Pathologic - Trial By Fire

*Spoilers*

I was getting pretty rushed by the end of Day 4 there, trying to tie up a bunch of loose ends before the clock struck midnight. Regarding those "marauders" - the muggers and cat burglars - that set up shop in the original infected district after the infection moved on, I was charged with eliminating their leader/hideout to discourage their activities. Gryph, leader of the thieves (and the only person I've found who sells actual weapons - they're not cheap, though), told me the perpetrators were traitors to his band, and thus in taking them out I'd be doing him a favor (in the back of your mind, you should be thinking, alright, two rewards for one errand!). It was a tough fight; there were about six or eight knife-wielding muggers hiding out in a warehouse, and it was all I could do to take them down with my revolver and the few health supplies I had. Between the loot and the double rewards, it was certainly worth it, though.

On the infection front, I discovered that drugs had been handed out for testing to three of the female important townspersons - incidentally not any of my adherents, but I still thought it was too dangerous to have them get infected just to test the efficacy of certain drugs. So I rounded up the drugs they'd been given, and took it upon myself to be the guinea pig. (Don't ever say I don't make sacrifices for the people). I was locked inside an infected house for an hour, to see if I could survive with the drugs at my disposal. One class of pills boosts your immune system, which slows the advancement and reduces the effects of infection. Another class of pills - the antibiotics - can reduce the infection itself, and possibly cure it at early stages (though not later). There are often health risks in taking those pills, so death by overdose is indeed a very real concern.

And then there are analgesics, various "morphins", which are painkillers, and can help restore health. They tend to induce drowsiness (increase your exhaustion) though. I was disappointed at the minor restorative properties of this stuff, but then I discovered that when the label says "best used in combination with rest", it means that if you take some and then go to sleep, your health will restore gradually as you sleep. Very good to know. Especially as I've been looking for more health restoring items lately. The drunkards stumbling down the streets are good to trade with - they usually have bandages and tourniquets (considering how often they get into bar brawls, I suppose), and to them, bottles of water (to promote sobriety, of course) are currency (and bottles of water are pretty easy to acquire).

I also discovered that if you walk around with your weapon (say, a knife) brandished, the adults don't seem to mind, but the kids will run away from you in fear.

Prices have risen yet again. If I hadn't just gotten some nice monetary rewards, and picked up some goods by being forced to explore an infected house (as a failsafe, they provided me with another dose of the limited powder when I came out), I'd be pretty worried. I just hope the town continues to provide. It's on to Day 5, as the infection continues to spread.

Oh yeah, and we've somehow determined that the death rate for infecteds (without intervention of a cure) is 100%. How's that for a good motivator?