Carrion Shakes
Avoid the lizards when they're out n' about. Gettin' bit means yer death, 'less yuh got some way t' a doc.
~common Grey and Stone Streets advice
The Carrion Lizards
The carrion lizards of the Pit are known for their deadly bites and scratches. Most residents of the Grey and Stone Streets have no contact with them except for two instances; they're left in the Pit because their family can no longer take care of them, or the carrion lizards, having escaped their enclosure, take exception to someone, and attack. Once bitten or scratched, the victim falls ill within a day, and without medical attention, will succumb within two to three days.
Dentherion scientists supply the Jilvayna palace with the chemical solution that kills corpse-born diseases in the enclosure. They scoff at the thought the lizards have any sort of deadly bite or scratch. Their solution should take care of any bacteria that would lead to infection and death, but doctors working in the Grey and Stone Streets know that is not the case.
The Pit is the enclosure in the Stone Streets into which all Jiy residents, by law, must throw their dead. Once an elegant, royalty-supported temple, the place is now home to corpses and the carrion lizards that eat them.
The Shakes
When an unlucky individual gets bitten or scratched by a carrion lizard, unless they immediately get medical help, they will begin to shake within a couple of hours. The shakes progress in severity and are accompanied by chills and hot flashes. The tongue takes on a blackish hue, and hair falls out in clumps. By the end of the first day, the victim is usually unable to walk, and three red rings have developed around the bite or scratch.
Once a day has passed without help, the victim is on a death-watch. The red rings expand into red patches that migrate from the bite or scratch up the appendage, and once the patches reach the chest, the shakes disappear and the victim falls comatose. An uneven heart rhythm develops, and within two days, the heart stops and they die.
Jilvanya doctors developed an injection that combats the nastiness of the bite, but the ingredients are expensive and not everyone can afford to purchase it. The Meint religion provides the shot for free at their Grey Streets clinic, but since it is hidden from city officials, oftentimes the afflicted do not know where the clinic is, or have a way to get to the medical facilities if they are unable to walk there themselves.
Without the shot, treatment comes down to amputation. If done quickly enough, the victim will have the shakes for a week and live. If not, they will succumb as if they had left the bite or scratch take its course.
Unless fresh, carrion lizards avoid bodies that perished from their bites or scratches. Grey and Stone Street residents think this is due to the smell that rises from them. It is a bitter, ashy charnal house smell, combined with the sour stench of a hot springs.
Because vassal states don't have the equipment to study dieseases, doctors must guess what kind of bacteria infects the bites and scratches. A few believe the carrion lizards have their own venom, and that, not a disease, is the cause of death.
Helpful others, if they have open wounds like a cut, can acquire the disease from the sick individual. They will come down with the shakes, but there will only be one ring around the infection site, and they will recover in one to two weeks.
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