Another typical day in Ontus. I will say that the increased output from the Carvain Ranch and the Raxalee Quarry has been impressive. I don’t know what the ranch overseer and the quarry boss are feeding their workers, but whatever they’re doing lately is certainly paying dividends.
The town healer, Nevama, reports another worker has come down with a debilitating fever. Stress? Overwork? I asked her to keep me updated.
* * *
Broke up a fight at the Stonechip. Gamblers arguing over the outcome of a game. Ghrakug didn’t want me to make a fuss, so I just sent the combatants back to their parts of town with a warning.
Three more workers have come down with what the healer is referring to as fatigue fever, two from the ranch and one from the quarry. Blames it on exhaustion. I should speak with the overseer and quarry boss about maybe scaling back a little on their current work pace.
* * *
The healer gave me a rundown on the effects of this mysterious illness. The inflicted become extremely tired and too weak to move. A terrible fever grips them and they become delusional as they burn with sickness. As the illness progresses, they fall into a deep sleep from which she can’t awaken them. And all this from workers who were extremely strong and healthy the last time she checked on them. Very strange.
* * *
The first four workers who fell ill died today. Two worked at the ranch, and two worked at the quarry. The healer can’t put her finger on the cause as yet, but she is concerned that both the ranch and the quarry seem affected. So far, no one who doesn’t work at either of these places has come down with this fatigue fever.
* * *
I visited the ranch and the quarry on my rounds today. Even with a third of their workforce down with fatigue fever, both enterprises were fully engaged and appeared to be thriving. I never saw old Gelw Vashreef heft such a large crate of stone before or move so quickly. And Dalenn Forster at the ranch put on a show with how fast she loaded the wagons bound for the market in Skingrad. It was almost uncanny.
* * *
More deaths from fatigue fever. The healer explained that at the end, the fever led to convulsions and foaming at the mouth before death finally took them. And I heard that Gelw and Dalenn have come down with the illness. I wish we could help them all somehow.
* * *
Healer Nevama sent me a note that she thinks she figured out something important about fatigue fever. I’m going to go meet with her now.
* * *
I arrived to find the healer on the floor, gripped by convulsions and foaming at the mouth. She died in my arms, the first person not directly tied to the ranch or the quarry to succumb to fatigue fever. Her healer’s log was missing. This is now looking more and more like a crime, not just a simple illness. I need to determine what she was going to tell me before she was silenced.
* * *
I’ve set up appointments to talk to Ranch Overseer Merrarq, Quarry Boss Laurina, and Ghrakug at the Stonechip. After that, I plan to interview Baron Carvain and Lady Raxalee about whatever processes led to their increased productivity and how it could be connected to fatigue fever. If someone did cause this illness and killed all these people, including the healer, I will see them brought to justice.
