|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2015 12:48 pm
This Quest is for Ime who is striving to become an Monk.
 OOC
||. The quest prompt must be answered with a 2000 word reply (can be more).
||. Respond to the prompt given with an adventure of your own creation as long as it meets the requirements of the specific tasks.
||. NPCs may be used as long as they advance the quest in an interesting manner.
||. You cannot include any playable characters other than the quest taker.
||. Your responses will be graded with a Pass or Fail. Those who fail will have to continue with assistance from the staff.
||. Questions about quests can be asked here.
IC
Ime hadn't been back in Sauti long when she was frantically called for by an older woman. "You have to come quickly; she's in labor." A traveling couple was passing through on their way back to Zena when the wife went into a sudden and unexpected labor. The baby wasn't ready yet, it hadn't turned properly for birthing. If the mother was to have a chance, Ime would have to work quickly.
But as she went to check the woman for health and begin preparations for the birth, the couple began to yell and scream, the woman squirming away from Ime's touch. "I won't let a hybrid touch my wife." The man spat out. There was a look of hate there, but the closest healers would be too late, Ime had to persuade them otherwise.
Quest Tasks
||. The quest should start with Ime's summons to the couple's location.
||. Ime will try to help them, but they will not let a hybrid do the birthing.
||. If Ime tries to come too close, the husband won't hesitate to physically push her away or become violent.
||. Ime must convince them that they need her help, and that there isn't time for another healer.
||. The baby will be turned the wrong way, putting strain and danger on the baby and mother.
||. The quest should end with the successful birth of the baby, whether Ime successfully convinces them of her help, or forcefully makes them accept her help will not effect the grade.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2015 3:14 pm
The trip back to Sauti had been rather pleasant with Thorn by her side, and the traveling pair were growing closer to home with each passing hour. Conversation was light and cheerful, meals taken with a friend now rather than alone, and every so often Ime's sign would draw some attention in search of her services. With the war long gone there was less need for emergency medicine, less shouting and weeping and bloodshed. Wounds struck were majorly accidental and, when in need of extreme measures, Ime was able to focus upon one patient in particular without having to worry about a dozen more following swiftly behind. At times she and her traveling companion drew stares from the natives but their suspicion had thus far not been enough to dissuade them from buying.
The young hybrid and her companion had only slept a single night within the borders of Sauti when a frantic woman ran toward them. Ime watched with surprise as the woman stopped a few feet away and gestured wildly toward the east.
"You have to come quickly; she's in labor," the woman panted. She was an Ice tribeswoman of late middle age, grey streaks standing starkly in her dark hair. Her eyes were wild with worry and her chest heaving. Ime was brought to assume by her mannerisms that either the pregnant woman in question had been in labor a long time and was near delivery or that something had gone wrong. Her nature brought forth a great concern and a knot in her chest as she turned to Thorn.
"I have to go," the healer said hurriedly, putting a petite blue hand on Thorn's arm. "Don't go far. I'll come find you when I'm through." With that being done she shifted her bag on her back and jogged toward the panicked woman who took her arm and began to lead her further from town.
"Is there something wrong?" Ime asked, keeping pace beside the woman. Things like proper introductions and sharing names were not important in the world of healing and were generally not struck until after the danger had been nullified or the pain quelled. The woman she ran with nodded, her breath ragged.
"It's too soon," the woman panted, "She's in pain." The former was more worrisome than the latter, of course, but to have any experienced woman run to a stranger to beg for help likely meant something was going wrong.
It didn't strike Ime to ask where the woman had come from, who she was with or where they were headed. It had never mattered to her of what race her clients hailed and even found happy discussions between hybrids of different races. Her thought then did not turn to type but to health; in the end all bodies were the same and the shape of your ears wouldn't alter the course of Ime's treatment. She did not consider that it might be the clients that were unhappy with her.
It seemed like forever had passed before they reached a temporary encampment well outside of the settlement. It was only a couple of tents and a doused fire with the scatterings of nomadic life here and there. The family's cart, whoever they were, stood safely behind their living quarters. Ime stopped when they reached the camp and reached back to pull her hair up and out of the way. Midwifery was always what she strode for, she felt it was her calling, but it was certainly a stress-ridden specialty. You were required then to care for two or more lives simultaneously rather than just the one, and half of them hadn't even started yet.
"Where is she?" she asked, seeing no pregnant women at the front of the encampment. There were a few other Ice folk, all looked to be in some state of worry or shock.
"Here," her guide replied, motioning for a tent. Ime nodded and took off her simple shoes before crawling into the tent. She had not noticed the odd looks some of the bystanders offered, focused instead upon this mother and her new family.
"Hello," she said, offering a smile to the man who must be the father, looking rather disheveled but blatantly trying to project a cool, authoritative air. The mother was more strained, clearly experiencing labor and having a difficult time of it. "Hello," she said more gently, and this time added: "Everything is going to be just fine. I deliver babies all the time." That was mostly true. As of yet she had helped to deliver all five of Kelina's children and four in Sauti proper, as well as one rather easy birthing during her time in Tale. She did not have the experience her mother had, but she was getting there and, after all, she had learned from the best.
The first order of business was to check the mother's health and the position of the baby. She held her fingers over the woman's pulse for a moment and then leaned down to feel the baby in her belly. Something assuredly was not right. She probed with her fingers to measure how far into labor the woman had gone, but the gesture was met with a worried sound and a hard shift upward. "Does it hurt right there?" Ime asked, looking up to her. It certainly shouldn't. The woman was not looking to her, though, but pointedly to her husband who suddenly thrust an arm between Ime and the mother.
"I won't let a hybrid touch my wife."
Ime's brows furrowed. Wait... really? She looked between man and wife in disbelief. Just because she was... really? In hindsight Ime would consider that lying and telling the couple she was pure Ice with some odd gems might have gone better, but hindsight was always a little more informed. At the moment it happened she was far too shocked to react so coolly.
"Sir, your baby appears to be a breech; it hasn't turned around the right way and it and your wife will be in serious trouble if you don't allow me to act."
"No," the man replied firmly with a shake of his head. His arms moved, pressing against Ime's chest as if to physically restrict her. "We will find another healer. Go."
There came another few moments of silence based entirely in disbelief before Ime shook her head and spoke against the man again.
"Sir, with all due respect, your wife is rather far along. By the time you find another healer, it will be too late."
His response was once again firm, louder this time and accompanied by a glare of seething hatred. "No. Get out."
Ime's heart sank. She couldn't help the disappointment she felt finally coming up against this force that she had heard about but never experienced. Racism was very real in Tendaji but had never been so brash. She was less of a person because of her heritage? Because half of her didn't match the ideal, regardless of which half you chose? Ime rose to her knees and set her jaw, brow furrowing. She staunchly refused to leave the tent. If she did she may was dooming a woman and her child to death. No healer from the village would be able to make it out before the baby came, and it didn't matter that this couple seemed to loathe her very existence. A person was a person regardless of size or shape or color and every person deserved the best treatment that could be offered. How could a couple decide they would rather fall apart than feel the hand of a mixed-race healer?
"Yes, actually. Your wife needs me. If you want either of them to survive you're just going to have to put aside your beliefs for the time being."
"You will not touch me again," the woman said suddenly, voice deep and strained with pain and exhaustion. "No hybrid wretch will touch my child."
Slowly, an unfamiliar pressure was building. The word 'wretch' tugged at this tightness in Ime's chest and further aggravated the hot and dreadful sensation. It was almost like crying, but Ime felt no desire to cry. Her eyes were dry, her mouth set in a straight line, and the swirling of emotions in her mind and heart were nothing like sadness. It might have seemed foolish, but it took the girl a good few moments to recognize that what she was feeling was actually anger. She was angry with these people, frustrated and beyond herself that this was truly an issue at a time like this.
A contraction interrupted he feud. The wife's muscles constricted and she whimpered, then gave an outright howl of agony. Instinctively Ime placed a hand on the woman's belly for comfort her and address the situation, but she was met with a hard strike from the husband. He'd smacked her arm out of the way, leaving a stinging welt that Ime clutched with her free hand. The anger began to bubble more strongly.
"I am a skilled healer," she defended, changing tack. She pivoted at the waist to dig through her bag, producing her ledger and opening it toward the husband. She pointed to the written accounts and client signatures. "I've been at this a while, I know what I'm doing. I can help the blood loss and the pain, I could be the difference between life and death, and at this moment I need you to trust me."
The man gave her ledger only a cursory glance and then met the healer's gaze again. "I don't care. You need to leave."
"I'm not leaving," she said defiantly. Alright, so maybe it was time to try another tactic. After the briefest burst of thought she began digging through her bag again and pulling out some of the necessary accoutrements for birth. He'd said she couldn't touch his wife, but he hadn't said anything about treating her. Perhaps she could gather their trust even if she couldn't get any respect. "This," she said, holding up a small vial from a pack wrapped in leather, "is for the pain." She turned them from husband to wife. "Take it orally and I promise you the contractions won't be as hard to bear."
The couple looked at each other for a moment, and Ime could see the unspoken question in their eyes. Was it safe? Was this heathen hybrid trying to poison her?
"Listen, if I was going to hurt you, I wouldn't do it with your whole family standing outside." She thrust a thumb toward the tent flap. She'd have no chance against all of those discontented Ice folk. Heck, it might be difficult to leave at all with the "h" word being thrown around so generously. Man and woman turned to one another, had a silent conversation as husband and wife could, and Ime reached forward with the vial between her fingers. The man reached out to retrieve it, uncorked the vial, and offered it to his wife who threw it back like a shot and sighed, eying Ime cautiously. For just a minute more was tense silence, and then another contraction began to take hold. The woman arched and grimaced as the pain began to set in, but her yelp was shorter and softer than before. Then there came the sound and tension that suggested a decent push. Oh, no. No no no.
"We need to get the baby turned around before--"
The woman shook her head, teeth gritted. No time? Ime burst into action. She reached over to palpate the woman's belly and once again her husband reacted, this time taking Ime by the shoulders and throwing her to the tent floor. "NO!"
That was it. That was all it took. This woman was in agony, just at the cusp of survival, and she and her husband were both too busy being bigots to care. Ime pushed herself up to a sitting position and began to try and reason with them, except this sort of reasoning was rather loud and rather sharp. In fact, some might say the petite healer was shouting at them.
"LISTEN. I know you don't like me, and I don't care, but your wife could die here, and your child might follow her on her way out! In twenty minutes your wife might be a blood stain in the dirt, and your son or daughter could be stuck or strangled or suffocated if you don't let me touch your wife!" She turned to the woman and pointed accusingly. "And you! You'd put a healer's race before your own child! It's coming rear-first and if I don't help you, you and them are both going to be corpses! There is no. time. to find another healer! You're in the middle of nowhere! So suck it up and deal with the color of my skin or die alone, to Bergchi with your arrogance!"
A pause while Ime panted and the man stared. His wife still writhed in the grips of labor and for a moment Ime wasn't certain if she'd changed their minds at all. What would happen if she was forced to leave? There would be no way the woman would survive, and her child would never breathe or see the light of day or play or even have the chance to see the beauty that life was, bigot or not.
Then came the blood. A great ribbon of it running over the tent floor. The husband's eyes grew wide, and he turned to the only healer in the vicinity. Ime met his gaze a moment and, when he didn't immediately smack her across the face she made the first move toward help. One hand found the woman's belly, the other heading straight for the baby, and the husband didn't fight. He only leaned over and stroked his wife's sweat-soaked hair. The anger was replaced with concern, and the birth continued with a sort of temporary understanding that it was hybrids or death. The blood was put better under control with the aid of magic, and when the time came Ime took the delicate child by the hips and belly and guided him forth, untangling the cord from around his neck and rubbing forth the first good squall. She continued in silence, healing and stitching, wrote her own account in the ledger and slammed it down before the man. He glared, but in the end decided to sign off on the birth. She left with a small amount of coin gathered from the family members outside the tent, and the older woman wept as she held and kissed Ime's hand.
Love had won again. She was a filthy hybrid against pure-bred Ice blood, a contemptible outcast, but when push came to shove, a mother's life was worth more than twisted morality. Husband could not live without wife, wife could not live without child, and everything had turned out just fine. Ime left with a smile on her face and sweat on her brow, but definitely felt the need for a gently alcoholic beverage.
wc: 2558
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2015 5:05 pm
Ime's class quest is finished!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2015 10:11 am
Class Quest Result
Pass!
Ime has passed and received a rank of Monk!
Congratulations Ime!
grasshopper pie For a well thought out quest, Ime may choose 1 regular shop item. Please PM Suhuba with your choice.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
