Solo A Lesson In Medicine

[Michael Kyber]

Winter 80th, 516AV

To be a knight was to put oneself in danger on a near daily basis. In a world as chaotic as theirs danger could pop out of nowhere at a moments notice, and for those sworn to Sylir's brotherhood it was their job to pick up the sword and face those dangers head on. Needless to say some knight's didn't come back from facing them, and day by day the list of those who fell in battle grew.

As a follower of Uldr life and death, as well everything in between, was something that Michael had considered many a time. It was his belief that death was root cause of everything wrong with the world and the ultimate cause of misery, hence why an immortal unlife was logically the greatest kind of life, however it was a sad fact that most people were so blinded by the enslavement of traditional values that they did not have the chance to evolve into undead.

It was while he was considering this that Michael gave some serious thought to the practice of medicine. If there was one skill known to man that could defeat death it was medicine, after all a skilled doctor could save even the most wounded patient from succumbing to their wounds. The art of keeping someone alive at first didn't sound like something lord Uldr would be happy with his followers practicing, but as he thought about it more Michael realised that becoming a skilled doctor would not only allow him to snatch souls back from Dira, but would also put him in a great position to recruit talented knights into The Returned.

Which was why Michael now found himself at the Syliran archive, stacking up a pile of books about beginners medicine. There were a number of books of various sizes and ages, but the only that caught Michael's attention the most was a stack of many copies of the same book, each one written of notably clean and new paper. This was the book Thazz had recommended that he start with if he wanted to learn more about medicine; 'An introductory guide to medicine', which was rather popular among knights for the simple but effective first aid techniques listed within. Quite a few knights had been saved on the battlefield because one of their squad mates had read this guide.

Stacking his pile of books on one of the desks, Michael sat down and opened the introductory guide to begin reading.

The book began with a chapter on the known history of medicine and a short discussion onto the ethics and responsibilities of those who wanted to practice it, but Michael skipped though this part. It seemed to have been written by a follower of Rak'keli, and from few words he caught as he skimmed over it the whole thing was just a self righteous argument for why a doctor should heal anyone regardless of who they were. Soon though he got to the first chapter, which contained a detailed diagram of the human body with all the organs, muscles and other parts labelled and descriptions of their purposes explained. Some bits were common knowledge, like the heart and brain, but the sheer number of different organs that Michael hadn't realized he had and their purposes was really very interesting.

Afterwards the book got into describing a number of commonplace injuries, such as burns and lacerations, and a number of simple techniques for dealing with them. They were very basic techniques one could do practically anywhere without proper equipment, such as raising lacerated limbs to reduce blood flow or running water over burns for a long time, but their explanation of the reasoning behind these techniques really was easy to remember and could obviously come in use.

Finally the book came to a number of chapters involving simple scenarios in which a person had some sort of wound, and the book described the correct course of action to take in these scenarios and how to use the aforementioned techniques to help. From there it went into a list of similar scenarios and tested the reader on what course of action was the best to take, and Michael was pleased to find that he did excellently in these tests.

It was on the final pages that Michael found a note down at the bottom advising readers that if they found the contents of this book educational, and would like a chance to safely practice the described skills, then there was a bi-weekly seminar course in the archives that aimed to teach squires and knights such techniques.

Perhaps he should sign up for one...

[Michael Kyber]

Winter 81st, 516 AV

"... And so when dealing with a broken leg, the important thing to remember is..."

Michael scribbled down notes on the paper in front of him as the lecturer demonstrated to the proper procedure for dealing with a squad mate who'd broken a bone in their leg on a wooden dummy. After reading the introduction to medicine book in the library Michael had inquired with the librarian about the note in the back page, and had found about more about the beginners medical seminar that ran every other week. As a squire all Michael had to do was ask and the librarian had put him on the list for the next seminar, which was running the next day.

The seminar was only providing physical demonstrations for the medical techniques already listed in the introduction to medicine book, but actually seeing the techniques put into practice helped put them into perspective better than any diagram could. Occasionally the lecturer would call on one of them to answer a question or perform the medical technique they were describing on the dummy, and those occasions only highlighted the difference between knowing something and actually putting that knowledge to use. Michael couldn't deny that he found the seminar not only helpful, but really interesting.

"... and make sure that the bandages are wrapped tight, very tight, to ensure that the bone isn't jostled around by any movements. Mr Kyber, why is it especially important to make sure that the bone doesn't move when moving an injured person for an extended period of time?"

"So that the bone doesn't heal incorrectly sir." Michael dutifully replied. "If the two broken parts of the bone are left close together for an extended period of time the body will try to start to heal itself by kniting the bone together, and if the two bits of bone heal together at the wrong angle it will create a deformed and structurally weak limb. In order to fix that the professional healers would be forced to re-break the bone to set in correctly, but further damaging a recently broken limb could cause lasting damage and pain for the patient."

"Exactly right." The lecturer replied with a pleased nod. "A lot of people make the mistake of thinking that first aid is designed for you to heal an injury yourself, however that simply isn't that case. First aid is designed to keep the patient alive and as healthy as possible until someone with the proper tools and training can get to them. Unless the wound is easily treatable the best thing you can do for the patient is ensure that their condition doesn't worsen." He stood up from his position beside the dummy. "Anyway that's all we have time for today. I hope to see you all again next time when we'll be discussing the correct treatment of burns."

Like all the other attendees Michael packed up his notes and made to leave, however as he headed for the door the lecturer caught his eye and gestured for him to come to one side with him. Curious, Michael went over to him as the rest of the attendees left.

"You did very well in the seminar today Mr Kyber." The lecturer began. "Do you have any previous experience with medicine?"

"No Ser, I just read the introduction to medicine book in the library."

The lecturer shot him a wry smile. "Well you did well applying the theory in the books to the classroom, even in the less obvious scenarios. You're the one Ser Mortmer recently took for a squire right? Have you by any chance considered learning more about medicine? Unsurprisingly a ridiculous number of knights get themselves injured one way or another every day, so good healer, especially ones that can handle themselves in the field, are in high demand. Wizards tend to have a good disposition for learning medicine too, even if a lot of people get a bit uneasy about being treated by magic users."

"I hadn't really thought about it. Do you think I'd make a good healer?" Michael asked.

"I think that when a comrade of yours is bleeding to death on the battlefield and the only one around is you then both of you would be bloody well glad if you knew what you were doing." The lecturer replied. He fished around in his pocket for a pen, then wrote down an address on the corner of one of Michael's notes. "I know some people who are keen to train members of the knighthood in real medical skills. Tell them that I sent you."

"I will do Ser. Thank you for the lesson." Michael said with a nod. He turned and left the lecture hall, taking a look down at the address written on his notes.

'Soothing Waters Bath and Massage'

[Michael Kyber]

83 Winter, 516AV

"Mr Kyber. Welcome."

The Soothing Waters Bath had an immediate feel of cleanliness and comfort to it. The pleasant warmth and steamy atmosphere made Michael feel at ease, and called out to the part of his mind that wanted to kick back and relax. However just as his shoulders began to slouch the feeling of arms snaking around him unexpectedly and pulling him into a hug from behind set him on alert again.

"My my, so tense." A distinctly feminine voice teased in his ear. "You might benefit yourself by getting yourself a massage once we're done here, you have a couple of bad knots in your shoulders." The arms unsnaked themselves, and a very beautiful woman with long, dark hair and a rather revealing white dress walked around from behind him. "My name's Nilichoa Tatsuwaat, and I'm one of the healers here. Ser Miller tells me that you have an interest in medicine."

"That's right. I heard you can teach me more about that here." Michael replied, still a little flustered by the unexpected contact.

Choa winked at him. "Sure can hon. I can let you sit in and help out a bit while I take care of some of the more minor injuries, and in return when you get good enough you can come help around here on the more busy days okay? It's good to know there're some knights out there just as interested in putting people back together as they are at taking them apart."

She led him to a seperate wing of the bath's, a long, clean room where the air was a little bit cooler than most of the baths. There were a number of clean white beds, all of which were empty at the moment, and a variety of cabinets with all manner of plants, potions and medical equipment piled up on them.

As there were no patients in need of help at the moment, Chia introduced Michael to a number of common pieces of medical equipment. One by one she went through scalpel, splints, and all manner of antidotes for common poisons.

"This one is called a Tolja Poultice." Chia crooned, showing him a small glass tube full of a thick, brownish paste. "This is a rather common medicine to find because it's so helpful in a variety of different situations. Putting it over a fresh wound will deaden the inflamed nerves and increase the blood circulation around he area, lessening the pain and speeding up the bodies natural healing process. Make sure to reapply it every two hours or so and you can easily take care of shallow wounds without needed to give them too much attention, allowing you to focus on more serious injuries. It only works on shallow cuts and sprains, but we sometimes add it to the baths when a squadron of knights come back from a mission together to speed up their recoveries."

"You seem to use a lot of plants and potions. Is that common in medicines, or just something you specialize in at this bath?" Michael asked.

"Herbs and potions tend to be used in conjunction a lot with medical skills." Chia replied. "Generally speaking medical techniques are only necessary for critically damaging wounds and illnesses, whereas the herbology and philtering focus on increasing the bodies natural healing process, which is enough to sort out the common day-to-days medical emergencies most people are faced with. Most healers will train in the three arts together so that they have the knowledge to address a wide range of problems."

Michael nodded in understanding. "I see. So could you possibly show me how to make that poultice?"

"Sure thing hon. Come with me." Chia replied, leading him over to a table covered with a number of alembics, cupels and other philtering tools. She took a number of roots jars of oozes from a cupboard next to it and named each one of them, pointing out the ones that came from foreign parts of the world and how common they were, then had him cut up the roots into tiny pieces and add them to breakers with water in them.

On Chia's instructions Michael placed each breaker full of water and chopped roots over a flames until they started to boil and turn thicker. One by one Michael added the various broths and oozes together into a large vial and mixed it together until it began to form similar, if not a bit off colored, paste to the Tulja Poultice.

"Very nice, very nice." Chia praised, pouring the tincture into four separate vials and corking them before putting them away into a box. "I can make good use of these. You've done well today." She shot him another wink. "Swing by next week and I'll teach you some more. Always happy to work with a cutie like yourself."

[Samuel Longwell]

Grading Complete Please edit your grade request thread so that it's obvious that it's been graded. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions/problems with your grade. Name: Michael XP Award: Philosophy 1 Observation 2 Planning 1 Socialisation 2 Herbalism 1 Philtering 1 Lore: Philosophy: People are enslaved by traditional values Rak'keli: Followers can be extremely self-righteous Medicine: Basic knowledge of organs Medicine: Raise bleeding limbs Medicine: Simple first aid Medicine: Treating a broken leg Location: Soothing Waters Nilichoa Tatsuwaat: Works at Soothing Waters Tolja Poultice: Uses Tolja Poultice: Preparation Notes: As you have not performed any medicine I have not given you any experience for it. However I have given you plenty of medicine lores to make up for that. You now might know the correct procedure, but you are unlikely to implement it correctly Enjoy your grades.