512-06-09 The Infection

Symptoms below will appear in order, starting after a day. The advancement speed is generally up to the player, but death occurs at a month and a half. In order the symptoms are:

• Mild fever with sweating and/or clamminess of the skin.

• Compulsion to seek out social situations/contact. This can range from be an urge to spend time with friends to seeking out new people. If your character is especially socially inept or aloof, take this as an opportunity to try something new, even if it is not a rational urge. (NOTE: your character will naturally be attracted more to uninfected hosts, while feeling more neutral toward those already infected, which you can see by typing '+infected'.)

• Poor impulse control. Actions your character may normally be too wise/scared/restrained to do will seem quite reasonable. Except for the social interaction desire, this won't be something contrary to the character's personality, merely will be from the innermost thoughts rather than the usual public face.

• A desire for physical contact. This is just the desire to touch another person. It isn't inherently sexual but could be expressed that way. (If you touch so,some for more than ten seconds straight, infect them by typing '+infect name')

• Carnivore urges. There will be a hunger for meat (and only meat), progressively less well done, until it is eaten raw.

• Morbid/Dark preferences. Your character will find him/herself unconsciously more comfortable in classically demonic settings. Death, disfigurement, or suffering may seem more beautiful or fascinating. Color preference will shift toward more intense shades. Clothing style may become more intimidating or daring. Attitude will slip toward selfishness and pleasure in darker matters.

• Physical changes. A copper colored ring will show up around the iris. Gray discoloration in the infected's nailbeds will eventually worsen until the fingernails and toenails of the infected start to fall off. This doesn't worry the infected individual. Constant thirst.

• Coma.

• Death.

Only a minute or two after imbibing the vomiting starts, and soon after that... everything else. It is one of the more uncomfortable things a person can go through caused by alchemy, and there might be moments that one wishes they would just pass out instead of suffering through it any longer. And the orange goo? It does start seeping out of pores about twenty minutes after initial dosing, and it does seep out of every pore. It is rinsed off over and over again with clean water and alcohol. And it smells. A regular dose of normal Valin's Savior lasts about 30 minutes, and that's about how long the vomiting and other... lower bodily functions last. But the sweating of the orange stuff? That goes on for about two hours before it starts to slow, due to the other tweaks made to the potion drawing the infection out. During this two hours, between cleaning, the healers are pushing each person to drink something to replace what was being lost by the nature of the cure and preventing dehydration.

As the second hour starts coming to a close, differences can be noted. Eyes start to clear of any discoloration, as do fingertips and toes. For all accounts, things seem to be working. This is when regret for impulsive actions start coming into play. And extreme fatigue.