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[h2][color=darkorchid][i][b]Victoria Belmont[/b][/i][/color][/h2][i][b][color=9932cc]Half-Elf, Bard, Level 5[/color][/b][/i]
[color=9932cc][i][b]HP:[/b][/i][/color] 33 / 33	[color=9932cc][i][b]Armor Class:[/b][/i][/color] 16	[color=9932cc][i][b]Conditions:[/b][/i][/color] N/A
[color=9932cc][i][b]Location:[/b][/i][/color] Southmoor (Healer's Home)
[color=9932cc][i][b]Action:[/b][/i][/color] N/A
[color=9932cc][i][b]Bonus Action:[/b][/i][/color] [color=dimgray][i][b]Familiar[/b][/i][/color] stuff
[color=9932cc][i][b]Reaction:[/b][/i][/color] N/A
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[right][img]https://i.ibb.co/ZzgLdXRt/Victoria-Alt-8-ss2.png[/img][/right]
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[center][hider=Healer's Cottage][img]https://i.ibb.co/Kjt2pXrP/Healers-Home.jpg[/img][/hider][/center]

	[color=9932cc]"Surgical tools,"[/color] muttered Victoria. She rose and pushed her chair back under the table they had been sitting around, then took the latest book into the other room to follow instructions. Annick had one formidable selection of these, many often redundant in their use and a few tools which were very specific of use. Many of them, to Victoria's inexpert reckoning, seemed unnecessary. But this was not her forte to pass judgement upon. She took to her instructions and matched up the descriptions of the items with the items themselves, and transcribed them into the new, blank pages. She sighed. The Bard had often read and sung stories of teachers putting their students through interesting tasks for the purpose of teaching them my immersion, like their minds would solidify around the knowledge by themselves by virtue of overwhelming presence, like a pugilist callousing their knuckles by slamming them into burning hot sand. 

	Victoria's mind, while more agile than average, might yet have preferred a more traditional educational setup for purely intellectual enterprises like this. Yet she found out that she was, in fact, retaining knowledge. Many of the tools she was cataloguing had become familiar to her, as were their general uses. She had, in her time with the Medician, even put a few of them to use on the people in the town of Southmoor. The accident at the lumberyard came to mind from weeks ago. Still, she was here to learn the trade and get information, not reminisce on simple surgery. So she put pen to ink, ink to paper, and copied the information from the books to the blank paper. And like a good student, made sure to clean and polish the tools, careful to finish with a diluted spirits solution as instructed. 

	As she worked, Annick came into the room to observe her progress. There was a token showing of looking over the tools and her writing, but ultimately the reason for her presence became apparent. A mug of hot, spiced tea was set down in front of Victoria, and the older lady opened conversation. [color=darkgray][b]"I suggested that you ask me about something that fell under my experience. I'm not a wizard, Miss Belmont. I have a soldier's background. I know what I've seen and what I've done, and I have years fighting against different sorts of undead as part of a large or small unit. We weren't heroes. You want to talk to a war hero, go speak to Gregory. I was a combat medician. We relied on intelligence and tactics. So tell me, what you know of [i]this problem[/i], and what can you reference about it?"[/b][/color]

	Victoria looked at her mentor with some annoyance, but quickly smoothed over her features. [color=9932cc]"The Knight and I have both been having dreams, like we were leaders in an army that stopped somewhere in these moors, murdering and enslaving everyone around. I think it may be connected with what's going on here. According to what we've heard, there have been strange things happening and it has gotten worse recently. There's..."[/color] Victoria paused for a moment, unsure whether continuing would or would not be a break of some unspoken trust with Lizbeth but ultimately speaking, [color=9932cc]"...something about the girl, Lizbeth. When we first met, she used magic to fix my favorite coat, from where a Goblin arrow hit me. She's been changing though. Still a bright, happy girl, but different. I suspect she's been using magic in other ways, too. And sometimes, I could swear that she's, well, [i]dead[/i]. Or undead, maybe. But just sometimes, if that makes sense."[/color]

	[color=darkgray][b]"I see,"[/b][/color] remarked Annick suspiciously. [color=darkgray][b]"You have some affection for the girl. But tell me more about the Prince you were yammering about before."[/b][/color] She crossed her legs in her seat and raised her own mug of tea to her lips, took a steamy sip, and cleared her throat. 

	[color=9932cc]"Certainly,"[/color] responded Victoria. She went on to discuss every interaction with the seemingly intelligent force behind the appearances of Undead upon the Vineyard grounds, detailed what she might about the attack on Baronfjord even though it was secondhand, and her own observations which included (among other things) the letters. Draconic which spelled out phonetic Abyssal. That gave Annick some pause, herself. [color=9932cc]"What I wonder is, if this 'Prince' already controls a detachment of an Undead army, then why hasn't there been any movement until now?"[/color]