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There has been an outbreak of disease in the Weyr, striking down a few riders - though it seems to be especially rampant in the close quarters of the lower caverns, and it’s hard to find a drudge who hasn’t been ill at some point. The Weyr’s leaders are so far unaffected, and are appealing for calm, having put the Weyr under strict quarantine. Though thread fighting is going ahead as normal, O’ail is struggling to form adequate wings as many riders are ill.

Symptoms of the mysterious sickness include seizures and nausea, and in many cases hallucinations and dementia. Though most of the affected seem to recover quickly under medical care, many of them seem to relapse when put back to work… leading some of the healers to question if it’s simply mass hysteria at work, especially as it’s only the less educated who seem to be becoming sick.

[ how this works ]

Every so often during this outbreak, we’re going to post a couple of suggested lines of inquiry and an update on events. You write us a quick summary of your character’s attempt to investigate and what they do, and we’ll throw you back what information they’ve got in return! This may change depending on their standing in the Weyr, though keep in mind that this doesn’t always mean higher-ranking individuals will do better… after all, a drudge is more likely to respond positively to another drudge, while a word from a wingleader might make them cower.

So for example:

Course of action - Egg is visiting the sick in the infirmary, as a good little Sofiane should. She keeps an ear open for anything interesting people say.

Result - She overhears a healer getting extremely frustrated that the same man has returned three times! He’s certain that the drudge is malingering, but the seizures seem to be real.

This meta is projected to go on until the outbreak is over.

Character Name: Nersha

Clue Followed: Infirmary

Course of Action: During her admin work Nersha has been listing down the names of people who have been matching the symptoms, which they have displayed, and how many times they have been admitted and for how long. She is hoping the list will be useful to someone in detecting the cause of this illness.

Character Name: Nersha

Clue Followed: Infirmary

Course of Action: In an attempt to gather more information about the diseases spread Nersha checks to see if any healers who have contact with the patients have gotten sick since the start. She also highlights the days where the waves are highest, in hopes of finding a pattern.

Character Name: Shylla

Clue Followed: The Lower Caverns

Course of Action: Her people need her! Shylla is funneling all personal time and resources to the poor and downtrodden, and championing for more among the weyr's leaders. Her ears are open, and she's listening to accounts from drudges firsthand--how are you feeling, when did this start, what do you need?

Character Name: Alcine

Clue Followed: The Infirmary

Course of Action: Alcine's no healer, but she's read a good bit on sickness and health, and when she can get away from Leoth she does what she can to ferry water and supplies to the overworked healers. Her focus is on an assessment of the symptoms she sees. Does this match the descriptions of any known illnesses? Could it really just be in everyone's heads?

Response: Although the drudges are a little reluctant to speak to Shylla - surmising that she's more likely to get them into trouble then anything else, and that they have a lot of work to do, m'am, especially with so many people being unwell - she does eventually manage to find a couple of drudges who are willing to talk to her more then the minimum required for politeness. Most of what she gets are complaints - too much work and too little food, not enough time to rest, not enough days off, their clothes are itchy, the headwoman's talking about rounding them all up and shaving their heads for lice, their supervisor is stealing, they've had a fight with their wife - but there are a few gems in the rubble. There's a general consensus that it started a few sevendays back, but it took a while for it to really get going - enough that the healers really noticed. One of the women she talks to swears that she saw a similar sickness back in her home hold a few turns back. A couple of people died, but most of them got better in the end 'fore it was over.

Response: Although there's no formal name for the illness, the healers think it probably came in with one of the recent tithe caravans. A couple of them have seen outbreaks of something similar in holds, though it's usually a summer sickness. One of them is working on a paper on the disease - she also seems extremely grateful for the water, though like any sensible healer she doesn't drink it, instead pouring it over her head.

Character Name: Zarike

Clue Followed: The Infirmary

Course of Action: Alarmed that others are coming down with similar fits to Peth, (though he is grateful his dragon doesn't have any of the other symptoms) and increasingly hopeful as people recover, Zarike has been hovering around the healers and asking those who've seen to him and Peth personally if there could be any relation to what's happening to the drudges(and what's curing them) and Peth's condition.

Character Name: Naanash

Clue Followed: Infirmary

Course of Action: After getting that worked out, his answer was a polite apology, perhaps a little strained around his eyes, but he certainly wasn't going to allow an infant in the infirmary when there is so many patients, let alone expose a healthy infant to all the sickness. He will check with some of the more knowledge healers in childcare if they can do anything...

Naanash focus in on Nersha, there is a list and he manages to get over there with a polite question if she has any information on where the drudges have been working?

As far as the healers are aware, it seems to be - breeding amongst the drudges, filthy baggages that they are. The Headwoman is quite right to be submitting them to proper cleansing! The man pulls a face, and adds that he thinks that if they treated themselves with a little self-respect, they'd keep themselves clean - but then, if they treated themselves with a little self-respect, he doubts they'd be judges.