Artimus's Journal Part 3

[Written by Jaime, Artimus's player after Curse of the Crimson Throne Episode 7]

We found Noark. He had been using a hospice building as cover and during the night took people from the streets and took them into a secret lab beneath to building to use as test subjects.

He says that he's been developing a disease that will kill all the low born people of Korvosa, the Varisians at least, and the fact that he has made a disease that specifically does this is facinating!

It was revealed to me that Noark was not the mastermind behind this operation and infact it was someone else pulling the strings. But what I didn't expect was that he was working for the Queen! It is apparent that the Queen is going to use the disease to kill all the low born people of Korvosa and the priestess who seemed to be in charge - Andaisin - told me that this was because they didn't fit the Queen's image of a perfect city.

I find myself at a bit of a crossroads. I was asked to help in the creation of the disease as they were trying to tune it to raise the dead after they had passed and this would be an interesting thing to accomplish but... though the people of this city mean nothing to me I feel I must help them. So I am helping Noark so that I can find out more about the disease and hopefully I will find a cure for it.

Though i have little time. Coins coated in the plague have been placed in a bank and will be circulated soon. If i don't find a cure fast... A large chunk of Korvosa will die.

((The next few pages are filled with more strange symbols and the readers of the journal realise that Artemis has created his own language that he uses to document important information or questions for him to look back on later, a sort of advanced shorthand.))

It's been a few days now and I've found out several things about the disease. It takes a few days to manfest after the infection, and the people that are infected but don't know it yet are contagious. This means that it will spread and no one will know what has happened until alot of people have been infected already.

Varisians make up about 40% of the total population of Korvosa and approximately 50% are Varisian and Chillaxian half breeds. This may become useful for if it only affects the Varisians and not Chillaxians then there may be something that chillaxians have that makes them immune and it may be present in the halfbreeds.

((Theres a small break where he's documenting more things that you suspect has relevence to what was just written before a hastily written paragraph below it, obviously written either under stress or maybe just that Artemis was caught up in the moment))

The Disease isn't perfect! I just found out that the healthier of the populace can withstand the disease and fight it off! Noark projects that 'such specimens are rare at best and about 90% of the people it infects will still die' but this means that there is an antibody the healthier people produce that kills the disease. I doubt I will be able to get close to the specimen that withstood the disease - he may already have been killed because he survived but if I can get a hold of someone strong, infect them and wait for them to fight off the infection then I can use him to find a cure for the disease! This was the breakthrough I was waiting for! I might even be able to produce a vaccine to immunise the people so that they are never infected in the first place...

Noark is coming. May the next passage I write be-

((It cuts off, hastily shut the wet ink of the last few words is smudged against the opposite page and illegible))