The Hive Disease

This forum represent casual roleplay within the Sigil streets, its bars, and other "walk-in" roleplay avenues.
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Asigai
Posts: 42
Joined: Sun Feb 23, 2020 9:28 pm

Posted by Asigai »


Katani had taken a couple of days just for herself to relax after all the kerfuffle revolving around Sorrowsworn, or the lord that really hated Tavias guts. And once she returned to make a visit to Sigil to see what's up, she discovered about there apparently being some sort of illness running around the Hive Ward, prduced and spread by a cult of Ghaunadaur. Besides the small bickering between arguments which seemed to range from negligent sociopathy to overly idealistic yet somehow nearly as hollow stance. Though she did lean toward the latter more, despite an arguably fair point of view from the former. The general point stood regardless: People were getting sick, and she could probably help out with that.

Sharon did point out that the Cult was the people behind this "Slimey Doom" as the disease was tagged, and expressed that until they'd be dealt with, it'd likely continue to be an issue. And she's probably right, but Katani also knew a lot of planewalkers would be lunging at the chance to fight a threat that can be dealt with a sword, no shortage on that, and they'll likely do a good job of it at the end of the day. For Katani, it was a matter of innocent suffering that was a bigger concern, and far less interesting prospect to solve.

Problem of course was, that she didn't really know much about this "Slimey Doom" and it didn't seem like the few she knew, nor the SIGIS seemed to have many answers either, that of course meant going out into the Hive and figure it out. A part of city which had become more familiar in recent months for her, not without its own problems of course. Much like this Gorm-Ar had pointed out in SIGIS, the Hivers weren't always an easy bunch to get along with, yet it was the right thing to do. She gathered her supplies and made it out into the Hive Ward, asking around to try to see what's up. ((spoke with the EM about this via discord, following is taking some creative liberties for narration))

After several failed attempt - turns out nobody had a moment to discuss about... after which they zoned out assuming it was religious tosh, so she changed her strategy. And walked up to a group of not-particularly-savory looking people. Smiling politely as she usually did "Heya! Any of you want to earn a free meal? All you gotta do in exchange is tell me whacha know about this whole "Slimey Doom" thing." Katani didn't exactly look like a local with her fairly vibrant outfit, hair and face that wasn't filled with worry lines. Which took them a second to register, one of them said in thick Cage cant "Tell ya what lemon, ya pay the music an' we'll be yar skag."

Awww shite, Katani thought, her Cage cant was at best very rusty. At least she's familiar with term 'lemon'. "I mean... if you want me to play some song, I can-" she started chipperly "-jink, or ya'll get nothin'." the Hiver grunted, their opinion not at all improved. "Oh. That makes way more sense!" Katani grinned at that "Hundred a face seem fair?" it was plenty enough, the Hivers spoke with each other in hushed tones debating, and seemed to elect that they could get more out of this "primer" "Tell ya what, ya ask the question an' if it's easy, throw a tad extra garnish on it an' we'll make it sure as Sigil."

Katani considered this, but chose not to make no promise before asking the question, and see what'd come up out of it "What do you know about the "Slimey Doom"? I want to try to see if I can test a couple of spells and magic to cure it on someone" again the Hivers had their own silent discussion before the main man spoke "Pay up an' we'll help with yar "sickness"." its double meaning went past Katani, but she didn't need to think about it as she offered small sum, one hundred and fifty jink, fifty a person. "If it's good, you'll get more." the main man seemed inclined to argue, "bob the clueless", but Katani wasn't inexperienced enough "No, I don't trust you. When you need the brain power of the three of you to decide how much you can get for something I could get for free, -well consider this charity. Take it or leave it. It's easy jink, I know it, you know it."

Annoyed by being confronted, looking at the buddies whom wordlessly gave non-commital agreement in the form small head tilts and shrugs. They could walk out one hundred fifty jink richer for nothing, or they could waste five more minutes to talk to some rich sod for extra jink. It was already a lot of jink in Hive standards. But it was a game, couldn't seem too into it "Yar way smiley siren." they said trying to sound grudging about it "Park your ear, I got to catch a skeg at Twipt Theggast havin' it. Soddin' ninny chanters got him. An' he's been all about rule of sevens since that." The thick accent certainly didn't help Katani. "Um.." the hiver caught the drift "Listen berk, see that tall building there, with all the paints scrabed on it? Bang the door, say that Besk sent ya. He's got yar slimey doom." Katani smiled politely at that and offered another three hundred jink to the man "Thanks!" and headed to the building.

It had certainly seen better days. Graffiti layered on top of each other, anti-Triad sentiments, insults, counter insults, gang markers. Original painting drying and wearing out. Katani went to the door and knocked it politely. "Heya! Besk sent me here!" she raised her voice to speak through the barrier. Another knock "You there?" until the door finally opened, disheveled man, twitchy sort looking at Katani with his deep sunken eyes, like an addict that missed his past couple fixes and nights sleeps. "I.. I stopped that work already, I told-" Katani made a defensive gesture by showing her palms to interrupt him "No clue whacha talking about. I'm here about this Slimey Doom, said you could help." he eyed Katani suspiciously "I... can make it worthwhile to you! And no harm will come to you, that I promise" she smiled politely. Which earned another even more peery look at her. "... Look, all I want is to see if there's some easy cure for this, so I can start hiring help to create larger supplies."

The suspicion did not particularly appear to subside for that. "Get me drugged and bob me like a cony-catcher?" to which Katani seemed baffled, and she was about to point out that what he had was shit compared to everything she owned, but decided to get better of it instead "Tell you what, everything I'll use, I'll use to myself first? I promise to make it worthwhile to you, alright?" they peered at Katani considering it "... You're that wagon girl. I saw you once." Katani smiled briskly at that "Didn't enjoy it. Seemed childish and patronizing." that earned a chuckle out of Katani "Ouch! Fair enuff!" and got a little more serious "But I am trying to help, really." the man studied and considered it a while... looking left, right, past Katani, stepped out of the doorway. "You get five minutes." they didn't invite her in, technically. But that was no issue to Katani as she stepped inside and started to uncover her supplies.

Explaining each one of them and what they did, as she used the potions and wands in the order the man prefered. Going through a list of spells: Remove Disease, Restoration, Cure Light Wounds, Cure Moderate Wounds, Cure Critical Wounds, Remove Curse and Antidote. None of them worked, leaving Katani quite puzzled, but time was up, she thanked the man, and left them a bottle of arborean red wine, and a small pouch of 100 jink for his trouble. After this Katani left the Hive Ward to contemplate what to do next.
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Bloodlines
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Joined: Tue Mar 17, 2020 4:10 am

Posted by Bloodlines »


Leyana knew there was not much she could do to help the Hive. She was never much a fan of the Hive anyway, calling back to an incident that had made her avoid the ward altogether. But even if she wanted to help, treating diseases was simply not her specialty. Yet she sometimes thought of the children that were being affected. As much as she hated that ward, the children were innocent, and she couldn’t blame everyone in the Hive for what had happened to her a couple of years ago.

Then there was all the bickering and complaining, people saying one thing and others saying another while trying to hold a moral high-ground, yet nothing was being done. Just people giving their lip-services to the cause of ‘good’ to make themselves feel better and right. She’d be wrong to consider herself altruistic, so she couldn’t judge too harshly. And yet it still irritated her. Still, thoughts about the children wouldn’t leave her.

Leyana folded up the SIGIS and tucked it away to read the rest later. It was by then that she saw Katani come by. The green-robed woman greeted her and picked a copy of the city’s rag. Leyana spoke at length with her for a while, catching up on a few events in the city. The skill show had brought her so many customers that it was nice to just stand around and talk. That’s when Katani said something that changed Leyana’s perspective about the Slimey Doom.

“So magics that cure disease appear to have no effect?” Leyana said. “Maybe this isn’t a disease then but some sort of, well, infestation.”

Katani seemed surprised by the suggestion. Magics that removed diseases had no effect, but some holy magic did, specifically ones charged with positive energy. Leyana recalled a similar incident that happened a few years ago, and that gave the nymph an idea.

She headed home shortly after finishing her conversation with Katani and immediately went to work. She wasn’t a doctor, she didn’t have the expertise or knowledge to curse diseases, but she knew herbs and herbs had a magic few people understood. Besides, this didn’t feel like a disease.

Armed with the knowledge that the slime was sensitive to positive energy, Leyana harvested what she had of the sage in her garden. Normally she used it to treat skin maladies or to combat colds. It even aided in digestion if infused with tea. However, sage also was known for its powerful properties in warding off evil spirits and being filled with positive energy.

With a little help from Ulanshio, Leyana went to work extracting as much concentrate essences as she could from the leaves of the plant and brewing it into a thick concoction. More than a few plants were needed so she used almost all of her crop. When it was finished, she poured the mixture into a tray and let it dry in the room for a few hours until the substance formed like a hard candy. It didn’t’ take much time after that for her to break the sheet down into dozens of small bite size drops. She even tried one herself. Bitter and piney. She made a face. Well, medicine usually tasted bad anyway.

Satisfied with the batch, she’d wrap the drops in pieces of paper and bring them Katani to distribute to the Hive.

“Like we discussed,” she told the woman, “give these out to people who are showing early symptoms. Let me know what happens.”
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Mymothersmeatloaf
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Joined: Thu Mar 05, 2020 5:19 am

Posted by Mymothersmeatloaf »


Curative magics didn't seem to work, however the mixture Leyana produced started having some slight noticeable effects in some people. However It was slow acting, extremely so, people got hit hard with the symptoms, at first, and began showing cold like symptoms, coughing up black mucus, sneezing, and in most extreme cases, vomiting a blackish ooze.

The blackish ooze would reform together, creating something that resembled a small ooze, that would attempt to attack anybody it was near, unless it were incinerated before-hand.

It certainly wasn't the ideal solution, but it did something.

Efforts certainly haven't gone unnoticed and the people in the hive ward have become more cooperative with accepting treatment.

The gatehouse has not accepted any patients infected with slimy doom since the last incident they were affected by.
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Red the Rogue
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Joined: Sun Feb 16, 2020 10:03 pm

Posted by Red the Rogue »


After a brief discussion on Leyana's findings, Sharon and Leyana met over at the School of Majik. While there, the two began to sift through the library on books of herbalism. While the sorceress herself wasn't an herbalism, Leyana certainly was. Eventually, another herb to try came to mind from the nymph. Vervain.

It seemed like the perfect herb. One used more strongly to ward off evil spirits when used as an incense. After all, they weren't dealing with a disease, but an infestation. As Arloid mentioned, it was oft used to ward off vampires back on Toril and was plentiful in supply, so it seemed to be worth a shot. With a larger supply of the plant still needed, Sharon decided to procure some for the time being to test the theory. And if it works, Lance and Arloid just might have something in mind to help distribute it.


"Vervain..." Sharon muttered to herself. Upon reaching Layla in the Great Bazaar, the woman smiled and lifted a hand to the fellow Indep. "Layla. I'm looking to buy some vervain. You wouldn't happen to have any on hand, would you?"
Sharon Raynsford - Experienced adventurer finding renewed purpose beyond her prime.
Lyanna Wayfarer - Traveler of worlds, cultural explorer, and experienced physician.
Tavia - Bardess, tale-teller, daring-doer.
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Asigai
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Joined: Sun Feb 23, 2020 9:28 pm

Posted by Asigai »


Katani indeed brought the small batch of herbal "snacks" from Leyana to try at the victims. Since she wasn't any kind of expert in medical matters herself, she was basically panicing from the symptons she thought it might've caused. But also weirded out enough not to try to get close to get herself infected just incase. And the first time she saw the blackish ooze being vomited, she very nearly vomited herself, disgusting as it was. And almost had the vomit-ooze attack her before she got her elemental shield around her to scorche the creature entirely reactionarily.

She later on returned to Leyana to tell the results of the initial testing yielding reaction at least. Which immediatelly was more than the first magical attempts had been.
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Bloodlines
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Posted by Bloodlines »


By the time Katani had returned, Leyana mentioned she was working on something else. Going off some advise from Arloid, Leyana asked several people to gather her a few bags of alkali salt. She also collected more sage as well as some holly and karan to brew a more potent albeit less edible potion.

"I think they're going to need doctors for this one. I figured people that are moreare not going to be able to stomach most medicine, so this concoction is going to need to be forced down." She handed Katani what was the recipe and ingredients of the potion as well as its suggested use.

"I've only made one so far, because I need it tested. See if any of the doctors in the healing houses or the Gatehouse would be willing to try it. The instructions explain that the concoction should be fed down into the stomach, forcefully if need be and quickly. Once down, the alkali in the potion combined with the herbs should cause the slimes to react, maybe even violently." She creased her lips into a tight frown. "I can't say for certain this wouldn't kill the patient. If the slime's have already caused a lot of damage, taking this could be deadly."
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Mymothersmeatloaf
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Joined: Thu Mar 05, 2020 5:19 am

Posted by Mymothersmeatloaf »


"Ooooooo! Vervaine yes! Have I do!" The hag replied to sharon, she offered her entire supply, which wasn't enough to go by, apparently it wasn't a very popular herb, nor was it purchased as much.

The hag offered at least two bundles, which was quite a lot, but definitely not enough to blanket an entire ward with.

Salt was in easy enough supply, after all there was a plane plentiful of it.
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Asigai
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Joined: Sun Feb 23, 2020 9:28 pm

Posted by Asigai »


Katani took the experimental medicine, recipe and the instructionsm provided by Leyana. Besides that she provided whatever extra vervain she had collected prior and delivered them to Amir, whom had prior expressed the interest in collaboration and expressed they had the facilities. And some jink. And since apparently she had been reduced to messenger duty, she did so dutifully. Well... a day later. She had a life, alright?

Returning to Leyana with the return message "So I delivered the thing, and mentioned about all the dangers and... whachamacallit, you know the things you told me to tell about. And they offered an access to their air... airo... aero..." Her face contorted as she tried to remember what it was, which certainly didn't help being a messenger. There was definitely a reason why people usually didn't use her as a messenger. "Okay so they got this better room than you do, for like magic air stuff. That might help with that incense idea you had. Said it's best in the Cage, or one of the best anyhow."

"Dunno what the results end up being, but guess we'll hear later?"
Taintedglory
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Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2020 7:35 pm

Posted by Taintedglory »


Arloid would find himself spending much of his time now in the Hive Ward, studying this disease with extreme intent. Not only has he spent every waking hour he could spare in the Hive dealing with the disease, he is also spending every last Jink he has to make sure those who suffer from it are well fed, sleeping comfortably, and clothed with fresh and clean garments. Is this going to be enough? He doesn't know, but he does know that this is what he must do for the City.

What will it take for him to help these people? He contemplates this every night in his room, talking to his wife with remorse in his voice. He shouldn't get involve. Sigil isn't his city, and he isn't here to be a hero. This is just supposed to be a nice Vacation, something to enjoy during Retirement.... But so many people suffering can not be ignored.

His age brings about certain benefits, and one of them is the life long experience of a seasoned Adventurer who has seen wounds of all types. He offers himself as an assistant with any Doctors, Healers, Chirurgeons, so on and so forth. Making their jobs easy by handling all the fundamentals of their work. He does this while patiently waiting for Lance to build his device to the spread of the potential cure, and for the Government to allow them to smoke out the Ward.
Lazuli
Posts: 11
Joined: Wed Apr 15, 2020 3:22 pm

Posted by Lazuli »


*With some time after the overhead ride of Lance's ship and the combined efforts aiding the recovery of those in the Hive, the airsoul would return back to the Taigh where she had worked nearly a year ago. Her visits over the most recent few cycles came with many barrels, bins, bushels, bags, and business as she saw to a large larder filling. A table and some crates were being arranged out front, and a blank sign was erected beside them. No words yet were placed upon it, but the painted image of a steaming bowl of stew beside bread gave a little indication of what may come. When not busying herself in and out to set this stand up, she'd be seen sweeping debris out of the Marshby hangar. It seems both places picked up a hired hand to help out on the homefront.*
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