Shake the Disease

The Curse of the Crimson Throne

Part 9: Blood Veil

Several weeks passed since Blackjack rescued Trinia from execution. In that time, nothing was heard from the Palace. It was as if the Queen had gone into hiding. Life was slowly returning to normal in Korvosa. People still spoke of the riots, but only in passing.

The only thing unusual to happen in the two weeks was on one night. We were woken up by the sound of a thunderous boom echoing across the city. It happened three times, then stopped. In the morning, the city was abuzz with what had happened. The gossip said that a ship had sailed up the Jeggare river past the city, and when the guard had signalled to it, they got no response. After several more attempts at signalling and not getting any reply, the City Guard opened fire on the ship with one of the trebuchets on the city walls. The ship sank into the river.

Two days after that incident we were approached by Grau Soldado, an officer of the City Guard whom we helped during the riots. He informed us that his niece, Brienna, was suffering from a strange illness. His sister-in-law, Tayce, wanted to get a cleric from the temple of Abadar to have a look at her, but their fees were too expensive for the family to afford, so Grau sought us out, hoping that we could help.

We accompanied Grau to Trail's End, a small village just outside the walls of Korvosa, on the edge of the Jeggare river. In their small house we met a young priest from the temple of Abadar, named Ishani Dhatri, cooking up a herbal remedy in the kitchen. He explained that Tayce had gone to the temple and asked for help, but had been turned away because she couldn't afford the fee, but he took pity on her and came to see what he could do for free.

Upstairs, we were introduced to Brienna. She was only six years old. Her face and neck were covered in a red rash and painful looking red spots. Spasmodic coughing punctuated her ragged breathing. Ishani explained that he had never seen anything like this disease before. He thought it could be cured with magic, but the tenets of his religion forbid him to cast cuartive magic without a donation to the church.

Gruffly and disapprovingly, Reg gave the priest one hundred gold pieces, and the priest attempted to magically cure Brienna's disease. Instantly, the spots and marks faded, and the girl sat upright, seemingly unaware that she had ever been ill. Tayce and Grau were ecstatic. Tayce hugged us all and then insisted we all stayed for lunch as a thank you for all we had done.

A few days later, we got a message from Vencarlo Orisini, another of Field Marshall Kroft's contacts. He is the founder of the Orisini School of Fencing. We visited his place to discover that he was hiding Trinia Sabor in his school. He told us that Blackjack had visited him after rescuing Trinia, and asked him to hide her. Orisini had finally decided that the best plan of action was to get Trinia out of the city to some of his friends who lived in the country.

So, while disguised, we managed to escort Trinia out of the city. During our ride through the city, we noticed a few people with red spots and rashed on their faces, similar to what Grau's niece had suffered from.

A day later, we were contacted by Ishani. He said he had something urgent to tell us. When we arrived at the temple of Abadar, we found it besieged by hundreds of people, most of whom were suffering from this peculiar disease. The temple guards were only allowing in those who could afford the temple's healing fees, and those on other business. We pushed our way through the crowds and into the temple. There we met the priest, and he told us that this new disease that we had encountered a few days ago, was spreading like wildfire through the city. No one knew how it had started. Brienna seemed to have been the first case, but then people from Old Korvosa had become infected, and then some workers at the temple. It seemed to affect mainly the poor, but several merchants had also caught it.

The disease had also been give a name. Blood Veil.

Ishani said that the heads of all of the churches were meeting together to collaborate their efforts in trying to heal the afflicted, but with the speed it was spreading, they fear there would be just too many for the priests to cure. He asked us to escort him to Field Marshall Kroft, so that he could organise bodyguards for the priests as they walked through the streets, so that they were not mobbed by hundreds of people demanding cures.

So, with Ishani surrounded by us, we set off through the crowds towards Castle Volshyenek.