what might be occurring. While he was distracted, Calli looked over the notes on his desk but wasn’t able to read anything immediately useful in the letter he had been writing.
Trevor cut off the doctor’s lies and continues, “I’ve just remembered where I last saw a set up like this. It was at Rolth Lamm’s place.” The doctor denied knowing anyone by that name, so Trevor pressed on. “We have evidence you not only know him, but that you’re working with him to spread this disease. Now you’re coming with us!”
The doctor immediately snapped his fingers and vanished from sight.
The group sprung into action. Byron went into a rage and sniffed out for the man, who hadn’t yet moved, so he was able to grab hold of one of Reiner’s arms. Calli swiped the open ink pot on his desk and splashed the area, making it more obvious for the others where the doctor was standing.
Gale, concerned at the revelation that the doctor was a caster and knowing they needed to subdue him quickly before he could alert anyone, pulled his own rapier and plunged into him one of his electrical charges. It did a considerable amount of damage, causing Davaulus to cry out in pain, but still he remained standing and conscious.
Remembering the paralyzing effects, Taylan pulled out a ghoul touch wand that the party had found on a previous mission, and rendered the doctor unable to move any further. He had not remembered the extreme stench that made the others of his team temporarily sick to the stomach.
The party had to think fast. They used their manacles to bind and gag him as they had the jester, but how to get him out of the building without more trouble? They didn’t want to have to fight their way out, there were too many sick and innocent people who could be caught in the crossfire. They decided they’d have to go out through the wall and lower him down with rope into the alley beside the building. Between Gale’s acid splash and Byron’s crowbar they could work to remove a section large enough. Taylan helped search the room for evidence, Trevor kept firm hold of the doctor, and Calli touched Reiner’s face.
“Who’s giving you your orders?” She asked, her silken voice thrumming with power. Davaulus glared at her over the gag, but she didn’t need him to speak. She found a memory of a gorgeous woman giving him instruction, and she wore a broach with the same cult symbol of Urgathoa they found on the book in the sunken ship. This must be Andaisin, the infamous high priestess with a long and bloody history.
“Are you working with Rolth Lamm?” asked Calli, and she found another memory of him meeting up with the necormonacer. They were standing over the bed of an older man, who wore the symbol of Sarenrae over his attire. Lamm and Rolth seemed to be discussing ways they might use his immunity to make their plague more formidable. She let the others know, and a tense silence filled the room as they took in the implications. As she described the man, Trevor was convinced the prisoner was his missing friend Otto.
From outside the door they heard one of the other doctors call. “Doctor Davaulus, are you alright in there?” They were out of time.
Calli gestured for them to carry on, and whispered she’d meet them in the alley, and then she unlocked and slipped out the door. Using the hair clip to make herself look a bit paler than she was on arrival, she proceeded to explain that she’d been overwhelmed by the victims on the way in and ended up being sick on the doctor. She played up her embarrassment, and claimed to still be a bit unsteady, asking if he would guide her back outside. The doctor called one more time after Davaulus, and inside Byron gave a short “I’m fine” in an attempt at an impression. Calli quickly continued talking, explaining in a fluster that the others are helping clean him off, and it would mortify her if anyone else saw what she’d done. She put a hand to her stomach and again asked him to help her leave. The doctor took keen interest in the symptoms she was displaying, and offered her a sip of the alcoholic concoction he carried for the other patients as they walked. She pretended to drink a small sip and thanked him as they left.
Inside the office work continued. The doctor made an attempt to struggle free, but Byron easily knocked him out. Trevor barricaded the door to make sure there’d be no further interruptions. It took a few minutes of careful work to not make too much noise, during which they made sure to relieve the Doctor of his possessions, but they got a large chunk of the wall lowered internally. By the time Calli made it out and around the building, they had begun lowering people down. She kept watch until the group had regathered at the bottom and Focker had released the rope from above. Nightingale summoned his horses, and the party took off back to the Citadel, the doctor’s identity hidden beneath a blanket.
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They called out to the guards on the gate to let them through, and bring Cressida right away. The Field Marshall once again came when summoned, and demanded to know who they’d brought in this time. “You’re supposed to be with the doctors!”
The Flowers let her know they’d need her most secure cell, with only her most trusted guards on watch. Only once she led them back to the cells and were assured they were safe did they reveal their catch. Cressida’s eyes went wide and she ran a hand through her hair. “You’d better have a good explanation for this.”
They filled her in on the day’s grim discoveries, and Calli shared with Kroft the memory of Davaulus and Lamm discussing making the disease worse. They warned her they didn’t have long before his absence was noted. The Grey Maidens’ main orders had been to protect the doctors, and the question was again brought up- how much did the queen know? They’d have to be careful. At least for now, The Flowers would be wanted criminals.
The group’s more pressing concern was saving all the people in the Hospice. It was pointed out that now that their cover was blown, wherever they were holding the immune, they’d likely move them as soon as possible. They’d need another way to find Lamm and the hostages. Calli once more reached out to touch the doctor and compelled, “Where do you go to meet with Rolth?” She saw his memory of going through the guarded door on the ground floor, inserting an unusual button key into a lift, and riding it down to the basement. It had been right under their noses.
The party still didn’t want to fight their way through a room of sick people, but Gale pointed out he still had some grenades, they could go in through the back wall. A hasty plan was formed, some of Reiner’s belongings were redistributed, and the group resolved themselves to their rescue mission. They left Cressida behind to get word to the temples to find help in getting as many people to help clear the known sick out of the Hospice as soon as possible.
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Returning to the horses, the party once more headed to the Hospice of the Blessed Maiden. This time they kept an eye out for Grey Maiden activity, but nothing seemed to be mobilized, yet. They traveled up the alleys until they were where they suspected the elevator room to be. Focker did another loop of the building and reported that there were a few of those strange beaked doctors in the office. It changed nothing of their plan.
Nightingale used his acid splash, this time on one small concentrated area of the wall, until they had a peep hole. They’d judged it correctly, inside was the lift, and a couple of the masked doctors were inspecting the controls trying to get it to work, but they obviously lacked the button key as it had been on Doctor Davaulus when they’d taken him. The two Grey Maidens who’d been guarding the door looked on. This gave them hope that the hostages in the basement hadn’t been moved, yet, and that Rolth didn’t know they were coming.
Gale moved aside and Calli looked through. She picked a point past the room, through the open door behind the small crowd, at the opposite end of the warehouse, and cast a silent image of a pestilence demon appearing. Patients screamed and cried out in surprise. She quickly bobbed back out of the way and Taylan looked through, casting ghost sounds of menacing roars in the warehouse. Taylan then made room for Gale to return, who watched as everyone in the elevator room turned and ran forward towards the perceived threat. Gale then dropped a 20ft radius of magical darkness on top of monster and Maidens alike, for maximum confusion. Having rushed to position herself between the casters and the barbarians around the corner of the elevator room, she signaled. Gale and Taylan coordinated sounds and dancing lights at the edges of the darkness to seem like the wall was being blown inside the warehouse, while Byron and Trevor detonated the actual explosives, blasting an opening in for them.
The group wasted no time filing in, and using the confiscated key, gained entrance to the lift. It was large at ten foot by ten foot, but with five of them in at once they hoped they wouldn’t have to do any fighting inside of it. they activated the controls, and the machine shuddered and lurched before beginning a slow decent.
Whatever faced them below, the excitement of having made so much progress in less than twenty-four hours was palpable. If they were lucky they would be able to save any innocent people trapped below. If they were very lucky, they’d also shut down the people responsible for the past week of misery. They felt somehow boosted by their success thus far, but they knew it was far from over.