Robyn immediately sets her deck agent to scanning the matrix for any information on this possible infection then sends out some messages. The first is to Doctor Alfred Mallard, chief of surgery at London General Hospital. She has worked with him numerous times and might be able to get someone at the hospital to tell what to do.
>>Doctor Mallard, by service animal has apparently been infected by some sort of disease that is attacking his dual nature. I need information and perhaps help if I am to save him. Can you please ask about the hospital to see if anyone there has any experience with this sort of thing? I have been told that the infection might be something called FAB III, but I have no means of diagnosing that for sure, nor do I have any real knowledge of it. Please help me save my companion.<<
The next is to the Old One. >>Master. It appears that we have fallen afoul of something designed to eat magic over time. My Hell Hound seems to be especially vulnerable and I am afraid of losing him. I have been told that a cleansing spell can fix us but that we are all now acting as some sort of carrier and that to move from the tunnel we are in would expose everyone in Below to what we have. One of us says he believes the effects seem to indicate that we are affected by FAB III. Do you know what this is? Can you help me by sending someone who can cleanse us? Please?<<
The third and fourth messages are to the Harlequinade and Doc Pax, again asking for help and information. The performers seem to know a lot and Pax is the surgeon in Below that put Robyn back together. She used some sort of awakened plant to heal the Keeb and maybe she has something that will help Al.
After sending the fourth message, Robyn crafts an ARO that she places as far as possible ahead and behind them to act as a warning that there is a serious contagious infection in the tunnel and telling people to stay away. It also states that anyone with the ability to cast a magical cleansing would be well compensated for their help.
Robyn lets the team know what she has done. "I have sent messages to London General, the Harlequins, a specialist doctor I know in Below, and to The Old One asking for information and help. I have also placed AROs out in the tunnel ahead and behind us to warn others to stay away unless they can cast magical cleansing. Now I am going to climb back on my Mule and go into VR space to see if there is someone in the Market who can help us. There is an entire level devoted to magic and someone there might be able to help. I will search the host directory and send out a warning and a plea."
Done, Robyn climbs back onto the drone and sinks into her world. The host of the Market offers a mark and she slips in, going to the magic level. Here she casts about for a directory and begins wandering through the stalls carrying an ARO that indicates that she is looking for someone to help with some sort of sterilization magic. She has some hits from people who are initially interested but back off when told that FAB III might be involved. Finally, a woman signals to her from one of the stalls, asking for details. Robyn explains that she and five other people, plus a Hell Hound seem to have contracted a parasite that strongly resembles FAB III in its effects. She is concerned with the possibility of passing this parasite on to others in Nightside and so the team is currently holed up in the access tunnel to the Underplex. The woman nods and tells Robyn that this is very serious indeed. She pauses to think and Robyn chimes in with an offer to pay what is needed for help, be it money or favors, at which the woman smiles and says that her price would include both and that Robyn must pay the price. Leary but a bit desperate, Robyn agrees and the woman tells her to wait, disappearing into the stall and talking to someone before returning with a satchel. She introduces herself as Zhao Lin and promises to be at the tunnel as quickly as she can, and that she will bring a friend, telling Robyn that the friend's price is included in hers. Robyn's avatar nods and slips from the host back to AR and then the meat world.
Robyn wakes up and lets her companions know what is happening. "I have contracted with a pair of mages from the Market to help us. They will be here shortly. I do have a question, though. Is the equipment also affected as a carrier, or just us and my companion?"
