Given that Dr. Kovas rarely compliments anyone, he has to like you a lot. You decide it might be best to take advantage of that fact. After his class you approach him about your situation, but he doesn't seem very sympathetic.



"Yes, yes, I'm sure your problems are very important to you, but my question is why are you telling me?"

"Well that's what I was getting at, I wanted to know if there was something I could do to help you out. Some way of maybe earning more money…"

"Money? Hah! What do you think this is a factory employment line? If you want to help me, you shouldn't be doing it for cash m'boy. You should be doing it for the love of science!"



He starts to make his way out of the classroom, but you follow.



"Dr. Kovas, I'd love to help for the love of science, but I'm not exactly in a position to do so! I mean I've got so many expenses and responsibilities and…"

"Stop right there m'boy. Again you're telling me these things as if I can do something about them…or that I WANT to do something about them."

"(sputter)…because I thought that given how much you praise my work in class you'd want to help out a potential fellow future doctor." You say getting exasperated.

"YOU? A fellow doctor? Ha ha ha ha! Granted you may have the ability to be a doctor one day, but if you think you'd ever approach someone of my caliber, I've sorely underestimated your capacity for logical thinking." Dr. Kovas laughs.



At this point you're angry, you came to get help, not be insulted by this asshole. You're hesitant to outright insult him back though since you still need to finish his class, so you just decide to leave.



"Alright fine, don't help me then. I just thought you were different from the other rich elitist bastards that look their noses down at me just because of my working class background. I'll just leave…"

"Wait, wait, you think I'm looking down on you because of your humble roots? My, my someone has an inferiority complex. M'boy I'm looking down on you because you're whining about your problems to me. You have much potential and despite your pathetic tales of woe it is obvious that you've overcome much and are determined in your goals to become a doctor. I think however you could do something more, but unless you're willing to help me for the love of science, not because of money, or what I might be able to do for you then I think you will languish in mediocrity like most that pass through my class."



At this point you don't know what the hell kind of head game Dr. Kovas is playing with you, but if there is some sort of possibility that he might help you, then you might need to play along.



"I don't believe you. Or rather I don't believe you'll help me for the right reasons. You're going to help, because you still believe that I'm going to help you."

"Yes." You blurt out.

"Heh, well at least you're honest now. All right I'm going to roll the dice with you and allow you to help me on a project I've been working on. I'll even assure you that you will profit from this because I know you seem to be concerned about such things."

""I'm really not, I just need extra money to…"

"Don't interrupt!" Dr. Kovas snaps. "As I was saying, you will profit from this, but it is my hope that you will come to do this for science more than anything. Because if you aren't then you're in the wrong field."

"I thought the field of medicine was primarily to help the sick." You say.

"Bah! Helping people? Nonsense! Most so called doctors aren't in it to help people, they're in it for the money! They're all a bunch of soulless greed automatons that have no real passion for the mysteries of the human body and all this field has to offer!"



Dr. Kovas has a reputation for misanthropy and cynicism, but you weren't aware how much until just now, still he says he's willing to help you and that's good enough for you.



"Now then, if you are going to help me, you need to meet me at my lab tonight and whatever you do, don't tell anyone about it. When you get inside you are NOT to discuss what you see with anyone, do you understand?"

"Um, what exactly are we going to be doing?" you ask a little concerned.

"You'll see soon enough, but it's a secret project that will change the way modern medicine works! I can't afford to have anyone stealing my ideas! So I need you to be all the way in on this! If you're going to hesitate, then get out of my sight right now."

"Okay, okay, I'll help you."

"Good. See you tonight." Dr. Kovas says and walks away.



You put in some time at the inn, but later leave Wendy in charge and tell her to close it down if you aren't back by closing time. You remind Alan to lock everything up. Wendy of course isn't very pleased with this idea and reminds you once again of how she's overworked. You just apologize and leave.



When you get to Dr. Kovas' lab he doesn't immediately open the door, and you have to wait about five minutes before he comes out to scold you that you're five minutes late! You don't argue though, you just enter only for Dr. Kovas to immediately ask you a disturbing question.



"Can you kill a man?"

"WHAT?!"

"Or woman, in fact a woman might be better. Yes, I need you to kill a woman."



You're literally speechless for a few moments before sputtering your protests.



"Dr. Kovas, I didn't sign up to kill people!"

"Yes you did, the moment you said you'd help me. (Sigh) Look, progress in medical science has always required sacrifices. Sometimes that sacrifice has involved the lives of others. What is one life compared to the wonders that scientific break through can do?"



Dr. Kovas isn't just misanthropic, he's sociopathic and you're out of here.



"I'm not a killer and I'm not capable of this. So I'm just going to leave. You needn't worry I won't tell anyone."

"Sorry son, I can't take that chance, nighty night!"



Dr Kovas suddenly produces a needle filled with something and injects you with it. You push him away and try the door handle only to find it locked. You don't struggle with it for long though before you pass out.



When you wake up you're strapped to a table, with Dr. Kovas shaking his head at you.



"What am I going to do with you? I placed what little faith I have in humanity in you and this is how you act? It's my own fault I suppose."



You try to talk, but most of your body is still paralyzed.



"Now then, I'm going to give you ONE last chance because I still see potential in you. After this wears off I want you to go out and get a girl. I don't care how, just do it and bring her here. You don't even need to kill her, just bring her here and I'll do the deed. Do you think you can handle that?"



You still can't talk, but you know damn well if you don't agree he's certainly going to kill you, so you strain yourself to nod "yes".



"Good, I'll release you. Oh and just to let you know, you only have until dawn. I've injected you with a toxin to ensure you don't go running off or something silly like that. Don't bother with trying to get an antidote either, it's a special toxic mix that only I have the cure to."



You get up, very wobbly and still a little dizzy. By the time you start regaining all your faculties Dr. Kovas has shoved you out his lab door and locked it.



You feel like you're living a nightmare, but you don't have much of a choice, you need to bring a woman back to the lab before dawn or you're going to die. This isn't going to be easy not just due to the immorality of the situation, but also because you haven't exactly been a ladies man. What with all the studying and work at the inn, you don't have much of a social life.



You figure your best bet might be to go to one of the many college parties near campus and hope to get a drunk girl, though you could just go get a regular whore.

You go to the Klyton Militia

You won't do it, you won't kill anyone and you're not going to bring someone to Dr. Kovas for him to murder either. Maybe you'll die, but you're going to make sure Kovas pays as well.



You head to the nearest Klyton militia station and tell them everything. The sergeant in charge asks if you've been to the hospital yet to which you say no. He says they need to get you there immediately and if you do indeed have some sort of poison in your system they'll obviously be able to arrest Dr. Kovas with no problems.



You're rushed to the hospital and thanks to the militia you're seen to immediately. The physicians run all sorts of tests on you. They don't find anything, but given the situation they put you on observation. The militia still goes to check out Dr. Kovas since there are several doctors they speak with at the hospital who don't particularly like him and don't put it past him to pull something like this.



You wait in your bed, getting more nervous by the hour. You don't feel sick at all, maybe he was bluffing? You sure hope so. In any case, you realize that maybe you need to give up on the whole medical profession thing. You tried your best, but it seems that events have constantly conspired against you. You've even broken laws of your own to achieve your goals and all you've managed to succeed in is alienating your mom, earning the loathing of your staff and getting yourself poisoned.



After thinking about this for a while, you begin to get sleepy. It isn't dawn yet, but you can't be sure if it isn't the poison or not, of course it could just be the stress of the night finally getting to you. In any case you close your eyes to darkness.



When you wake up you're surprised to see your mom sitting there.



"Oh by the gods, thanks to them you're alive!"

"Mom? How the? How'd you get here so fast? How did you find out?"

"Son, I think the first thing you should know is that you've been in a coma for about a month!"

"Whaaaa…"



You mother explains everything that she knows that has happened. You did have a deadly toxin in your body, but fortunately the hospital was able to keep you alive until the militia found the antidote in Kovas' lab. Dr. Kovas himself was killed while resisting arrest.



They injected the antidote into your unconscious body, but they assume it didn't work like it should have due to the toxin already running through your body and in the process of shutting everything down.



When the militia informed Wendy of your condition, she immediately contacted your mother by messenger. Being your only immediate family, she also regained possession of the inn while you were incapacitated and possibly on your deathbed. As a result she sold it to help pay for your medical treatment and she's been by your side ever since.



You can't believe that your mom has helped you like this after how you parted a year ago. Needless to say you and her make up in an emotional way.



You spend another week in the hospital still getting tested by doctors. They tell you you'll be able to go home, but your body has been severely weakened by the toxin and how it is unlikely that you'll ever be fully healthy again.



No more inn and no more college and somehow it all just seems like a great relief to you. Your mother takes you to her home in Teckleville, you have no idea what you're going to do there, but for a while you just take it easy.



Just like the doctors said, you don't make a complete recovery. You feel tired all the time and sometimes you don't feel well at all. You mother and your aunt Enora make sure to look after you, but as the months go on you begin to get frustrated and depressed.



You try to occupy your time with hobbies, but nothing really works. You almost consider suicide, but that would probably devastate your mom more than anything, so you take the same determined mindset that you once had for college and place it towards finding a job you'll be able to handle. Eventually you succeed and get a position at the small library in town where your extensive knowledge on the sciences comes in quite handy and greatly appreciated.



The rest of your life is fairly mundane, perhaps even a little boring, but you do come to appreciate the life you managed to carve out in light of everything that happened to you.