Arrow wounds/treatments

[Kai]

I had to look to find this option-

I have a story created just for fun and found this place doing research. Let me explain a little bit of the story/world.

There are a lot of different creatures. There are four kingdoms. Ice, Flame, Forest and Spirit- each pertaining to their name.

Elementals- people born that represent an element. So an Ice elemental would have cooler skin, white/blue hair, and eyes. They would control ice and heat would make them weaker.
Kitsune- They can have up to 9 tails but most females cap out at 2/3 and most males are 3/4. I wanted to avoid the -god complex’ kitsunes are given. They have red eyes, can have a human, half-human, and they have a fox form. Their forms can change in size, willingly or not.
Elves- Probably the more typical ones. Good warrior, the ears, excellent healers.
Angels/demons- Less seen but are referenced
Warlocks/Witches/Potions masters- Basic magic people, they make enchantments, help heal, there are a few references to curses

It is set in a mid-evil world, but there are some modifications. Running water- by a spell. But there are royal families.

So the Prince of the Ice Kingdom is an Ice elemental. He has a kind of journey and meets a kitsune. Kitsunes are still seen as demons and vile creatures. But this kitsune is different. They go through this whole story and learn about her, the kitsune’s, past.

The Prince gets ambushed and she shows up. I wanted her to get hit with an arrow. The Prince and this kitsune recently fought and weren’t really on the best of terms. But they like each other. I made a crystal that I called ‘Black Quartz’ and it weakens kitsunes. This is more my question(s)

Where would be a good place to have her get hit, not killing her, but so the arrow gets ‘stuck’?
How would the arrow be removed and how fast would it be removed?
On the basis of magic, would it make sense that it doesn’t work?
How long would a recovery take?

 

[pmmg]

Truth is anywhere cause she will have a super special power called plot armor. But….

arms, shoulder, legs, sides and abdomen can all be hit and the reader would accept it. How about her tail?

Generally an arrow is pushed through, and head removed and the shaft pulled out as arrows are usually barbed. But it could be cut out.

Magic be used to make anything work or not. A piece of the arrow can remain to continue to be a problem. Sure.

Recovery has a lot to do with the wound. Just had cancer surgery with ideal conditions, a deep belly wound took me two months. But i was back to normal activity in about two weeks. Moving around after one. Moving around slowly on first day.

 

[Kai]

I somewhat made it so her ears and aren’t out, due to her past mostly.

Do you have any advice on how the bow and arrow would look or the type? I mostly just say a bow and arrow are used and use details on how it looks similar to just a design.

I’m not quite sure how to add the aspect of the kitsune’s Black Quartz in either. It’s essentially like if Superman encountered/was wounded with Kryptonite in a way.

 

[pmmg]

Anyone who would have a black quartz arrow would most likely have it because they were expecting to encounter one who would be affected by it. If there was reason for such huntsmen, then these arrows would not be entirely uncommon.

There are many types of arrows, armor piercing, broadhead, forked.... each with a different purpose. It being quartz, it would more likely break and leave broken bits behind. If the intention was to wound, it may even be designed to break apart on impact.

You have answer who is hunting her, and what type of tools they might have. A soldier as part of an arrow troop might more likely have long bows than short, and a traveler might more likely have a short one. Know the scene, and the characters involved, and some of the details about items almost suggest themselves.

 

[Kai]

Oh, yeah, that makes sense!

So it’s not someone hunting the kitsune so much as a troop trying to capture the Prince. Though I guess it could be something that triggered them to use that specific arrow-

So a regular solder-type warrior would have a low bow? I’ll definitely try using the idea that the arrowhead breaks apart. How would that effect the wound?

 

[pmmg]

Well. There are a lot of details you need to answer. They can have any bow, but if they are a troop there might be uniformity between the troops. Meaning, he might have a short bow if his troop has short bows. Why do they have them? What is the military tactic it affords them.

if the were there expecting to fight two tailed demons they might have arrows to hurt em bad. If an arrow was to break or shatter it would be much harder to remove and cause wounds that spread as opposed to being shot through.

there may be a science to it, but this is an art form. Give it some thought and make it up. You are really just aiming for plausible.

 

[Kai]

It might make more sense knowing how the story got to that point-

They were essentially trying to hit the Prince but her ears and tails ended up coming out. So they would have shot the Black Quartz at her in reaction perhaps?

 

[Rosemary Tea]

To have her injured but not fatally, hit her in a limb. In the abdomen, it could easily penetrate a vital organ, and it would be much harder to remove without turning the injury fatal. In the shoulder or buttock is also a possibility: in the shoulder, it could just glance off the bone, which might make for some mobility problems, at least temporarily, but it wouldn't be fatal. Buttocks are all fat and soft tissue (assuming a kitsune's are the same as a human's), so injuries there cannot be fatal (unless, of course, they get infected).

To remove the arrow... for this, I'm calling on the first aid training I've had (I've gone all the way to WFR, stands for wilderness first responder). The arrow would be an impaled object. In modern first aid, the usual protocol for impaled objects is not to remove them, wait for the doctor do it. Even paramedics will just stabilize the object, with bandages, rather than attempt to remove it.

But in a wilderness setting (defined as more than an hour from the nearest doctor or hospital), removing an impaled object is part of first aid protocol, if it can be done without putting the patient in greater danger. If the impalement is in a limb, it can. In a shoulder or buttock, likewise. Your setting would be equivalent to a wilderness setting, for this purpose, so let's say the Prince is the first aid provider, and he knows what he's doing. Maybe he's taken an arrow out of someone before. Maybe he hasn't but he's been taught how to do it, just in case he ever needs to.

So, here's how to do it: first, have clean bandages ready. Be prepared to cover the wound and apply pressure as soon as the arrow comes out, because it will bleed. Then, gently pull it out--take your time, don't yank it!--at the same angle at which it went in. Doing it that way minimizes the likelihood of making the wound bigger.

Actually pulling the arrow out should only take a few minutes. But then stopping the bleeding would require at least several more minutes of direct pressure. And then the wound will need to be dressed, and, when it's no longer bleeding much, cleaned. If it's in an arm or shoulder, that arm should be placed in a sling--you want to minimize movement on the injured side. If it's in a leg, perhaps a splint, like would be used for a fracture or sprain, though the splint should be tied above and below--not on top of!--the arrow wound. If it's in her tail, then you'd probably want to splint the tail.

So the whole treatment will probably take somewhere between 15 and 30-40 minutes, initially. And then the wound will need to be rechecked, cleaned, and the dressings changed, several times a day until it's closed up.

If they have medicines available, a salve to help the wound heal and prevent infection would be useful, and perhaps something taken internally to prevent infection. And something to relieve pain, if they can get it.

For some added realism, here's an account of a fifteenth century surgeon removing an arrow from a cheek, including the follow up treatment he gave: https://www.quora.com/How-would-a-medieval-renaissance-doctor-treat-an-arrow-wound

 

[Prince of Spires]

To know where you can hit her it might be easier to turn the question around and think of where hitting her would kill or permanently disable her. People die from wounds (directly) for a very limited set of reasons. They are: bloodloss or damage to vital organs.

Bloodloss occurs when you hit a major artery. Look up where they are (or think of where they are in your Kitsune). In general: neck, armpits, groin area. If you hit one of those then the target is dead in half a minute or so. Elsewhere they tend to be deeper, though they can still be hit of course if the arrow penetrates deeply enough. Think chest area around the heart, abdomen or upper legs.

As for vital organs, they're easy. Brain (always wear a helmet when going into battle...), heart and lungs, abdomen. Hit someone's liver and they also bleed out fast for instance.

As long as you stay away from those areas you should be fine. Your main consideration would then be how badly affected do you want your Kitsune to be. Hit someone in the ass or shoulderblade (not hard enough to shatter the bone), then you can probably get the arrow out without too much hindrance later. Hit a leg and the wound might keep you from walking for days and hinder your movement even longer. Hit an arm and you'll probably not swing a sword for some time. Hit someone's spine and they might never walk again.

 

[Kai]

All of that is very helpful! I got past the part where the actual arrow was shot. I did put it in her shoulder since it seems like the most plausible place for a wound, but not making it debilitating.

With the idea of a splint, how would that be done? They aren’t directly

 

[Kai]

Opps-

They aren’t directly next to the campsite, but someone did notice the fight and came over. He’s the one I was going to have treat the actual wound. He’s a kitsune as well and somewhat has medical experience, but not too much. Would it really make sense for a potions master to be called on? They’re basically a wizard but they make potions and enchant items.

I wanted to have a bit of the idea that the others trying to help don’t really know 100% of what they need to do.

 

[Rosemary Tea]

A splint requires something hard and straight, ie a stick, to tie the limb to and cloth to tie it with, and padding: it's not comfortable to have a hard stick right next to your arm or leg, so you need something to cushion it. Cloth, lots of it. They'll also need clean cloth to wash and dress the wound. If nothing else, they could tear up a shirt or something and put it in boiling water to sterilize it. If they have a way to boil water, of course.

However, if the wound is in the shoulder, a splint wouldn't make sense. Once it's treated and dressed, what they'd do is put her arm in a sling. If the wound is in her left shoulder, they'd sling her left arm; if it's in her right shoulder, they'd sling her right. For that, you just need cloth: a triangular bandage or an improvised one. For extra immobilizing, a long piece of cloth tied over the sling and across the chest would help hold it in place.

See this video tutorial on how to make an arm sling:

Triangular bandages are something an advanced first aid kit would have, but they can also be improvised. Your characters could make one out of a shirt.

Having the potions master do it would only make sense if he knows how to give first aid. Treating a wound is a physical act, it's not potion brewing. I'm more qualified to make an arm sling than a pharmacist is, because I've had direct training in it, but the pharmacist is considered a medical professional, while I am not.

If the potions master's medical expertise is limited to potion making, he could be asked to make a potion to help the wound heal cleanly. That would be the anti-infection medicine.

 

[skip.knox]

>It is set in a mid-evil world, but there are some modifications.
Just to save you some sniping from other historians (like me) ... it ain't mid-evil. It's medieval. Medium aevum (middle age), if you want the Latin, which you probably don't. <g> So, it has to be medi because of the source and, for the same reason, it can't be evil because that comes from a different root.

It's funny, but I had to slow down and tell my fingers to type m-i-d because they just naturally go m-e-d...

Also, now I think on it, a mid-evil world could be interesting, at least as a bit of comedy. It's not high evil and it's not low evil, it's just mid-evil. <g>

 

[Kai]

>It is set in a mid-evil world, but there are some modifications.
Just to save you some sniping from other historians (like me) ... it ain't mid-evil. It's medieval. Medium aevum (middle age), if you want the Latin, which you probably don't. <g> So, it has to be medi because of the source and, for the same reason, it can't be evil because that comes from a different root.

It's funny, but I had to slow down and tell my fingers to type m-i-d because they just naturally go m-e-d...

Also, now I think on it, a mid-evil world could be interesting, at least as a bit of comedy. It's not high evil and it's not low evil, it's just mid-evil. <g>

I can never remember how to spell it so I just go with what it sounds like-

 

[skip.knox]

>I can never remember how to spell it so I just go with what it sounds like-
No problem, Kei. Lots of peepel rite fonetikly.

But plenty of people will also pounce on a misspelling like that and not read a page further. Hence my advice.