The rocking motion of the carriage changed as the cobblestone streets of the city turned into uneven brickroad of the Kingdom's highway. Somewhere,a voice shouted in panic. "Please, wake up,you have to go now. wake up, there's danger..." Thunder bellowed and lightning flashed over a weirdly clear sky, and then the carriage tilted.


Before the dream could get any worse or stranger, Oliandra's eyes opened to the still unfamiliar blueish light of the magic stone inserted in the ceiling of the cabin. It emulated the day and night cycle outside,and it slowly growing brighter meant the sun was coming up outside. Only very few cabins on the ship had windows - or fisheyes,as the crew called them. They were hard to replace. The merchant couple owning the ship was very well to do, but not that rich.

The rocking motion of the ship was steady, but heavier and somehow different than last evening. That was to be expected, considering the Falling Star was just now taking to the high seas. It was all very new.

Also new was the cabin mate sleeping below her on the bunk bed. The dwarf woman was snowing loudly, what probably accounted for the thunder in the dream. Attina, as she was called, was the ship's windcaller and wavetalker, which was kind of a shaman for the seas - Oliandra couldn't be sure about that yet because everyone had explained it differently,and Attina hardly ever talked unless it was the magic making the wind and the waves go. And that, she was good at.

Just as Attina's snoring got too loud for comfort, a knock sounded at the door. "Mistress Oliandra? Please check on Ludo? He be puking his guts out again." That shouting small voice was Calla, the smutje,the smut's apprentice. She was only about 11 years or so, but having grown up on the sea she was, in addition to learn how to cook for it's crew, also helping put with everything else that needed doing. One of her duties, so it seemed, was to make sure the healer was where she was needed. there were some jokes going on about that being the case because most of the time the cooking was responsible for sick sailors. "Mistress? You awake?"

"Coming!" Oliandra called out softly. Though she doubted that she was going to wake Attina if the Calla's calls hadn't already, she still tried to be as quiet as possible simply out of courtesy.

The healer climbed awkwardly out of her bed, still somewhat unaccustomed to such sleeping arrangements. This was quite different from her cot back home. Mostly because her old cot didn't bob and sway every few seconds. As her feet hit the deck, a swell caught the ship, tilting the floor under her feet. Oliandra swayed and stumbled a bit, still not having quite gotten her sea legs. She was getting better, but she was still somewhat in awe of the lifelong sailors who seemed to be able to adjust their stance without any thought, walking across a heaving deck as though it were steady land.

Since she never knew when she would be called to aid someone, Oliandra had taken to sleeping in her clothes. So, it was just a matter of slipping on her shoes, grabbing her bag of medicines, and she was ready to go. She stepped out of the cabin and shut the door behind her.

"Where's Ludo?" she asked.

"He feeds the fish on deck," Calla said and quickly made her way up through the ship, only now and then making sure the land rat, as non-sailors were commonly called,could keep up.

Sure enough, in the early morning dawn, Ludo was standing aft, retching into the water, away from the wind. The ugly orc's face was greener than usual, and he looked annoyed - no, rightly pissed - at his predicament. Orcs prided themselves on being able to eat about anything, hardly getting poisoned or sick, and best of all, being able to taste if there was any poison or other bad stuff in food. Which was the main reason the big fella had been picked to assist in the galley, as often enough foods taken on for the crew tended to spoil if the journey was long or the weather conditions wrong. And what was worse for Ludo, he was the only one sick, which made one wonder. Was there such a thing as a disease only affecting orcs? If so, Oliandra had never heard of it, but then, there hadn't been that many orcs in the city - or the kingdom,at that. The wars with the savage northern orcs had been only a century ago, and try as they might, the more developed areas of the world still took a dim view on them. Never mind that the reason the orcs had attacked had had a lot to do with colonialism and racism to begin with.

Ludo looked up and managed a grin before he retched again. By now, only bile came out, but amazingly lots of it. Helifted a hand in acknowledgement but was unable to talk. Calla stared in fascination. "If he'll be keeping this up, he'll be poisoning the fish," she grinned.

Oliandra frowned and shook her head, "If he keeps this up, he'll die of thirst, is what he'll do." She had seen it before, when one of the street rats would catch a disease that sent them running for the chamber pots. Unable to keep liquids and food in their bodies, they withered and died, severely dehydrated, starving, or both.

Not waiting for him to stop puking (because who knew when that would happen), Oliandra reached out and placed a hand upon Ludo's forehead, checking his temperature. However, she did wait for a pause before checking his other vitals... or she waited as best she could. Honestly, if he barfed on her, it wouldn't be the first time she had been covered in filth. It was just one of the hazards of being a healer. But, she'd just as soon avoid it, if possible. Aside from being unpleasant, if he was carrying some disease, she'd like to not catch it herself.

Normally, she'd write it off as Calla's cooking, but the fact that no one else seemed sick gave her pause. Usually, if that was the case, at least two or three of the sailors would succumb to the effects. This was unusual...

No fever, that was for sure. Actually, he seemed a little cold too the touch, and not the sort of cold sweat you'd expect from a fever. He was not sweating at all. His pulses were rather slow, with the exception of in his throat maybe, but that was hard to tell in his current condition.

Abruptly,Ludo stopped retching and belched. This had happened once before,and everyone then had thought Ludo had had too much rum and finally gotten it out of his system. But obviously it had not been the end of it. He was a little grey now, and his breath sounded exhausted. No wonder. Slowly, he sat down on the planks and managed a weak smile. "Feel like a zombie,sister," he whispered. "No good for big strong man like me."

"Maybe yer body finally adapts to yer brain no?" one of the sailor giggled, but it was obvious everyone was worried, and they kept their distance.

"Not been eating any more food," Ludo explained, aware by now what a healer would need to know. "Just bit more watered rum because rum disin.. deson... makes the bad things in food go away sometimes. Also good for small wounds. But not on burns. And water be good for when you can't keep it down." Obviously,the orc was proud of this little knowledge. It sounded like something their former healer had drilled into them. It also sounded like part of a list learned by heart. Most likely, Ludo couldn't read. "Got any bad tasting medicine?" Ludo tried to grin, but he seemed pained. There was a slight tick in his eyes, hardly noticable to anyone not trained to look for it.

Oliandra frowned, becoming more worried. This clearly wasn't a simple case of food poisoning. She gently felt around his neck, near his ears, and under his armpits... places where her teacher had taught her to check for slight swelling that would indicate an internal infection. She also ran a hand across his belly, feeling for tightness and bloating beyond what would be normal for an upset stomach.

"Eh, I'll get ya back on your feet," Oliandra smiled through her concern, trying her best to reassure Ludo even though she hadn't yet come to a conclusion about his condition. "Cap'll kick my ass if you're sitting around on yours all day!"

"Sounds like you're doing what you should," she nodded in approval at the steps he had already taken. "So, let me ask ya... I'm assuming that your stomach hurts. Have a headache? Any other pains? Weakness? Any muscle twitches?"

"Not so much pain as belly making noise. And very stinky farts. Like something died a week ago." Ludo belched again, and that didn't smell pleasant, either. "Feeling a bit weak,too. And yeah sometimes muscles don'tdo as I say. Stiff. Twitchy. But not too much. Helped Jan bring up a barrel of flour earlier."

Checking over the big orc,it was clear he had trouble moving all his joints as fluently as he should be able to at his age. He did not react to being pinched or prodded with a needle and said he could not feel it and his reflexes were slow. This was not something Oliandra had seen before.

There were very few infectious diseases causing a too low body temperature and most of those were magical in origin, except for cholera, otherwise known as run-for-it to the common population. Any of those infections had a tendency to spread very rapidly, and no one else was sick. Poison was most likely here, although it was not blood poisoning - no injury to find but a few non-bleeding scrapes on his hands.

Either someone had given Ludo poison on purpose, or it must have been something he had touched or ingested. Something slow progressing,so maybe it would resolve itself. But looking at the weakened orc, that was not much likely. So what had he been touching no one else had a reason to touch? Or ingested no one else had taken? Everyone shared food resources on the ship.

Tilting her head in thought, Oliandra asked, "What have you been working on, lately? Something that maybe no one else has been helping with?"

"Or... did you maybe have a treat to eat that no one else has had?"

Ludo's forehead wrinkled in an almost threatening looking frown. "Been cleaning the bilge," he said. "Like the work and no one else wants to do it. Caught a few rats and fried them. But Chubbo had a few rats,too." Chubbo, the kobold lookout with only one eye, sort of replaced a ship's cat or rat terrier, which was as well considering the captain was reacting badly to anything with fur, which was one of the reasons he'd taken to the sea. Not that the rest of the crew would not eat rats when necessary, but they did have enough chickens and pigs on board. "And maybe I been drinking more rum than everyone else."

"But you always do that," somone laughed.

"Couldna be as much rum," the black skinned Tarmani carpenter mused. "This time roun' you ain't be emptyin' all them barrels 'fore we get at em."

"Ya well," Ludo said, almost asleep with exhaustion. "Capt'n warned me not to, she did. Ain't no use if everyone but me is dry or gets sick. Now I'm sick, maybe me needs lots of rum to survive."



"Nice try." More laughter from the crew. Most of them started going back to work as Ludo didn't seem about to drop dead right then.

Oliandra sighed. Rats. She had nothing against the rodents. They had as much right to live as any other creature, but they did tend to be a nuisance for anyone in her profession. The little bastards carried all sorts of disease and were absolutely everywhere. It seemed to her like that was the most likely culprit for whatever ailed the sailor, but it still didn't help her with figuring out a way to fix him.

"Alright, big guy," Oliandra patted Ludo on the shoulder and moved to give him a hand up. "Let's get you back  to your bunk. You need to rest. I've got something I can give you to help you keep down food and water, and help with the pain. It's gonna taste like hot shit, but it should make you feel better."

She pulled the orc to his feet, having to plant her feet firmly and lean back with all her might, the sailor far too heavy for her to move easily. She spoke reassuringly to him as she escorted him back to his quarters, though inwardly she was worried that she would loose him. She needed to go report to the captain, let her know what was going on with her sailor, and then find Chubbo. She needed to see if the kobold was also suffering any ill effects, then perhaps do some rat hunting. Maybe there would be a clue on the rats as to what this was and how to treat it.

Ludo was always sleeping somewhere in the cargo hold,given his tendency to talk in his sleep he would have otherwise disturbed the other crew members. In this case, it was a good thing, because he was away from everyone else already.

Ludo fell into an uneasy sleep very quickly,as usual muttering to himself in his native language. His breathing was slow,too - more like one would see from an old person about to die.

"Eh, yo, happening is?" a squeaky and obviously upset voice came from top of some crates. Nothing to see up there, but the voice was definitely Chubbo's. For a race so famed for mischief, the kobold was awfully shy. "Ludo him better?" The blue scaled Chubbo now peaked a snout out,sniffing the air. "Still smell bad, like no good eat. Not that me want eat Ludo, just am saying."

"No, I'm afraid he's not better, yet," Oliandra sighed, still seated beside the now sleeping Ludo. Her hand rested on his chest, silently monitoring the shallow rise and fall of his chest. Worry fluttered in her stomach, but she couldn't let that distract her from trying to figure out what was wrong.

She frowned in thought, looking to the kobold who was still mostly hidden, "Ludo said you both ate some rat. Have you been feeling okay? Did the rat taste funny, to you?"

Oliandra wouldn't be surprised if the kobold was suffering no ill effects, even if the rats did carry something. The tiny lizard-folk were built differently than an orc or human. They could withstand different things. But, it could be that his senses had noticed something amiss that he may not have realized would be a warning sign to anyone else.

"Rat taste fine to me," the kobold said, creeping out from behind the boxes now. He tried very hard to be understandable and spoke slowly. "Not sick, no poison, some fleas. Good rats on ship. Keep good rats, bad rats no come. We fry them good, fire kill bad." He put his snout in the air and sniffed. "Ludo smell weird. Like things we fight last summer."

Curious, she asked, "Last summer? What happened last summer?"

OOC: How far back would last summer be? When is it, now?

(Late Spring)

"Get attacked by big smelly monsters from under water. Not-living things. Sneak up ship. Some long rotten, some fresh." The kobold shuddered. "But all run away from bright light some god-man make. We be bad but light all make them run away. Clean ship for days, still smell bad weeks." Chubbo looked at Ludo thoughtfully. "We not have Ludo then. Ludo would have smash all of them overboard. Ludo has protection thing from his tribe." He pointed to the orc's chest where a simple medallion hung over what looked like a slight black rash. It was made of wood and twine formed a spider web pattern. A common thing to enchant to catch curses. "Says not-living can't get him."

The rash catches Oliandra's eye. She moves the amulet aside so that she can examine it further. Her stomach drops and inwardly, she repeats please don't let it be rot, please don't let it be rot like a mantra. Chubbs has already told her that he smells like the dead. Once a living person's flesh starts to die before the soul has fled, well... usually, the soul isn't far from departing.

But, if it is a rot of some kind, then at least she has a starting point. She doubts that it is leprosy. That doesn't include stomach troubles as a symptom. Gangrene is created a by blood supply being blocked, so it's probably not that. But, dying flesh can be caused by untreated wounds that could cause an infection that might trigger other symptoms...

Of course, it may not be rot, at all. It could be some kind of infection, like a fungus. She carefully begins pushing aside clothing, looking for other places where the rash may be.

On closer inspection, the rash looks like a bad reaction to a substance, or a sensitivity to the material, but Ludo had worn this along time now. The amulet itself looks ages old and about to break.

Oliandra considers the rash, chewing at her bottom lip as she thinks. She continues to look for other patches to see if, perhaps, it has spread to other places on his body. Clearly, there's no way the amulet would cause the rash if he had been wearing it for so long... unless something was changing about Ludo.

The amulet was supposed to protect him from undead things. If he was becoming like those undead, then he would start to react to it. But, the attack was long ago and Ludo wasn't even there for that.

The healer shook her head at herself, tossing the idea aside. No. No, that didn't seem right. There must be something else causing his illness.

No rash anywhere else on the body, but it seemed to be spreading from where the amulet was hanging. So if this was a reaction to Ludo becoming some kind of undead, then there must be a source on the ship. Ludo had been fine at the beginning of the journey, after all.

As far-fetched as it seemed, Oliandra couldn't help but think that all signs were pointing to Ludo changing. If that was the case, who knew how long he had? And, she wasn't even sure that she could stop it, if she was right. After all, she was no priest. But, she had to try!

"Okay, Chubbs. I need your help," she looked to the kobold, her voice tight and serious. "I need for you to find a smell like Ludo, somewhere on the ship. It'll probably be somewhere dark and hidden, somewhere that others don't go very often. Maybe even hidden under something else that might disguise it. Can you do that, for me? I need to go talk to the captain."

As she stands, she adds, "If you find the smell, don't mess with whatever is making it. Leave it alone and come tell me where it is."
This message was last edited by the player at 14:46, Tue 06 July 2021.

"Yes, I can do!" The kobold grimaced in what passed for a smile with him. "Anyone can find,it be me!" Immediately, he turned around 3 times almost like a dog and ran off into the hold.

"Never heard him talk so much," the croaking voice of Brisco, one of the older sailors, was heard from the door to the crew quarters. "He must be really worried about Ludo."

Oliandra sighed and nodded, "I'm worried, too. This isn't something I have seen, before." She glanced back at Ludo's sleeping form, her brow furrowed in worry as she noted how shallow and slow his breathing was. "I'm sorry, Brisco. I can't talk, right now. I need to hurry..."

She started to brush past the old sailor but, then, pulled up short. She stopped, standing at Brisco's side, once again nibbling at her lower lip in thought. After a second of hesitation, she said, "Something is happening to Ludo that I'm not sure I can explain. I'm afraid that he might become a danger to the crew if his illness progresses. If you stay here with him just... be wary. He might reach a point where he's not the Ludo that we know, anymore."

OOC: Pausing here in case Brisco wants to talk some more. But, Oliandra is pretty intent on getting to the captain to warn her of her fears.

Brisco nodded and now he held up a fishing net. "I'll throw this on him if he makes any trouble. But I hope it won't be needed." The old man watched her rush by and went over to the sleeping orc.