One month later, we learned what has happened with the badly injured hand of the foolish, mainly due to the inexperience of youth, kobold friend of Wraithvine's.
@internutter/challenge-03850-j198-this-is-not-a-place-of-honour -- The New Guy
It had been a very rough month, with a great deal of Restoration spells expended on one Kobold hand. They were lucky they found a Cleric of the Dawn Lord in the area. Nothing like followers of a god of rebirth and redemption to heal Unwelcome People[1].
Pierce Boyle knew everything there was to know about healing, both magical and non-magical. The unfortunate nature of his name was something he weathered with good humour. "It was going to be Ignat Blaze but someone else had a better idea. Those who come to the temple in a basket tend to have worse luck with names than those who walk in on their own." He pressed yet another poultice gently into Gikka's palm.
"Aie, it stings," complained Gikka. She hissed and winced and tried not to flinch.
Pierce kept winding the bandages that would keep the poultice in place. Around and around the Kobold's paw. "That's your nerves coming back alive. They're telling you all about the pain you should have felt when you picked up that cursed stone."
"Is that why I feel burning?"
"Unfortunately, yes. If I tried to stop that pain, it would only delay the inevitable. Prolong the agony."
"...agony?" echoed Gikka.
"So to speak," a kind smile did nothing to ease Gikka's discomfort. "This is a good sign, for all that it feels bad. You'll be able to keep your hand. Though I wouldn't go lockpicking with it for some months yet."
"Or using that hand to hold a weapon," added Wraithvine. "Light use only."
"Do I have to keep taking the blue stuff?"
"For quite some time yet," said Wraithvine. "The curse got into your bones."
"I never want to look at a banana for the rest of my life after this is done," wailed Gikka. "No more look-and-touch! Forty-foot poles from now on."
"Perhaps some middle ground between the extremes," allowed Pierce.
"If the blind can see with a long stick, I can work out traps and locks with one. Or a couple."
And she certainly wouldn't pickpocket with those restrictions. Which was a hidden blessing of a sort.
[1] An umbrella term for whichever species or group happens to be largely unpopular over a wide enough area. Every species and intelligent creature type on Alfarell has been a member of the Unwelcome People at one time or another.
[Photo by Yu Hosoi on Unsplash]
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