A Burden of Blood

Amicia captured by the Beast

## Trophies

"**A Burden of Blood**" is the third chapter of *A Plague Tale: Requiem*.

## Plot

### Synopsis

> Vaudin, Amicia and Lucas return to the de Rune home in the red city. Vaudin began to study Hugo's sickness, but his treatment led the boy to have a seizure. Amicia and Lucas went to search for calming herbs. They learned that the rats had started attacking some areas of the red city and fought against the Count's army, who'd begun a blind purge on the inhabitants in an attempt to contain the bite. Amicia plunged again into violence, which overwhelmed her and led to their arrest. The duo is sentenced to die but Lucas reminds Amicia of her responsibilities and she pulls herself together. They both escape, just in time to bring back the plants.
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### Summary

#### Crossing the Town

Béatrice sends Amicia and Lucas to get nightshade, which she and Vaudin need to calm Hugo's tremors.

Amicia and Lucas cross the rainy Red City. Amicia is furious with Vaudin and feels he has been treating Hugo like an animal, but Lucas insists she needs to give him more time, and he is the most competent in his domain. She suggests pursuing Hugo's dream for a solution, but Lucas doesn't believe it is a viable option. They reach the butcher's district just as the rain starts to clear up.

#### Butcher's District

Venturing further, they find their path blocked; soldiers are denying a crowd of citizens entrance through the district under the authority of the Count, claiming it is for their own safety. Lucas finds a path for himself and Amicia through a back alley, originally believing it is someone's home, but they find it to be the butcher's dump; an area where animal bones, flesh, and other waste is discarded. They wade through the disgusting sludge together.

A cart blocks their path. They lose control while pushing it, and when it crashes, rats burst from the earth. Upon hearing a scream, they realize the district hasn't been evacuated because the soldiers locked up the exits knowing they were condemning those inside to die. They believe the herbalist may still be safe because he is outside the city.

#### Rodric's Tool

While making their way through the district, Amicia and Lucas stumble across a soldier. They tell him they are just passing, but he says his orders are that no one gets out. Amicia kills him with her sling in self-defense. They find soldiers have been purging the district by killing townsfolk.

Lucas reminds her how to craft Exstinguis. They kill another soldier by dousing a light and letting rats devour him.

They overhear soldiers being ordered to move dead bodies out of the city, with the reasoning that the more dead there are in the streets, the more rats show up. Amicia and Lucas know that moving the bodies out will only make the rats follow.

#### The Gate

Amicia and Lucas open the portcullis, but the crank has no brake, so they have to run to get outside before it closes behind them.

Amicia tells Lucas about the island fresco in Vaudin's laboratory, and Lucas says he will try to ask him about it. Moving off of the topic, Amicia notes that the herbalist lives at the edge of a forest, and they must be close.

The houses outside the city gate are deserted and give Amicia and Lucas an uneasy feeling. They see no bodies, blood, or signs of a fight. They find a body, but it hasn't been eaten by rats, and Amicia deduces they were likely killed by soldiers.

#### At the Edge of the City

Further into the village, they find rats and soldiers.

One soldier can be overheard complaining that the Count made a mistake trusting the Beast, and that they don't even know if the people they kill are sick. Another protests that the Beast is taking action, which is necessary to keep the men from panicking.

The soldiers escort the herbalist into the village, where he dies. Amicia starts to panic but Lucas tells her he knows what nightshade looks like, and if they make it to the herbalist's shop, they will be able to find it themselves.

#### At the Herbalist

When they reach the shop, Lucas tells Amicia to look for a purple flower in the shape of a star. They check every purple flower but cannot find it. They find the florist, the herbalist's wife, dead. Amicia is furious.

They find nothing inside the herbalist's house, but out back there are soldiers, led by the Beast himself, searching for any people hiding and anything useful to take. Lucas asks Amicia what they should do but finds her in no state to help; she is panicking over their failures and worrying for Hugo. She is dizzy, her heart is pounding, and she isn't breathing. Lucas insists on going ahead on his own. She agrees.

Alone in the house, Amicia tries to calm herself. She soon hears soldiers capture Lucas and is forced to go after him herself. She finds him in a barn being interrogated by a soldier. Lucas tells her he found the nightshade and they have to go, but Amicia is sick of running, and holds her ground. As more and more soldiers enter, she kills them all in a blind rage. Her slaughter is only ended when the Beast, fully armored, storms inside and captures her and Lucas.

#### In Prison

They are brought to the dungeon in the soldier's fort, at the highest point in the Red City. Lucas confronts Amicia about her behavior. She is terrified and says she can feel her mind going; he reassures her that she is strong, and her reaction is natural, but she has to be better for Hugo. He tells her that on her command he can do something to help them escape.

The Beast enters the dungeon to escort them to their execution. Amicia's equipment and inventory has been taken away, but Lucas throws something into the fire, stunning the Beast and the guards, allowing them to escape. He calls the concoction Stupefacio.

Amicia and Lucas run through the dungeon, then close and lock a large metal door behind them, locking the Beast inside. They escape onto the roof and make their way across the fort's ramparts. Without Amicia's sling, they are forced to use stealth and Lucas' Stupefacio to make their way through the fort.

Soldiers are stocking the fort for a siege; they expect that when the city learns of the plague, they will try to escape, and when they cannot, they will turn on the soldiers.

#### The Warehouse

Amicia and Lucas reach a depot. Amicia recovers her inventory and sling. Looking outside the doors, there are guards stationed outside blocking the exit. They use a ballista and Stupifacio to burst the doors open and create a cloud of confusion. Amicia and Lucas escape the fort.

Back at the de Rune house, when Béatrice asks what took so long, Lucas covers for Amicia and tells her they had to wait because the herbalist was out of the house when they got there.

## Trivia

* One of the sub-chapter titles, "Rodric's Tool", references Rodric from *A Plague Tale: Innocence*.

## Gallery

Lucas being interrogated by a soldierSoldiers deny townsfolk entry to the butcher's district

Navigation

* I – Under a New Sun
* II – Newcomers
* III – **A Burden of Blood**
* IV – Protector's Duty
* V – In Our Wake
* VI – Leaving All Behind
* VII – Felons
* VIII – A Sea of Promises
* IX – Tales and Revelations
* X – Bloodline
* XI – The Cradle of Centuries
* XII – The Life We Deserve
* XIII – Nothing Left
* XIV – Healing Our Wounds
* XV – Dying Sun
* XVI – King Hugo
* XVII – Legacy of the de Rune Family