From: kinsman@jupiter.sun.csd.unb.ca (Aphoriel/Kinsman) Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn Subject: Re: [Kal] Kalendraf Found At Last! Message-ID: <1993Feb6.174702.3031@jupiter.sun.csd.unb.ca> Date: 6 Feb 93 17:47:02 GMT References: <93036.135714ASG102@psuvm.psu.edu> In article justinf@cco.caltech.edu (Justin Fang) writes: > >> "Oh my god, the rags are eating him!" he shouted as he uncovered the >> rest of Kalendraf's body. >> "He doesn't look so good," said E'Karam, Master Of The Obvious. > [ADMIN: Meran Quicksilver is talking here...] >He stopped his random musings (it was in his nature to muse randomly), and >turned his thoughts to the more urget question. E'Karam's statement of the >obvious was, as usual, correct. Kalendraf was probably dying. Meran let his >eyes go slightly unfocused and saw... an envelope of shimmering color >surrounded Kalendraf. It was dim and wavering, like a candle caught in a >breeze. But... yes, there was what he'd noticed in the Inn. *Something* had >a strong hold on him. Well, worry about it later. What was the treatment >for alcohol poisoning? Evacuate the stomach, (looked like it'd already >been done) and... ah yes. > >He turned to the others. "He needs water, quickly, and preferably magical >healing as well." > Denner knelt down and peered at the small puddle of Kal's vomit. "Water, Meran?" Denner said, half to himself. The vomit lying in the snow looked strange to him. It wasn't like the ordinary vomit of an ill person; this vomit was much thicker, almost solid, even though it looked as though it was regurgitated only a few minutes ago. Denner reached over to Kalendraf's groin and pressed it gently. Odd..... Kalendraf's bladder seemed empty. Surely, that wasn't possible; anybody who had drank so many pitchers of beer would be urinating all over the place by now, or have a bladder full almost to bursting, and Denner saw evidence of neither on Kalendaf or the surrounding area... Denner stood. "Meran, about water... something's happened to Kal here. Whatever water that was in the beer he's drank; it's disappeared somewhere. I think I've figured out the nature of Kalendraf's spell." "But you're absolutely right, Meran. He *does* need water. First thing I learned in treating poison. Go send Kevin back to the Inn to see if they can fill a pitcher, and we can try and feed him snow until then." "In the meantime, though, that water's not going to do it. If all the water in his body disappeared, that means he's got five pitchers of alcohol floating in his blood, without water to temper it. A good thing he did vomit, but still... just a minute." Denner ran back to his wagon and pulled out a leather satchel. Then he ran back and emptied the satchel's contents in front of Kal's prone body. Denner took out a rubber tube with a small metal device in the middle. He attached a long steel needle to each end of the tube, and another tube to the device leading into a small jar. "Ok.. don't panic over this, I know what I'm doing..." Denner warned. Denner stuck the first needle in Kalendraf's wrist, and then simultaneously and very carefully inserted the second deep into Kal's chest, near the heart. A few seconds later, the group heard a faint trickling sound. "There. I've rerouted his blood flow through here. And in a minute..." A small clear trickle began to flow into the small jar, from the metal device. "There. This filter my wizards gave me can purify the alcohol from the blood." Suddenly, the clear trickle became a dark and foul sludge. "Oops!" Denner shook the tubes slightly, then shrugged. "It looks like it's extracting *everything* that's not blood. Looks like he's going to be awfully hungry when he wakes up next morning..." "Oh, gross." E'Karam said. A few minutes later, Denner had disassembled the tube-system and the group of Kal's rescuers had semi-successfully made the unconscious body drink about a half-pitcher of water. "We can't keep him here in the snow. Let's get him back to the Inn. I still paid money for my room, and with luck maybe they'll be sympathetic enough to allow us to stay... Here, get him on the wagon." Meran, Kevin, Denner, and E'Karam hoisted Kal up and slid him on the wagon's back, in front of two of Denner's barrels. "Here." Denner started passing around gas masks. "If you're riding in the wagon, wear these for safety's sake." Denner glanced at E'Karam, and suppressed an involuntary shudder. [ADMIN: A Mind Flayer wearing a gas mask - shades of H.R. Giger!] "Come along, horse." Meran's mare obliged and began to step. "My, this one's obedient." Denner said to Meran. "I never had a horse as good as this. Say, I wonder if I might be able to keep her for a longer period of time; would it be possible to..." "Oh no." Meran smiled. "You can't buy her... you might say I'm quite attached to her." "Oh well...." The wagon slowly rolled towards the Inn amid the falling snow. >Justin Fang (justinf@cco.caltech.edu) > This space intentionally left blank. Aphoriel/Kinsman -Sean Givan