RP:Chartsend Calls For Aid

From HollowWiki

This is a Bard's Guild RP.


Part of the Vakmatharas' Jar Arc


Summary: Pilar calls for Krice's assistance with the Chartsend plague and they run into Alvina, who heard news of the plague from Cenril. Krice confirms it's some kind of dark magic and Alvina fills them both in on the state of things in Cenril with the Vanishings. Krice departs to ask Leone's advice while Pilar and Alvina tend to the suffering victims of this evasive poisoning.


Chartsend

Pilar sat in her house, dressed in light blue scrubs, eating a small breakfast and missing her housemates dearly. One had disappeared, the other fallen deathly ill. Sure, her precious pets kept her company, but she missed Iblis's quirky chaos and Yozenra's quiet calm. She swallowed her last bite of toast, left the dishes by the sink, and headed out the door. The plague had hit her neighborhood especially hard. Their first patient had lived just a couple houses down from her. Their second lived right across the street. They suspected that the illness had originated around there, but hadn't found any potential source of dark magic. No crystals, no necromancers, nothing. And none of the patients had been outside Chartsend in the days leading up to the outbreak. She walked down the street towards the town center, and from there, she would head south to the clinic/barracks.


Krice hadn't returned to Chartsend for days. Various circumstances had kept him away far longer than he had intended but things had settled and now here he was. Dressed in his usual black attire with the collar of his shirt open and the sleeves rolled to his elbow, a katana strapped to his back, the long-haired warrior ventured through the far-west town in a direction opposing Pilar's trajectory. He saw her without difficult and lifted his chin, volleying a greeting once they had neared a point of convergence. " Hi." His tone was smooth and calm, his overall disposition at ease. " How're things going here?"


Alvina came to the temperate seaside town in a black, floral sundress with her hair pulled back in a tight braid that dangled down her back, hitting at her waistline. Her feet shuffled along on the cobblestone paths as she slowly searched shop windows and local clinics for signs of Pilar. News had reached her in Cenril about the plague outbreak and the vampiress had been her first concern even though it had been a while since they’d seen each other. Her oversized sunhat feels silly, considering the circumstances of her visit. The bard removes it once she’s stepped into the southern clinics / barracks before Pilar or Krice could be seen. “Excuse me, miss?” Her hands wring around the brim of hat in her hands, metal and flesh digits flexing nervously. “I’m looking for Ms. Pilar Solana-Mendez?”


Pilar offered Krice a tired smile. “Hi. Things are... not great. We lost another patient last night.” In the barracks, a nurse looked up from her clipboard and smiled at Alvina. “She should be here in just a few minutes. Her shift starts soon.” The beds were packed with people. Mostly humans and elves, but there was one noteworthy patient. A naga, with purple dreads and scales black as jet. The woman was unconscious and breathing heavily. The nurse pulled a face mask from a drawer. “If you'd like to take a seat and wait for her, you might want this, to be safe,” she said, offering the item to Alvina. Regardless of Alvina's choice, Pilar and Krice would appear within a few minutes.


Krice 's attention was mostly on Pilar, his focus and interest genuine as she spoke her reply to his query. Her revelation of losing 'another' patient inspired a quiet, " Sorry." Though he was a warrior, taking lives to save them, he understood the hardships of people in the medical profession, and the toll one suffered when wounded or sick people under their watch were lost. As he continued to walk, the warrior's steps faltered and he looked up, gazing in the direction of the clinic toward which Pilar walked. He moved alongside the vampire but remained just out of reach, forcing the return of his natural gait. Pilar wouldn't know why he had a momentary hitch in stride, but no doubt her vampiric senses would alert her to a subtle quickening of his heartbeat - for reasons not revealed. She might also have been privy to the presence of the red-maned bard further ahead. Focusing on the interaction at hand, Krice asked of Pilar, " And the woman you were with last time? Has she--well, has -anyone- improved?"


Alvina thanked the nurse with a bow of her head, taking the mask and fixing in place so it cut across her nose. The naga caught her eye, as nagas always did. It was so rare to see them in their normal forms. She registered immediately that Pilar had mentioned having a naga friend. The bard swallowed before nervously approaching the patient and announcing herself in an anxious tone. “S-so sorry, I’m a friend of Pilar’s-” She starts, afraid the naga woman might be startled by someone randomly approaching her. “I’m a healer too, I was wondering if I could sit with you a moment? Can you tell me your symptoms?” If Yozenra is unable to speak, Alvina will turn to a nearby nurse and ask her the same.


Pilar did wonder why he'd tripped, why his heartbeat quickened when he saw, but she didn't ask. “No real improvement, no... The best we have is 'stable.'” They entered the barracks and Pilar immediately saw Alvina and Yozenra together. There was no need for Alvina to call over a nurse, as Pilar was by their sides in a flash. “Hi, Alvina,” Pilar said. She gave the woman a friendly hug. “What brings you here?” Pilar looked at Yozenra, frowning, and touched her forehead. “Fever's gone up again...” she murmured. Yozenra groaned softly and stirred, but didn't wake up.


Krice furrowed a brow, the usually stoic warrior seemingly perplexed by the lack of improvement in Pilar's patients. This plague truly was a mystery, and a nuisance. He followed in behind the vampire and politely declined the offer of a protective mask from one of the nurses. A small conversation ensued during which she tried to insist, if not for his sake then for the sake of others he might infect once he leaves, which ultimately led him to taking one of those masks before he turned to see Pilar hugging Alvina. Clearly they knew each other. The warrior's lips tightened briefly before he stepped in to join them, standing well back from the cot to allow the healers enough room to tend to Yozenra. After casually donning the mask with its securing strap pressing his hair to his scalp, loose strands falling around his face, the warrior waited with his hands in the pockets of his slacks until Pilar needed him - his attention swiveling around the room in slow, speculative glances. Perhaps he was looking for clues.


Alvina heard Pilar’s voice and spun around to greet her from her seated position beside the unconscious naga. She’s quick to pull the vampire into an embrace, smooth loose strands of hair off Pilar’s face affectionately with her fleshed hand, the other still holding her oversized sunhat. “I heard about the plague but I hadn’t heard from you…I meant to write but it seemed easier to come make sure you were okay with my own eyes.” Here her smile falters, catching sight of silver hair in the distance arguing quietly with the nurse about the masks. Her face flashed with some quick unreadable panic and she turned away, chest aching as her heartbeat intensified. She clears her throat and looks back at Yozenra. ”Tell me what’s been happening…? How long has your friend been ill?”


Pilar smiled at Alvina. “One of the perks of being a vampire, I suppose. Not easy to get sick.” She raised an eyebrow at the change in Alvina's face, and looked over at Krice briefly. Hmm... She turned her attention back to Alvina and Yozenra. “We've lost five people so far, since it all started a couple weeks ago. One was a child. Yozenra was brought in eleven days ago. She wasn't feeling well before then, but had been hiding it from me. We don't have any real proof, but we suspect dark magic is afoot. I have a friend who's sensitive to such things, and he told me he could feel it in the air, here. But like I said, no real evidence.”


Krice was a stalwart, guarded man, difficult to read. When silence fell between the two women and Pilar glanced his way, he met her eyes squarely in distant expectation of some words shared. When the vampire spoke nothing, he allowed his attention to drift across the face of the fiery-haired bard before looking over at Yozenra, watching her slumber in sickness. As Pilar spoke - admittedly, to Alvina, not to him - of a friend who claimed that there was magic in the air, the warrior nodded. " Yeah, there's something poisonous in the air. I sensed it more last time I was here, but even then it was faint." He lifted his chin, looked around the room as if seeking a visual origin. " Almost like the wind took it away, but some of it stained the ground."


Alvina presses her fleshed index knuckle to her lips and murmured a thoughtful ‘hmm’ while Pilar explained the situation. “And the patient’s aren’t responding to any intense healing magics? I wonder if the Frostmaw priestess Leone might be useful in these cases. I think she has a penchant for knowing a thing or two about dark magic.” Or maybe that’s just her best guess. Emilia would be another one she’d consult but the gensai hadn’t crossed paths with the bard in some time. Alvina didn’t know much about detecting dark magic. She rests a hand on Yozenra’s wrist, feeling the fever in her body rolling off her skin in waves before she even made contact before she turns to Krice to listen to his explanation. “Like a poison…” She mumbled, her gaze lingering on the warrior’s expression with concern.


Pilar frowned. That was two people now who felt dark magic present. This wasn't good. “Well, we've been able to prevent it getting worse, for the most part, but no one's really gotten better. I'll send word to her as soon as possible.” “Already on it,” a nearby nurse said, scribbling away. Pilar smiled at her, then looked to the two of them, eyes wide. “A poison...? I've never heard of a poison spreading like this... But...” She went to Yozenra's side and sat down. She placed one hand on her forehead and another on her stomach and closed her eyes. She reached out with her magic, poking and prodding Yozenra's system, searching. Her brow furrowed. “It... It is a poison,” she whispered, horrified, shocked. “But I... I can't affect it.” She opened her eyes and looked to her friends. “I've been able to remove magical poisons before, but this... this one won't budge.”


Krice noticed Alvina's concerned glance with a plain one of his own, communicating something to the bard as Pilar turned away to tend to her friend. With one nurse picking up the vampire's intent to send a letter to the High Priestess of Frostmaw, the warrior silently waited for a break in conversation before he could speak; he watched Pilar interact with Yozenra, felt her magic feed into the naga, and felt it blocked by something else. His sense of it was clouded because the magic itself was distant, but he focused on it staunchly before offering a speedier solution. " Leone's abilities are specialized. She's also confined to Frostmaw at present, but I can fly to her now to ask her opinion about the situation." Focusing on Pilar, he asked, " You got any specific questions I should ask her?"


Alvina offered a slight nod of understanding to Krice before she turned back to watch Pilar with Yozenra. Her own magic worked much the same, she could place her hands on someone injured and have her magic ‘seek’ an internal source not physically present. “Her advice would be most helpful,” She added, unsure what question Pilar would formulate for the priestess. She knew the plague far better than Alvina so she allowed her space to think and speak. A magic poison...as if there weren’t enough threats in the world already. What was going on? “I wonder if this is somehow linked to the Vanishings in Cenril…” She said, thinking about the time span in which everything had started here. They synced up pretty close.


Pilar held Yozenra's hand while she focused on Krice. “I can't... think of anything specific, no. Just... Whatever she knows about dark magic, poisons, sickness... I don't...” She shook her head and sighed. Her brain was fried these days. She was constantly tired, sick with worry, and feeling helpless. Her head snapped up at the mention of vanishings, however. “Vanishings? What... I haven't been keeping up with the news, what's happening in Cenril?”


Krice arched a brow. 'Vanishings in Cenril'? That didn't sound particularly positive. Pilar's answer drew his attention back her way and he listened attentively, but when her words diverted to enquire after Alvina's revelation, his focus shifted again - from vampire to human bard. He reassured Pilar first, " I'll go see her shortly," before falling silent to let the red-haired woman speak about Cenril's vanishings.


Alvina frowned, trying to tuck back a strand of hair that wasn’t there. It was reflexive. “There was...some massive...removal, I don’t know what else to call it, of people there. My friend Emily...who was staying with us, just...was on the couch holding a beer and then she wasn’t anymore. No one can figure out what happened and no one can find any of the people missing.” She doesn’t mention the more gruesome details of what this meant for her personally. It’s not a subject she needs on top of everything else. There’s enough heavy air in the tent as it is. “They’ve been running the names in the paper for the past couple weeks of everyone missing. We thought it was a prank at first, just Emily, being ridiculous but…” She shook her head. “But maybe the two are linked. Maybe it was some dark magic that took them. I don’t know if there’s a way to get them back.” She shared a glance between Krice and Pilar, turning again to Yozenra. “If Leone can advise us on the dark magic, it might help both causes…” It might save Yozenra and Emily...and hundreds more.


Pilar frowned and placed a hand on Alvina's shoulder. “I'm sorry about your friend. I, I hope there's a way to get them back.” It was too late for those who'd died to the plague, but maybe those who'd vanished could still be brought back. Across the room, a patient was having a coughing fit, and Pilar, reluctantly, released Yozenra's hand and Alvina's shoulder. “I... I need to tend to the patients.” A nurse came up to them and offered Krice a folded piece of paper. “Our message for the priestess,” she said. It had an in-depth explanation of the symptoms (fevers, chills, difficulty breathing, dizziness and fainting) as well as a body count (32 people sick, 5 dead) and what they knew of the disease's progression (started in a northern neighborhood near the city entrance, spread from there). “Please, sir... Hurry,” the nurse said.


Krice frowned visibly at Alvina's recount of Cenril's people-disappearing phenomenon and muttered a bemused, " What the hell...?" Pilar's following answer silenced further editorializing from the warrior, who glanced at the patient coughing in a nearby cot. Then his focus was caught by the approaching nurse and he lifted a hand to take her note without hesitation, pocketing it. A nod of acknowledgment was given to the woman, and as Pilar busied herself with her distant patient, the enigma turned his attention to Alvina. It was only a moment that his gaze lingered before he nodded his farewell and stepped clear of the cots, bowing his head to the vampiric healer on his way out - steps brisk and purposeful.


Alvina wished she knew something to help. “I’ll stay and do what I can.” She offered, glad for a distraction from the turmoil of her own life. It’s always easier to put other people first. She turns to the nurse, watching her pass off the note to Krice for Leone and subsequently catches his gaze. Her mouth twists into a deeper frown, unsure now what to say. Her gaze moved back to the nurses as they gave her instructions on what to do to help the patient’s suffering in Chartsend.