[Job Thread] The Sheep that Cried Wolf

[Jeremy Casing]

The Sheep that Cried Wolf
The Mithryn Outpost, 88th Winter, 514AV

The woman was smiling at him, arms outreached. Her brown hair changed to green as she moved and her feet were embraced and released by vines and roots with each step. She was proud, pleased. Though she said nothing, Jeremy knew what she was telling him: Well done, Jeremy. You make me swell with pride with your dedication and love of my world.

Jeremy extended his arms to her, and he realised that he was smiling joyfully. This woman -- he had the faintest idea of who she was -- made him drunkenly happy.

- - - - -

The pleasure of his dream was shattered by a booming knock on his door. Jeremy's eyes flashed open, pupils wide in the darkness. The bitterness of reality - the eternal sensation that he was failing his goddess - dominated that distant feeling of pride and success. With stiff movements, Jeremy rolled out of bed and opened the door.

The firelight held by his house guest almost blinded him. Holding a hand to cover his eyes from the sudden brightness, Jeremy glared at the person on the other wise of the door. "What." It was less of a question, more of a statement.

"Wolves. They got one o'me sheep."

That woke Jeremy sharply out of his sleepy daze. He collected the few medical supplies he had, and followed the farmer across the Commons and to the fields beyond the Outpost. It was dark; Jeremy had no real idea, but it felt barely past midnight. And it was cold. Thankfully, Jeremy spotted the golden glow of other firelights in the near distance, in a field about three acres away from where they were now. Fire meant light -- and warmth.

"I thought the farm animals were brought into sheds at night?"

"Yeh, they are. But it's hard to keep track of all of 'em. Especially in the winter, when it's dark before they've even grazed their fill."

It sounded logical enough, though Jeremy still had to bite his tongue to stop himself from saying something that could be strewn as sarcastic or harsh. So he settled on a tight: "Yes. Of course."

There was another farmer at the scene, and two guards heavily armed with swords, shields and armour. Jeremy eyed their chainmail enviously, wondering just how warm the men must be. When Jeremy and his companion joined them, the three other men turned their backs and led them deeper into the field.

"So, a wolf?"

The second farmer threw Jeremy a look and nodded sternly. "Yeh. It live closest to the fields and I heard the growling and the sheep bleating. Then I saw the guards chase the petching thing away. I got John here-" He nodded to the other farmer, the one who had cruelly woken Jeremy, "'cause it's his flock. We checked the sheep out, but the poor thing panics when we get close. The flames, see."

They fell into silence again. Jeremy wondered what state they had left the sheep in, and if there was even anything he could do. His knowledge of healing animals was still hugely limited, and even his gnosis did little to help in that instance.

[Jeremy Casing]

The guards who had been leaving the odd precession came to a slow halt. In the silence, Jeremy heard a feeble but panicked bleat.

The sheep was in a bad way: that much was blatantly obvious. Some part of his brain, perhaps the part dedicated to common sense, told Jeremy that it not been a pack of wolves that had attacked the sheep. An entire pack would not have left so much as a bloody sheep. He guessed that it had been a single wolf, perhaps one of the previous summer's young on an early solo hunt.

The left front leg was by far the worse off. Even in the dim light of the flames, Jeremy could see the deep tears and gashes in the muscle. The sheep's snout was almost marked, though less so and not as severe. As the Kelvic circled the injured animal, he also noted several smaller wounds in its flank, rear right leg and ear.

"How's it look?"

Jeremy sniffed in response to the question, not entirely sure who exactly had asked it. "Bad. But I might be able to clean the wounds. We'll need something to carry her into the stables to recover inside."

Neither of the guards moved, but one of the farmers nodded and scurried off back the way they had come. Jeremy, having returned to the group and more importantly the firelights, began to sift through his supplies. Antiseptic, bandages, thin strips of wood to pose as splints, wads of ripped cotton, Krolar Poultice; all might be handy. "I can't heal her in the darkness though. I need the light." His sharp eyes fell to the remaining farmer, and the dark cloak he wore. "Can I use that? To cover her eyes."

Although it was clear the farmer was not keen on the suggestion, he eventually obliged. The three men followed Jeremy as he slowly approached the Sheep. She bleated weakly again, trying to twist her head to stare at the creature approaching her. She was clearly panicked.

Jeremy crouched down beside her, approaching the sheep from her back. Throwing the cloak over her eyes, he rested a hand on her neck softly. He could feel her fear and pain. I will help you. Our Goddess sent me.

She relaxed slightly, but when Jeremy lifted his hand away from her, the sheep panicked again.

The wound on her front leg required the most attention, so it was there that Jeremy concentrated first. He could see from the tears in her leg that he wolf had grabbed at her, twisted and shook to try and break her limb away from her body. Though it had failed, the creature had tore and ripped her muscle. Perhaps her bone was broken, too.

But he needed to clean the wound before he delved further into the injury. The antiseptic Jeremy had bought with him was alcohol-based, so would sting badly. He relayed this warning to the sheep, or at least tried to. Nevertheless, when he dabbed a ball of cotton onto the bloody, dirty gash she withdrew her leg sharply and cried pathetically out in pain. A gross amount of wet mud and blood stained his fingertips, but Jeremy continued to wipe and clean. If he were to leave any ounce of grime or filth in the wound, it could turn infected and even septic.

Only until every speck of dirt had been removed from the wound did Jeremy finally turn to his next task.

[Jeremy Casing]

Cleaning the wound had been simple enough, but bandaging it would most likely be quite difficult. The short, fuzzy fur would make wrapping it tight challenging. He needed to keep air-bourn dirt and dust out of the wound, but where the gash was located on the leg would mean taut bandages would interfere with the sheep's ability to walk.

Additional to this, her leg might be broken. Jeremy considered this for a chime whilst he planned his next move. It was only then that he started to pay attention to what the soldiers were saying.

"Perhaps if we left poison in the hedge rows? The animals don't get that deep into borders anyway. We could leave a dead rabbit or somthin'."

The Kelvic looked up sharply. "No!" His voice was loud and piercing -- so much so that he barely recognised it himself. Both armed soldiers turned slowly towards him, eyebrows arched and matching smirks on their lips. He was so skinny and feeble-looking that even the thought that Jeremy could be threat was hilariously impossible. Under their steady bemused gaze, Jeremy flushed and stared back down at the pulsating leg. "The Wolves are not in the wrong. They are doing what they need to. Do you think they like hunting our farm animals?"

One of the soldiers - the thickset one - chortled a laugh and elbowed his comrade. The simple acts made Jeremy think of the bullies of his childhood who had also laughed and elbowed each other conspiratorially "I reckon them Wolves like our farm animals, yes. It's a bit like a buffet table for them."

How stupid can one person be?

From his experience as an urban Phylonurist, Jeremy knew the answer to his own question. "No, they're not like that all. If they come here, they get killed. They don't want to kill the sheep and cows. They need to. This winter has been harsh on them, too."

This time it was the farmer who snorted derisively. He nodded to the bleeding sheep and spat on the ground "So why don't y'leave that poor thing there for your precious wolves?"

Frustration flashed up Jeremy's gut. "Because the wolf that did this was young, he wouldn't have known what he needed to do to take on a fully grown sheep. He needs to learn to hunt properly if he's going to survive at all. If it had been a hungry pack of wolves, there would be no sheep for me to heal. But there is, and so that's what I'm doing. If we killed this sheep, it would most likely still be here in the morning. Her death wouldn't have improved anything."

With that lengthy, breathy sentence, Jeremy returned to his work. He could feel the glares on the back of his neck from the other men. People never appreciated his line of thinking because it either made them feel guilty or stupid.

That's their fault, not mine.

Jeremy refocused on the sheep.

The wound would take days to heal naturally, so he smeared an ounce of Krolar Poultice right into the wound, smoothing the paste over the tear and into the surrounding area. This will ease the pain he promised silently, stroking her neck again.

He placed a splint on top of the sheep's leg and another underneath it. If her leg was broken, she would require the extra support to ensure that the bones of her leg healed properly. However, the splints also had the added bonus that if her leg was not broken, they provided a smooth structure for Jeremy to dress the wound. After positioning the wooden strips, he began to wrap bandages around the leg, stopping after six loops. To finish, he tied the two ends together -- wonkily.

[Jeremy Casing]

Jeremy leaned back to admire his handiwork for a tick, nodding finally to conclude his work on the leg. The sheep was more relaxed now: when she touched her flank attentively, she was appreciative but tired.

"We should be finished here soon," Jeremy muttered to the men behind him. He heard someone grumble at bloody last, but other than that none of them said anything.

Still armed with the Krolar Poultice, he dabbed the paste into the smaller wounds on her snout, rear leg and flank. The right ear was in bad shape; torn so much that it looked like a ripped corner of a parchment page. Jeremy hovered his fingertips over the bloody mess.

Like the leg, her ear needed cleaning to avoid further infection. He swiped the ear tip with his anti septic, steadying her head firmly in anticipation of the sheep squirming and revolting again from the sting. When Jeremy was finished, he applied more Krolar Poultice and dressed the wound loosely. He guessed that the bandages would likely fall off in the night, but given the pointedness of the tip to her ear, Jeremy was unsure how to efficiently wrap the bandages tight enough without stopping the blood supply.

"Right. We're finished." Jeremy stood and turned to his fellow men. He noticed that the other farmer had returned, and a basic stretched lay at his feet. It looked poorly made, but if they travelled quick enough it should carry the sheep into the barns back at the Outpost.

The soldiers positioned the stretcher parallel to she Sheep's back. In a smooth movement, the two farmers lifted her onto it and then the soldiers raised sheep and stretcher upwards. They strode onwards, Jeremy trotting beside his patient with a hand resting her ribcage for the duration of the brisk journey. She was uneasy, but in far less pain now. For once, Jeremy felt that he had actually achieved something.

[Jeremy Casing]

They reached the barn in ten or so chimes, all five men panting tiredly. The rest of the sheep slept in a large gated-off pen, but the firelights startled them into wakefulness. In the middle of the panicked bleating, the farmers led Jeremy and their armed guards into a smaller, separate pen. It was completely bare, the floor solid and cold.

It would not do for Jeremy's patient. Shaking his head, he held his hand to stop the guards dumping the sheep down too quickly. "She needs a bed of straw, some hay to eat and water."

One of the farmers (they both looked equally tired and haggard to Jeremy) turned to the other expectantly. The second grumbled something about the cost of hay and the low importance of sheep, but nevertheless he disappeared to retrieve what Jeremy had asked for. When the farmer returned, Jeremy made sure to lay the straw thickly on the cold floor and place the water bowl and patch of hay within reaching distance of the bed. Then slowly, under his sharp eye and sharper words, the soldiers lowered the stretcher and placed the ewe on the straw bed.

The other men moved out of the pen, but Jeremy stayed to remove his make shift blindfold from her. When he did so, she did not panic, but stared up at him with beady eyes. She looked surprised -- as if she had expected the man who healed her to not look quite like Jeremy. With a reassuring pat, with which he conveyed handfuls of hope and patience to her, Jeremy stood and left the ewe in the darkness.

"You finished?" One the guards asked when Jeremy emerged out of the barn. The man sounded gruffly tired.

The Kelvic nodded brusquely, glancing to the two farmers that stood a little way from the two guards. "Unless there's anything else?" After they shook their heads, Jeremy pointed into the barn. "I will come and change her bandages in two days time. Until then, she should improve with each bell. If you notice that she seems to be getting worse, or vomits - or anything similar - come and find me." His tone was serious -- perhaps too much. Both farmers seemed unimpressed with the order.

He knew that the sheep earned their farmers less money than cows or horses, or maybe even chickens. Compared to those creatures, sheep were less important. A farmer would spend far fewer mizas healing a sheep than he would a horse.
Jeremy would need to supervise the ewe on his own to ensure that her owners were monitoring her. As he turned to leave the men, the kelvic smirked secretively. Fortunately, he had his ways to keep an eye on the activities of the Outpost.

[Sayana]

Your Grades Have Arrived Jeremy Skills: Skill EXP Socialization +2 Observation +2 Land Navigation +1 Deduction +1 Animal Husbandry +4 Medicine +3 Rhetoric +2 Philosophy +1 Lores: Medicine: Krolar poultrice used for injuries Medicine: Simple splint Ledger : I noticed that even though Jeremy “brought some needed medical supplies”, there are no medical supplies listed in your possessions. Try to only use items that you have purchased for your character. Please deduct the following from your ledger: - 5sm for the Krolar Poultice - 1sm for bandages - 2sm for the splint If you plan to continue using medical supplies, I’d suggest purchasing a healer’s kit so you don’t have to keep track of each usage. I used the cost of canvas for the bandages and I had to estimate a cost for the splint according to wood prices. Comments : Great thread. I really liked Jeremy’s approach and reasoning to a balanced system (in regards to simply leaving the dying sheep for the wolf). Hence I felt it needed a philosophy point. Also, remember to deduct living expenses for Winter 514. Don't forget to edit/delete your grade request in the grade request thread. However, make sure to keep the link so that the DS can review graded threads with ease. If you have any questions or concerns about your grade please feel free to send me a message. Enjoy.