Part 18 - Memorial and a Mystery

  Liz quickly set to work piecing together mutilated bodies, finding the severed heads and doing her best to allow them to be cremated with the benefits of being whole.

  The only one she became sure of was Sylvestre, however.

  As his body was ignited in nascent flames, she clasped her hands in prayer.

  “Sylvestre, you were a dedicated man who gave up everything for your faith and your beliefs. Forced to cast away your love and your position for the whims of those around you, you remained steadfast, and guided the followers of Seira both as a teacher and as an example.

  “For you, I will offer to you the words of a poet from my home. ‘Thou thy worldly task hast done, Home art gone, and ta’en thy wages… Fear no more the frown o’ the great; Thou art past the tyrant’s stroke; Care no more to clothe and eat; To thee the reed is as the oak: The sceptre, learning, physic must… All follow this, and come to dust… Nothing ill come near thee, Quiet consummation have; And renowned be thy grave.’”

  Those standing near to her all bowed their heads in respect. If any saw the tear that rolled down her cheek as she recited some excerpts from Shakespeare, none made mention of it.

  Elina came to her as she continued to gather the corpses she could with the time they had left.

  “Those words, what were they? I’ve never heard a language like that before.”

  Liz gave her a frown. “It was the same language I always speak, but just older.”

  Elina tilted her head to the side in a cute, clueless expression.

  “I never noticed you speak a different language than the rest of us.”

  Elizabeth could’ve buried her face in her hands if it weren’t for the mess of the tasks she was in the middle of.

  “You never noticed I have the ability to comprehend and be comprehended by any person or written language? If I write a message, even in coded letters, the meaning of the words I put down are always understood by the person who sees it. By the same token, I can understand any script put in front of me as clearly as if it was directly explained to me by the original writer. What was different about the prayer I offered to Sylvestre for his funeral?”

  “That’s really weird. For the prayer, I understood roughly what you were saying, but it seemed a hair off somehow. Like some of the words were twisting around my ears slightly.”

  Liz gave that description some thought, realizing that the point of poetry is usually a flowing prose. If the effects of the translation were trying to copy over the flow of the poetry, then it would turn out sounding odd when words didn’t have a direct correlation.

  “Well, it’s a form of art from my home. That excerpt is from the most famous writer in history, I think. The poem is about death, the freedom from the burdens of life and peace of passing on. I didn’t know Sylvestre for long, but his life never sounded like it was easy. He gave everything for the struggles of his life, and in the end, as everyone from my previous life has, he met his end as dust.”

  Elina looked away for a time as she chewed over Liz’s words.

  “Thank you, Lizha. I’ve known death as a constant companion for much of my life, and your words are somewhat touching, strangely. You’re right, the poem does speak well to the equality of all in the final embrace of death, doesn’t it? In this line of work, we deliver death so much that it can be difficult at times. It’s important to keep in mind why we do what we do.”

  Elina took a deep breath, seeming to center herself before trying to put her cheerful mask back on again, as Liz had long come to see the facade the girl wore.

  “Hey now, don’t go lumping me in with you all. I’m no member of your club. I’m here to keep those kids safe, and that’s all.”

  “And yet, I think you’re somehow the most fit for this role of any of us. Your eyes, and your ability to not lose yourself to the horrors… You’re not like the rest of us.”

  Liz raised her stone hand and raised an eyebrow at the young woman.

  “Yeah, I got the ‘being different’ part. Don’t go rubbing it in.” She dodged the implications swiftly and turned back to her work.

  “That’s… not so different after all. You just hide it better, don’t you?”

  “‘As chimney-sweepers, come to dust.’” Liz didn’t say another word.

  ~ ~ ~

  Elizabeth’s brief memorial for the people of Heron Lake was cut short as the group swiftly packed up and headed out the moment the sun had set and the baleful twin glaring moons rose into the tropical night sky

  The church she’d lived in for so long was nothing but rubble after the attack, and surprisingly, only the residential wing of the building hadn’t been totally ruined, including her room at the furthest end of the upstairs hallway. She’d gotten lucky. That wasn’t a pleasant thought, and she swiftly reminded herself that even the gods and goddesses of Pallos couldn’t see the future.

  Surprisingly, the Exterreri diplomat wasn’t the slowest member of their group once they returned to their journey and the [Ash Mage]’s skill wasn’t needed. A combination of movement skills and the aura boosting their speed meant they could cover ground with surprising efficiency compared to caravans and non-combat classers.

  Seasonal shifts in the daytime/nighttime ratio on Pallos were similar to Earth in that they weren’t nearly as pronounced when so close to the world’s equator, and the destination was a town along the coast to the northeast, meaning a significant portion of the journey would be across the desert. Rather than risk having no cover at sunrise, they’d planned a route to travel north through the forest and jungle, in the direction Liz had been training in with Arlyen so many weeks prior.

  When they reached the familiar small body of water the Kun-Peng had been using as a resting point nearby, she found herself searching all over for signs of her former instructor.

  The signs of a large monster residing nearby were fairly obvious, though somewhat faded by time. Every Ranger was on edge at the signs of excrement and bones left behind, but nothing emerged to harass them.

  Each member of the group was refilling water into canteens or waterskins from the stream that fed the pool while the ever-vigilant Sentinel seemed to be both nowhere and everywhere at once. It spooked her a bit less than it did the others, but she felt Faythe had beaten some of the reaction out of her when it came to powerful illusionists. It wasn’t long before the group was moving again, and Liz felt she had no reason to warn them about the gnoll [Paladin]’s companion, especially when it seemed the creature was no longer around.

  The group kept pushing their speed until they reached the coast in a single night, then turned eastward to reach a town at the edge of the desert before dawn broke.

  The town was bigger than Heron Lake by a large margin, with sandstone colored walls and buildings, with a veritable forest of masts that betrayed the location as a clearly thriving port town.

  There was only one issue.

  Dawn was close at hand, and the people around her were muttering about the yellow and black flag flying over the town walls.

  “Fucking plague town.” One of the members of Team Iota muttered.

  She caught on quickly. Not the best place to enter and try to stay the night. Not that they had many options.

  A laugh caught her and Team Iota off guard as one of the Rangers stepped out with a smirk on his face.

  “I’ve got a Dark [Healer] class. We’re good. Let’s get in and get out of the sun.”

  She briefly breathed a sigh of relief, hopeful they wouldn’t have to pay for the healing. She’d heard plenty of stories of the nightmare that was the healthcare system in some places back on Earth. She had a feeling that the level of advancement of Pallos would imply more of a ‘Black Plague’ experience than a shining beacon of advanced healthcare, even when a cure was only a touch and some mana away. People with an eye for profit just loved the easy money of a low cost, high income business opportunity.

  “Names, business in town and identification?” A yawning, sleepy guard inquired as they approached. The gates had barely been opened yet, apparently they’d open before dawn each day.

  “Envoy from Exterreri. Passing through for a journey to an international event.” Sentinel Magic took the lead with an authoritative tone that had the guard looking thoroughly nonplussed.

  “Right, entry fee is 8 coins per person. All incoming individuals will be searched for contraband, and all people looking to leave the town must pay the fee for a [Healer] to ensure the plague isn’t spread to other towns.”

  The group entered the town without any issues, with some members showing the distinct amount of hurry involved in the debilitating hazard that came with the arrival of the sun. They rented three rooms for the day, one for the vampires to remain inside of with complete darkness, and two others for men and women to rotate their own rest cycles, Vitality allowing everyone to operate on at least half the sleep they normally would.

  The city wasn’t in a critical ‘bring out your dead’ state yet, but the smell of rancid blood was heavy on the air, with some citizens seemingly out of their minds staring off at nothing in darkened corners. The bodies weren’t all around, but they seemed numerous and even some young children seemed delirious and on the verge of collapse. The sight was truly horrid.

  For Liz’s part, she once again pulled Elina and Aegis both away from the group and into the alleyway next to the inn.

  “I’m stumped. Justiciary fell roughly a month ago, right?”

  Aegis nodded, and Elina shrugged, giving her a questioning look.

  “Sylvestre told me during our conversations that infectious outbreaks had a specific set of responses outlined in this country. Government funding of the baths to allow everyone to keep clean, and a rapid response to get the townsfolk healed and keep business running as usual. A month is a very short time for an ingrained procedure to be lost so fast that a plague flag is actually needed.”

  Aegis rubbed his stubbly chin as he took on a thousand-yard stare briefly, Liz realized she was able to tell he hadn’t shaved before they left the base and mentally reminded herself to actually think over the effects of her high Vitality in the future.

  “You’re somewhat right. Government funding has likely run out, but the toll to enter town was slightly higher than usual to make up the difference, or so I’d thought. No reason to change the procedure that’s ingrained after centuries of culture has been built up. Plagues don’t usually get so bad that people die here, but I only assumed it was another sign of the fall of the nation.” Elina nodded in agreement with what Aegis said, and seemed to focus intently on Liz.

  “What are the great motivators in life? Money and power. Higher taxes on entrance fees could be a sign of the first, and with the Vajra in charge now, I doubt someone would be looking for political power and risking sticking their necks out. People just don’t operate like that unless they’re stupid, and it would be unwise to assume stupidity when malevolence could be at play. I’m thinking we have a level-hungry person at the center of this, and only one day to figure out who it is. Investigation time?”

  “Agreed. Elina, take Lynx and go scout the healing efforts. Maybe see if you can get the Ranger with the Dark [Healer] class involved and see what he can dig up when he tries to cure this plague. High mana costs might imply a magic plague or something. Meet back at the inn after you’ve finished.”

  “Magic plague? Sounds nasty. Miasma element, then?” Liz made doubly sure to expand her mind to encompass all of the nasty things that could be going around that an Earth mentality might miss. She felt a little excited—she always wanted to be in a detective show.

  “Aegis, let’s scout out the water supply and check the baths.”

  With nods all around, they split off in different directions.

  “Well reasoned. I didn’t take you for that type.” Aegis paid her a compliment as they began to walk out into the streets.

  “I’ve had my eye on every person I’ve met in my life. Call it a ‘survival requirement’ where I come from. Watch, analyze, and figure out how people tick. I’m not the best expert at controlling others, but just understanding is enough of a good head start.” Liz gave him a hard stare.

  Aegis didn’t hold her sidelong gaze for long. “Really? What do you have on me, then?”

  “You sure you wanna go there?” He nodded after a slight hesitation. “Where to start? You’re terse, blunt and don’t generally convey yourself well. You say what you want to say, but the intent doesn’t come through as much. I can tell you do care about the people around you, but you simultaneously don’t show it well, nor do you hide it half as much as you think you do. My guess is that you lost someone really close to you, or you lost a lot of people that left a big impact on your life. You care specifically about how much young [Priests] can get a poor grasp on their own limits because of their class quality, so I would bet whoever you lost was a cocky [Priest] or [Priestess].”

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  His silence spoke volumes, and he didn’t seem to want to speak with her again after that. She knew she’d be opening up old wounds, but he’d been the one to ask.

  Her analysis wasn’t exactly hard, if she was being honest. The guy was a lot less adept at hiding his scars than anyone she met in Hollywood. Elina was the one she was still trying to wrap her head around. The young woman was bubbly most of the time, and that was certainly a facade of some kind. The idea of being an assassin who could kill an enemy base full of soldiers using a highly potent flesh-rotting plague was not a method that many people could stomach, but that didn’t seem to scar her much. Then there were the innocent casualties involved when non-combatants got caught up in her skills, which had Liz frowning. The other oddity Liz had seen about Elina was that the girl was the only member of Team Iota that didn’t have a codename.

  “Sorry. Shouldn’t have brought that up like that. I’m curious why Elina doesn’t have a codename like the rest of the team?” She changed the subject fast enough she could’ve given herself whiplash.

  Aegis’ expression darkened further, and Liz felt she shouldn’t have asked.

  “Elina doesn’t have one because she doesn’t need one. Members get codenames to protect the people they’re close to. To keep their families safe.” He didn’t need to elaborate.

  Liz could put those pieces together, and realized she probably didn’t need the explanation if she’d thought about it more. Elina didn’t have anyone an enemy could use against her. It spoke to a dark past, and Liz decided to avoid the subject around the little psychopathic killer in the future.

  They finally arrived at the river that fed out from the border between the desert and the forest, where it entered the city and split into canals before feeding out into the ocean nearby.

  To Liz’s eyes, the water looked clean and pure, owing to the glowing runes on the grates beneath the walls. “No contamination where the water enters the city.”

  “I’m not an expert, but you’re right. Let’s follow it downstream and check there?”

  “I don’t think we need to. The channels split up and get too numerous to check them all. We’re better off checking the ocean outlets, and following those back if they seem especially problematic.”

  Aegis nodded in agreement, clearly adept at following his orders for his missions, but not at thinking over complex investigations.

  “Actually, if runes are used to clean the water entering the city, then won’t they be used to clean refuse and waste? The water exiting the city should be as clean as it is when it enters?”

  “Ah. And if the city still employs [Sewer Sweepers], then the sewers should be clean as well. Checking the outlets should tell us if water is a problem at all.” Aegis nodded at her. “Yet another reason to reject adventurers. The fools only do things when the pay is right, and often feel they’ve outgrown sewer cleaning, so most cities in the world end up with horribly messy waste management systems.”

  Thankfully the tension had eased since she’d more than a little too accurately pincushioned his entire character.

  ~ ~ ~

  After some speed-enabled rapid investigations, they managed to rule out the water source as a source of mass infection, and then ruled out the baths for both men and women as those also appeared to be clean and had functioning runes as well. They were lovely, with a pleasant incense burning with the scent of tropical fruits, and Liz would’ve loved to stay for an hour or so, but having one day to solve a disease outbreak wasn’t the time to indulge in a good soak. The atmosphere was great, and it felt good to spend some time there, even if she wasn’t soaking.

  “Sickness usually spreads via the air, water or direct contact. We’ve ruled out water. I’m doubting the direct contact route given how spread out the plague is, too. Elina and the Ranger [Healer] should have more concrete information by now, right? We should meet back up with them.”

  Aegis agreed with her assessment and they bolted back to the inn near the West gate they’d entered from.

  The moment they returned to the inn, Elina waved them over to a well-lit table with stacked books Liz didn’t recognize nearly burying the Ranger [Healer].

  “We have a shock for you both!”

  Liz gave the bubbly girl a sharp look, then caved. “Okay, so what do you have?”

  “Not a plague. Our boy [Healer] here didn’t get any purchase from a combined skill to eliminate all the common causes of disease in a sick person we encountered that shared the signs of the condition that’s killing people. Not a single one of the city [Healers] was available to see us. Convenient, but we also don’t exactly have authority to throw around and make ourselves heard.”

  Liz couldn’t help but frown as Aegis took over the discussion.

  “We ruled out water as an issue, but that doesn’t seem like a concern anymore. So what are the possibilities now?”

  “Magical conditions, of course.” The Ranger poked his head out of his stacked tomes, and Liz saw the title on the top of the closest stack read ‘Medical Manuscripts Vol. 7’ before tuning fully in to the full run-down by the resident expert. “Not Miasma, of course, since that controls all sorts of diseases that Dark can erase. It’s truly a mystery! It kills like an infection, but it isn’t considered one by the system. I’ll be able to contribute to the Manuscripts on the subject of magical maladies if we figure it out.”

  Liz hated to shut the excitement down, but she had a broader analysis to offer.

  “Anyone with a healing skill that works on disease should notice the skills not working, right? So why does the town have a policy of ensuring everyone is checked before they leave? The [Healers] would notice there’s no disease the moment someone came to their clinics, right? Meaning the [Healers] are in on the plot, if not the center of it.”

  Aegis bounced his own idea off her. “Without the government enforcement in effect, all a city can do is negotiate the price with the [Healers] in the city on the price to cure the plague. The issue when this happens is that the medical professionals can hold the town hostage and demand whatever price they wish.”

  “Sure, but the city [Healers] are members of the community. Who wants their neighbors to despise them over a payout when [Healers] already make so much money?” Elina seemed skeptical.

  Liz shook her head. “Never underestimate greed. Some people can never have too much money, but with people out there dying, someone is getting a ton of levels from killing them, and the [Healers] aren’t getting them because of the lack of an actual plague to cure. I’d imagine they’ve been bought off, or threatened.”

  “We first need to figure out how they’re killing people, then we can try to work backwards from that, right?” Elina was a bit of an expert on infectious disease in her own way, Liz had to admit.

  “We can rule out both Miasma, Spore and Poison, right? Decay?”

  Elina shook her head. “The conditions include deliriousness, and unless the effect is literally rotting the brain, I don’t think that’s it. Hallucinations, euphoria, and then the rest is coughing and difficulty breathing. Doesn’t smell like rot, to me.”

  “That’s the big group of common killing choices. Fair to say we’re looking for someone quite high level to be killing people across a wide area without it being eradicated by a [Healer].” Aegis was frowning and muttering such things as Liz quietly ran through elements in her head.

  Not likely to be any of the Fire elements. No Light ones, either. Wind to distribute the cause is possible. Metal? Maybe. Water… Maybe an inhaled Acid?

  “What about something that isn’t considered harmful by the System?” The Ranger [Healer] slid a book out from behind the stacks.

  “‘An oddity in skills offered by the system as a [Healer] is any substance considered a stimulant or buff from another classer. Some substances amplify the user with minor downsides, similar to the famous [Guardsman’s Buff] that improves a person’s Vitality while eating some of their Mana Regeneration. The most common affliction seen among these substances is a potent addictive quality. The System does not allow manipulation of the mind, and therefore healing a mind of addiction is impossible, making the common substances for testing theories invalid for research.’” Aegis read aloud as Liz felt her head start to hurt slightly. The entire situation had even more annoying possibilities with this new potential risk included.

  “Adding this to the pile of options, that means any element using drugs could be involved. Wood, Verdant or Forest? I had a thought about an inhaled Acid affecting the breathing and potentially damaging the brain, too.”

  “We need to interrogate the [Alchemists], I think.” Aegis gave her a nod before assigning teams. “Lynx, join Lizha. Fate, whatever. When she is interacting with the owner of the shops, you sneak around and look for clues. I’ll join Elina and we’ll have Our Ranger friend keep looking up possibilities. Everyone try to question the people you meet on the street that seem affected and discreetly see if they have any substance abuse issues. We’ll start at the residential area here in the South, and then work our way to the wealthy district in the East. You two start in the lower class area nearby and work your ways around the North through the docks and markets.”

  Liz didn’t want to know how the ‘everything is a nail’ mentality of combat classers would ‘discreetly’ ask about someone’s drug use history.

  ~ ~ ~

  Questioning people on the street varied from some outright admissions of drug use by people in the slums with absolutely no signs of disease, to people in the market districts looking blatantly sick and denying anything that came close to the use of even a prescribed medication for a genetic problem they’d almost certainly had since birth. Forcing them to confess verbally took entirely too long, but she did her best to gather information as she went.

  Liz was rapidly crossing off possibilities in her head by the time she and her silent, sneaky companion arrived at an alchemy shop at the border between the markets and the noble district. The shop was lavish, and she could feel the movements of multiple employees both in the shop and the basement, alongside a huge furnace that fed a chimney much larger than she expected from an [Alchemist].

  The reason was obvious the moment she entered.

  Myriad shelves filled with various small pouches with different labels for different scents of soaps, scrubs, hair products and lotions lined every wall to one side. The other side was delicately lined up with glass and porcelain objects ranging from storage containers to all shapes and sizes of incense burners. The furnace was apparently for a glassworks in the basement.

  The man running the shop wasn’t very much to speak of, and his classes all remained too low level to be the result of a mass casualty event. All the same, she approached.

  “Hey there. I’ve been dying for something to keep my hair smooth while traveling on the road. Is there anything you have that lasts a few days after use?”

  “Welcome! My father has a few secret recipes that should do the trick. What scents do you fancy?” The man behind the counter was pleasant and cheerful, though apparently not the highest level person in the shop.

  “Anything like peaches?” She hoped her ability to convey the meaning of words instead of the literal phrases would work in her favor.

  “Hmm, I’m not sure I’ve heard of those. Describe them?”

  She complied, looking around the shop for anything that caught her eye as similar.

  “Ah, like this, I suppose!” She grabbed a soap that, to her eyes, read as being ‘persimmon’ scented. It was close enough, really.

  “Let me ask if we have a hair product like that.” He took the pouch she’d grabbed and turned away, then poked his head into the back curtains and called for his father. Bless Vitality for allowing her to hear things spoken amongst the mild buzz of market noise outside the shop.

  The moment the older man stepped out of the curtains, Liz found herself somewhat frozen in place.

  [Artisan - Wood (Lvl 521), Steam (Lvl 742), Acid (Lvl 598)]

  The man looked decrepit. Based on his stable footing and overall physical state conveyed by his feet hitting the ground, it was only his appearance that was fooling anyone.

  The old man faintly whispered into the son’s ear after rubbing his fingers over the embossed letters of the label on the pouch.

  She didn’t stick around long after making her small purchase and stowing away the product. She solemnly vowed not to use it until after she’d tested it thoroughly… somehow.

  “Case closed,” she whispered to Lynx, who gazed at her quizzically, having never said a word to her ever since she’d met him.

  She shook her head, not wanting to explain things over again after they met Aegis and Elina.

  The entire group was gathered back together again in the inn within another half hour, and they’d all been bustling around town since the early morning, having missed lunch already.

  The group was back together minus one Ranger [Healer] that they’d left buried in his medical texts while they ran around investigating. They exchanged information first.

  “Wood, clearly the base for being an [Alchemist] followed by an extremely high level Steam and finally Acid. Man acts old enough to be more than a little senile, but I could tell he’s got a lot more Vitality than it looks like. Based on the scents in the shop, they also make and sell the incense burned in the baths. Some Acid gets into some of the incense, and people get slowly exposed whenever the baths are burning the wrong scent. Someone gets too much exposure to the substance, they start dying from the acid. Still figuring out how the [Healers] fit into the picture, but they have to know they’re not healing anything when they tag people with a skill to cleanse the illness.”

  She gave the rundown to Aegis who mulled the idea over.

  “Sure, the highest level person in town. [Healers] could simply be corruption? And if the Steam skills are right, all the incense he makes might have a buffing effect like our missing Ranger friend mentioned earlier. All a [Healer] would see is healing the damage, not the substance ravaging the patient’s lungs, right? And miserly ones might not even bother healing a patient, only using their cleansing skills to attack pathogens instead. Might not be a conspiracy, just incompetence. Take it to the town [Mayor]?”

  “I have a different idea, actually. The old [Alchemist] is a shrewd one. Acts like he’s all gone upstairs, but has clearly been growing his skills for years. Settles down in the perfect town with a [Leader] who can give his products perfect positioning inside the public baths. Figures out the perfect time and opportunity to set to work for real after the government is weak, and the [Healers] have been slowly brought on board by the [Leader] behind the scenes.”

  “That’s a ton of conjecture. How would we prove if that’s true?”

  “Wait…” Liz pumped the brakes as her mind whirled. “If the [Leader] in the theory is bringing the [Healers] on board, and a certain envoy brings a conspicuous Dark [Healer] in town one morning and starts investigating… What would they do to the [Healer]?”

  “We need a tracker. Get the rest of the Rangers!” Aegis began issuing more commands to Lynx and Elina in rapid sequence.

  Liz felt like a fool for not seeing it all sooner.

  It only took the group minutes to mobilize as Rangers formed into pairs and headed to all the targets of note around the town, pairs bound for healing clinics, some for the guards, and some for the [Mayor] at his office in the town hall. Elizabeth made her way with Elina and Aegis for the [Alchemist] they’d realized was their mark.

  They weren’t in passive, resting mode anymore. Every member of both groups was in full force, armed and dangerous, emanating as much righteous fury as possible. Some guards seemed to want to restrict them, preventing a disturbance, only to back down after getting in range of [Identify], in Liz and Elina’s case, a show of trust still placed by the country in anyone with a [Priestess] tag, while the rest of the team members showed the levels and confidence of exactly the sort of person that made townspeople think twice before crossing them.

  Liz had been enjoying her opportunity to play at being a detective, but she’d since sobered, and the fact that children had died from the classer responsible was now in full focus, the Ranger [Healer]’s disappearance pushing all of naive thoughts from her mind.

  She was seething with rage.