Part 12: The End of the Plague
The City Guard had arrested everyone in the hospice, and it was time for us to descend into the hidden temple of Urgathoa beneath it. By this time, Reg was furious. "We're taking no prisoners" he told the others as we descended in the rickety old elevator.
The elevator opened into a complex of rooms that housed a number of the Royal Physicians and priests of Urgathoa. We also encountered the necromancer we had heard so much about - Rolth. He was experimenting on helpless cityfolk who were chained to their beds and injected with new and deadlier strains of Blood Veil. The fight with him was intense. He was a powerful wizard. And just when Reg and Adam thought they had him cornered, he cast a spell and stepped through a magical door that appeared behind him. In a flash he was gone. I had no doubt that we would meet him again.
Further into the complex we came across a huge room with three enormous metal vats. It was here that the priests were brewing the disease that had affected the city. With sword and spell the priests and physicians were dispatched. We had temporarily stopped the production of Blood Veil. It was now time to find the leaders of the operation.
We soon found one of them. He was experimenting on a young Varisian man. Ruan! The missing musician from the masked ball at Carowyn Manor. The man experimenting on Ruan was no ordinary man. When he turned to face us, we saw that we were up against a Nosferatu - a powerful vampire from Ustalav. However, as we geared ourselves up for a big fight, he calmly turned to us and began to talk. We discovered that he had been hired to help develop the plague, but had no interest in the evil plans of the Queen. He was merely interested in it from a scientific point of view. He even told us that he had discovered that 1 in 10 Varisians were completely immune to Blood Veil, and that a cure could be made from their blood. The vampire also realised that with adventurers infiltrating the temple complex, his experiments would be ending. So, without cursing us or attacking us, he simply collected some of his belongings and bid us farewell. Dumbfounded, we just stood there and let him leave.
At the far end of the complex we entered the main temple to Urgathoa. In the centre of the room stood a fountain with a statue of the Goddess of Disease - a beautiful naked woman with long blonde hair, but from the waist down she was just a skeleton. There to meet us was the high priestess who arrogantly introduced herself as Lady Andaisin. Reg was not listening any more, and with holy power, he charged toward her, ready to strike her down. She put up a brave fight, hurling spells at us all. But in the end, good triumphed over evil, and Lady Andaisin was struck down. The evil had come to an end. Or so we thought...
Suddenly, a ghostly image of Urgathoa appeared in the room above the high priestess's body. Unholy light shone from the goddess onto the body. With a hideous noise of cracking bone and tearing flesh, Andaisin's body tore apart, and from it emerged a ghostly figure of the high priestess, infused with unholy energy. We had just witnessed Divine Intervention!
Without a break, we had to fight on. The new Lady Andaisin was powerful indeed, but we fought with every ounce of strength and every iota of magic in our possession. Then suddenly, with a blow from Reg's holy blade, an unholy scream echoed through the chamber, and the ghostly figure vanished. We had finally slain Urgathoa's chosen one.
With the leaders of the temple dispatched, the production of Blood Veil came to an end. With the notes we had discovered, alchemists were able to come up with a cure for the disease. The party had become true heroes of the city. Even the Queen herself acknowledged our work and rewarded us. In time, the city would be free of any signs of the plague.
However, despite a cure being found, Old Korvosa remained cut off from the rest of the city. And a few days later, Queen Ileosa surprised us yet again, but this time with something more horrifying than the Blood Veil...
No comments:
Post a Comment