Hi, all! A minor detail that for some reason, has me stumped... Soldiers dump something on my MC in a large enough quantity to soak her. It proves sticky enough for feathers to catch on her clothes and skin (which can be removed but aren't easily shaken off). They weren't attempting to kill her and although it's a 'tarred and feathered' moment in essence, I'm hesitant to be so literal. I considered sugar water and briefly researched 'mucilage' (naturally occurring sticky substance similar to tree sap) but the volume makes it feel a little unrealistic. Q: What, found reasonably within an army campsite in the middle of a forest in a medieval(ish) time period, could the soldiers drench her with? Any ideas welcome! Thanks x Rach
Jam. By the bucketful. Damn it's sticky. Sorry, that wasn't a plausible suggestion. Honey? That's not any better. Do you write fantasy? Maybe there's some creature that oozes some sticky goop in large quantities. Or a weird swamp with holes brimming with some mucus-like stuff where some creatures' eggs live... or that mucus is a cluster of thousands of eggs.
Tar? Definitely sticky, and definitely used in medieval times... Also has some healing properties. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tar @KaTrian There is apparently an interesting Finnish saying... "if sauna, vodka and tar won't help, the disease is fatal."
@KaTrian, you're a hoot. I do write fantasy but the very boring kind where there aren't many weird and wonderful creatures. Maybe I should reconsider! An interesting point about the healing properties, @Ivana. Something to think about! @J.C Adkins I was seriously thinking about blood but read somewhere that it loses it's stickiness once it coagulates. It becomes more sludgy and the surface is flaky rather than tacky (ugh, sorry that was a bit gross). But, if I were going to go for blood - which kind do you think they'd use? Would pigs blood stolen from the army kitchen be unreasonable?
Once blood is soaked into something, it's dry and flaky, but whatever its dried onto pretty much stays if its not interrupted. Pigs blood could work. I'm reminded of a scene from a movie, I think it was Carrie? Where pigs blood was dumped on her. You could also use a mix of several sticky/gross ingredients. Bile, blood, excrement, etc.
Haha, there is. Where did you come across that one? About tar, would pine tar work? Not sure how it can be obtained in larger quantities, though...
Thanks for the help, everybody. I'm sticking with some variant of pine tar for now, though depending how macabre I feel during editing it may change to blood! I appreciate all the input You guys are fab x Rach
