Lynn's Gold Elf Cousins

Spring always came to Aglaia Town a little earlier than it did to the rest of the Northlands.

The girls had already begun setting out in groups with little baskets, heading into the woods east of town to gather the first wild greens and berries of early spring.

The great plague was still spreading through the Northlands. Some clever people from Waterdeep walked to Hill's town to see whether they could enter its commercial street. It was their way of finding out whether they carried the plague.

Every inn in town was full.

Even the two little houses beside the Temple of Aglaia were packed with people, a rare sight.

Lynn had prepared for this long ago. After asking Hill, he allowed some refugees to pitch tents on the open ground between the harbor and the Harpers Building.

These people really were pitiable.

The nobles responsible had their sprawling estates. Even if the plague reached them, they had places of their own to hide.

As for those who had suspected the treasures might be dangerous but let greed get the better of them, they were hardly innocent. At this point, they were even less willing to leave those cities.

Only by staying could they force the powerful people above them to find a cure in order to preserve their rule.

If they left, they might well be put to death in secret.

It was the people before him—those who had nowhere to hide, no idea what to do, and only the hope that the lord of the nearest town might show them mercy—who were truly at a loss.

Hill refused entry to the desperate people carrying black mist, but he let these innocents in.

Still, he could not care for these latecomers as generously as he had in the past,