Week 5: Ammen Vale

Week 5

"Be careful Ireena." Gil warned absently. "Don't assume you know anything about them. Even if these are tieflings as you know them, they might not call themselves that. Their abilities and personality traits could be just about anything. See if you can do anything for them. I'll be right back."

Gil had no clue what a tiefling was, but the mildly demonic looking blue people scattered around them were clearly in bad shape. They might be evil, but his gut said no. The Company didn't usually trap players like that, presenting people in need that would immediately turn on you. Of course, usually was the operative word, which was one of several reasons he had Ireena going in first.

"Snow, look alive." He called, clapping his hands sharply. "I need you to make a pot of healing tea. Boil the last tea bag with about double the water. I think we are going to need to share it around. Go, go, go!"

Gil only stayed long enough to see the resolute expression on Snow's face. She tended to panic in situations like this, but so far she only knew about the danger secondhand. She could focus on the fact that other people needed help, instead of the possibility that she was in danger.

When Gil popped out of the portal again, only moments later, Ireena was already huddled over one of the prone figures. She was quickly and efficiently checking the alabaster skinned possibly-tiefling woman for wounds and concussion. Due to the world Cow Lady had come from, Ireena was now uniquely qualified to assess the condition of a humanoid with unusual biology. Compared to a person made partly out of cement blocks, these people were pretty close to a baseline human. She quickly determined that the woman was in no immediate danger of death or permanent complications, mentally marked her location, and moved on to the next.

In contrast, the first person Gil examined was already dead. Hell, the hulking blue man was already cold. Whatever happened, it hadn't been all that recent. Well, either that or these were naturally cold blooded creatures, but Gil wasn't going to speculate too hard right at that moment. He briefly considered going through the guy's pockets, but decided that it would be better to focus on helping. Loot was good, but a thankful populace was better. No sense in fucking things up by mixing "looter" in with "Good Samaritan" on the initial tally.

He realized quickly that he didn't, currently, have enough medical know-how to do more than confirm if someone was dead or not. He crossed the man's arms on his chest and straightened out his legs, hopefully making it clear at a glance that he'd passed. At minimum, it would make it so Gil wouldn't waste more time on him. He checked his tablet, moving loosely in the direction of Candress to determine who he'd help next.

The next man he helped was dazed, trapped in a painful stupor, but clearly still alive. He wasn't responsive, but he was still alive. His leg was clearly broken unless these creatures had ball joints in their knees, which Gil was willing to bet against. With a mental note to have Ireena retrain him in proper first aid, Gil noted the man's position and moved on. He could come back with Ireena and healing tea in a few minutes.

"Daz Zar Shi?" His next charity case asked, just barely aware enough to speak. She was clearly in pain, sweating profusely, and her eyes didn't quite manage to focus on him.

"Gil." Gil said, tapping his chest with one hand and giving his best reassuring smile that she didn't seem to understand. "My name is Gil."

Given how often he traveled from world to world, it was honestly a bit shocking that Gil didn't run into language barriers more often. At least if you forgot that all of these worlds were artificially constructed as a form of entertainment. Relatively few customers actually wanted to deal with language barriers, so most of the time the predominant local language would just be set to Company Standard. Frequently, the entire world would just conveniently speak the same language no matter how little sense that meant. Occasionally there would be accents or minor dialectical differences for spice, but not much more than that was typical.

He checked the woman, finding that her body was covered with severe burns. He couldn't really do much for her without magic, not safely. Instead, he offered her some water and memorized her location.

He was starting to feel rather useless when a strange creature came slithering out of the bushes towards the horned woman. It had pale, rubbery white flesh and a huge maw full of jagged, irregular teeth. It wasn't as uniform as an octopus, but it had seven or eight coiling tentacles. They were less like limbs, and more as if it had a central trunk like a snake that split off into smaller tendrils like a frayed rope.

Gil didn't like the look of the thing, but luckily it went down very easily. It tried to bite him, but his skintight company-provided suit protected him. He had thrown back his cloak, revealing his unflatteringly narrow frame and modest bulge. The bikini armor was at nearly its peak effectiveness, and he only felt a modest pressure upon his leg when the creature tried to gnaw through. A quick thrust of the knife finished the creature off.

"Fuck. Monsters in the woods too?" He grumbled, "that's a problem, for sure."

As he jogged back to the portal to check on the tea, Gil considered his options. He wasn't sure if he would be able to make a soul pact deal with any of these people now! He'd been planning on offering the healing tea in return for someone's soul, but if they didn't speak his language? No dice. Damn it, if Surveyor Candress was one of these creatures how would he do anything other than kill her? He wasn't near seductive enough to get someone to fuck him without a word.

With a sigh, he tried to look on the bright side. He was being forced to wait, but that might be a blessing in disguise. After all, he did tend to be a little impulsive with soul pacts. Maybe this time he could choose a slightly more high value target, someone actually worth keeping. Assuming he could get past the language barrier at all, anyway.

He filled his waterskin and a plastic thermos with the weak tea, then ran out to meet up with Ireena. She wasn't hard to find, he just needed to follow the path of stabilized people. Together, with her in the lead, Gil and Ireena administered the tea to all of her patients as well as the two people Gil had marked.

"It's strange." Ireena said. "None of them seem to actually be lucid, and most were already seen to."

"You think these are the people who were passed over by triage?" Gil asked.

"People stable enough to wait if given basic care." Ireena confirmed. "There aren't as many dead people as I would have expected either. Most of these people show signs of falling from a substantial height. They seem unusually tough, but something must have launched them in the first place; I suspect an explosion based on the burns."

Gil trusted Ireena's second hand expertise more than his own scrubbed knowledge. He didn't have much time to consider what it all might mean before he got an answer. The horned folks he and Ireena had dosed with healing leaves started to glow with warm, golden light. After a few moments, the glowing ones started to stagger to their feet. Gil saw the heavily burned girl's skin flake off, revealing fresh skin beneath, but still leaving more superficial burns in place.

"Oh!" He said, excited. "They're healers. All of them. The reason we didn't find anyone lucid here is that anyone who was aware healed themselves and ran off to find help!"

"That's a terrible plan." Ireena said, frowning. "What if they just got lost, and left the injured behind?"

"What if everyone waited and died separately, or got picked off by predators?" I countered. "Different cultures have different strategies, and different worlds demand different strategies."

A man in a scorched blue robe, the one who had a broken leg when Gil checked him, hobbled over to where Gil and Ireena were speaking. He pointed at Gil and then placed a bare palm on his chest.

"Kar O Revos Shi?" He asked.

"What?" Ireena asked, cocking her head. "What are those words, Gil?"

"Different language." He said, "I don't actually know if your world has them or not and if it's an alien concept I don't have time to explain it. We're going to have to communicate without words."

Gil put a hand on his own chest to mimic the gesture. He raised an eyebrow. The man shook his head, and said something to one of the other men, jabbering rapidfire. The other man walked up, and robe boy placed one hand against his chest. He pointed at his partner, then Gil.

"Ah." Gil said. "Ireena, could you step forward and let them put a hand on your chest? If they are planning on doing something untoward you can probably deal with it better than me."

"Are you serious?" Ireena asked. "You want me to allow a strange man to place a hand upon my breast?"

"Oh come on." Gil rolled his eyes. "I really doubt he's planning on fondling you. He asked me first."

Ireena sighed, and took a step forward. The blue man's cheeks blushed a dark navy color, but he rallied and placed the hand on her collarbone. He chanted for a few moments, released a pulse of pale blue light which swirled around him, then pulled his hand away from her as quickly as he politely could.

"My thanks to you; I am Megelon," he said in a vaguely Eastern European version of Company Standard. "You have done a great service to my people on this day. I wish only that we could repay you for your potion."