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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JollyDoc" data-source="post: 4740502" data-attributes="member: 9546">THE HOSPICE OF THE BLESSED MAIDENThe stinging scent of alcohol and medicine flooded the dingy reception room, an odor typical to hospices, morgues, and battlefields.  Across from the entrance sat a long wooden desk, beyond which a stained leather curtain covered an open archway, muffling moans from beyond.  A burly nurse sat at the desk, three scarves wrapped over her mouth and nose, and heavy leather gloves on her hands.  A half-dozen citizens huddled in chairs and against the walls, each of them exhibiting symptoms of blood veil, some at quite advanced stages.  The nurse glanced up disinterestedly as Katarina and her companions entered, but said nothing, her eyes dropping back down to her papers.  “Excuse me,” Kat said, clearing her throat after several minutes, “but we’re here to see Dr. Davaulus.”“Everyone is here to see the doctors,” the nurse said without looking up.  “Take a seat and wait your turn.”“I don’t think you understand,” Kat said calmly.  “We work for the Guard, and we’re here on official business.”The nurse raised her eyes and shrugged.  “Sorry, can’t help you.”“Madame,” Kat said, leaning across the desk, her voice becoming more commanding, “Dr. Davaulus personally instructed us to report to him with any information about the plague, and that’s what we’re going to do.  If you interfere, and more deaths result, I’ll personally inform the Doctor of the role you played.”The nurse’s eyes began to show just the slightest amount of concern.“Well…,” she hesitated, “I suppose when you put it that way…but I’m not responsible if there’s any trouble in there!”“Of course not,” Kat smiled.  “Thank you for your assistance Nurse…?”“Torthus,” the nurse replied, “Bhrunlida Torthus.”___________________________________________________The warehouse’s vast interior had been converted into one gigantic convalescent’s ward, the stench of alcohol, sickness, and waste choking each breath.  Tight rows of low, stained cots crammed the stone-floored hall.  Every bed was filled with a pitiful story…men and women of all walks groaning and wheezing as they were consumed by blood veil, their sufferings multiplied by the echoing chamber.  Several queen’s physicians milled about the cots, cooing at their patients in falsely sympathetic voices, their avian masks giving them an unnerving resemblance to crows waiting to feed.  A catwalk, twenty feet above, wrapped around the entire chamber, and two gray maidens paced it, while three more stood before closed doors on the far side of the ground level.One of the gray maidens strode purposefully across the room towards the members of the K.I.A.“You will leave this place immediately,” she commanded.  “I know who you are and whom you represent, and you have no business here.”As she spoke, the maidens on the catwalk readied their bows.“Please,” Kat said placatingly, “you misunderstand our intentions.  We have news for Dr. Davaulus.  We have discovered some very vital information regarding the plague.  He asked that we report to him immediately if we had such news.”“If you have something to report,” the maiden said curtly, “then take it through proper channels.  Now I tell you again, leave.”“You don’t understand what we’ve been through,” Kat said, her tone growing hard.  “We’ve uncovered a charlatan’s plot to sell a fake cure.  We’ve stopped the unlawful dumping of the dead.  We’ve forestalled an uprising by the wererats of the sewers, and finally, we’ve personally investigated the wreck of the plague ship and uncovered what we suspect to be the cause of blood veil.  We’re not leaving until we see the Doctor.”“Then I’m afraid you won’t be leaving at all,” the warrior said flatly as she drew her sword.  Behind her, the other two gray maidens also drew their weapons, while on the catwalk, the pair there pulled back their bows.  In the mean time, while Katarina had been making her case, the physicians had been quietly repositioning themselves, and the six companions abruptly found themselves surrounded.As Kat turned towards her friends, stars suddenly exploded behind her eyes when one of the doctors pulled a truncheon from his coat and struck her.  At the same time, the gray maiden slashed viciously at Ratbone with her sword, while one of the archers fired carelessly into the melee, her shot going wide and striking one of the patients in his sick bed instead.  “No!”  Ratbone cried, his words turning into a vicious snarl as his body shifted into his canine form, simultaneously sprouting two more arms.  In a rage, the druid pounced on the maiden before him, bore her to the ground and savagely tore out her throat.   “Here now!  What’s the meaning of all this?”  The leather curtain to the waiting room was torn aside as Bhrunlida stormed in, brandishing a heavy sap in one hand.  Her protestations were cut abruptly short when Herc’s shield smashed into her face, and she collapsed in a heap.  By that time, the other two gray maidens had closed the distance, and Ratbone was there to meet them, disemboweling one with a slash of his claws.  Meanwhile, Valeris dispatched one of the encroaching doctors with a sizzling flash of his blade, imbued as it was with electric fire.  Michael felled another with a quick thrust of his own blade, and then a third as the doctor attempted to flee.  Ratbone, fully in the throes of animalistic blood lust, brutally and efficiently tore apart the last physician and gray maiden.  Only the archers remained.  Katarina turned her attention to them, summoning a simple charm to drop one of them into a deep slumber.  Before she could do the same to the other, however, Ratbone had transformed again, taking his avian form and flying up to the catwalk.  Once there, he resumed his mongrel shape and savaged the last of the gray maidens.  Then, slowly, deliberately, the druid walked to stand over the sleeping warrior.“No,” Kat whispered.Ratbone dipped his muzzle, the image of the archer’s arrow piercing the heart of the helpless patient in the room below, and he quickly snapped the maiden’s neck.____________________________________________________As the rest of the group fanned out about the room, searching for possible hidden enemies, Michael went from bed to bed, giving comfort where he could, and universally promising the infirm that he and his companions would return for them after they secured the building.  The remainder of the ground floor proved to be unoccupied, but a large cargo lift seemed to lead to an upper floor.  The six crammed in, shifted the lever, and the lift slowly began to rise.  When the door opened on the floor above, it was onto a hall in which the rough functionality of the warehouse below gave way to beige tile and white walls.  A door engraved with images of rampant gazelles stood on the far end, its once fine teak bearing obvious scores and gaping chips from rough use.  No sooner had the lift door opened, than three gray maidens stepped in front of it, swords bared.  Unfortunately for them, Ratbone was ready as well, and the first two quickly went down in a gory pile.  The third hesitated momentarily, and in that moment, Katarina acted, quickly weaving a spell that put the warrior under her thrall.“Hold your weapons,” she said quietly to her companions, and then aloud, she addressed the maiden. “Can you tell us where to find Dr. Davaulus?”The gray maiden nodded towards the carved doors.  “His office lies beyond,” she said.“Is there anyone with him?”  Kat asked.“I know not,” the maiden replied.  “We are charged with guarding this area.  We do not go beyond the doors.”“Do you know exactly what is going on here?”  Kat asked.  “Are the doctors directly involved with the plague?”The gray maiden shrugged.  “We answer to the Queen.  She has commanded us to guard the physicians, and so we do.  Anything else is not our concern.”“Thank you, my friend,” Kat said.  “We are going to speak with the Doctor now.  Do you mind waiting here?”The maiden nodded and took up a defensive position near the lift.The door was securely locked, but it proved only a minor obstacle for Kat.  When the door swung open, however, the scene that greeted the companions froze them momentarily in their tracks.  Rows of white-sheeted beds lined the walls of the room.  Each was occupied, every bed bearing a patient restrained by leather straps that bound the figure to the sturdy metal frame.  At the room’s center stretched simple wooden worktables, each covered in fluid-filled beakers, intricate glass tubes, small burners and other chemical instruments.  Four queen’s physicians turned from their patients in unison as the door opened, then, once more in unison, they drew their cudgels from the coats.  Herc, Ratbone and Michael moved to intercept them, the druid taking his simian form as he went.  The doctors tried to flank the intruders, but they might as well have been trying to contain a rushing river.  The three companions were a blur as they struck, taking down the four before they could even raise their weapons.  The group began moving through the experimental ward, Michael stopping to examine each of the restrained patients.  They were all unconscious, under the effects of some kind of sedative that the priest could not identify.  Suddenly, a low growl came from Ratbone as his head whipped back towards the carved door.  The druid’s animal forms greatly enhanced his senses, giving him an almost extra-sensory perception.  Thus, when the invisible figure rushed past him, running for the lift, Ratbone saw him as a dim, blurred shape.  Falling to all fours, the druid loped after the fleeing figure, and just before his quarry reached the lift, Ratbone struck out with a large, clawed paw.  A man’s voice cried out in pain as blood splashed the floor.  Kat turned to see what had drawn her friend’s attention.  She saw the ape grappling with an unseen foe, and she passed a hand over her eyes, uttering a brief spell.  When it was complete, her vision had been altered to allow her to see the unseen.  She gasped as she saw that Ratbone’s foe was none other than Dr. Davaulus himself!  As she watched, Ratbone folded the physician into his massive grip, and Davaulus raised his hand, a spell on his lips.  As he did so, however, Ratbone squeezed, and the words to the incantation were abruptly cut off.  The attempted attack, however, rendered the doctor visible.“Release me!”  Davaulus commanded.  Don’t you see?  Your crusade to save this city is a fool’s errand!  Disease is the world’s way to bring back balance!  In order for civilizations to grow and prosper, the parts of society that hold everything else back must be periodically pruned!  Korvosa will be stronger at the end of these dark days…a place you and I would be proud to call home!”Ratbone’s eyes gave the doctor all the answer he needed, and what he saw there was his own imminent death.  His screams were abruptly brought to a gurgling end as the druid’s jaws closed over his throat._____________________________________________________A thorough search of the good Doctor and his office turned up very little.  Of note were several scattered scraps of paper speculating on the source of some Varisians' immunity to blood veil, and an odd button that was found in Davaulus’s pocket.  “So that’s it, right?”  Ratbone asked.  “Now we go to Cressida and tell her what’s really been going on.”“And what is that, exactly?”  Michael asked mildly.“Come on!” the druid shouted.  “It’s obvious!  Davaulus and his goons have been experimenting on people, infecting them with blood veil, which, by the way, they brought here and released in the first place!  Furthermore, I think the queen is in on it to!”“Where’s your proof?”  Michael asked, his voice very calm.“What do you mean?”  Ratbone asked, astonished.  “It’s all around us!  Just look at this place and what we’ve uncovered.  They attacked us!”“I’ll tell you what I see,” Michael said, “and what the Guard will also see:  we came here unannounced and uninvited.  We killed several of the queen’s physicians as well as her gray maidens.  There are no reliable witnesses to say who struck first.  Those poor souls in the sick bay certainly won’t make good alibis.  We also killed the Queen’s Physician himself, once again with no witnesses to prove he did anything wrong.  The only documentation we’ve found is that he suspected some Varisians might be immune, hence these people.”  He indicated the bound, unconscious patients, all of whom just happened to be Varisian.”“Yes, but we know!”  Ratbone protested.  “The doctor on the Direption!  The deed naming Davaulus the owner of the ship!  Urgathoa’s symbol!’“All circumstantial,” Michael shook his head.  “The defense will say that anyone could have impersonated a physician, a crime punishable by death mind you, and planted that deed to falsely incriminate Davaulus.  Also, they’ll claim that he kept these Varisians here in hopes of finding a cure to blood veil.  Meanwhile, we’ll be accused of outright murder, and likely face the headsman’s axe by morning.”“What about the guard Kat charmed?”  Ratbone asked, his voice growing desperate.  “She can attest to what Davaulus told me!”“The charm won’t last,” Kat said.  “She’ll be out from under its influence within hours.  Speaking of which…,” Kat turned to their erstwhile ally and spoke another spell, causing the gray maiden to fall into a magically induced sleep.  The beguiler then set about binding her tightly.“This isn’t right!”  Ratbone fumed.  “We know the truth, and yet you’re saying there’s nothing we can do about it??”“There may still be more here,” Michael said calmly.  “For instance, what’s this go to?”  He tossed the odd button into the air.“I suggest we fan out and do a bit more investigating.”And so they did, searching every corner of Davaulus’s office, the ward and the entry hall.  Nothing was found in any of the rooms, and they were on the edge of giving up when Ratbone decided to search the lift as well.  To his shock and surprise, beneath the operating lever was a small slot, just the right size for the button.  Calling his companions quickly over, he pressed the button in.  The lift door began sliding shut, and all six of them crowed inside as the it began to descend.  When it reached the ground floor, it did not stop, but continued downward.  Michael gave Ratbone a knowing smile.  When the door finally slid open again, the companions found themselves peering into a darkened room.  The scuffed stone walls had been plastered over and decorated with lurid murals of skeletons cavorting among the dead of a Korvosa completely succumbed to blood veil.  Simple wooden doors led to the north, and south, each of which bore a painting of a scythe-wielding skeleton.  A sizable double door stood on the east wall, made to appear in the mural as a massive set of doors opening into the pyramid foundation of Castle Korvosa.  Two more scythe-wielding skeletons decorated those doors as well.“This looks like the right place,” Valeris snickered.Kat shushed him as Ratbone’s ears pricked up and the druid/dog padded silently to the southern door, sniffing along its bottom and tilting his head right and left.  After a moment, he backed away, a low growl in his throat as he stared at the door.“Guess that’s your cue,” Valeris whispered as he nudged Herc.The big mercenary blew out his breath, readied his shield and shoved open the door.  The small room beyond seemed to be some sort of guard chamber, and the six gray maidens who abruptly turned towards the doorway seemed less than enthusiastic to have unannounced guests.  They surged forward, blades drawn.  The foremost struck at Ratbone, who had joined Herc.  Their cuts were deep, but didn’t compare to the ones the druid delivered in turn as he cleanly sliced their throats with his razor-sharp claws.  The next two fell just as quickly when O’Reginald unleashed his trademark hail of stone upon their heads.  Ratbone and Herc together slew the remaining pair, but not before one of them landed a lucky blow against Herc, lopping off the mercenary’s middle finger.Herc cursed roundly as Michael staunched his bleeding, but could do nothing to replace his missing finger.“Join the club,” Valeris smirked as rubbed at the place where his right ear used to be.Michael and Herc moved towards the pair of double doors, and shoved them open as their companions grouped behind them.  Suddenly, the air was filled with the shrill wail of an alarm, and the two bas relief skeletons on the portals abruptly animated, their scythes slashing down wickedly at the priest and mercenary.  Simultaneously, the mouths of all the skeleton carvings in the room opened and exhaled plumes of noxious, green vapor.  As the mist washed over them, nightmare images of diseased corpses flashed through the mind of the companions.  It seemed as if some of the corpses were animate, shambling towards them out of the gloom.  It was only when the mist had cleared that they saw that the latter part was horribly true.  From the large room beyond the double doors, a dozen or more zombies and skeletons shuffled forward, moaning and clacking as they came.  The ensuing battle was furious, but short-lived.  The undead were no match for the power of O’Reginald’s magic and Michael’s channeling, combined with the fury of Ratbone’s and Herc’s raw might.  As the last of the walking dead crumbled, Valeris shook his head.“I guess they know we’re coming…”</blockquote>

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