[Citywide Storyline] Your Gods Can't Help You Now [Closed]

[Tabarnac]

Frowning, Theo pushed Cian back against his linens, though it didn't require much effort on his part. But he nodded to the healer and then to the acolyte of the blood god. "Bala," he confirmed. Tottering a little he turned around, one arm reaching over his shoulder to hike up his tunic, the other pulling down the back of his trousers. A most majestic tree was there, its roots reaching down toward his tailbone, its branches, a sapling's nearing that of a mature tree, grew up along the contours of his back, muscled etched in years of sweat and hard work to feed his people. But what once had been healthy now looked palsied, the color off, and somehow, without quite changing shape, the tree looked diseased. "Mine's bigger than Noc's," he offered, deadpan, gruff humor despite the seriousness of the situation.

[Veldrys]

„Bala?“ he repeated. He didn’t understand what Cian meant at first. What did Bala have to do with this? Was she responsible for this? No, this was completely ridiculous. Bala wasn’t that kind of goddess. It took him a few moments to realize that Cian had probably wanted to say that Theo had a mark from Bala which made sense since he was a farmer. As Theo confirmed this, the Symenestra turned to face him and nodded.

As Theo pulled the back of his trousers down though, he furrowed his brow, a bit confused. He didn’t understand why the human was doing this. Why did he suddenly feel the need to take off his clothes? Was he hallucinating? Had he lost his mind? He almost stopped him, but then it occured to him that the human wanted to show him something.

A soft curse escaped his lips as he saw the mark on Theo’s back. It looked all wrong, diseased. „May I?“ he asked and carefully let a finger run across it. „Does it hurt?“ he asked.

What exactly had caused this? And how could you return a godddess‘ mark to normal? He could make the fever go away. He could give them something so that they wouldn’t be sick anymore, but he had no way to treat something that affected such marks.

„Bigger than Noc’s?“ he asked and made a face, considering the statement inappropriate. This wasn’t the right time to compare the size of god marks or anything else. „Are you sure you are feeling well?“ he asked the farmer before he turned to Cian again. He had heard the other healer’s curse. „What’s the matter?“

As he waited for Cian’s answer, he thought about what else he could use to treat his condition. Willow bark maybe, if Cian happened to have some here.

[Caelum]

"A woman's singing," Cian explained on a rasping voice, huddling back up amid the nest of blankets when Theo made it plain he needed to stay down. Cian did have a reputation for being a poor patient, but that reputation was primarily based upon a singular incident that had occured over six years ago. Therefore, in Cian's opinion, it did not count at all. "Only I know one isn't. Not here. Bloody fever isn't good, Veldrys," and he ducked his head down against the lay of his pillow, mind drifting despite the hooks and anchors of a healer's moorings. "That looks disgusting," he informed Theo as well, a chill and shudder slicing through him at the sight of Theo's dessicated seeming gnosis mark that had been so beautiful. Misery climbed up his aching limbs, wrapping tight around him in an unwelcome embrace. He had done that, hadn't he? A hand lifted, crawling out of the covers to wave languidly at them. "M' fine. Take care of Theo. I'm going to," yawn, "Sleep now."

[Tabarnac]

Theo hissed at Veldrys' touch. "It doesn't hurt, but it doesn't feel good." The diseased tree twisted along his spine as he turned to look at Noc, battling a wave of dizziness. He frowned. No, fever was not good, especially if this was not a sickness but some strange reaction of their connections with the gods. Veldrys seemed the straight-laced sort, so he let his gallows humor die down into nothing. "You're the healer," he said, shoving his clothes back into place once the examination was over. "Could you treat the symptoms, at least? Then figure out what's happening." He hooked his foot around a chair, pulling it closer so he could sit down. He wanted to lie down, but Noc only had the one bed and Theo didn't want to catch any venereal diseases on top of things.

Moderator NoteVeldrys, feel free to earn some herbalism and medicine in your next post, but then I think we should wrap this up and move on. The plot is thickening!

[Veldrys]

„I don’t hear anybody“, Veldrys remarked as Cian told him that there was a woman singing and furrowed his brow. That Cian heard voices wasn’t good. He was probably hallucinating „I’ll give you something against the fever“, he decided. „If we are lucky the voice will go away together with it.“

He began to search Cian’s place for willow bark. Willow bark tea was his standard treatment for fever. It could be chewed as well, but in Cian’s case the Symenestra decided that a tea would be better.

„Two tea spoons full should do“, he murmurred as he found a small container filled with the desired herb. „It won’t take too long to prepare it. It will just have to simmer for a few minutes, and then it’s almost ready.“

With that he briefly left the room to prepare the tea. As he returned, he carried a bowl with cold water and another cloth with him. As Cian slowly drifted away, to sleep, he carefully washed the man’s face with the wet cloth.

„I will treat the symptoms“, he assured Theo who seemed much less tired than Cian. „I’ll give you some of the willow bark tea as well when it’s ready and maybe something against the nausea“, he decided, remembering the vomit he had seen on the floor. „Ginger should do the job. I wonder if Cian has any here ...“

It didn’t take too long before the willow bark tea was ready. Veldrys filled a cup for Cian and another one for Theo, and then he gently woke the healer so that he would drink. Since Theo was in much better shape and awake on top of it, he decided that the farmer could drink his tea alone.

Hopefully the two men would start to feel better soon.

[Tabarnac]

XP Award! Veldrys XP Award: Observation +3; Interrogation +2; Medicine +3; Herbalism +1 Lore: Effects of Static on Gnosis (basic) Additional Notes: Thank you again for jumping in and helping us lay some groundwork for the Citywide Plot! In addition to your skills XP, I awarded you Lore that will not help him much now, but if he learns more about Static (such as, that it exists), coupling it with this Lore will help make a foundation for him learning the discipline when it is written up if he chooses to do so. Huzzah for usable Lore! Feel free to PM me if you have any questions or concerns. Keep writing!