Paravalsa

Paravalsa
Patient 53 - Room #17 - Indirectly monitored
Classification - Case study
Explanation - Mind infected with an unknown parasitic fungus (originating from the Scarred Wasteland)
Condition - Quarantined, under surveillance

Doctors assigned - Baldwin, Kumba (resigned)

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Note from Baldwin's journal

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Parry came home a day early from her scavenging trip yesterday morning. She told me she had been separated from the rest of the party and had encountered something terrible. A lair encrusted with mutated fungus, and when she went inside she was greeted by a frightening Ridgeback who breathed some sort of noxious vapor. I told her to go see one of our doctors and take care of herself. The poor dragon was shaking so much.

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Our doctors have told me that Parry inhaled spores and that they cannot identify what fungus they came from. They advised me to have her quarantined, which I have. I'll have Kumba keep an eye on her for now and hopefully, she can recover.

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Kumba's field notes

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#01 - This is Kumba writing.
Baldwin has entrusted me with caring for our dearest Parry while she is in quarantine. Yes, so very unfortunate, but if you ask me she was much too fragile to have ever been sent to the Scarred Wasteland in the first place.

But no matter, what's done is done. It's more important to focus on the here and now.
After being properly suited for quarantine, I went in to see how she was doing. Parry was just lying there, on the floor, barely moving. I asked her to get up, which resulted in perhaps the most comical attempt to stand I've ever seen a dragon make. The actual standing up she did just fine, but the moment she got on her feet, she convulsed and dropped to the floor. She kept trying, but it just got unbearable and I had to tell her to stop. Likely a symptom of her infection, which isn't good at all.

Along with that, the room was unbelievably humid. How did she manage that? It'd been less than a day. Even with an insulated suit, I felt a wave of horridness as soon as I walked in. Her body temperature was through the roof, too.

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#02 - Kumba writing.
Parry can stand up and walk around now, but she seemed... Shall I say hazy? She was just swaying, mumbling and twitching. I could barely get her attention, and Glade help me if I tried to make her talk.
This seems to me like the common infection "Wrymwound Fever" but there's no way I'd believe that all of our doctors were somehow unaware of this very common disease.

After checking on Parry I went to the medical lab to find out more about what she has. I was shown scans and samples of spores. One thing's for sure, this is not Wrymwound Fever. Still, it so far behaves in the exact same way (y'know, besides that Shade awful twitching). Is there a chance the medicine we use for that would work for Parry's affliction as well?
(ADDENDUM: I've acquired some of our medicine for Wrym Fever to give to her tomorrow. Claws crossed this will cure her.)

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#03 - Kumba writing.
She's growing mushrooms. You heard read? me right, she is growing mushrooms out of the side of her neck. There are mushrooms growing in the room, too. Clustered around one corner.
As if the ingrown mushrooms weren't already disturbing enough, she started talking to me about someone she met. 'Someone to protect her'. She wanted to 'share them with me'.

She's going delusional.

I gave her a dose of medicine and left soon after. I think I need a cold shower.

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#04- Kumba.
Parry was slightly saner today when I went to visit her. She didn't talk about her 'savior' (mother of Light it's disturbing). In fact, she just talked to me like she usually would before. Aside from the occasional twitch (ugh), she seemed at least mentally all there.
I assume that means the medicine worked, and that she'll be back in ship shape in no time.

Hopefully, those mushrooms will fall off too. Yuck.

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#05- Kumba.
Parry seems to have relapsed. She is once again speaking of this 'protector' and I think the mushrooms on her neck got worse.

I gave her a heavier dose. This medicine seems to be working, it likely just wasn't enough last time.

On a smaller note:
Baldwin confided in me today that he feels responsible for Parry's condition. Parry apparently wasn't comfortable heading into the Scarred Wasteland but he'd encouraged her to go.

I told him simply that there was no way he could've foreseen what happened to Parry, and so he had no reason to feel guilty. I honestly do believe he should've known better than to send her, but I couldn't have predicted the result being this... This.

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#06- That's it.
I'm not taking care of this anymore. She's utterly insane. Worse than insane, she's possessed.

I'm not going back in that room.

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Note from Baldwin's journal

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Kumba came to me today saying he refuses to continue working with Parry. He told me that she had attacked him. "She was like a rabid animal. Her eyes were just... Wrong."

Knowing this, I don't think it's safe to have anyone else enter the room. We'll use the automated system to care for her from now on.

I'm sorry Parry.

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...

Hi.

Can you hear me?

I know you can see me.

I need advice.

My friends don't like me anymore. They're scared of me.

Will you help me get them back?

Do I want them back?


Are you my friend?

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(Special thanks to Licorictus for giving me this dragon and letting me use their excellent lore!)