[ We find Kenji waking up with a start. He was sure he was drowning in acid while fighting two demons and a dragon a second ago. ] * Kenji waits for the session start tag. [ He looks around, finding himself on a large bed with plastic railings and strange devices all about him. There is a mask over his face which appears to be assisting his breathing. There is a tube leading into his right arm with a clear fluid dripping into it. ] [ To either side of him is a similar arrangement with another bed; one holds Patrick, who has seen better days, and the other holds Will, who seems to be awake but unresponsive. The room is remarkably quiet and smells faintly of iodine. ] [ He's never seen such a setup, needless to say. And it should be fairly obvious that he has no idea where he is. ] [ Session Start! ] * Kenji sits the hell up. Or tries to, anyway. Hello? [ Kenji succeeds! Sort of. The arm with the tube in it stings with the abrupt movement, and something in his groin hurts sharply all of a sudden. ] NNNNNNGH. * Kenji lies back and does a quick inventory of his various body parts, to see which are working properly. [ He hears voices outside as he starts making noise. And right about now a searing pain breaks out in his abdomen. A woman - tall, stocky, and dressed in white from head to toe - comes in and looks at him. "Oh!" She exclaims. She calls out "The short one's awake! I think he's pulled his stitches again, too!" ] * Kenji looks over at this strange woman and says carefully, "Where am, I, how did I get here, and where are my clothes?" [ "Easy, there, sir. You're in St. Myriam's Hospital. Some people found you nearby all a bloody mess and helped bring you in." ] [ "We had to take off your clothes to treat your wounds, you know. They're find, tho, I'm sure." ] [ "Now, I need to have a look at your chest to make sure you didn't pull your stitches." ] I've never heard of a Saint Myriam. I need my clothes. [ "Well, she is a little obscure. And no, sir, you need to lie back and rest." ] [ "If there's something on your clothes you need, I or one of the other nurses can get it for you." ] I'll be happy to lie back and rest, priestess, as soon as I have my belongings. There are... important things there. [ "Which do you need?" ] All of them. Most importantly, there was a ring. A ring of skulls, on my left hand. [ "Oh, we couldn't take that off, sir. It's still there." ] * Kenji pales even more. * Kenji looks down at the ring, then at his chest. [ "Your finger swole up and we couldn't take it off. But it should be fine. Is that some weird band thing?" ] [ "The ring, I mean." ] It's a holy relic. [ "Oh. Of who?" The woman pulls back Kenji's sheets. ] Amaterasu, the Lady Sun. [ "Never heard of her," says the woman nonchalantly. "But then, there's all sorts of new cults these days." She lifts up Kenji's scant clothing and looks surprised. "Oh my word... your wound healed." ] * Kenji laughs long and loud. Could you please bring my belongings, now? I have need of them, and this is rather indecent of me. [ "Well, sir, you may want me to pull out the stitches. They'll hurt when you move, if I leave them in." She still seems a little baffled, but she's taking it well. ] [ "I'll go get the tools I'll need. Don't get out of bed, yet." She turns and heads out the door. ] * Kenji lies back and laughs quietly to himself. [ There is some conversation outside the room after a while. Will mutters something nonsensical. Then the woman comes back in, looking confused, but with a pair of odd, bent scissors and some tweezers, and two jars, one containing a clear liquid. "This won't be a minute, sir. How long've you been awake, anyway?" ] Not more than a minute or two before you came in. You're lucky you came in when you did, in fact. [ "Oh? Why's that?" ] Because I've no idea whatsoever what this tube in my hand is, or what's making that pinching beneath my loincloth, and if you hadn't come in just then, I'd have simply torn them out. [ "The first wouldn't be so bad. That's a water drip to keep you from dying of dehydration. The second would've hurt. That's a catheter to catch the water when it comes out the other end." ] * Kenji looks horribly disgusted. [ "What? It's that or you wet the bed, sir. Which would you prefer?" ] Practical or not, it's still a disturbing idea. [ "But lots of guys are uncomfortable with it, I know." Kenji's abdomen starts to prick, and there's some snipping noises as the lady goes to work. ] [ "There, all done. I'll pull out the catheter, now, since you should be able to reach the restroom on your own, now. So, how'd you get that wound, anyway?" ] I don't remember, precisely. It was either the dragon or one of the demons, obviously. Since gigantic vats of acid don't generally inflict grevious cuts to the torso. I can probably rule out the larger of the demons, as well. A flaming sword would probably cauterize the wound. [ "Those're some colorful names. You in a gang or something, sir?" A distintly unpleasant sensation comes and goes as Kenji speaks. ] I'm not certain what you mean by "gang". I seem to recall the term meaning a group of workmen, which I am certainly not. [ "Well, there's that. But nowadays toughs run in packs they call 'gangs' and fight over crime proffits and dominant territory." ] Hah. No. I am no criminal, Priestess. [ "The important ones all call themselves weird things, like Tony the--" and she starts laughing when it registers that Kenji called her a priestess. ] Did I make a joke? I have been attempting to grasp the common humor, but it often eludes me. [ "I'm no priestess, sir. I'm just a nurse. Although I'm attending night school to get a computer science degree." ] I know this science, but I have never head of a nurse, a computer, or a degree. That makes it somewhat difficult to make sense of what you said. ( heard ) Regardless, you serve in a temple, tending to the sick and wounded. That makes you a priestess. [ She frowns. "Oh? I guess you're new to the area, then. Well, a nurse is someone who helps take care of the sick and injured. Doctors do all the tricky work, but nurses do everything else. A computer is... well, basically it's a box that does math very quickly. And you can use that to do all sorts of interesting things like store music and pictures and books." ] [ "A degree is just a piece of paper saying I've taken all the right courses and know how to use the doggone things." ] Aha. Like one of Ariake's infernal contraptions. So you train to become an artificer. A respectable profession. [ "Uhm, yeah. Where are you from, sir? Knowing what nation you're from might help explain." ] I come from Rokugan, though of late, I have made residence in Brighthome. Where am I now? [ "Huh. Never heard of either." ] [ "You're in the Kingdom of Nova Vaasa, sir. Did you take a blow to the head in your fight?" ] Not that I recall. [ The nurse chuckles. "Of course." ] I've taken a great many blows to the head in my time. [ "Are you *sure* you're not in a gang?" ] [ "Or maybe a vigilante or something?" ] I'm an adventurer, Priestess. Though I seem to be missing two of my companions. [ "Oh, like Barovia Jones or something? And if you mean these two guys, they're not as quick on the recovery as you, but they'll be fine." ] [ The nurse pauses. "Sorry, you probably didn't get the reference." ] No, I don't. And I had actually counted these two. The missing ones are two ladies of unusual form. I'm certain you would remember them, had you seen them. [ "Eh, they only found you three. Normally I'd be worried for them, but it was some cops that found you, and the cops in this town are good men." ] Very well. My belongings, then? [ "Anyway, I'm going to go report your progress to the shift leader. I'll also bring you a form to fill out so we can know who you are and any relatives to inform." ] [ "Sure, I'll bring your belongings. But I'm afraid your shirt's ruined, sir. Too bad, too. Such fine silk!" ] A pity. I'll have to have it mended. [ "I'll go get them, sir." ] [ She leaves, and a moment later comes back with a basket of items; a blue, torn and bloodsoaked shirt with the Ikoma mon adorning a band on the left arm, a black pair of straight-lined pants, a pair of black, leather shoes with hard soles, and a large, leather box with a handle on top and the logo of the Bygasse School for Adventurers on the side. ] [ Session End! ]