(( This is a follow-up to this earlier post. ))
A loud knocking sounds at the door of the rooming-house in the Salma district, around Cottage Bend. The door is soon opened by a very purple Sylvari, who’s bouncing on her toes as she looks out. ‘Hi! How can I help you?’
The uniformed pair of Shining Blade soldiers looked at each other, not having expected this, but it was only a look. The senior one spoke. ‘We’re here to bring Lady Dore to tend to Lady Adriwyn Jardin.’ They each looked past the Sylvari even as the one spoke, preferring to deal with a human if they could, but none was in evidence.
The Sylvari’s eyes went wide and her mouth went into a small circle before she gave a more animated response. ‘Little Adriwyn? Again? And not here under her own power? Oh, no!’ She turned and ran up the stairs, taking them two and even three at a time.
The soldiers followed her at a somewhat more leisurely pace, partly from not being as familiar with the dark stairway. When they neared the top floor, they saw the door standing open, and then a tall, powerfully built woman in green robes emerged. She had a staff slung over her back, and was carrying a burlap bag that wriggled and squeaked – and occasionally snarled. The woman had black hair, pale skin, and the glowing visage that sometimes marked disciples of Grenth.
‘Lady Dore?’
‘I am Alyssia Dore of House Durheim, yes – and Orchid here tells me that you’re here to take me to tend to Adriwyn.’
The Blade were relatively pleased to discover that she had a fairly normal contralto voice, and that it wasn’t all mystically creepy to match her eyes. ‘Yes, m’lady. If you’ll accompany us, please.’
The priestess nodded, trailed by the Sylvari, who stopped to lock the door to their rooms, then skipped along to catch up.
The group reached the LaCoria estate and were admitted by Andrew, who was of course expecting them. What he thought of Alyssia’s squirming bag or her dark leafy apprentice was not discernable. He was too good of a butler for that. He led them up to the room where the mangled jeweller was waiting, along with an anxious Mirex and Alexandria.
Whatever those words were Alyssia was using when she saw the bolts sticking through the injured waif, the onlookers were sure involved some dark oaths. She quickly ascertained from Mirex what could easily be told about the situation, and started ordering anyone able-bodied to help with slowly extracting the bolts, while she chanted in Old High Kurzick, and the writhing in her bag took on a semblance of panic.
A few hours are spent in total, as the priestess and her apprentice work, and more of the rats in the bag die. The “spare” Blade who’d escorted her are dismissed, and Andrew is requested to provide food of somewhat odd but easily obtainable sorts, especially involving bone meal and marrow.
At long last, Adriwyn is settled in bed, the holes closed up, bones bonded enough for careful movement, and her arms are bound to her sides to keep her broken bones immobilised. Before the waif passed out again from the combination of her injuries and the strain upon her from the healing done, her constant demands through Mirex and with what little whispering she’d been able to muster had been registered.
With a tired sigh, the priestess obtained the use of a writing table, and set to work on some letters while Orchid packed up, and then started copying the text of the letters at her mentor’s direction, in order to get the process completed sooner.
Letters were addressed to (at least) the following:
Lady Luxelen Larkspur-Seruviale, and whomever it may concern in the Rurikton Roses
Lady Renita Cartwright
Countess Linneia Don Perevelli
Baroness Rose Sharo
Baroness Lisbeth Tairise
Doctor Lady Luna Lancastir
Lady Arntae Southlight
Lady Ambilina Valenwright
Doctor Corinne Kerrigan
Parlsain Torin
Dominique Tregarde
Melissa Tenpenny
The body of the letter sometimes varied a bit, but each was essentially the following:
This letter is to inform you that Lady Adrwyn Jardin is hors de combat, with multiple upper-body injuries, including collapsed lungs. She hasn’t the breath to speak, and her caretakers are understandably nervous about further assassination attempts, so attempts to visit her are not advisable at this time. She is expected to live, and even to recover, given time.
In Grenth’s Service,
Alyssia Dore of House Durheim
(( @followingshores, @luxelen, @ruriktonroses, @lunalancastir, @renniecartwright, @corinnekerrigan ))
Adriellyn's Wandering Home 