Itchy Scratchy

[Calico]

As the sun dawned it found Kate laying on the edge of the pond, nude, and covered head to toe in mud. She had stayed up to an unreasonable hour of the night, and then had been un able to sleep because of her rash.

It had started out almost innocently. A slight itching of her palms, like the kind of people always supersticously said meant you were going to be getting some money. Then her palms hand turned red, and splotchy, when she woke up the next day it had spread up her wrists, bad hives has started forming. Now, some days later, both arms, and most of her back was covered with the horrible rash. Her fingers were so swollen and red, she had been able to take her family's signet ring off her first finger and wear it on her thumb. She could still hold a sword, but just barely. Ringmail gloves made her even more clumsy and she'd taken to not wearing them and simply keeping her hands wrapped in bandages. Between the rash and the massive bruise across her chest from the weekends battle she was starting to feel worn thin.

All the healers salves stung, and stank, and did next to nothing for the rash. The books her and Ryan had nicked from the alchemists hut in Illshnar had proven to be useless as well.

This isn't working either... A low groan escaped her lips and she crawled back into the pond to rinse the mud off. Kate had recalled that almost any thing that was irritating to the skin could be soothed with mud, unfortunately this unholy itch seemed to be coming form the inside out. In her own mind, and in asking around to the others that were affected, she'd finally crossed off dragon's blood, and even some thing on the bunks as possible causes. The sneaking suspicion that the church was some how behind the entire thing had presented it's self at mass the day before.

Never before having been one to believe that lightning or other ill fortune would strike if some one misbehaved Kate was starting to wonder. Is this some devine punishment for our revolt? or did those bloodi' Templar just infect us all with some thing odd? Wadding dripping wet, and mud free out of the pond Kate quickly wrapped her cloak around herself and crept back into the bushes where she'd stashed her armor. And if the powers that be are punishing us, why didn't they do it when we were holding the templar down with a blade to their necks? And shouldn't Commander Eason be a smoking crater?