109. Vaccination: Tabitha

Eluf was vastly amused at the idea of a date assaulting a smuggler's cave. He couldn’t promise to keep things quiet fast enough. That has earned him a lot of ‘special’ favours from me. I wonder if this is love? He has an old set of armour that shouldn’t be recognised, and he will need to bring two others with him, but they are personally sworn into his service, so they should be fine. He hasn’t done anything more than spar for months and was very eager to participate.

Skavt, Najprej and Drugič will lead the assault and be the first shield line. Eluf and his swearers? No, Sworn? Eluf, and whatever the hell you call them, will be the second shield line. The rest of us will follow. When we get to the main cavern, Skavt and the team will turn right deeper into the caves, and Eluf will go left toward the boats to meet up with Ruku. Then they will come and join the rest of us, all going well. Tāoke will go in with us, but Wiremu’s job is to collapse the landward entrance. He is supposed to collapse it from the outside and then wait. I think he is planning on entering it and then collapsing it, as he also wants his slice of revenge.

Rotte delivered her vaccine the day before the assault, and Ört has spent the last twenty-four hours running every test he could think of on it. He read up on diseases, vaccines and Blood Alchemy, although there was only a passing mention of Blood Alchemy in a few alchemy texts. It is not looked on very favourably. Ört says it is not his field, but the vaccine appears to do what Rotte promised and nothing else. He always qualifies those words with, “As far as I can determine.” It is the best assurance we will get.

Everybody who goes into the cave needs to be vaccinated, and Rotte says the Vaccine is best taken at least three hours before going in. Just in case there are side effects from it. This is not inspiring confidence. Ört took a dose earlier this afternoon and said it raised his temperature for a while, and he felt slightly off, but it cleared up quickly. Best of all, he now has Disease Resistance 1 on his Status.

We are attacking at midnight, so we are assembling at 8 pm at the quarry to be vaccinated and review the plan. We will then leave at 8:30 pm to meet with the Pack Rats at our various assembly points.

Everybody was now assembled, and we were only waiting for Rotte, who was coming with the latest update from the cave. Ruku had a tall, well-built human with him. My growing Hearing Aid Skill heard Ruku call him Tait, who was an old squad mate of his or something. Ruku and Tait had some skin-tight armour or swimsuit I had never seen before. He told me it was made of a particular sea monster pelt and aided in aquatic fighting. They had knives and spears and a pack each. I don’t know what is in the packs, but I assume something to disable the boats.

Eluf was there with his two sworn, or whatever they were. One of them was an Orc, and one of them was a Dwarf. He had decided to be called Cap, and the offsiders were Smarty and Shorty. Shorty the Dwarf was towered over by the other two, but he would have the easiest time in the tunnels. They all had shields and swords and no identifying marks on their armour or weapons. They all wore helmets which partially covered their faces, so they were fairly unrecognisable.

The Canine Queens were in their standard fighting equipment. Skavt was joining Najprej and Drugič with swords and shields. Oske would be sitting this one out. Ört and Kryddor were in charge of security at the quarry while we were away, as Mutalil insisted on coming to avenge his brother. Appā only stayed back because he still only had one arm. Mutalil, being Catkin and the older brother of Mayakku and Ilaiya, will need some help as his Nightsight is unsuitable in the cave as it only enhances light. I think Mayakku has rigged up an enchantment into his helmet that emitted light in a frequency we don’t normally see and then converted it to be visible for his eyes. I hadn’t heard of it, but I am told it is a common enchantment in the Barbarian City States. Matalil has a mate and three cubs, so he needs to be careful.

I saw Rotte enter the gates, so I got up on a log and said, “Ok, everybody, gather around and listen up. We have a few things to go over before we head in. First of all, you have all been told, but I will reiterate that this is a private endeavour. Any official role you may have elsewhere plays no part in tonight! Some people here and our allies at the cave do not wish to be identified. I don’t wish to be identified!” I was also armoured and hooded. “Regardless of who you know me as, for tonight, I am simply to be known as Black.” I figured the cat was out of the bag after the meeting with the Pack Rats and identifying myself to them as the Black Butcher. I might as well make the most of the myth.

“You are all here because you are my allies, either by oath or by contract,” I continued, “If you have any problems with any of my other allies, you will bring it to me.” I ramped up my Intimidating Aura and thickened Engulfing Shadows. “My Allies are not your enemy, and I will deal with any issues, and I don’t care who you are.” This was mostly a show for Rotte, as there is bound to be a lot of mistrust there. It was also a reminder for Eluf and company and Ruku’s mate. The Catkin adults were also watching, and it was also to give them confidence. Wiremu was silently watching everyone from the side. I was going to need people to trust me if they were going to take an unknown alchemy potion that looked and tasted like blood.

I don’t think anybody here was intimidated, but several seemed to be impressed, which suited me fine. Eluf was different. He just looked horny. I don’t know what I thought when I invited him along. I was probably horny at the time. If he doesn’t stop it, I am definitely going to cut off his man bits. That would cost him a lot of gold and a month of celibacy before he got them back.

I eased off the aura and shadows and continued talking, “I have one rule about fights, and that is that there is no such thing as a fair fight. To that end, we have stacked this fight in our favour.” I beckoned to Rotte to join me. “This is another of my allies who wishes to remain anonymous. You may call her Rotte. She is a very talented alchemist specialising in disease and poisons.” I doubted Rotte wanted me to use her gang name as her alias. She didn’t get a choice.

I was watching Eluf. He first showed a lot of surprise. I am sure the Duke had hunted down every healer and alchemist in the kingdom, looking for someone to heal him. Yet here was a specialist in his own city that he didn’t know about. Then he went to puzzlement and then cautious hope. He thought he had found a healer for his dad, the Duke. I was worried that Rotte was the person who had infected him. A seemingly incurable disease, perhaps created by a rare Blood Alchemist Class? That was very probable.

“What we have done is infect those in the cave with a disease that is causing a debilitating effect on them.” I continued, “Rotte is here with an update.” I turned to her.

“The disease starts with a raised body temperature and then causes vomiting and diarrhoea, leading to dehydration and, if the Physical Constitution is too low, then death. Most in the cave have constitutions that will eventually overcome the disease, but the vomiting is just starting, so the timing is perfect.” She smiled. “I hope you don’t mind the smell.”

“Which brings us to the main topic we are here for.” I took over again. “We have let loose a disease in the cave. Therefore if you want to fight effectively, you will need immunity to that disease. Rotte has created a vaccine against it.” I indicated the basket of vials near me. “I strongly recommend everybody who comes into the cave take the vaccine or you will become very sick within 24-48 hours. Our resident healer has tested this, and he took a dose himself.” I was purposefully ignoring all his disclaimers. “There may be some side effects, but that is why our healer and Rotte are here.” I picked up the basket and started handing it out. I started with the Canine Queens, as they knew and trusted Ört. Hopefully, their taking it without hesitating will inspire others to do the same. “If you don’t want to take the vaccine, now is the time to leave.”

They all took a vial, but they didn’t all drink straight away. I took one of the last vials and held it up in the air, “Bottoms up, gentlemen!” and I sculled the horrid liquid. Everybody followed my lead to my surprise. I wasn’t sure Eluf would.

“OK, people, while we wait to see if there are any negative effects, there are a few more things to go over.” I went over the plan again, particularly emphasising that they were in groups that they were used to fighting with but also noting there would be extras alongside. Skavt was in overall charge of the Main attack force, Wiremu would be in charge of the Land-based force and Ruku, the sea-based force. I would be floating to where I was needed.

“One last thing before we go.” I continued. “We have not observed any bonds in that cave. To that effect, you are not to attack any animals in the cave because they will be your allies' bonds. I include creatures in that list that you would not usually expect to be bonded. Rats, snakes, and bats are some known bonds of your allies. There may be others.”

Rotte started when I mentioned bats. Yes, we have your measure Rotte. At least, I hope so. I purposefully put pressure on her and let her know we were unravelling her secrets. We weren’t there yet, but we were making progress, and I wanted to keep her off balance. I wanted to move her out of her comfort zone as a gang lord. I was hoping Eluf would get the opportunity to keep applying pressure.

I checked my Status. I now had Disease Resistance 1. “I hope we all now have disease resistance on our Statuses and are ready to go?” I got a series of nods. “Let's move out then.”