Book Smart [Solo]

[Serrif Von Chatlyn]

24th of Summer 511AV Serrif knew that there was much for him to learn. Some of this could be learned from practical knowledge and practice. But there was still a good amount that he knew he could pick up and learn from books and the writings of others. He had a very precious book in his possession from Lym’s private library. It had a black leather binding and wasn’t labeled. He had found that sometimes unlabeled books held the most precious of knowledge. It’s black leather was decorated with all kinds of red embroidery and the like. He set up a desk in the library and proceeded to try and read through the exceedingly large amount of writing that was sprawled across the pages. There were a ton of pictures here and there all hand drawn with a good amount of precision and accuracy. He looked through the pages and he recognized some of the plants, but still some where missing. The ones that were really of interest to him. The plants and poisons that caused all kinds of throws inside his mind. The poisons that caused him to be where he was now. The everlasting sickness that pounded his body and mind…he knew the plants that had caused this. But there were plenty of others that were outlined in this book. Nightshade, you could tell it by the flower. It could and often was as outlined by the book a very toxic plant. But there were several varieties of this plant. Each looked a little more different than the others. But maybe they hadn’t prepared it correctly; or refined it enough. But they had been testing the mixtures on all kinds of people; and all kinds of different races as well. In all they had run a very effective operation, the ability to test all kinds of poisons on all different kinds and races of people…what an extraordinary opportunity for the men to further poison. But the amount of damage they did to countless innocent lives…nothing justified that. Nothing he thought in his mind. He didn’t know what the men had been thinking; nor why they thought they could do it. But nothing in his mind could ever justify what they had done. And were likely still doing to people. Again another thought he didn’t like to ponder on. There were still people suffering through what he had been through. That caused him a good amount of pain. He would’ve given anything for someone to rescue him all those years ago. He would give anything to have been liberated from that horrible hole. And he knew that those still being experimented on would give anything as well. His mind was back at the camp. He remembered those days so well; as well as the nights. He still couldn’t remember most of the days there while poisoned. Time seemed to just flounder through and well he really had no concept of it while he was poisoned, he just felt horrid.

[Serrif Von Chatlyn]

There was still much more he could glean from this book. So he turned the pages and found another page of interest. There was a drawing, a rough one but a drawing. It showed what appeared to be a bean of some kind that was light brown almost vanilla in color with black spots in it. Some of the beans were darker brown without any other coloring at all. There was also a picture of the plant as well. The plant had leaves in clumps of 5 all of them symmetrical and the same. The plant also had a long spire or red, orange, or yellow that resembled flowers of some kind. But that wasn’t the toxic part of the plant. The beans the plant produced was what was toxic. And supposedly they were very toxic. You could harvest the beans in the spring or maybe fall depending on how the seasons were where they were planted. They were also supposedly pretty beautiful and commonly used for decoration. Which made them very dangerous because they were commonly planted. They also grew fast and took over areas relatively fast which made them invasive. The beans were extremely poisonous to all forms of life. He hadn’t remembered seeing any of these beans used in the slave camp. And he had never seen any raw beans but that didn’t mean that it had never been ground up. But it seemed from the description that the best method of delivery was to grind up the beans and then mix in a little bit of vegetable oil and bring it to a slow boil. He couldn’t remember a whole lot about what went on at the slaver camp. He kept turning pages and came on another poison. It seemed he was in the poison section of the book Lym wrote. She had notes written all about it in the margins. She had written down things as she discovered them. He wondered if her notes were scattered all about the book; for when she ran out of room on one page. But knowing Lym and her sense of organization she likely rewrote the book several times before letting this one be the culmination of her work so far. There was plenty of knowledge in this book and none of it was hidden. All of it was readily available to him. He had poured through the library several times; but it seemed none of the books were practical to him. Some of them were close but only really had snippets of knowledge that he found useful at all. But this book written by Lym was more than useful to him. It was chalk full of all kinds of knowledge that he would have to burn into his memory.

[Serrif Von Chatlyn]

But why simply burn the knowledge into his memory? He could do himself far more good if he got himself a journal of some kind and took notes. Because if he ever left he would need the knowledge but not have access to these books. Yes, he would have to get himself a book or journal of some kind to write all this down into. This way he could take important notes and save his knowledge in a book of some kind. So he could always come back to what he had learned. That way he could always have the knowledge instead of relying on his memory which was indeed spotty at times. Well not just spotty it was outright unreliable to him. He hated it, there was still soo much he didn’t remember; and couldn’t remember to be honest. But he pondered if this was really a curse or a blessing. He knew there had to be things that were better left in the past. Better left forgotten by him. He sighed; wishing he could remember them, but at the same time knowing that it may be for the best. He didn’t know if he would ever come to terms with his past; and honestly he didn’t really care either. He was here now, in the present and he was going to make the best of it for himself. He sighed and moved on reading Lym’s extensive notes. Lym had taken extensive notes on several interesting poisons. They were all relatively simple, there were red hard berries of plants that were extremely poisonous that you had to do nothing to in order to make them a viable poison. All of her poisons were simple…and not what he was looking for. He remembered that the poisons he had seen used on him in the camp were extremely complex. He remembered being shackled in the tent for hours watching the men prepare the poison and it took a team of two to three men to prepare the more intricate poisons and antidotes that they tested on him and others. He remembered the glassware involved, and he had a rough vision of what all the plants involved looked like. He also remembered what they did to him…Oh how could he forget what they did to him. Days of pain and terror…that is what he remembered. Visions, nightmares…all coming real while he was trapped in that iron cage. But just how someone created something like that was beyond his knowledge right now. All he knew was it was a horrific creation that he wanted to counter. He still believed if he knew what was mixed and created he could possibly recreate it and counter it himself. If only he knew what was in the mixture he would know where to start. He thumbed through the pages and never came across any herbs or plants that he recognized. He continued to search frantically; she had to have some sort of knowledge on the subject. He kept looking and there was nothing. Every page was something simple, and it was becoming clear to him that the poison that was used on him was far from common. It had to be made from plants that could rarely be found, in places hard to access. Maybe plants weren’t even involved in parts of it. Maybe the venom of snakes or spiders or something. He had no way of knowing so much of his memory was just blank. He was becoming exceedingly frustrated with his lack of knowledge about HIS OWN suffering. What could cause this? Did his mind just blank out all the torture to protect him? What had happened in that camp? He set the book down open on the desk and he ran a hand through his short black hair. He didn’t know what to do now. Where could he find the knowledge he craved? Surely such knowledge of intricate poisons had to be well guarded by the Order. In fact he was beginning to think that such knowledge was in fact a little frowned down upon by the order. He hadn’t found much on it and what did exist seemed to be held by individuals through their study then marked books in the library. This created an interesting problem for him. Ne NEEDED that information. He was going to fix the harm done to him. But in order to do this he needed to know what was done to him. And there were two ways to do this, find his captors and ask them, or do book research and hope to find it. The second was the option he preferred; because he was nowhere near able to confront and track his captors. He wasn’t going to do that anytime soon. No he couldn’t do that now. He was happy here, and that was all he had. Figuring there couldn’t be any harm in learning whatever this book had to offer he continued on stumbling on another page that outlined a very interesting plant. It grew almost everywhere except in extremely cold climates that got horrid amounts of snow. It looked like some kind of weed tree of sorts. It didn’t seem to look like a tree until about a years’ worth of growth. In that time it reached about 20 or so feet and then started actually bulking up like a tree shooting out limbs and branches everywhere. It then produced tons of little red berries that are highly toxic to ingest and it usually only took three to kill someone. Some believed that cutting down the tree would kill it. But not so. Because the tree then sprouted from the cut down lump in the ground and grew right back in almost a years’ time due to the root structure left in the ground. Hunting down the elaborate root system of this tree/weed was also nearly impossible if not just impractical. And if all the roots weren’t found and destroyed the tree would re grow from just the roots left behind. It was also noted that if the wood was burned it gave off highly toxic fumes from the sap contained within the wood itself which was quite sturdy and bamboo like in strength. A formidable plant for anyone to face.

[Serrif Von Chatlyn]

The book outlined how this plant could be used to make an interesting poison of some kind. By using an interesting jungle of glassware this plant could be burned in a controlled environment and the smoke then through condensation is turned into a liquid. But one that can easily be turned back into a gas. This mixture is known to be mixed into candle wax and then lit in the targets home or somewhere where you wish to inflict this poison on the masses if you had enough candles. The burning would smell like a nice ornate pepper and usually didn’t have to be covered up by anything. This makes it extremely volatile. The leaves however do have another use. They have a pepper like smell to them and are pleasant while the rest of the plant is mostly toxic. The leaves can be ground up and used as an aroma where using the rest of the plant to do is not advised. This was interesting to him. What it was doing here was beyond him. And although it was in Lym’s collection…some of the writing didn’t appear to be hers. Or maybe her handwriting had changed over time. That was possible he assumed. He flipped through several other pages and found yet another thing that pricked his interest. It outlined the creation of a very strong possibly even deadly sedative. The notes said it could be derived from a certain pufferfishes poison glands. This poison could if not monitored correctly kill whomever it was given to. However it could and often did bring down the patient’s heart rate drastically. And there were even some cases where it literally stopped the patient’s heart completely; although there was only one documented case where an individual survived this; in Avanthal. Supposedly this had been trialed several times all across Mizahar in cultish ceremonies, but only once was it ever done successfully and in Avanthal. This got Serrif thinking. What could have made the difference in this case? And were there records of this here in the library? He wouldn’t know where to look…petching great. He looked around and found a librarian. “Yes hello. I am interested in a book, and I wonder if you help me.” The Konti smiled and nodded. “I can do that what are you interested in?” She asked curiously. “Anything having to do with medicine in Avanthal, anything that details new procedures and research done there.” The woman thought and then nodded. “Let me check the records I think I know where that is but I will see.” She said as she then moved and checked the ledger. Serrif waited and sat back down at his desk. He knew there had to be a reason that it was successful somewhere and nowhere else. If he could put more information in his hands he may be able to get somewhere. He might be able to understand this. While he waited he detailed the measurement and preparation of this unique medicine. It was extremely difficult to prepare and administer. One wrong movement and you could easily kill a patient. But too little and you would only make them sick. But the right amount and you were a god of life and death. You could have the patient wane between life and death. And slowing down their heart for only a short period of time would allow one to work extremely well without having to worry about trying to see through an absurd amount of blood. That could be useful information one day. But the preparation of this complex medicine was way above his level of understanding. And he needed more knowledge to understand what was going on when the medicine was administered and how it was to be done correctly. “Here you are follow me.” She said as she lead him to a bookshelf in the library. She then pointed and spoke again, “I can’t reach them but they are on the second shelf down.” She said as she pointed. She did notice he could reach them easily. “Thank you kindly.” He said as she nodded. “Anything else?” “No you have been very helpful.” He said as she smiled and went off to do whatever it was she did. He smiled and took down each book and flipped through them one by one looking for any reference to how this procedure was performed. The first book didn’t have a reference to it at all. The second had plenty of procedures but not the one he was looking for. And the second to last book had a nearly direct reference to what he was looking for. It detailed a procedure that was being used to try and sedate a woman who needed to be operated on. The doctor said he brought the woman outside and set up an operating table. He then administered the mixture that he derived from a pufferfish and she went under. He then operated and did what he had to do and did so quickly. Because he didn’t want her to freeze to death. Throughout the procedure he thought he had killed her, because her heart had stopped beating. Then after he finished he sewed up his openings in her and put her near a warm fire in a decent amount of fur pelts to keep her warm. And she came back. He didn’t expect her to but she did. And recovered normally. Serrif spilled over the details in his head. Avanthal was in the north and had bitter cold all the time. Was it possible that by cooling down her body temperature and then applying the medicine that it helped her body handle it? Then by warming her back up afterward she was brought back to life? He looked at Lym’s book and the other instances happened once in Talboa, and again in Zinrah. Both places that were relatively warm. He wondered if the individuals there followed the same procedure that the man in Avanthal did. He didn’t want to bother the woman again, but he knew that he would have to come back later and look up this information.

[Serrif Von Chatlyn]

He continued to look through Lym’s notes; the pufferfish was a dangerous path. And one would have to be well versed in poison to even attempt creating such a concoction. And he only marginally understood the art of poison making. He was becoming a little better versed in medicine and herbalism than poison. Yet all the answers for his past laid in understanding poison. He needed to understand poison, and yet he knew he also needed to know medicine. He figured the two could counter act each other. But at the same time each could support the other. Knowing poisons allowed you to know how to make antidotes. It seemed it was all in how you used the knowledge. There was an alternative to the pufferfish that was well documented. It was a sedative that was better documented and how to prepare it was much simpler. Refining it was the real task. If it wasn’t refined well enough the mixture could produce adverse side effects. Hallucinations, dizziness, vomiting all kinds of horrible things and it wouldn’t sedate the person. But if refined well enough the extract would be clear, and nearly tasteless. It also was easily mixed in with anything and everything really. The trick was knowing how much dosing to give someone. You had to know how refined your product was in order to be able to easily estimate what you needed to give the individual. There was no easy way to estimate this. Although setting up the glassware for this process was indeed explained to him he had no idea what it all was. It needed a rounded boiling flask, a standard triangular flask, a condensation tube and a fine filter cover. He knew what a flask was but he never knew there were different kinds. He looked and well there was an illustration of what he would construct. The Triangular Flask was for the finished product, the rounded boiling flask was for the mushroom and slight acid mixture with water. Then the Boiling flask was connected to the condensation tube where the gasses evaporated into. The condensation tube was intricate in that it was a tube within a tube. The outside tube was filled with cool water, which was circulated through as the process continued. The inside tube is where the smoke passed through and then the cool water caused it to condense. The liquid left then dripped down through a fine filter and into the triangular flask. The final liquid could be filtered through several different substances to produce a better finished product. Her writings said that fine sand could be used between two fine filters that would help scrub impurities out. But you had to have a ton of liquid or a very small sand filter for it to be worth your time. He pondered if Lym would let him create this mixture. He figured it could be of use sometime to him. He never knew when he would need a good sedative. He pondered in his mind how he would filter it. Likely using a small sand filter. He would have to repack the sand but it would allow him to create a small concentrated amount without having to have a large amount of material to filter. He could imagine that sand would just soak up the material and well make it useless to filter in the first place. Maybe….He looked through a section on filtering. Yes just like he thought. Lym outlined that one could soak the fine sand first. This would help the sand not absorb the material. But you had to be careful not to get the sand too wet or it would just drip its contents into the finished vial. Making our finished product simply watered down…which was not the point of filtration. So he had a few choices here. Wet sand, dry sand and small and large filters; he didn’t know enough to know what would be best. But he knew Lym would. Maybe, just maybe he could talk her into teaching him now to make this sometime.

[Serrif Von Chatlyn]

However this sedative had several purposes. If only a slight dosage was given it could help ease dreams and put someone gently to sleep. Giving them a night of restful sleep where before they toiled. It had been used to treat people who had horrid nightmares and even night terrors. Dosage had to be small though, especially for Konti women. However, one could become dependent on this substance if they weren’t careful and if the subject wasn’t leaned off of it gently. Dosage had to be reduced gradually so the body’s internal chemistry could re adjust to the substance not being present anymore. If the dosage wasn’t watched the body would come completely dependent on it, no longer able to sleep soundly without it and eventually dosage would have to be increased doing damage to the body. Dosage would eventually reach deadly levels and the person could be killed horribly. But not before their dreams and reality were blended together and they would start to question what was real and not. It was an interesting substance that he knew he would need help to make correctly. He sure could use a sleep aid; this much was true. Safety of this drug was limited. It was not suggested that this drug be used while in dangerous situations to ease nerves, as an overdose could easily knock the person out. It was also not recommended to be used while doing any kind of activity, since again it could knock an individual out. It wasn’t safe to administer to anyone who was pregnant, or might be pregnant. So the person administering this drug had to be very careful as to who to dose; as well as for how long to dose them. But past this it was safe to use on anyone as long as the correct dosing was followed. It was safe and effective on all races at all ages. It was rumored to be useful to take down targets quickly if you didn’t want to kill them. The effects of knocking out your target could last from a few minutes to a day at maximum. But an overdose could kill them. But in all it was an effective medicine for a variety of situations. Yes, this medicine could be very useful to him. He would only have to learn how to make it; and since Lym wrote this book he was sure Lym knew how. In fact it looked like Lym pioneered the perfection of this medication. How interesting… There were details that outlined how she set up her equipment and everything. He nodded to himself. He knew Lym could teach him this. He would eventually need to know how to use this medication; and the techniques associated with it. He could help her better as well. He would need his own book eventually. Lym took the time to write everything down…why shouldn’t he? He would surely have things he would want to remember eventually. And in order for him to be able to recount it perfectly he would need to have it written down like Lym did. But that was in the future. He would get one eventually. He figured he didn’t have much to write down right now that he didn’t have engraved in his memory. But he couldn’t rely on his memory forever. He would need to write things down eventually. He turned a page and there was listed some more intricacies of setting up the philtering equipment for creation of this liquid. She had a refined model. It was pretty much the same as the previous one only he had a three stage filter before the finishing triangular shaped flask. The first filter was a simple fine mesh to prevent particles from entering the final solution, then a thin wet sand filter to help scrub it, the final stage appeared to be labeled active charcoal. What was this active charcoal and what purpose did it serve? He looked again through the notes and saw that the charcoal was an even finer filter that didn’t seem to absorb any of the finished product. It was a wonderful scrubber for the liquid, only it had to be manufactured. This intrigued him so he read on. The process had several steps to it. A page number was written down and he flipped to it. Active Charcoal, just as he thought it wouldn’t be exactly easy. First off he would have to combust a relatively large amount of something that used to be alive. Like wood would work as detailed here. Then he would have to take whatever was left from the high temperature burning and preform a process on it. He would have to expose it to steam at an extremely high temperature. Temperatures that were blistering hot and would warp some glass instruments so metallic ones had to be used. This process had to go on for hours at a time and the temperature had to be kept extremely high or the process would fail. The process was completed when the charcoal was visibly more porous and lighter than before. Requests : Skills Herbalism(Major) Medicine (Major) Philtering (Medium) Poison(Minor) Lore Creation of a Sedative (Mushroom based) Hunting Down Info in a Library Creation of a Filter (basic)

[Archelon]

Thread Award "Oh... For he's a jolly good fellow, for he's a jolly good fellow. For he's a jolly good fellowwwwwwwww.... Which nobody can deny is a quack doc! Which nobody can deny! " And the Results!!!!: Serrif : SkillName 1-5 How/why? Herbalism 5 Medicine 2 Book learning, hur hurr Philtering 3 Poison 2 Organization 1 Understanding how and why something is organized counts! Even in a library Lores: Medicine: Poison in small ammounts may be used for good(basic) Herbalism:Identification of Nightshade and it's Uses(basic) Herbalish: Crafting a Sedative (Mushroom based)(basic) Philtering:Creation of a Filter (basic) Organization: Hunting Down Info in a Library(basic) Would you like some extra turtle sauce ? : *Out of nowhere a flying turtle throws a blue shell which hits Serrif in the back of the head : Congratulations Competent Medicine man! (if i got my totals right) Now go make a turtle proud and get some sewing D: !