In a skirmish, an arrow hits Cogan the Barbarian in the Chest. The basic damage of 15 points is enough damage to get through his damage resistance (8 = 4 for armour PV + 4 for ST) and cause a Medium wound, which Cogan elects not to soak.
Immediate reaction - Cogan needs to make a dice roll using his WP + Combat to resist the immediate pain of the wound. His WP is +2 1/2 and his Combat skill is 6 1/2, making a total of 9. The arrow is impaling (which gives a +2 modifier) and the wound is Medium (giving a +0 modifier) to the Chest (+0 modifier) and Cogan was unwounded (before this attack, +0 modifier). Overall, this gives Cogan a basic value of 11. Cogan only needs a 7 to shrug off the pain completely, so there is no effect.
Knock-back - Cogan needs to make a dice roll using his ST + Athletics to avoid being knocked back by the impact. His ST is +4 and his Athletics skill is 6, making a total of 10. The arrow is impaling (which gives a +2 modifier) and the blow was to the Chest (+0 modifier) and Cogan was unwounded (before this attack, +0 modifier), making a basic value of 12. Since this is less than the basic damage of the attack (15), Cogan may suffer some knock-back. Cogan's player decides to risk 3 dice and rolls 3D+3. He rolls a 3, 5 and 3, giving a dice roll result of 14. This is a failure by one point, so Cogan is knocked off-balance by the impact, losing one action point.
Impaling - Because Cogan has suffered a Medium wound from an impaling weapon, the arrow has impaled him and is stuck in his body. Cogan suffers a penalty of -2 to his CO until the arrow is withdrawn.
Ongoing impairment - the worst wound that Cogan now has is a Medium wound. He, therefore, suffers a -2 penalty on all future dice rolls until he is healed.
Long-term disability - because the wound is not initially Serious or Critical, Cogan will suffer no long-term disability from the wound.
Reducing the effect of the impale - During the fight, Cogan, frustrated by the penalty to his CO caused by the impaling arrow, so he takes a 2 Action point action to break the shaft of the arrow. To successfully break the shaft, Cogan must make a dice roll against his ST + Combat at a difficulty of 4. His ST is +4 and his Combat is 6 1/2, so despite the penalty of -2 for his ongoing impairment, he succeeds easily. The penalty to his CO is now reduced to -1.
Cogan fights on, until shortly afterwards the skirmish ends.
Withdrawing the arrow - Cogan (foolishly) attempts to pull out the arrow without obtaining medical attention. To withdraw the arrow without causing damage, Cogan must make a dice roll against his CO + Medicine at a difficulty of 4. Cogan's CO is +1/2 and his Medicine skill (including First Aid bonuses) is 1 1/2, but he has a modifier of -2 for being wounded and -1 to his CO for being impaled, giving a modified basic value of -1. His player desperately risks two dice, giving 2D-7; he rolls a 6 and a 4, giving a result of 3 - not quite enough. As a consequence, Cogan's wound increases in severity by one level to a Serious wound. Cogan's penalty on all dice rolls from ongoing impairment is now -4. Still, at least he's got rid of the arrow and its associated penalty to his CO. The increase in severity of the wound does not cause any long-term disability, since this is determined by the initial wound severity.
Seeing Cogan's distress, his companion Ben Ruben comes to his aid.
Treating the wound - Ben Ruben treats Cogan's wound, cleaning it, staunching the blood loss and bandaging it. To do this successfully, he must make a dice roll using his CO + Medicine (including First Aid bonuses) at a difficulty of 6 (because the wound is now a Serious wound). His CO is +1/2 and his Medicine skill (including First Aid bonuses) is 6, giving a modified basic value of 6 1/2. He decides to not risk anything, and so the dice roll succeeds and Cogan gets a bonus of +2 to his dice roll to resist Shock from the wound.
Shock - Cogan must now make a dice roll using his WP + Combat to avoid suffering shock damage from the wound. His WP is +2 1/2 and his Combat skill is 6 1/2. He gets a bonus of +2 to the dice roll for Ben Ruben's treatment and a penalty of -4 due to his wounded status, giving a basic result of 7. This is automatically higher than the difficulty of 6 for a serious wound, so Cogan does not suffer additional damage through shock.
Infection - Because Ben Ruben treated Cogan's wound successfully within an hour of the wound being received, Cogan does not have to worry about the wound becomes infected.
Keeping going while wounded - Because Cogan is seriously wounded, he must make a dice roll using his WP + Athletics (Stamina) every hour at a difficulty of 4 or be forced to take a rest. His WP is +2 1/2 and his Athletics including Stamina bonuses is 7. He has a penalty of -4 due to ongoing impairment as a result of his injuries, giving a basic value of 5 1/2 (greater than the difficulty of 4). Cogan is so tough that he can ignore the pain and keep going for as long as he needs to.
Recovering from the wound - .It would normally take Cogan 6 weeks to fully recover from this wound. Ben Ruben tends to Cogan's wound. Ben Ruben's PE is +1 1/2 and his Medicine skill in treating wounds is 4, giving a basic value of 5 1/2. On average, Ben Ruben's care will reduce the healing time by one day per week (to five weeks in total) Two weeks pass and Cogan's wound has started to heal - it is now reduced to a Medium wound.
Subsequent infection - Cogan is travelling through a tropical rain-forest when he falls into a swamp. He manages to get out all right, but in the process, his wound becomes exposed to whatever bacteria live in the swamp. The referee rules that Cogan must make an infection check to see whether the wound becomes infected. The basic chance is 5 (for tropical rain-forest) +2 (for medium wound) = 7 or less on 2D. Cogan's player rolls a 2 and a 4, making 6; the wound becomes infected. Unless the infection is treated, the wound will start getting progressively worse until Cogan dies.
Treating the infection - Over the next week, Ben Ruben treats the infection. Cogan continues to be active during this period. At the end of the week, Ben Ruben must make a dice roll using his PE + Medicine at a difficulty of 5 to successfully treat the infection - otherwise the wound will deteriorate to Serious. Ben Ruben's PE is +1 1/2 and his Medicine skill in treating infection is 4, giving a basic value of 5 1/2, enough to guarantee successful treatment of the wound. The infection has merely set back Cogan's healing by a week - it could have been much worse.
Another three weeks pass and Cogan is fully healed.