Completed Academentia [IHL]

[Inoadar]

15th day of Summer, 513

The atmosphere was so much like the shop, he had difficulty suppressing the urge to treat the other students like wayward shop assistants and "stay the petch out of (his) way". The smells of a multitude of different sources of toxins was a pervasive potpourri of corruption and debilitating aromas. The earthy, woodsy smell of roots, the rank, tide pool marine rot stench of aquatics, The pungent, dry-rot of mushrooms and fungus, a smell he was only recently starting to familiarize himself with. There was also the more fragrant arboreal and vine families. Some of these even boasted lovely aromatic flowers. The kind that will kill you.

There was also his new interest in the arachnid-based family, called "Araneida". It was certainly no surprise to find that spiders were a source of toxins for poisoncrafting. The same as any that used stingers or venom to catch prey. The logic of researching this likely source had not been all that intellectually captivating.

What had really caught his interest was the eye-witness experience of seeing a man virtually clawing his own face off in a demented frenzy, insisting that worms were burrowing into his brain. He had gotten a sample of that poison and determined it's source was some sort of swamp spider. The web, to be exact. He had formulated amusing scenarios of convincing these toxin-delirious victims to cut their own throats to "save" themselves. He chuckled to himself at the thought.

There were even rumors abounding that there was a species that dosed their victims with a hallucinogenic anesthetic, to render the victim unconscious and dreaming sweet dreams, while it then laid eggs in their stomach. Inoadar could hardly believe in such a deliciously diabolical system of procreation. Yes, spiders had suddenly become beautiful to him. Too bad the dream-spawning variety was only found on some distant island. Maybe someday...

Unfortunately for him, the few arachnid test subjects he'd brought to the lab to investigate had all been failures. The Master had directed him to read the chapter on swamp spiders: 'It's Not The Water, It's What's IN It'. Inoadar felt increasingly foolish as he completed the text. There was a significant difference in the chemicals found in the waters of a simple, clean pool, like the location he had collected his spiders, and the stagnant, percolating cesspool brewing pots of a swamp.

The Master had shown a brief burst of enthusiasm when he'd mentioned having collected the little critters on an unintended trip to the Glistening Geyser. It had waned when Inoadar had admitted that he and his companion had accomplished nothing more than to escape with their lives, with no samples.

The Master had joked about how valuable Inoadar might have been had he died there and had his body brought back for mutagenic research. Inoadar grinned and mentioned that his horse HAD died there, and in a ghastly twisted condition, and the two men had largely echoed each other with comments about "bringing back a sample." Inoadar promised to do so at his first convenience. 'This time, I'm going to kill that mutant spider.' he promised silently to himself.

[Inoadar]

But that would have to wait. For now, he had more testing to do. This would be followed by assessments and research, retesting, reassessing, perfecting, purifying, research and comparisons, breakdowns, separations, processing, more testing and research. It went on and on. But the slow improvement on each round of procedures was the reward for the diligence and focus.

Except for just a few days later...

He had run the initial identification processes. The fungus was the proper type. It should yield a numbing liquid that served as a inhibitor to the body's immediate defense systems for a number of local tissue destroying toxins. Its purpose was to allow deep-target poisons to reach vital organs. it alone was not truly toxic, but it prevented the body from reacting quickly enough to contain the effects to mere muscle tissue.

But for some reason, Inoadar was getting next to no yield from this batch. The chart showed there to be sufficient weight in this sample to provide inhibitor for a good two dozen doses! But his efforts were fruitless.

The Master looked up from his desk and watched Inoadar making gestures of frustration and confusion and strode across the raised walk which separated the room into quarters. He made somewhat of a spectacle of calling Inoadar over, asking him, loudly enough for all to hear, to recount his procedures, giving details on what results he should expect at each phase.

He 'tsk, tsk'ed him when Inoadar plainly admitted that the very first phase had not begun with the fungus showing the right amount of grainy pulp. Inoadar protested that the results verified the correct retention of arboreal fluids.

The Master laughed. It was echoed by snickers from the other students. "How can you make such a pointless observation? If the state of the sample is incorrect in the controlled circumstance, there can be no proper calcination of the fungal tissue! Regardless of how the results may look to the EYE! Isn't this why we DO breakdowns and purification? Catalyzing and separations?"

"By the Voice, Mr. Parnell, Your initial finding was flawed before you even loaded the brazier. Now, if you read through section twelve of Farman's 'Discourse on Hazardous Harvesting' you will find what I suspect is the problem." He then turned to other students' questions, dismissing Inoadar as irrelevant.

Inoadar sulked in the library, searching out the proper reference material. His initial embarrassment was compounded when he found it, plain as day, just as the Master said he would. He was glad that he was alone, knowing that if the literature had been in the classroom, he'd have been made to read it aloud to the class.

The fungal root, adhering to the trunk of the tree, has a compound that generates an imbalance in the wood, causing it to "weep" certain enzymes to prevent further structural compromise, which would allow greater penetration by the fungus. The important thing was the exact time of the day and the narrow time frame were the best results would be gained. The early bells of gray dawn yielded the highest concentration of the fungal compound, before the tree's awakening to the sunlight activated its reactive weeping of the neutralizing enzyme.

Inoadar shook his head at the realization that it was late afternoon when he'd stripped the fungal "shelves" from the trunk. That would be just about the worst time to harvest. In addition, if the shelves protruded more than four inches, then their roots had already penetrated the trunk too far to fully benefit from harvest. That didn't mean there was no use in harvesting, it just was progressively less than optimum. The shelves Inoadar had obtained were over five inches wide. The nodes which produced the desired liquid were not active and too insulated for any yield.

Inoadar took a few pages of notes, returned the book to the shelf and returned to his room at Tarsin's. He needed to be at the shop for a few days now, but he would return to class soon enough. There were still mushrooms to look into.

[Inoadar]

Inoadar's days were divided between the lab, the library and the shop. After all, he still had a business to maintain. He filled many pages with notes. Size, shape, color and girth of stems, caps, spores, brackets, stain, texture of skin, length of root filaments, color, spot patterns, grain, grit nodes, rings, odor. All the same details during the day and night, wet weather and dry, shade and sun. before and after spore drop. Colors of all parts when bruised, with, once again, all the variables considered. Absorption capacity, fibrous structure, gel layer, on and on.

Inoadar would never have guessed something as simple looking as a mushroom could have so many aspects to consider when trying to tell a toxic variety from a culinary delicacy from a hallucinogenic. And so many considerations regarding peak potency! The same was true of the shelf type fungus most common to the bark of trees. But he'd found those to be more of a source of reagents than toxins. Still, an equally necessary lore to investigate, and he had the pages to prove it.

After a score of days spent in research, The Master proposed an extra credit challenge. There were eight students currently in the fungal curriculum. He waited for a day when all were present, and broke them into two groups of four. He rapped on his desk for their attention, addressing both groups. "Before you are muffins, broken into quarters and tainted with samples. Only one of them will affect you. Based upon your current rating you will take turns choosing one and eating it. There are only two pertinent results of this challenge, beyond the mark for willingly taking part. If you choose the toxic one and eat it, it's a negative mark. I have the antidote in my pocket, so you needn't worry. If you refuse to eat your choice and it's NOT the toxic one, it is also a negative mark. Use whatever you have learned to help you make your choice."

Inoadar was third to choose. By that time there were only two left. One of them had a spot of slight green discoloration to it that seemed to be the basis for being skipped up to this point. Inoadar picked up both remaining samples, sniffed them, paused a moment and then put the non-discolored one back on the tray. The other three in his group raised their eyebrows in surprise and the last guy grabbed the unstained one quickly.

"Very well, now, students, consume your selections." ordered The Master, with a shrewd look at Inoadar. "In the time it takes for the toxin to take effect, I'd like you, Mr. Parnell, to explain why you chose the one with the discoloration."

With no look of concern at all, Inoadar responded. "Well, I can't speak for the first two samples chosen, but I detected the slight vinegar smell consistent with the use of blue dyes on the remaining one with the stain. And with the yellow color of the muffin, blue dye would result in a green stain. The unstained one had only a muffin smell. In addition, you stated you had an antidote, but did not show it to us. I could be wrong, but I concluded that you refrained from displaying it because some detail of it would give away which toxin it negates..."

The man who'd chosen second began to nod his head sleepily. The Master appeared to ignore him as Inoadar continued. "The only fungal based toxin we have discussed to date, with an antidote that is easily recognizable is the milky white, easily separated, dual-agent antidote for Engeron Bane that needs to be shaken regularly to ensure the active neutralizing agent won't thicken and cling to the bottom of the vial."

"But Engeron Bane has a minty smell and a green color, Mr. Parnell. How could you be sure?" He walked casually around behind the staggering student who'd chosen second as he spoke, "The vinegar smell could have been to cover up the mint aroma, and there WAS a green color."

"If it was going to made to be profitable, which I felt was a fair assumption, The only way to achieve the usual shelf life for Engeron Bane, this time of year, would be to use flute lily inhibitor as a reagent, which would make it much darker green than usual. This was too light green for that. And as for the smell, yes, it could have been a cover scent, but I think I still would have detected it."

The Master would have clapped his hands with enthusiasm, were he not holding an unconscious student in his arms. "VERY good, Mr. Parnell. I'm going to award you an additional point for seeing through the deception. Mr. Dromann here..." he said, indicating the affected student hanging asleep, "...will be getting a negative point, and you two will retain your single point for taking part. Now go back to your tables or books or whatever. I will be in my office if you need me."

[Inoadar]

He continued his studies for many days, researching aspects of weather and topography on the potency and reactive nature of the toxic fungi. The Master had brought in a highly detailed drawing and asked them all what was wrong with the picture. Some had mentioned the soil was wrong for this or that type of mushroom. That this shelf fungus appeared to be growing on the sunny side of the tree. That those toadstools should not grow right IN the water. That the rust fungus was the wrong color...

Inoadar pondered the drawing, seeing nothing but exotic exceptions to all the mundane rules of the fungal world. One or two of the students perceived that some of the contradictions were indicative of the exceptional phylum and species that yielded the desired spores, hyphae and gels, but were uncertain of the rest.

Inoadar waited for an extended pause and gave his assessment. "What is wrong with this picture is simply that I am not in it. That I am not there to gather that Gumwort, or those Whiteworms. Or to scrape that Copperdust, or pluck those Fishheads and Mud Bubbles. That I won't be there at sundown to knock those Thornhocks off that tree trunk."

"And why is that a bad thing, Mr. Parnell?" The Master asked, almost as if this were a routine the two of them had worked out in advance.

"Well, the Gumwort is the base for 'Wildleash', the Mud Bubbles are one of the elements for 'Engeron Bane', though they are usually found underground, but if the Fishheads are nearby, this is not as important as they reduce the effect of the natural mineral calcination due to the sunlight by adding mycelial chromothropic enzymes back to the soil. Copperdust is widely used as a stabilizer and purifying dessicant for many philtering processes that share a number of stages with the insuration requirements of most fungal poisons. Whiteworm, when it is in low-count clumps of three or less as shown in this sketch, ironicly, is the primary active synaptic blocker for 'Black Eye' with the Thornhock, naturally, being the targeting catalyst that directs it to the optic nerve. Of course it is widely used this way for many targeted toxins."

The Master hid a smile and made a "continue" flourish with his wrist.

"And...uh...it would be a...bad thing...to let such a...concentration of reagents...go unharvested?" Inoadar concluded tentatively, unsure if this was what the Master wanted.

The Master clapped once and turned to the rest of the students. "A very bad thing indeed. Now I hope the rest of you were taking some notes...So, I will be unavailable for the next few days. So you will be on your own. We will be focusing more on the Araneida types when I return, so make the most of your time now. If you need any catch up on fungals, you may want to consider asking Mr. Parnell here."

Inoadar was surprised to hear that they were finishing with the fungal course. He knew that he could come back at any time this season to brush up on texts in the library if he needed more fungal research. But, as was often the case, knowledge now became hands-on rather than book learning. And he was eager to start on spiders.

[Verilian]

. . Thread Award . . Inoadar +1 Observation +1 Poison You Question My Logic? : If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Lores: Lore of Fungal Poisons, The Proper Time to Harvest a Tree Fungus, How to detect Engeron Bane, Notes: This thread was a bit over my head, but I think it was well done, lol. Anyway, be careful about making Inoadar too much of a badass. I mean.. he got every single question right. Part of learning is getting things wrong too. Anyway, good work, and keep writing! Notice As per the request of the Founders, threads cannot be graded unless your CS is up to date. This means you need to add threads to your thread list when you make new threads, keep your skills up to date, ledger, living expenses, ect. If you aren't up to date, you'll get a PM from me before i grade your thread. If you are up to date, disregard this notice.