Grau's smile seems to freeze a little. Perhaps he was hoping you would have forgotten his drunken escapades. But he seems undauted as he orders a round for you all. He sips his and then pushes the flagon aside.

"Right. I know you're busy people. But my family is in a bit of a crisis and it is past the point of the usual. My youngest neice has fallen ill. She is a sweet child and usually quite healthy. But this illness has come upon her. And it is not the usual kind. I...I am not sure she'll live." He stops speaking a moment and gets himself under control. He takes another sip from the flagon and pushes it further aside than he previously did. "I asked her about how she might have come to be sick. Was she bitten by anything or the like. She wasn't. The only thing odd that has occured to her was finding a small box that washed up on shore not long ago. I..my sister-in-law is not wealthy. And I have little coin to my name. We can't afford a healer from the Bank of Abadar. But I thought of you. You have been resourceful in dealing with several situations. Commander Kroft speaks highly of you. I was hoping you might go out and see my neice. Maybe you can see some solution I can't. Or maybe...one of you has the abbility to heal her. I know I have no right to ask anything of you. You have already been kind to me. But this is for my neice. And we really have no one else to go to on this... "

"I don't know if there is much we can do, but we'll look in on her sergeant. Shall we go now?"

Selvin looked at his drink and downed it. "Yeah. Sure. No rest for the wicked I guess, eh?" He let out a small chuckle, only slightly bitter. He stood when the others did.

---

---

Tarrov tapped his fingers on the table.  Looking into a little girl's illness seemed innocent enough, but . . .

"What do you know about this box, Sergeant?  Any markings?  Did she open it?  The more we know, the better we'll be able to help."

---

---

"I'll tell you what she told me as we go," Grau says to Tarrov as he stands.

He leads you out into the street and down a road heading towards the North Bridge and out of town. "They live in Trail's End..." he explains of the route. If so they must be poor. Trail's End is more or less a squatter's town built on the shore outsode the city walls. Only those who can't afford even slum rent live there.

"Brienna...my neice...brings water up to the shack. It's one of her chores. She said that a few days ago when she went to fill the buckets, she saw a little box of black wood washed up on the shore. The tide will sometimes wash things ashore on Trail's End. She opened the box and found some coins inside. She said there was a snail...that's what she called it. A 'snail'...on the box. You have to understand. 's not often she sees coin. Anyway she says she tossed the snail aside, opened the box and picked out tha coins. It sounded like there were a dozen silver in it. She dropped tha box and ran to tha market right away." He shrugs. "I can't fault her for buyin' the family some food an' basics. I think she bought herself a new scarf too." He shakes his head. "Anyway, she came down sick a day later. Started kinda easy. Just a cough and a light fever. But...she started gettin' these blisters on her skin. They were filled with pus an' blood. She...she's such a pretty girl too..."

Grau shakes his head again and you are all soon walking out of the town gate and across North Bridge.

Trail's End appears to be mostly Varisians. You all get a few black looks as you walk into the shanty town, though several of he passersby nod at Grau. He leads you to a shack not far from the shore line. Two young men stand up as you all walk in, though they relax visibly once they see Grau. He looks at them. "Your Mom with Brie?" he asks one of them.

There are two open doorways at the back of the room. One has a curtain of cheap cloth hung over it and from behind it you can hear a hacking cough. The other door opens onto a small kitchen. An odor of burning herbs wafts in from there and a man in white robes with gold thread stitching walks out, wiping his hands on a towel. He blinks at you all and mutters, "Oh dear...". Grau seems surprised to see him. But then he had told you the family couldn't afford a priest of Abadar, which from the symbol stitched on his robe he clearly is.

The priest motions for someone to shut the door. "Hurry! No one can know I'm here..." He tosses the towel onto a counter and looks about at each of you nervously. "I am Ishani Dhatri. Please...can we keep this quiet?"

"I will pay you if that is your worry priest. Sergeant Grau will repay me when he can, in favors if he must. How is the little girl?"

---

---

"I don't think anyone can fault her for using her new windfall, Sergeant," Tarrov said kindly.  He was no healer, but the girl certainly sounded sick.  Although the presence of the box indicated that it may not be any normal illness.  He racked his brain to try and find any information he might have heard or learned about a box of that sort.

Tarrov was shocked when they entered the girl's home to find a priest of Abadar already there.  He knew the Abadaran priesthood made a special point of always receiving compensation for their services, so this man Ishani was clearly there without his superiors' blessing.  His furtive demeanor confirmed it.

"Mum's the word," Tarrov said, nodding.  "We're also here to help.  What can you tell us about this girl's illness, Ishani?"

OOC:

Knowledge checks regarding the box. its snail symbol, and the coins -

12:31, Today: Tarrov Garrick rolled 28 using 1d20+8. Knowledge (Religion) Check.
12:30, Today: Tarrov Garrick rolled 21 using 1d20+8. Knowledge (Local) Check.
12:30, Today: Tarrov Garrick rolled 16 using 1d20+8. Knowledge (History) Check.
12:29, Today: Tarrov Garrick rolled 10 using 1d20+8. Knowledge (Arcana) Check.

---

---

Selvin agreed with Tarrov regarding the girl. He knew he would spend money if given time. So far they'd been rushing around a lot, so he had most of the money they'd made so far.

When they arrived at the house, he cocked his head as he looked at the priest. He wasn't so sure that the priest was worried about getting paid. "Why is it that you don't want anyone to know you're here, Priest?"

"Because these people have no money Selvin. His religion requires him to get paid first, they do not believe in charity."

Sorry Tarrov. My narrative should have been more clear. It was an actual snail on the box. Not a symbol.

You know there are several varities of snail that live in the area. Though whether any are poisonous is not clear.

You don't have enough information on the coins. They could be of any mint or make.

There's not much to go on for the box either. You do know Chelaxians favor finely crafted boxes stained pitch black or blood red. But without seeing the box, there's no way to know if it was one of theirs. It sounds like it.

Dhatri bows to Vaddis in appreciation and then to Selvin.

"Yes...I'm afraid things coild become awkward for me if it was known I had made a...uhm...house visit." He sighs then turns to the bard. He glances at the curtain hung door and then lowers his voice. "I won't lie. I'm concerned. This illness is not one I have seen before. That poor girl...blood blisters form on her skin and rupture. Her breath is labored and she has great spasms of pain. Particularly around the joints and fingers. I can offer some relief with my medicines. But a cure...well...I just don't have the rank to purge it from her, even if I had the funds. " He looks at Grau and raises an eyebrow. Grau nods. Dharti continues. "She isn't the first case I've seen. Though she is the worst. Some of my breathern came down with symptoms that sounded like her early symptoms. A fever and cough. An ugly reddish rash on the hands and around the eyes. They were cured before they moved to the second stage. From what her mother tells me, vomiting and bloody discharges came next. As well as awful headaches. I think once the blisters began to form she has moved into what I would guess is the final stage." He shakes his head. "At this point, I don't know anything to do for her but make her comfortable."

Vaddis goes to the little girl and lays his hands upon her.

"Oh great Iomedae, heal this little one through your divine energy!"


01:45, Today: Vaddis Sonaden rolled 8 using 2d6. channel positive energy.

Selvin looked a bit more worried. "So...others have come down with this..affliction as well? And did they have any contact with this family?"

"The ship with the disease flag flying from the mast that came into harbor uncrewed?"

Few in Korvosa could claim they were well off, but Izzick had certainly made it through childhood without ever coming across an illness like this, that he could say for sure, but the pain struck home still. He had primarily studied magic, not medicine, but Vaddis made an important point. "He's right. Kroft had mentioned a ship flying a flag of disease had been shot down in the port. Tides and currents could have pulled parts of the wreck anywhere. But how would the priests of your order been infected?" That was perhaps the strangest question if the Vaddis was correct.

Vaddis walks through the curtains to find a middle aged woman tending a young child. Dhatri's description of the boils was an understaement. The girl's face and arms are horribly scarred. His touch causes her pain before it brings relief.

Dhatri puts a hand on her mpther's shoulder and says, "This will give her some relief for a few days. But keep applying the red ointment to any new blisters. And I have brewed some tea you should give her." He motions for you all to follow him back into the outer room and helps Vaddis pry the grateful mother from his arm.

As the woman goes to prepare the tea, the cleric speaks in a low voice. "Thank you for that. It will give her a few days more. I'll see if I can figure out something before she relapses..."

He shakes his head at the question about how his brothers became ill. "I could not say. Most of us are so busy with the church's business, we have little time to even venture outside the temple, let alone come down to the river. I did hear about that ship as well. I suppose the illness could be linked to it. But how the Brothers would have been afflicted..." He sighs. "I can't stay any longer. The abbott will become suspicious as it is. Here," He reaches into a pocket and comes out with a small prayer bead made into the likeness of a coin. "If any of you should begin to experience symptoms, come to the temple and present the guard with this. Ask for me. I will see about getting you into a healer as soon as I can."

"Is it a disease that can be healed, or a curse that can be removed?"

Izzick allowed the two clerics a moment to speak on matters of their divine magic, while he returned inside the veil of the girl and mother. While he knew that there was little he could do, he pulled from his belt pouch a deck of harrow cards, asking the mother, "Would you mind if I drew cards for her?" The fortune telling was not a magical one in any way, but Izzick knew that insight from the cards could often help both himself and those he read for.

Assuming the mother did not mind, the half-orc quickly found a table and began the reading. He looked over each of the cards for a few moments, and then offered,

"Your daughter certainly has a loving, but curious nature. She's a smart and ambitious girl to be sure, for better or for worse. In this case, the disease  has touched her deeply, but she's also a strong girl." He points to a few cards, pointing out their meanings to the mother if she was curious, "In the Negative Past - we see the Keep - temptation. This is the moment she touched the box. But likewise, here we see the Positive Future is The Snakebite. It means new knowledge - potentially the cure." He points out the cards below it, "While the Uprising and Mountain Man represent potential problems for us. They are powerful adversaries, but ones we will do our best to stop." He goes back to the center card, pointing out the Queen Mother, which resonated strongly with him. "And this card represents an oath that guarantees our victory." he promised her, "And so I am sure that we will be able to make a headway into this illness."

Assuming this is ok, I'm going to draw 9 cards. I only have Harrowed as an applicable feat which only applies to one card that gives me a bonus, but this seems as good a time as any to get it in. Since Izzick is Neutral, I chose that card to represent him, but drew 9 just so I could interpret the reading.

11:50, Today: Izzick drew the 9 cards: 2H, 4H, 10S, QH, 3C, 7D, 7H, 9H, 5D using a deck of 54 cards. LG, NG, CG, NG, N (Izzick), NE, CG, CN, CE.



Izzick gets a +2 to a single Wisdom check today

---

---

Tarrov followed along with Izzick's fortune-telling silently, his face expressionless.  He wasn't sure what he thought about Harrowers.  Some of them seemed to be the real thing, others were fakirs.  Or did the ability come and go?  Or was it merely luck of the draw?  It was hard to tell.  The result of most Harrowings was so vague that they were little more than mere platitudes, in Tarrov's estimation.

So it was with Izzick's reading.  No kidding the disease had touched the girl deeply.  And equating temptation with box-touching seemed to be a stretch.  You were tempted to do things that were wrong, right?  Opening a box you found on the shoreline was far from a moral violation.

Tarrov gave a mental shrug.  If it helped some people, who was he to argue?

"How much do we know about this diseased ship?"  Tarrov interjected after Izzick was done and there seemed to be a pause in Vaddis' conversation with the Abadaran cleric.  "I mean, Vaddis is right.  It seems like more than a coincidence that a ship carrying some sort of disease sails into the harbor and then," the bard gestured to the girl, "a disease-carrying box washes up on shore."  He paused.  "We might want to look into that ship.  Odds are good that's where the box originated.  And if we find the origin of the box, we're that much closer to figuring out what we're dealing with."

"Although Izzick's question is a good one as well.  Do the members of your order know how they became infected?  Do we even know how this disease is communicated?"  He scratched his head.  "There's so much we don't know right now."

He looked around at the gathered group.  "I doubt this will be the last case of this disease in Korvosa.  If we don't move quickly, we could be looking at an epidemic."  He glanced at the cleric.  "Is the box available?  I'd like to examine it."

---

---

In reply to Tarrov Garrick (msg # 23):

Izzick, I don't have my Harrow resource handy, so I'll have to get back to you on it. The wisdom bonus is fine.

Dhatri shakes his head at Vaddis' question. "I don't know. Honestly I am not of sufficient rank. Such questions are beyond my training. I believe it is an infection. But I can't rule out a curse."

You all watch Izzick's reading. The family seems mezmerized by it. Her mother seems to infer that there's hope for her child from the reading. And whether the power of the Harrow is real or not, it accomplishes something just by providing that hope.

Grau shrugs. "I heard a report on the downed ship. I can certainly see if I can find out where it went down exactly."

Breienna's mother shakes her head when the box comes up. "No. I'm sorry. We've looked for the box but couldn't fine it. Brie just got so excited whe she saw rhe coins she ran off with them. She didn't keep track of the box. "

"I heard there's been others found." You all turn to look at one of Grau's nephews. "There's been talk. I know Gorgot found one this mornin'. I told him ot to touch it but he did. There was some coin inside. He went to town. There's this necklace he wants to buy for his girl. "

"Hmmm, sounds like someone did this on purpose then. Do you know if he still has the box? Very sick?"

Selvin made a hmm noise. "The boxes are from the plague ship maybe then, washing up on shore after either being set out from the ship, or floating away from a damaged cargo hold?"

The boy nods. "I saw him put the box in his pouch. He was going to see if he could sell it since it looked like it was expensive."

"When did he try to sell it?" Izzick asked. If it was only a few days ago, it might give them a lead into who to look to, but if it was some time ago, "A member of the church might have been the buyer. Many of Abadar's priests are also merchants, are they not?"

"Ahhhhh, that could be the connection then!"

The boy shrugs. "I don't know. He just found it this mornin'..."

"Did he take it into town?" Dhatri asks, his voice thick with concern. The boy nods. "He was gonna sell it."

Dhatri rubs his face. "If your friend found the box this morning, he couldn't be the cause of the brothers coming down with the sickness. But if he found a different box...there must be others. I'll head to the Bank," he says, meaning the temple to Abadar. "Ask about to see if there have been any boxes in trade. We need to find out how many other boxes may have washed up on shore around here. And we need to find this friend. Stop him from selling that box. Can I ask that of you?" he says, addressing the group. "I will make inquiries among those of my brothers who came down sick to see what they traded in as of late."