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
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