A very arrogant soldier in town shoves past Wraithvine and friends to scream at a person who was carefully packing some exotic pets into their carry cages to take them to the next town. Wraithvine warns the guard "Do NOT touch the animals!" The guard ends up with Wraithvine trying to save what's left of a badly poisoned hand. -- Anon Guest
It happened so fast. From, "Oi! Do you have a license to be doing that?" through, "Don't touch those!" to, "Don't tell me what to do, I am an officer of the LAW." And then the officer who apparently knew everything clamped his hand around a bright yellow microdragon with brilliantly blue spots on its hide.
Microdragons have a stinger at the end of their tails, and the blue-spotted microdragon's venom is the most potent of them all.
Wraithvine had to act fast. The blue-spotted microdragon, now free to go where it whist, flew directly for its handler and hissed at the officer. The officer who was still falling over. With millennia of experience at hand, Wraithvine's components pouch was more of a components backpack. Ze had it off and was searching for the right parts of the right spell before the officer had time to bounce. The stung hand was already starting to dissolve.
Tourniquet, tight. A white pearl. A piece of unicorn horn, sharpened to a point. A special sigil drawn a specific way in the melting flesh. Add the pearl. And hold one's breath because the fumes were beyond foul.
He was lucky to have half a hand left, and that took most of Wraithvine's magical energies to do. Healing the now skinless flesh was going to take the rest. Better than letting him bleed to death. Or lose the arm entirely.
Once the situation was stable, Wraithvine barely had the strength to take the tourniquet off. Ze sat in panting exhaustion for more minutes than the entire event had taken.
The blue-spotted microdragon was now safe in its travel cage, still hissing at the world in general and this officer in particular. The handler finally removed his gloves to check on Wraithvine. "Are you all right?"
"I saved... an ignorant... life," Wraithvine managed. "May he learn... less ignorance."
"I have a small restorative potion in case of bites or stings," offered the handler. "And before you ask, I will not give it to that man." He pulled his hood back, revealing the horns of a Tiefling. "He has been giving me unnecessary trouble since I crossed the boundary line of this little town."
"You have others?"
"I have a stock because I'm not stupid. You need this now or you'll collapse. Take it. Please."
Wraithvine took it, wincing at the taste. Nevertheless, it did its work and made the world around hir a little more friendly towards strenuous work like standing up. "Small towns are the worst when it comes to greeting unusual visitors," ze said. "I was anticipating an unwelcome myself, but. I got 'milord'ed."
"There's an Elf on the hill who runs a school," said the handler. He offered a hand. "Verisimilitude Hackamore. Verse to my friends."
Wraithvine shook it without hesitation and, more importantly, without wiping hir hand afterwards[1]. "Pleased to meet you, Verse. Perhaps if we travel together through this town, we can even out the net effect."
"Or perhaps they're just racist and we should be through it as soon as possible." Verse prodded the officer with his foot. "Should we do something about him or wait until we're arrested for assaulting an officer?"
"I say drag him to his Captain and tell the story before he gets a chance to."
Verse's fangs were bright and white against his dark brown skin. "I like how you think."
[1] You would be surprised how often the reverse happens with Tieflings.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / teguhtirta]
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