Against the Cult: The Sleeper Must Awaken (1.3)

"Thank you. We will try to find whatever it is that cursed the boy. A material you think, like a fabric?" I bow my head politely and accept the potion.

Diana chuckles. "Oh, I'm sorry. I deal with Devane in his Tower so often, I forget that not everyone deals with spells and magic. He's our wizard in town; he often refers to his ingredients as "materials" or "components." Odd words, I know. No, I meant the substance I referred to earlier: whatever was inserted into his body when his skin was punctured on the back of his hand. I'm fairly certain that its not a coincidence that he has that fresh wound and fell into this magic sleep. It could be a potion that was trickled in, or inserted with a needle or sharp object. That can be handy when you are trying to administer a medicine or other substance and the patient won't drink a potion." At this point, she gets a faraway look in her eyes. "Why, I used to know a man - I mean, a friend of mine, when I traveled in my youth - who was rather skilled with a dagger; Tevros would do that, sometimes, with a knife - put some concoction on the blade, and then poke a villain with it...the blackguard'd fall asleep very quickly. It was very effective, and got us out of a number of scrapes a number of times. But it's dangerous, too: Tevros poked himself one time and fell asleep, and at first we thought he'd died. Then we realized he was just asleep, and tried wake him, but none of us could. I had to take a sample of the substance, or material, from the blade of his dagger and study it, pray over it, until Rao granted me insight into how it worked and how to bless it from his body. He was alright then, but swore he'd never put that substance on his blade again. He left us, eleven years ago this spring. Eleven years..."

She comes out of her reverie. "Oh! I'm sorry, I don't mean to rattle on so. If you can find out where Devek went, and if there's any sort of substance on something sharp that he could've scratched himself on, you could bring it back here. Perhaps Rao would grant me a similar wisdom with this boy."

Thacogygax accepts this all with his usual toothy (and sometimes somewhat vacant-looking) grin. Many of the words and phrases are beyond him, but he knows just enough about spellcasting to put together what he did understand of what Diana's words.

I nod in acknowledgement, "Shall we go then?" I look to Klak and Thaco, then gather my things and prepare to head out.

Thacogygax thanks Diana and takes his leave as well and follows Sara.

Klak translates Diana's statement to mean "get a sample of the poison" and he mumbles to himself about shifty poison-users. As he does so, he shoulders his gear once more and follows Sara and Thaco. "Back to the farm?" he asks, "Or do you think they will have headed out towards Horlack, Horshack? Horoch? The other town."

"The farm, first, I think. If they aren't there, then, well, depending on what we find, we'll continue searching for them in Orlane." I try not to think of why they might not be found at the farm.