• PM To Join • Professor Poison

[Vluharqih]

CREDIT

Arc 716, 7th trial of Vhalar

It was yet another simple trial in the shop for Alex. Most of the military requests had been fulfilled, and the rush of business that came with the arrival of the Mist Men had all but disappeared. For the most part, her days were now spent in boredom, dealing with sprained ankles or headache teas.

She longed to return to the Cauldron room. The training she had undergone there was exciting and brought a burst of light into what was quickly becoming a rather dull job.

She had spent the first few breaks prepping medicines for the day, then had moved on to refilling the dozens of jars that cluttered the front of the shop on shelves. She refilled the jars that had spoiled, and then swept and cleaned the front of the shop. Soon enough, it was sparkling clean, and she was left alone. She had tried to go down and observe Mr.Gardener working his alchemy, but after several gruff sighs aimed in her direction, she took the hint and returned to the storefront. The cold rain had poured all trial, and the skies were a cloudy gray that kept all but the most determined citizens indoors.

Staring around the countertops, she caught sight of that old, ragged journal from the Ranger's cabin. Dozens of pages were missing, and some of the pages were unreadable as the ink had bled across the sheets. But on the pages she could read, it was filled with incredibly useful facts and recipes for countless poisons.

Resigning herself to a slow day, she began to pull out the supplies necessary to make the poison she was reading about- A complex poison using a Moukou bean trigger with a purified Kindapper's Joy overdose as the central element.

She didn't fully understand how one would ensure the Moukou Bean wasn't ingested prior to the desired time, but it seemed a good practice. Mr.Gardener had a Rat Catcher on retainer, having a steady demand for test subjects for experimental remedies. Testing her poison out wouldn't be too much extra work, and he seemed to like her trying to expand her skill set.

A small fire was soon crackling, a kettle set atop. She needed to mix in Iyo-Cone, a powdered cocoon of a specific butterfly, that would act as an inhibitor. It prevented the body from reacting to the Kidnapper's Joy until the correct time. The Moukou Bean released a muscle relaxant, and anywhere it met the Iyo-Cone it would activate the Kidnapper's Joy. This was supposed to occur in every muscle over the course of several breaks, including the heart. The result would make the target feel tired, and drift off to sleep, their heart slowly stopping while unconscious.

She was busy mixing the Iyo-Cone in when the bell rang.

"Hello!" She called out. "I'm just back here."

She could almost see the front door over the counter, but the close shelves got in the way. "What can I help you with?" She called out again.

[Nauta F'mos Geey]

Originally, F'mos had ignored that job because it was too troublesome for him to attempt it. It was rewarding for sure, and fitting for someone of his experience but that extra condition? Why even waste the time when no one could even be sure that the scumbag criminal was still alive? Why even care for his ilk? Granted F'mos himself was not on the side of angels, but neither was he on the side of those which will see harm to others. Not unless there is a good reason for him to, like those he had approached the last season.

It was those very same people which had requested him to take up that job. With the same condition. The only difference now, it was for their benefit and they will be sure to make it worth the Aukari's time. Even with that assurance, F'mos was not too convinced about taking up the job. No, it was the strongly worded request which had gotten him to accept the task. He did not believe he had much choice in the matter.

This is what he got for trying to take advantage of so unreliable a source while pursuing that accursed rumor...

It was still the rather interesting job even if he had convinced himself it was going to be hard. Especially if he was going in unprepared. Which is why he decided to visit the Gardener's Grace. It had always been a good source for some of those ingredients he might need. Now, for those substances knew he was going to need in his upcoming task. More importantly, its proprietor seemed the sort of man who knew how to keep quiet on whatever his customers might purchase from his store.

That is not to say the Aukari would not take any precautions to hide his work, there was still a lot of people who visited the store. People which might see what he was going to get and draw the wrong conclusion. Which is why he had his ward with him. As he also kept her from knowing his...practices, it would have been hard for him to get her involved, not that he wanted to involve her. Which was why when she had been complaining about having trouble sleeping, that she had been seeing shadows in her dreams, F'mos knew he had found the perfect excuse.

He was no doctor himself, any knowledge being so limited to first aid to bring those hurt to the professionals. However he did know how to use some of those plants and other thing which were considered medicine by those of more noble callings. Which is how he knew what he could obtain. Bringing the girl up with him to the counter where he expected to find someone which could help him, he became a little irritable when he found no one. "Well...I could use some help to buy some...ingredients..." he said, purposely delaying his words to see if that would give whoever it was enough time to come out.

"...If you're not too busy." He just could not resist getting that in, and got hit by the girl which he was expected to be teaching proper manners to after he had adopted her. Then again the adoption had not been for benign reasons, F'mos needing her more as a cover while he remained in Etzos, instead of assuming responsibility over her after he had saved her. His eyes wandered around the Grace, as always once he came inside it was a great place for him to try to identify anything he might be able to use. Or at least make plans for them.

Until someone, him expecting it to be the woman he heard, came out to assist him. "So yeah, like I said I need some ingredients." He described the ingredients for the poisons he was going to need, those to make scarf rot in addition to some moukou beans. Pointing to the girl with him, he revealed "its for her" leaving it up to her to describe her condition. It would be quite obvious that what he had described in the quantity he had asked for would not be the best thing to helping the little girl and her problems. However the Aukari was not expecting anyone to try and find out his true purposes for those things.

[Vluharqih]

CREDIT

The man's voice made her sigh- yet another impatient customer. She looked over the processes she had started and realized she could let them sit for a bit or two.

"Okay sir, what can I help you with?" She carefully rinsed her hands behind the counter, eager to avoid contamination, nodding as he described his ingredients. As he tucked his head at the girl, claiming it was for her, she couldn't hide her incredulous look.

"I'm sorry, but you do realize that I work here, right? And I do have some kind of an idea of what proper dosages are. Unless she's trying to kill herself, I doubt it's all for her." She paused and looked the pair over. She was young, too young to be his girlfriend or wife. But he didn't look like the fathering type, and to be buying Poisons with your daughter? No they were something else.

She shook her head at the man, coming out from behind the counter and gesturing at him.

"Follow me." She turned and walked through the crowded shelves of the small shop, easily navigating to the location of each of the ingredients he mentioned as she continued speaking to him.

"Now we don't care much what you use our supplies for, but that bad of a lie? You'll need to do better than that."

Setting the jars on the counter, she looked at him again, tapping her finger on her chin, deep in thought.

"I'm not sure what you want these for, but a word of warning. The moukou beans arent a very strong sleep agent. They're usually used on people who are willing to sleep, so they might not be ideal for your use.

And we don't sell unprocessed Scarf Rot; it doesnt stay stable in any of its forms without processing, but you can buy some of the processed form... Based on you asking for the Moukou Beans, I'm assuming you want the 'Scarf Rot 4'?"

She gave him only a moment to reply before she continued talking.

"If I knew what you wanted it for I might be able to offer some alternatives."

[Nauta F'mos Geey]

Flatly, without a change in his expression, F'mos just said "Yes?" It was quite obvious that she works in the Gardener's Grace, even if he had never seen her before, since she was the one which appeared from behind the counter. F'mos also recalled her rinsing her hands behind the counter as she did, although he was not paying much attention. It was something he too had to practice. Whether in handling food or those other things. He had no doubts the woman knew what she was talking about, despite her trying to convince him by having to tell him of her profession.

So it was not her own declaration which put him on the spot, rather the fact that she questioned his request. As well as pointing out its lethality right in front of the person those poisons will supposedly be used on. Not much went through his head when he decided to prove his knowledge by revealing, "listen, I grew up w-" No! F'mos decided there was no reason to actually let anyone know about it and stopped himself. Instead admitting after a brief pause, "I know how they work."

Those dosages were proper for the Aukari's purposes as he was not going to use it on the girl. Instead his intended targets were estimated at three. Hopefully. If his knowledge on his task was correct. As he thought of this, the pause gave him enough time for an excuse, whether or not the woman cared to believe him, that "the dosages are right if used over time. Her nightmares been for trials now. Right?" he asked, patting the girl to get her confirmation.

The Aukari only followed his guide, silently confirming the ingredients he would need as she showed it to him. While he knew those ingredients are not rare or even hard to obtain by any standards, he still counted himself lucky that the Grace had them in the amount he needed. He continued remaining quiet, when the woman confronted him about his bad lie. Things would have been so much simpler if it had been the man he normally had to deal with whenever he decided to visit the Grace.

And his silence only continued even as she warned him about the beans. Only nodding to show that he understood its effect while he dramatized the shocked look on his face when she suggested his intentions, were not for the good of his ward. Not being one of those which were properly schooled in poisoning, or at least not in common to understand those classifications, F'mos asked "4?" before adding that "with the materials I can process what I need by myself." If it was Scarf Rot 4, the woman guessed it right. If it was not however, F'mos would end up being quite glad he did it on his own.

With her last question, F'mos knew that whatever he said, he would never be able to convince her of what he had been insisting. Unless he did not mind leaving the store without what he needed. And he knew, he needed those ingredients. Still he persisted, that "I need something to help her sleep at night or those nightmare shadows aren't going to give us any peace." After a brief pause, the veiled admission "or maybe I need to knock out a man and his hellcats so he can get what's coming to him."

Of course he laughed it off, as some joke, as he could now allow the girl with him to pick even the slightest hint of what he was going to do. Hellcats. Really? Did those even exist? But for the woman he was talking to, the seriousness of his expression when he said it would be enough to convey the fact that Aukari was not joking with what he had just said.

[Vluharqih]

CREDIT

The man's claim that he knew how the 'medicines' he had requested would work made Alex even more sure that he was up to something.

Despite this, she knew that Mr.Gardener wasn't going to want her to refuse the customers request, so she fetched the last of the supplies he requested.

The man continued to try and convince her of his innocence, patting the girl beside him on the back as he discussed her nightmares.

She gathered the supplies, doling out the quantites he had asked for, warning him yet again of their use before explaining.

"Yes, 4. The fourth layer of the plant. The one that is usually used for sleeping draughts. Takes twenty arcs to grow, so it's rather expensive. In order to harvest that layer you have to do some immediate processing for storage. Though now that I think of it I'm sure you could concentrate it further....Hmmm, I wonder what cost that would have... " She let her thoughts take her away as she pondered it, before shaking herself.

When she had asked what he needed them for, she was only half expecting him to actually come clean. His tone was light, and if she hadn't been watching his face she never would've been able to tell he was deadly serious.

"There's a strong sleeping draughts I can make that will ensure that she doesn't wake up. It's a lot stronger than anything else you've talked about, and it's made from a particular spider." She had realized fairly quickly that the man didn't want to disclose his true reasoning in front of the girl, so she played along.

"If you'd like I can show you how to prepare it, or you can simply purchase some of the draught pre-made. The lessons do cost a bit extra, obviously." She sent him a smile, perfectly fine with either option.

[Nauta F'mos Geey]

It looks like F'mos did learn something new even if he made the decision to refuse the woman's offer. Or at least something else which he did not know about, about something he thought he already knew well enough. He also did not miss the woman, in her contemplation of the workings of this Scarf Rot 4, letting it slip about the possibilities of concentrating the plant further. If he needed it to ever get that far.

With all that trouble he might as well found himself more permanent methods. He laughed at that tasteless joke, as there is no reason for "why wouldn't I want her to wake up?" Or, for the person he had intended to use the poison on. No, "she's gonna have to wake up sometime..." he said, no longer laughing to hint that he had continued with the actual topic of discussion. Probably one of the more tiresome discussions he had been in, as he did not want to cause an unnecessary panic for the girl.

"Relax. No spider poison for you." At least not from him, as he started to describe one of the spiders he had seen in the carvings at the shrine so the girl would know which spider to avoid. The assumption was there. If they were in Etzos surely the spider the woman was talking about, and the one shown in the carvings, was one near the city. Of course F'mos could be wrong, he did not even know what the spider was called. Just like everything else which he had seen. As far as he was concerned the knowledge that they were poisonous was all he needed to know what to look out for, and to use.

Once he had assured the girl with his explanations, he put his attention on obtaining the poisons he needed once more. He considered the woman's offer with the draught. Even if he did not need it now, he might need it sometime but like a lot of those things he knew how to make, it would obviously be a waste if he had to buy them when he could just make them himself. And sleep poisons like the woman described were not his way of doing things. With more effective methods he could use.

As he seemed to have made his decision he told the woman to "give me the beans," which he quickly paid for and handed over to the girl. He explained to her those beans were hers, but she was not to take them without him before sending her on her way. As the light was still out and the possible war with Rhakros keeping everyone on the edge, he was quite sure she would not run into any trouble. In his opinion an outsider to the city like him would be more likely to than her, a native.

He waited until the girl had already left, and then a little bit more to be sure before telling the woman his decision. Her suggestion "sounds interesting. What were you thinking?"

[Pegasus]

Vluharqih

Points!:

Story: 5/5
Collaboration: 5/ 5
Structure: 5/ 5

Knowledge:

Poison: Recipe for Moukou-bean poison
Poison: Moukou Bean: A muscle relaxant
Poison: Iyo-Cone: An inhibitor
Poison: Processing for storage
Detection: Spotting the truth in an apparent lie

Loot:

NA

Fame:

-1 (selling poison to a man to use on a child!)

Magic:

These points may NOT be used for arcana

Nauta

Points!:

Story: 5/5
Collaboration: 5/ 5
Structure: 5/ 5

Knowledge:

Location: The Gardener's Grace
Medicine : Moukou Beans: Not a very strong sleep agent
Poisons: Scarf Rot: Unstable in raw form.
Deception: Hiding the truth in an apparent lie
Deception: Talking in code in front of children

Loot:

Please deduct the cost of the beans from your ledger

Fame:

-1 (using your daughter as a foil), -1 (sending your daughter home alone in a dangerous time)

Magic:

These points may NOT be used for arcana

Overview:

General comments. A short thread where not an awful lot happened, but rather set you up for the next part.
Story No issues, all fine.
Structure No issues, all fine.

Please do PM me if you think I've missed anything or you have any questions!