OEW

Gelphus spoke in a frail voice, "Would that there was time for proper greetings. By reputation, I know you to be a learned young man of healing and this situation has me perplexed. An entire chapter house was completely brought low without a single strike against it. I'd wager that the Night Matron herself weeps tears of hysterical laughter over such a ludicrous situation."

Orison didn't approach them as he asked, "What do you know of their condition and what treatments have you tried?"

The old vampire said, "They simply appear to be poisoned. Inflammation of the kidney and liver are the only symptoms but they steadily worsen. As for treatment, I've administered two emetics to clear the digestive track and promote sweating. My colleague is currently doling a charcoal based elixir which does show some signs of slowing down the decline but it is only a time buying measure at best."

After spending half of his available time exhausting what little actual medical knowledge he came to this world with and what had came with his supernaturally granted alchemy expertise, he was still stumped. With little else to add since he was warned that magic healing would kill them almost immediately, he asked about their last assignments which were varied and non focused but one stood out. The first to be brought in, deceased for half a day by the point Orison had arrived, had been sent to answer a sacrament to kill a witch that had half completed a folksy curse.

For lack of anything else he could do, Orison knelt down and touched the abdomen of the one closest to death. Immediately, Orison felt something akin to a spark of static charge attempt to jump to his hand. With the weakening of his world acceptance barrier, the spark invaded but was pulled into his space by instinct. With nothing to cling to, the spark flared into a dark light pattern before dispersing.

Inspired but unsure, Orison suggested, "It may seem unorthodox but drown one of the stronger ones and revive them. I couldn't even begin to guess the method but it looks like a killing curse that can jump from person to person. I think you're safe from it, Gelphus, but what about you, mam? Have you touched any of them directly?"

The old lady said, "At my age, I fear contact of any kind with the ill. No, I have not."

It wasn't ideal but after seeing the first to be drowned show signs of recovery, they mercilessly drowned the rest. Only about half survived and by the end, Orison direly wished he knew of a better method. He wasn't even sure if he was right or if whatever was affecting them was coincidentally stopped. There was even a good chance that whatever affected them might only be temporarily stopped and return again but he'd given it his best effort and told them so.

Once they were done the old vampire, with no sign of remorse over the loss of half his patients, said with a smile, "Quite a novel treatment, kill to save."

Feeling unsettled, Orison said. "I'm not that sure. Best to get someone with knowledge on curses to make a follow-up as soon as possible. I'm really getting short on time though."

The old woman said, "That's the problem with youth, always in such a hurry. I heard you're going to Whiteriver. Do you have room for one more? I'm not asking for myself. I have a granddaughter who needs to make her way to a chapter house up there. Too many sacraments are piling up and it's not easy to find recruits that don't need at least a year or two of training before they're ready to start murdering smartly."

"I'm leaving in a 500 count," Orison said, starting to get irritated.

The old lady turned to the Centerland soldier and said, "You heard the impatient boy. I can't very well run to fetch her myself!"

Orison muttered to himself, "Whose doing who the favor here, old hag?"

While the young mage waited and Gan fidgeted around nervously, Gelphus brought a stack of missives that resembled a month's worth of tied up paper recyclables. "This safe house is quite isolated and rarely used more than once or twice a year. Add that to a temporarily dismantled chapter with all their records and it's quite the collection of small favors you're racking up on this delivery."

Orison said, "I do have a favor I could use in return."

Warily, the old vampire said, "Speak it."

"There's a Marshlander woman with a baby girl named Lithis in this village. She's the daughter of a friend. I'd like to make sure she's cared for to the extent that you can offer for whatever I've earned here," Orison said.

Gelphus looked thoughtful as he said, "That name sounds familiar..."

The old vampire walked over to one of the two surviving Marshlanders laying on the floor and pulled out a potion that Orison thought looked familiar before pouring into the reptilian man's mouth.

"Takris, remind me the name of the girl you're always going on about is. Yes, I know you never told me directly but I have keen ears and you never shut up when you are 'home'." the old vampire said.

Dazed and jittery, the Marshlander said, "Lithis?"

The old vampire said, "What do you know about her situation?"

Takris jogged his foggy brain and said, "Too soft and delicate to make good here. Elf blood's so strong you can smell it. I mean, I know YOU can smell it but Marshlanders can. Ebb and I got in a fight over her but we made good. Whoever can find a reason to kill her husband without getting in trouble with you can steal her and her daughter for their family without the other interfering... Oh, heard her husband tried to break into that p*ss elf commander's house. Was going to put some skull cap in a soup for him before we got sick."

Orison asked, "If she's so desirable, why did her husband's clan kick her out?"

The Marshlander looked at the old vampire as if to say 'who's this guy?' "Er, best guess would be that their matron thought she'd get more males on her side and take over or something. Could just be the elf blood, though. Older families are weird about that kind of stuff. Too pretty's just as bad as ugly around here."

Gelphus said, "She's now a charge of The Order as repayment for favor. You're clear to use assignment funds to get close to her but if you screw it up, I'll find someone else. Whether you can mix business with personal is up to that young man over there... Out of the seven who survived, this Marshlander here looked to be fighting it off. Even if it comes back I think he has a good chance of survival. Is that sufficient, Baron?"

Orison nodded and said, "Maybe it's better this way. Don't force yourself on her and I could care less what the two of you decide to do with each other but take care of her daughter too."

The Marshlander smiled widely, showing a long row of carnivorous teeth. "No problem. My family outside of The Order is small and the Matron's old. No one will cause her any problems I or my birth siblings can't solve. If I win her over, she'll be deep marsh. It'll be safe and away from the worst there."

Behind the out of breath soldier carrying two large packs was a stunning raven haired beauty. As much as Orison attempted to project ambivalence, it was difficult not to become a little more self aware when the curvy woman walked over to him. The vivid green eyes that locked on to him were too knowing to be considered flirtatious and that kept Orison from being dumbstruck in the same fashion that Lyris could evoke. The woman was a little too much.

The woman flashed a set of perfect teeth and said, "You are the teleport specialist?"

Orison replied with a benign smile, "I'm running late and don't have time for this. Get your sh*t over here and place it carefully around that satchel."

The old woman started cackling madly. For a moment Orison wondered if he'd have to waste more time keeping her from having a stroke. The young woman frowned and sweetly asked the soldier to do it which the man fell over himself to accomplish.

After Orison had the three of them and the woman's things organized he began casting as the old woman said, "Your new chapter leader may look like a little girl but she's a terrifyingly old monster. Be respectful and don't get tangled with her protege."

The young lady's annoyed acknowledgment was cut off by a curtain of light. Once the light cleared, the young woman said, "Where is this?"

While Rithus, Gan and Orison shuffled themselves so all four fit, the young mage answered, "Grabbing my other companion. It'll only take a moment."

Orison ignored the woman's disapproving frown as he began casting with a half dozen friendly faces waving and calling out in the surrounding tropical hidden village. Gan and Rithus both gave her a cold stare until she sheathed her daggers. For a second, Orison admired the ingenuity of the wide woven belt that rested lazily on her hips. He hadn't been aware of her being armed at all.

When the light cleared again, they were standing at the bottom of a well, neck deep in water.

Orison momentarily panicked as he thought. "Sh*t, I forgot! Good thing it's not higher."

Fastest thinker among them when it came to watery situations, Rithus grabbed the satchel and one of the woman's packs and lifted them above his head. As she lifted the other she shot Orison a scathing look and then the Marshlander a grateful one. The young mage closed his eyes and focused entirely on the thread of connection that lay between this point and the much more intricate magic circle that lay in Portia's chapter house.

There had been enough traveling between the two that a temporal line made of spirit and magic lay like a cable he could follow. As he cast, Orison allowed the coordinates portion of his math to naturally draw and align itself with the line. With a surging flash, they arrived with several galleons of water washing out into the cavern. An ancient vampire in full terrifying glory came storming their direction as Orison called out, "Portia, I'm sorry about the mess but I forgot about spring run off."

The monstrous visage stopped and said, "Never again appear like this-your heart out!"

Orison muttered, "How I've missed the both of you."

Slowly and with great effort, Portia began to take on her little girl form as she said, "What is the life threatening situation that brings you here unannounced- too early for dinner."

With the woman looking all too happy to let him fend for himself, the young mage said, "This thing here, is yours. Oh, and so is this thing." taking turns pointing at the soggy satchel and the woman. "Give me a moment to fix the first one. I don't know what to tell you about the second. I believe it's beyond repair."

The woman flashed a look that promised murder at Orison as she turned around and reported in to her new leader. The young mage flashed multiple uses of presto and repair to dry the stacks and put ink back where it ran from. Thankfully, a great deal of the most important writings, such as the chapter records, seemed to be both resistant to water and ink smudges. When Orison's tank had nearly bottomed out, the young mage felt he'd done all he could and sat just outside the circle with Gan and Rithus. Comically, the Marshlander had kept his eyes closed and tucked his head between his knees like he was in a crashing airplane.

Once Portia had dismissed the woman, who likely didn't share her name because such things were for The Order only, the ancient little vampire girl approached Orison again and said, "This counts as breaking the silence. The Marshlander I may have been able to abide but the Northlander is a serious breach of consideration. -pain"

Orison frowned. "Nub liked him just fine. We even went on adventures together."

"You never took this Northlander to Nub's actual safe house either. -soul out," the little vampire said.

Orison sighed, "We'll be gone in a couple of months. The world doesn't want me here anymore and they're coming with me."

Portia blinked and said, "What does that even mean? -ploy for mercy?"

The young mage explained what he could then said, "The rest of this, the records and people baggage were just coincidences. I originally was coming here to tie up family affairs. I figured I'd try to catch up with my brother one last time and see if there was anything I could do for my future sister-in-law among other things."

Orison thought since she was being difficult about it, he might as well go straight for the big guns.

Small points of color brightened Portia's pale cheeks as she said, "Enough foolishness. - fire in the void. I'll overlook this but they will not remember what they've seen, though I will allow them to remember what they've heard. -out alive!"

Unfortunately, Venito and Lyra were out on some kind of adventure or another and Portia had no idea when they'd be back. As much as Orison could tell how this irritated Portia, there was nothing she could do since there were targets on a list and it would take a month or more to get them done. Ultimately, she was an old and patient predator. Such a small amount of mortal time likely meant nothing to her.

After discussion, what Portia desired most was a few sets of elite gear. She got her shiny new enchanter's board but The Order was dragging feet to supply an enchanter. In reality, she had gone dark for over a decade and The Order had written her off. It was proving difficult to reestablish after going rogue during 'the time of true silence'. When they no longer had one who could hear the whispers of sacrament, Portia had written 'them' off, thinking that the Night Matron had completely abandoned them.

With a small sack of gold handed to them, Orison let Portia separate him from Gan and Rithus since he didn't want them getting their brains scrambled by the vampire. With an enchanter's work bench before him, he'd lose himself to work anyway and there was no reason to let them skulk around in a dangerous place they weren't overly welcomed in. In a surprising turn, Portia did let Rithus visit the chapter house's shrine before taking them to White River.

With one last goodbye to his faithful boots that had been with him since the beginning, Orison deconstructed the model that would let him recreate silent step. The process repeated with poison resistance, elemental resistance and the regeneration enchantments. Step by step, Orison used Portia's collection of crystal bones with a few grains of his own dust as sources to make seven sets of gear. When Portia or the woman he had brought here weren't milling about, he'd make an item or two using his superior crystal material til he'd made four more, much stronger sets, on the sly.

Done with that, Orison turned to scrolls. With the work bench before him, his rate of production was ten times faster and easier for the golem and fireball scrolls. After a nauseating amount of failures, Orison even managed to make a single beacon teleport scroll tied to the well at White River. He, of course, changed to novice ones, some better heal and a few cure poison scrolls while he was being watched. It annoyed him how heavy-handed Portia was being about her shares but since it was for Venito too, he tried not to mind.

On a day while Portia was resting and the femme fatale was absent, Orison bundled all he had secretly created and boxed it. Using the smaller but sturdy practice beacon Orison had hidden in Droya's 'she shack' inside the Cantrip Cave, the young mage teleported the special enchanted sets and scrolls. It made him chuckle a little thinking about how his mom would react to the bulging, cracked floorboards in the corner of her getaway spot. At first, he was going to leave specific instructions on who got what but after thinking about it, he left it up to her. The only instructions inside, explained what the items and scrolls did and a P.S. that simply said 'Love you, mom.'

Venito's arrival at the chapter house signaled the end of Orison's work. Portia assured that the stacks of scrolls and bundled lesser enchanted items that were his 'share' would make it to the people he had them listed for. All the people that had shown him or the people he cared about a little kindness along the way such as Thorrinson and the 'orange kerchief' server at the inn would get a little present and a note in the night.

Orison's brother was a simple person at heart. After learning about his little brother's imminent departure, Venito took a two day leave of absence and brought Orison back to his house along with 'the new girl' and a couple of his buddies from 'work'. Gan and Rithus, who had been staying at the inn were also invited.

Not big on showing feelings with words, Venito just got everyone hammered and then got mushy for a few seconds once he was fairly sure Orison wouldn't remember. Seemingly intent to make sure, he got everyone into some kind of drinking game no one could remember that clearly. Sadly for Venito, he hadn't taken into accountability his own mischievous nature and poor self discipline when drinking. And despite how much more resilient and fast recovering he was, Orison was a little faster in waking up.