RP:Blood In The Venom, Venom In The Blood

Part of the Rise of Larket Arc

Summary: Artia, Muzo, and Xzavior examine a piece of flesh taken from one of the poisoning victims and conclude that the poison used is a mixture of various naturally occurring toxins, along with fermin blood.

Artia's Ranch

Artia shook her head as she came home, she asked the naiad and nymph to keep Izabella a few extra hours. She had work to do, moving into her home she carried a pan with a cloth over it. Moving into her living room, she sat the pan down as she removed her white robe that had many pockets all over to hold different vials of different ailments. She revealed her casual everyday type of dress that hung down to her knees, with kicking off her heels she rubbed at her feet. Moving to the kitchen she grabbed herself a glass of wine, few vials and empty vials as well. She needed to test the piece of infected flesh, and try to find the antidote the death toll was now at eleven. With arms full she left the kitchen.

Muzo slithers cautiously up to the door, Formulae in one hand, a small map and scribbled directions on the spellbook's pages. He *thinks* this is the right house, but is it? Only one way to know. Nervously, he glances around the darkening forest, and silently he hopes that he won't have to slither home in the dead of night. Artia had, after all, offered her home once. Would the offer still stand? Steeling his courage, the naga alchemist raises a slender hand and gives three firm, quick raps on the door.

Phaedra had just woken up and was dragging herself out the spare room, it had seemed she had been over working herself as of late. Today she wore a black corseted gown with red lace detail all over the top and of course she had a ruffled skirt that in length fell to the ground with a slit up the left side. Before opening the door she looked in the mirror making sure she was presentable when she entered the living room, you never knew who Artia had visiting. Opening the spare bedroom door she spotted her sister and heading straight over to her quietly she waited for the perfect moment then pounced. "Good morning angel......My aren't we looking well today!" She playfully winked at Artia as she ran a pale hand through her sisters slightly lighter crimson hair.

Xzavior made his way through the door looking troubled with a white rose in hand. As he entered the foyer his concentration broken by the unusual sight of another naga in the room. With a quick look around he dropped his previous look to be replaced with a more cheery one, "Well hello there Muzo! A pleasant surprise. And to you Phaedra, it has been a while."

Artia with her hands full did her best to open the door, "Come in." She was only able to open it a crack, once the door opened she would see Muzo. "Muzo, welcome to my ranch. Please come in, you picked a great time to stop by." Artia quickly moved to sit all the vials down around the pan she brought home with her from work. Looking under the cloth of the pan, "I extracted some infected flesh. I was actually about to test different remedies and such on it. But since your here I'll have much better of a success." The flesh was red with blisters and yellow juice leaking from the blisters. A foul smell was given off from the flesh, "Once the blisters  pop they smell of infections. It's like boils of skin rotting." Artia was caught off guard by her sister who had pounced upon her. Laughing as she straightened herself up, "Muzo this is my older sister, Phaedra. Phaedra this is Muzo one of the nagas that are to help Larket with these trouble making creatures."

Muzo smiles, relieved, at the sight of Artia, and once he's welcomed in, the Naga slithers through the threshold. The sight of familiar faces has his eyes lighting up in cheer and surprise. "Xzavior. Phaedra. Delighted as usuaaaaa..." The sight and spell of the putrid flesh has him trailing off. It wasn't the sight he expected, not right off the bat.

Xzavior was about to say something to Artia in regards of the body but was quickly answered by the scent of disease, "Well, guess we are getting right into it then!" Lifting a hand to his nose he made his way besides her tossing the rose aside, "So what's new?"

Artia smirked at Muzo, and tossed him a cloth to wrap around his face. "Wrap that around your head if you need too, I'm use to gross smells like this." Turning to her book shelf she began to pull down a few books and sitting them beside her vials as she sat down on her knees. Looking up to Xzavior she smiles, "Well..." She frowns, "Our death count is now eleven, we need to work on this as much as we can possible." Picking up some extended tweezers she hands them to Muzo, "Please go right a end and examine, these books are on skin disease and the like." Looking to Frost, she handed him one, "See what you can find on blisters that make skin rot please." She eyed Muzo, seeing if he had the stomach to do this. If not she would for him, as the Apothecary was getting used to such things.

Muzo finds himself again, overcoming the initial surprise of the sights and smells. "Ah, yes. Right into it." Accepting the cloth from Artia, he carefully ties it around his face, deftly binding it into an impromptu face mask. "Eager to see what we can learn." The naga lowers his goggles over his eyes and accepts the tweezers, leaning in and prying up the edge of one of the ruptured blisters. "Flesh sample taken from what specimen? Where on the body?"

Xzavior nodded and took the offered book flipping through the pages right away reading anything and everything that has to do with the conditions of the skin glancing back at the body every so often to compare the looks and otherwise. After getting a bit into it he chuckled, "This is a very interesting way to start out ones day! Though it could be worse I admit."

Artia nods as Muzo wrapped his face, leaning forward as she did the same and placing goggles over her eyes to avoid any infections. "This is from the chest, above the heart. Human male, late fifties. Survived by his wife who developed a fever today. I also took a sample of her blood and have it here with me just in case. For some reason he broke out faster and died faster while the wife has had a fever for a week. Everyone is affected differently, and I'm start making rounds seeing who is feeling sick and the like." Grabbing a stick she point to one to the blisters, "See how it oozes yellow and stinks?" Looking to Xzavior, "I think page sixty-five, it shows a blister similar from a spider bite." Looking back to Muzo, "They might be using different types of venom in the poisons."  Smiling, "Wake up and breathe Apothecary everyday huh, Frost?"

Muzo observes as Artia indicates, nodding and studying. "Dramatic," he comments, plainly impressed. "Hadn't imagined the tissue to be so badly affected. Horrific." Sounding deeply intrigued, he straightens up and pulls a vial and a swab out of his belt. "Can begin testing immediately." Gently, gingerly, with utmost delicate care, he reaches in and scrapes up several drops of the yellow ooze before dropping the swab into the vial and stopping it. The mention of the book has him looking back over his shoulder at Xzavior, eager to see whatever page sixty-five might show.

Xzavior laughed and shook his head, "Guess you have to learn to live with it eh?" returned to the book and flipped to the page she described, "Yup, exactly like you said," he lowered the book to allow them to see, "Though it looks like the blisters here are a lot more aggressive." He motioned to the body.

Artia watches him do so, and gently taking the tweezers from his grasp and using a extended blade to cut a blister out, placing it in a vial along with a piece of flesh with no blisters near into a vial. Corking both, she nods to Muzo, "Take these both with you to look at as well." She repeats the process into two other empty vials. Sitting the tools down with the clean handles pointing up to keep it sanitary. Hearing Xzavior's words she looked to the page herself, "Okay, let's test out the antidote to the spider bite on the blister in the vial I just made. Muzo you keep the two I made first." Looking to Frost, "Try and read to me the antidote name. If it's not listed there should be a recipe on how to make the antidote. Please find it for us." She said that a blister began to ooze, white this time. "That's odd, that's the first time it has gone that color and not yellow. That proves right there that they are mixing different types. Because pus like that I believe comes from a snake." She looked between the nagas, "No offense, but do you know?"

Muzo stows the vials away safely in the secure compartments of his belt, gratefully accepting them before taking up the tweezers and the knife for himself, carefully cutting off a few slivers of tissue from the bit of putrid flesh. Setting the tools back as Artia herself had placed them earlier, handles out, he begins gingerly gathering up the samples and putting them into their own separate vials each. "Snake?" Looking more amused than offended, Muzo turns to eye the white ooze. "Peculiar. Using a variety of natural venom, or so you've hypothesized." He eyes their workspace. "Wondering if..." Muzo hesitates, unsure if it's a polite request. "Would like to set up laboratory equipment. Not sure if you have an appropriate... area to make a workstation. Wouldn't presume to begin without asking." After all, he's only just slithered in.

Xzavior frowned at the new discovery and shook his head, "Not from any snake that I know sorry," Giving a quick look at the book he read the ingredients before turning to Artia, "Have any archotherix? I got the list otherwise" taking another look at the book he raised a brow at the things needed. He glanced at Muzo with a grin as he mentioned setting up a lab and chuckled before making his way to the kitchen to see if they had the required material, "Planning on making things explode are we?"

Artia nods, "the kitchen, I have a large counter space." She grabbed the samples and pan where the main sample was. She watched Xzavior head to the kitchen, as she picked everything up. Moving it all to the kitchen counter. "I think there is a small batch in the middle cabinet, could you get it please."

Muzo follows Artia and Xzavior into the kitchen, soon slithering over to the indicated counter, and he begins unpacking equipment, opening up his satchel and pulling out a variety of delicate-looking glass pieces and gently, deliberately arranging them. "Tried to bring enough to make some meaningful conclusions," he comments as he assembles a setup. "Expect it will take some time." More and more, the equipment emerges: flasks, alembics, retorts, condensers, optical armatures, and other strange, arcane-looking items. "Expect we can keep things sanitary, too." He glances around the room, nodding in satisfaction. "Wouldn't want to accidentally poison your kitchen." He titters with brief laughter.

Xzavior nodded and rummaged through the cabinets grabbing potions and reading the names to himself as he did until finally picking up the right one, "One archotherix ready to order." returning to the living room and handing her the potion. He watched Muzo unpack his supplies and lifted a brow, "Carry a mobile lab on you all the time?" He chuckled with a shrug, "Well I plan on carrying around a bunch of medical supplies on me at some point so who am I to say anything."

Artia chuckled at his jest, "It's alright all the food was ate this morning. Had the healers come out for muffins and coffee today." Curiously Artia knew what half it was he was using. "Oh I need to get me some of that..and that." She points to each different tool she hasn't gained yet. Spacing out her own stuff as well and uncovering the main specimen. "I think we might get some answers soon, and next be healing people's symptoms at least if not curing them yet." Smiling to Frost she took the vial from him, "We have the antidote for the blister, possibly to see if it's spider venom mixed in." She chuckles, pulling up her dress to show a garter with numerous vials of color on it, "I keep work with me."

Muzo shoots Xzavior a grin, though the cloth covering his face might hide it. "Would *love* to have a permanent laboratory. Have to manage with what I can carry on myself." Setting out the sample vials, he camps one into the optical armature and begins adjusting and flipping through the various lenses and filters, clicking them in and out of place, finding a proper zoom and focus. "See what we can see." Under magnification, maybe the tissue will give up a few more secrets. He peers for a moment, then steps aside, making room for anyone else who might want to take a look. Soon, the researcher is busy addressing his alembics and retorts, carefully measuring and mixing solutions to fill each.

Xzavior took a look at her many potions that she kept on her person, "It seems the best way to keep people alive is to carry everything with you. Never too sure if someone carries around antiseptic at random." When Muzo was finished he took a look through the scope for a moment, out of curiosity. "Intriguing this thing. Sad it causes so much grief otherwise we would have a lot of time studying this thing." Moving aside to let Artia take a look he went over to the body for another look.

Artia indeed moved forward to look in, watching germs and bacteria move around. Switching the lense she saw closer look at the genetic makeup. "Xzavior, I'm need to step out to grab another book. On this lens we can see what the poison is made of I hope. Everything leaves an imprint. Everything." Looking to Muzo she watched him continue to work, mixing and lifting different objects. She watched Xzavior leave to look at the piece of flesh from a chest. Moving out the kitchen quickly she came back with a book, sitting on a chair she thumbed through. Gasping, "Muzo, Xzavior the base of this poison is their own blood. Look at this page and the lens I left it on. Got two of it down, blood of Fermin and spider."

Muzo raises his brows in surprise, not bothering to look up from his measurements but obviously interested nonetheless. "Blood of Fermin. Very incriminating. Supports fermin hypothesis." Taking the swab out from its vial, he drops the whole thing into a beaker of solution, gently swirling it. "Making valuable progress already."

Xzavior turned back giving her a questioning look, "They are taking their own blood and using it to poison people. That is dedication if I ever saw it." Looking over Artia's shoulder to look at the book he asked, "Is there any way we could rid the victims of the blood without having to drain them of theirs first?"

Artia kept her distance from Muzo to not mess with his work, "Yes, so it is Fermin doing the dirty work, we need to find out what else they are mixing in. Do you think you can find out Muzo?" Looking at Xzavior with a nod, "Yes, there is a cleanse they can drink. Cucumber and lemon water, but we also need to fix everything at once not just a little at a time. Unless we have to." She handed the book over to whoever wanted to read from it, if any. If not it be left open on the kitchen table. Still staying her distance from Muzo as she grabbed her own sample vial and added few drops of the antidote Xzavior grabbed. Sitting the vial down, the flesh began to fizz wildly, "That will need to sit over night."

Muzo reaches out to activate one of the arcane apparatuses, an octagonal plate of some sort inscribed with many intricate runes. At the naga's touch, it begins to hum and glow gently. He slides it beneath a retort. "With a little luck, perhaps." Drawing out the swab and returning it to its vial, the naga then takes the beakerfull of solution and carefully pours it down the neck of the retort. "Expect to at least extract an essence. Will need a moment to draw the spirits out."

Xzavior thought about it for a moment before saying, "That will be an issue if they really did mix a bunch of poisons and toxins in together." He turned to watch Muzo work and raised a brow when the runes began to glow, "It's funny just how easy magic makes things when doing things like this."

Muzo watches as a cloud of vapor gradually forms in the glass dome of the retort, and bit by bit, fine droplets begin crawling down the arm. Hastily (he had forgotten earlier) the naga procures a collection dish, slipping it underneath just in time to catch the thin trickle of amber-colored essence dripping out. Suddenly a flurry of movement, Muzo is adding drops here, mixing powders there, measuring out solvents, sprinkling in shavings and... *POOF*--there is a dull, ambient green flash of light, and a thick plume of purple smoke billows up from his mixing dish. "Ooooo." Muzo voices his awe as the smoke shapes itself into a coiling serpent, midair. "Snake venom, as you predicted." The vaporous shape writhes and twists in the air for a few moments before dissipating.

Xzavior watched the smoke snake trail up and disappeared before laughing, "I was right! You were causing things to explode, as little as that was though." Turning back to the flesh he placed a hand on his chin and hummed, "So that marks three different substances within the poison. Hopefully that is the last of it but for some reason I think there's going to be more to this then what we see here." Crossing his fingers he grinned at Artia "Hope for the best prepare for the worst!"

Artia clapped her hands together, "Fermin blood, spider venom and snake. Now we will take a break and compare notes later to see what type we think they are using. An antidote is surely on its way." She grinned at Xzavior, moving to cover up the flesh that was in pan. "Need to take all this outside later to get rid of. Muzo if you would work on antidote for the snake part of it, I'll work on there fermin part. Xzavior had the spider part covered. Thank you again for coming out." She began to clean the kitchen up.

Muzo nods absentmindedly as the others speak, then startles and blinks, escaping his thoughts and returning to reality once more. "Hmm? Oh yes, break. Compare notes. Antidote." This time, he nods with comprehension. "Will try to limit further explosions."