epidemiology | EVENT ★ THE USUAL SUSPECTS

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EVENT ★ THE USUAL SUSPECTS

THE BARRIER

As promised, Arthur has the means to unlock that first, crucial step to saving the ALASTAIR recruits: unveiling the runes maintaining the barrier. He has sequestered himself in a rented room in the inn down the road from the prison; he’s at a good enough distance to keep his concentration unbroken, but near enough that he can reach the runes in question. The recruits are told to be ready, to wait for his signal before they take action.

The signal comes just after the stroke of 5 on the town’s clocks, at what would be dawn in a world of less darkness. There’s a shimmer in the air around the brick building of the jail, like the surface of a bubble. Then suddenly the runes are there: glowing bright green, flaming into existence at various points along and within the barrier.

There are at least 30 of them along the outside. They’re etched on walls, scribed into doors, carved into the very ground. These have to be destroyed first to make any progress, in any way the recruits are able to. Once these all have been broken, erased, or scattered (and some of them are cleverly hidden or out of reach -- have you checked the topmost brick in the clock tower of the jailhouse?), the first defense of the barrier has fallen. Then the jailhouse itself can be rushed, but magic is still hampered until every rune is destroyed. From there the runes can be found every few feet in the walls, ceilings, and floors of the jail, and only once each one is broken will the spell be completely lifted, magic and abilities restored to the area, and the inmates considerably easier to break out.

The recruits aren’t the only ones that can see those runes, though. The jailers are quick to react, and some spring to the defense of the runes while others rush to sound the alarm, calling even more armed guards to the area. Even city guards start to show up in response to the alarm -- there’s definitely a time limit on this venture. Dispose of the runes, rescue your friends, and be out of the area quickly, or you might just be overrun with armed, angry opposition.

THE ESCAPE

By the time those in the cells are finally brought out, it’s pandemonium. The guards, jailers and city guards alike, might not have been able to stop ALASTAIR’s recruits from destroying the runes and bringing down the barrier, but they’re determined at least to stop dangerous criminals from escaping into the city. And these criminals were due to be hung, so they’re not looking to take anyone down peacefully. They’ll be going for the killing blows.

The best chance will be to rely on numbers and scatter. In ones and twos and threes, people should be taking to shadowy alleys, slipping around corners, even dropping down into the sewers, if they have to. Anything to thin out and disappear. The most capable and destructive fighters are asked to stay as long as they can, giving the bulk of the rest of the escapees time to disappear into that unending night.

THE COOLDOWN

Those that helped free their friends probably won’t run into too many problems in the following days, unless you run into a guard with a few injuries and a long memory. The ex-prisoners, though, are another story. They were in there long enough that the men and women who guarded them know most of their faces quite well, and since they’re out of prisoners to guard, what else do they have to do but take to the streets and search? Ex-prisoners should play it carefully, then, if they don’t want to end up right back where they started. Guards are more than happy to cause an immediate fracas should they spot anyone that belongs in jail.

That’s not to say you shouldn’t go out at all! Just, you know, take a disguise with you. As if anticipating the rising demand for them, all local merchant shops seem to be stocking up on scarves, shawls, and bulky clothing. Isn’t that nice? Most of them don’t really care what anyone did to end up in jail, they just want to share in on those ALASTAIR-paid wages.

If spotted, townsfolk have varied opinions of the escapees. Some are mistrustful and bitter, and will immediately alert guards upon realizing who they’re dealing with. Some of them really don’t care. They’re tired of the darkness, tired of the conflicts, they just want to get on with life. One old man in particular seems to inexplicably love all ALASTAIR recruits, the ex-prisoners in particular, and will insist on buying a drink and playing a game of chess with any of them he runs into. The goblins, of course, have pretty good opinions of anyone on the wrong side of the king, and will be your best bet for finding lodging and food. Some of them might even think of you as a hero, or at least a roguishly charming vigilante.

Spend your post-breakout time well, and try not to make any more enemies.

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[Woah, how forward. He has just enough time to frown at the thump from the other side of the door and spot her face through the crack when it opens (which means thankfully this is the right door, and not the door of someone more inclined to call for the city guard when they see him.) Then she's throwing it open and dragging him inside with a suddenness that takes him a off guard enough that he doesn't even bother to resist it.

Slightly bemused, he looks back over a shoulder at the doorway and then back over at her before opening his mouth.] ...hey.

[She's a medic of some sort, he knows, and the state of her flat doesn't really surprise him. Some of the trappings are familiar, some he's never seen before at all. The part of him that had been browbeaten to Levi's cleanfreak standards is probably horrified at the clutter, but it's the streaks of gore that tell the story. It speaks a lot as to how busy she's been.

(If he can spot Masamune from where he is, he stops and sharpens momentarily. Jaw set grim and hands twitching back into fists until he turns his attention back to Sieglinde.)

Finding his ground again—] I won't stick around for too long.

[If she's worried about that. Harboring one fugitive is probably risk enough.]

[To keep her balance Sieglinde has to keep her hold on Eren's arm, oblivious for the moment that it was dampening the fabric, some spots staining light pink from the blood she'd been trying to wash off her hands. But as she gets her balance back under her, she isn't looking down, but up at him, looking for signs of any further injury than she'd seen on him at the prison.

At the sight of his expression tightening she follows his gaze across the room, brow furrowing as she tried to determine why he would say something like that... Masamune. Oh-]

Nonsense, you will stay as long as need be.

[Finally she let go, tottering back over to her chair and resting there a moment before continuing into the slightly separated kitchen, coming back with two flasks of beer, one of which she offered him. Food and drink could do wonders for someone exhausted, and she doubted they'd given him anything decent while locked up...

And she was parched herself.]

Is there any way I can aid you?

[She couldn't use any more magic, exhausted by her earlier patients, but she could still mix medicine, still hold needle and thread.]

[He'd only met Masamune for the first time in the cell. The impression had been largely positive, so it's equal parts relieving to see he's getting help and frustrating to know he'd needed it in the first place because the people here were too afraid and ignorant to realize what's really going on.

In comparison, Eren seems to be bouncing back a little quicker. Giving him a once over finds him exhausted but better than he had been earlier. (Better than he should be, really. Like he's been out of custody and healing for days instead of hours.) He might have been running a little hot under her fingers if she'd paid attention when she held onto his arm, some residual feverish side effect brought on by his sluggish restarted regen. There are still fading bruises under his jaw, a bandage wound around his hand hiding a still-healing bitemark that had begun to fester in the shitty conditions in the cell. Still, all in all he looks more tired and tense than sick.

He shakes his hood off when she releases him and finds a clear space of his own to sit down after she firmly offers her hospitality—which he accepts it somewhat gratefully, finding somewhere clear enough to sit and wrapping his fingers around the surface of the flask. But he shakes his head, afterward.]

I'll be fine. [Sooner or later. Either way—] That's not why I'm here.

[By her observation, there was definitely nothing on him that was life threatening- she might press to see under that bandage, and he'd seemed slightly feverish, but he appeared far better off than the other patients from the jail she'd seen earlier that night. Almost suspiciously so.

But she didn't say anything, instead clambering gracelessly into a cushioned chair and taking a long drag of her mug, attempting to but not very successfully hiding how exhausted she was herself as she looked him over from her new position curiously.]

Why is it, then?

[Medicine at the very least she was already planning to foist on him- something for fever, perhaps a salve for the hand.]

[If he's aware of the surreptitious diagnosis, he doesn't show it. He takes a drink out of the flask when he pauses (and then another longer one when it revives his appetite. After two weeks of stale water and weak broth, it's better help than bandages right now.) She presses in the silence, and he answers by looking over a shoulder at the scattered mess of the room. He'll explain himself fully in a minute, but first he asks—]

D'you stay here alone?

[Masamune's passed out in the other room, but he doesn't know if that's a permanent fixture. Even if it is, he's not really much help at the moment.]

[(Beer makes everything better, Eren.)

But Sieglinde can guess why he asks the question he does, even if she doesn't like the fact that he has to ask. That she cannot do most anything alone without great difficulty, that there are stools and cushions everywhere, that she knows nothing of cooking or even her own care. She looks down at her drink, the mug held carefully in two hands, frowning slightly before she answered.]

Masamune has been my caretaker.

[Though he wasn't even conscious any longer, thanks to the infection she'd had to purge out of his blood and the potions she'd forced down his throat.]

But there is little worry- Sebastian, a servant of my world, has recently arrived. He is quite competent.

[She didn't feel unsafe here, in this workshop, at the very least.]

[Not to mention it's probably safer than the water, lbr.

She makes the reasonable guess, but his concerns are actually a little more focused than the day-to-day. Whether that's faith in Sieglinde's ability to handle that much or just being bad at paying attention to things outside the Bigger Picture is up for interpretation. (Maybe it's a little of both.) He doesn't know Sebastian, so he'll have to take her word on his capabilities.]

The police are gonna be looking for us. [And if they recognize her in the process, they'd have plenty of reasons to suspect her of sympathizing, aiding and abetting, harboring a fugitive or two. They wouldn't even be wrong. The point is—] If they come around here, you don't have to put up with it.

[And if Masamune isn't up to it or Sebastian isn't competent enough—it's not like he doesn't owe her one. (It's not like he'd let them push her around, even if he didn't.)]

[Would they go door to door, house to house looking for those who had escaped their sick version of "justice"? Sieglinde looks as if that's the first time such a thought occurs to her- and it was, in a way, her life before now having been one without such possible threats. Even in the stories of the witch trials she'd been raised on there was no indiscriminate searches... Though accusations...

She thought of the old man downstairs who ran the apothecary. Would he tell someone? She had been generous with her business, but was that enough to keep him quiet?

Still. It was fine. It would be fine- her glance moved to the door, particularly to a series of runes she'd carved into the frame. A warding spell by a witch who couldn't actually do magic before she came here wasn't much use, but.]

I will not allow such an intrusion- particularly when I have patients to tend to.

[But talk was talk and it wasn't like Sieglinde could walk the walk, so there was a seed of doubt already planted, now sprouting.]

- do you believe they will try?

I don't think they'll let us go easy.

[Which means looking, whatever lengths they decide they're justified to. Eren's used to a society where even heretic talk can be silenced by the police. A door-to-door search is all too plausible.]

The crown's lost their scapegoat. Besides, most of 'em really believed they were helping humanity by locking us up.

[They were wrong, for the most part, but that doesn't mean the guards don't have a stake in putting them back behind bars. If they really do believe in it, they won't give up easy.]

Most soldiers will respect a doctor telling 'em to get lost. [Mostly because you never know when it'll be you or one of your buddies under their knife.] But you should watch your back anyway.

[She couldn't say he was incorrect, even if she wished to believe it. They had sentenced those people to death without trial or process or even proof... so she couldn't dismiss the idea that they'd do more things that were wrong, but...]

I've tended theirs just as freely as I have tended to our own-

[As much as she disliked what had happened, being recruited like this... ALASTAIR's team had become "hers". "Ours".]

If they cannot respect that... I will threaten to not do so anymore.

[But only threaten- she couldn't actually consider leaving someone injured or wounded just because of their affiliation...]

[He leans over on his knees to regard her sharply, his drink held between them in his hands. He's not really a hard guy to read most of the time, but right now it's tough to say if he disapproves of this declaration or not, or if he's doubting her resolve, or if he's doubting it'll help at all. The truth is, he's not as confident in any of this as he'd like, and he'd hate to fuck it up any more than he has. He's not well versed in this kind of maneuvering—more often than not he solves his problems by battering against them until they go away. This is something of a more complex situation. The whole mission is. He's a little at a loss as to what to do next, and he can't be everywhere he wants to be at the same time.

Eventually, as if accepting this—]

Don't start anything you're not willing to follow through with. [Because push comes to shove, sometimes you need to do something ugly to survive, and hesitating is the worst thing to do in that situation. That said.] Don't let 'em push you guys around, either.

[He's seen her stand her ground, he's not too worried about that. She's got this new guy, and she'll have Masamune when he's back on his feet. If she's got backup and nerve, it could suffice plenty. Which reminds him—]

That took a lot of guts, what you did the other day.

[What she did the other day.

Sieglinde's shoulders dropped slightly, expression clouding over a bit further at the reminder. The physically grueling trek to the jail, the fear that had seized her at the idea that those inside would be executed, the nervousness she'd felt trying to smuggle in medicine and lie.

All of that which she knew couldn't be compared to the pain suffered by those actually imprisoned.]

... It wasn't- I was scared.

[Which sort of felt like it cancelled out bravery... even if she knew she had at least managed to do some good.]

[Not the reaction he was expecting to get, to be honest. He looks at her like he doesn't see her point.]

So what?

[Was that supposed to be a secret? So was he, during all that, even if he's faced down bigger monsters and more gruesome threats of death before. Being scared when shit gets bad is normal, it's human, and it's only shameful if you let that make you weak, or selfish, or useless.]

You'd be crazy if you weren't ever scared of anything. It's not like that changes what you did.

[That was the thing of it. Sieglinde knew that she'd be praising someone else if they'd done what she had... but there was something about it being herself that made her reluctant to call it "bravery".

But he did. It made her feel equally good as it did guilty.]

- were they any help? The medicine.

[She hadn't intended for him to get even more hurt as a consequence of her calling out to him.]

[Don't ever blame yourself for his many and varied bad life decisions, Sieglinde, you'll live a happier life that way... And really, there's no point in feeling bad about things you couldn't hope to change or predict, anyway. Of course, avoiding that is far easier said than done, and Eren knows that as well as anyone.

He answers as if it should be obvious.]

Yeah, of course it was.

[There were a lot of people in that cell who were varying degrees of in need. It helped a hell of a lot more than nothing at all. If she needs to hear it out loud to believe it, then that's fine. It's important that she knows it wasn't for nothing. He wouldn't stand for that kind of thinking anyway.]

That was pretty smart.

[Hiding it like that to get around the guards. Clever in a way he isn't really wired to consider.]

[Of course it was.

It was as simple as that, but Sieglinde truly had just needed to hear it. She sagged a bit into her chair in relief, expression softening. It helped. - That was good.]

I read it in a story, once.

[She couldn't take credit for the idea, but. She was glad it had worked.]

If anyone still needs it, I have more...

[They were free from the prison, but they weren't free from further threat... and she knew she only a fraction of those captured had made it through her makeshift hospital the previous night.]

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EVENT ★ THE USUAL SUSPECTS

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