Journal 11/7/11

It's good news.

When I was on Debreth I went to the church - Fortune on the Waters - almost first thing. I was looking for records, actually. That's where I met Nualla, the parieur I brought back. Anyway, she did get us access to the records. Record keeping on Debreth seems to be messy and more than a bit ineffecient. I guess they had to play with the hand they were dealt after colonization though.

Nualla also showed me the graveyard. Many of the people buried there were Cia's ancestors, and when you go back a little way, and awful lot of people died around Cia's age.

I didn't really want to cause a big mess, so I set people checking on those records and pursued other avenues. It became pretty apparent that the best way forward would be a mass exhumation of Debreth's ancestors, though. I did expect a bit of resistance. Aside from Nualla though, I hadn't found many parieurs worthwhile, and I wasn't exactly dreading making an example of a couple of them to keep the rest in line while we did our digging.

We showed up and the gaggle of old priests tried to make a nuisance of themselves as expected. It was Nualla that ended up handling the situation though. She fell, and when she got up, it was like Fortune Herself was talking through that girl's mouth. The other parieurs took it seriously enough, anyway. She told the head geezer Be Silent! and the old bitch listened.

Then:

I will be found among those who seek me. Do you seek me?

I'm not sure what that means, but I suspect it isn't very good, because none of them did. So, she told them Then go! All of you! There is work to be done here, and you are not the one to do it!

Like Fortune's own drill sergeant. And all the old parieurs ran away like their robes were on fire. It was damn impressive. Nualla claimed she didn't remember it all, afterward, and Rorkulo - the medic we had along - said that Nualla has epilepsy. Regardless, that little teenage girl standing down the crowd of glowering priests isn't something I'll soon forget.

And the good news!

It paid off. The techs say they've IDed the genes that all the people who died of the Stranger's Curse had in common, from those remains. That they have in common with Cia. They just have to figure out what the exact mechanism is, and they should be able to start working on a cure.