Miss: Recuperate in the dark

⚁⚃ - 2 = 4, Miss.

You wake alone on a narrow bed, your head throbbing. It's painful enough that you can't resist letting out a moan. Or a croak. Your mouth and throat are dry.

You hear the swish of fabric and open your eyes to darkness. Blinking your sticky eyelids, all is still dark.

"Who's there?" you rasp out.

"Rest easy, Morgan." It's the familiar, sibilant dry tones of Miss Wormwood, the Nurse. "The Warden of Leontes brought you here. Overexerting yourself again. I was going to bring you a tonic, but you've had a bump on the head, and the best medicine is quiet, darkness, and rest."

You can't see or hear the serpents on Miss Wormwood's head moving about and flickering their tongues, but you know they must be.

The scrape of a slipper, a lighter rustle of fabric close by, and you feel the tickle of a dozen forked tongues on your face. It's a creepy sensation, but not an unfamiliar one. You spent much of your first year working closely with Miss Wormwood. Very closely. Until you met Fay. Fay, where are you? you wonder. A tear trickles down your cheek. An eager serpentine tongue licks it up. And the next tear, and the next.

"Now then, Morgan, turn your head," Miss Wormwood says. "There. Drink."

A cool metal tube touches your lips. You take it in and suck. Cool, sweet water.

"Finish it if you can," Miss Wormwood says. "That's a good girl. Do you need the pot?"

Though the throbbing in your head is the dominant sensation in your body, there are other discomforts. Aching in your ribs. Pressure in your bladder. "Yes, Miss Wormwood."

Miss Wormwood puts a hand on your shoulder. You're wearing a nightshirt or a gown. You weren't before. She grips your shoulder and helps you rise to a sitting position. The throbbing is joined by dizziness and a twinge of nausea, but you hold your gorge down. Miss Wormwood bends and slides something out from under your bed, scraping across the floor. She helps you slide forward and down onto the cool porcelain of the chamberpot. A shiver runs up your spine. She holds you as you make water.

"That's a good girl, Morgan. Now spread your knees and hold still," Miss Wormwood says. She bends forward next to you. A little clutch of her head-snakes licks the last drops of urine from between your legs. "There, that takes care of things. Now let's get you back in bed."

A single sharp bite to your neck spreads warmth through your body and loosens your limbs. Miss Wormwood rolls you onto your side and tucks the blanket round you as your awareness flickers.

"Rest well, Morgan," she says.

You have +2 Ambition, -1 Bravery, +2 Cunning, +0 Diligence, and 5 XP. You may spend 5 XP to get a character advancement. See the Boarbristle Rules under "SPENDING XP".

Your FRIENDs are Fay and Barbara Torch, Warden of Leontes.

You have a GOAL owed to the Warden (Testing the Wards, -2 on Cunning).

You have a CONSEQUENCE (Heartsick at missing Fay).

Roll +Bravery(-2) (-1 Bravery, -1 CONSEQUENCE) to GET OUT OF THE INFIRMARY.

⚃⚁ - 2 = 4, Miss.