#paphyran

[semiramis-audron]

Hopefully soon usable RP character

Giles (Aegidius, but don’t you dare call him that) Goat-Human, 17 years old (that’s goat years) Ex-farmboy and working in a tavern, also part time adventurer... I guess? Goatishness is sort of based on Walia Ibex... cause they are pretty and their horns have cool ridges... also ethiopia cause well he’s based on Trevor >_>

meh, i’m tired...

[semiramis-audron]

Nestaron Ciryatan drawn by various artists

( If you recognise the style or signature please link me the Artist's tumblr/animexx/deviantart so I can give them proper credit)

These are all drawings of my OC Nestaron Ciryatan that I commissioned, in one way or the other. Hence why except for the digital ones, I own the originals. The first 7 were all Con-Hon entries from the LBM 2011. Amazingly interesting here is that the first 6 artists had the same reference and still each seemed to have drawn a different part of his personality. Which is why I love other people drawing him. The seventh had me in full cosplay as a reference.

I. ??? II. ??? III. ??? IV. ??? V. ??? VI. ??? VII.  Ashee-Chaos VIII. Defilerwyrm IX. RedPassion [x]

The following I love especially much. And it is hanging on my wall. It was worth the money in all it's entirety! Because it's an AU where the character got to raise his son ;_;

KiraSaintclair - Commission Father Time

There are some more great art trades, commissions or gifts in my favourites folder on DeviantArt.

[semiramis-audron]

It's not like I didn't bloody warn you the "male" covers make me think of young!Nesti going child-in-toy-store-crazy about those chaos dragon powers, Ashee!

>_<

[nestaron-ciryatan]

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]]

[nestaron-ciryatan]

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]]

[nestaron-ciryatan]

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]]

[nestaron-ciryatan]

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]]

[nestaron-ciryatan]

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

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