Clutches of Evil - IC: Chapter Two

[Rino]

The priest turns and checks out Varius and Eion. "No sign of the Fever in either of you. But you, sir," he nods to Eion, "are already showing signs of the infection."

The inspector turns to Varius. "Ah, yes. Always a sword for hire who is willing to lay his life on the line for the proper sum of money. Of course, we in the city guard also are smart enough to realize that mercenaries always follow the biggest purse strings. It is only a matter of time before mercenaries find someone with a bigger purse string and betray the original agreement. I'd rather trust my city guards to maintain a quarantine."

He looks out of the corner of his eye to Eion. "Besides, your friend here isn't leaving the city without special dispensation until a cure can be found or we are all dead. Given that he apparently has only three days to live, I would suspect that finding a cure might be his own motivation. If he takes the stance that he is only working if a proper sum of money is offered, he'll find himself sitting in Theropa hoping to the gods that other people are successful in finding the cure - if there is even one that can be found."

The inspector nods to one of his guards. "That reminds me. Sound the alarm to shut up the gates and lock down the sewers. If we all have to die, that's one thing. But I'll not have this spread throughout Barghost on my watch."

Eion turns to the priest how could I have contracted the disease, I didn;t even touch him. and hell I will find a cure for this disease on my own if i have to, I have nothing to lose with only 3 days to go

to the rest anyone wanna go with me?

 

[unleashed]

Keryth, Male Drakontos Cleric

“How? Well Eion, that’s not too hard to imagine, even if it’s simply passed by contact and not proximity. As whoever was serving the half-orcs could have brought it back to the kitchen, where it could easily have spread to the other serving staff... from there it’s only a short step to it spreading to all the diners,” Keryth states, “That would mean it spreads very quickly of course, but it’s certainly possible.”

“As for going with you... well we’re already going, my friend. So if you’d like to join us you’re most welcome to do so, though I’d still like an idea of what to look for so we’re not working blind, as I’d say the dead half-orc and his friend had no idea they’d been infected until we were told just now.”

 

[Fenris]

“As for going with you... well we’re already going, my friend. So if you’d like to join us you’re most welcome to do so, though I’d still like an idea of what to look for so we’re not working blind, as I’d say the dead half-orc and his friend had no idea they’d been infected until we were told just now.”

"Well I am sure our good friend the inspector could ask the pater here for an assistant to help us search for the source of the infection" suggests Varius with a pointed look at the inspector

 

[Nonlethal Force]

The healing pater nods with Keryth as he provides an answer to Eion's inquiry.

The inspector returns the pointed look to Varius. "Well, aren't we playing mature tonight? If you don't like the term mercenary, I'd suggest not offering your services for the proper sum of money. Or, how was it you said you would provide your services? I believe it went something like this ... 'That is of course if the pay were sufficient to cover the obviously dangerous and life threatening conditions.' Sounds to me like someone who offers their services for money to me."

"And with regard to seeling the cure back to us: I assure you, with a comment like that you can be sure that we won't be putting our eggs all in your basket. Thank the gods that trust is earned, and not assumed. And with regard to spreading half-truths and intentionally deceiving people to rile them up - you had best hope that it doesn't happen. Because if it does, now you'll be on the top of our list to arrest for inciting a riot. Keep your attitude up, and I'm sure that we can find something to arrest you for before you even leave."

His face softens as he addresses the rest of the group. "Before you all go jumping to conclusions about questing, we'll need to even find out if there is a cure. I am sure that our local healer will be more than willing to research if there even is a cure once you all are done with his services."

The pater nods as he finishes scanning Delcoi at Byntrou's request and softly replies to Byntrou. "It seems that snakes are either lucky or immune. He shows no signs of either."

[Sblock=Keryth, Byntrou]Destiny is no longer present. The reasonable assumption is that she went out with the crowd, but that may not be the correct answer.[/Sblock]

 

[unleashed]

Keryth, Male Drakontos Cleric

His face softens as he addresses the rest of the group. "Before you all go jumping to conclusions about questing, we'll need to even find out if there is a cure. I am sure that our local healer will be more than willing to research if there even is a cure once you all are done with his services."

“Indeed, though even if there is no known cure I will look, regardless,” Keryth declares, giving Dahlia and Byntrou a look which says he won’t abandon them. “Well, I don’t think there’s much more the pater can do for us here... so unless he wishes to examine those who were removed before, I’d suggest the time to see if there is a known cure is now. Do you require any assistance with your research, pater?”

 

[Fenris]

The inspector returns the pointed look to Varius. "Well, aren't we playing mature tonight? If you don't like the term mercenary, I'd suggest not offering your services for the proper sum of money. Or, how was it you said you would provide your services? I believe it went something like this ... 'That is of course if the pay were sufficient to cover the obviously dangerous and life threatening conditions.' Sounds to me like someone who offers their services for money to me."

"And with regard to selling the cure back to us: I assure you, with a comment like that you can be sure that we won't be putting our eggs all in your basket. Thank the gods that trust is earned, and not assumed. And with regard to spreading half-truths and intentionally deceiving people to rile them up - you had best hope that it doesn't happen. Because if it does, now you'll be on the top of our list to arrest for inciting a riot. Keep your attitude up, and I'm sure that we can find something to arrest you for before you even leave."

Varius' eyes flash with anger and his hand goes to his sword briefly before returning as a fist by his side. "I haven't time to trade barbs with witless bureaocrats. I would leave this city and were my comrade here not infected we would. If finding the cure were left up to supercillious, bombastic, arrogant, hypocritical, impotent bureuacrats like you, my friend here would indeed be dead in days. So I shall go to find the cure, for my friend, in spite of you. Arrest me if you like, or dare to try. The cure will be found if it exists, and given over gladly to the pater. The people of this city should not suffer because their inspector is an insulting twit."

Varius turns to the pater "Pater, if there is any cure, I will find it. My sword is at your disposal" he says with a small bow to the priest.

 

[Nonlethal Force]

The priest of Pelor looks to Keryth and replies, "I believe I can examine the texts alone, although in truth it will involve speaking to a few of my fellow paters who are more experienced with herbs and medicines than I am. Magic resistant diseases are rare - so in some cases that makes it easier for us to track down past research. If you have specific experience with diseases or cures I would be interested in the information. But in truth the answer most likely requires research among the sacred tomes of Pelor. I thank you for your offer, but it is likely that you can best serve the city by preparing yourself to go wherever my research indicates that you may need to go."

The inspector listens to Varius and replies, "Well, good. I hope that you are done insulting me. As to my level of witlessness, I would encourage you to keep out of trouble or you will find just how brainless I am. As to your involvement in finding the cure, that is if the others will even have you. But I think the friend of Bahamut here has it right ..."

He includes everyone in his next line, "We have done what we can here. Pater, how much time do you need?"

The pater nods to Varius, accepting his offer, and the responds to the inspector, "Two hours time. If I have not found it in two hours time, I'll at least let you know that I need more time."

The inspector nods. "There you have it. Prepare yourselves, any interested in serving the city has two hours. We'll meet on the steps to Pelor's Temple, where city tradition demands we meet at times like these.

[Sblock=OOC]Okay, we can cut-scene forward a bit, but I wanted to give each of you a chance to post some preparations and to RP among one another if you desire. You can assume that the inspector and pater leave and the city guard come in to wrap and remove the body. Present in the immediate context once the body leaves are Dahlia, Byntrou, Eion, Keryth, Varius, and in the background - the restaurant owner. The patrons of the restaurant will be allowed to return about 20 minutes after the inspector leaves - he's going to debrief them on the situation. So, the arty does have a fair amount of time to speak before any patrons desiring to return have a chance to do so.

You can also assume that as soon as the inspector and the pater leave that Dahlia will go to Keryth.

As for re-equipping and anything else done in the two hour time-span, we can RP that out or I can simply include it in the cut-scene, whatever you guys want. I'm up for either. If you simply want it included in the cutscene, just list what you would like to buy in an Sblock and I'll be sure to include it. If you want to RP it out, then don't worry about it.

Also, two points of OOC note:

Fenris and I have been e-mailing to get us out of the inspector/Varius tiff that came out of nowhere. While our discussions are private and involve Varius related character information, please do know that neither of us planned to go down the road where Varius and the inspector simply spiralled downward. That is why my last post was a bit delayed. We wanted to devise a way to get out of that and move the game forward. If the ending between them seems a bit contrived, please know that we are aware of that and both of us just wanted to get out of it and move the game forward.

Second, I don't want to give the impression that this town - or others like it - routinely are affected by diseases. It is possible to read the inspector/pater and hear it as though this is a common occurrance. Rather, think of it as historical tradition. Any time something goes wrong in the city, the Temple of Pelor is one of the customary designation points for the dissemination of information ... and has been for hundreds of years.That's more the context of what I was going for.[/Sblock]

 

[jkason]

Byntrou, roguishly sorcerous barbarian

Byntrou's relief is obvious when he's told his familiar is free of disease. He says nothing further until the pater and town officials have left, then he crosses to Keryth.

"Our deceased friend gave us a few ... gifts for all the trouble he's caused," Byn whispers, pulling out the gemstones he took from the man and offering them to Keryth in his capacity of party treasurer.

Looking around with a frown, Byn adds, "I hope Destiny's all right. I lost track of her in the hubbub. Perhaps we should attempt to seek her out in the time we have?"

 

[unleashed]

Keryth, Male Drakontos Cleric

The inspector listens to Varius and replies, "Well, good. I hope that you are done insulting me. As to my level of witlessness, I would encourage you to keep out of trouble or you will find just how brainless I am. As to your involvement in finding the cure, that is if the others will even have you. But I think the friend of Bahamut here has it right ..."

He includes everyone in his next line, "We have done what we can here. Pater, how much time do you need?"

The pater nods to Varius, accepting his offer, and the responds to the inspector, "Two hours time. If I have not found it in two hours time, I'll at least let you know that I need more time."

The inspector nods. "There you have it. Prepare yourselves, any interested in serving the city has two hours. We'll meet on the steps to Pelor's Temple, where city tradition demands we meet at times like these.

“Yes, let us prepare now all the foolishness is at an end,” Keryth remarks, glancing briefly at both the inspector and Varius, “This is a time for cooperation... not a time to let anger or pride get the best of us.”

He then turns back to the inspector. “As for meeting at the temple, is that really the best idea inspector? Don’t forget we have a few infected people here who wish to search for the cure, and as yet we don’t know how easy it is to transmit whatever is causing the infection.”

 

[unleashed]

Keryth, Male Drakontos Cleric

Byntrou's relief is obvious when he's told his familiar is free of disease. He says nothing further until the pater and town officials have left, then he crosses to Keryth.

"Our deceased friend gave us a few ... gifts for all the trouble he's caused," Byn whispers, pulling out the gemstones he took from the man and offering them to Keryth in his capacity of party treasurer.

Looking around with a frown, Byn adds, "I hope Destiny's all right. I lost track of her in the hubbub. Perhaps we should attempt to seek her out in the time we have?"

Keryth shakes his head and sighs as Byntrou hands over the gemstones... though he doesn’t say a word about how they were acquired.

‘Yes, I lost track of her too, in my concern for Dahlia... I hope she went with the others and didn’t just wander off, otherwise she may not know what’s happened. As for finding her, well perhaps she will come back here once those that were taken away are released... otherwise I’m not sure where she might have gone.”