Apphia guides Silas through the river village’s empty healer’s porch into a small herb house. Bundles of dried medicine hang from rafters above an unused examination table, filling the close room with bitter, green scents.
An elderly woman, a thin human with weathered skin and knotted hands with silver hair, a narrow face, and a faded blue shawl sits beside the table. A wary child caretaker in a patched brown tunic stands near her, clutching a clay cup; both are anxious but unharmed.
Apphia Vita
There you are. Sit, Silas. That shoulder has been rubbed raw, and I will not let the river road turn a burden into an injury.
Apphia settles Silas beside the examination table and washes the welt with boiled water and crushed willowleaf. The child watches closely while the elderly woman gathers courage.
the elderly patient
The healers were more than physicians. They brought fever draughts, delivered children, and kept our dead from being forgotten. When they vanished, every household felt the empty doorway.
the child caretaker
My grandmother cannot walk far, and I do not know which herbs are safe. The healers promised they would return before the river flooded.
Apphia Vita
We will learn what happened, and we will tend those left behind. Silas, once your shoulder is clean, we should hear everything they remember about the last day the healers were here.
“Before we investigate, we shoukd tend to the sick and dying ourselves, saving thise we can while thise we can't are given help to pass peacefully.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Healing, rolled -1)
Silas and Apphia turn the herb house into a place of mercy. He carries water, sorts remedies, and steadies the fevered while she binds wounds and prepares willowleaf draughts.
Apphia Vita
This one can still return to strength. Keep the cup warm, and do not let him drink too quickly.
Through the afternoon, several villagers breathe easier beneath their care. The child caretaker learns which herbs to steep, while the elderly patient’s fever finally breaks.
the elderly patient
You have given me another morning. I thought the river had already carried it away.
Not every bed yields to remedy. An unconscious villager weakens beyond healing, and Silas kneels beside them, offering a steady hand as Apphia confirms the body’s final limit.
Apphia Vita
There is no honest medicine left to offer. Give them peace, Silas. I will keep the living safe beside you.
Silas guides the dying villager without force or fear. Their last breath passes gently, witnessed by Apphia and the child caretaker, while the saved patients rest under the herb house’s care.