| Counter-Irritant (• • Life) Dead Magic 27 |
| In addition to mundane surgery, some healers in Somalia used a
counter-irritant, a heated nail or metal rod. The rod was heated
then applied to an injury. Obviously, such a practice cauterized the
wound. Medicine men believed that the scream of the patient also
allowed the pain to escape from the body, and that the patient's recovery
subsequently quickened with less chance of infection. System: The mage applies a cauterizing instrument to a wound, (Hopefully, the character has at least rudimentary medical knowledge; cauterizing a wound improperly can lead to shock or even death.) The subject must be allowed to scream -- with that scream comes out all of the pain from the injury. A full turn after the Effect is completed, the subject no longer suffers penalties from that particular wound for the duration of the Effect. The caster can also choose to use some of the successes to speed the healing of the wound - each success cuts mundane healing time into a fraction: with two successes for healing speed, the subject heals in half the normal time; with three successes, a third of the normal time and so on. Since most people believe in the efficiency of cauterization and sterilization, this Effect is usually coincidental. |