The Autopsy in Arena 51

[Caile]

Agnieszka and Renea had transported the unconscious form of Liam Swann to the arena that had, originally, been built for entertainment and was now being used for quarantine. It made sense, in a way. It was a large open building, set upon land Renea had purchased and so could be made as private as necessary, there were a scattering of smaller rooms that could be locked for even more security as well. At the moment, with the militia scattered about wielding bows from both high ground and low it looked like a high security military encampment. Windows were set high in the building to allow for greater light during the day, but now at night the light shone from within and the few militia members who weren't on guard were building a makeshift fence around the area for further security.

The scholar Lilija had had the original bodies from the Broken Dagger transfered to the Constables office but after Renea had ensconced Liam in one of the arena backrooms she'd sent for the corpses. It was best to keep them all in one place and all under guard by the same people, the less exposed the better. Exposure of knowledge was just as dangerous as physical exposure, especially with something that seemed to act like an infection. Letters and messages of invitation had been sent out to the people who might best be able to help deal with the current...situation; among them the current Governor Glenn Burnie, the Scholar/Warrior Aleksei River, the Scholar Lilija Arisdóttir, the Doctor Lucas Brennan. The guards were to allow those people and their chosen assistant entrance but to deny it to anyone else on pain of death if no other means of persuasion would work.

As each of those invited arrived they would be stopped at a gate a good twenty feet from the actual building and only when their identity had been verified were they escorted to the arena itself, the doors opening briefly to allow them inside the near blinding shaft of light that would escape into the night, disappearing as the door once more closed. Inside the arena, in the larger open area there were a series of tables set up down the center of the room. Oil lamps hung from the high ceilings in a multitude providing a light that would rival the sun itself and on each table was a body. One held the body of the Ash-Keeper, two more held the smaller forms of the crawling creatures that looked like a mix between a slug, canine and child. One had been crushed and another had been decapitated. The rest of the tables held a collection of much smaller creatures, the ones that had burst dead from the wound on Renea's chest. Inside the building there were no guards. The ones that had escorted each guest in turn would not enter the building and would return to their posts the moment the doors had closed.

Renea alone stood guard outside a small door at the far end of the building, and it was inside this door that Liam was being held. He was strapped to a table, still gagged, still unconscious and the various wounds on his body had been tended with the expertise of a battlefield medic. His belongings were lined against one wall and one small box, heavily banded in steel and locked with no sign of the key present, sat as far away from Liam as it could while still remaining in the room.

[BetaFlame]

Aleksei arrived with little fan faire. The man looked much better, but still moved with a stiffness. Muscles ached, more from a lack of sleep than any real pain in his body at this point. When he had heard that Agnie and Renea had somehow gotten involved in this mess, he could only sigh and cover his face with his right hand, muttering something in a strange lilting tongue before moving inside. Agnie always seened to find the best trouble. So he came with a rather hefty bag of his belongings, and moved inside, looking around. It was actually his first time inside the arena, having set up a practice yard in his backyard while it was being built. It left him with some privacy to get things done.

He gave Renea a small smile and a nod. "What have you gotten into this time, Marshall? You and the Councilwoman seem to find the best trouble, don't you?" The bag was gently placed on the floor, and they could hear the click of glass inside of it. "I assume we are waiting on the rest of the participants? I'll set some wards when I know what we are dealing with." He knelt down next to the bag, feeling around inside of it, and pulling out a few things to set on the table. A book, and a pen to take notes. He would leave the real questioning till all were present, so that he would not have Renea repeating the samethings over and over again.

[Caile]

Lilija -

She had been at the constables office with the bodies when the militia came to take them away, handing her an envelope brusquely and then completely ignoring her as they set about their business. She'd been forced to stand back and let them take control over the specimens but she wasn't happy about it, she'd collected them, they were hers! Yet as all she could do was watch she'd cracked open the seal on the envelope and read the message contained within.

To the Scholar Lilija,

Your presence is requested at the arena to further the investigation into the infectious creatures witnessed at the Broken Dagger Tavern. You are welcome to, if necessary, bring an assistant with you.

That was all there was to it, no signature, no indictation who had sent it but if it was being held in the arena there was a good chance the marshall was involved.

On the heels of the men who had come to take the bodies away she left the office, but instead of heading straight for the arena she went home. There were a few items she should bring with her, especially if this was going to be some sort of proper investigation and it was with these tools and oddments stuffed into a bulging bag that she arrived at the arena, a little startled by the security measures. It made sense though and after a moment she found herself glad that someone, or multiple someones, had thought to arrange a setting so far removed from prying eyes and possible accidental exposure. Once the arena door closed behind her and she had looked around, a little in awe to see such a place in such a small town, she found herself moving with purpose towards the others gathered. Renea she had met before and greeted with a murmered "Marshall." but the other man she didn't recognize and so she extended her hand in introduction. "Hello, I'm Lilija."

[Suede]

Lucas hadn't been called for anything quite so official yet, and he didn't really know if there was any level of procedure or decorum involved, or precisely why they wouldn't simply bring them to the Rememdium if the problem had been in the Dagger. No point in wondering over government decisions though. It was a better waste of time to try and find the meaning of life.

Dr. Brennan was wearing his rounded hat, long black coat, and gentleman's attire beneath it as he strolled up to the arena. He carried a black bag in one hand made of leather that jingled occasionally as the tools within struck against each other. His steps were easy and measured as he reached the guards outside. The doctor had of course invited Janessa to join him if she so chose, warning her that apparently something infectious was here, but she hadn't been dissuaded.

So it was that the Doctor plus one arrived shortly after the two scholars, pulling his hat off his blonde head as he let his eyes glance around the Arena and the collection of little horrors set about on tables. He'd hoped Janessa would know a few of the faces for introductions, so he'd wait to speak to see if any fruit came from that tree.

[Dulcie]

The red haired woman had taken extra precautions knowing the risk that was involved in the task. The Doctor had invited her to attend and then tried to dissuade her all in the same breath, but she wasn't having any of it. She had no family, very few friends and no real responsibility to anything other than the health and well being of the township itself. There was truth in the fact that she had some talents that the Doctor didn't. She had a keen mind for the blending of herbs and when it came down to it she had some minor magical abilities as well, some which could serve as a benefit if the circumstances were right.

Still, even with everything considered she had been very careful to take every precaution necessary. She wore a crisp white dress with a high neckline and long sleeves and hem, she even carried a pair of gloves with her, draped over the little satchel she too carried, having brought along both herbal supplies and those of more mystical nature, though she hadn't shared with Doctor Brennan that she was bringing those last items in particular. With her hair twisted up into a tight bun she looked the perfect picture of the roll that she served in, prepared to assist the doctor as best that she could given the lack of detail that they had about the case.

It was not the Doctor's day it would seem however. Many of the people that had gathered had not been clients of hers in the Rememdium and neither were they locals, the only people that Janessa seemed to have bonded with in the town. She'd be blissfully quiet on introductions, waiting instead for the others to introduce themselves.

[Glenn]

Delegation.

It was the key to a successful administration of anything. Bromn had failed to delegate to anyone and the government had faltered because of that. Calomel had failed to delegate enough and HE had faltered because of it, escaping to other, more pastoral affairs. Burnie, however, perhaps despite his nature and preference, simply had no choice. There was too much going on. That was why he had to lean upon his Committee, his Council, his staff.

It made such personal visits rather rare. This, though, this was an exception. He had received three letters in total, each less useful than the last. The simple truth is that he had NO idea what was going on and THAT, in itself, was reason enough to come. Normally, he'd send someone and have them write a report but the sheer peculiarity and outlandishness of this situation meant that he hadn't been sure even who to send. So here he was, in his expensive earth-tones (having been approved by Rhaena Olwak, of course, the material, if not necessarily the subdued color), with a bespectacled staff member at his side.

Janessa would receive a knowing nod and even a slight smile. It had been a while, but was a frequent visitor to the Remedium, so frequent that whenever he arrived, the flowers were sent to her, not to him. The smile would not last, however, for Burnie's eyes had fallen upon someone else almost immediately.

First, though, small talk. "Janessa. It's a pleasure to see you when I am not in utter agony." Then to the man near her. "Mister Brennan? Doctor Brennan, yes? Welcome." They had never been introduced, but Glenn kept more than abreast on such things. Thus the frustration that drove him here today. "Men of healing are always welcome here in Myrken." And that was it. Pleasant small talk for two people. Aleksei and Renea, received none, as if it wasn't necessary.

Perhaps, if the situation had been different, but now his attention was focused upon Lilija, the harbinger of his lost smile. "Ah, Miss Arisdóttir, our prodigal daughter. Congratulations on finding your way here and now." It was not lost for long, for as he spoke to her, it began to creep out once again. "I am curious to speak to you soon, in private and at some length. I would know your intent, be it profit, or integrity, or pride. Knowing that would help me decide how displeased I am with your immediate presence."

Throughout, the Governor's companion had stayed quiet. He was a bookish sort and seemed to well know his place in these things, or not having the daring to argue it. "Ah, everyone, do meet one of my junior inquisitors," only junior due to the presence of more experienced men such as Aleksei. In another Myrken of a few years ago, he would have risen higher, much as Burnie did. "Maxwell." Then he'd turn to the young man. "Given your dogged persistence, it's really only a matter of time before you need the help of Janessa and Doctor Brennan, so it's an unforeseen boon that you get to meet them now."

[catch]

They had brought him, here, into the very Heart, and yet separate on all sides. There are questions, so many that must be considered with strangeness of this scale. How often had Liam wandered the streets? Has a benign cough, a subtle hand-shake, doomed innocent men and women? Certainly, no other cases had stepped forward so far. Liam lay, doctored, bruised, punctured, and the times he drifts to consciousness are not kind to him. His mind was iron, his will steel, forged and tempered by the heaviest of hands to some unknown purpose, to resist and prevent the corpus that lay within him so that he does not share the Ash-keeper's fate. Yet again, to what purpose? In and out he drifts, on thoughts that were meant to lead him down certain paths. Even in unconsciousness, he keeps his control.


Like any injured man, Liam Swann is a boring post. he would be, yet, when they think they are alone, his Burdens, causing faint lumps beneath the skin, leaving trails of subtle bruises that can now be seen on the skin, squeezing free through the brain, the nostril, bypassing the gag. They are not particularly bright, or, perhaps, they cannot see well enough to spy the swordswoman that stands watch. Not many, but more then enough for any sane person's taste. There is a pattern; one peers about carefully, toothy jaws lifting to allow the muscular neck to survey what it may. A scuffle, as the one behind impatiently seeks it's own freedom. Then they come, four, five, sometimes six, identical, and they, with their small, multiple hands, drag bloated bodies to those straps. Were they really needed? Their small hands proved completely ineffectual to the task, yet they kept trying, tugging, pulling, muttering in their high-pitched way, like small pebbles drawn painfully across a streambed. Every once and awhile, one of them will spy Agnie; then they all flee, some dashing madly for the cavern of warm-wet flesh from which they spawn, while the more daring simply slither out of sight.

Sometimes, they even have the audacity to utter a creeling hiss.

At least it is not a boring post.

[channe]

Know your enemy.

And so she applies the lessons learned from Ariane Carnath-Emory so long ago; get to know your opponent's weakness and use it to your advantage. And that's why she's standing at the opposite end of the room, looking entirely green, trying not to breathe too much.

Watching the creature back. Until, at least, she hears the commotion outside. Muttering, she slips out the door, her replacement a guardsman -- honorable, known, one of the former types from long-dead Straka -- entering in her place. She'll look over the crowd quickly, not recognizing some of the faces.

"There's too many of you," she says, quickly. "Only a few at a time. We can't chance it."

[BetaFlame]

(changing post order slightly to allow for Sam to do Renea and Lilija in the same post!)

Aleksei takes Lilija's had and offers her a smile, merely stating his name "Aleksei. I believe you invited me." Then the people began pouring in. He two doctors were eyed for a moment, before he moved over to introduce himself. Patiently, he wanted for Glenn to finish his obligatory small talk, before he would extend his hand to both of them, letting them decide who would take it first. "Aleksei. Apparently, I am becoming the local expert in all things.. odd." He quick smile and the man would turn to Glenn, offering a quick nod and a shrug, "I have no clue." His way of explaining he doesn't really know why they are all here either.

Agnie make's her proclamation, and the scholar finds a chair and sits to patiently wait his turn. "I don't have anywhere else to be. I assume the Governor and the Doctor's are the busy people here."

[Caile]

Renea -

"We would prefer the doctor and governor to see the man first, he has wounds that need tending beyond my capabilities." Now that all the players had arrived, the sooner this was dealt with the more comfortable she would be. She would have much preferred to not be running the show but filled in on the details as needed, sadly that wasn't the case, she did seem to get in the middle of things. Brennan could stabilize the man, hopefully, and Glenn, being the governor, really should know what was going on as soon as possible. The Marshall then turned to the two scholars, knowing about the same of each which was to say not much at all other than one was in the employ of Glenn and the other seemed to be as yet undeclared as far as her loyalties were concerned, but she had been at the tavern and her perspective might help to shed a light on the situation.

"Lilija, if I recall correctly, has a witness statement from the first person to experience the...situation and live to tell of it. He mentioned that he'd written down what the Ash-Keeper had said before dashing his skull open, perhaps the two of you could go over those notes while you await your turn with the prisoner." She was curious what they would make of the numbers and the directions, especially with Aleksei having been privy to the seven plus one. She didn't think this was of the same stock, it just felt different somehow, made her blood itch in an entirely different way, but the knowledge may still prove useful. With a hand she waved them towards a writing area set up near one wall, a long table set with papers and ink and quills, rulers and maps and, well pretty much anything that could be carried that Renea, Agnieszka or the militia could think a scholar might need. Which was to say there was likely much missing and much that was useless, but there was a plethora of paper and ink.

After she directed them she turned back to Brennan and Burnie, the Doctor and the Governor and inclined her head to both. "I'll take you four in now, let the chairwoman have a bit of a breather." She did look rather green around the ears, Renea knew why and knew she'd likely look much the same when she returned as well. Once they'd all entered the room it felt far more cramped than it had when it was just the one of them guarding Liam. Renea waved away the man that had entered in Agnie's absence and he left with a grateful look, quickly schooled back to passivity though the relief remained fixed in his eyes, this was all a bit beyond him and he didn't mind admitting it.

"This man appears to be patient zero but only because we haven't found anyone else yet. There was a book found on his person, which we've locked away for safety. He warned us not to read it or we'd share the fate of the Ash-Keeper out in the hall there. He also carried a statue of some sort, all of his belongings from the camp he was staying in were brought here and line the room. There appears to be...some sort of....creature living inside him. It looks like the larger ones in the hall and it keeps..." Here she paused and swallowed hard against rising bile. "It keeps peeking out of his orifices." She gestured towards the soiled bandages that covered the wounds they'd caused him, both arrow and sword and looked towards the doctor. "If you could see to those injuries we'd be grateful. The beast seems to be more alert when he is unconscious, I think that if he dies it will free itself the way the one in the Ash-Keeper did."

It was more than she had spoken all night and it made her sound like a lunatic, at least to her own ears. After that introduction she took a step back, allowing the four invited into the room to get as close as they liked, or needed but remained ready to answer any questions put forth. Even with Liam restrained she kept a hand on the hilt of her sword and an eye on the man in case she needed to intervene quickly.

"Oh, and those smaller beasts on the tables out there came from..well me. I was bitten by this one and they later burst from my wound so there is a worry of some sort of infection." Just in case they thought to get too close.

Lilija -

"Governor..Burnie isn't it? Yes I'm sure we'll get the opportunity to speak before long." Even for a woman who had spent the previous night and current day awake and nose deep in various books and scrolls she appeared quite immaculate. Dressed in a clean blue gown deeper than the blue of her eyes and with her moon silver hair pulled into a tail at the nape of her neck. She'd changed when she went home to collect her various odds and bobs she'd brought with her, she thought that it may, perhaps, get messy and had also brought a heavy apron much the same that butchers tended to wear to ply their trade. That a foreigner such as he would address her as 'our' anything was amusing to her but he was the current voice of the people, and surprisingly the people seemed pleased with that even if they'd had no choice in the matter. Still he'd spent more time here in the past years than she had and so she forgave him that little conceit.

"As for my intent here Mr. Burnie, I assure you it is curiosity and the acquisition of knowledge that motivates me. I've never seen anything like these creatures before and I do rather love a puzzle." Her tone of voice had the clipped, precise tones of a learned scholar, trained in the best of schools rather than the rural drawl her family carried. Every now and then she was known to fall back into that lazy pattern of speech but it was rare. Renea spoke, breaking up the self introductions for the moment and it was only after the small group had been ushered through that mysterious door that Lilija turned back to Aleksei with a smile just short of warm.

"Well then Aleksei, that leaves just you and I then? I've the statement she described in my bag here, shall we set up a station and have a look?" Unfortunately she'd arrived after the initial incident but she had been there for the second, which might prove helpful or not depending on what they could come up with given the current evidence. Without waiting for his answer she walked towards the table that they had been directed to and began to empty her bag of the oddments it contained. Various pieces of metal, small carvings and statues, jewelry, quills and ink and papers as well were placed onto the table. For anyone who could see such things a faint sheen of magic emanated from all of these. The bag itself seemed rather bottomless as she continued to pull things out and set them in an orderly fashion onto the table. Finally, seeming happy with her organization she sat herself at the provided chair and set, at the very last, N'vek's statement before her, waiting to see if she would be joined by the man known as Aleksei River.

[Suede]

Well, so much for using Janessa for a social segway. Apparently he'd found a lack in her skills at last. It was about time, he was beginning to wonder if he really even needed to be in town. Glenn was given a nod to, the doctor's hat being placed back atop his head with the gesture. "A pleasure, Governor. And I know it, the people around town have been letting me know how welcome I am by getting themselves hurt regularly." His eyes drifted around the room a moment. "Though admittedly it's been a few cuts and bruises until now."

"Brennan, local expert in which bone goes where." An easy grip is traded with Aleksei, and there's a rueful smile. "I'd prefer it if my night remains otherwise quiet beyond this, but there's no way to know... so it's likely best I don't stay missing too long, even if I left a sign."

Unless someone makes an effort to halt him he'd follow Renea into the room, setting his bag down near the door when they mention those little things running about, just in case one was alive and interested in stowing away. He'd at his bag for a moment, sifting around several tools move into pockets on his rather functional vest. The coat would be discarded and set over the bag, and he'd move towards the body as he pulled on his gloves. The injuries were being examined from several feet away while he debated.

"If it's more active while he's out cold, isn't it likely to take a bite at me while I'm putting him back together?"

[Dulcie]

There would be that brief moment of pleasantries that were exchanged with Glenn before there was a great deal of talk about who could and couldn't go into the room to see the patient. "I need to go in with the Doctor, he'll likely need my assistance." It was an explanation and a quiet insistance. Usually so mild mannered and quiet it was impressive that she spoke up at all.

Unless someone tried to stop her she'd keep pace with the Doctor, following him in, and setting her things down beside his while mirroring his behaviors with the gloves and her very distant view of the body.

[Glenn]

Introductions and Pleasantries. How lovely. Burnie was not generally one for smalltalk but the sheer amount of people here seemed to validate it. It was important to meet the good doctor, for instance. And Lilija had either misunderstood his words or was willfully obstinate about them. He expected the latter, so that was hardly a surprise.

The only glance of any meaning would be tossed in Aleksei's direction. Patient Zero, she says. Of course. Parasites. Unpleasant, about as unpleasant as such things could be. Not much shook Glenn, not anymore, certainly, not after what happened in Underdark. Even before that, however, he had lived through a horde of spiders exiting his mouth. He knew a thing or two about such horrors, and this would not stand. Not here. Not now. Not in the midst of all of this. If Aleksei saw that stare, he may see how aggravated the Governor felt about this entire situation. Had he ever seen Glenn so serious?

"Marshall," he spoke sharply as he impatiently followed the doctor and Janessa in, "alertness, yes, but intellect. Did you see signs of that? Is this creature aware. Does it think and plot, or is it just a simple beast?" Then a pause, looking about over his left shoulder, as if... just in case. "And Agnie mentioned the drow. What do we have to corroborate that?"

Maxwell, for what it worth was prepared to take notes, prepared to document whatever needed to be, even prepared to take a quick sketch if that's what the situation warranted. He was usually a mouthy, smarmy, know-it-all, but this entire situation chilled him to the bone. He'd read in books of worms that lined the entirety of the digestive track or of mind flayers that attached themselves to the brain itself, but this was here, before him. Turning just a little green, he'd follow the storming Burnie in.

[catch]

They have shown caution. They have shown restraint. How much of that has come from Liam's iron will? Now there were Peoples, Many Peoples, and as one, those who enter the Site-Zero can see the full measure of these beasts, as each one turns to stare, to glare, quiver and click teeth, at the suddenness or Others. Time to wake. As one, they flee to the only escape they possess, dragging bloated bodies towards Liam's nostrils, and it would be almost comical how they snap and fight and push, like impatient, frantic schoolchildren, to reenter their true domain. One, one that is larger than the others, more bold, puts Liam's prone, bound body between itself and the People, hiding in the dip between body and arm.

His body hurts. Terribly. But he has been hurt before. He has lain, arm sundered, buried under the ruins of a once-cherished house, for days. Dark days. Days where he question many things, and had, finally, received an answer. That answer shaped him to the young man, bruised, punctured, battered, that lays on this table, that now moves his head to the sound of voices. He is gagged, he feels, but there is nothing he can do to remove that particular irritant, tongue as dry as paper pushing uselessly against the cloth. His eyes are mere slits as he peers, but once he sees who it is - unfamiliar faces, though he may know a few by name, and that Renea woman, fresh as daises, Liam is no longer interested, and he is forced, through circumstances, to stare at his own eyelids, hoping to sleep again. It is not likely.