Hunger and Healing

Log Info

• Title: Hunger and Healing

• Characters: Harkashan, Rune

• Place: Am'shere

• Summary: Eating too much Am'shere food is a bad thing. Thankfully, Rune has a capable healer willing to help with her strange new compulsion.

GAME: Rune rolls will: (1)+5: 6 (EPIC FAIL)

News of what had occurred as the group had moved further towards Prion Prison had spread through nearby villages. The returning party of Adventurers had brought back news, not only of the fall of a village, but that the menace of the Forgotten is spreading. It was fair warning to those surrounding villages - raise your guard, defend yourself, have healers be alert for unusual signs of hunger.

For Rune, it had become a constant annoyance. No matter how much she ate, it still felt as if she were peckish. So, at the moment, the rogue sits near the fire, two bowls of food already empty and the half-sil working on her third. She wipes at her eyes with a sleeve, because the spice is still intense, despite the hunger. It does nothing to help.

"Harkashan better get back soon." She mutters to herself, her guts giving an uncomfortable roil. With that amount of spicy food, she has to be feeling it in very uncomfortable ways. "Otherwise, I'm going to bite him just out of irritation."

Apparently, Rune is quite done with resisting the urge to eat, so just continues to shovel food into her mouth, looking grumpy in the process.

Luckily, Harkashan does arrive! With word of this kind of trouble, he made for their location post-haste on his Swiftclaw coming through the jungles. But not quite knowing just how much stress Rune is dealing with yet, hunger wise, he takes his time getting off and preparing some of his materials.

"Good evening, Rune." He rumbles. Something she may be disagreeing with him on at this point. "How are you doing?" As he approaches, noticing the two empty bowl and her working a third.

He knows her to enjoy food. But she's not one to overeat like this. "How's your stomach?" He asks, kneeling down next to her a little bit later, laying a hand on her shoulder.

Oh, the look that Rune is giving Harkashan over the edge of her bowl as she shoves another spoon full into her mouth. "Yes, go ahead, take your time." Apparently, Rune is quite irritable when she's hungry. The fact that she /is/ still hungry is enough to signal that something is definitely a bit off.

"Hungry. Tired. Irritated. My tongue is on fire. My guts hate me. You don't even want to go near the latrine we dug out because that's a disaster." The after effects of over-eating, especially over-eating spicy food, are clearly ... explosive.

As he kneels next to her and lays that hand on her shoulder, her blue eyes look over, "About ready to mutiny and take the rest of me with it. I eat, and eat, and eat and it isn't helping." Her voice comes out with a bit of a whimper to it, her expression one of someone who has been fighting the urge for long enough that her willpower is all but sapped out.

"What the fuck is wrong with me?"

GAME: Harkashan rolls Heal+2: (17)+9+2: 28
GAME: Harkashan rolls bluff: (11)+3: 14

Harkashan, kneeling next to her now, looks her in the eyes as she talks. Tilting his head, touching a hand to the side of her throat. Doing a checkup while she talks. There was a little alarm and shock at her being quite so short with him, but he is used to patients being not-great at handling... well... being sick.

"I will avoid the latrine." He rumbles to her. The man then puts his other hand onto hers and stops her in the midst of grabbing at more food. "So this is how they plan to do it..." He then rumbles, grimacing.

"You're suffering from a form of Hyperphagia. It stops that part of your brain that knows that you have had enough food - and keeps making you feel like you should be eating more." He answers her, before reaching into his pouch. He's being very matter-of-factly about the explanation, but she can see the softness and worry in his eyes. And what's more, a bit of fear. Not at what ails her, but at what this means.

"Food is one of the mind's most important factors. One of your greatest needs." He pulls out a few pieces of spell materials. "I think I can cast a spell to make it go away."

GAME: Rune rolls sense motive: (6)+8: 14
GAME: Rune rolls will: (10)+5: 15

The sudden touch to her throat has a puzzled look crossing over Rune's features, her own hand reaching up to touch the same spot. Then, she looks at her fingers, as if checking if she spilled something on herself. Then, shaking her head, she seems to latch on to his comment. How they plan to do it.

"How they plan on creating more Forgotten, yeah." Rune replies. "A few of us got bitten by the Forgotten we were fighting." Lifting an arm, she revels a set of mostly healed bite marks on one forearm. They'd fade completely in a day or so. "Simony said we'd come down with something, but they didn't have the ability to heal it at the time."

Her hand reaches for her bowl, and then his catches it, causing her to look down at her hand, then back to Harkashan. "It's like... I feel like I'm starving but I know that I'm not. But the only thing that makes the feeling go away, even for a split second, is eating." Her brows furrow.

Seeming to realize that this is a problem, she pushes the bowl away and folds her arms across her chest, seemingly recovering some of her ability to resist the feeling in the presence of someone else.

"It's horrifying, this kind of thing." Harkashan answers her as a silvery-grey energy begins to ripple out from his fingers. The moment it touches her, it begins to sear through her veins, making them glow red for a moment. Running up along her body. Burning away any other diseases that may ail her and helping evening out her stomach issues as it runs to the top.

For a moment, she'll see red, before that sense of hunger changes to...

She's so full. So very, very full.

Harkashan leans back away a bit with his hand and offers her a baggy he'd prepared, in case she suddenly felt the need to vomit.

Unlike some of the magical abilities that bolster one's fighting prowess, this one has Rune going stark still. The feeling like fire going through her veins has her jaw locking, hands tensing into white-knuckled fists. There is a faint sound in the back of her throat, barely a whimper, but then her vision goes red and she ends up falling forward, catching herself on one hand.

Rune gasps, then lifts her other hand to cover her mouth, making a retching sound that is distinctly unpleasant.

She grabs the bag from Harkashan, then bolts to get some distance before she empties the overfull contents of her stomach in a display that very well might look dramatic to some.

It is done, Rune is left on her knees, coughing and looking more than a little miserable. "Fuck. Makari food burns." She sniffles, wipes at her nose, and ties off the bag before tossing it away with an unpleasant squelch.

Harkashan watches the pain read on her face, before she covers her mouth... and there she goes. He remains in place, sitting down properly instead of kneeling, and starts working up a small poultice of herbs. Listening to her empty her stomach out.

When she finally finishes up and tosses the baggy, he rises back up and steps on over to her, drawing some of her hair back - a bit belatedly - and offers the small poultice and lays it against her neck.

"Leave this there." The smell of the herbs are mellow, in a soothing way. "It'll help the sense of nausea go away." He remarks, before kneeling back besides her and putting an arm around her back, and drawing her against himself.

"Make sure Skielstregar never takes on this disease. His hunger can be... a problem." He then remarks - before asking. "Do you need something to deal with the soreness of your stomach?"

When Harkashan approaches this second time, Rune may very well be dreading whatever comes next. However, the cool feeling of the poultice causes her to stiffen ever so slightly, the smell causing her stomach to roil for just a moment before settling.

One arm moves around her stomach and then Rune leans back slightly, taking a deeper breath and shaking her head. "You know... normally I'm not one to turn down meals, but... I think I might skip a few..." The unsettled feeling of her body dealing with the aftermath of the overeating is not pleasant.

However, when Harkashan draws her back, the girl allows herself to lean against him, enjoying the radiating warmth as she tries to relax somewhat. "I'll be fine. It just may take a few days, I'm sure."

Then, at the comment about Skielstregar, Rune's expression morphs into worry, "We should warn him, regardless. Maybe make sure we have a potion or one of those spells you just used on me ready in case something happens."

"Agreed." Harkashan answers, very firmly, and very definitively when she mentions warning Skielstregar. He's rubbing her back a bit during this, trying to ease the queasiness that she is no doubt still dealing with.

"But I would also call out that we do not have a lot of time. If this spreads, this will create a much bigger problem here in Am'shere. If this disease spreads wide, the impact on my Kin will be... unfathomable." He huffs a bit.

"I do not know how the Charn intend to capture that many wild Forgotten and turn them to their needs. But I am sure it'll be easier for them to deal with than smart and thinking organized Sith-makar."

"We should spread the word, regardless. The healers among the Makari can start to create potions to distribute, and they can be on guard for signs of the disease." Rune suggests, closing her eyes and rubbing a hand along her belly to try to ease some of the ache there.

She doesn't argue the matter of time. Each attempt at getting closer to Prion Prison has been met with more troubles. However, they must continue to push forward, hoping that some answers may lie there.

"Each of our encounters with the Charneth have included a mage of some sort. At the village, there was just a single mage and four Forgotten. He must have had some way of controlling them, otherwise they would have turned on him." Rune suggests. The rogue is not particularly versed in magics, but her logic makes sense, at least to her.

"I would not be surprised that a mage has some way of controlling them. Perhaps some kind of substance, or a spell..." Harkashan rumbles, thinking about it. Nodding his head a bit while she's talking. Agreeing with her words.

"Potions of this kind will be expensive to make. And we have healers, but healers at the kind of position in their life they can cast those kinds of spells are not as common... I'm not saying we shouldn't or that my people can't. But there's a critical mass to consider here." He huffs a bit. The Sith-makar is worrying and diving in too deep.

"I didn't find any sort of substance on him when I looked, but that doesn't mean there wasn't something." Rune confirms as she takes slow, intentional breaths. There is still a bit of sweat that has beaded on her forehead, likely from the lingering feeling of having emptied her stomach quite so recently. "And I don't know jack about spells. Only thing I really saw them cast was a fair number of fire explosions."

Other members of the group had come back with significant burns, though Rune had largely returned unscathed, it seems. "I get it, I get it. We need to stop the spread at it's source." She reaches up, wipes a hand across her forehead and then leans her head back again. "It doesn't hurt to let people know so they can /try/ to be prepared, right? Hell... worst case scenario, muzzle the fuckers who are infected and isolate them."

It may sound cruel, but the choice between confining and isolating one person and losing an entire village seems a fair trade-off. At the worried huff, Rune's blue eyes open and she reaches a hand upward, her fingers rubbing against the side of his muzzle. "Peace, love. We'll figure this out."

"I agree. Don't get me wrong. I agree." He rumbles as she mentions that it would not hurt to try and prepare people. Still, she is right. He is worried. There is no peace upon this one's nest right now.

When she touches her fingers to the side of his muzzle, he closes his eyes. "I shouldn't be there myself. If I become a liability..." He huffs. "I will be preparing as many curing spells and potions as I can do deal with this. But we need to make sure there's someone who stays behind who is ready to cure you all if you end up exposed." He rumbles to Rune, touching his hand to the back of hers. Drawing it to the tip of his muzzle and 'kissing' to her fingers.

His eyes slowly open again. He wishes he could be there. But he knows where his duty lies.

And he's worried for Rune. She got away with less burns than the others. But he knows first-hand... both of them know first-hand, the cruelty of the Charn.

"I wouldn't let you turn into a Forgotten if it came down to it." Rune answers, her expression turning to ice in that moment. "I'd tie your damn muzzle shut, chain you in a shed somewhere, and starve your ass until we got Simony or Zeke or someone else to get rid of the damn disease." It may sound harsh, but Rune isn't about to lose Harkashan to the Charneth.

That said, she does seem to accept that he will not be accompanying her to Prion Prison. "I understand, though. Your skills are better set to healing those effected where you can. For me... I'm better set to taking out the people creating the problem." She gives a very Makari-like chuff. Maybe she's been spending too long in Am'shere.

"Maybe see if we can get a potion of whatever spell you just used for Skielstregar. That way, he can at least have one on hand incase things go bad." Rune suggests, hoping that might set his mind at ease a little, "Besides, you know your kin won't let anything bad happen to me."

It might sound harsh for some, being told they'd be chained and starved and have their muzzle shut. But to Harkashan, it's something endearing. A twisted kind of thing perhaps. But to be Forgotten is perhaps worse than death. He touches her hand and leans in, touching a horn to her forehead. "Thank you." He answers her.

He then rumbles; "And yes, you are very good at taking care of problems such as these. Especially now that the shadows themselves favor you." He adds, before chuffing right along with her.

Then, a nod; "I will see what I can do, in regards to such a potion. But I am not the best brewer in the world." He reminds her. Before adding; "I am not worried that my Brother would let something bad happen to you."

At least if her way of handling the situation is twisted, it is a viewpoint that the two share. She leans her forehead to his horn and then settles back again, resting against his shoulder while her stomach gives a very unsettled gurgle. It will be a while before she is back to normal.

"Slix seems fascinated by that. The shadows." Rune explains, closing her eyes again in order to help ward off the unpleasant physical sensations. "I'm still not quite sure what to make of it, but if the gods saw fit to gift me some hint of magic, who am I to argue with it?"

Her brows furrow slightly, "If it weren't such a trek, I'd suggest maybe talking to that brewer who makes the healing ale. They seem to know what they're doing."

"I certainly have not found reason to argue with the Deathsinging Dragon." He admits when she mentions gods seeing fit to gift her with a hint of magic. He then helps her up, offering both hands.

"Let's get moving a bit." He suggests as he guides her back to the camp. "And leave some of the smell behind. That'll help your stomach." He rumbles, guiding her away.

"And I am sure Slix is not the only one. Promise."