7.12 (ret con)

  Nasch was unconscious by the time Krina returned to him. Nerith was already there. He'd bandaged his own wounds – nasty gashes in the upper arm and calf – and had Nasch's armor off. The older man's side was a mass of blood, mostly dry. Pieces of ribs broke through the skin. His shoulder was crushed also. 

  Ket, being a druid, was the tacit doctor. Medicine is a rudimentary thing among the goblins, but at least they did not suffer the overabundance of theory a society might develop [bloodletting, for example]. His triage categorized the wounded into those who can walk and those who would probably die. Nasch belonged to the latter. Still, he regained consciousness during the first night after the Battle of Tall Field (that's the name for chp 7.10-11. Like most such names, it developed after the fact). 
 “...Ket...” 
 “Shh. Good to see you awake.” 
 Krina added “You shouldn't talk.”
 Nasch tried to sit up. She put her hand gently on his good shoulder. He flinched as though it hurt. “You shouldn't try to move either.”
 “...What...”
 “What should you do? Be still, my friend. Be of quiet spirit, let your body heal.” Ket's medical advice was sound, if frustrating.
 “I call it curing by boredom.” Krina forced a chuckle. “It must be this druid's panacea.” 
 Nasch chuckled too, but immediately coughed up blood. His friends carefully rolled him over. He weakly spat the blood on the dirt floor of the cramped officer's tent. When he laid back down, they expected him to rest, but Nasch beckoned them near. In a slow whisper, he asked Ket, “What will you do now?”
 “I'll tend to you and the others, of course,” Ket said.
 “You can't stay here forever, though.” Krina said, “Morketal condemned you already, and Crelocten [the king of Bharrak] is going along with them.”  
 Nasch nodded to indicate that's what he meant. “Use me.”
 Nasch's statement confused the others for a moment. “I don't think you're quite the corpse they're looking for. And if I have any say, you're not done with your body yet.”
 Nasch gently waggled his head to indicate they had the wrong idea. “You be me... I'll...”
 Krina put it together first. “Nasch's never been to Bharrak, you know. If you go in, saying you're Nasch, who's to know?”
 “Jinkash, for one,” Ket said. 
 “So we'll keep you from meeting the Druid. That was kinda the plan anyway. Anyone else?”
 “I did meet Crelocten, three years ago, when I transferred. He was just a councilman, then.”
 “Ok, him too.”
 “Krina, what's the point? Nasch?”
 Ket turned to Nasch, but he had fallen asleep. By the next morning, Nasch had fallen into a fever. By the time they reached Fuspmar, his illness was very severe. Ket could do nothing more to help him; no one could. Well, almost no one. Orcs have a natural talent for living animals. Their magic was very powerful, but dangerous and unstable. While it was remotely possible for an orc to heal injures and illnesses like Nasch's, orcs aren't known for their philanthropic tendencies. Ket was determined even so. Rumor had it an orc was in Bharrak, attempting to sell his mercenary services to Crelocten. So they went.
 
 A merchant named Kelph, who insisted on being called Corsair Kelph Tarouph regularly, agreed to bring them along. Krina, Ket and Nerith were to serve as crew. Ket's name was recorded as “Nasch” on the merchant's ledger, however. Nasch was not listed at all.

 Kelph been summoned by the king. He talked of nothing else for three harrowing days on the overflowing river. He would be offered marriage into a powerful family. Position to recognize his wealth. Nasch's fever worsened on the journey. He never fully regained consciousness, only passing from sleep to delirium and back. The skin scabbed over the holes punctured by ribs. Ket did his best to keep it clear, but the wound turned foul. Gangrene in a limb might be saved with amputation, but an injury in the torso immediately entered the blood. It was a poison for which they knew no cure.