RP:Side Effects May Vary

Part of the The Dust Up In Cenril Arc

Part of the Hour of Wolves Arc

Summary: Hudson drops by Linn's office in Frostmaw to discuss ways to prevent or limit the effect of red dirt and derivatives. They discuss a special mask as well as blocking cream.

Fort Frostmaw

Should Hudson have an office at the Eyrie, or any other official-ish place he frequents in Frostmaw he would find a letter with his name neatly printed on it, the seal stamped with the symbol of Frostmaw.

"I'm pretty sure you've seen the stuff flying about on the streets by now, this 'Red Dirt' and 'Ice Spice.' I recently returned to the city to jump right into a few of the problems its making, and now I'm suddenly finding myself with an official position and the responsibilities that come with it. I'm looking to make some solutions to deal with these substances and how they are being used. I remember that you're an alchemist from a thing or two that you've helped me with before and I'm going to need some of your help again for this. Please come see me when you have the time.

Linn, Royal Engineer of Frostmaw

It's going to take a while to get used to that title...

The directions of where to go are written on a rough sketch of a map, recognizable as the fort. The little arrows end on a room near the smithy's.

Linn's office must be near Alvina's, reasons Hudson, as he makes a day trip to pay a visit in response to the letter he'd received. He can maybe drop in on her later, she'd like that. Put some good fiance credits in the bank! Hudson is in casual gear, he's his own boss so if he wants to roll in late to work in track pants and a polo shirt, he can. He hadn't made Linn wait for long after the letter, truth be told the other guy's interest in the red dirt overlaps with his right now. One of the secretarial assistants leads him to Linn's work space, and Hudson knocks before letting himself in. "Yoooo," he says upon arrival.

Linn’s workspace was still more or less his bedroom for the time being, but he had at least taken time to organize things how he saw fit, with the desk and bed in their own little corners and his stuff lined up against the wall. “Come on in!” He’d call to the knock at the door; Huds would find him wearing a brown robe as he fiddled with his armor doublet, marking a circle around the shoulder, though of course the ink wouldn’t stick to the mithril attached to the top… sort that out later. Whatever reason he had was probably connected to the enchanter’s new arm, a thing made of cloudy blue sapphire strung together with invisible force. It’d be quickly apparent that the levitating stones were too slim to fit into the old suit. “Hey Hudson” he’d call back at the familiar voice before looking back up with a jolt. “Hudson! Been a while hasn’t it?” Sobering up, he put the pet project aside for now. “It’s… good to see you again, all things considered. What’s been going on?” He’d get up for a quick handshake, checking to see if the door was closed; he’d do it himself if it wasn’t. There was a fair deal of security to what he was hoping to talk about, and he wasn’t willing to let just anyone eavesdrop on it.

Hudson immediately stares at Linn's arm. You'd think he'd be more sensitive because his fiance has a disability, but, nope. Last time he'd seen Linn, there'd been an arm made of flesh and blood there, and .. it had touched Lanara on the boob. "Sup man," he grins anyway, and pulls Linn into the brisk handshake-slap-on-the-back maneuver. Linn's living alone, he realizes, once that's done. Evidently he and his girlfriend hadn't panned out, it makes Hudson sympathetic to the guy. He's been there... a few times. "Not much," is what he has to say about himself. "I'm looking into the red dirt stuff myself." A beat, while he considers the detritus that constitutes Linn's room and also his arm. "What the hell happened?" he cuts through all politeness.

Linn caught the stare and gave Hudson a wave with those floaty, stony fingers, save for the pinky. That one was with Alvina at the moment. Hudson would probably understand not getting a slap on the back in return given that the forearm of the thing had a couple barbed spines sticking out into where bones used to be. They looked sharp. And they were pretty damn sharp. It's enough of a wonder that the guy hadn't stabbed himself with them by mistake at this point... As far as life and the girl went though, he seemed pretty settled. Moving forward, moving on. He nodded at the mention of red dirt but paused when Huds asked about what happened. "What happened? Any... specifics?" He gave a loopy wave around the room with that stony arm and a shrug. "A lot happened. Some bad. Some good. Some things I never saw coming. Life's crazy." He ended with a whimsical note that was probably enough to tag his sanity as 'questionable.'

Hudson has to wonder whether Linn's new arm is really .. practicable. What if he wants to be intimate with a woman? It just seems ill advised. He's going to wait for the right opportunity to voice that observation, it seems kind of a critical consideration in his book. This explanation that Linn's provided seems a little... 'I smoked some special herbs before you got here,' but Hudson bug eyes and nods like it makes sense. Maybe Linn doesn't want to talk about it, more likely. "Right," says Hudson. He adds, a bit awkwardly, "Well if you need any help dealing with anything, uh, you know me and Alvina are happy to help. Just say the word?"

Linn's new arm had quite a few issues. Some practical, some... like the one Hudson observed. As Hudson smiled and nodded he returned an awkward "right." himself. Okay, looks like the insanity of life out here isn't going to be talked about for now. At the offer to help Linn nodded, "Yeah, I know I talked to her about fixing some of this up." he waved the cloudy stones of the arm around. "Whatever you did with that alchemist's fire was really needed for these gems to be of any good quality it seems. But we can work on that later. The more important thing is about this red dirt stuff. I hear it's been used as a weapon in combat and I want to... stop it from being effective as one. Make some protective gear our soldiers can fight with." He went back to the desk to flip through a few books and papers lying around. “And well, you’re an alchemist right? I figured you’d know much more about this than I ever would.” The… less professional aspects of probably knowing about this stuff were left unmentioned. “So I’m wondering if you might have any ideas on maybe neutralizing or filtering it, or other ways to deal with it.”

Hudson nods along with the general principle that some of what Linn's got going on needs 'fixing.' Uh, yeah, dude. "Oh good, well we can help whenever," he says, which isn't exactly true. You can never exactly 'help whenever' when you're parents of two kids and also fully employed but Linn's a family friend and they'll make time, help whatever is the polite thing to say in such circumstances. He makes an interested noise about the mention of alchemist's fire. To compare his alchemy skills between now and the last time he'd done something for Linn... he's a little impressed with himself, even if he did use his personal improvement to create a narcotics empire. Whatever. Speaking of, Linn's on the subject of their meeting. Hudson rubs the incipient beard that has been creeping on his face. "It's most effectively absorbed through the scalp," he offers. "But skin everywhere, yeah, it can get absorbed, can seep through clothes due to sweat too," he adds, explaining further, "I took the stuff apart when I saw it hit the streets," yeah for business reasons, but that part goes unsaid, he'd rather it look like mere curiosity, "I think the best way to deal would be to make a cream that prevents absorption. But any cream would, you know, I mean it's like sun screen. It would wear off after a while."

Linn quickly nodded as they settled the business with his arm. "Whenever we find some time really." He was at least privy to what a couple kids could do to someone's life, but they'd figure something out. As Hudson mentioned the stuff getting absorbed through the skin he let out a slow 'pffff...' not dismissive, but more of an 'oh crap.' That threw out a -lot- of options right there. He sent a passing look down on his own armor with the smallest tilt of a nod. They were going to need something very complete for this. And just like that Huds mentioned some kind of cream or ointment to block it. It left Linn scratching his head for a bit, but he quickly came to an expression of approval. "That's... a good option. Mostly unintrusive... can cover the whole body. If we do that it's going to have to be fit for combat. Resist sweat itself, last through a battle... you know." He trailed off with a little 'hmmm' before looking back to Huds. "You know anything about it getting in people's eyes? Breathing it in?"

Hudson finds a surface that he deems fine for sitting and parks himself on it. "Oh. Yeah, I guess I mean any method of absorption, I was thinking of like... never mind," he clarifies in an exhale. "I think those would probably be extremely hardcore ways to take it, probably really dangerous as the effects would hit the user fast. At least through the skin it's more of a slow absorption situation, much safer." He rubs his face. "But getting the stuff in the eyes and inhaling it, I mean people need to just wear goggles and a mask," he looks at Linn expectantly. He'd clap the guy on the shoulder but he doesn't want to get pierced by his new arm. "I can make a cream for exposed skin but you're the engineer. I forgot about that attack that happened. Reminds me... I need to get with Lionel on this stuff..." seeing as they killed some guys together, in the darkest buddy comedy of all time.

Linn tapped his foot and nodded as Hudson talked about some of the nastier ways the stuff on the streets could be taken. "Probably. But what about helmets? And they're going to have to be able to breathe easily enough to fight. Some cloth might be enough if its coarse like sand, but if its fine enough to go through we might need to look into some methods like the ones to deal with noxious gas." How he knew about those methods... that one was a long story. When Lionel was mentioned Linn perked up again. "I was actually looking to ask him about some of this too. How it's been used so far so we know where to focus. Also, well, warrior requirements. This is going to be stuff for them to fight in, so it's gotta make their standards." He took a second to roll his eyes with a sideways look. "I've probably mentioned that enough times now come to think of it. We'll figure it out. That cream is probably the best idea for general purposes, good luck with your work on that." Well, he was going to pat Hudson on the shoulder in a similar gesture with the flesh and blood arm. That one with the sharp stones was generally kept away from people and would stay that way until he could get it sealed up.

Hudson had started focusing on an indefinite segment of the wall as he'd started thinking about the project but his gaze flicks to Linn in due course. "It's not coarse stuff, it's fine," he clarifies. Hudson won't have a hard time making the cream, he already has to take preparations to make his own purple dust without getting a contact high. It's just a matter of tweaking the formula. His mouth twitches in the ghost of a smirk as Linn visibly appears to contemplate patting him back on the shoulder and then doesn't for obvious reasons. "Cream won't be an issue," he says, a chuckle in his voice. "Let me know when you've got a mask or helmet made, we can do some tests." He lifts his eyebrows suggestively, like this is for fun, bachelor party redux. "If you see Lionel tell him I'm looking for him."

Linn rubbed his brows at the next bit of information about their problem. No simple ways out of this one! He'd manage a nod, and walk over to scribble a note or two, or as much as he could manage writing left-handed at the moment. It'd be readable when he came back to it... hopefully. "Yeah. I'll probably have to see you again about filters for breathing, but I can get to the rest in the meantime." He couldn't help but shake his head a little. Things got quite a bit more involved when magic couldn't be used to hold stuff together as much as he was used to. Enchantment's great, but it's tough to replicate for a whole city's gear. When Hudson mentioned Lionel he was brought snapping back to reality with a quick nod. "Yeah, I'll let him know. Hopefully we can make some good stuff for him." With that he extended a hand to Hudson to pull him back to standing and for another casual shake. It seemed he was satisfied with what they got to talk about here. "If there's anything else you might need for this let me know." a shrug and a smirk. "Though right now I suppose I'm the one needing you."

Hudson bobs his head, already thinking about the game plan. It's funny, he thinks privately, that Linn should be looking to curb the effects of the dust. Hudson is looking to cut it off at the source and put his competitor down, for good. He of course plays his part in being merely a concerned civilian, not the leader of a drug cartel, and shakes Linn's hand. "You got it, see you man," are Hudson's parting words before he sees himself out.