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Author Topic: What Was Once Becomes Once More, Sickness, Sadness and Sadistic  (Read 1318 times)

Rowana



The fervor and fears following the supposed dragon attack fades off after a week. In the lack of anything concerning happening in Hurm, Wymere, Redferns, Bitterridge or Liwich Castle leaves many decrying the supposed threat of The Black Plague. Some begin even begin to speculate that whatever magic had happened with the Great Reallignemnt of Stars had neutered the power of The Black Plague. A great sigh of relief is had when a second week of relative ‘silence’ passes. 

(Part One)

 
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Rowana

…. in a small shack that has
« Reply #1 on: August 15, 2016, 09:49:46 pm »

…. in a small shack that has stood for many years in the outskirts of Hurm, an old woman passes away in relative obscurity. Having lived there for ages, alone and independent, no one noticed her take ill. It was only after a second week of her usual trips into market that anyone began to comment on her whereabouts. By the third week of her absence, a runner is sent by concerned citizens to her home, having taken that long to even figure out where she lived. The body is found, thin and frail, curled up in the leavings of what looks like the throes of a horrible illness. Various fluids and stenches make the runner himself have to quickly vacate and empty his guts outside of the home.

He returns later with a small group of friends and attempt to do the poor woman justice in her sending off. Her body is tended, her property set a blaze along with it. A dark cloud of smoke billows in the wind, gently carrying into town and beyond. Solemnly, the five strong young folks make their way back into town, after the last of the controlled burn had been seen to…..

(Part Two)

 

Rowana

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« Reply #2 on: August 15, 2016, 10:09:29 pm »



…. A few weeks after the so called Heralds of The Black Plague left in their dramatic fashion, a number of small children passed away. As these things happen, even before the coming of the “Heralds” they were all ill with a disease of another kind. Their parents took them for treatment to local healers and at first they had responded well. However, as the illness lingered in it’s slow healing way, another illness struck them. How the disease made it’s way to the small children, no one can say. It took the healer too long to catch the secondary infection, as the symptoms lined up with the first for a while. When the coughing became so terrible that the children could no longer eat, the healers put their heads together to find a solution.

The first child passed away only a week later. With the symptoms unfortunately confirmed, a cry went up in the town: The Wasting Death had arrived in Wymere…

(Part Three)

 

Rowana

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« Reply #3 on: August 15, 2016, 10:34:56 pm »



…. In the Redferns, comfortable little town seated between two mountain ranges, a well loved woman and her unborn child die in the night after a mysterious illness took her. The wasting of the disease was so rapid and potent on her vulnerable form that not all of the symptoms manifested for identification. It wasn’t until one of the healers who tended her took ill. The coughing and struggles to draw breath fully manifested that the others knew what horrible disease had killed her. At much the same time as Wymere’s announcement, Redferns locked down it’s borders and cried out for help, sending one (they hoped) pure bird to Liwich Castle…..

(Part Four)

 

Rowana

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« Reply #4 on: August 15, 2016, 10:51:40 pm »



...It was the livestock that were noticed first. Cows and pigs eventually also the horses and goats, developing coughs. At first it was just a cow here or a pig there. Most farmers thought the odd coughs were a matter of the heart going bad and put the creatures down when they didn’t respond to best wellness efforts. However, soon after the first one went down, others took ill, and so did some of the family. The youngest and most frail went first but in at least one case, an entire extended family took ill after having eaten the meat of the first cow that took ill, not realizing their mistake until it was far, far too late.

By the time the lone bird arrived in Liwich Castle to beg aid for the Redferns arrived the city was already beginning localized quarantines to lock down the spread of the disease. A response was dispatched immediately though the aid itself would not be soon coming. At the same time a bird was sent to North Point, begging mercy from the people who saved them when the Black Plague last struck their kingdom….

(Part Five)

 

Rowana

….As the bird from Liwich
« Reply #5 on: August 15, 2016, 11:33:49 pm »

….As the bird from Liwich Castle neared Bitterridge, it set down and took rest in the small woods just a little ways from the town, less than an hour as the bird flies. It would never lift back off to continue it’s urgent delivery, as the illness had infected the small creature before it departed. It took ill and would later die in the small copse of trees, unremarked on for weeks to come.

Bitterridge was in the midst of it’s own crisis, locking down it’s borders and trying to keep out trades folk from Boyer. For whatever reason, the border town had been hit the hardest, already struggling with an over flowing healing ward. Bitterridge was also the site of the first Rofirien response teams. Some efficient stations popped up in afflicted neighborhoods literally overnight after the first week of infection. For whatever reason, the Rofirienites had been watching the town and got to work before there was ever a word sent out for help…

(Part Six)

 

Dorganath

Whatever the communal
« Reply #6 on: September 07, 2016, 12:00:00 am »

Whatever the communal thoughts about the Black Plague’s threats previous to now, every one of them had been banished in the coming weeks. Despite the preparedness of the Rofireinites, and much to their predictions, it wasn’t enough to contain the disease once it took hold. The spread of it, even with the help of the Aeridinite supplies was already beginning to claim several new victims each day.

The Rofireinites began addressing the situation not unlike their court systems, They broke the concerned areas down into districts and created small medical ‘courts’ in areas where the ill could be brought. Doing the best that they could, they provided comfort, sanitation and isolation in these areas, trying to slow the spread of the disease. Within two weeks of their efforts, they were already calling back for reinforcements from other locations, burning through their supplies at a rapid rate and turning once again to the advice of the Aeridinites.

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In Hurm, rumors of a returned legend had begun to surface. A halfling woman of no small renown had arrived to coordinate certain locations within the city, bringing with her some small, but not insignificant amount of hope to the locals. Her Rofireinite faith was proudly displayed in this time of crisis, perhaps causing some from out side of her district to make their way to hers in order to seek aid. She was not the only known face making her presence known, and indeed another halfling of legendary (or at least storied) status soon joins her, arriving not by ship but simply arriving. This companion seems quite an unlikely pairing, but for those who know them and their history. Where the first is quiet, purposed and regimented, the other is none of these, either in appearance or sound. Yet still, the second bears a quality that helps support the spirits of those afflicted while the aid workers work to support their health. Others of lesser, but important notice and bearing Rofirein’s standard continue to arrive over time.

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Some four or more weeks after the general affliction of Liwich, the first case of The Wasting Death was reported in Boyer. Rumors began to abound about shutting down travel anywhere near Liwich, including some distance from the boarders, sea and land wise, to contain the spread.

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In the town of Bitterridge, Danniel and Lana Poetr bear witness to the progression of the Wasting Death first-hand. Though not everyone becomes infected, large numbers do, and those afflicted range from having just the barest of symtoms to being only a few breaths away from death. The stench of disease and decay, the acrid burn of cremated flesh and the pained and tortured sounds of suffering assault the senses every moment.

Daniel is recognized in town, but thankfully only by a fellow Rofireinite who pulls him and Lana aside and out of earshot so they can speak. The other tells Daniel that their names are uttered as curses and it would be best for them to keep a low profile. Yet there is need of their aid, and so they are brought to a clinic somewhat off the main path but no less in need.

They find that medicines and spells only seem to slow the progress of the disease, and the greatest effect comes for those in the earliest stages. For those more progressed, all there is to do is to keep them as comfortable as possible.

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From his camp outside of Hurm, Vrebel's eyes can take in much of the city at once. Beyond the more frequent pillars of smoke and the piles of rotting bodies, one would scarcely know anything was amiss from this distance. On the occasions that he passes someone or ventures closer to survey the situation, he eventually learns that while his name (and those of the others) are well known, his likeness apparently is not. Comments about him and the others range from hatred (for bringing this upon them) to awe (for having the courage and power to stand against a dragon and live) to ridicule, the latter generally suggesting that the group that angered the Black Plague should have done a more thorough job.

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In Wymere, Daniella Stormhaven has no shortage of work ahead of her. As in other places, she finds that the usual medicines and divine blessings have only a minor effect, successful in slowing the progression of the Wasting Death in those showing the earliest touches but without actually halting the disease. Despite this, the aid she can give brings some hope to a desperate populace facing (or having faced) the unrelenting march of death among their friends, their families and themselves. She begins to receive similar reports from the small troupe of Toranite volunteers who had disbursed to other cities and towns in Liwich under her direction. The communications are few and far between and sometimes reference other communications that never arrived. Not long into her work there at Wymere, the town begins locking down communications locally, after finding a bird arriving with messages who was fully afflicted by the disease.

(Part Seven)

 

Rowana

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« Reply #7 on: September 14, 2016, 10:49:00 pm »



As the affliction wears on, the death count rises and the smoke of funeral pyres rises from an uncounted number of locations where the Wasting Death has touched, a special envoy of Aeridinites arrives in Hurm and sets up in one of the wards established by others of their faith. It seems to those who observe that the Aeridinites themselves were not the most important part of the arrival but rather the provisions they brought with them. Within a couple of weeks, the first “good” news of the ordeal starts to emerge. Though far from a true cure, the Aeridinites have been able to stem the progression of the disease among those who show only the earliest of symptoms. Their work spreads to a few other wards. Though the numbers of those lucky survivors remain few and no more than a glimmer of hope.

(Part Eight)