[TCS] Call The Apothecary! - Printable Version

CALL THE APOTHECARY!

Ahh, Order had left such a mess.

It had been some time, yet still, the wounds were raw: the ecosystems of the caves had been (rather ironically) thrown deeply into chaos, and Astraea, Farina and Artio were still working to balance its effects. All life within the caves--prokaryotic, fungal in particular, the plants and even the Lessers--required cleansing and restoration.

While Master Artio served a more direct role, as a go-between for Astraea and Farina and in tending the plant life between Fornax and Eridanus, the Divine had been given a secondary, but no less interesting, role.

Normally, Astraea would have simply slain the infected Lessers and left it at that--but there were far too many of them infested with that white fungus. He'd taken to purging them, instead, pacifying them, and having them delivered to the Divine for tending. Their populations would be too low, otherwise.

But now... here lay the problem, quite literally: a large number of Lessers settled on mats of moss around her old, now-purified clearing. The Hive hardly bothered to care for wounded Lessers; if anything it sent them to their Greaters, Drones or other slaves to be eaten, once they were too badly sick or injured. Admittedly it was efficient, but it had left many of the cleansed beasts with a number of ailments and various damage. So, here the Divine stood, overseeing half a dozen Jungle Deer, each with their three eyes and forest-colored brindling; a small number of various rats, bats, Wind Hoppers and Walleye Rabbits; a handful of Jungle Mice; a small flock each of Rainbow Spinners and Carollers; a single deadly Lurker; six Gilted Catsquirrels; and a couple of huddling Kooru. Here there was a broken leg, there severe dehydration, this one with a serious infection...

She sighed.

It would be far too much for one servant of the caves--even one so powerful as the Divine. So she had sent out her call, along those lines of rumors and Echoing Grays and chattering birds, asking for Gembound aid--and promising knowledge in return.

She knelt, sighing and patting a Jungle Deer between its antlers, avoiding an extra eye that sat in its forehead. "Be patient," she encouraged, voice deep and smooth, a soothing croon. "Help will be here soon."

When they began to arrive, she would begin to direct them, to offer them instruction. To teach them to know the plants, to mix them properly, to apply them to mend the creature's wounds and sicknesses. Oh--and to diagnose the damage, too... That was an important step.

This thread is part of The Cave Stories event series!

As described in previous news posts and announcements, this is a low-stakes group of quests that will potentially unlock new spells, techniques, and/or tactics. All characters are welcome to join these quests at any time (unless otherwise stated at the bottom of a GM post).

Special notes for this thread: this event is not backdated, taking place at the current time. Order characters will be in danger if attempting to join this thread. There is no risk of Order infection in this thread.

The reward for completion of this thread (in this case, 3 posts + an exit) will include an Achievement & a discount on several yet-to-be-revealed Tactics. This thread is likely to be most beneficial for medic- and/or Other-path characters, but anyone is welcome!

The disarray the caves had been reduced to had initially escaped Fulgur's notice. At least, until he came upon an Order-ridden cavern himself, the sickly white strings lingering in his mind.

He probably wasn't the help the Divine had in mind - a massive beast with few hands and a lot more teeth. But Fulgur would help where he could, offering himself and his Flock as assistants.

The alien set down in the clearing, doing his best to not scatter the lessers in frightened dissarray. He did not know exactly how he would help, but help he would.

She had heard the whispers and rumors here and there. She'd told Mai about them as well, if she was interested in following her there or not. She wanted to help heal the caves, the white fungus having already driven her and Mai out of one of her preferred caves of Eridanus. She'd told the young one, in case she wanted to follow or not, and had made her way to the swamp.

She hadn't expected the clearing to be like this, but it was lovely - besides, of course, all the sick and injured animals. She felt unhappiness twist her stomach at the sight of injury and she felt an unshakable urge to help. Not that she had any intention of resisting it whatsoever. It was what she was here for, after all.

She let out a small quiet sound from her throat, to signal her arrival, and stepped up with the others that had already arrived. She was the smallest and perhaps the most normal of them, but she was eager to do what she could, all the same. "I will help," she offered to the Divine. "Just tell me what to do."

The young orangutan that joined the gathering did so from on high: swinging from branch to branch in slow, methodical fashion. The movements were practiced enough, efficient enough, to look lazy--but her gaze, fastened sharply down at the meeting, was anything but.

She descended slowly, clambering along the trunk with carefully-placed steps, and then turned to hang from a low branch, peering over all the wounded and sick animals.

Her fur had grown long, plants tangled here and there, but her words were still not all that complex. She pointed at the deer, then lifted worried gaze to The Divine, after passing it briefly over the other Gembounds gathered there. "Creatures sick?" she asked, her voice a soft croak.

Lumut slowly scuttled further down, then settled in the dirt. She turned and knuckle-walked across the laid-out grass and hay, moving as close among the Lessers as she dared, pulling away at any that seemed distressed by her presence. She then moved to sit beside the Divine, raising up a hand toward her, as if asking for it to be held--or asking to be held, perhaps.

Adenium was in Cetus again. They had no clothes to muddy this time - nothing but their own feet. This improved the experience, if only marginally. It was still the same fog, the same cool looking trees. She was surrounded by old growth, unafraid to flaunt their seniority. They towered above them, making them wonder if they had ever grown since then. Any change in its body felt marginal, insignificant, compared to the glacier pace of the forest around them.

It all felt kind of patronising actually - like the cave was showing off how big it was compared to her. Eridanus felt humble in comparison, and it found that it preferred that humbleness. The mosses didn't need to touch the sky to prove their worth. But in the end, one of the caves was filthy with the Order's sickness, and one was not.

Called by here by the birds sent by the Divine, it caught sight of what had called it here - and the reason why. It approached, quietly, pink eyes wide with shock. So many... What had wounded them? Why were they here? Others had gathered, as was standard - but who was the green-haired woman, and why did Adenium feel like they had met before? "Uh, I'm here - to help, also. You seem... familiar?" Maybe it was just because they were both part tree.

Casimir was no longer the young, timid thing he had once been. His long, curled hair dragged muck, staining the pristine white a muddy brown as he walked toward the distress call. He had never liked Cetus, but he begrudgingly came regardless. He couldn't in good faith ignore the call for help, as much as he shuddered at the mere thought of being around so many other gembound.

He did not make eye-contact as he came into the clearing, assessing the damaged with a worried frown across his muzzle. His icy blue eyes drifted from Lesser to Lesser, approaching the rest with hardly a sound. His ears swiveled toward the voices that asked for how they could help, offering their hands and paws and mouths for the cause.

Cas did none of that. Instead, he settled his haunches at one corner, and focused his attention on one of the Walleye rabbits. There didn't seem to be an immediate injuries, but it was still even at the half-lion's approach, as though it simply didn't have the energy to move.

He raised a paw, and focused his magic into the shape of a banana, which he then began to kneed into a mush without breaking the peel. Once he had done that, he took a single claw to slice it open, and pawed some of the crushed banana on to his paw. He gingerly, careful as could be, brought the mush to the rabbit's maw, hoping to get it to eat, even just a lick. The sugar would help it, he thought.