Over time more and more support arrived to reinforce the advance group near the edge of the unnaturally formed crater. After the hastily built lean-to was upgraded to an enclosed tent as previously instructed more fabric structures began erecting in the immediate area. While many assumed the Cloudcrest forces would also have a field hospital back in Coppershear there was definitely no harm in having too many, especially when dealing with a swarm. It was sometime in early afternoon when Rainelle weakly stumbled out of the boy's tent, a hand absently searching for something sturdy while the other cupped her eyes and part of her forehead. Thankfully, before she tripped over her own feet someone noticed and quickly supported her body, leading her over to a small half circle of open-sided tents with food and drink. After helping her sit, and also getting her a cup of cooled water, the other returned to their duties with a smile as Rainelle thanked her.

The exhausted woman leaned forward with a groan and tried to stop the world from spinning by tightly closing her eyes. While trying to mentally regain her composure she took a shaky sip of the water before the cool freshness washing over her tongue caused her to suddenly start gulping it down greedily. She immediately began to feel better and managed to refill the cup only to drain its contents almost immediately. Filling it a third time she chuckled softly to herself while retaking her seat.

"Dehydration..." She said softly to herself, the irony not lost on her.

Here she was, an afflicted spending hours treating a patient with what would easily be considered beyond severe injuries and she was eventually done in by dehydration, one of the most fundamental limitations of mortals. Regardless, she would have required a break within the coming hour anyway, so now she could handle two birds with one stone. Leaning back in the chair she took another sip from her cup before turning her gaze toward the rumbling explosions in the distance.

She watched in silence for several minutes, noting that the volleys were less frequent then at first, and it looked like there were three types of canisters being hurled over the plateau's edge now, instead of just one. It made sense as sooner her later their Nel' Ina reserves, a nice way of saying the Afflicted used to fuel the canister had a limited supply, would start dwindling and then they would switch to flaming tar and Firestone. She remembered that shortly after receiving the emergency message from Cloudshear she had been listening in on one of the hastily held war meetings from the sidelines and had asked a passing staff member why they didn't start using all three from the beginning.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"Monsters, being twisted by Nel' Ina crave it as a critical sustenance. In addition to the explosion upon impact there is also a good amount of Nel' Ina splashed onto nearby monsters causing them to become targets themselves. It helps fuel targeted feeding frenzies which assists in mitigating the monsters turning their attention on our forces. Once enough frenzies are occurring we can switch to more traditional ordnance."

At the time she had just been curious due to her position as a healer since it never hurt to know more about the objects that hurt others. As such she never considered that the information would come back to support her inquisitive nature so quickly, though the fact she found herself knowing the reason behind the change in tactics on the battlefield did make her a bit proud of herself. Closing her eyes a moment or so later she shifted her thoughts to the issue currently weighing down against her shoulders and trying to smother her heart.

"What do I do about that arm?" She said out loud to no one in particular.

She knew that some monster meat could be consumed with little problem, the presence of Nel' Ina and its Affliction didn't automatically make it unsafe to eat. Really the only limitation being if the monster itself was poisonous or inedible in general. The fact that you could also consume a dead monster's Nel' Ina core was also widely known, though so was the high risk of Nel' Ina poisoning from doing so. Using monster parts, raw or refined, as armor and weapons had become common in the last few decades and she hadn't come across any records of adverse reactions to the exposure. Some people with more... eclectic design tastes even made furniture from monster skeletons and shells.

She went to take another sip of water only to find it empty. She had been thinking longer than she realized and had absently been drinking all the time. Looking down into the empty cup for a second she turned and started to refill it. Settling back down she turned her gaze to the side to look upon the boy's tent and took a deep breath before continuing her silent, internal, debate.

If the monster part had simply punctured his arm, or leg, she could simply remove it and it wouldn't be a problem. Even if the resulting damage was so severe the arm or leg had to be removed, the decision to do so would be clear. This, though, was completely different as there wasn't necessarily a wound to fix, or a problem to solve. One part of her felt repulsed at the idea of a monster part being fused to a mortal in such a way, while another part desperately didn't want to do more harm than good to the boy by removing a perfectly safe, though arguably far from functional, appendage.

Rainelle continued to do battle with the situation for almost another hour before finally standing with a groaning sigh slipping from her chest and then mouth. Filling, and then draining, her cup one last time she placed it firmly back onto the table and began to make her way back to the tent with a look of determination firmly on her normally soft features. She had made her decision, for better or for worse, and would accept any consequences from it. She was a healer after all.