Eight Intertwined

59 - Flynn

After the group had gotten settled in at the inn, there was only one logical course of action: to find Therion. It wasn't uncommon for the thief to run off and do his own thing, and in fact, it seemed to be a habit for him the rest of the group didn't know how to break. Alfyn was more than willing to let Therion spend time on his own while he cooled off, but he also knew that it was important to pass on the message to Therion that they had a place at the inn for the night. In other words, it was going to be important for him and the others to figure out where Therion was as soon as possible.

After a scan of the front half of town turned up no results, the group of seven ultimately elected to head to the back end of Goldshore to try and see if they could find him. Alfyn frowned as he looked around, hoping that Therion would make himself obvious by accident. He somehow doubted the thief would make a mistake like that if he was deliberately trying to stay hidden--which he most likely was--but it was worth a shot of hoping, right?

Alfyn frowned to himself when a mix of voices reached his ears. He perked up and glanced around to try and find the source of the noise, but he was cut off by Ophilia pointing up a nearby set of stairs that led to the residential area just outside the entrance to the Goldshore cathedral. "Look over there!" she exclaimed.

Alfyn followed her finger with his eyes and saw that there were about eight people gathered together and talking in a loud hurry. Upon closer inspection, he realized that most of them had been present in the crowd of people speaking with Vanessa that morning. His stomach twisted itself into a knot, and he gestured for the others to follow him. "Come on," he said softly. He had no evidence that something was wrong, but he could just tell that this wasn't going to be something he wanted to hear about.

Vanessa was standing at the center of the crowd, and a woman in an elaborate red dress with desperation and tears in her eyes was pulling on her hand. "Miss Hysel, come quickly! My husband won't stop coughing!" she exclaimed. 

Vanessa's eyes went wide at the words. "Oh dear, isn't that a shame? It seems there's a nasty malady going around," she told the woman in concern. She thought about it for a moment before nodding, seemingly having come to a conclusion based on what the townsfolk had told her prior to Alfyn's arrival. "The Gaborra whooping cough, it's called. It hails from a land far, far to the south." Vanessa shook her head a moment later though as she placed a hand on the woman's shoulder. "But worry not. Among my wares is a tonic that will cure it overnight."

"Oh, Miss Hysel! I knew we could count on you!" another woman cried out as she clapped her hands together in delight. 

Vanessa, meanwhile, put her hand in her satchel before pulling out a small bottle and passing it to the woman beside her. The aristocrat looked at it carefully, handling the bottle like it was worth its weight in gold a thousand times over. "My word... Even the bottle is simply exquisite! And this will cure him, you say?" she asked. 

Vanessa nodded. "It most certainly will. It's brewed from a very special type of moss, you see," she explained. She glanced around the area to address all the people that had come to surround her, no doubt seeking the cure for the cough that had begun to circulate. "One that only grows in a remote--and quite treacherous--location. Because of the rarity of the key reagent, I fear I must charge a substantial fee..."

"Money's no object to us!" a man from the crowd exclaimed. "We'll pay anything!"

Vanessa smiled as she clapped her hands together. "Splendid! In that case, one hundred thousand leaves a phial should suffice," she replied.

The silence that ripped through the crowd was palpable, and Alfyn felt as if he had been punched in the stomach. Rufus hadn't even had that much money, and while the group had been able to procure quite a few leaves from him after his ring was dismantled, they still didn't even have half of that. Hell, Alfyn was convinced that was more money than he would ever see in his entire life, and the words were enough to make him feel as if he had stopped breathing.