With the Endrin Military Academy located in Old Korvosa and inaccessible due to the quarantine, The Sable Marine Company had to improvise for the final exams of their recruits. Cressida and Marcus came to an agreement with the field marshal allowing the commandant to use Citadel Volshyenek for the final exams. The recruits took the written portion of their exam inside the citadel while Marcus oversaw his men that set up the physical exam outside. A small crowd of friends and family of the recruits gathered to see how the recruits handled the physical exam.
Falenas joined Viera, Griffin, Alexander, Verik, Tiran, and Ishani to support Takota. The alchemist knew that his friends were surprised to see him out of the lab when he had been so insistent on developing a cure for blood veil. Falenas had to admit that he was wasting valuable time coming to watch the exam but felt that he needed a break since he had little to show for his work. When Takota invited him to come along with his friends, he accepted without hesitation. Although his work was important, Falenas valued his friendship with Takota. He wasn't sure if military life was right for the Shoanti but he was going to support his friend without needing Viera to convince him to take a break.
Time went by while the small crowd waited for the written exam to finish and for the physical exam to begin. Falenas kept to himself, listening to his friends' conversations. Verik was teasing Alexander about his new relationship with Tayce and the alchemist was glad that Alexander was able to find some happiness during the blood veil outbreak. He only wished that Viera and Griffin would get over the latest part of their feud and follow in Alexander's example. They sat on the opposite end of the bench their group claimed with Griffin listening to Tiran's gossip about the other noble families while Viera checked in with Ishani about how he was adjusting to life at the Temple of Sarenrae. It was silly to see but Falenas knew better than to get himself wrapped up in their drama. They would resolve their issues or not while Falenas focused on the cure.
Finally, two dozen recruits of the Sable Marine Company left Citadel Volshyenek with Falenas and his companions spotting Takota in the formation. The adventurers had no doubts that their friend would pass the physical portion of the exam. After training for so long with the crossbow, Takota finally showed the results of his training. Each crossbow bolt he fired pierced the targets set up, aiming at the center ring. Takota understood his new weapon well with Marcus nodding in approval of the recruit's success at the archery range.
Falenas was less worried about Takota's skill with the crossbow and more with his demonstration at melee combat. The recruits were partnered up for brief sparring sessions. Each recruit was allowed to pick their own weapon with clerics on standby to heal any dangerous injuries sustained during the sparring session. Takota swapped with other recruits throughout the exam, choosing his mithral dagger for the exam. The dagger was finely forged and it held out against the blades the other recruits used. Falenas was glad to see his friend succeed across the different sparring sessions and realized that he had come a long way since fighting the deserters at All The World's Meats.
The final part of the exam was the most exciting as Marcus had his marines bring out several hippogriff mounts for the recruits to fly with. Falenas had yet to see Takota ride a hippogriff before but he was amazed by his friend's skill when it came time to show what he could do. Takota guided his mount through the obstacles set up with ease and his friends cheered him on. When he brought his hippogriff to a landing, Falenas knew that his friend had passed the exam with flying colors.
With the exam completed, Takota joined the other recruits in being inducted into the Sable Marine Company. Falenas stood up along with his companions, and although he didn't call out Takota's name when the Shoanti was handed his badge, he clapped politely to show his support. With the induction ceremony completed, the recruits were allowed to see their friends and family. Takota made his way to his friends with a smile as they approached him.
"Congratulations, Takota," Viera said, smiling widely. "We're so proud of you."
"Thank you," Takota bowed his head politely.
"It feels like it's been a long time since I've introduced you to Marcus," Tiran noted with a grin and clasped Takota's hand in a firm handshake. "I'm glad to see you've found your place."
"As am I," Takota said. "Thank you, Tiran."
"Think nothing of it," Tiran said and released Takota's hand.
"You did really well with that crossbow of yours," Verik told Takota. "Not that I expected otherwise after all that time we've spent training."
"It was time well spent," Takota nodded in agreement.
"I know that we haven't spent much time together lately but I'm glad to see how far you've come since we first met," Falenas told Takota, his hands clasped behind his back. "I'm glad to call you my friend, Takota."
"You've been busy and I understand that," Takota told Falenas. "We're still friends even if you spent all your time making a cure for blood veil."
"I only hope that I can be as successful as you were today," Falenas said, sighing. "I still have much work to do."
Before some of the others could congratulate Takota, Falenas spotted Cressida and Marcus approaching the group out of the corner of his eye. He glanced in their direction, and while he thought that Marcus needed Takota for something relating to the Sable Marine Company, he wondered what Cressida wanted. She might be offering her congratulations to Takota as well, but knowing her, she might have a task that she needed the adventurers to help with. Falenas gestured to his friends, letting them know that the field marshal and commandant were on their way.
"It's good to see all of you are here," Cressida said to greet the adventurers. "Congratulations, Takota. Marcus told me how hard you've trained for this."
"Thank you," Takota said and stood at attention to Marcus. "Commandant, sir."
"At ease, Takota," Marcus said with a smile. "We won't keep any of you for too long but there's something that Field Marshal Kroft and I would like your help with."
"Of course," Viera nodded. "How can we help?"
"Allow me to explain," Cressida started. "The Grand Vault of Abadar has enlisted volunteers to help with transporting bodies to the Gray District for mass disposal. In exchange for their work, these volunteers would receive a discount on any magical healing."
"I was still part of Abadar's faith when that idea was approved," Ishani added quickly. "Is this about the rumors I've heard?"
"If you're talking about the rumors some of the plague carters have been dropping the bodies off in the streets, then yes," Cressida answered. "In particular, I would like for you to investigate Racker's Alley. If there are a lot of bodies, I'd like for you to report back to me so I can send some guards to haul them away."
"I don't mean to be rude but this job doesn't seem to be too difficult," Verik pointed out. "The task is mundane enough so why send us to do it instead of your guards?"
Cressida turned to Verik with a glare. "I would have thought that you would be more willing to work these mundane tasks given that the Temple of Sarenrae intervened in your case, or perhaps I should have a word with Brother Kallen?"
Verik looked down at the ground. "Forget I said anything. Sorry."
"For what it's worth, Verik has been of great help to us since he's joined us," Alexander told Cressida calmly. "He's taking the deal he made with the Temple of Sarenrae seriously."
"I'll take your word for it," Cressida said. "I would send my guards but I'm worried that there may be dangerous scavengers."
"For what it's worth, this task is important," Falenas noted. "If infected bodies are not disposed of properly, it will allow the further spread of blood veil."
"Exactly," Cressida nodded in agreement. "Do you think that you can look into Racker's Alley?"
"Of course we will," Viera told Cressida. "We'll need to gather our gear but we'll all head that way."
Falenas smirked when he saw Viera glanced in his direction. "Very well. I'll come but this will count as my patrol for the week."
"Fine," Viera sighed.
"Meet at my home once you're ready," Griffin told the group. "I don't imagine that the animals that the corpses lure to them would be too dangerous but I would advise you to be safe."
"Takota, if you would come with me before you join your friends," Marcus said with a grin. "It's time you're assigned a hippogriff to join you."
With a smile, Takota nodded, excited for being able to help as an official Sable Company Marine. Falenas didn't think that they would need the help of a hippogriff rider for a simple task but he looked forward to seeing his friend in action all the same.
After an hour had passed, the adventurers had assembled outside of Griffin's home. They had their equipment in case of trouble with Duke trotting by Alexander's side on their way to Racker's Alley. Falenas looked up to see Takota in the sky, riding a white-feathered hippogriff called Wildclaw. Takota flew ahead of the group, leading the way to Racker's Alley, which was found on the edge of Old Korvosa outside of quarantine. Falenas knew that Racker's Alley was the perfect site for illicit dealings and it came as no surprise to hear that lazy carters were dropping bodies off there.
Although Falenas thought that the group (consisting of himself, Viera, Alexander, Verik, and Takota) would be enough, he questioned the decision to leave Griffin behind. He was starting to notice that Griffin had less to do with joining the group in dangerous conflict and was focused on his work as their patron. It was just another consequence of the falling out he and Viera were in and another reason why they needed to resolve it. Soon enough, the group was likely to confront the mastermind behind blood veil, and when the time came, they would need to be united or else they would fall along with Korvosa.
Even during daylight, Racker's Alley was covered in shadows from the high buildings surrounding the street. Racker's Alley was littered with trash and a pile of corpses were piled up against a wooden wall of one of the buildings and the group winced at the scent of the rotting bodies. Falenas took a quick glance at the pile and estimated that there were around three dozen bodies in the pile. Many of the corpses had blistered faces as though they had been killed by blood veil but the alchemist noted that some of the bodies were incredibly pale. Even if they had contracted blood veil, something felt off about the pale corpses. Takota had Wildclaw land on top of one of the buildings, keeping an eye out for trouble."
"It looks like Cressida was correct about people dumping corpses at Racker's Alley," Alexander commented with a frown.
"Yep," Verik said, gagging. "No scavengers either. Let's go before I get really sick."
"Just a moment," Falenas told his companions. "Something doesn't feel right about this."
"Of course something doesn't feel right," Verik snapped. "Look at how many bodies there are."
Viera crossed her arms. "We shouldn't spend too much time lingering in the area, Falenas. We have to report to Cressida."
"And we shall," Falenas said, reaching into his bag of holding. "However, some of these bodies are incredibly pale. Too pale for my liking."
"Isn't that a sign of sickness?" Alexander asked.
"Not to this extreme," Falenas answered. "I won't take long."
Falenas pulled out his protective mask and slipped it on over his head. There weren't any of the Queen's Physicians around to accuse him of impersonating them so he thought it best to wear his mask for his examination. Cautiously, Falenas approached the pile of corpses and decided to focus on a middle-aged man who was deathly pale. Several rats scattered away, having been hidden in the pile, by Falenas' approach. He examined the man's head carefully with gloved hands, noting that although the subject had been dead for some time, there were no sores on his face. He clicked his tongue in thought and took in the symptoms of the man's true cause of death.
"Have you found anything new, Falenas?" Viera asked, stepping to join the alchemist.
"This man didn't die from any infection, but rather from blood loss," Falenas informed her, not looking over his shoulder. "If I were to take a guess, I would say that half of them have an insufficient amount of blood to live."
"They don't seem to have bled out though," Alexander pointed out. "There's hardly any blood on their clothes."
"And hardly any injuries on their bodies," Falenas nodded in agreement as he looked over the corpse more carefully. "This is quite the mystery."
"Who cares how they died?" Verik asked, taking a few steps away from the corpse pile to avoid the wretched stench. "Dead is dead. We should move on and let the Korvosan Guard get to work."
"Perhaps you're-" Falenas gasped suddenly and backed away from the corpse.
"What's the matter?" Viera asked, grabbing hold of Falenas' arm to reassure him. "What did you see?"
"Two light prick marks on the man's neck," Falenas said quietly.
Viera gasped and pulled Falenas back. "We need to leave. Now!"
"Thank you!" Verik threw his hands up. "I've had enough of being around corpses for one day…"
"Don't you see, Verik?" Falenas broke free of Viera's grip and marched to Verik in a panicked hurry. "Tiny prick marks along with victims dead from blood loss means that we're dealing with vampires!"
"What?!" Alexander exclaimed.
Falenas had only taken two steps away from the corpse pile when he heard an inhuman shriek. The wooden wall by the pile of corpses broke into many splinters as a shirtless, gray-skinned man emerged from the building. His eyes were as red as the blood that dripped from his long fangs. With the way the buildings surrounding Racker's Alley were set up, the vampire was covered in shadows and didn't suffer any ill effect despite the sun being out. Falenas cursed quietly and reached into his bag of holding as his companions took out their weapons.
From the high ground he held at the rooftop, Takota fired his crossbow at the vampire, but the undead abomination moved quickly to dodge the crossbow bolts. Duke barked and lunged toward the vampire spawn despite Alexander trying to call his dog off. The vampire grabbed Duke out of the air and slammed him into the ground. Duke yelped out in pain and barked, unable to break free from the vampire's clutches. There was only one vampire but Falenas recalled that vampires were durable creatures. Weapons alone wouldn't be enough to put a vampire down.
Falenas could hear Viera uttering soft prayers to prepare herself for battle as she and her sword became enveloped in a white light. Falenas took out one of his bombs and realized that this was the perfect time to test out his newest alchemical creation. He blocked out the protests of his companions and threw the bomb toward the vampire that held Duke. The glass shattered and a golden wave of energy ran across both Duke and the vampire. While the vampire screeched in pain and released his hold on Duke, the dog barked quietly with the bruising he had sustained now healed.
Verik gasped as he nocked an arrow upon his bow. "What kind of bomb was that?"
"One containing healing magic," Falenas explained and took out his dagger. "The positive energy can heal the living while burning the undead. It's the perfect tool for healing a lot of people grouped up or destroying anything that's undead."
Alexander charged at the vampire to protect Duke while Verik covered his charge, firing arrow after arrow. The vampire swat one of the arrows aside but the other struck him in the shoulder by the time Alexander made it to melee. His flail struck across the vampire's skull and the undead abomination hissed in pain. Viera ran up to join Alexander in fighting the vampire, but before she could swing her sword, Takota fired his crossbow twice into the vampire's back. With a final screech, the vampire dispersed into gas that flowed back through the building he came from.
"That wasn't as terrible as I thought it would be," Verik said with a sigh.
Alexander knelt by Duke, who whimpered in pain. "I can't believe we just killed a vampire."
"We haven't, at least, not yet," Falenas shook his head. "The vampire has retreated to his coffin to recover. We'll need to head inside and find the coffin."
"That was too easy," Viera frowned, looking at the hole it came from. "That vampire we fought must have been a spawn, and with the way it shrieked before fighting…"
"...it likely alerted any other spawn to the danger they were in," Falenas nodded in agreement.
"Brace yourselves!" Viera warned the rest of the group. The battle isn't over yet!"
The adventurers in Racker's Alley got into position in time for three feral vampire spawn to emerge from the building. Viera charged to meet one of the vampires in battle with Verik and Takota (who still kept his position on the rooftop). With divine magic strengthening her, the priestess slashed across the vampire's chest while bolts and arrows glanced across his skin. The other two vampires moved past Viera but Alexander stood in their way, flail and shield in hand. Duke rose from the ground to fight along with the warrior against the vampire spawns, lunging at the vampire's leg. The undead monster shrieked as Duke bit down fiercely while Alexander kept the other vampire at bay with his shield while battering him with his flail.
Falenas kept to the back of the fight with Verik, relying on his new healing bombs to fight against the vampires while tending to his companion's injuries. He tossed a healing bomb into the battlefield with the vampires shrieking in pain from the positive energy that ran across them. Falenas reached into his bag of holding and grabbed the last healing bomb he created. With a shrug, he tossed it toward the vampire spawns, knowing that he could make more when the time was right.
The positive energy weakened the vampires enough for the other adventurers to finish them off. Viera ran her blade across the vampire she fought, cutting him through from his right shoulder downward to have him revert back to a misty form to retreat into the building. Duke kept the vampire he bit from moving and Verik landed a shot through the spawn's skull. Alexander battered the final spawn with his flail and shield with Takota shooting the vampire through the neck to end the battle. The adventurers caught their breath as they watched the dark mist the vampire spawns turned into float back into the building they came from.
"Do you think that's the last of them?" Alexander asked the group.
"The last of the spawn, at least," Falenas answered. "They tend to be more feral than a true vampire."
"Are we about to fight a stronger vampire?" Verik questioned, eyeing the remaining buildings in case of danger. "Can we win against an actual vampire?"
"I don't know," Viera admitted as the divine light that surrounded her faded away. "Still, we press on. Takota! Stand watch while we're inside, and if you hear combat, let Cressida know what we found out!"
Takota nodded at the command and watched as Viera led the way through the hole the vampires came through with Alexander, Duke, Falenas, and Verik behind her. Verik gasped loudly at the numerous dolls, many of which were malformed in some way but most had emotionless glass eyes. Falenas thought that the dolls were creepy enough without knowing the vampires used the workshop to hide in. A cracked wooden door to the left led further into the building and a trap door ahead but most of the group's gaze fell upon the corpse of an elderly man sprawled out on a workbench. Falenas silently approached the corpse, noting the numerous bite marks across the man's neck. It was clear that the vampire spawns killed the man to make use of his workshop to hide in.
With no sign of any coffins, the group made their way to the trap door with an unspoken agreement that a vampire would likely rest where there was little chance of sunlight. The trap door led to a crawl space beneath the building that was about three feet tall. Falenas frowned, knowing that as the tallest of the group, he wasn't going to fit well in the crawl space. The adventurers glanced at one another before everyone looked at Viera, the shortest of the group (with Alexander only an inch or so taller than her). With a shrug, the priestess crawled down into the crawl space and crouched down while moving, disappearing from sight.
"Do you see anything, Viera?" Alexander called down into the trap door.
"The coffins are beneath the floor," Viera answered back. "There's four of them."
"Then we should be safe," Falenas noted.
"Safe?" Verik questioned with a frown. "The vampires are in the coffins? How's that safe?"
"After being dealt mortal damage and retreating to their coffin, a vampire needs time to recover," Falenas explained. "We should have about less than an hour before they can act again."
"Viera, can you push the coffins to the trap door?" Alexander asked. "We'll be able to pull the coffins out from there."
"I'll see what I can do."
Falenas waited for Viera to get a coffin into position, and based on her irritated grunts as she shoved a coffin, he was glad not to be in the crawl space. It took several minutes before the edge of a coffin came into view with Alexander and Verik reaching down to grab it. Together, they adjusted the angle the coffin was at and pulled it out of the crawl space. They set the coffin down on the ground and Falenas looked down at the vampire spawn, who was partially buried in dark soil. The undead had his eyes closed, and although Verik took a step back, it didn't appear as though the vampire was going to attack them.
"We have three more coffins to get out," Alexander said. "Viera, I'm coming down with you. The two of us can get through the work faster."
"Thank you, Alexander," Viera called out from below. "Falenas, Verik, see what you can do about destroying the vampires."
"Of course," Falenas nodded, watching Alexander climb down through the trap door before turning to look at Verik. "Go ahead and let Takota know that the building is secured and that we'll need his help."
"Right," Verik said, taking a step toward the hole they came through. "So, how do we destroy a vampire?"
"You and Takota will carry the coffin out into the sunlight," Falenas told Verik. "That'll destroy them for good. I'll stay here and help bring the coffins out of the crawl space."
"Got it," Verik said as he stepped outside.
With a low whine, Duke followed after Verik, leaving Falenas alone with the vampire spawn in the coffin. He wasn't too worried about being attacked but kept a close eye on his foe all the same. While looking at the resting vampire, Falenas noticed a pouch sticking out of the soil. Carefully, he reached down to grab the pouch and heard the jingling of coins as he moved it out. The vampire spawn was unable to fight back in his state. Falenas made a note to search the remaining coffins for more pouches and treasure as he opened the pouch and poured some of the coins into his open hand.
Falenas took a glance at the gold coins and immediately recognized that they weren't minted in Korvosa. He was familiar with the various faces on Korvosa coins and didn't recognize the man's face on the coin. Curious about where the coin came from, Falenas took one of the coins and examined it closer between his fingertips and frowned when he read the tiny writing on the bottom of the coin.
"How interesting," Falenas muttered quietly.
"Interesting?" Verik asked, walking back into the building with Takota. "What did you find?"
"Coins from Ustalav," Falenas answered as he slid the coins back into the pouch. "It would seem that our vampire friends came from Ustalav."
"Is that bad?" Takota questioned, crossing his arms.
"Potentially, it could be," Falenas admitted with a sigh. "Unfortunately, we don't know much more than that. For now, we should focus on destroying these vampires for good and informing the Korvosan Guard of our findings."
Verik and Takota grabbed the coffin at each end and carried it outside. It wouldn't take them too long to make it out of Racker's Alley where the vampire spawn would turn to dust in the sunlight. There was still likely another vampire lurking around Korvosa but there was very little they could do to find them. At the very least, the adventurers could take pride in their work. The vampire spawn fed off the people of Korvosa, and now that they had confirmed that Racker's Alley was used to dump bodies, the Korvosan Guard could stop the operation.
Falenas remained behind, silently helping drag another coffin out from the crawl space when Viera pushed it to his direction. He couldn't help but fear that the vampires were here for more than taking advantage of a city gripped by plague. So far, the adventurers had yet to find the followers of Urgathoa involved in blood veil, and given that Urgathoa was the goddess of undeath, it made sense that the vampires may be connected to Andaisin. Unfortunately, it was impossible to question a vampire spawn and they would have to settle for their destruction.
With little other option, Falenas decided that once he knew the vampires were destroyed, he would return to his lab and get back to working on a cure. He was running out of ideas on what to do which he hoped was a sign that he was one step closer to finding the cure for blood veil. If he couldn't, Falenas didn't believe that Korvosa would make it to the end of the year without a miracle.
A/N: For the record, the first part of this chapter was the scene in question for what I had originally planned for last chapter. Writing it as a part of this chapter was the right call to make.
For those of you interested in my Pathfinder stories, I'll have an important announcement coming up before the end of the month. Stay tuned to this story or Burnt Offerings. I'm hoping to make the announcement in both stories but that it might come out at different times.
Until next time.