Kardian McLean

UP: Catskills

    After gathering information from the Delucia Caves I decided that perhaps my next step should be to visit the old Gypsy woman, Tatiana, in Minoc. When I arrived, she was slumped wearily over her table as if a great burden seemed to rest upon her shoulders. I was a bit hesitant to enter but as I turned to leave she spoke to me as if she had seen me. It was almost as if she knew who I was.

That had me a bit unnerved but I decided to enter as she bade. Before I could even utter a word she started telling me a tale of a dread plague approaching. Much of it was the same as I had heard from my previous reports. A plague would come from across the sea she said� only now� it had already arrived.

She told me how a young gypsy girl from her band was brought to her care. She was very ill. All she could discover was that the girl had been found wandering near the entrance to the Delucia caves delirious and very feverish.

Tatiana said that she immediately sent for a group to gather a special kind of ginseng for her from mages that were rumored to be found deep in the mountains. A brave band of adventurers went to the hidden valley located in the mountains Southwest of Trinsic and found it besieged by more of the rogue mages that had been found in the Delucia caves before. A general call for help was sent out to Trinsic and Skara Brae and the mages were routed, thankfully.

One brave soul worked his way through the mages and acquired some of the ginseng and returned it to Tatiana. Tatiana wished me to express her heartfelt thanks to Falcon Strongarm for bringing her the ginseng. With it she has been able to delay the poison but unfortunately more must be done to find a cure she said.

I was able to speak with the young girl, Morwyn, for a short time as well. It seems she was to visit a friend in Delucia and had decided to take the caves there. Usually travelers can make it through safely with little danger. This time, however, she was approached by an older mage in the caves and asked if she could help him in acquiring some reagents. When she returned with what he had requested, he gave her a bit of gold and some food for her efforts. She said that she thanked him and went on. She ate the food almost immediately since it had been so long since her last meal and very quickly she started feeling ill, then she cannot remember what happened. We can only assume that this mage gave her poisoned food.

This leaves me once again with more questions burning in my mind. What did this mage seek to accomplish? Is he the source of this dread plague to come? And how do we find a cure before others end up sick as this poor girl was? I will continue to seek answers and report them here as I find more information. I just pray we can stop this before Tatiana�s predictions come to pass.

From the Town Cryer - The Journal of Ultima Online, Thursday, March 9th 2000