Sir Ulath helps Felix drag the peasants to the side of the road; once that's done, though, he takes hold of Felix' shoulder and offers a word of advice. "Wait." Sir Ulath keeps watch over the peasants, presumably in case they should awaken unexpectedly.

Nathan takes his medical kit and draws a blood sample from one of the peasants who was beaten unconscious. There's not much he can do with it outside a properly appointed lab, but if he gets it back to the Ship...

Arkady turns on the radio. There's a bit of interference, but the voice at the other end is (mostly) clearly audible; "David here, anyscreee to report?"

"Arkady here. We need the doctor's advice. Here is the situation."
He gives a rundown, then: "So what do we have about wasps controlling their prey, and how do we induce comas in the victims with what we have?"

"Let me get Dr. Vanderscreeee."



"Inducing comas is straightforward. You'll want to take medical kit D and -" Dr. Vanderbilt describes the procedure, making sure to be detailed and occasionally repeating herself when asked.

"There are two other points to be aware of. Firstly, there have been cases of people spontaneously waking up from even induced comas. It's extremely rare, buscreeeeeer luck, it's better safe than sorry. For this reason, keep the patients restrained - ropes will help. The two with broken bones should also be secured against jostling in some way. Secondly, you will need to keep them hydrated. For this an intrascreeeenous fluid replacement will work. You'll need to take medical bag C and -" Further detailed instructions follow.

"I've never heard of anything like this on a huscreeele before. I can find some articles, but they're all on insects as the victims. I'm going to have to start with a thorough battery of tests on these poor people. Please scree them in as soon as you screeeeee."

Felix begins following the doctor's instructions to the best of his ability.

Arkady turns to the only one present who didn't understand the conversation on the radio. "Sir Ulath: our doctor told us how to drug them so they will stay in a deep sleep, and then warned us that we should tie them up just in case one of them has a very rare reaction to the drugs. Now how does one seek a seeker?

"Quick question. Can the Seeker see out of its victim's eyes?" Felix asks. He doesn't want to take the chance of delivering spies into the heart of the colony.

Nate helps Felix bind the prisoners, and preps them for for an induced coma, and medical treatment for those who are wounded.

"Same way one seeks anyone else," says Sir Ulath. "Find out which way it went and follow it."



"No," says Piper. "But it can tell if they've entered battle, or if they're still alive."

Felix begins to deal with the prisoners, following the doctor's instructions:

Felix: Science: +3 Roll: +0 Total: +3 Target: +3

The procedure is fairly complex and counterintuitive, especially with only their field kit to work with. It stretches Felix' medical knowledge to the limit, but does not pass that limit. Nathan steps up to assist -

Nate: Survival: +4 Roll: +0 Total: +4 Target: +3

- and though Nathan has some good ideas (and, more importantly, a second pair of hands) all he really does is help Felix get finished faster. The peasants are tied down in the back of one of the trucks (and, for obvious reasons, all the guns and anything that might count as a weapon are moved to the other truck). They should be good there for at least as long as it takes to get back to the Ship; but if you want them to have the best chances of survival, you should probably head straight back to the Ship at once.

In the process of inducing comas for these five peasants, you also use up the last of some of your medications. You won't be in a position to induce any more comas until you can get replacements from the Ship.

"Time to head back to the ship, then," Felix says. "Let's hope we can actually find a cure for these poor sods and that this wasn't a waste of valuable time."

"I can take these Yahoo's back to the ship if you guys want to keep going. Its probably best we pay our taxes on time, and frankly, a cathedral full of old men all scheming their plots is not my idea of a good time unless you don't mind the whole place being reduced to rubble. I can catch up with you at the city later.

Arkady shakes his head. "From what Piper has said, the seeker is thinking the trap worked. They fought, they are alive, so they must have won the fight. Now is when we are needing to find it, before it realizes it needs to make more slaves."

"The Seeker isn't that smart," says Piper. "To have left a trap like this - the Seeker is likely being puppeted directly by Azash. And Azash won't be easily fooled. He can see a limited amount of the future - if there's even a chance that you might one day thwart him, then he'll know you're still alive."

"So we find it and kill it before it becomes a greater problem down the line?" Felix shrugs. "Maybe these men will know where it is once we fix them up."

Arkady looks at Piper. "I am hating to ask, but can that power see us directly? Or is it needing to use servants or worshipers to do that?

Piper scrunches up her face as she thinks about the answer. "It's not quite -" She gestures helpessly. "You don't know the right words. But, um - think of it as if Azash can read a very well-researched history book that won't be written for a hundred years. It's - very much not like that - but that might be a useful way to think about it."