Othmar gives Thia an intense look after noticing the symbol on her sleeve. Seeing that Thia is awaiting his reaction, he adds: "How did the Marshal take that?  Bet she was close ta have you all locked up, right? Don't blame her, she's got her reason's not to trust someone with that symbol on their sleeve. Why does a woman of medicine wear it, anyway?"

Gyselle moves closer so that she can hear better, very intrigued by the conversation, it looks like she is hanging on every single word from both Thia and Leech. 

Thia would take in a deep breath. She wants to choose her words wisely, but in political, heck perhaps all social situations, she still wouldn’t know what the right thing to say would be even if it bit her in the face. So the scholar defaults to truth and facts. “Admittedly, I thought I asked all the questions I needed when I agreed to bare the symbol. To my recollection, I had no knowledge of their political agenda, or that they had much of one.” The artificer would adjust her jaw and start rubbing her forehead again, sighing at herself as she’d search her memory. She didn’t even bother asking. “My focus was, and still is, just that. Medicine. Tending to those sick and wounded without judgement. My involvement and interest strictly lies in the interest of doing just that.” Thia would pinch the bridge of her nose for a moment before letting it go and moving her hand away from her face. “As naive as it may be, it’s the truth. I was approached and asked to help. I did.”

Tarian squatted down and placed a hand on Njalgas’s shoulder. "That’s... well, not good, but it certainly could have been worse. The telelith... it only sends messages to Sparks, right? And this is the only one, yes?" She stood, looked at the marshal's tent, then back down to Njalgas. "Our only problems are here if that’s so."

Tarian stopped, scrunched her eyes and massaged her forehead. "Please tell me that it's so. But after that, tell me the truth: does it only contact Sparks?"

Tarian eased slightly and turned with a slightly worried look to Brandt. "A soldier's assessment of this camp sounds awful good right now. You know, just in case."

Njalgas nods: "Yes, that's the only one, but its messages go to Corsyr, not Sparks, Sparks gets contacte after. But yes, there is no way to change receivers with the prototype." He seems to wince a bit, clearly he would have preferred you not knowing that Corsyr had in fact been keeping tabs on them this whole time. Seeing the situation for what it is though, he's giving you the truth, as far as you can tell.

--------------------------------

Othmar takes a long breath: "Hmmm... it might be we both have part of the puzzle then. To the Marshal, and most of the men in this camp, that's the symbol of the fanatic that killed General Viktor, the Supreme Commander of the legions... The assassin slit his throat as soon as the deed was done, so we never got more out of him. In time, we learned of the presence of the Veiled Valour, but in her mind, the Marshal saw it as a secret society aimed against the Legions. To you, they are a bunch of civilian medics that treat the wounded and help refugees? Well, there are things more curious than we might comprehend... I'm glad to hear your reasons for joining them to be so pure though. I know all too well how one can be sullied by association, and I won't hold that symbol against you. Just, as a piece of advice, try to hide it or change cloaks, as long as you're in the camp.

"The Garronians here aren't as strong as we were told. There's a bunch of different units here all mixed together. And even if every tent was packed full, there's no more than 200 men here, and that's counting the wounded." 

Thia appreciated Othmar’s honesty. She wouldn’t ignore the possibility of the Veiled Valour being a part of something she knew little about. The notion that there is more to this puzzle is definitely something the scholar could believe. And she wanted it to be for the right reasons. The artificers eyes would lose focus as she’d pull words from her memory, “War, violence, greed, it is the rock. Our hope, our will and our devotion is the water. Through perseverance, we will change this world, until war and devastation are things of the past.” Thia’s fingers would trace the symbol on her jacket before she’d take the dwarfs advice and fold her sleeve over to hide it while in the camp. She’d then look to Othman, “I appreciate your insight.” Her tone was genuine and she’d open her mouth to say something, but then stop for a moment to re think. The medic will rub her forehead and correct her posture before letting out a sigh. “I must ask... who is the man who whispers in the Marshall’s ear?”

Othmar's face twisted, as if he had tasted something bitter: "Ishmael Hadrari... He met the Marshal as an envoy from the Trade republics. She kept him around. He'd been helping her in Cyre, and all the time since then. She seems to value his company, though I can't see why you'd want to keep someone around that deals in manipulations and deceptions..." With that, Othmar fell silent again, before changing the subject:

"Your friend, the 'forged. Is she as skilled as you in the medical arts? Any spare set of hands would be welcome, particularly if they don't tire... I mean, I assume they don't?"

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Njalgas is perking up at Brandt's assessment: "And there's no possibility that the rest is out on scouting duty or scavenging for supplies?" You had all noticed the laughably small supply stores being checked over by some sergeantsof the support company.

"At most" He whispers "there's two dozen tents here. Now I'm sure that they have scouts and scavengers, but judging from the size of this camp, I don't think that there's some large force waiting in the wings. And even so, it doesn't change the fact that this a patchwork group."

At this point, Arc comes out from the tent he was led to and looks about before spotting and approaching Thia, "Ah, Thia, mind if I get your insight on this for a moment?" He then glanced at Othmar, realizing he might have intervened on a conversation, "....unless you're already occupied?"

Thia would go to open her mouth to comment on something prior to the subject change when Arc would appear. Her eyes would glance to him and her mouth would close. Looking back to Othmar with a polite nod. “Corti has a very dexterous build and a mind eager to learn and absorb. I believe she’s as skilled, perhaps even more so in some ways.” The medic would smile encouragingly. “I don’t want to speak for her, but think she’d be flattered to assist you and Gyselle.”

The artificer will then turn to Arc, ”We were just finishing.” Thia couldn’t help but be a little surprised he was actually approaching for her assistance. “Sure.” She’d agree, willing to follow him to what he wanted her insight for. 

After receiving that endorsement from Thia, Othmar approaches Corti cautiously: "I'm sorry for the hesitation, but I've seen what others of your kind were built for... Anyways, I'm always happy to have another pair of capable hands, and I'm sure the soldiers here won't mind who patches them up, as long's the job's done well. Fer starters, why don't you go and help Gyselle change some of the dressings on those soldiers over there." Othmar gives a warm smile, hoping Corti would agree to his request.

Hearing her name, Gyselle looks up to Leech, “I could use a hand Corti, if you have mind for it.” Then goes back to tending the wounded. 

Arc would give a cautious glance towards Othmar as Thia and him walked away, before leading her back to the tent with the device. He motions to it and explains, "I was asked to fix, and if possible upgrade the volume output of this here medical instrument. While fixing it is little effort on my part, I was curious and am motivated to upgrade it if possible. So, you being more versed in the medicinal arts than myself, I was hoping you might have some insight?"

Corti smiles, nodding to Thia before she leaves with Arc. She turns to Othmar and replies, "I'd love to." While they work, Corti will strike up a conversation with Gyselle, "So if you don't mind me asking, how did you come to be a medic here?"

Gyselle mood changes almost immediately as soon as Corti’s question is said. “I’ve been with Leech as long as I can remember” she says very slowly and somberly. “I have vague recollections and memories of my families farm in Redwater being attacked by elven raiders.” She pauses for a moment to compose herself. “After that the next I remember is waking up to see Leech standing over me saying ‘everything was going to be okay’”

“He,” Gyselle continues pointing and Leech “saved my life and has looked after me ever since. I admire his selflessness most days and strive to do the same.” Gyselle then pulls out a locket, opens it up and looks at it for a few moments and then closes it. Doing so seems to ‘reset’ her demeanor when she asks Corti “So how did you all end up out here?”

“Ah yes. This is the technology that Leech said he got his name from.” Thia would throw in a fluff comment upon arriving at the device. “I imagine you’ve already sketched up repair plans?” She’d ask. Sometimes reviewing schematics provides a different perspective. This time she has the opportunity to inspect the machine in detail, and she took her time going over it in detail to ensure she had a proper understanding of how it worked. Should Arc provide papers for her to review, she’d happily pour over his work. The artificer would pat her nose as she usually did when she pondered, “If we wish to increase it’s output, it would have to be able to handle an equal input.” She’d point to the intake of blood. To her knowledge, there’s no way to multiply blood. More importantly, there was no accurate way they’d be able to determine patients with the same blood types, let alone match them to a same machine for safe treatment. “We have to do it without cross contamination. Each patient’s fluids must be handled independently.” Her eyes would trace the mechanisms and land on the portion that administers medication. Is this an antitoxin? The antitoxin I’m hoping to make? The alchemist would stare at the liquid for a long while before blinking away. “We have to expand on it, and/or make it more efficient. Especially this pump.” Thia would look to the pump before looking to Arc, wondering if he’s already come to those conclusions himself. She will point to the medicine in the device before adding a rough thought out loud, “I’m curious if I could consult with Leech or Gyselle on the other component. If we are able to concentrate the treatment, safely, perhaps it could free up some space and components to make your improvements?” She’d pause. “That way you may be able to finesse the engineering of the device to handle more volume, and perhaps improve the overall quality of the pump?” 

Tarian shrugged, a thoughtful expression on her face. "Corsyr's and Sparks's goals seem to align, so I reckon Corsyr handling the Marshal works, too." She looked around the camp a moment. "But I’m sure we're on our own now."

Brandt seems tense. Well, as a mercenary, he's probably been on the other end of these Garronians' weapons during the war. And with this Marshal's reputation, it probably didn't go well. He's got sense enough to rein in his anger here. I don't know if I could do the same. All the same, if we're going to be locked in for a while, we should find an area to ourselves so we don't push our luck.

"I'd like to see if we could use the wagon as our temporary base while we're detained here. Maybe move somewhere out of the way. And," Tarian scowled as she looked to the cart, "see if they left us any of our belongings when they searched." She looked to Brandt. "It might be safer with backup. Care to join me?"

"Hmmm, in terms of cross contamination, couldn't running a cleaning agent through the pump after each infusion be enough to service it?" Arc was no doctor, and only had a surface level understanding of bacteriology, so wanted to confirm or have his idea of a potential solution, rectified. He also pulled out his detailed drawing of the device, with notes on the mechanical aspects and functionality of the various mechanisms. Beside this drawing and notes, are numerous other notes for many ways to upgrade the item, be it from inscription of runes, to more compact hydraulic presses and even a manual air pump.

"Sure thing."