"Sure, but which city? Eh, we'll figure it out, next time we roll I want to borrow the ratrophone and negotiate. We might get more working cars soon. Official word was to shelter in place, but I know everyone's going to be itching to check on folk living further away, that's for sure. Oh, I've seen something similar, yeah. 'Vicious Mockery'. Hurts whatever you insult, seems to work on monsters just fine, if you heard all that cussing about the 'overgrown feather duster' earlier." He snickers. "Telepathic bullshit is just going to become the new normal, I'm afraid."

Ugh. She could say 'New York' and hope that there's exactly one city in New York, but she doesn't actually want to keep lying. If this variance zone is how she's imagining, it should be okay to imply that she's a recent arrival. She hangs her head. "A city far away, sir. I'm not sure if I should say which one. I just arrived here today. It might have been the System's doing?

To be clear, sir, the ratrophone lets you understand them, but not the other way around. I think they can understand a few words of English, and they pick up on tone, but I mostly draw pictures for them. I'm sorry for not clarifying that earlier, sir."

"Okay, that changes things a bit yeah. Well if you're appointing yourself official pack rat interpreter, you're the one to blame if they do something screwy because of a misunderstanding later, just to be clear."

"Yes, sir. I accept responsibility for communicating with the Pack Rats, and for inviting them into your workyard. If any individuals make trouble, I might need help removing them, sir.

Thank you for the advice. I will keep Enthralling Performance in mind, then, although of course I will consult you before spending points, if at all possible, sir."

"Good stuff, we need to consider balance and specialization. I hope we work well together. Need to stick together at the end of the world."

"Yes, sir."

And now she can get back to the real work of maintaining this relationship. Pet pet pet pet pet. Such good Pack Rats. Good... critters. (They're not pups, they're not natural animals; they just - are what they are.) Pet pet.

The Pack Rats seem kind of tense and bored. A few are fussing with the bits of Junk they brought along. One has gathered a bunch of fallen Razor Gull feathers and is threading them into everyone. Brownie is intently watching the humans move around, looking focused and thoughtful somehow.

She wishes she could play a game with them, or start trying to learn their language, but she doesn't want to confuse them with something unimportant if they're going to have to negotiate something complicated soon - maybe even two separate complicated things, if the second group finds a host.

Dave called it "telepathic bullshit"... it's true, the Vicious Mockery, Enthralling Performance, the Ratrophone, "Fear Deer" (judging by the name), the illusion of this world, the direct infusion of Crafting knowledge - they're all powerful psychic effects. Power within the realm of stories she's heard, but far beyond anything she's witnessed herself, and they seem far too common and easy. (Unless the powerful telepaths going around hiding in plain sight do this all the time...)

If she's imagining this world, or the telepath is making it up, there's no information to gain from this observation (except that someone likes stories with lots of telepathy). But is it possible that the telepath created actual psychic entities to play the roles in this story? Little gods, naturally vulnerable to telepathic influence, so that's why telepathy seems easy in this world?

If so, and the game will last until she 'dies' (whether or not that means she dies in the real world too), her death will destroy everyone here. Even if they don't vanish immediately when the telepath stops supporting them, they won't last long without a god's followers.

C'Esther was raised as an atheist - prayer is dangerous when you have secrets to keep - but maybe she should reconsider that. She's not going to follow any of the normal gods, who might still be hostile in the real world, but if she's allowed to remember this game afterward, and tries really hard and recruits all her siblings and W'Marit's pack, she might be able to keep one of the people here alive.

Hmm.

She tries putting on the Ratrophone and looking questioningly at Brownie - any thoughts to share?

Brownie thinks that rats should be allowed to get stronger just like humans. Acting jealous and tearing each other down because you're scared they'll turn on you is not good. Also, separate nests mean less fighting.

Oh no, in what way does Brownie think the Pack Rats are not being allowed to get stronger? Drawing of a Tall and a Rat with arrows to more powerful forms (Tall with longer pointy stick, Big Rat), the Rat arrow crossed out, then, separately, several different shapes of cross-outs, which one? (Hm, did Brownie understood her talk with Dave about dividing loot?)

......Strong pack rats are scary to most Talls. So Talls mostly won't want to treat them fairly unless things go well. Brownie is worried.

Yeah, when people are stressed they don't want as many friends. Easing communication in both directions might help, but strong Talls are scary to other Talls too sometimes.

How much spoken English can they understand? Here's a few words of Chooda fursign, are they interested in learning more?

Do any of them want to work closely with an individual Tall? Fetching things, carrying messages, sharing sentry duty, cooking, watching children? She can ask around and make introductions!

To be clear, the other group of four is welcome to stay. And if none of them want to stay, that's okay too. Maybe they can go with the driver and the fox? If they leave, she will go with them. (Reluctantly, since she still owes John, but she was the one who brought the Pack Rats here and they're her responsibility.)

(Those answers will probably be as much Ratrophone as she can take right now; she hopes she asked the right questions.)

How much English they understand... It seems to be a hard question. The answer is... Ish? Ish. They can get the general idea behind things most of the time. They learn the bits of sign language easy enough; They'd rather learn more English than more sign language, though.

Spending time doing stuff for Talls sounds alright if they're nice Talls like C'Esther, or smart ones who think the Pack Rats are valuable helpers, maybe.

They want to drive away if the town is going to be overrun by Monsters, but not otherwise. Brownie in particular likes the idea of seeing new places, though!

The truck stops again, and onloads another family. This time, there's a nurse! She walks to the back corner of the truck and introduces herself. Marie Boehr, Level 1 Healer.

"I understand one of you needs some first aid? Something about a, uh, 'debuff', whatever that is?"

She nods firmly at finding nice and/or smart Talls! (That was her intent, but kinda hard to draw.)

"C'Esther, at your service - " not sir, there's an obscure word for this... "ma'am. I don't know what a debuff is, sorry ma'am. I have an affliction that will be cured by 'proper medical attention', or in a day or so, but if it's cheap I think it's worth looking at it now, ma'am."

Wow the female Man looks terrible. And actually the male Men look noticably imperfect, but that's occasionally a fashion statement so she didn't notice until just now. They really mean it about being low-tech.

"That's what I mean by debuff. Affliction. I have a Class Power called Healing Touch, and I also have actual medicine, I think we can get you sorted. I can take you into our house for a bit of privacy? It's just across the street."

"Oh, are you joining Dave's Landscaping or staying here, ma'am?"

Healing Touch, huh. She looks around to make sure someone knows where she's going.

And follows quietly and obediently. As long as this gets her affliction removed...

"I think so, dear, I just don't know. My husband says it'll be safer, but Dave... He's kind of a hardass, you know. Always thinks he knows best and has to make the decisions. Alea iacta est."

Here's a living room with a couch. She leads c'esther into the kitchen and shuts the door. She drags over two chairs and sits in one.

"Okay, now this is me acting as a healthcare worker. We're covered under confidentiality laws, I'll keep things you tell me or I learn while practicing medicine private from non health people unless you say I can share them or they are immediately relevant, like save your life relevant. Does that make sense?"

"Have you worked with Dave much then, ma'am? I would greatly appreciate any advice you have on building a smooth relationship with him."

The confidentiality thing is clear... and the implication is that it goes both ways? "Yes, ma'am, I understand."

"I don't know him personally, I just know he's better than some bosses according to my husband - more about results and reliability than looking good or getting a certain amount of hours. Kind of a penny pincher but not in a mean way. Backs his people up if a customer comes in accusing them of stuff or whatever. Really hates when people don't pay what they owe on time. Can you describe your injuries and symptoms for me real quick?"

"Thank you very much, ma'am." Okay, so be cautious about asking for things and deliver results on time.

"My current affliction is 'Where's the Doctor?'/'Street Meds', via EpiPen, which means that my hit point regeneration is reduced by 50% until my hit points reach 100% and remain at 100% for eight hours, or I get 'proper medical attention'. I don't know whether that's meant generally, or specifically treatment of my previous injury, a venomous bite from a Lv 4 Snare Spider, which caused hit point drain of 0.2 per second.

My leg hurts, and I ache a little in my back and neck and abdomen. My main concern is the hit points."

Her leg is red and swollen.

"I'd like to touch your leg and use passive mode of Healing Touch. What this will do is give me an idea what kind of damage the venom has done to your body, so I can judge the best response and try to understand what 'Where's the Doctor' is doing. Now, HP is a separate thing to your actual body- They occupy the same space, but you'd still be hurt even at 100% HP at this point. Having high HP seems to make the body restore itself to an ideal state faster. I haven't had time to study this thoroughly, but Healing Touch is relying a lot on my clinical knowledge of anatomy and blood chemistry. I hope after seeing what the venom and epipen and magic did to you, I'll know the best way to fix it and what you can expect. Sound good?"

"Sounds good, ma'am.

Are afflictions, in general, similarly separated from actual health? Is accidental injury different from monster-inflicted injury, even if the injury is physically identical?"

"I haven't seen enough to say for sure, but it seems likely. Or rather, afflictions are whole entities to themselves, that have effects on your health, if that makes sense. And HP is the same way. It's almost like... A field of energy within your body and just around it that resists outside force and damage, like how you get when you drop a magnet through a copper tube. Okay, I'm going to gently touch your leg now."

She slowly reaches out and does that, two fingers very gently resting against C'Esther's calf. She closes her eyes.

"...Okay, I'm seeing the 'Where's the Doctor' for sure. It's isolated to your leg, and your HP is sort of - being scattered by it. It's still bubbling and churning, I can sense System energy of some sort surrounding with what I assume is the venom... As for your physical body, I'm seeing a little bit of tissue necrosis, plus lots of inflammation and scattered cell damage. The Affliction is keeping it that way, unlike the contusion along your back, which is quickly healing. I think 'proper medical care' for this would involve an actual antivenom, which we obviously don't have. But Touch Heal can repair physical wounds and push your HP back up, that's probably the best I can do."

"That's so cool! Uh, not the necrosis, I mean your Class Power, ma'am."

Okay she seems nice, and C'Esther is curious. "So, you're married to a Man?"