141. Infectious Joy: Gwaed.

It was just as well that I had Sugnwr follow Wai. Wai might have escaped, but it would have been touch and go. Even then, if Sugnwr hadn’t learned Tough Hide from me, the serval would have brought her down. People forget that bats are mammals, and they can learn most skills a mammal can. The serval was almost certainly killed, but diseases take time to kill.

That is also why I had Ruku take the vaccine for our ‘if all else fails’ plan now. It is not an ‘if all else fails’ plan. It will take at least a ten-day to spread and be effective. It has a two-day incubation period, and people become infectious after the first day. It then takes five days to get worse, resulting in death, or you level off and slowly fight back. An absolute minimum of two weeks recovery, which is a minimum of three weeks out of action. People are infectious for the entire first week. Ideally, we would want a two or three-week lead in time. Merch and I are planning to start spreading the disease tomorrow night.

Ruku is the sort of person who is worried about the ‘innocents.’ His country is about to go to war and destroy who knows how many lives, and he goes all soft over a few cute kids. It won’t actually kill many kids as they have a high regeneration as they grow. It fades as they hit the teen years, and they stop growing. I discovered this when I first used this in the Western Forest. Some kids will contract the disease and die, but most who get it will live and end up with Disease Resistance. All who live through the disease will end up with Disease Resistance, so it is a one-time plague. The death toll should be in the low thousands. I never claimed to be on the good side. In fact, I don’t think there is a good side. It is just people fucking each other over. Don’t fuck with me or my bonds.

How far it spreads will depend on how fast the empire closes and isolates the area. It should shut down the navy operating from Northport for a few months. The Kingdom should be thanking me, but I doubt they will. The travel times between ports and towns will mean the disease will stop being infectious before it gets too far, so it is mainly Northport that will suffer. The plague should have mostly run its course in eight to twelve months.

Recreating a disease I had used before will not take my Blood Alchemy Class to the Master level, unfortunately. However, I have increased my Fire Alchemy and learned the Acid Alchemy Specialisation. I think I should join the Lore Society if an hour with two books can be that profitable. Acid Alchemy gave me Spiritual Perception instead of Spiritual Strenght, but the rest was the same as Fire Alchemy. Acids were surprisingly fickle in the amount and flavour of Spiritual input they required. It is why Spiritual Sensitivity is a core skill for basic Alchemy, and that is what holds back so many apprentices.

The Skill I got for Acid Alchemy is fantastic. It is called Potent, and it increases the potency of any of my alchemy recipes. Yes, this plague is a more potent version of the one I used in the Western Forest. Initially, the Skill enhances my Spiritual Perception and gives hints as to what changes could be made to increase the Potency of the brew, either with ingredients or the strength or additional flavours of the spiritual input. At the apprentice level, it will also start directly increasing the potency or decreasing it as desired. It didn’t take me long to get it to the Apprentice Level. Some of my acids are designed to eat through stone, some through metal and some through flesh.

I forgot to ask Ruku if he had fire resistance, as that is something I have achieved when testing the potency of my fire mixtures. I am very pleased with the Potent Skill. This just shows how much I needed to get out of Obalno. I was stagnating there.

Ruku was going to be asleep for 4-6 hours, and when he awakes, he would be quite weak for a day. It is a Potent vaccine. I had left Merch watching his Guest House. Sure enough, search parties moved from Inn to Inn, and they stopped when they got to his Guest House. We are going to have to do something to change his appearance.

It was daytime, so I had Esgyn do a flyover of the navy base and the cliff. On top of the cliff, there is a recent military establishment. These are not the barracks but the officer quarters. I guess they want to oversee their domain. At the far end of the cliff is a fort and watch tower. It is a bit further along than the enchanter building but will make an escape by boat difficult. The security is probably tighter on top of the cliff than at the main base. Esgyn then went in search of a meal.

Pybyr is pinning worse, the stupid mutt. I have given him the task of investigating the coast. I am almost certain we won’t be able to leave from the docks, so we will need to get picked up somewhere along the coast. We need a fisherman’s wharf or a small boat. Esgyn knows where the wharves are. Pybyr can look for the boats and familiarise himself with the land. I am going to have to go out and spend a night with him or get him into the city. That will be more difficult now because they will tighten security on the gates if they are looking for a spy. They will be trying to close a net around us. Fortunately, I have a plague that will rip holes in it for us.

My Alchemy is now in a position I can concentrate more time on running down this assassin bitch. I would love for her to spread my plague, but her resistance will be too high. She is a death and rot specialist. She will have high poison and disease resistance. She was definitely in Northport two nights ago. We found the cemetery she was at. I took note of the graves around where she was, but nothing stood out to me. I still don’t know her name.

I move to the front room and sit down to Scry, the assassin. It was about lunchtime, and the assassin often slept till now, the lazy cow. She was up. In fact, she was at Ruku’s Guest house with the investigation squad. I checked where Merch was, and she was still nearby. I geared up. I had purchased a long coat with lots of pockets, and I had the tailor add some additional inner pockets. I had to be careful carrying potions so they wouldn't rattle or smash. The tailor had done a good job. Now I was going to try to get eyes on the bitch. I grabbed some vials of plague as well. I might as well start spreading the joy. Actually, that might be a good name for my plague. Joy. Spread the Joy, infectious Joy, have a Joyful day etc. I was in a good mood.

I had to move through the expensive part of town to get to the Guest House. It was the ideal place to share my Joy. So many plagues start with the poor, and the rich miss-out. Not this time. I sprinkled my Joy onto some plates of food a server was carrying. It was the seasoning of Joy. Jugs of ale would always be known to bring Joy. I only had time to sprinkle a little Joy here and there as I had somewhere to be, but when the opportunity was there, I made sure it was Joyful. I was starting to consider whether Ruku might have slipped a little happy mushroom in my last meal.

Merch informed me the Assassin was on the move. He had her scent. I asked Esgyn to fly over. He was reluctant as he had found a carcass and was eating. He was on his way but was a long way off. I picked up the pace. I was worried the bitch would sense Merch. I warned her to keep well back. From where Merch was heading, I figured she was heading to the Inquisitor Headquarters. Of course, she works for the bloody Inquisition. I should have staked it out the first day I arrived. I moved to intercept.

The Inquisition HQ was right by the City Patrol HQ. As far as I knew, the City Patrollers were failed or retired Soldiers, and there was always a Platoon of regulars stationed there. The military also provided security and the heavy hitters for the Inquisition. I got there too late to see her. She had already gone inside. I also had her scent through our Bond.

There is one additional thing that is now a problem. She now knows she is being hunted. She fought Ruku in Obalno. She will have his scent. The same scent from the Guest House. We also crossed claws when she killed Difetha. If she smelled Merch, she would know she belonged with me. How do I know she has Olfaction, Blood Hound, or similar? She is a huntress. She would have the tools.

I made sure to spread lots of Joy around the Inquisition HQ.