Things get out of hand for the hand

[Originally written July 7 2020]

Things began simply enough. After losing Cathy, I had to move on to the next lowest life force on the list and see if I could get Carlos to eat. Many of the Norns, including Carlos, had migrated to the jungle, so the first task of the day was to try to get them to Come Hand. To my absolute shock, they all readily obeyed with minimal distractions and I was soon leading a large gaggle of creatures back into the garden. The fact that I was shocked about this says nothing good about my creatures.

I lured everyone into the garden and incubator areas and set about trying to get Carlos to eat. Greg crouched in the corner and watched the proceedings until a crowd of Norns moved in, whereupon he moved out into the garden and fell asleep standing up, which I thought was amusing. Everything appeared to be going pretty well so far.

Then I noticed that Bill had gotten sick. I hoped he’d just eaten a weed, but unfortunately, he had really come down with something. And he was right in the middle of a crowd. My heart sank when I heard him cough, and sure enough, he had Histamine B in his system, along with Antigen 2 and an Unknown Toxin.

Bill’s life force dropped like a stone and just like last time, he ignored my pleas for him to eat. I pretty well accepted I was going to lose him, but I was still watching the Observation Kit with bated breath – Bill was a goner at this point, but what about the others? He was contagious and standing in a crowd. Angela and Carlos also had relatively low life forces, and if they caught what Bill had, they’d likely be done for as well. 

Sadly, Bill passed away from the illness in the garden, but it almost came as a relief – nobody else had been infected, as far as I could see. Still, just to be sure, I hit the Grendel Button and gave Greg a thorough check-up. I’m always afraid he’ll come down with something without my knowledge, since the Observation Kit doesn’t track him and won’t alert me to his sickness. Thankfully, Greg was in perfect health, so I returned to my original task of convincing Carlos to eat. Unfortunately, witnessing his father’s death seemed to have taken a heavy toll on him, as he just stood there and stared at the body.

Albia wasn’t going to give me a break, though. A new gravestone icon appeared in the Observation Kit; Erika’s life force plummeted suddenly to 14%, and I rushed to see what had happened. I found her next to the Deathcap, and my first instinct was to hit the lift button to pull her out of the cavern. 

I didn’t process at the time whether the mushroom had been touched, I just knew I had to get her away from it immediately and get some food into her system before her life force dropped any farther. Only once she was out of the cave did I confirm that she had, in fact, eaten the poisonous fungus. Thankfully, Erika is better than some norns about eating when told, and I was able to get a carrot or two into her. Her life force rose and stabilized, and I was able to move on to the next crisis – Derek was marked as sick!

Thankfully, he’d just eaten a minor weed. Crisis averted.

Once again I returned to Carlos, who was still staring at Bill. Erika followed me back to the garden and ate a few things, bringing her back up to health. At least she’s a good eater. Carlos, on the other hand, seems to have a problem picking food up. I can sometimes get him to look at the food, but he just moves like he’s trying to interact without actually picking up the carrot. I haven’t given up on him, but other things needed my attention – like Beth, who had gotten pregnant.

I found her on the island, waiting for Derek to wake from his nap. The island isn’t the best place for Norns to live so I tried to lead them back away but I couldn’t get them both on the submarine. So Beth made that crossing alone, while I finally got Derek to follow me, so I led him up to the surface to cross via boat. 

Beth decided to take a nap of her own once she reached the other side, which gave me time to get Derek over the sea and down the lift to join her. Once she woke up I was able to lead them both along to the temple, before Beth abruptly turned around and went back into the jungle, having decided it was time to lay her egg and that this was where she wanted to do it. Derek, for his part, stayed by her side the whole time. This was not the only egg to add to the growing collection either, as Erika was also pregnant. Hopefully she won’t pass along her taste for Deathcap.