nestaron-ciryatan - Tumblr blog

nestaron-ciryatan · 12 years ago

Text

The Early Medic Days - D28/M01 - I

Day 28 / Month 01 - Part I

3. Dioras of Lisanu 1082 I woke up at five to the still so wonderful feeling of not having a scratch to worry about. What a wonderful morning, especially considering that there was still a slice of this mysterious meat in the fridge. A little chewy compared to yesterday, but still as overwhelming as before. At seven I arrived in Arduni again and saw that 2 houses were completely rebuilt. Dúath seemed to have done this yesterday which was quite impressive... Then again it also meant she had enough trust in me to start rebuilding the city... which out ruled the choice for me to just burn this city down. Curses! A new day a new attempt at the window panes of the armoury shop. And a new failure. This was it, now the gloves were off! I went to the shag again and brought the ten kilo sledgehammer back with me. Maybe Dúath was right to give me these bandages, I had problems lifting it, which I probably would not have had, had I not the extra weight of ten kilo on each arm to carry. Anyhow, I was not able to lift it high enough, there was not enough momentum in my swing and I ended up with pain in my arm muscles. However I would not give up so easily and tried again. This time concentrating and putting more body weight into it. The result was a beautifully splintering window pane that flexed back while breaking and sent hundreds of glittering glass shards into my direction. The pain was indescribable... Hundreds of tiny cuts in my arms and face. I took a deep breath and sat down in a shardless place to patch myself halfway up. As if I could not have seen that coming. After my sores had some minutes of rest, I headed over for the second window pane. This time however placing myself strategically at its rim before attempting such foolish vandalism once more. And with success it seemed. The cloud of glass passed me, leaving me completely unharmed... but for the wounds I was already baring... Four rats were visible through the glass free window now, also some pieces of armour. I took a deep breath and made an entrance which was greeted by three of those little fellows. I killed them and two others fled the store, yet another one as I accidentally knocked a rack over with my staff. Apparently there were 6 of them in total. When I was sure that all rats had left I began examining the shop thoroughly for useful equipment... or hints for that matter. As expected the place held a sizefull amount of various items in store. Everything from helmets, bucklers, gloves, gorgets, clothing and staffholders over daggers, sickles, hellbards, axes, boomerangs and chainscythes to things with wooden handles that I did not even know the name of and strangely enough green, shiny gems... Altogether there were quite some items stirring my interest.

- a grey leather armour of good quality and in somewhat my size - a pair of Desert Traveller Fighter Boots, with natural cooling system - a leather helmet fitting perfectly even when taking my ears into account...

Also, I found a package of picks, which I put to use at the locked door to the smaller room behind the counter. This could not possibly be more difficult than patching up my leg. Admittedly it was somewhat challenging, considering I had never done it before but I did have the feeling for the minuscule differences between the pins. Needles to say with some effort I managed to pick the lock and gained my prize. The room was stocked with special offers. Weapons of higher quality, some gold, silver and gems, different rings all relatively useless to me in the current situation... ... but also a peculiar necklace with an extraordinary beautiful, almost colourless pale, transparent blue double terminated stone... ... Its inner veins making it too imperfect to be a high prized crystal, yet it was here. ... With its soft cyan hue and the smooth almost cool surface. I remember licking the sweat from my upper lip when I, unable to withstand its eery attraction, put it on... Like a sliver of a glacier. I suppose finding something of this look in a hot, dry desert city was akin to a shimmer of hope for me. Cooler days would come, days of piece and restoration. A pleasant feeling of hope spread in my body, so I kept the necklace where it was and decided to return to my search in the room. A pair of gloves caught my attention. They seemed misplaced. Albeit of a silvery metal, they looked old and shabby. Having heard about enchanted weaponry already, I tried them on out of pure curiosity, but nothing happened. I clapped my hands and had a peculiar feeling as if there was more force involved. To investigate this anomaly further I took a helmet between my palms and squeezed. No further pressure was applied, however every small mark, bump and indentation on the helmet's surface was apparent to me. I would not be able to say it for sure without further tests, but apparently these gloves promised an enhanced sense of touch. It was obvious I was going to keep them. The lock had been a challenge that I felt reluctant to repeat, yet the search for a spare key proofed futile. Though elucidating my mood, was what I found while searching, a Lightring which I deliberately added to my loot of sorts... Who knew what good it would possibly be able to do at night against those rats. Without a key, my attempt at leaving the door open a slight gap when returning to the main room was put to waste as the door fell shut behind me. Then again I had taken everything that seemed of use, so my steps led me to the spiral stairs and up to the first floor. The sun was illuminating the view through the glass roof, warming yet bearable and leaving part of the room in dull shadows, like the perfect place to recline in. Bamboo swords leaned against the wall and Kendo training armour on a rack. Clearly due to the sun above, no rats had found their way to this part. The conclusion was that the house had now been cleared of all rats and was save for me to use as a place to retreat if needed. The sun told me that it was roughly around 12, still so much time before the day was over. I sat down for a few minutes to drink, allowing my injuries a moment without strain before I tied my newly required equipment together and secured it at Poldor's harness. The next house on my list was in fact the city hall with its gates wide open. The foyer was sunny and littered with paper, letters it seemed, completed and halfway written. Notebooks as well and corpses which I tried to avoid when picking up the books for skimming through. They were miner journals it seemed, twelve of them had information about rats and strange plans in the mines, so I pocketed those and two Medic logbooks I found as well for having a closer look in the evening. The letters had no news for me, they were mostly pleas for help that had never been sent. Letters written in urgent haste, explaining how fast and dangerous the rats were. It saddened me to read them, considering how much life could have been spared if only these letters had reached their destination. A map appeared under the heaps of paper, displaying the Guildhouses of Medics, Thiefs, Merchants, Alchemists and Craftsmen, the Embassy of Sídhe, a place I was sure to pay a visit even though the thought of what I would find felt unpleasant... Also there was an Embassy of... fish? Looking around in the hall an urge to give these people a propper burial overcame me, but my stomach could not handle the smell and look when I tempted to drag the corpses out into the sun. Searching through the paperworks had taken up 3 hours and now the question was where to go from there. The Embassy of Sídhe was in the outskirts in the direction of our Inn, I would pass it on my way 'home' in the afternoon. The Guildhouse of the Alchemists was in the South. The Merchants' Guildhouse was closest to me and where I directed Poldor after attaching the books to him as well. The house was one of those with a cellar, ground level and first floor. The doors were open like a gaping mouth baring a sight that made my stomach heave and discharge what little content was in it. So many corpses. One bent over the counter, some laying around as if they had just fallen over while working. I could see some closed cabinets and closets, some weapons and cans of probably old food and more corpses, clutching their belongings, befallen by plants some rats sitting between them. As if these people had kept on working their daily routine until the very moment death struck them. I took several steps inside, figuring how far I could go before the rats attacked. They paid no attention to me and continued gnawing at the lifeless flesh of these people. I tried to make my way past them, carefully tiptoing step by step between the bodies. Until I tripped and slipped out with a yelp of surprise, landing face first and open mouthed in a corpse. The feeling of panic and revulsion was intense and mind raping, instantly hauling up gastric acid once again as there was nothing else left to be vomited out. Blinded I staggered out into the open, fingers groping for my water bottle, frantically rinsing out my mouth, rolling myself in the sand like a madman, hysterically rubbing my face with the grainy hot dirt, drying of the goo and mucus and maggots. It took several minutes of that before I dared opening my eyes and fell into a crying fit. I just crawled into a corner opposite of the house, staring at the entry, sobbing slightly and trying to calm down, gasping for the hot dry air. I was not going to go in there again any time soon.

End of Day 28 / Month 01 - Part I

[[1734]]

#D28M01 #Paphyran #The Early Medic Days #Nestaron Ciryatan

0 notes

nestaron-ciryatan · 12 years ago

Text

The Early Medic Days - D27/M01

Day 27 / Month 01

3.Thant of Lisanu 1082 I had a Nightmare again... Though in retrospective I am somewhat glad it was just that... I had dreamt of plants, the exact same plants that I had seen growing in Arduni. However in my dream, they were half-creatures, walking around among the bloody and rotten corpses... And then they started copulating and sat down after they had finished whatever horrible things they did to make me realize they were mating... They sat down and started to grow in the corpses, growing little buds which then bloomed in a beautiful purple with... RATS hatching from the blossoms... Rats that started to run around and gnaw on more corpses. Oh did I mention that the corpses all at an eerie resemblance to... me? ... And then a shadow was cast over my rat-ridden carcass... It was Dúath. Telling me with a smile that I died 2 days ago and my 2 weeks had been over by today so she would start to kill all those people now... I woke up, to my slight horror, in Dúath' arms at around 12. Needless to say, it took me a moment to calm down again before I could ask her some important things I had been too beaten to ask yesterday. For example, if this was supposed to be a save haven... how, apart form being a dragon, did she manage to keep the rats away? I was told my Travelling Medic Master had created a spray that repelled them, keeping them at a good distance unless it was about their bare life. Also it seemed Dúath had pity on me as she proclaimed to help me out if I provided a promising approach to the solution of the rat problem. The same applied if after the two weeks at my disposal, I had not solved the problem but had good clues: I would be given more days. In addition, if it were to take more than half a day to get back to the Inn before sunset, I would be granted a day extra as well, as she definitely did not want me to be out there at night... And if I were to come to the conclusion that the only way to solve this problem was to burn down the whole city, she would do so... However she would only do it for me, as to her there was no difference between lowlifes... For her the rats and plants had no lesser value than the people who had died here. Therefore it seemed unjust to simply kill the rats as they even might have been here before the settlement. The thought of simply setting everything aflame and watching the problem being solved from afar, was appealing, I have to admit that. However, without stating that she had a point there, I had to acknowledge that even the life of the rats and plants was valuable and I should investigate the case further before rashly taking those lifes. After this briefing I asked if it would be a good idea to spray myself and the boar with the rat-repellent. "Do what you want." was her reply... How nice. I chose to wear my own clothes instead of the black robes Dúath had clad me in... I did not even want to think about how she accomplished that while I was fast asleep. Magic, surely magic! My own clean clothes immediately made me feel better and ready to go down into the kitchen for breakfast. I was battered and the memories of the last days lay heavy on my stomach, but I was hungry nonetheless. There was fish and vegetables in the fridge... I sighed deeply... and while I did so... a peculiar smell caught my attention, a smell that seemed familiar yet new and very attractive. Perhaps I had just forgotten how meat smelled... But this, this was the most delicious smell that had ever touched my nose. So very rich and deep, mellow and tender and... so mouth watering... I hesitated shortly before wishing Dúath to hell and roasting it in a pan with eggs and fruits. My expectations were not disappointed, quite the opposite... THIS was by far the most delicious meat my taste-buds ever had have the pleasure to deal with... Great PatPat in the Sky, I could have wallowed in this. It's addiction factor seemed lower, but disturbingly close to rosemary... I shoved the plate away from me with slight surprise and fear about my reactions. Such delicious mystery meat... Anyway, before heading back to Arduni, I sprayed the boar and myself with the repellent for a safer investigation. I was really not looking forward to get eaten by rats if I tried to enter the Travelling Medic Guildhouse. My personal Dragon and Trainer said she was going to start de-ratting the outskirts of the city, in case I needed her help. Which sadly did not take long as I once more failed to summon the pole for the boar. I ended with a clean hole in my palm, hence I rode back out to Dúath. Who was luckily found rather quickly and as usual not pleased about me... neither about me being yet again unable to speak Dragon so she only very reluctantly healed my hand and sent me off with a friendly: "Don't screw up again!" And off to the Travelling Medic Guildhouse I was again. A very careful approach towards the doors, the rats sat in the shadows as expected, they squeaked loudly and viciously and their fur stood on end. In addition some of them seemed to be as big as dogs. Yes, yes these rats were bigger than those I had encountered before. Another proof of my theory that the Guildhouse was the epicentre of this catastrophe. And another followed on the foot when I literally had barely set a foot into the building and they attacked me despite of the Spray, apparently it was about their bare life or that of their offspring. They tried to bite me and I protected myself with my staff. Not all of them managed to get through my defence, those that did not, ended dead or incapacitated. My wounds were few and of lesser nature so I continued to push forward. Five more of these enlarged rats welcomed me with slavering fangs and now I did start to feel their bites sting. While attempting to save my hide I received some rather painful injuries in a rather private area. And those bastards followed me out, biting me all over, trying to parry did not help either so I had to fight them to the death in the sun. Which was not half as amusing as it sounds. I sat down in a sunny place and bandaged myself up. Every step I made ached in my hip and they had even managed to cause haematoma under Dúath's weighted bracers. However I have to admit that by now I had gotten somewhat used to the weight, which definitely meant I made some progress. The enormous rats that had followed me out were dead and I had not seen others like them so I gave it another try. On which 4 normal rats attacked me, four out of approximately 30 that I managed to catch a glimpse on. The first three failed to get to me but the fourth bit me in the leg and ran back in while I left the building. I had enough of this... The day had barely started and I was gnawed all over. This called for a different approach! I mounted the boar and rode back to where I had left the ladder, in addition I collected an axe, a screwdriver with bits and a rubber mallet, then I returned to the Guildhouse and went one time around it, looking in through all windows available on the ground level. There was operation equipment, tables, cabinets, storerooms, glass-shards everywhere, naturally and some things that could be useful for me. For the second floor I used the ladder, moving it from window to window, seeing patient rooms and bigger rats. At one window I found an arm and attempted to pull the person out. However it really was just an arm and a rat jumped out of the window and in a high arc over my head. With a rather satisfying Thud-Crack it hit the ground. But that was it, I was unable to find out more about the House without entering... I was in pain and wanted to go back to the Inn, but alas it was barely half past 15 and I could not return to Dúath with almost empty hands. So I had another proof that the Guild House was the epicentre, but nothing else. I should at least do something useful for further securing of the area, or clearing it... I was contemplating what to do now and decided to try my luck on the weapon store. It had a large display window on each side of the door Unfortunately they were tinted and therefore did not let much rat-repelling light in, barely enough for me to make out the contour of about 15 rats but not enough to scare them out. This needed to be changed! Breaking the glass with my staff did not work out the way I had planned it to. Not at all to be exact. I attempted to pull a nail over it to weaken the glass' structure, but apart from a terrible screeching noise not a scratch appeared. The next attempt, smashing the pane with the blunt side of the axe almost cost me a foot when I dropped the heavy instrument due to the vibration the collision caused in my lower arms. Needles to say, after this failure I gave up for the time being and chanced my luck to just go inside and get rid of the rats the old fashioned way... I was still wounded and my left leg started to become slightly troublesome but at least there were no bigger rats, maybe I was lucky. Even though the spray kept them at bay they attacked me. The room was musky and there was barely enough space to wield my staff so I had to stay relatively close to the door. The vermin avoided my sweeping blow and attacked again. As one fled from the shop three more emerged from darkness of the room, thus after achieving to kill one, five were still willing to defend their territory against this high-elven intruder. One got through my defence and tore a deep wound into my beforehand injured left thigh. The pain gave two more rats the chance to head for the exact same already weak leg, which was barely under my control after that anymore. Hot blood gushed forth, streamed down and was rapidly soaking my trousers. I stumbled backwards, leaving a crimson trial while trying to reach the door and the security of the sun, however, the rats followed me... They did indeed hate me, did they not? At least they retreated when I fell backwards onto the sunny street... I was bleeding like a pig and my head was in a daze from the unhealthily fast and steady loss of blood... my heart was pounding against my chest and my breath was laboured to a vertigo-inducing excess. Sitting with my back against the window of the shop I tried my best to quickly operate and sew the wound at least improvised up before I would fall unconscious, to what I was fairly close to more than once, only stirred up again by a new wave of pain and sickness. I needed half an hour of rest before I was able to prop myself up on my staff and stagger to the boar... The ride back to the Inn was not exactly the most comfortable I had ever had... My watch told me it was twenty when I slouched in my bathroom, close to the toilet bowl and on tiles that did not mind the vast amount of blood. If I had not investigated my wounds further, and had not tried to mend them more properly before I decided to fall half-unconscious in my bed... I had probably collapsed and died in my sleep before Dúath had returned... Ten hours later I was woken by said Dragon who complained about what a failure I was, but healed me nonetheless... The balmy comfort of a completely painless body was more than worth being insulted... Sweet comatose sleep...

End of Day 27 / Month 01

[[2101]]

#D27M01 #Paphyran #The Early Medic Days #Nestaron Ciryatan

0 notes

nestaron-ciryatan · 12 years ago

Text

The Early Medic Days - D26/M01

Day 26 / Month 01

3. Desis of Lisanu 1082 I did not dream anything. Probably I had fallen unconscious and later asleep... I awoke at approximately 24 in a well temperatured room, the curtains pulled close, the bed of an ungodly softness and reassuring warmth. I was woken by horribly loud noises as if someone was tearing down a house, or building one up. Oh God, where was the baby?! Relieve washed over me as I found it in a crib next to my bed. Why was I in a bed? Had I not just been in Arduni, leaning against the rough fur of the boar? This was definitely not my room in the Medic Guildhouse in Canero. Where was I? The room looked clean and new. With only one window... My whole body ached and my limbs and head were heavy but I pulled myself up. All my belongings were in this room. I wore simple black clothing... What had happened? Had it all been a terrible nightmare? No... I would not have been in such pain and weariness... and the baby would not have been there... I opened the door of my room and found a staircase... Carefully I sneaked down... Everything looked new... there were no dead people and no rats... One wall of the room I entered now was missing... but it was building up itself it seemed. Where was I? It appeared I was in something like a Pub that was just getting built... there was a counter, some chairs some tables... I found toilets and a cloakroom... also another staircase which led to ... 4 more rooms that had beds and a night-stand, a chair and a little chest at the foot of each bed... This was not a Pub... this was going to be an Inn... But what was I doing here? When I looked out of the window I saw a person dressed all black and had a slight suspicion... Another window showed me stables and my boar and in the background... the city of Arduni. I was still here... only a bit further away... I used my staff to prop me up when I sneaked out to the person in black... Dúath... She told me this was supposed to be my save heaven while I investigated the events of the plague. The baby was going to stay here as a reminder to my deal and a shimmer of hope for me. She sometimes had such a horrible way of encouraging people... She would take care of it physically over the day and I would take care of the psychological part of parenting over the night, as she did not allow me to be in Arduni at night when the rats were free to roam. This was horrible... I had to admit it was good to have a place to return to and run to for help if I needed it, but my self-confidence still told me I had unmistakeably doomed 33 helpless souls... I went to bed again. I was just still to weak to do anything... Not that I would be any better at doing just something with a bit of sleep... I was a failure... as a Sídhe... as a Mage... as a Medic... as a living being... I was so useless and tired... I pulled the crib closer to my bed and gently caressed the sleeping infant's head...

End of Day 26 / Month 01

[[562]]

#D26M01 #Paphyran #The Early Medic Days #Nestaron Ciryatan

0 notes

nestaron-ciryatan · 12 years ago

Text

The Early Medic Days - D25/M01

Day 25 / Month 01

3.Theodas of Lisanu 1082 When the sun finally had dawned and the rats had retreated, I checked a last time on the two adults and the 4 children. Their situation had not grown better at least not noticeable. But I had given them the antidote and the vaccine so the rays of the sun would not harm them anymore. I was able to leave them alone, if at least for a short amount of time. I ran out of the city and back to my boar. I am not quite sure what I was thinking about doing then. Travelling back to Canero and back here would take far too long. But the Great Patpat in the Sky was on my side today, it seemed. Dúath awaited me when I arrived were I had left the boar yesterday. Unfortunately when I asked her for help she said she would not use dragon magic to completely heal my patients. They were not her business. But she agreed to fly them to Canero where my Mentor could take care of them. It would require her 2 hours to get there and 2 to get back. That was the best I could get out of this. These poor people would be in the hands of a professional within 2 hours. Better than anything I could do for them. Dúath disappeared and I mounted the boar to ride it into the city. If there were people alive in the outskirts, chances were I would find more. I hoped so much to find more survivors. The rustling noises and slight squeaking was still to be heard everywhere. Also I saw the creatures in more shady places, gnawing on less fortunate people than those Dúath was currently bringing into safety. I had not noticed it yesterday but the plants here now even grew in the sun. In puddles of blood as a form of moss, while those in the shadows sprouted big healthy, rich leaves... There was a chance that the houses with cellars had still living people in them. Cellars were relatively easily to be barricaded... But they were also places that had no sunlight to them, ideal for the rats. I would have to check on those later when my motivation was a bit higher. Currently I was somewhat weary from yesterday and the night. The marketplace had a city-hall. It was a big building, very sunny with tall windows and open doors. Not many plants grew there, it was simply too bright in this abandoned building for them. The Travelling Medic Guildhouse also situated at the marketplace was... abandoned as well. Had I hoped to find help there or at least material, I was forced to let go of these thoughts now. This building was overrun by rats, plants growing everywhere. Even in the sun with lush leaves. It seemed the epicentre of the whole catastrophe. I did not even go near it, it was too dangerous. Though I was immune now against it, my Mentor had told me that the pain would grow with every bite I received. And I did not want to risk anything. I was these people's only hope... Another building was a museum of local history. These were the only two houses on the marketplace with a cellar. There was a little store with weapons and useful things, that I did not take a too close look at either. I was still searching for houses that looked like there could be people inside. I found 15 houses with cellars, including the Travelling Medic Guildhouse and the Museum,... and 32 houses with closed windows, though I could with none of them be sure if they were just closed or really barricaded. I decided to check the houses in the outer parts of the North of the city. At least I wanted to. But then again, I probably should have waited for Dúath... Waiting for the very helpful dragon was surely a better idea. After all, what could I do to help the people? I did not even have antidote anymore. I had no water with me, no food, nothing. I had not slept since more than 36 hours... I should have waited. But I was devastated and I wanted to help the people. I wanted to do it now! They did not have time. I could not let them wait. They needed my help! So I headed into town again, somewhat dispirited but determined... The first house I checked had windows on the second floor that seemed blocked. I went to the main entrance and removed the panels over the door's hinges, so I could lift the door to open it. When I jumped back I saw at least five rats in the darkness of the entrance room. There was nothing I could do here... The next house had its door open, with at least five rats running around from what I could see. But there was another room with barricaded first floor windows. I tried to open them... and found nothing but dead people and rats. Apparently the door of that room had been open to the other rooms... My will to continue and my hope for survivors receded by the minute. I was so tired and almost apathetic... But the house had an inner courtyard with a second building. And there were windows blocked in the second floor of that building. And a little shed... I tried to pull myself over the gate of the fence. It was not exactly easy but the bandages at my arms gave my body more weight in that direction so it was less difficult to push the rest of me over. I broke the padlock out of the ramshackle door of the shed, hoping to find something useful inside... like a ladder or a crowbar or just something useful. As expected, five rats attacked me. They seemed to always gang up in groups of five. Some bit me, some ran away... I think I killed some. It felt as if I was not even really there... I found a small stepladder which I used to get to the second floor of the building and I opened the window panels with a metal ruler I also found in the shed... A rat leaped over my head into the courtyard... I did not even look inside before I climbed down again... Another failure... I did not know what to do anymore... This city was too big... How was I supposed to find survivors. I could not possibly check all the houses... and even if I did... in the time I wasted on those that were infested by rats I would probably loose half of those still alive... Dúath showed up at my side... Telling me that I did not get very far. Oh really? Really now? What a surprise!... I was at the end of my powers and will... She wondered why the plants were running around. Being too tired to grasp what she meant, I needed her to explained that plants usually did not spread in the form of animals, e.g. rats. She wondered why the plants had developed such an extreme way of spreading their genes. I did not really care why, all I cared about was to save people. Which I could not... I was not good enough. I was just a small Sídhe... technically a teenager compared to humans... What could I do to save these people... Dúath suggested I should do something against the plague of rats and plants. But how? It would be impossible... There were at least 20 to 30 rats in each house and this city had more than a hundred houses. I could never defeat so many rats... It was too much. And there was no alpha-rat, no 'motherbrain' so to say that could be defeated and they all would die at once. It was illogic that something like this existed so defeating the plague meant killing each and every single rat and possibly burning and razing the town to the ground. I was a Travelling Medic... I was here to help the people, to make sure they survived. What Dúath expected from me was the task of an adventurer. I was only a Travelling Medic Apprentice... barely a week in my apprenticeship... I could not do that... And my hopes to help just anyone decreased to zero as Dúath told me there were at least 33 people all over town that were still alive. How was I supposed to save 33 people! So few alive, but so many to save and so many rats to fight off in the process which would cost important time... It was impossible. And then,... Then Dúath proposed a deal. She did not care about any of the people but it was fine for her if it made me happy. She would save them all, right now... heal them enough for them to be brought to Canero... And then she would give me two weeks to find out what had happened in Arduni... If I did not come up with something within these two weeks... She would kill all of the 33 people... That was unfair! She could not put so much responsibility on my shoulders! I wanted to save them all... If I started searching now I would probably save 4 or 5 of them, but those would survive for sure... On the other hand I could save 33 but... I was sure I would not be able to find out what had happened. My body felt horrible, I could barely move and my eyes burnt. Thirty-Three... So many people and I could save them with a simple word... and I could doom them... Their life would depend on me in a way that had nothing to do with Medicine... Dúath wanted me to be an adventurer, something I was not, something I would never be. It was impossible to do that... "Two of them will die in the next five minutes..." She had said that a while ago and was now counting down the seconds of the last minute. It was unfair to demand a decision from me. How could I decide about the fates of 33 people. Who was I to decide about their life? Her voice grew louder in my ears, my heartbeat banging in my head, my mouth was dry. This was too much... I could not... There was no way I was able to save them... They would be save... for 2 weeks, yes, and afterwards?... I was not good enough... I could not do this... I did not want to be responsible for 33 deaths... I... I "Fourty-two... fourty-one... fourty..." I agreed... She grabbed my hand and shook it with a smirk on her face before teleporting away. What had I done? Oh Great PatPat in the Sky what had I done?... I broke down, I fell on my knees, feeling tears rushing to my eyes. Oh God what had I done. "It would have been such a waste..." She said as she returned with a newborn baby. It was one of the two that would have died in 40 seconds... She put it in my arms and teleported away again to save the others... It was too much... I cried... I just cried... I could not take it anymore... I held this tiny life in my hands as a symbol of those 33 people I had doomed... and I could not stop myself from crying. I was so tired and exhausted. I had saved 33 people but I would never be able to save them in 2 weeks... never... Then the child started to cry... apparently copying me... Oh god, I had made a child cry... I tried to calm it, tried to swallow my own tears... I took it with me as I stumbled back to the boar, sitting down in the shadow the giant animal cast... I condemned 33 people to death... The shadow was so cool and refreshing... and the little life in my arms needed me to be calm. If only it knew that I was its murderer... ...

End of Day 25 / Month 01

[[2039]]

#D25M01 #Paphyran #The Early Medic Days #Nestaron Ciryatan

0 notes

nestaron-ciryatan · 12 years ago

Text

The Early Medic Days - D24/M01

Day 24 / Month 01

3. Deva of Lisanu 1082 I woke up at 13. Apparently whatever Dúath had done to me had allowed me to sleep through the night without even the glimpse of a nightmare or a dream at all. I was very relived about this fact. She informed me, when I was awake enough, that those rats which had fled from the carriage had died approximately half an hour after being exposed to the sun. So, as we thought already when we examined the fox, solar rays are lethal to infected organisms... In the next hours, my Mentor taught me how to make the antidote and the vaccine, also that there was a Guildhouse of the Travelling Medics in the City the fox family had come from, so I would be able to make more of it there and also vaccinate all the people. I expected this to be my mission. Go to the city, inform them about the rats and the infection and start a city-wide vaccination. Also teach the local Medics how to make the serum. That would not be too difficult. A batch of vaccine would do for 5 people, but a vial of the antidote was just enough for one person, it would be horribly painful and not exactly harmless. The lizard made sure I was aware of the lethal danger of vaccinating people who had been bitten. Well I knew how these things worked, injecting the antidote and half an hour later the vaccine. Producing both would each take 12 hours, checking on them every two hours. There is a faster way to make them, 5 hours for the vaccine, 3 for the antidote, but they would be less effective. He handed me 3 vials of the vaccine and 2 of the antidote and told me I should better start travelling to the city as soon as possible. Also my Mentor had new infos on the rats and the infection. Apparently the rats were a mixed race of mammal and plant and the poison was as a matter of fact the seeds of the floral-part. They needed to reproduce in this manner as the seeds only seemed to be able to grow on organic material, preferably flesh and blood... The poison goes through the veins and arteries into the whole bloodstream, permeates to the outside and then starts eating through the skin, through the flesh and the organs... In and out and in again, not exactly a pleasant thought. I packed my belongings and boarded 10 litres of water onto the boar, also 6 ratios of food and I got my boar vaccinated. It was time to head for Arduni. I should not make a habit of jumping onto my boar... it always ended with me on the floor. This time even with the pig stepping on my leg. Dúath appeared at my side and deemed this the perfect moment for me to train my ability to speak dragon. The outcome was as usual; nothing. I rode the whole day, with breaks in between so neither the boar nor me would get a heatstroke. I watered it and Dúath had quite some fun to make me uncertain about the way. I was nervous and there were still 6 hours to ride. At 27 we arrived half an hour away from the city, I could not go further. Not with that smell in my nose. I did not want to think about it... I summoned the pole and bound the boar to it. This smell was not a good sign! Not at all! It stunk of death... a lot of death. That was not good... That was not good! I had thought I would come here to warn the people but now... now it seemed I was far too late. The fox family had escaped from this place. They had been survivors... I had not set a foot into the city yet and already knew what I would find... only death. I did not want to go there. There was nothing I could do anymore! All the people were dead! But then there was this little spark of hope in me that always seemed to grow into a tiny flame. What if there were other survivors, people who needed help? My help? I cursed myself for being an Ex-mage. Drenching a piece of cloth in Tiger balm, I wrapped it around my face and started walking into the city. Ignoring the fact that the sun would set in barely an hour... I had been right... the city was not vacated, it was full of people. Everywhere... I smelled them, I saw them... their bodies rotting on the streets, in the sun... in the shadows... plants growing everywhere. The constant humming and buzzing of flies and other insects feeding and breeding in the corpses. Why did I come here? Why... What had happened here! How could rats have annihilated a whole city? It was a relatively big city, though simple in its architecture. The houses were mostly first-floor, made of clay. Some had a second floor and cellars too it seemed. I had no idea how they managed to dig cellars into sand, but it was nothing I cared about at the moment. I heard squeaking and rustling everywhere... every now and then a grey spot dashed from one shadow to the other... There was a marketplace with a statue and some more important buildings it seemed, about 500 metres away from the city entrance. The outer area had several barns and to the middle of the city the houses became more refined. Here were stables for horses... there were horses... dead of course... This place was so horrible... There could not be any more people here... No way... everything here was dead... There were plants growing everywhere here.. purple plants... everywhere on the corpses and in the blood puddles... Here was just Death and rats and plants... no people... no... but... There, this house, there was a stairway to the second level... And there was a door... and it looked like it was... blocked up... from the inside... There... there could be people inside... still inside and alive, barricading themselves from the rats. Yes! Yes, surely they were alive and well! Yes! I sprinted up the stairs and checked the door. There was a bolt on the inside, clearly visible through the gaps between the wood. I knocked with my staff against the door, asking for people in there. But no reply. I risked a glance down and around, there were no rats yet even though the sun had started setting. I listened closely but could not figure whether I heard noises inside or not. I supposed if somebody was inside and maybe infected they would not open the door because of the sun being up still, so I wrote a note 'I'm a Medic. I have Antidote! Let me in!' ... but there was still no reply. I felt that somebody was in there, at least I wanted to believe it. I did not want to give up. As it was getting darker by the minute I lit a fire at the foot of the stairs to at least keep the rats away a little longer... I became more and more nervous. On one hand I knew the situation was urgent, if somebody was inside they would have answered me... unless they were too afraid or too weak... So I should hurry! But on the other hand I was afraid of the rats and the night was setting in... I wrote another note, telling them that I would come back in the morning. But my heart hammered against my chest, I was indecisive. I could not go without knowing about their status... I could not leave them alone here! What if tomorrow morning was too late!... I could not go, but I had to... but I just could not, not without at least knowing if it was save to leave them alone over the night. One last attempt at least before the sun was completely gone! I had to try it! I threw myself against the door, hitting my shoulder hard on the wood as it splintered. The upper part cracked and hung slightly down so I could reach in and pull the bolt back to get inside. Why... How could this be happening... to anyone in the world... 4 Children and 3 adults, one of them unconscious, all infected as far as I saw... all in this room since days... alive but in an awful state... I saw their bones at parts, their bodies too dry to even bleed it seemed. I could see through them, saw their organs in their bodies... They looked like they were eaten alive, either by the rats or the plants... Yes, the plants even grew on them, in their flesh, showing little, very healthy looking red leaves... It made me tremble and shivers of discomfort and nausea run down my spine. I did not want to touch them, I did not want to see their suffering or come any closer to hear their painful, laboured breathing... It was painful and revolting to look at them. To think about the smell, the stench... I did not want that. I wanted to leave. They did not have a chance anyway. If I had not come here nobody would have. They were supposed to die, were they not? It was a mere coincident I came here... Nobody else would have helped them... But I did come here, did I not? It was a coincident, but it did happen! And I came here to help, did I not? I was a Medic, I was an Ex-Mage after all. I had to help them or I would never be able to look in the mirror again. I pushed my head out of the hole in the door and emptied my stomach, it was too much. How often had I done this in the last few days? I wrapped some clothes drenched in alcohol around the tip of my staff and set it on fire. Magestaffs, even of Ex-mages, are not so easily to be destroyed. I put it through the hole in the door so it would burn on the outside, scaring the rats away and cast at least a bit of light to the inside. I built a tiny candle with a vial of alcohol and a little piece of clothing, so I could have more light. I injected them with antidote, diluting it slightly so it was enough for the seven of them, the children did not need as much as the adults. I concentrated on the children, giving the unconscious adult the least of it. His chances were the lowest, as sad as it was... I sat back hoping their bodies would still be strong enough to survive the pain the antidote causes. All I could do was wait and start to wash out their wounds. After the fourth child I ran out of water. Why had I thought that 10 litres would have been enough? ... I bandaged the children up. They all survived, which was a little flicker of hope for me. Two of the adults survived, the unconscious one, as expected, did not make it. I tried to tell myself that his death would at least raise the chances for the survival of the others. One person less meant I had more time and material for the others. I did not like this way of thinking but it was the only way that kept me working, without thinking to much about the life that had just ended under my care... I gave everyone some food from my rations. Their bodies were weak and needed strength to digest but without the food they would not even have enough strength to live on. They would be more weak for a while but the antidote would help them I hoped. I tried in vain to speak dragon. There was a small chance I could cast a spell that would heal them... but nothing happened. I wished they would have been stronger, I wanted them to survive... I wanted them to be stronger... Especially now, that the rats came... The makeshift torch on my staff had burnt down and the hole in the door was their only entrance. I leaned against the door with my knife ready. The sword was too big to be wielded properly in this small space. I rammed the blade into the little snouts and noses, into their heads and flesh... piling up the bodies outside in front of the door. The whole night I stabbed tiny squeaking creatures that wanted to come in and harm the people I tried to protect. My arms grew weary, my shoulders sore and my back ached from the hours of standing still. Rat blood covered my face and clothing when the sun finally came up dawning a new day and the rats retreated into the shadows, finally...

End of Day 24 / Month 01

[[2172]]

#D24M01 #Paphyran #The Early Medic Days #Nestaron Ciryatan

0 notes

nestaron-ciryatan · 12 years ago

Text

The Early Medic Days - D23/M01

Day 23 / Month 01

3.Pers of Lisanu 1082 I was in the desert, the sun burning relentlessly on me, the sand sizzling under my bare feet. Vultures drew their circles over my head and carriages pulled by skeleton horses drove past me over and over again until I collapsed in the heat and died and the vultures picked the flesh from my bones. I woke up at around 10 and was handed a glass of water by Dúath. Who then proceeded to pinch me in the side, wondering why I even felt it with 'all that fat'... Why yes, that had been a dream! I was still alive and tease-worthy. Tumbling more than walking I headed for the bathroom where I took a shower while sitting. My circulation was still worn out from yesterday. So it was perhaps the best to do, when I decided to have breakfast in the Inn for 4 Woodies. Of course the meals in the Medic Guildhouse were free but they were a slender, monotonous diet, especially as I had only eaten those and my fish for dinner since a whole week. It was not unlikely that my body needed some variation by now. I felt astonishingly much better afterwards, despite slight sunburn on my nose and soreness in my muscles. Neither the vaccine nor the antidote had been ready by now so my task was of course to collect the missing amounts of plants. As it seemed I indeed did not have full control over my body again, as I used too much momentum, when attempting to jump onto my riding boar. Basically it could be described as jumping over it and landing face first on the other side, though I still do not know how I achieved this. When I tried to un-summon the pole, it grew smaller and then grew again, impaling my hand as it altered the direction of its growth. Dúath helped me pulling the metal rod out of my palm. So finally we could head out of town. Then, while I was cutting Tauf, my boar decided to eat some of the highly acrid plants which apparently went by the name of Nordyr and were just as inedible to the pig as it was to me. It had not been in the oasis yesterday, what did I expect? I had to wash its snout out very thoroughly... This was not exactly a good start for the day and it should have warned me that there was more to come. But being the positive little Ex-mage I was I expected nothing and just rode my boar to the oasis. Sat down in the shadow of a tree, eating a fruit, while piggy quenched its thirst and hunger. I tried, as in vain as usual, to speak dragon again, for two hours. Then Dúath was allowed to chase me around the oasis for the sake of training. After all I should not get too lazy, now that I had a faster mode of transportation. Half an hour of constant running later I sat down and took a break, because my body was still weakened from the day before. I told her that I had learned a valuable lesson yesterday. I need to take breaks more often and find shadowy places. Sitting in the shadow of her wings I smirked and replied with a 'yes' when she asked "Places like me?" I also thought that her soul was quite a shadowy place from time to time. And she, apparently rummaging around in my head again, replied a slightly annoyed "It's not!" When I had continued running another mishap of this doomed day occurred. I fell face first into a group of Nordyr plants. Needless to say my eyes were blinded and my skin burnt. Thankfully Dúath pressed a bloody hand on my face, leaving me with the smell of iron in my nose, but healed by dragon magic. A while later the training was done and I wanted to have the pole disappear so I could ride back to Canero... I am not sure how I managed to do this and how it was anatomically even possible, but the pole went straight through my palm, into my arm, out of my arm again and into my shoulder. The pain was just as ridiculously impossible as the pole's movement. And again it was Dúath who took care of me and even repaired my clothes before I rode back to town were I handed all the plants I had collected to my Mentor as ordered. I was mildly surprised as he jabbed a syringe in my arm. Apparently the vaccine was done. What a good thing to know. I checked on the poor fox again but he still was not awake so I had to ask Dúath to lead me to the carriage. It was faster than trying to find there myself. At least this time I summoned the pole without mutilating myself. Maybe things were starting to look better for me. What a fool I was! This day had been a catastrophe and it was only going to get worse, as I soon should find out when I approached the carriage with my staff ready to protect myself... There was it... Movement inside the carriage... It was impossible that the passengers had survived... it was small, swift movement, a seething mass. Rats most likely, hiding in the damp dark inside from the sun. Using my staff I attempted to open the door from afar. When the door flung open after the third attempt, 5 rats jumped out and dashed towards me. I leaped back and tried to wipe them in one line off with my staff. Three of them got through my defence, one went for my abdomen, another for my torso. I did not care about those, my clothes were too thick for them to get through, but the last dug it's jaws into my nose. That one was a nasty wound, the rat's whole weight was pulling at it. I think it partially broke my nose. It fell down though then and was confused by me not being paralysed, as its two companions were, so it was relatively easy for me to kill them. Not before three more rats had left the carriage though and attempted an attack. I brought some more space between us before I delivered half of a sweeping swipe at them, which was very effective, as in: It killed them. The remaining rats had escaped through the window on the other side of the carriage. I could faintly see them running off into the desert. I would have gladly fought more rats if it had meant I could postpone examining the inside. I did not look forward to that, even was afraid to do so. Therefore I now first approached the horses. Two cadavers, dead on the sand. There was not much smell actually because of the heat. The bodies had simply been dehydrated, though the necrotic parts here and there appeared to still be somewhat moist. Strange greyish purple grew on the decaying flesh, also on the rats I had just killed. Bones were exposed, apparently the vermin had been feeding on the horses. I still felt myself unable to face what was waiting inside so instead I concentrated on the carriage itself. Walked around it, made sure there were no rats left... I found suitcases on the back and some on the floor with clothes in the sand. But the holes in them were troubling me so I poked the closed suitcase with my staff. I was sure there would be rats in it. And I was proven right when little squeaking noises resounded. I grudgingly put my staff aside and opened the suitcase. The noises were too small, I knew what was coming! Rat babies... I could not bring myself to kill them, also it would be better to have some living specimen if we wanted to find out what the necrotic illness was about. So I wrapped some of the clothing around the suitcase, ensuring there were still enough air holes for the rat babies and then placed it in the shadow of the carriage so I could take care of it later. I had done everything that had come to my mind to keep myself from entering the carriage. But now there was nothing I could do any more... I had to take a look inside... And... and... the stench was throwing me back. It was repulsing, blood and iron and rat excrements and decay... ammoniac... Even with my injured nose it still was mind-wrecking... The heatstroke from yesterday said hello again and I had to back away and turn my head before I went on my knees and emptied my stomach. I did not expect this. What had I expected?... Not this... not so bad... it was too much... I sat down and tried to calm down without taking deep breaths. I drank some water and smeared our pathology ointment all around my nose, even though my eyes watered from its burning in the rat-bite it was still better than the stench. I opened the second door and waited for at least something like an air exchange between the inside and the desert to happen. Everything was better than to go in directly. Drinking some more water I felt my nose getting numb by the minute. Though only to the pain, not to the smell that was still lingering under the aetheric heaviness of the Tiger Balm... The inside was... dark and warm... damp... moist... suffocating... Maggots were there and the bodies were slightly bloated. Gas escaped when I started to examine them. Their skin was covered in the well known purple. Even the seats were purple where the fabric had been soaked with blood, those were rotting too. No rats longer hid in the carriage but I saw what they had done to these poor people and it felt like a punch in my stomach. I had to get out again for a moment, before my head got too heavy from the wet heat. I went back to the suitcases and took some of the clothes with me. I decided it would be wise to collect samples, so I cut a piece of the purple stuff growing on the horses out and wrapped it, together with one of the dead rats into the clothes. Then I wrapped both up once more, as I was not sure about just how contaminating this disease or infection was. I literally plastered my nose with Tiger Balm and wrapped a cloth around the lower half of my face. Breathing was immensely harder now but it was the only thing that made me strong enough to go back into the carriage... I still was not finished there. For the sake of that poor Fox I had to go back inside... I had to cut the woman's finger off to remove the wedding ring. One of the daughters was wearing an amulet. I needed to recall several times why I was doing this until I brought myself to reach around her neck and into the warm wet mass that was behind her to get that necklace. I cut off a lock of every person's hair, even the boy's and took the mother's handbag with me, into which I put all of the things before I was finally able to flee into the wideness of the desert again. My heart was racing and my hands were shaking and sweaty, my head was dizzy but at least I did not have to go back inside. I took everything I had collected and was glad that my boar came my way. My legs felt like a gelatinous mass. It was not exactly pleased about my smell but it allowed me to sit up nonetheless. It realised my condition and was smart enough to run slower and softer than usual. Finally at 19 we returned to Canero after I patched my Torso up a bit. The rat did have gotten through, I had not noticed it until I was back on the boar where my wounds and aching muscles returned to my awareness. I went down and summoned the pole without problems, I suppose I had other things to busy my mind with that moment. Unfortunately my Mentor was currently taking care of a patient and I, covered in blood and a horrid stench, did not want to scare that one so I remained in the main hall and silent until my Master was done. Standing there, waiting with the pain returning to me, my hands holding tight to the collection... I was not feeling exactly fine... I waited for what seemed like hours... While I was there I checked the mother's handbag again and found an address reading 'Arduni, Armanstreet 5'... That was probably where they lived at... had lived at... When my Mentor came to me, he dipped two fingers into the pathology ointment for his own good. I could not blame him. I was glad I was more or less unable to smell myself. The process of telling him everything I saw, everything I did, every little detail was to say the least... devitalising... I had to relive everything and I had not enjoyed it the first time already. Eventually he sent me off to take care of myself, giving me a Spa-and-Disinfectant coupon. I did not even know there was a Spa in this small city... I went up to my room and placed my knife in a tub of disinfectant and also worked for at least half an hour on my staff to make sure this one was not carrying any infectious particles on it either anymore. Then I went to make use of the Coupon. They eyed me suspiciously... well I was still bloody, stinking and had a broken nose... but they let me in after seeing I was a Travelling Medic Apprentice. They put me in a room where they cleaned me with a high pressure water blaster. Like I was not in enough pain already. Then they handed me disinfectant to wash myself with... at least some dignity remained it seemed. ... Just seemed though, because after inflicting the even more burning ache to myself I had to let them check me thoroughly. They examined almost all of me before I was allowed to take a real bath... By that time I did not even feel like doing so anymore, but as soon as my body slid into the warm, balmy water I felt waves of relief surge over me. I almost slept in but was pulled out when the water had become lukewarm so that they could give me a free massage. I felt a slight bit better around 21 when I entered my room and found Dúath waiting for me. My mood though dropped immediately, when she ordered me to work on my nose to improve my operation skill... on my own nose, after such a day? I think I managed it quite well in the end and Dúath' magic did the rest. She did however not take care of the bite in my abdomen. Why had I not noticed that the rat had gotten through there too? I attempted to speak dragon again, who knew maybe it would help with the healing. I even spoke the word right but this time with not enough thought behind it. I went down to my Mentor again but he did not have any results yet, so I invited Dúath into the pub, she was, to my surprise, okay with it. But first I went to the Veggie shop for my boar, it had been good to me today so I wanted to reward it. I paid 12 Woodies. At the Pub I asked my warden whether I was allowed to drink beer, or any alcohol for the matter. I somehow did not want to get sober through this night... I was told alcohol was okay but not beer. When I asked for the reason, she replied: "Beer makes you even more fat!" How... did I deserve this? I ordered a Whiskey and made a deal with her. I would not drink beer if she paid my dinner, because I had not really eaten yet and even though my stomach was still a bit unwell I felt like I needed something in it or I would really break down. She agreed... and ordered fish. Why fish again! I had been eating nothing but fruits and fish in the last days... I needed meat! I needed something to make up for all the training. But no, I was served fish. I should have insisted on the beer. Afterwards I poured down a second Whiskey and left the Pub. Getting drunk had probably not been a bright idea anyway so it was better I now went over to the boar and washed it. It needed some care and loving from time to time too. When the sun set at 28 I got ready for bed. I was so incredibly tired. My whole body ached, my nose was still feeling like a mix of pain and numbness and it had been just too much for me. But I did not want to sleep! I would never have told Dúath but I was actually afraid of sleeping in, or rather of what I could dream off. I did not even want to think about what my brain would make of the events of today. I proposed to learn more dragon. For seven hours! After which I was able to add 'freezing to death' to my list of unpleasant things happening to me today. Even though Dúath had cast a warming spell I was now trembling like a leaf, my eyes only half open, my brain stopping to work every now and then, trying to send me into dreamland. But I refused it, I secretly pinched my arms to stay awake. I desperately searched for something I could still do, just so I would not have to go to sleep. I even would have continued to speak dragon, even though my vocal chords felt like bleeding already, even though there was not a μ of power left in me... I think she wrapped her arms around me and softly kissed me on the forehead. I think there was a tremendous, gentle warmth spreading through me... I think I fell asleep then...

End of Day 23 / Month 01

[[3094]]

#D23M01 #Paphyran #The Early Medic Days #Nestaron Ciryatan

0 notes

nestaron-ciryatan · 12 years ago

Text

The Early Medic Days - D22/M01

Day 22 / Month 01

2. Levis of Lisanu 1082 I do not like where being around Dúath leads to. I had another horrible dream this night. I was wearing Dúath' dress and it fit very well, because I had in fact somehow turned into a female. I had not refused to go into the Pub and as a result I was there, on the bar, raped by ALL the male customers. ... The fact that Dúath, when I had woken, told me how funny my dream was, only added to the feeling of uncomfortable awkwardness. I kindly asked her to stay the hell out of my head. I had breakfast at 11 and then went down to check on the DesertFox. His situation had not noticeably improved but at least when I changed his bandages I was relieved to see his wounds had not gotten worse. My Mentor was busy and I had to search for more plants for the Antidote and Vaccine so I headed into the desert again. There were not many to be found today it seemed. Not surprising considering the climate and the fact that I had been basically grazing the area close to the city since more than a week. I ran around aimlessly for a while before finding more herbs finally, some Drim, a lot of Georin, some Taufs... Then I headed SouthWest extending my usual range of search by a good 100 yards I think, and I did in fact find much more plants then. Also a thought that had been lingering in the back of my head slowly submerged. Dúath was not with me today! The whole time I had rather strolled than walked, I was not exhausted because nobody had chased me around, threatening me with a whip. Perhaps she had realised that her comment on my dream had been just a bit too invasive, so she wanted to make up for it by giving me time to relax. She seemed to have some sense of fairness too after all. It was 17 when I took a break and sat down in the shadow of... Well nothing unfortunately. Therefore the break did not last long. I Drank a bit of water from my bottle and checked my compass, only to see that I had gotten slightly off track. Nothing that should have been a problem, I was going to correct that as soon as I continued walking. I have to admit I did miss Dúath that moment for her shady wingspan. A little after the break a strange smell came to my nose, that I could not yet identify, though after yet some more minutes of walking my memory told me it was the smell of decaying flesh and iron, the smell of violent death. Had I gotten more off-course than I had thought? Had I deviated too far to South-East? Slightly cowed, I turned on my heels and ran into the opposite direction. I did not yet know what exactly I would find there and I did not feel ready to face an angry, starved flock of malicious, poisonous rats. Especially not without being vaccinated. I decided to head back to town while walking, that should not be a problem. Even though the sun was high and I felt a bit warm by now, I still had enough time to return. At around 20 I came to a field that seemed somehow familiar. I remembered having been there some days before, Langaria and Chrysophalis were growing there, I even saw where I had harvested some of the first before. I wiped the beads of sweat from my forehead and kneeled down to cut more herbs. I did not even know exactly how much I would need in the end. My Mentor had only told me that it would require 'quite a lot'... My backpack had grown heavier in the last hours and I had to admit that I would not have minded that reptilian shadow lurking over me by then. However it took me 2 more hours to realise that I had perhaps gotten a slight bit lost. It was not very easy to orientate in a desert with little to no important pointers or landmarks. Also I thought I remembered the field closer to the city... A subtle panic began to form while I wandered over the sandy ground, burying my jaws in the one juicy oasis fruit I had left. It was somewhat refreshing, though afterwards the sweetness of it left me more thirsty than before. I hastily gulped down some water and continued my way, cursing the dark green colour of my clothes and even more the weights on my arms. Why did I have to wear those anyway? At 23 I dropped my backpack and sat down in what little shadow was cast behind it. My head was heavy and I had run both out of water and fruits, not to mention that I had no idea where I was. Why had Dúath not come with me this time! How could I have gotten so hopelessly lost, or had that been her plan all along? Why would she send me into the desert with 20 kilo extra weight? I ran my fingers through my hair and opened my ponytail, I was starting to get a headache. Why did she not come with me today! She had been with me every day, why not today! Actually, why had she been with me all the time? What had made her think bothering the living daylight out of a little highelf would be fun? Oh I was sure it was fun for her. But why me? Why out of all people did it have to be me? My back and feet ached, I had not the slightest motivation to get up even though I knew I had to return to the town. My throat was dry and my eyes itched a little. I lifted my hair a few times to let some air to my overheated head but it did not get much better. If only there had at least been a bit of wind. But there was nothing but the sun burning mercilessly down on me. My hair was getting brittle by the minute and that was not a good sign either, I definitely needed water. I needed to stand up and find a way home or a shadowy place. But I did not want to move. Just a minute or two more to rest, then I would be good again, I told myself, but of course it only got worse the longer I sat there. What had I done to deserve this? Was the Great PatPat in the Sky so vengeful? Had I really been forsaken its grace when I broke and was no longer a Mage? Why had I not stayed in Sídhe? Why had I went into a land where nobody could care less if I died there in the desert? There was really nobody who would have been emotionally struck about my departing. Nobody cared for me... nobody... I was alone and the sun was not willing to turn any colder. I was alone and I would die here, alone in the desert, miles away from anybody who cared about me... if anyone did... The hours passed and I barely realised it. I stared at the shadow I was casting myself... it was hunched and looked like the that of a man at the end of his life... Well... I had lived longer than any human, maybe it was only fair that I would die now. Who were we highelves to decide that we could live more than a thousand years... Maybe the Grat PatPat had changed its mind and we all lost that ability. Or it was just me being unlucky once more in my life... I was mourning my fate, indeed had given up hope. After all, what could I hope for? The weather would not change all of a sudden. Nobody knew where I was and even if anybody knew, there was no one who would come to save me... Maybe it was better this way anyway... maybe I should have died already when I broke... A broken Mage was just not supposed to live... When the sun started to set around 28 my body felt a slight bit better, the heat had burnt my face and everything was spinning still, but the cool air of the coming night was helping to raise my survival instinct at least physically. My body would not give up so fast, I was member of a far too strong race to die so easily. Yet my mind was nowhere near that strength. And it was playing tricks on me, fuelling my pain with false hope. I thought I could hear the flapping of wings, giant wings. But it was not possible. Dúath was not with me. How cruel my own senses could be! Even my eyes joined in, showing me with their last strength a murky shadow landing in front of me, it could even have been a dragon. My mind caved in and I succumbed to the illusion. I flung my arms around what I imagined to be Dúath, I cried what I had left of liquid in my body out. My throat was dry and my voice scruffy and high pitched when I promised to train more, when I promised to train speaking dragon, when I promised to do anything she wanted me to do if only she brought me to the city... I would do anything! Anything, just please, please... please... I pleaded and then I felt a dragontail wrap around me... My mind was racing, how could my body create the illusion of pressure... I was lifted of the ground and placed on Dúath' back... It was Dúath... it was really Dúath! She came! She came to save me... And she brought me to the Medic Guildhouse and placed me in my bed. She helped me drink, as I was too weak to hold the glass myself. And she held my hair when I vomited from the heat- and sunstroke I had caught. My head was so heavy and ached so much, my stomach was flurry and everything was turning somersaults. I felt sick, I felt ill and the blanket was of a cool balminess. I rubbed my face against the refreshing surface, trying not to move to much while Dúath handed my plants over to my Mentor. When she returned, she nagged... Even though I felt like dying still. She told me I would have to collect at least 8 more Georin and Tauf... She told me that while searching for me she had flown over the place I avoided in SouthEast... The place that reeked of death. If the memory alone had not already made me throw up, what she told me would definitely have. And in fact did too... There was a carriage, most likely where our patient had come from... The horses were dead... His wife and three children inside of the carriage, too. There were rats... I was not able to listen to her anymore, my mind had conjured the respective images and I emptied my stomach again. Dúath though would not have been Dúath if she had not given me lecture. She ordered me never to leave without her again. And told me how disappointed she was because she had expected me to do better and I had failed her. I think she was still nagging when my weak body decided it was save now to fall into a comatose sleep...

End of Day 22 / Month 01

[[1951]]

#D22M01 #Paphyran #The Early Medic Days #Nestaron Ciryatan

0 notes

nestaron-ciryatan · 12 years ago

Text

The Early Medic Days - D21/M01

Day 21 / Month 01

2. Ryuu of Lisanu 1082 After I had breakfast this morning I went down to tend to the three people left in our care. They did not thank me, but they also did not say much against it, at least a little step forward. While I was working, I heard quite some noise from outside so I went looking. There was a crowd gathering, blocking my sight. They were talking and from what I heard, somebody was wounded! Pushing one Lizard away did nothing, the flock of bystanders had become to thick around whatever they really stared at. My call 'let me through I'm a Medic!' remained unheard, so I pulled my staff to indicate that I was willing to force my way through. They pulled their swords. What in the Great Pat Pat's name were these people thinking! I just wanted to help! I pleaded again for them to let me through because I was a Medic and could help, but nothing... Only when I yelled 'Bring him to the Medic Guildhouse already!' something happened. I got a slap in the face... but at least they started moving now... and blocked me from entering then. I could not believe these people were serious! They did not allow me to enter! So I had to sneak around the house and go in through the backdoor. I was then greeted by my Mentor with a cranky remark about where I had been so long. It seemed I still was not fully able to communicate properly with Lizards. However, I could finally look at our new patient. It was not the nicest of sights... He was a Desertfox and he had hundreds of tiny bitemarks all over his body, they were inflamed and needed to be disinfected. Even though the wounds could not have been older than 20 hours, the flesh was already showing signs of necrosis, increasing at an alarming rate with every minute, especially when exposed to sunlight. Nonetheless, we had to take his clothes off and wash his wounds with water, strangely enough that did seem to help against the necrosis, though not very well. Afterwards we put him into a bathtub, the water was blocking the direct sun and also helping with the heatstroke he most likely had. Later we would wrap him with special bandages due to his weeping wounds, and then hook him up to a saline solution. The bites were as it seemed from rats. A strange occurrence as one man should be able to defend himself against them at ease, also because rats usually shunned villages. The bites were not older than 20 hours, in his injured state he could not have walked longer than 10 to 15 hours at most... But there was absolutely nothing in a range of at least 25 hours around the city, at least nothing that could be reached by foot and he neither had a horse nor any other form of transportation to bring him here. The next city was 5 days away in the East. Trying to find any clues in this case I inspected his clothes and noticed that they smelled of rats, of course, but also of something strange that I could not identify. Perhaps I needed a more skilful nose. So I went to ask Dúath for help. I even attempted to speak that word again to please her. I do not know what exactly happened or how exactly I managed to it but apparently I got it right this time. I felt marvellous, not tired anymore in the least, high spirited and then... Then I froze, it was as if the temperature had dropped, I even had goosebumps for a short moment. However, Dúath was pleased with my achievement so she smelled at the clothes and told me that there was a city South-East of here, about 6 days away that smelled alike. Not a Lizard city and not a Desert Fox city either, a cosmopolitan city with different races... I was then informed by my Mentor, who had taken samples from our patient's skin that the substance causing the increased necrosis was basically causing the 'infected areas' to disintegrate also the substance seemed to have a paralysing effect which would explain why the rats had been able to mangle him so badly. I suggested that I could go and investigate what had happened, search for the reason of the rats becoming aggressive and where they came from in the first place. As I was somewhat afraid of falling prey to them too, I asked for matters of protection though. My Mentor said he most likely was able to create an antidote and also a vaccination but it would take at least 2 days. He agreed to show me how to make it once he had finished the first sample. Yet for now I could do nothing but wait. I could not even tend to our new patient, his state was somewhat stable and left for me was to hope... So I decided to aim for my obligatory task, collecting plants until sunset. Dúath supervised my dragon language training this evening before I rode the boar to the oasis again. As usual I caught a fish, roasted and ate it and mused a bit. Then I decided to go swimming a bit in the pond. I regretted that later as Dúath stole my clothes and put them on. She pranced up and down in front of the water with the words; 'Look at me! I am the Badass-Mother-Fucker Nestaron!' I would never have said such things but she seemed to have fun, even thought the clothes did not exactly appeal to her. She asked me how I could wear something like that and I replied; 'By not having breasts that make it so tight!' I then asked for my clothes back as the water grew slowly colder with the advancing night. She refused to hand them back but offered I may wear hers. As I knew by now that it was never good to decline her offers, I unwillingly put her black dress on. I did not know if I was supposed to feel insulted or complimented when she told me it suited me very well, but I think I just resigned and played her little game when I took two fruits to stuff them into my... nonexisting cleavage, after all the dress was going all the way up to the neck. Dúath' reaction was... giving me her bra and stuffing more fruits into it...also braiding black ribbons into my hair with much joy and burning the part of my shorts that was visible through the high-slit of the dress. Then she ran away and returned with the curling horn of a ram that seemed to have died in the desert as it was bleached by the sun. She attached them to my head behind my bangs. Yes, it was as weird and disturbing as it sounds. I had to sit down then in front of the lake, pose for her and quote 'show these long legs' of mine. Apparently Dúath had decided to draw me like this, I could only hope this picture would never come back to haunt me. When she actually proposed to go to the local Pub in Canero in this outfit I finally had enough and put my foot down, demanding my clothes back. And surprisingly enough she agreed, disenchanted but she agreed. So at 33 we headed back home, where I checked the Fox for the last time that day before showering and going to bed.

End of Day 21 / Month 01

[[1275]]

#D21M01 #Paphyran #The Early Medic Days #Nestaron Ciryatan

0 notes

nestaron-ciryatan · 12 years ago

Text

The Early Medic Days - D20/M01

Day 20 / Month 01

2. Quart of Lisanu 1082 Retrospection D10/M01 - D20/M01 I did not find the time or motivation to write something in the last ten days. I remember that I was forcefully woken at 7 already by Dúath on the 10th day of the month. I remember that she told me to drink an unknown liquid that she was waving around with in front of my eyes. I remember that I refused to do so and that she then grabbed my head and held my nose close until I had no other choice but gasping for air through my mouth. A chance she used to pour the unknown substance into my mouth and resuming to holind my nose shut until I swallowed... Of course I coughed a little and was not the least pleased to be woken like this. She told me it was supposed to smoothen my throat and vocal chords so I could train to speak that word better. Which I then had to do. In my opinion a stupid idea because forcing this 'potion' down my throat only made it ache more than usual. And of course I did not manage to speak dragon. What did she expect! I was a highelf, not a dragon! I think I went down to help my Mentor with the Lizard teens then, who were still grumpy and still wounded. Also I was told to mix more of the heiling ointment and change their bandages, also to collect more plants. In the evening I took the boar and rode to the oasis again, where we ate fruits and I caught a barbel for dinner. I returned late to the Guildhouse. Another reason for me not writing anything in the last ten days might also be, that nothing of higher interest happened. Every morning after I awoke, now on my own, not by having something forced down my throat, I had to go through a vocal training that had little to no results, I then took care of the patients, afterwards went to collect plants and make ointment or distill them later that day. I spent my evenings in the oasis, I had even gotten myself a rod for fishing by then. I improved my skills in distilling and medicine and one after another our moody patients left our care. I just thought I should at least give a short explanation about this vast jump from 9 to 20. Though if the next days remain that peaceful, I do not know when or if I will resume writing.

End of Day 20 / Month 01

[[417]]

#D20M01 #Paphyran #The Early Medic Days #Nestaron Ciryatan

0 notes

nestaron-ciryatan · 12 years ago

Text

The Early Medic Days - D09/M01

Day 09 / Month 01

1. Quart of Lisanu 1082 Another night, another weird and even more intimidating dream... I died on the boar while riding it, I died from pain and bloodloss and the heat of the sun being too much for me... My carcass started rotting on the creature's back... Then there was some sort of break in the dream and suddenly I had the Lizard Medic shouting and me being in big trouble for not having returned to the Guildhouse yesterday. The snoring of a boar was the first thing my ears noticed when I awoke at 8. After I had also carefully opened my eyes, I realized Dúath was with us as well, she was grooming her wings, in her human form. What an interesting image. As she noticed I was awake, she told me to get onto the pig whilst it was still asleep. But I denied this idea, even though it would have been easier for me. The simple reason was that in my opinion as an Ex-mage and a Travelling Medic Apprentice, it was better for the wounded animal to get as much sleep as possible, as necessary and not to be woken by a highelf climbing around on it. So I sat back and relaxed a little longer. A positive side-effect of being worried about the pig, my muscles were stiff and sore from yesterday still, so I was thankful for a little more rest as well. But alas, after a while, the animal awoke and I had to continue where we had left off last night. I tried to pull myself onto it. What with my still bandaged arms, of course did not turn out the way it was supposed. After several failed attempts to mount the boar I had at least managed to lay myself flat onto its back, clutching to it like to my own dear life. Especially, as I realised that the animal was running by then, far further than what the chain should have allowed. I was able to turn my head for a brief painful moment and saw the steel pillar had gone. Curse you Dúath! I do not have to mention that my chest and belly were slammed against the boar's back in a hard and relentless ride. It was justified to be more than alarmed about my bloodline being possibly at the brink of extinction... Realising the boar was loose I screamed something along the lines of 'He-ee-eh-eh-elp!' hoping for Dúath to just... do something! But she replied with a question; 'Why?' I was unfortunately not able to answer her, being a bit busy with trying to survive this ordeal. I attempted to get up properly and grab the reins, even though I was in much more pain by now than I had been at this point yesterday... I did not get up but I managed to get a hold of the reins. Following a logical thought I pulled tightly at them in an attempt to bring the boar to a halt. But it did the opposite, the beast accelerated! I screamed stop and ho and please and bloody murder but nothing helped and at one stronger jump of it, I even lost the reigns again. But who would I have been to give up so easily. I was more pain than body but finally, finally I got up onto its back, onto the saddle with the reigns in my hands, riding it... Still unable and oblivious about how to make it stop but I was riding it. Eventually Dúath stepped into its path, causing the boar to cower in fear beneath the mighty dragon, the size of a 5 and a half feet woman. Though not before almost throwing me off in the process of rearing up in shock. I was so unbelievable glad that it stopped and that I was still sitting straight on it that I did not use this chance to get down and flee. I stayed on top, even though Dúath was a little bit invasive about my privacy when she asked me how my crotch felt. I pretended not to have heard that and instead quickly asked what I was to do with the boar now. She grinned viciously and advised me to ride it to the city. This time however I was aching enough to actually ask her if she knew what commandos Dwarfs used for their Riding Boars. Apparently 'hyerp!' was the word to set this massive animal into motion and 'hyurp!' was the command to stop it. She did not tell me which was which but I figured it after shouting the later and the boar did not move an inch. I meant to manoeuvre it towards the town, unfortunately I did not know anymore where it was and my compass was not a big help as I had lost orientation before even coming here, not to mention after the boar went wild. Thankfully Dúath was willing to point out the direction for me. That was helpful yet barely a small step to returning to town as I was still unable to properly steer my giant boar so it was vermiculating... After a few attempts though I had gotten the direction somewhat right and the pig in a somewhat straight line... We were headed towards the Mage Guild House, because the boar needed help, quick and professional. I was not to happy about it, but Mages were the only people that could heal it in a short amount of time. I asked people around me, including Dúath to go inside and get a Mage out for me... I did not want to talk to any of them, and I did not want to get down form the boar, but no one was willing to help me so I had to... A shot of pain dashed through my body the moment my feet touched the ground. I clenched my teeth and took several deep breaths before marching into the Guildhouse while Dúath held the boar's reigns. I have to admit even though I felt almost as if I was supposed to have a sore conscience when I was with the Mages, I was glad one of them healed my aching body. It was more than a relief. I took her out with me where she immediately started to work her magic on the boar. She made it to half its body before she fainted... Mages! She did not first heal his most severe wounds, no she started at one side and now it was healed completely on one half of its body and still as wounded as before on the other half... Mages... I carried her back into the Mages' Guildhouse and placed her on a bed so she could get some rest. Then I went to the pantry and took every vegetable I was able to carry with me for the boar. I also helped it to some water before leading it by foot to the Medic Guildhouse where I handed its reigns to Dúath again. I was a bit afraid it would tear down the building if I had bound it to one of the pillars. My Mentor, as expected, barked at me for where I had been and what I had done so long and why I had not returned to do my tasks and chores. I tried to explain to him about my findings and about the wounded boar that I had to take care of before returning. He went outside with me after I had asked him to help me sedate it. To say the least, he stared in awe and seemed rather interested in the giant creature. He gave me an list of what we needed for the sedative and while I was collecting all the things from our storeroom he checked the wounds. He then explained to me how to make an ointment for the wounds and sedated the pig while I was working. Now that my body was not in so much pain anymore I realised how worried I was about the poor animal. I really liked that boar... When the sedative had kicked in we started to apply the ointment and took care of the injuries. It had a broken rib that punctuated the lung and my Mentor decided that I was the one who was going to take the rib out. He said it would help me improving my operation skills and that he was there in case I needed help. There was a lot of blood in the boar's lung that I had to suck off before and while I was working at the bone. The Lizard told me step by step what I had to do and then he did something to the boar's lung. I do not know what he did put I suppose it was something that had to do with mending the punctuation. Now that there was nothing left for me to do anymore, I decided to stay at my poor pet's side. Dúath told me that its chances of survival were relatively small, especially as the Mage would not wake up in the next 36 hours. And once again I realised how much I clang to this creature. I was an Ex-Mage, I liked all of the Great Patpat's creations, be it cute little kittens, vicious dragon ladies or smelly giant boars. I did not want it to die! It had suffered so much and I had gone through so much pain for it, was this all going to be in vain? No! That just could not be! I was desperate... I leaned with my back against the sleeping pig, my arms on my knees when I looked up at Dúath and asked her if she was able to heal it with her dragon magic. As much as I distrusted that kind of force, it was the only thing that would surely heal Piggy in a matter of seconds. And she actually agreed... under the condition that I spoke a word. That sounded more than fair. Even though I was sure there was a catch to it I agreed. She told me the word. I said 'Bless you'... And there was the catch. The word was in Dragon language. How could I speak dragon? That was not possible, my vocal cords would tear before I even uttered the first syllable. I tried nonetheless, of course failing miserable but at least I just did not manage to say it and my vocal chords remained intact, a bit sore but still okay. Dúath however conjured up her dragon magic and healed my poor little piggy, and my throat to boot. God, I was so thankful for her help, the boar was completely healed. But this also meant that it was in top form again. Now I could by no chance tie it to the Guildhouse, so I was in need of Dúath' help again, after all she was surely not willing to hold the boar's reigns whenever I did not ride on it... She grabbed my wrist before I could even defend myself and cut into the brook of my arm, drawing blood from me this time for the magic. She created a long silvery pole and told me to pick a word to summon it wherever and whenever I needed to. I chose the sídhe equivalent of 'to leash' and was then ordered to put my hands on the floor while she finished the ritual. Now I was somewhat able to summon the pole myself without her help, it would be useful, nonetheless it still was creepy. I tied the reigns to the new, and as Dúath ensured me, perfectly safe pole and went into the Guildhouse to shower myself and wash my clothes and drop into my bed then for a while. I think I forgot to mention that I had finally been allowed to actually sleep in the Guildhouse since a few days, as I was rightfully entitled to do by being a Travelling Medic Apprentice. It had felt as if a whole day had passed while I went through this ungodly amount of pain and I was so tired when I fell into my bed at 14. Yes 14! That means it had only been 6 hours! I slept ten nonetheless, until 24 and cuddled into my nice cosy bed for one more before I attempted to speak that word again Dúath had 'contracted' me about. Of course it did not work at all, so I went down and ignored the angry glares of our young lizard patients. I was not sure if they had yet heard about me catching and taming their priced toy. And frankly I could not have cared less! Actually I wanted to do what I had been supposed to do since a while, searching for more plants. Of course Dúath was with me again and of course 6 agonizing hours of riding a giant boar had not by far been enough training for today, so of course she was drilling me again. She herself found some of the plants needed for the ointment. I needed several more attempts to find anything. The plant needed for the disinfectant for example. Also a bit later I stumbled upon a strong acrid plant, that almost ate through my gloves until I poured water over them. Dúath was highly amused. After I finally found more of the Chrysophalis used for the ointment I was allowed to run back to the city. There I headed for the vegetable store and bought some food for my new pet. It even came closer when I fed it, seemingly wanting some stroke units. And knocked me over as it jumped at me like a little puppy. The boar looked as if it also wanted to run around... quite an energetic little fellow. My stomach was growling with hunger and my legs and hips pleaded to my head to think it over but my heart made me go back into the Guildhouse to put on my harness. The boar ran in a line straight as an arrow for almost an hour and it was fast. So that was quite some way, until it finally stopped in front of an... oasis? It had a bigger pond with reed and other smaller plants and high trees laden with fruits. I carefully balanced upon the boar, standing on it to pluck myself some of the fruits. A dangerous and also pointless endeavour, because as I was down from the boar, it rubbed its massive body against the tree causing quite a lot of the fruits to fall down. Well, at least there was enough food for the both of us now. After Piggy had eaten some fruits it marched over to the pond and continued its meal with some algae... There were actually fish in the little lake too, that looked by far more delicious than the fruits did to my hungry stomach. Unfortunately I did not know how to fish, neither did I have a rod... so I pulled off my top and tried to catch one with my bare hands. Of course with mediocre success. But then! Then I caught a salmon. I killed it, eviscerated it and roasted it on a stick. Look at me, I am a great manly hunter! ... It tasted better when I added rosemary. This was a most delicious meal. I felt much better afterwards when I sat there, staring a bit into the fire and enjoying the peace Dúath allowed me to have. After a while though I stored some fruits into my backpack for later and went up on the boar again. Which ran much quicker now then even before. I fell down... and again... and again... until I decided to shorten the link between us as much as possible, but still had problems with riding it. Well, I suppose this was not something that could be learned within a day or two. My Mentor told me it was good I had been away, the lizard teens had been in a rather foul mood. I wonder if it was because the dorky, cliché Sídhe succeeded, somewhat, at what they had failed so miserably? This evening my task was to make the wound ointment, not distilling as usual and only for two more hours. When those had past I was finally allowed to fall into my bed... This day seemed like two to me, with pain of four at least...

End of Day 09 / Month 01

[[2777]]

#D09M01 #Paphyran #The Early Medic Days #Nestaron Ciryatan

0 notes