Arc 711, 1st trial of Vhalar
Well, happy birthday. She thought wryly as she sat in her bed, staring up at the stone roof. She had moved her stuff into the small back room after her injury. It made it easier if all her food, water and sleeping could be done in one room, and it also let her actually learn some stuff from K.G.'s book.She looked down at her leg. It had healed quite a bit in the 100-odd days since her... adventure, but she still occasionally struggled with reading. If she spent too long looking at the pages of the book, a headache would start deep behind her temples. The worst part is it wasn't affected by headache medicines. She now knew that she had to keep her reading time short, and so she spent more time practicing than she ever had before.
I mean, no one else is going to use these supplies, so might as well experiment with them. She had found a page in the book that talked about Da'kir tea, and something called 'Stain'. She had, once she was sufficiently healed, ventured out to purchase the supplies necessary. She relied on trading as much as she could, selling the herbs she didn't need in order to buy those she did.
She got out of bed, and shifted through her forms. Avriel, Human, Grey Velox. She practiced transitioning between each of them, working out the kinks. She had started doing that less than a trial before, when she realized that shifting from Avriel to Velox was very different from Human to Velox. She had already noticed a difference in how easy it was. She could now skip most of the meditative state, and just shift.
Half a break later, she shook herself back into Avriel, feeling the most comfortable in it. She headed outside, a handful of grain clutched in her hand. She entered the barn, and scattered the grain into the dozens of cages. She had slowly caught mice, during the long weeks of her recovery. She tried several methods for catching them, but most had failed. Of course there was a steep learning curve, but she had expected that. She had been totally unsuccessful for several trials until she had the brilliant idea of setting the food inside a jar on its side. She would wait until the mouse went in, and she could catch it.
She had managed to start a small colony of mice, and of course they bred like they tend to. She now had filled all the cages she had, and they were beginning to look a little packed.
She grabbed one of the cages, and hauled it in the back room, favouring her bad leg. The wound had almost totally healed, but there was still some lingering pain, and the crystals weren't as sturdy as she was hoping they would be.
The cage landed on the table, and Valyeria set up a row of empty jars. She carefully placed one mouse in each jar, and clumped them in groups. Nearly three dozen jars covered the workspace when she was done, and she shifted them around into three groups. She set one of the groups inside a large terrarium and began burning Da'kir tea leaves inside of it, waiting until a slight haze filled the bin before she removed it.
The next group was dabbed liberally with a poultice made from the boiling off the tea over the course of several trials. She followed K.G.'s advice on making various contact poisons, and she hoped that it would be as effective as the book claimed.
The final dozen mice were forced to drink a potent tincture she had made several weeks earlier. The leaves had been sitting in the alcohol, fermenting, and from what she could tell this should be far stronger than simply a tea. She had done a quick distillation on it yesterday, hoping to make it significantly more toxic. The smell that came off it was horrendous, and she didn't even want to think of how bad it would taste.
After she had set it all up, she flipped a large hourglass upside down, and began preparing her tables. The small book she had brought with her had been filling up at a rapid rate, and she realized she'd need to buy a new one soon. She slid into a trance as she waited, the bits ticking by.
Valyeria brought herself back as she noticed the first mouse curl up in a ball. It was from the tincture, and she smiled. Just as I thought. It made sense- the way it was typically applied was via ingestion, so it made sense that it was the best way. But how the hell would I managed to convince someone to drink that? I can't even stand the smell of it... She noted the time, and soon the rest of the mice began dropping.
When they were all dead, the trial was nearly over. She smirked as she realized she had spent her birthday killing mice. Well, I guess to each their own. She gathered up the corpses, throwing them on the fire to burn. She covered her face with a mask, not wanting to breathe in the fumes as she cleaned out the jars, swishing them with alcohol. She grabbed K.G.'s book and left the room, heading back inside the cottage so the room could air out.
She opened the book as she settled into a chair. The last section she had been reading was on reagents. Ah, right. Thickeners.
Thickeners are often used to increase the viscosity of the poison. Typically used for turning airborn poisons into either contact, or ingestive. The thickener must be chosen based on the properties of the original poison.
They are of vital importance when it comes to ingestive, as they must be the same texture as the surrounding food. Any slight difference will be noted.
They are also important when it comes to contact poisons. Will the poison be administered to the surrounding clothing, or is it to be applied to a weapon? Both of these have different viscosity requirements, and have very small margins for error.
Practice: Add thickeners to an inert solution and add it to soups or stews. If it's detectable, you fail.
Add thickeners to an inert solution and try to apply it to a weapon. How easily does it come off?
They are of vital importance when it comes to ingestive, as they must be the same texture as the surrounding food. Any slight difference will be noted.
They are also important when it comes to contact poisons. Will the poison be administered to the surrounding clothing, or is it to be applied to a weapon? Both of these have different viscosity requirements, and have very small margins for error.
Practice: Add thickeners to an inert solution and add it to soups or stews. If it's detectable, you fail.
Add thickeners to an inert solution and try to apply it to a weapon. How easily does it come off?
Alex rubbed her forehead, thinking about what she had just read. Huh, I guess that stuff makes sense. Just weird to think about. Below, he had written a long list of various thickeners, and the poisons they were paired best with.
The style of the book was odd. At some times, it seemed as though K.G. planned on having people read it, and at other times it seemed to be a book he only ever planned on using as practice for himself.
She snapped it shut, and headed back out to the barn, happy that the room had aired out. She banked the fire, and snuggled into her bed, not really tired. She knew that she had a big day coming up, though, so she forced herself to sleep.
The style of the book was odd. At some times, it seemed as though K.G. planned on having people read it, and at other times it seemed to be a book he only ever planned on using as practice for himself.
She snapped it shut, and headed back out to the barn, happy that the room had aired out. She banked the fire, and snuggled into her bed, not really tired. She knew that she had a big day coming up, though, so she forced herself to sleep.
