The Case of the Sickly Shut-in and the Surreptitious Squelch, Part 2
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Welcome back to Probability of Demise, the podcast where you find your own pod, because we tell you to. Uh, please like, subscribe, uh, dingle dangle, bongle dongle, alert, jingles, and do a dance, and check out our website at probabilityofdemise.com, where you can also check out our store and buy crap, like amazing dog hoodies, and a shirt that says Find Your Pod, and the thing that Jess is holding up, and the thing that I'm
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I can like one. Yes. We do have some super fun little, uh, Things in there that have been added. I just noticed there was one that says dungeon master, and I'm really curious what that says, but I can't look at it right now because we have a whole thing to go sponsored by Jess.
Word of the day. Oh my gosh. Okay. Uh, greetings, adventurers. And uh, welcome to another whimsical word of the day,
Um, today's wonderful word of the day is once again brought to you, but the power of the D 100. Um. Today, I have rolled the dice, and I have landed on Three! And today's word is Uh, Xanthic. Do do do do Where is my definition? Where did you go? I miss
you so Oh, here
it is, okay. Um, xhantic is relating to or tending towards like a yellow color and hue.
So it's like a color, but it's more yellowy. Uh, and used in a sentence. The xanthic hues of the autumn leaves painted a vibrant tapestry across the forest floor. Hmm. Can you spell it for me? X A N, and then THICC. T H I C.
Thank you so much for that. That was amazing. That was everything I wanted and more.
Okay. Um, I'm super excited. That
was the day yet. Yeah.
With all of that, let's go ahead. Now we just have
to remember to use it.
I feel like that was like, just built for Gus as a character, you know, painter. Um, but, we are jumping into the case of the sickly shut in and the therapeutic squelch part two. Our investigators emerged battered but unbroken from a recent investigation.
Gus got some healing last minute magic and all that good stuff at the Sincere House. Lula's got her awesomeness, uh, during that ordeal and got some little special loves. Gus.
Kind of recovering from the nasty wounding, Seraphina rushed home, leaving Ulua and Gus to go to the Cincinnati house together, um, and found her ailing father, because of course her residence had been under the original attack in this, in the previous little arc that brought us into the current little mini episode that we're within where Seraphina's home.
had been in disarray. It had collapsed. She had gone in. She found there's a strange green ooze seeping around, doing things. There's suspicious neighbors pointing fingers, and all things are just a hot mess. Ulua and Gus arrived upon the scene to discover that They needed to manipulate some, some, uh, words, some, some momentary words with a young guard who might have been thinking something was going on.
And they Figured out how to get into the building to find Seraphina covered in ooh Cuz you know, that's what she does. And it turned out this green goo Became an unexpected ally. Wubble, a friendly ooze Offered a lukewarm embrace to Seraphina and Ulua giving them a burning heel
Gus
figured everything out, of course, because
He's the smart one.
He found
a broken urn that was labeled Wubble's home and was able to get Wubble to leave its newfound friends. A quick repair job later, the urn happily was able to welcome Wubble back inside, freeing Sarfina, her father, and Ulua. With a little help from, uh, well, there was the interest in using the broom, but the broom was then put aside, uh, and they were able to bring Wubble back.
Seraphina, Ulua, and Gus, and the father, out of the home. There was a little heartwarming reunion, tinged with a touch of surprise, as we realized that Wobble is not just any ooze, but actually, as players know, a familiar, a magical companion. Um, as they escape, the house finally gave way, maybe because of a surprise, uh, reunion.
individual who is tasked with keeping the building stable, losing concentration on their spell, my first nat one of the day, and the last roll I made that day. The episode, of course, concludes with the tearful embrace between Seraphina and her mother and father, and our investigators are the heroes without having murdered anyone.
Or being murdered themselves.
It's been days since we've killed anyone.
So here we are, the wreckage behind you. Um, I have my little set of my little, I wrote way too many words of different things that you possibly could be doing next. Um, the collapsed house behind you. Um, There's wreckage there. Um, the cheering of both the, uh, city people who've been tasked with intervening in these types of situations and cases of, of, of property damage, working away at whatever they're doing.
Um, some are interviewing neighbors, people are chatting, uh, Seraphina, your mother and father are there. Your father has collapsed to the ground, uh, his condition. Um, having placed him in a state of weakness that it can't keep up with all of this going on here. Um, and there's a little bit of, I'm guessing, Seraphina, some loss and grief.
Your home where you grew up is no more. Um, your mother doesn't seem to be attending to that right now. Um, she's more focused on you and your father. But, Gus, Ulua, Seraphina, what are you up to?
I'm gonna sit down because I am tired and have not rested.
Are you just looking for like a little comfy place to sit near the building or are you just sitting right there in the dust and debris?
Definitely looking for somewhere to sit and prestidigitating a spot.
Uh,
yeah, you find a place to settle yourself down. Um, Gus?
I'm just like waiting for the family reunion to settle down so that I can talk to them. Yeah.
Then all attention I got locked
up from Sarafina at the end of, so I'm waiting to talk to her before she gets mad at me.
All attention turns to Sarafina.
Uh, I would've rushed right over to where my parents are, to just be with him. I mean, you,
you, you brought them out. Your mother rushed to you. Oh, there's no rushing to anybody. You're there. Great. You're, you are ly embraced by the, the family. Your father is. No longer physically standing, but yes, you are all there.
That I'm just going to, I'm just basically turning to my dad to look at him and saying, what do you need? Uh, do we need to get you to the hospital? Um, can I get you some water? Just like going down the list of things that like might help.
Um, sure.
Let's have you do a medicine check.
Okay. Plus two, 16, 17, 18. Not bad at all
18. Okay. Yeah, you, um, I mean, you're familiar with your, your father's history with this. You've, you know, the different symptoms, you know, about the, the, and there's, there's titles for these in different areas. Like they're the flickering vision, um, tangled thoughts.
Those are hard to know about. Um, but the other ones, the, the, the whispers in the blood and the unmoored movement symptoms, you can definitely see. Visibly that, um, their fa his face, uh, is in pain. Um, and you can see tremors along his limbs.
So with that information, do I know like, what is best to do? Like, would this be a go to the hospital? Is this a, just a rest with some water?
Um, I think based on, this is, this is the, this is as bad as it gets. This is the worst case scenarios. This is, this is the stuff that scares you and your mom enough that you think he's about to die each time.
Okay. Um, then I am going to, uh,
I mean, if we did, it'd be in the house. Um, I'm gonna ask Alu, like, call over to Alu, be like, ALU, can I, can I borrow your broom? I need to get my dad to, to see his doctor. Um, now,
uh, is this the same doctor who's been giving your father medicine?
I don't know. Would it be It would be right. Yeah. Work. Yeah.
Yeah. Uh, yeah. Yeah. Um,
and I just glance over at Gus. Uh. I don't know if when, when we were getting Gus help, I found out that
I think the medicine that your father is being given is not actually medicine, but I don't know the people that I spoke with. They didn't know where it was coming from. They didn't know who was providing it. Um, I don't know much more than that. It's not very helpful, but I think, I think you should see someone else.
Many years ago, uh, the same drug was a street drug that was somewhat of an epidemic in the city. And, uh, I think it's been long enough that people don't remember it as such. And someone's taking advantage. And it's actually making your father's sticker that he should be. Where can I roll a history check?
Do I know, can you just like withdraw from this and be okay? Or is he going to like die if he doesn't take more?
Uh, it's going to be a higher DC than your original check, but yes, you can go ahead and roll a history check for this one.
I'm guessing 11 is not going to get there.
Uh, I think that you were very focused on getting the drugs off the streets in terms of like what your local, um, area of control was. Uh, and you knew that there was more to this particular drug that was part of why it was addictive, um, and why it was also deadly, but you yourself never delved into the details.
You weren't necessarily part of the medical side of what was going on with that.
Um,
I don't, I don't know if it's, if it's safe for him to just stop taking it, but we should find him a different doctor that can help him.
I'm going to look to my mom and just take a second and just say,
you don't know them yet. I don't really understand what they're saying, but I do trust what they're saying. Um, but I don't. Should we go see Dr. Franz, make it a name up, and give him something until we figure this out? Or do we go find someone new right this second?
She seems stuck and very hesitant.
I would like to roll to see if I know a better doctor.
Um, hold on just a second.
And
Dr. Franz is the best of the best.
Have you met his brother? Dr. Hans, though, because she's pretty good.
She kind of looks at you and you can tell that she's weighing something in her mind. I, Oh no,
I need to,
I can't do it. And then she just kind of collapses over your father crying,
some stressor that is beyond just her, your father being sick, um, unless you want to roll for something more in detail, has just broken her. I'm
just going to bend down, try to get her attention and be like, you got to talk to me. I don't know what's going on.
I still
don't know what to do. I have to go, but wait, I need to be with him, but also I, we don't have any money.
We can't afford it.
We don't have a house. We
don't have a place for the doctor to see him.
We'll go to the doctor. I will get us a house.
That's more expensive. You can stay at my house if you need to. I have a house. It's small, but we'll make it work.
You can see, like, a little bit of, like, conflict in her face.
Seraphina, as you're the closest she overhears this offer, um, tears. She is. She's not a pretty crier. She's ugly crying.
I'm going to lose
my job again.
Well,
uh,
I'm going to, uh, stand up at that point. I'm going to walk over to Seraphina's mom. I'm just going to put at how
tall is she's in comparison to, to you, Seraphina?
Uh, when I said I was like six foot, I think I said she's definitely taller than me by like an inch or two.
So I don't know, six, two, six, three. Okay.
I don't think I'm that tall. I can't remember. Um, um, but I'm going to put my arms on either of her upper arms and just give her a little shake. You're like, listen, you, we will figure everything out, but you have to be here in this moment. You can't think about what may happen.
What's to do. Right now. And what we have to do right now is get your husband to a doctor. Right?
I, we can't get in without funds.
Where do we take your husband? I don't know. You, you, you have a place in mind. No,
Seraphina and her brother before they always handled that so I could keep working.
I haven't. Hey, well then you go to work and we'll figure it out.
And she just continues sobbing and just struggling because like, she, she can't, she's, she's fully incapacitated by her emotional turmoil. And every time she looks behind her to the house and then at her husband and then her daughter, it's like, she's stuck in a cycle.
Where, where do you work?
I, I have to get to the farms now, and then later I have to get to the factories. And then after that, I have to get back to the, to the, to the houses that I've been cleaning.
Okay, go,
um, roll a persuasion check.
Can it be more of an intimidation check? Because
intimidation sure. If that's what you wanna choose to do, because it feels better than, than the equation.
a little, a little fed up
lu doesn't do helpless people. How
dare you be upset in this situation where your house has collapsed, how dare you. I
know, I know, I know, I know. That's a six total. You are in jail today.
I can't, I can't leave this. This is
Okay, if you're not leaving, then what are you going to do? This is the end.
This is the
end. Okay, mom, you
know, you have to snap your mom out of
it. It's not the end. I'm going to look at Ulua and be like, can I borrow your broomstick? Of course. Okay. Um, I want to, uh, what do I say to open it again? Away
we go.
No. Oh, it just opens. It just unfolds. Yeah, I can't, I can't remember the callback thing. So don't, don't. Maybe
just watch some of our episodes. Or y'all could like them too.
I haven't even done that. I need to do that.
Just saying.
Uh, that's a good reminder. I haven't.
And you out there listening, you could also go back and like, listen and subscribe.
You also!
We will do a watch party together, folks. Uh,
I'm just a brat right now.
Okay, I'm gonna put it all together, and I'm gonna say, Mom, get on the broom. And if she just looks at me, I'm going to like.
Are you trying to get both of your parents on this broom? It's not capable of flying with that many
people.
With two people? I thought we could.
One person and a very, very small person was shaky. Yeah.
It was because I'm only like 70 pounds.
I think you would know this. I don't want to like subvert things. Like you, you saw how it.
Okay. Jessica, it's not a mass transit
tool. Like you could. call for um, one of the, the private carpets or things like that.
Um, but like the
broom
is more of like a one person deal.
Okay. So then since Jessica forgot personal
vehicle,
I'm going to basically, I'm going to tell you what I want to do. And then if you can help me maybe story tell. I'm basically then going to get my dad on the broom, holding him up. and then walk by him to the hospital to Dr.
Franz. Okay. So, like, I am there to, like, keep him on the broom because I doubt he can do it himself.
But he's, he's not capable right now at all. Yeah. He's got no physical control whatsoever. So, yes, you could utilize the broom to try to stabilize him, but you're probably going to need more than just you to help stabilize him getting him over there.
That does take the weight off you. You're not having to carry him. Um,
What have we done in the past to get him to the hospital in this condition? The magical carpet
or ordering a medical carpet has been one of those things. I think the, the, the last time it was this bad was before he started on the current treatment of medication when your brother was still around and your brother made it all happen for you.
You know where this temple is. But your brother was the one who really helped facilitate things for you. You've been picking up the medicine from the temple dispensary, um, but you haven't had to deal with those details in a while.
How long does it take to get a carpet?
Just, you know, it's like getting a lift.
Depends.
Okay. So then I'm gonna. Okay. Order a carpet. I assume she knows how to do that. Yeah, Jessica does know .
Yeah. Well, I mean everybody in this world knows how to Yeah, send up the signal flare and, and get that surfing, uh, signal fla.
So I shoot up a signal flare and wait.
Um, it does take a little bit before one arrives.
Uh, your mother. Trying to get herself together. But every time she looks at something, it just sets her off again. A couple of the neighbors have come over and tried to console, but she seems inconsolable at this point. Um, and finally a, um, let's call it the Uber XL, the, the, the oversized carpet arrives and, um, The manager of the carpet, the manager of the carpet.
Where to? Who? Uh, are you the ones who sent up the flare?
Yes. Uh, how many people does the XL hold again?
Well, uh, for a fee I can enlarge.
Okay, I'm going to turn it and count. So, Aliyah, Hanson, me, mom, dad. Five people. Whatever, however big this needs to be for five people.
All right, uh. There's a little spin of a couple of emblems, like what looks like stitched fabric on the carpet and it kind of stretches a little bit.
And then there is plenty of space for all of you to sit up on the carpet.
All right, so I'm going to
can I roll like a strength check to try to, like, just maybe carry my dad, put him on the carpet.
Sure. Or is that something I can just do? I feel like, I feel like this is. With the care that you've had to provide for your father on occasion, seeing your brother doing it, this is something you can do. Yeah.
It's a, it's, it's a, it's, it's not like an impossible thing. This is having taken care of my own, like a signature
thing at this point.
Yeah. Okay. So then I put them on the carpet and I look to everyone and I go, get on. And then I look at you a little and go, please.
Uh, well. Just to save on cost.
No, just get on, please.
And I tell him which temple to go to.
Yeah. you all take off flying low through the streets. They aren't taking off over buildings. There's maintaining a low altitude. Uh, and as you kind of curve around one of the areas with, you know, six floor buildings old and opening out towards. the plaza that is the home of all the ascended temples.
You can make out the temple and, and Gus, you know, this temple as well because you were recently there. You can make it out and that's where you're headed. Um, and as you get there, you hear the sounds of what seems to be a riot.
Oh my goodness.
And where before there would be a line for the dispensary to pick up medication, there are many angry people screaming and yelling. The building itself looks closed. In fact, where normally there is the dispensary entry and a door for those who need to go in, inside the temple, the doors are just gone, solid wall.
Okay. Uh, what would there have been? And if I needed to do like a history check, I definitely can, like a doctor we used to see before Dr. Frans or what I know of another office of his, like Shirley. In our past, there was either a second location, a second doctor, maybe one we haven't even seen in a while, or just a general hospital at this point.
I mean, there's a place that, you
know, the, the place where you, where Gus got help, that is the most recent experience you have with another space. Um, anything else I would say, like, if you want to really try to think about like what your family did, you can roll a history check, but keep in mind, this was multiple years ago before your father started flying Daniel.
So this was the first solution that. Seemed to have some sort of positive impact. And you are very much aware that your brother handled the majority of this.
I want to lean over to, uh, Lou and be like, where did the Combsbear get treated?
Uh, I mean, it, it depends. There are healers amongst, amongst us. Um,
Would one of them help us?
Uh, I can, I can try. I can check. Um,
uh, While they check slash figure out, I'm going to go ahead. Sorry.
You, you do know the, the place that you had taken Gus and they had, that's a totally separate place. It's in the temple district.
Yeah, I'm going to go there. The original gods.
Um, yeah. So you start heading there.
Allua and Gus are having a conversation about possibly getting some kom shir healers to help.
You, and I, I, are we still like far, sorry, far enough from the ground that I can like hop off?
How far off the ground do you want to be? Because it's, it's, it's not that they're flying like. Super high, but they're also not like like skimming the ground or anything like that. They're above like the traffic on the street.
Okay. We could always have the guy just sat down if you need to.
I mean, it's, it's, it's fine.
Um, I turned to Seraphina and I say, okay, where are you going?
So, the place that guest went
to.
To admit him to the hospital, the priest, we just need.
The temple of Tanzanites followers.
Is that what, I don't think that's what it was.
That was where they, the healers had to go to get permission to administer the, to bring
somebody back. They need a resurrection. But got
it. Okay. Sorry.
The hospital is where you were in the children's ward and all of that.
Okay. Okay. All right. Okay. So I know where that is. Okay. Um, okay. I will meet you there. And I pull up my broom and I split off and I head back towards sincere house.
Awesome.
Um, you're heading off to sincere house. I will catch up with you in a moment if that's okay. Of course. Um, Seraphina and Gus, you eventually arrive, um, it's past the ascended temples, um, the, the sounds of the, the really very much angry patrons who are very upset that their, um, access to the, the, solution provided by that ascended temple is being denied them, you kind of skirt away from that and avoid that congestion and you continue to fly on towards the other temples.
And you arrive at the temple of healing and secure at the main entry area. And even coming into this space, it's
peaceful. and quiet in comparison to that madness that between the madness of the house collapse and the rioting going on outside of that corrupt ascended temple to the space it's just it's like swinging through a waterfall and coming out the other side and suddenly all the sounds of the city are gone um and you are dropped off off the carpet uh your mother yourself your dad Gus, and you're at the entrance to the temple.
Um, you're spotted quite quickly and a couple of the priests run down to you. Oh, oh, and one of them is familiar to you, Gus. Uh, also to you, Seraphine.
Hello. Hello.
Oh, you're, you're back. Are you okay?
I'm fine. It's not me. It's my friend's father is in quite bad shape. Wow. This
is the worst type of luck you've had.
And
he's, he's been taking the. Uh, the thing that I, the wyvern's venom as medicine and he's in bad shape.
Oh, no. Um, we don't have anybody versed in the symbiotic cure. Uh, and can you,
can you stabilize him?
Yeah, just stabilize him. Yes. Uh, right this way. Right
this way. Okay. And they kind of usher you, um, Your mother, Seraphina, I think you would notice, doesn't follow.
She's just standing there, just spent, um, at the entranceway, like she stays within the alcove of the entranceway and doesn't go any further than that. Um, I don't know if you want to continue with your father because your father is being carded at this point. No, I, I
let him cart, uh, cause I, I know hospitals, they'll take me to him.
I want to go to the carpet guy and be like, okay, how much?
Oh, well, it looks like it was a quick trip. That's an eight gold fee.
Great. For
the
expansion.
Okay, great. Um, I'm going to give him 10 gold pieces.
Oh, uh, do you want me to stick around until you're done?
No, no, no. Uh, do you have like a business card so that way, you know, like I could call you specifically in the future?
Like, a certain color?
Yeah. Uh, sure. Here's my, and he hands you a, uh, little gemstone. It's very flat. Just crush it and I'll be on my way. Thanks.
Uh, what was your, what was your name?
I'm Bob.
Bob. Bob.
Bob the cab driver. Bob.
Uh, Seraphina, there's, that was, there was a lot of us. Um, yeah, thank you. Uh, thank you.
And then I'm going to walk to my mother, just grab her by the hand. And I'm going to look at her eyes and say, take a deep breath. We got to go inside.
She looks at you and she's where do you, where do you have so much gold?
I, I guess I picked up more jobs than I realized. We'll figure out all that later.
We got to go be with dad.
Yeah.
Okay. And she seems to like
seeing that you have money in your explanation seems to lighten her level of stress just a little bit.
Um, can you roll an insight check? Thanks, Seraphina.
Insight. Um, insight. There we go. Oh, plus two, so another 18.
You having money alleviated a level of stress that seems incongruent to you.
She seems tremendously relieved.
I'm going to ask, uh, Seraphina, I'm like, Seraphina, do you have any of those papers that will point a note to Sticky Beak?
I, I, I think I do, right? I think I have two more. Yeah, I'll give him one.
Okay, you go with your father. I'll see if I can get some help.
Okay, I will, I'll, I'll be, just ask the nurses. I'm sure they'll take you back.
That's what I'm about to go do. And then I'm going to find a nurse or a priestess. And, uh, priest recesses and priests
and acolytes. Yep. I'm gonna
find whoever's nearby who would be able to assist me to where they took him. Yeah. And just continue to escort my mother.
Yes. Great.
Split the party bar.
Gus, I'm gonna work my way back around to you Sarafina, but I just need to like, catch up with everybody.
Gus. Yeah. What are you writing and
what is the plan? I'm basically just gonna write. Um, something like, dear StickyBeak, we have not killed anyone to no.
Dear
StickyBeak,
we are in quite a bit of trouble. I was killed this morning and we've drained most of our resources. Primarily right now we need money. We are at XYZ hospital, whatever. Please come as quick as you can. And then that's it.
All right. Um,
as you get into a little party,
finish folding it into whatever form of bird you fold it into.
Um, I want to make you do like a performance check to see if you're able to turn it into something pretty, but that would just be me. That's a nine.
The wings are nine. And it's just like,
pretty sure it's me paper airplane.
It's wings. Don't actually flap it's middle part flaps and it makes the wings look like that.
It's just jerking its way across town to sticky feet.
Uh, great. So, and then you go into the hospital and try to catch up with Seraphina or.
Yeah. Um, I'm going to go up to the desk and just ask like for directions on how to
Yeah,
I'm going to unsplit that part of the party.
Yeah, no worries. Lua, you have flown off on your broomstick.
Your broomstick is much faster than these carpets are. But your home, if that's where you're headed, is at a greater distance than the Commons. this. Uh, but yeah, are you headed there? Are you headed to a different location? Okay. You head to the sincere house, uh, quite quickly. Um, there's a little bit of a bustle of activity at the house.
You left it and there wasn't anybody around and now it's a buzz because that's what happens is that the, the sincere house, it's an ebb and flow people home, people not home. Um, but yes, you, you see that there's multiple, uh, mage lights lit inside from the windows and you arrive at the front door.
Um, as I come in, who do I, do I see Aksana or one of the other girls?
Um, I think that, yeah, you find Aksana. Why not? Let's just have Aksana be right there. She's She's Just greeting people as they've come in and, and it looks like she hasn't even taken off her travel clothes from the day she had been out and about, but, uh, she hasn't even really set down her stuff. Lily, you arrive and you see Exana at the sincere house kind of welcoming folks, still dressed in her travel clothes.
I'm going to go up to her, um, and I'm going to gently take her arm and just kind of pull her aside and go. Uh, I need. I need your help. Um, we may have a lead on, uh, a, a drug that's being used as medicine. Um, you haven't met, uh, a a couple of the, the people that, uh, our mutual friend has connected me with, um, uh, they.
One of them has a father who has been treated with this drug as a medicine, and now he's very weak. He's at such and such temple, uh, I
mean,
like, if we want to take a moment here as just a group live and have fun with this, cause I like naming things together. I do have names ready for things, but You know, when people don't ask, you don't tell
them.
Yeah, we got Underton and Overton because of me. If you let me name it, it's going to be Templeton University Hospital.
Templeton. Um.
Do you.
So this is a healing one.
Yes, it is a temple of healing. It has like. With
multiple gods in one.
Multiple deities have been.
Hmm.
It's like a conglomerate.
Noah ascended, so it's the quote unquote old gods of the times when the Terrible Trio, I mean the Timeless Trio, were loose upon the land. That's what
I was going to ask. Um,
the Time's Temple. Nah, that's dumb. I was trying to think of the Timeless Trio. Um
I'm so bad at this shit. Uh,
I'm
trying to think of something. Unity temple, something that like brings random people together.
Unitarian hospital.
Uh, I was going to say the center for community health. So, Not any
better than mine. Okay. There's like a synonym for like unity or united.
I like, um, Healing House Conglomerated.
HHC?
I am loving all of these, and y'all choose one because it's much more funny and interesting than Mending Moonstone, which was the name that I had originally pinned for this one, so go for
it. Oh god! I know! I like that! Can we go with that? Wait, what does this say?
What is this part? This seems cool. No.
Okay, so it'll be the Mending Moonstone, uh, Healing
House Conglomerate.
Healing House Conglomerate.
It's, it's part of the HHC. It's
part of the HHC. There we go.
All
right. You, great. So you let, uh, Oxana know that the friend's father is at the Mending Moonstone.
And, um, from what I understand, uh, their house was attacked.
Um, we're not entirely sure by whom there were a couple of, um, bodies left over, but there wasn't much beyond, well, there were some skeletons left. Um, Um, but they don't have a home anymore. They have nowhere to go and they are short on funds and we don't know how to treat the father. Um, can you help with any of those things at the moment?
Um, I, I, I will work something out, whatever, whatever we need to do. So, um, Um, I just, I, I haven't rested. I've been going and going. I can't, I can't even, I can't even do my, my usual healing spells. I'm completely spent.
Uh, I, from what I understand of what you said, I did know that there was a, uh, something on the loose because a couple of our sisters, um, well, let's just say that they were treated with something that has ruined them magically.
And everything else you've said, let's deal with the concrete. Um, we have no space here, but your friend, um, and she points out the window and gestures up to the floating monstrosity that is, uh, um, right outside the, the, the window that where you go and have a nice drink and watch some art. Uh, she has some space, uh, We recently lost someone and so that we could probably put them up temporarily there, um, and find, find out what we can do.
Um, as far as the father,
she reaches into, uh, her set aside and, and hands you a small pouch. Um, those are some of our emergency funds.
Thank you.
I, I know that the,
I know that Healing Hall
is pretty strict about being paid, but they do good work. Um, I don't know more about this drug to help you with that, but pay them and they will do their best. Uh, and I'll see if I can't get in touch with some of ours and have. Them head over there to share what they know. Uh, I think
you, Jason, you said the name of the drug in front of me, right?
Yes. And it's
Wyvern's
Wyvern's venom. Siren song, nitrate ambrosia, whisper weed, fallen stardust. Um,
and I'm just going to reiterate, I think, okay, um, I will pay this back right away. Um, pass the word along throughout the sisterhood to everyone, every corner to stay away from them. There may be other names for it that I'm not aware of, but don't let them accept anything as medicine, uh, unless they, I don't even know.
I don't know. It's still beyond us. She
holds your shoulders and looks into your eyes and then her eyes start to glow and you recognize this as her using her version of detect magic. And you see her face go ashen as she's looking at you. It's not the only problem we have.
Have you, have you breathed in any dust recently?
Dust?
And she reaches back into that same thing and pulls out another small package and says, Dust. This is the emergency funds for us. Go get checked out.
Okay.
Quickly.
Okay. But what, what, what, what, what am I, what are they checking me for?
It looks like you've been infected with something that I thought was only from the, the industries.
I didn't even think, oh,
Okay. Uh, all right. Um, thank you. I'll, I'll, I'll try to keep in touch and let you know.
You have time. It's slow progression, but please go get checked out. I'm already
going. I'm going.
Um, so you fly back towards
Yep.
Ending, okay, great.
Halfway there, you die for magical asbestos poisoning.
Gus, Seraphina, you're both in the same space now around, um, Seraphina's father's bed. Uh, Seraphina, your mother is there looking visibly shaken.
More like facing out, like just in case anybody's still following us or like I'm watching.
Yeah. I mean, you're within the temple itself. So if you would like to step out of the temple.
Um,
Okay,
so you're inside the temple at, at this, um, it's not that these are, if you think about a modern hospital and there's a lot of private rooms or semi private rooms, um, this is more along the lines of what a monastery would look like. Each little niche, what might've been a place where a priest would have lived in a, in a Medieval monastery is actually a small space for someone to rest.
And then their family members have to be there to take care of their other needs, their physical needs, their food. The healers in these spaces are. healers. They are not, um, nurses and caregivers. So anybody who's ends up in one of these places has to have people who are taking care of them. And those who don't, they generally don't survive because there's nobody to care for them.
Um, and that's kind of one of the known struggles and issues of, of, of society is just that if you don't have people You really truly are at risk when something bad happens, unless you have lots of money or people who love you. Um, so it's kind of like that setting where there's not a lot of nurses moving around, orderlies, people bringing food around.
It's private families with packed lunches for their loved one if those people can eat. Um, It's, uh, the quiet, hushed whispers of healers conferring over different things. And Ulua, that is what you walk into, is Gus and Seraphina there. Seraphina's mother, uh, tucked into the corner, hand on the bed, um, looking at Seraphina's father, who is, uh, Reclined and currently unconscious.
Um, Seraphina, while you had been there, a couple of healers had come in and out. Um, nobody had actually done anything at that point, but, um, there's definitely a lot of concern and furrowed brows. I think, uh, Gus shared about the, the Wyvern's venom. And so that most of any conversation you've ever heard, unless you're trying to like find something specific out, has been about what to do.
I'm just going to, um, walk up to Seraphina and press one of the small satchels into her palm.
Yeah. You,
you pressed that little satchel into her palm. It is, um, let me see here, uh, 60 gold pieces.
Oh, and Alula, the other bag you were given was another 60 gold pieces.
Uh, just to go back for one second, uh, cause I missed it writing notes. What was HHC again?
Healing house conglomerated.
Mending Moonstone at the healing house conglomerated.
I got the Moonstone. Healing, wait, healing what?
I mentioned it too.
Oh, okay. Thank you.
Oh, healing house.
I'm going to pull, um, Serfina and I will say Louisa and be like, okay. So now that we're all together and things are calm for a second, I was following up on your brother and his disappearance. I went to the temple where we almost just went back to, and that's where people followed me to your house.
So you should definitely not go back there. I was about to stop you, but then we didn't there was a riot or whatever. I hope they burned it down, but whatever. Um,
who, who followed you?
Um, I just, I made a lot of inquiries about your brother about his disappearance. Um, I have proof that he. That was the last place that he went before he disappeared.
Um,
why are you looking for road X? To help you.
Really?
Yeah, you know, my friend,
it
seems something that was within my skill set to look into. So, as long as I was investigating things again, I added it to the list. Um,
thank you.
You're welcome. But he, um, I think they probably have something to do with his, with his disappearance. Um, they were trying to cover up me finding out anything else, but that's why they attacked us.
And, and then what is this about the medicine?
Um, so I sort of tried to pose as a corrupt city watch official and they fell through it, I think, but, um, I had him going for a little bit and he, Sort of admitted to me that they are using this venom is a drug to keep patients sick. It just keep them paying and pay.
So it's a, it's a, it's a racket. That's taking over the whole city.
So I was able to see the log, the log book of their transactions from the time around your brother disappeared. I can confirm he was there. And then I saw your signature in the log book. So I saw that you've been continuing to pick it up. So I just wanted to tell you, I don't, I don't know what your father's original illness is that caused him to start taking this, but this is not making him better.
It's making him sick. So I just needed you to before, in case anything else happens.
Okay. Uh,
gosh,
uh, not really sure what to do now.
Um, I sent a note to StickyBeak asking if he could help, um, financially or in some other way. Um, were you able to find out anything?
Not necessarily. I, I was just, um, I was able to get some funds. Um, apparently, I, um, also need to get checked out. I'm not sure if that applies to, to you too as well. Um, uh, Oksana took one look at me and, and, and said I was infected with something. So, um, I think. I should stay separate and, and, and I should go try to take care of that, I guess.
How did, how did she?
Something about breathing in dust.
Well, if you breathed in dust, I'm sure we breathed in dust.
I don't know. She wouldn't, she was very vague. It was very frustrating.
How did she? So,
uh, she, she used the spell that lets her see magic.
So I'm going to say, um,
Shrek and Shyke is a great phrase for Gus. And, um, like, wave my hand and then, like, cast Detect Magic and, um, and then look at both of them to see if I can see whatever.
Roll a Medicine check, please.
Oh, yeah.
Uh, 17.
17. Um, with a 17, usually when you use Detect Magic, you can, and you check all the spells and everything. But, like, looking at your two friends. Um, there's magic in them, except Allua shouldn't really have much magic in her right now beyond, you know, her accoutrements and stuff, because she has already shared with you she is magically drained at this point.
She has cast everything that she had left. Seraphina, I don't know, did you have any spell slots left? Okay, so neither of them have much left, but there is something. Uh, uh, uh, necrotic magic. at work. And what makes this, you're not a magical medical practitioner, Gus,
an MFP,
but you are able to see that there's something going on.
Um, that isn't right. It's small. Um, and seeing that you think you'll recognize it where, if you look elsewhere, um, You're in this room, actually, so
first I want to look down at like my own body and see if I can see it in me as well.
You can see it in you as well. Okay.
And then maybe just as some of the other beds, just kind of
looking around, um, the other beds, you don't see it in other patients, but then you see therapy and his father and it's like the tiny little bit that you will have.
Okay. His entire body is aflame with this. Gosh. And then you see, Seraphina's mother has a tiny one, about the same size as yours. Uh,
Seraphina,
do you have any of that medicine left, that I could look at?
Uh, that's a great question. Uh, GM, do, do I have any left?
I'm sure you have some.
Okay, he did just say she'd just been there when I was at the temple, so. Yeah,
I'm sure you have.
Okay, so then I'll pull it out, be like, pa pow!
Does it have the same Death
medicine!
Oh, death medicine. There is magic to this, uh, drug, but it does not match the signature. It's not even the same type of magic. Um, I think from your knowledge of magic and this recently developed space here, and, um,
the basic sense you have of what this Wevern's venom must do to people, to healthy people, uh, Yeah. Is it drains their magic, but in a way that feels good.
I'm
so high on my magic feather. What
you're seeing as you look around is something that is messing with people.
Okay. Um. Okay, it's not that you can put that away before someone sees it. There's a lot of sick people in here that would probably stick it
back in my back.
There's something necrotic in all four of us and very, very more or much more so in your father, I can see it. I don't know what it is. It's very small in all of us, but very, very present in him.
It's so frustrating. I really wish Oxana had just said any, anything more than beyond the fact that I inhaled the dust. I'm going to go over to one of the healers and try to find one of the healers that's a free, I don't know if there's like, not a desk, but you know, like a, an area where you, like a, someone who can direct.
Oh, yeah, you, you, I mean, it is, again, not like a typical modern thinking of a hospital, but. You can find healers who have congregated in different spots and that are having whispered conversations trying to respect the privacy of the people here who are getting help and leave each other alone when they're engaged in the act of healing.
You see a couple engaged in spellcasting of some sort over, um, more trivial wounds, um, trivial being that they're actual wounds and not some sort of strange magical infection. Um, And then you find a, uh, uh, one individual. So I'll, I'll, I'll let you decide and you can roll insight checks to decide which person you want to try to talk to, but you can find there's a trio talking amongst themselves.
There's somebody who's an active healing somebody from a wound and there's an individual who's writing out notes on a scroll of some sort.
I'm going to go to the trio. Okay. Okay. . Um, I, I'm sorry to, to bother you to interrupt. Um, yeah, well, we can catch up with this later. Okay. Yeah, yeah,
yeah. No, no, no,
no.
Don't I, but I, I, I, I, I need, I need all of your help only because I,
it's embarrassing. I was told. Based on, um, uh, an evUluation of looking at me magically, uh, that I was infected with something by inhaling dust. I don't know what that means. Um, and my friends are also infected and my friend's father is apparently very, uh, succumbed to it. And, uh, Uh, I, I don't have a name for it.
I don't, I don't know what anything more than that.
Are you attached to the man and they kind of point in the direction of Seraphina's father? That's my, that's
my friend's father. Yes. So he's, he, he, yes, he was, he was given a wyverns, uh, venom, but this is something else. Um, uh, and my friend, my other friend just confirmed it.
He, he looked at us, uh, uh, I, I, I
do, you know, when he took the weapons venom, did he? Get better or become more stable.
I think he would get better briefly and now he's ill again, but that's, that's not what this is. Uh, we have not taken it at all. This is something else and it has something to do with breathing in dust.
That's all I know.
That's from the factories.
I don't, I haven't been to a factory recently.
Have
I?
Um, no. I mean.
Okay. Okay. Okay.
Unless you were knocked unconscious and then returned from whence you came.
I haven't visited any of any factories recently. I don't think any of us have except possibly, but even so, at one moment, can you stay right here?
I'll be right back.
Yeah, actually I'm going to call someone because this is trigger to thought and this helps.
Okay. Uh, maybe you could come to us then and then and, and maybe I can figure out the whole factory thing, uh, and we can see what we both come up with.
Yes, yes, yes. I think this makes a lot of sense.
And we do have a specialist who, who Yeah. I'll, I'll be right back. Okay. A turn. And, and they, they walk to a section of the space that only healers have been coming in and out of, and. Um, if you had a glance or watched when they go through that doorway, it looks completely unlike the rest of the temple. It looks more like what you would see at a, at a college, just like a long hallway of offices and stuff like that, like where faculty work and stuff like that.
Okay. Um, and I'm going to go back to our group and. Um, and I'm going to turn to Seraphina's mom, and I'm going to say, when was the last time you were at a factory?
Uh, earlier today.
Okay. I got
off my second shift, and I was getting groceries, and I'm going to go to my third shift.
Okay. And, and your husband?
Uh, he hasn't worked in years. He's been too ill. Okay. Um.
Okay. Um.
When I looked at her, when I looked at her, did I see like dust on her on the outside? Like magic, uh, necrotic, whatever you mean
on Sarah, you're all covered in dust from the house collapse.
I just mean like on Seraphina's mother specifically, which she like more
like magical, the rest of us.
No, she has no more sick than you all are, um, equally covered in dust.
The only reason I ask, and I kind of turn over to Gus to kind of indicate that this is, it's related, is I, I just went to speak to one of the healers. My um, my friend that I live with told me that I got infected somehow by inhaling dust and Gus just confirmed that all of us are infected.
infinitely more so than the rest of us, but this has nothing to do with the medicine that he's been taking that it, that isn't medicine. And so I approached healers to ask if they could help. And one of them asked if, you know, I had been to a factory and I hadn't, but I knew you had. So that's why I asked.
I don't, I don't know if that's related or maybe they're asking for something else, but
she, your mother serving in terms to you, this is. Your father, didn't
he? We'd never worked at the same factories, but he worked and there were perks. He could bring home supplies, and that's how he renovated our house was with those supplies. My work doesn't involve desk where were simply powering through our spells, the spaces.
Do you know which, uh, factory the house materials came from?
It's been closed down for a couple of years now. Um, it was one of the ones that got shut down, uh, because of the pollution. Uh, I'm sure that they've reopened somewhere because these things never go away. And, uh, I think they were providing, um, materials for housing, actually.
But when he was building, that was about the time that he got sick.
I'd like pat my pocket and I pull out the card from that EMT. I'm like, cause I'm going to have to like, let her know that they're also all probably infected.
Well, that
was years and years ago. And it took a while before he got to where he is now.
Seems like that may be the Perhaps
that, that's, uh, that's how he was originally sick before he was started to, to be treated with the Wyvern venom. Yeah. Um. But whatever that is, we now all have it.
We all have
it? All of us.
You?
From the house. It seems like it's from the dust from the house.
Yeah.
What a day.
What does that mean? Everyone? In the town, like, all my neighbors need to be told to the ones that were around
maybe. I mean, everybody sort of ran inside when the fighting started. So hopefully they're okay. I don't know how many got close afterwards.
Oh, gosh.
Um,
I'll let the, um, emergency management team know and they'll, they'll handle it. How far from this hospital is the emergency management office?
Pretty far.
Okay. Then I'll do it later.
Standing in this contemplative silence, it's a little bit before, um, the healers come back down. And they bring someone with them.
A new face, um, and a face, Allua, that is familiar to you. It is a, um, member of the Combsheire who had retired, and they, you can see that they're dressed in acolyte robes of the, one of the deities that are associated here. And they, their face lights up when they see you.
It's good to see you.
It's good to see you too, although I wish it were under different circumstances. Um,
well, um, what's, what's happening?
It, it seems we And I look at our, just around in our whole group, I say, we've been infected by some sort of dust, um, that we think has been infecting him. And I indicate towards Seraphina's father longer than the rest of us, but has to do with materials that were used for building that came from a factory he worked in years ago.
Oksana took one look at me and, and told me to get looked at. And so, and Gus looked at all of us and we're all in the same boat, but her father more so than anything, um, and she
turns and puts her hand on the arm of the taller individual that she came in with that is a new face to you all says, please, that one of my sisters and if Oksana knows.
This is something you definitely know about and the, the taller individual, how tall are you all?
I'm 5'10 I'm like six foot.
Okay. They're looking down at you quite a bit. Um, they're muted. There you are.
I'm seven foot three.
You mean three foot seven?
I'm three foot three. Okay.
Uh, you see, they come, their eyes shine with the same light that Oxana's eyes shined with.
And they look at all of you, and then their eyes settle on, uh, Seraphina's father. And as their eyes settle on Seraphina's father, they breathe a heavy sigh. Well. It's been a long time since I've seen somebody we've worn to that extent and still alive.
What was the drug you said, and they turned to look at you all?
Wyvern's venom. Uh, serapine. Yeah. If you need to.
Strangely, that'd be the only thing that would preserve someone while also killing them in a different way.
Give him or give you this and you can. Use it or not use. I don't know if it's better to win him off or
Oh, we should, uh, hopefully we can avoid that altogether. Because if we put, well, it does a rough job and it gives you temporary relief, but it's not intended for that purpose. Um, but pulling away his magic probably kept him alive as long as he is.
The infection you all seem to have is, it feeds upon magic. And I'm guessing he kind of looks at Ulua and Seraphina and then tilts his head as he looks at Gus. I'm guessing you've all been
a little low on whatever spells you usually use. I
mean, right now, I haven't rested in a long time.
I was. I, uh, I feel better now.
Uh, well, you, and he looks at Gus, are probably most at risk then.
But, uh, no rest for the wicked. Lua, is that your name?
Mm hmm.
And yours?
Uh, me? Yeah. I'm Seraphina. Yeah.
Ah, okay. Well, I'm Gentrys, and, uh, it looks like you all have a weave worn,
easy enough to cure in those of you who only just recently, within a matter of hours, hasn't even anchored into your magic. Uh, you, my young gnome friend, you've, it's feeding on something in you. I'm not sure that's the best situation, but
let's see what we can do. And they begin asking permission first to kind of, physically check into each of you as well as, um, with their major site. Um, Gus, yours is still up. I don't even know that yours can end if you don't want it to, cause you just get to do it at will as it is. Um, so I think you get the best side of this as he interacts with each of them.
You can see that instead of pushing magic. Into them. He actually seems to be trying to create a void of magic. Um, and this is a strange and very different sort of magic use. This is not someone who this is one of the, the, the, um, the magic weavers, the people who made a practice of figuring out what are the mechanics underlying magic and how to mess with it and how to, you it.
Um, they are often quite at odds with the Ascended as well, um, because they are seen as a secondary faction or as being like usurpers of magical power. But he's tweaking where the magic is in each person's body. Um, He is going to roll. Let's see. Ulua, why don't you roll for, for each of you, you'll, you'll roll your own, uh, dangers here.
Oh, no. Um,
ulua, could you roll a D 20
and then unmute yourself and tell us what danger you landed in?
Sorry. Let me recreate that. 19.
Oh, awesome. You have a moment where, um, you can feel you're not unused to the power that is yours, but it's drained out right now. And then you feel this twisting in your gut where, like, even at your lowest, you still have a flow of magical energy, and it's gone from there.
And your eyes go blurry for a moment, and you can taste blood copper on your tongue. And then he claps you on the shoulder and says, Ah, much better. Well, on to the next and he turns to Jess.
I'm going to turn off my detect magic after the first one, realizing that the thing is probably feeding on the spell being cast.
It totally is. I was curious how long you were going to let that go. Give me an opportunity to try to kill you again. Seraphina, roll a d20.
Okay.
Do I add anything? I don't think.
He adds it and I will not tell you what it is.
Okay, I also rolled a 19.
Well, that's just Uh, I'll roll in high today. Uh, he again, I did
not the first one. The first thing I rolled today was a three. So I would take it. I've also have a very
similar thing. Um, I think Seraphina, you have this moment where, um, you can feel.
Cause it's yours is centered around your intelligence. Louis is centered around her. Her emotional space, her, her, her magic is attached to that in that way. Yours is attached to your intellect. Um, and you have a sudden sensation of phantom pains and you are, your thoughts just seem to get tangled up. Um, and, and you have this moment where you just even forget that you're in this space.
Um, and then you feel in your head. just a vast emptiness, which is strange. Um, and with the momentary mind blink, it's just completely confusing. And then your thoughts come back to order and he smiles at you, down at you. Uh, yeah, that, that worked out well. Well, uh, you're next to my small friend, unless, ma'am, you would like to go.
Uh, you, you should do her first.
He turns to Seraphina's mother, and Seraphina, since this is your mom, let's see what you do to her. Roll a d20.
Let's see what you do to her. Oh, what did you do? No!
Glad I rolled big high for me.
You watch as your mother becomes much like your father. Um, she seems to, like, you can see that she seems to have some difficulty concentrating.
And then she starts to speak in a voice, not her own.
And she says,
with their fines, the ascended will fall.
And then she collapses back on herself. Oh, well, that's a little tougher. She's gonna need some time to recover from that.
Wait, what did she say?
With their finds, the ascended will fall.
T H E I R? You said with their?
T H E I R. Okay. Not that you would have heard, there, there, there.
Oh, man, I got distracted. With their what?
Finds. Finds. Finds.
Finds.
Assignment completed. Yes. Sends will fall.
Is your mom omniscient?
Um, and uh, he says to you, to you all, oh, well that's exciting. It's been a while since I've experienced this. And, um, well untangling that from her shouldn't have been so complex.
But I guess either she's prone to prophecy or.
untangling her weave triggered it.
And
what do you mean untangling
it? The infection that, uh, it's a product of those old factories. The, the pollution that they've been putting out has been destroying so many lives. Uh, but one of the things that made those factories, uh, last and profit as much as they did is that The some of the ascended realized that they could take advantage of those sick as they had prophetic dreams
He gestures to your father says has he not with his advanced as he is in this, uh shared some Insights that seem incongruent with his state
Yeah Can I roll a history check to see if I remember him doing, spouting any craziness?
Uh, you'll be rolling this with a disadvantage.
Okay.
Yesterday he was like, the house is about to collapse, everybody get out, and he didn't listen. Now look what happened.
I know. Oh, okay. Not bad. Um, and I'm doing a history.
Whoa. Okay. I'll take that.
22.
You remember a lot of times where he spoke in strange ways, similar to how your mother just spoke kind of outside of her own voice. You remember a lot of times where he would say things, and then you, your brother, even occasionally your mother when she was able to be around but she was working flat out, would just laugh about the things he said.
And then later on something would happen that seemed remarkably coincidental. Um. One that wasn't quite such a laughing situation was the day he said, I will mourn my son's passing.
That was the same day as your brother disappeared.
Um, yeah, he's definitely said weird things before. What does that mean?
Well, one of the symptoms is these tangled thoughts is what we like to call them. Have you heard of this?
No.
As you've cared for him, well, one of the symptoms is that they will lose memory, have trouble concentrating, or in rare cases, such as your mother, have strange insights or prophetic dreams.
It's worth writing down that one in case it's useful to you all.
I won't be able to work through his. That's quickly. So what about you?
Sure, let's do it.
So, so once you untangle us, are, are we cured?
Well, it caught you both quite early. Her immune system must have been weak, but, uh, extracted it from both of you quite quickly.
I rolled a 17.
Okay. I mean, you clearly are out of magic and whenever this, uh, caught on to you, you must have been completely drained because There's very little there for it to grasp hold of and I was able to extract you pretty quickly and as he's talking He's reaching over to Gus's head and putting his head on either side of Gus's temples
He moves his hands down to Gus's chest
Moves his hands down to Gus's belly ah,
he looks you in the eyes Gus and says a A deal maker, huh? And you don't even know.
Sorry.
And
Gus, can you roll a charisma saving throw?
14. 14?
14. You just failed
the save. Oh no!
It's not bad.
But I still don't remember. Completely.
Um, I feel like I can turn this story to you unless you want me to do it. Uh.
Actually, let me do it because I feel like, well, what does, where does your patron reside? I know that Gus doesn't know, but Jason does. And what does that look like?
Gus's patron lives in the Feywild, which can be accessed through a tunnel in Underton. And, um, do you want me to say, like, what the patron is, or?
Uh, so, you, Gus, Your, your eyes just blur a bit, similar to how you go when you detect magic, and you see a place where everything is ridiculously vibrant. Um, flowers are in bloom in impossible hues, there are butterflies with wings that are shimmering kind of like oil does on water, and the air just seems to shimmer with magical light.
And it's all attached to these beautiful trees. Trees that you would just dream of painting.
And as you see this space and this realm, you see a little gold coin on the ground in front of you. The
real world is a gold coin?
Hm?
What? Like in the hospital in front of me there's a gold coin on the floor?
You're not in the hospital.
Oh. I'm, oh I'm like transported to this place? Air is
filled with the hum of buzzing insects, tinkling bells, you hear laughter from something you can't see. There's some music playing.
I'm just like, oh shit, did I die again?
You hear the jingle as Gold hits gold and you see another gold coin on top of the one that was first upon your path as your eyes are tracked down and
you
pick up the gold coin coins and you hear a voice that you can't place saying get out
and you open your eyes but you think you already had your eyes open. You open your eyes and there's the doctor at your belly going, Well, that's just a mess.
But, got it off ya.
Thank you. Do I have the two gold coins in my hand?
You look at your hand and you see two gold coins. They are marked with a stamp that you are unfamiliar with.
I'm just gonna like, be like, uh, thanks and give them to the doctor.
Oh, the charges will be through the hospital and, uh, sorry.
Two, will not quite meet this requirement.
Put that in my pocket and hope stick big shows, shows up. At some point,
I'm gonna lean over to Guss and be like, I didn't realize we were being treated. I thought it was just being nice.
Better than dying, I guess we'll figure it out.
Um, all right, so
he,
he's says, well, yeah, you all can stay here if you want, but it's gonna take a couple of days to work on.
this uh, young fella here.
Is there anything that we can bring you that will help?
You know, um, strange thing is, is the less there's here, the better. Uh, if I could, I would, maybe I should. I'm
gonna
put up some wards to block out everything.
Okay. Um, food? If you can find out
where this came from, the, you've got, Caught up in, uh, we should put it out before
it's too late.
It came from my house,
the collapsing, collapsing house.
That'll narrow things down. If you can get over there and, and get that taken care of, that would save the city a lot of problems.
Do you rec, do you have a recommendation of who we should?
I can, I can notify the emergency management team contact.
Okay.
Yeah, it should be good. Uh, I would, I do have some recommendations for you. You are not currently infected, but you are at risk for weave sickness. So you just want to make sure you're doing some management of that.
Um, well,
just
don't ingest any enchanted items, uh, in general. Um, and if you do notice any symptoms start to surface, uh,
Try to avoid using your magic until they subside, you know.
Oh, what are the symptoms? I mean, none of us knew we were infected.
Well, you're at the early stages. It's not a problem at all. But what you've seen in your father is a perfect example of that. You've probably caught early on when he seemed to have difficulty concentrating, forgot things.
I was telling you those eerie predictions, uh, you might have blurry spells or, uh, see an aura like detect magic around objects, um, but that's not through this casting of that spell. Uh, you might see other realms. I've heard that's a fairly, uh, common one. Um, and then you can get those tingling sensations in your fingers and toes.
Phantom pains, strange echoes of emotions that you don't have, and um, the late stages. And he's gesturing to your father directly now, Seraphina, where you can see his muscles are tremor, tremoring, tremors, clumsiness, paralysis, death.
Just like a medicine ad. Yeah,
yeah. Side effects include
Death.
Um, one, one quick thing to note. Um,
this man's doctor was giving him wyvern vedem as medicine, but it's, it's not medicine, it's a drug.
Yeah, it
has
You get into the workings of Wyvern's Venom, and I've been around for a couple hundred years, so Way back when it, uh, was used to try to purge people of magic, Wyvern's Venom pulls away all of the mana.
It was used to control the earliest Spellweavers.
Why is this, why is this allowed to be used as a medicine? How is that not illegal? It is illegal. It is. Sorry. Did you say legal or illegal? It
is
illegal. Illegal. Illegal.
This voice is killing me. Our city's authorities are also extremely corrupt.
I understand that.
But is there any sort of medical accountability? We within the community,
our community keeps things pretty on the level, but, um, the Ascended temples have their own.
And is that, uh, DM, is that other temple, an Ascended temple?
Oh, it's an Ascended temple. All of the Ascended temples have been known for, um, you know, it's like they, they all have their thing and they're trying to.
The older gods are known variables, but those gods are known and the ascended have tried to replace those gods and some are successful and some are not. Um, and in many cases they create false places of worship. And I, I think that this is. Probably, like, along the lines of, like, things you did not learn in 8th grade history class but you learn later on in life.
And I think especially Ulua for your character, um, she's aware of the misleading history. And there's always something new you find out where somebody did something wrong.
Well, uh, we know at least one doctor who is prescribing this as medicine and I turn over to Seraphina. What, what was his name again? Franz.
Dr. Franz.
Well, I'm with the weavers and we don't have any, the buddy that I know by that name, but we'll do some investigating and make sure that nobody within our ranks is doing something like this.
This is out of one of the ascended temples.
I understand, but thank you for, for everything. Is
there a chance I can help down the line?
We may need to, there, I mean, there may be more victims such as us. There, there may be other houses that were built with these materials. We'll look into it and see what we can find. Um, And we're all looking into the medicine,
but people should be fine as long as the houses don't collapse. And
that's what I gather happened to, to this particular place.
There was an attack. Yes. Yeah. Well,
sounds like there was a couple of things working against you all on the upside that did keep this man alive much longer than I would have expected.
And you think you can still cure him even though it'll take a couple of days?
There's always hope.
If you need anything, please, I'm at Sincere House. Please contact me, let me know anything, supplies, anything I can do to help.
And the former Combshear that is in the Alkaline Robes nods and I, I can get in contact if needed.
Okay, thank you sister.
Doctor, what was your name? I don't think I caught it.
Gentry's.
Gentry's.
Nice memory. Can't remember how to seven your broom, but you remembered the doctor's name pretty solid. We got a 50, 50 shot here.
So
it's one of those things where it's like in the moment, if I'm like in the moment, making something up, then also I didn't make it up. So half the problem is I can't remember the shit I say. I remember the shit you say, not the shit I say.
Yeah, well, happens to all of us, actually.
And with that, I'm going to close this session because you have actually solved the case of the disease. Um, I will say before we go here, uh, and you might have other things to explore as well, but, um, for listening. You know about the weave sickness. Um, there's still the outstanding question of Seraphina's brother's abduction.
Um, there's possibly following up on the fake cure, and then there's your general allies and enemies that you've been, um, going about.
My poor house.
Your home. Uh, whoever killed. Uh, the various hidden powers that you've been uncovering and trying to figure things out around. Um, but next time I think we'll start up with Sticky Beak Arriving.
Because Gus did summon him.
Teaser! What's next?
And see what happens with the next arc. I have so many pages of possible things that I will leave it all to you to determine what happens next.
Stickybeak becomes the BBEG.
Probably. Of course. He's been the BBEG this whole time. Thank you very much for joining us.
I hope you have a wonderful time. Please like, subscribe, comment, share. Leave comments, send us chocolate sauce, check us out at probabilityofdemise. com Thank you. Bye bye.
Okay, bye. Okay, bye.
Bye. Bye. Bye.
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