The Monster's hand

I decided the other day to pay a quick visit to my friend Dreddpiratebob Streeter's place over in Port Babbage. On the way back to see if he had any new items in his shop, I was greeted by a ghastly sight, and smell. There, sitting in the front window of Stanley's Emporium, was the severed hand of some rather large creature. The sickly sweet smell and massing pool of blood on the floor led me in for a closer inspection. The green, scaly flesh and protruding bone are enough to take the faint of heart and queasy of stomach off their feet. Like an airship crash though, one just cannot look away. As I bent in for a closer inspection, I noticed that the thing isn't just giving off a smell, but is actually releasing a small escape of vapor. In fact, I accidentally breathed some of it in.

I am, or rather was, the chief medical officer aboard an air-going vessel, and have seen far worse in way of human injury. Yet, I had to choke back a fresh rise of bile. I was so taken aback by the thing that I forgot to drop by Dreddpiratebob's place and just went back to my own place. As if that wasn't enough, I have now developed the same horrible cough that so many other citizens of New Babbage seem to be popping up with. I am trying in earnest now to combat this bit of nastiness. After much medical and alchemical testing, I cannot find any conclusive evidence as to the origin of the sickness. There is much rumor that the severed hand is somehow the cause, but I can neither confirm or deny that.

(photo credit: Django Yifu and Dreddpiratebob Streeter)