The good thing of drawing 'security' on Deck 10 is that it at almost the top of the ship which gives plenty of ocean breeze and sunlight.
It also has the advantage that only the most healthy of individuals are the ones pretty much thinking of making the climb up to Deck 10 which has a Darwin style of 'sorting' the worst from the best.
The normal 'cycle' has a flock of athletic types putting in their morning routine early before hitting showers followed by pools and sun bathing depending on their desire to lure out other passengers. It is the normal day meet up spot for many of the unattached passengers.
With the state of the ship farther down, there is a very small number of passengers that have managed to remain healthy enough that they feel like making the climb to Deck 10 to exercise. The down side of this group is that they all seem to feel that the crew should be functioning like them and blame the crew for not keeping their vacation on track and their meal service like it is promised to be.
You become the 'lighting rod' for their anger.
You also notice the ship has not made 'port' which is the usual pattern each morning but is still at sea.
The steward looks at you and replies as if reading from a typed memo, 'The Captain sends his regrets on any problems that you have perceived. Our ship has one of the finest records among cruise ships and Caribbean Lines. We take pride and joy in the enjoyment of our passengers health and safety.'
'It is normally our policy to treat our passengers in their staterooms when they suffer an illness to avoid spreading of problems to other parts of the ship. Unfortunately, do to the scale of the situation and the shortage of personnel able to treat the situation, the Captain has had to centralize resources until more resources become available. The Captain has shut down the Palladium Theatre and set up a temporary hospital in the location. You can be assured that the passengers that you observed were being relocated to the hospital to make sure they receive the finest care that Caribbean Lines can provide.'
'Do you have any more questions that I can assist you with?'
The Med Bay or Infirmary has a capacity for 10 beds and it currently appears to have had stretchers added to make it filled with close to 20 beds of patients. Space has been prioritized to children and the patients presenting more than just illness.
There is a pharmacy nook that is being staffed by someone who appears to be handing out stacks of boxes of gravol to stewards with instructions on distribution and watching for further signs. There are also instructions being given on the importance of hydration and avoiding patients delusional attacks.
Your patient is given a temporary seat while a nurse opens a standard suture kit clean the wound and try to determine the depth of the wound for purposes of deciding to sew or just pack with saline till better treatment is available.
The theatre is under conversion to a temporary hospital. Several of the mechanical staff are undoing the bolts that attach seats to the floor and stacking them to the side. There are several of the cleaning staff putting extra sheets down on the floor with pillows to rest the passengers heads upon.
More of the crew are walking among the passengers being brought in and distributing fluids and Gravol pills. Several of the passengers have had bindings made from ripped up sheets attached to the bolts in the floor.
You can see the first officer directing traffic in the theatre and he is conferring with the ship's doctor. They appear to be discussing the strategy for best treatment in this situation.
While the main lower theatre appears to have passengers, you can see that crew carrying other crew to the 'hospital' are being directed to carry them to the balcony area.
The threatre is large enough to hold 1,200 passengers and it is rapidly filling with people and crew that are ill.
DM & Shinko:
DM & Shinko: ** spoiler omitted **
'Currently we are at sea but the Captain has us speeding towards the best medical facilities available in our area. You'll be notified on the ship news channel of the television in your suite when we are preparing to make port.'
'The Captain has forty years of experience in sailing the seas and Caribbean Lines has been operating cruise ships for almost a century. You are on safe seas with Caribbean Lines.'
Having spent most of the ride with some of these folks, Vic has a decent idea of how to relate to them.
"Yeah, well, not everybody eats well and lives right like we do, you know?"
"I know! You'd think Carnival would hire better - or more - people. It's not much better belowdecks and that's just not right."
"Yeah, this is one helluva bug... Hopefully it'll pass over soon enough, though."
He realizes once it's through that maybe he should have been a little more tight-lipped, but hey - at least a riot didn't break out.
With the situation as in-hand as it can be, he strolls over to the edge and looks out to sea. There's a sinking feeling in his gut as he realizes how long it's been and how not in port they are. He turns and looks around, frowning. He'd never really been in charge of a vessel out of sight of the coast, and there were no trees or landmarks to get his bearings by out at sea.
I hope we aren't gonna wind up dead on the water out here.
Persuasion
Survival
"Sir, I have some small experience helping in such situations. When Swine Flu swept through Vera Cruz, I did some time as a volunteer orderly at a local hospital. I am off-duty now, Is there anything that I can do to help?'
Looking around,Jose tries to get a closer inkling as to why the passengers are tied/bolted down (If I read that correctly), just the roll of the Ocean...? Or , something else...
You manage to fend off the worst of the anger from the crowd.
Emmy, a steward that works usually on this deck carrying beverages by the cart up to this deck to serve has managed to keep well enough that she is doing her duty.
Another steward, possibly Pete or Petro, you're not really sure of his name has also made it up to the deck and is doing towel duty. The supply though is dwindling and it doesn't look there is a resupply going to happen soon. The ship has a large laundry service but it still needs people to man the service.
While you are doing security, you see one jogger stagger into Emmy's cart and send plenty of the drinks flying. She immediately starts to apologize (it is company policy to apologize even when the crew was not at fault) but it looks like the fellow isn't having any of this and is starting to grab her arm. He is acting a bit erratic in movements and may be drunk or doing some other substance.
What are you doing?
'We're all hands on deck at the moment so no one is off duty. I do appreciate the initiative. I'll give you the choice. We need help clearing space in here for more space for more ill people. This delusion has really got them violent and we're having to restrain them from hurting themselves or anyone near them. We'd give senatives but we don't have near enough to go around and the doc doesn't want to be giving out meds without knowing patients full medical backgrounds. He says most of the stuff strong enough to calm these delusions could have harmful interactions with dozens of medications these people might be on. Bad enough having sick passengers but the captain won't stand for having any preventable deaths do to unknown drug interactions.'
'Anyways we need seats moved or people to help with the stretcher detail of finding and moving passengers and crew here for care. Which do you want?'
The attendant hesitates as it is normally against policy to issue and involve passengers in such affairs. You do manage to talk the talk enough that she will start you in basic primary care. A nurse will triage and diagnose and you will record on the clip board the information.
The nurse will likely ask you to look at a few and see how you diagnose symptoms to establish your skill and credentials.
She also gives you the standard warning spiel that includes you are not covered or authorized by the Caribbean Lines for any care that you suggest or covered by their insurance for any injuries that you suffer while volunteering. She apologizes but says she has to say it but reminds you that normal international law will protect you provided you are acting in good faith.
So if you follow the nurse as she triages and specifies to various assisting crew what needs to be done then make a Treat Injury role.
DM
DM & Shinkko:
He walks briskly over to the two, grabbing the man's shoulder as soon as he gets there. "She said she's sorry, sir. Let her go. If there's anything I can do for you... ?" he says, hoping he doesn't make any outrageous demands or start an actual fight.
'I'm sorry sir, but I'm not a trained physician and could not make a diagnosis. I'm sure that you are aware that it often takes several weeks in a lab to properly culture a specimen and get a proper diagnosis. The Captain is taking all percautions possible and has informed Caribbean Lines of the situation. They will follow protocol in this situation and if warrented will request help from other physicians in diagnosing the problem. The Captain is speeding the ship to a safe harbour as we speak.'
The answer sounds very canned as if coming from some HR handbook on what is the 'correct' response in such a situation.
Okay, you need to make an initiative check and treat this as a combat.
Are you going to go for a grapple or a punch? Right now the person is focused on Emmy. If you want then you can choose to try and get in the way of the person's attack which will lower your reflex by 5 but Emmy won't get hurt as you'll be putting your body between her and the man's teeth.
Standard things like fight defensively and full defensive are also options in this situation.
You get a mask and gloves. You start to get a feel for the types of people in triage. There are people with symptoms but no fever. They tend to be ill but show no signs yet of delusional behaviour. There are people that have cramps and fever and these people seem to start to lapse into some delusions. There are people with various bites that seem to have fevers and delusions and are often the most violent of the delusionals.
You are working on one patient when they appear to start to flat line in a spewing vomit of blood and other biological materials from their internals.
And you feel a single drop splash towards your eye.
"Hey, what the &@!?, man?" Vic yelps as he realizes the man is baring his teeth. Abandoning all pretext of manhandling the drunk, he uses the momentum of his failed grab to put himself between the two.
DM
Perception
Initiative
Treat Injury
DM & Shinko:
As soon as he is able, he will carefully wipe the drop away with an absorbent cloth, and then sterilise the site of contact with some chlorhexidine. He will then calmly get back to work...
Okay, you grapple the man from behind but he manages to just spin around in your grip due to some sort of freakish strength and now he is attempting to hold you while glazed eyes stare blindly into you while teeth gnash towards your throat.
You spot an older woman lying in a deck chair. She seems to be clutching some sort of dog like a Pomeranian but you're not sure. She appears to be passed out. You go to check on her vital signs and her eyes seem to open but her eyes are glazed and don't appear to be functioning.
She makes a grab for you.
What would you like to do?
The nurse asks, 'You're okay? You didn't get anything on you did you?
DM:
Perception
Vic frantically tries to figure out what the man's problem is, but with the imminent prospect of being bitten by a guy who was at best deranged or drug-addled and at worst sick and catching, his survival instincts kick in.
He manages to squirm one limb or another into place and viciously knocks the man backwards, disengaging him entirely.
Perception/Treat Injury/Wis Check
Grapple Check to break out
"Get back, Emmy," he says, even as he takes his own advice and moves away, looking around to see what the rest of the deck's reaction is. "Little help here?" he asks, his bewilderment clear in his voice.
You spot a pair of girls that appear to be making a PDA (Public Display of Affection) until you realize that that the red colour on the one girl's blouse is not a designer splash pattern but blood flowing down from the neck or shoulder.
You manage to break free and open up a 5' gap between you and the man that is still stumbling towards you. Emmy follows your request and backs off.
Geoffrey sighs.
"A little got inside my face shield, but I should be fine; even if I am not, there is nothing we can do for the moment. Let's keep working, and try to bring what order we can to this chaos."
DM:
Persuasion
You leave the patient for a moment as the tremours and bleeding seem to have stopped. You've seen it dozens of time in trauma patients. The last breath of the death rattle before the body settles into an empty shell.
You know that it will take hours for all the 'official' processes of the body to die. Millions of cells slowly gathering toxins and dying every hour as processes fail and come apart.
But after paddles and adrenalin, this is the end for this patient. They've crashed and aren't returning.
It's not official. You're not a doctor; so, officially you can't make that determination. Still, experience tells you that this person has passed on.
You turn to focus on someone that you can aid.
You are starting to move to help another. The nurse is already signalling to a pair of crew to help move the body away when out of the corner of your eye, you see the fingers twitch.
The eyes which the nurse had close flick open.
And the nurse says, 'Oh no, not another one.'
Milky fish eyes turn upon you and the one woman with red streaming from her face lets the other woman drop limply to the ground like a discarded doll.
She then lunges towards.
You call for help and instead of getting help, people start berating you for bothering a passenger. You hear a couple people calling out, 'I've got you on camera. I've got you on camera. You can't treat a passenger that way.' You can see a couple of phones being held up recording the moment for youtube posterity.
You have a small gap of distance between you and the 'passenger' that is still stumbling towards you. Other passengers are keeping twenty to thirty feet back but filming you. What would you like to do?
Geoffrey turns to the woman in shock.
What the hell?
"What the devil is going on here? That woman was dead; she had fixed, dilated pupils, no pulse, and was not breathing..."
He then moves over to render what assistance he can...
OoC:Sorry, Net has been down for a day and a half.
DM
The nurse points and leads you to the side to talk quietly out of ear shot of other patients in the area.
'We've had a problem with some of the patients. We're not sure if its some sort of picca morte or little death. It looks like the patient has died but they continue to function. We don't have the facilities here to do brain scans and determine if there is any brain death occurring. The patient's bleed but their blood pressure drops and their hearts stop. Yet, they seem to come back and start moving.'
'Dr Sheema thinks it might be some sort of chemical that has been introduced into the food or beverages of the ship. Something that lowers the vital signs below our ability to detect creating the false impression of death but the patient is really in some sort of state of anesthesia.'
'They feel no pain. Their higher brain functioning is asleep. All that remains is their more primitive needs and motor functioning skills.'
'Until we can get them to a hospital with better diagnostic skills then we have on this ship with its single x-ray machine, we've, well, we've been storing them.'
You fail to push her off.
She attempts to pin you so she can start to chew on you with her false teeth.
The woman goes to grab you and bite you but her false teeth fall out. For a moment she is confused by the loss of teeth and starts to move around looking for the teeth forgetting about you while she looks giving you the opportunity to act as you want.
DM:
Grapple
He backs up a bit more, his mind frantically going between not letting the 'drunk' at the passengers and somehow calling for (likely non-existent) backup.
In the end he winds up taking a few steps back and bracing himself, waiting to see what his 'opponent' will do and hoping that the now-watching crowd will get the idea that this is not his fault.
DM
"That is troubling. I have a few questions, if you can answer them: How long until the vessel gets somewhere with the right facilities? When did the first cases start to present themselves? How many have been affected so far? Also, what do you mean by 'storing' them?"
He gives a wan smile.
"I will do what I can to help prevent this place from descending into total anarchy; I know what it is like to work under enormous pressure..."
Hank heads in the opposite way to the woman and starts to head for the stern of the ship.
He can see ahead of him several crew are carrying bodies into the Palladium theatre ahead of him.
Vic moves back from the crazed drunken passenger. The person appears to be attempting to say something but is clearly slurring the words.
You are able to move more quickly then the shambling passenger and the crowd while watching are willing to give ground and allow you to keep ahead of the passenger but also are keeping their distance.
You have no trouble getting away Jose. A little shaken for the experience you are fine.
Are you going to go look for others in need of assistance or are you going to do something else?
'Umm, I'll do my best. I'm not sure when we'll get somewhere. That's something that Doctor Sheema and the Captain are working out. I know that they've decided to not stop at any more of the ports. But, I really don't know where they've decided to take the ship.'
'I can't really say for sure when the first cases started to happen. We've had people getting sick and vomiting since yesterday. We thought it was just another outbreak of Norwalk but then things started to change and this started happening.'
'I don't know numbers. I've just been going from patient to patient and I'm only up here. I hear there are more below in the crew decks. They have their own infirmary, sorry, med bay, I keep getting my land terms and naval terms mixed up. I mean I'm trying here. I'm really trying but there are just so many. I mean we've had to open a second treatment area in the Palladium Theatre. Passengers on the main floor and Crew in the balcony. We just can't be going door to door, sorry, I mean hatch to hatch, trying to find and treat people individually.'
'Most of the passengers after being looked at here go to the theatre but the worst people. Well, we've been using another place.'
DM:
Persuasion
"Ah, uh," Vic blurts into the receiver, "We've got a... uh, unruly drunk on Deck 10." After trying to listen to the guy's slurred speech for a second, he adds, "Tried to grab Emmy and bi- uh, attack me. Big guy, don't think I can take him myself, if anybody can back me up."
Perception
DM
Jose shakes off the shock of his encounter, though he is still haunted by the strange attack. keeping at a respectable speed, he jogs through the halls, looking for any of the ship's security guards, to inform the of the possible new development in the sick people's condition...
"Thank-you for helping to bring me up to date on the current situation. I will do what I can to help mitigate the chaos; we need to try and stop the entire ship getting infected. Is that one," he nods to the recently trussed-up victim, "a candidate for the 'other' place?"
The crew that you speak to look worried at your comment. They don't look surprised. The two crew suddenly turn and look behind them almost dropping the person they are carrying. They are looking towards the doors to the theatre.
It is all a jumble what the man is saying.
When you request back-up they respond with, 'Wait one. We're really busy and short handed down here. We could actually use you sending a couple of extra crew hands down to help in the theatre on deck 5.'
You can see a helicopter in the distance headed this way.
You spot what looks like one of the ship's nurses with a pair of crew helping her as attendants as they are carrying a struggling person. They're not headed towards the theatre.
'I'm afraid so. I'm hoping the doctor is correct and this is just some sort of chemical in the system and that with time it will pass.'
'Doctor Sheema has recommended that we try cryocare by using one of the larger fridges in the holds. The hope is to slow the body functions and give time for the natural processes to recover while avoiding damage to the important organs like the brain.'
'I've got to go down there and relive Ruby. You can come if you wish.'
Vic continues his defensive stance, waiting for the man to approach and scanning the crowd for the other hands on this deck.
"That strikes me as a little unorthodox, but I cannot fault her ingenuity; on a ship, you have to work with what is available. I will admit, I have heard interesting things about whole-body cryotherapy during cardiac procedures, so I suppose that it could work; are you using muscle relaxants to eliminate the shiver response?"
He nods at her comment about changing shift.
"As I have said, I will be happy to do what I can to help."
He then follows her to the freezer...
DM:
DM
Jose then tries to help, opening doors,etc... H then asks [b]'Where are you taking this person?'[b]
Petro comes running over with a few towels clutched in his hands and hands you one as he approaches thinking that you might want a towel after jogging ahead of the 'drunk'.
You are on the way down with the patient, the nurse, and another crew person helping to move the patient when a crew person waves to you and says. 'careful, the last woman I tried to help was crazy...she tried to bite me!'
The crew person has a name tag on a set of utilities uniform clothes. The name tag reads Jose Delgado. The utilities list the name of the ship and that the man's work assignment is maintenance.
'Where are you taking this person?
You don't see or hear what has the attention of the crew.
The crew though drop the patient they were carrying on a sheet and run towards you though they are spreading out looking like they plan to pass on either side of you.
Geoff
'Hola... Er, Hello. Something is going on that is not part of the Ship's planned Activities, I think. Where did you say you were taking this person? The Theater is the other way, and already filled with bod... with ill passengers.'
Jose then moves over to the nearest wall-phone, trying to get the Ship's operator to see about sending some security to his location. That crazed old woman had shaken him up quite a bit.
"This particular patient needs to be taken to a more secure location, as she is a danger to both herself, and those around her. As to exactly where that is, you would have to ask the Nurse."
As Jose explains his previous encounter, Geoffrey's expression becomes more and more serious. When Jose finishes, Geoffrey sighs.
"It sounds like things are starting to get a little serious out there. Let's get this patient to the other facility as soon as possible."
Vic takes the towel and stares dumbly at it for a second before sticking it halfway into a back pocket and saying, in a hushed tone, "Look, there's some trouble on Deck 5; we need to do something about the guy who attacked Emmy now," he says, gesturing towards the drunk.
DM:
You bring your patient down to the 'meat locker'. It isn't a freezer but a cool storage room for preserving normally vegetables and fruit that would spoil rapidly in the tropic heat without additional cooling. You can spot on the corners of the floor in spots where a stray bit of lettuce or cabbage leaf has fallen out of a cardboard box but not been swept up in the rush to convert the room.
Cots fill the space with people tied to the cots which rock with the patients delirium.
What is really spooky is the patients seem to be synchronizing their rocking creating a solid beat instead of many separate and un-synchronized motions.
The air is around five to ten Celsius or forty to fifty Fahrenheit. It is cool but above frost. Compared to being in the heat of the tropics, it is a slap in the face and like stepping into a surgery.
You figure that there is enough space in here to hold twenty to thirty people on the packed together cots.
'This unfortunately is our third one to be set up and we're already working on clearing space for a forth' says the nurse.
'It just gives me the creeps coming down here and seeing them like this.'
Another nurse that has been standing post nods her head and hurries off to take a brief break having been relieved from the bedlam.
The 10th deck is set up as a jogging track in a loop around the edge of the whole deck. You could follow the track and keep going in an endless loop if you wish.
The steward, Petro Manuel, according to his name tag on his uniform says, 'I suppose we could always lure him into a room or something and close it behind. Let him sleep it off?'
You watch the pair run towards the woman that is headed this way. The pair flatten the passenger as they brush past her sending her to the ground. Her dog, limping along, to defend his mistress, tries to chase the pair.
You can start to hear some sounds of fighting and screams of panic coming from the theatre behind you.
DM & Geoff
Jose approaches one of the tied-down people, saying to the attendant nurses [b]'Are they in Pain?' [/]
bending down a bit. he gets close enough to see if this one, too, was trying to bite him...
DM: