The Outpost

Previously on "The Outpost"...

Talon, you will love being part of the United.

United?

Talon, you should be joining us, not fighting us.

You've killed her!

No, it's not possible.

And what brings you all this way?

We've come to bring peace to your village.

We'll find a way to stop Yavalla from turning us all into her puppets,

but we need to do it together.

Talon! Talon! Talon!

Keep your distance.

Greetings, friends.

We're looking for Queen Rosmund.

We believe she and Baron Aegisford may have passed this way.

Queen Rosmund shared her message of peace with us.

- We were joined with her. - Well, that confirms it then.

This thing has already spread throughout the Realm.

You are the traitors.

The traitors from the Outpost.

We were warned about you.

Should I send in the Lu-Qiri to kill them all?

Why would we do that? They haven't done anything wrong.

- They're possessed. - They're people.

- We can't just massacre them. - No, she's right.

None of them chose to be infected by a kinj.

If we don't do something soon, they're just gonna spread it even further.

So we should just go around killing everyone

unlucky enough to come in contact with a kinj?

By the looks of things, you'd have to kill hundreds,

if not thousands to keep it from spreading.

Greetings, Talon.

Glad to see you're in good health.

- I don't know you. - If you could only experience

what it's like to be united with so many in complete harmony.

- I tried to share it with you. - Yavalla.

Wonder how far away she can be and still talk through them.

There's no distance I can travel and not be connected to the United.

Why are you doing this? These people are innocent.

Their lives were without meaning.

A never-ending cycle of poverty,

violence, and suffering.

Now, they only know unity and peace.

- This is not peace. - There's no enmity between them

and they're happy.

Is that not the very definition of peace?

I've been watching Janzo and Wren.

Janzo was right.

Would you pass Wren a message, please?

Tell her I approve her choice in mate

and I expect them both to come and join me soon.

We're too late to stop it from spreading.

This is already out of hand.

We should get back to the Outpost,

set up a sanctuary for the uninfected

until Janzo and Wren can come up with something.

That's a bad idea, Talon.

Do you want to take charge, Zed?

Because I didn't ask for the job.

No, no. People picked you to lead.

Then let me lead.

Postmaster!

- No one got infected out there? - We had eyes on all.

Seems just a little risky to let anyone back in except for Talon and Zed.

How are you feeling today, Garret?

- Pretty bad. - Good.

It means you're not infected... yet.

Send word to Gertrusha in Aegisford.

Tell them to shut their gates.

They need to go into complete lockdown.

Should I tell them why?

Tell them there's a new plague.

And put out word to anyone who can't lock down their town.

Tell them they can seek refuge at the Outpost.

Talon, are you sure that's wise?

Shouldn't we lock our own gates, not let more people in?

Do we even know if everyone who's already her is free of the infection?

- No. No, we don't, do we? - You both sound like Zed.

We need all the manpower we can get.

We need to protect as many uninfected people as we can.

Right, well, if we're going to allow people to take refuge here,

we need to figure out a better way to detect who's infected.

- So, get on that. - Sure.

I mean, Wren and I were busy trying to find a cure,

but I guess we can do two things at once.

It's not like there's just two people down there in the labs

working morning, noon, and night without any sleep.

I know you'll come through, Janzo. You always do.

Speaking of which, Yavalla says she's been watching you.

Oh, yes. Wren and I think she's still spying on us through the rats.

Rats?

Your mother's definitely watching us through the rats we caught.

Let her. Look. See? There!

That's the mechanism right there.

It reproduces itself.

And now, I bet the rat is ready to pass it.

It's desperate for contact.

The kinj must be compelling it,

almost like a person addicted to drink.

Mm-hmm. Let's see what happens.

- Amazing. - That's it.

Start an hourglass. I need to know exactly how long

this whole reproductive process takes.

All right.

She was an amazing woman.

- Yeah. - But I was frightened of her.

Oh, yeah. Me, too. Never wanted to disappoint her.

Still don't, just in case she's watching.

Don't need her ghost showing up to give me a thick ear.

Mm. I'm feeling pretty useless.

- Not much to do since her Majesty left. - Yeah, yeah.

- Hey, do you want a job here? - Really?

We sure could use the help since Janzo's so busy sciencing.

Are you allowed to offer me a job?

Sure. Mum left the place to Janzo and me.

It's half mine. I can do...

I can do whatever I want.

All right, I accept.

Welcome to the Nightshade.

We'll have to get you one of Mum's barmaid outfits

so you look right for the part.

Mum used to say dresses like that

have a way of making for bigger tips.

Never quite understood why.

- I do. - Munt?

There you are. What's going...

Right. Look, Munt, I need your help, please.

I need you to go and catch me some rats.

- Lots and lots of rats. - Janzo...

It's for science. Chop, chop.

I hate science.

Hey, you want to help me come catch some rats?

Yeah, you do. Come on. There.

Oh, yeah. This will be fun.

I'm telling you, Talon. You're making a big mistake.

You can't bring more people in here until we know they don't have kinjes.

Well, if they aren't acting all happy and peaceful, it's a pretty good tip off.

- You can sort of tell, don't you think? - Oh.

So you're gonna risk the safety of everyone in this Outpost

because you can sort of tell.

Well, that's why we're quarantining them,

to buy us a little time so Wren and Janzo can come up

with a better way to detect kinjes or find a cure.

Who are you? Where are you from?

We are from Landers Mill.

We heard that Outpost is the only safe place.

Come in. There's food, water, and blankets.

Take them to quarantine.

See? Not so hard to spot.

I'm immune to your kinj.

I bring a message of peace and love.

Not to my Outpost, you don't. Now leave.

If you won't let me kill him, we should at least lock him up.

We're going to have a hard enough time feeding the people who aren't infected.

He'll just go out there and infect more people.

Probably, but at least this way no one dies.

Now go on, clear off.

And if you go near any of these people, I'll cut you down myself.

Go.

No one let him near you.

Are you all right?

Any of these people your parents?

Here. Come with me to the front of the line.

Talon. This is crazy.

Yes. But I didn't ask to be making these decisions, okay?

You pushed me into it. So if you have a better plan, I'm listening.

There are no good choices, Zed, just bad and worse.

So until Janzo comes up with a better solution,

we're saving as many uninfected people as we can.

If you'd have let me kill the first batch like I said when we had the chance,

then we wouldn't be in this mess.

You're the one who forced me to summon Yavalla to this world,

so don't be so quick to judge my decisions now.

Ooh. Yeah, this is nice. This is gonna be good.

I'll let you have a turn with the net after this one.

I don't want to hog all the fun myself.

It's all right. You go ahead.

Take as many turns as you like.

Oh, right.

Rats is too low an occupation for a lady like you.

Have you tried cleaning chamber pots?

No.

Ooh. There's another one.

Ooh, lots of rats over here!

Looks like a female hand.

Do you think it was murder?

If you see someone walking around with one hand

and no blood, let me know.

But otherwise, yes.

Yes, I think it was murder.

Well, what happened to the rest of her?

- It was taken by animals? - Could be.

You ever seen that symbol before?

- Yes. - What is it, Talon?

It was burnt onto a wall in our village.

Every time they removed it, it would reappear.

What's it a symbol for?

I don't know.

Every time I asked my mother about it,

she'd get nervous and change the subject.