Completed Off The Leash

[Inoadar]

30th day of Summer, 513

There was something missing. The dried, powdered fungal mycelium had reacted as it should, temporarily inhibiting the natural blocking characteristics of the cell walls to allow the catalyst to invade and bead up the cytoplasm and replace it with whatever corrupting toxin he wanted to mix in. This was something on a deep level of effect. This was something that might not only 'sicken' something, but actually 'alter' it.

But it wasn't working. Every toxin he tried to blend in was met by the same inhibiting factor that should have been fully spent in creating its effect on the cell walls. He knew from his readings that there was a very limited number of toxins that were able to bypass this hindrance. And for what it was worth, after every failure he was able to "put the stew in the pot" and recover a large portion of the pure toxin.

This was an expression he liked to use to describe the spinner that had a gear apparatus that generated a high rate of spin able to separate mixtures into layers of individual liquid by their "weight", the heavier liquids settling at the very bottom of the vial, the lightest settling at the top.

Still, he was on the verge of something here, but it was eluding him. He took a deep breath and set aside his pride. He had just purchased some books and one of them was about fungi to avoid. This was, in effect, a book on fungal based toxins, though it was veiled as a "How-to" book, but in reverse. 'A 'How-NOT-to' book' he sneered to himself. It was a good comparative reference book in conjunction with the pure "Fungal Toxins and Their Sources by Region" textbook at the IHL.

He knew the fungal paste he had processed was correct, but he had simply forgotten which poison it was used to process. He went to the back room and pulled his book from the shelf and began leafing through it. As if to compound his frustration, the door to the shop opened and a man walked in. He was somewhat dark of skin and had his hair cut evenly and uniformly short over the entirety of his head. Had Inoadar not been preoccupied he might have noticed his excessively long nails and the slightly vertical pupils. His smooth stride could have just been chalked up to his highly athletic build.

Had he not been so preoccupied he might also have noted the hateful fury that set in this visitor's eyes as he recognized the man that had tormented his friend Cawleena, the Klevic woman, at the research institute nearly a season ago.

"I'll be right there. Just make yourself comfortable." Inoadar called from the back room, the beaker of fungal paste still in his hand, the smell of dry leaves following with it.

"I intend to..." a voice answered, a voice low with threat, deep with conviction, and passionate with anticipation.

Alarms exploded across Inoadar's consciousness as an odd violet glow shone in a square on the far wall, generated by the same light shining in the front room and being allowed to glare only through the customer cut-out counter space in the wall separating the front room from the back. He looked up in instinctive hatred of a presence that was clearly hostile and saw loose clothes on a chair, shoes on the floor and a black panther leaping to regather its springing balance from its new position in the cut out.

"Petching Kelvic Punk!" he snarled, feeling the weakness in his leg betray him as he tried to transfer weight onto it for attack balance.

[Inoadar]

Instead he dove off his other leg, under the pounce of the big cat. He was more dismayed by dropping the beaker with the processed mushroom serum than he was with the prospect of being attacked. He rolled to his desk and hurled his rolling desk chair back towards the panther. After over-jumping the poisoner, it had stemmed its momentum and was turning to renew its attack. The chair slammed into its head, its inertia bolstered by Inoadar's added push with his feet.

Inoadar scrambled to his feet and made a mad but clumsy hopping dash for the coat tree, where his mail shirt was hanging. He could hear the scraping of claws trying to gain purchase on the stone floor behind him. There was the tinkle of glass and the cat's scream/roar of pain. Inoadar pulled the mail shirt to him, upending the entire tree, which spun around him with the centrifugal force, gaining him additional seconds as the Kelvic attacker sidestepped it.

The tree clattered to the floor as Inoadar opened the mail shirt like a net as the cat leaped at his chest. Claws punched through the links to scratch him, but did not tear through and Inoadar pushed back, wrapping his arms, and the mail shirt around the upper portion of the cat and slamming it backwards onto the floor with his full weight on it.

The mail shirt was of magical light weight nature, and with the rush of life-and-death adrenaline surging through his veins, Inoadar was able to roll over, bringing the "netted" cat with him to bash and crush him against the floor again. But the cat squirmed, as only a cat can and got its rear claws in position to tear at Inoadar's hip. It kicked several times, bringing cloth skin and blood with its effort as Inoadar tried to adjust his hold to avoid being mauled further.

This time he managed to get his feet under him and lifted the cat, still caught in the tight hold of the wrapped mail, to its back feet. As long as the cat was using its back feet for balance, it couldn't really claw him with them. But it was too strong. As Inoadar got it "walked" toward the front room, it tore its way loose from the shirt and backpedaled to bunch up for another leap.

Inoadar thought about how he'd killed a wolf up close and personal with his dagger and knew it was maybe ten feet away, so he tossed the mail shirt like a gladiator's net and tried to turn and run, but his foot slipped on his own blood and he fell face first into the back room well short of his dagger.

He spun on the floor getting his feet tucked up, anticipating having to kick the panther over himself, when he was surprised to see the big cat still standing in a semi-crouch in the front room, twitching and shaking its head in some sort of confusion.

He remembered that the cat had broken the beaker he was working on, but he knew it was an incomplete mixture and should have no effect...'or was it?'

[Inoadar]

The big cat was obscured by a blinding flash, but the light lingered abnormally and it was still a cat when it faded. But it had a strangely hairless look and its face had unsettlingly human characteristics to it. The eyes with the round irises and pupils, the ears on the sides, and not so pointed.

Inoadar watched, fascinated, as the figure went through another incomplete metamorphosis. The tail was decidedly flesh-toned, and was no longer than the human-like legs. The thing walked over and tried to pick up its discarded clothes, but its hands were still paws. It stared at them calmly, shook its head and sat down in one of the chairs, simply pulling the clothes across its lap.

Light again bubbled across its features and now the reverse kneed legs prompted it to sit up in a very domestic cat-like style, though it easily weighed two hundred pounds. Its chest continued to show rippling fur growth which waxed and waned with the passing seconds.

Inoadar looked outside at the sounds of commotion. There was a squad of three Ebonstryfe soldiers milling around. One of them made eye contact through the window and Inoadar motioned them to come in. They burst in, immediately slapping a collar on the Kelvic, who seemed to be on the verge of passing out anyway. They threw a barrage of questions at Inoadar by way of securing the situation.

"There he is! Sir, are you alright? You look to have taken wounds. Was it this Kelvic here sir? Did he enter in cat form or human? Did you do anything to provoke him, or did he attack you outright? Are you in need of medical aid? We can accompany you to the Healing Hand if you can show your citizenship papers. There's no need. I can attest to Mr. Parnell's citizenship status. Come with us, Mr. Parnell, we will have you bandaged up and back inside two bells."

Inoadar shook off the complete rapt curiosity he felt while looking at the shifting Kelvic. "What? Wounds? This?" he said as though the deep gashes in his hip were of no concern. They started to reach for him, thinking him in some sort of shock. "No, no. I'm serious, I've had worse than this! I should show you what wolves did to my lower leg."

They paid him no mind, lifting him out to set him on a cart with the collared Kelvic, who was now sleeping. He sighed deeply, knowing the rest of the night's work would be lost, but realizing his torn hips could easily become septic if he did not have them professionally tended to. He lay back and once again appreciated the quick response and attention a citizen of Ravok received.

[Inoadar]

His treatment was quick, it was basically just scratches, however deep. And as fresh as they were, there had been no time for any infection to set in. They applied something to the torn hips that nullified a great deal of the pain, and then set to with boiling water, rags and little clippers to snip away flesh that was not going to recover. Then they smeared something to seal it off and wrapped bandages around it.

Later, back at the shop, Inoadar was surprised to find the ironic truth that the smeared substance had many similarities to the base compounds of several toxins. He supposed it was to kill the infection. But he had better things to do now than confirm that. The Kelvic's blood had dried on the floor, but not where it was mixed with the mushroom serum.

He went back to the shelf and pulled out the book he had been looking for. He was able to find the field classification for the type of mushroom that he had found growing from the trunks of trees when he'd been out on his little excursion with Irriari. It was definitely listed as one to avoid, and for all the reasons he remembered from earlier. The breakdown of cell structure and the neutralizing of the body's ability to inhibit invasions of mutagenic agents.

He thought about the order of events tonight. His various experiments with no results. His recall of the narrow band of enzymes and proteins that interacted with the cytoplasm now rendered vulnerable by the breakdown of the cell's protective properties. He'd gone to the shelf to get the book he now held. The Kelvic had entered and attacked. He'd dropped the beaker with the mushroom serum.

Thinking back, he was sure it hadn't broken when he dropped it. But it was broken now, broken and bloody. 'With Kelvic blood!' That meant something, he was sure of it. He scanned through the book, looking for some clue, and found it in the least likely attribute: the smell. The serum had smelled of dry leaves. He hadn't noticed it so strongly when he and Irriari had picked them. Though it was spring and the leaves were new and green, there was so much smell of floral stages and decay and soil and moss and whatnot that it had gone completely unnoticed at the time.

He had been researching fungal-based toxins for his enrollment at the IHL this season. That, and spider based ones, the "Araneida" family. He put those out of his mind for now. he needed to get back to the IHL and look in the book they had in the library there. He was onto something, he knew it! That Kelvic had definitely been affected by symptoms that were triggering something he'd read.

It was late now though. He would get some sleep and hit the library tomorrow. His leg was mauled, his hips torn and bandaged. He still bore numerous lacerations, old and new. He had two fingers in a cast, a welt on his head and a black eye. But he was excited. He'd never felt better!

[Inoadar]

The next day found him hurrying to the IHL with his remaining mushroom paste. Much of it had been mixed with some of the blood of the Kelvic attacker from the night before. Inoadar locked it in his niche and went into the library to find the particular recipe he'd been trying to think of.

It took him a few volumes to find it, but there it was, "Wildleash". The paste he'd made from the mushrooms he had picked with Irriari had formed the base compound which allowed the intrusion of agents of temporary cellular restructuring. It had only taken a few drops of Kelvic blood to inflict random transformation between forms for the morphing creature.

'Why, then, hadn't it worked properly?' he puzzled. He had it in the beaker and the Kelvic had broken it and cut himself. That should have mixed it with the Kelvic's blood. No, it HAD mixed it, there was some out-of-control morphing effect. There was something else, though.

He read further and found the passage where it described the pacifying effect which followed the unconsciousness. In his case, it had been jumbled. Both effects seemed to have occurred simultaneously. He was on the right track, he knew it, but there was some departure from the expected effect. He thought back to the many attempts he had made and his "recovery" of the serum with his spinner/separator. There must have been some residue from the incorrect mixtures that inhibited the proper affliction of cellular vulnerability.

Then, in ideal circumstances, the Kelvic blood would be mixed ahead of time. In his case, the mixing had come during the attack. This, plus the potentially disabling factor of inert residues must be the reason for the only partial effect. He needed to get more of the mushroom paste. His was diluted and tainted beyond salvage. But where would he get more without another wretched excursion into the wild? The Kelvic blood would be no problem.

Then it came to him. Irriari and he had split the stock of mushrooms they had gathered. He needed to find her.

[Inoadar]

He remembered her making mention of classes she also was taking at the IHL. That was fine! He was already here. He assumed they were not poisoning classes, or he would have seen her around the same area of the Institute.

He went to the Poisoning Master and asked if there was a way to find which classes she was attending. He knew such information was confidential, but it couldn't hurt to ask. He explained why he wanted to know; that it would aid him in his current work; that she had material he needed to advance his work.

The Master reminded him in a sour tone that the Institute has no obligation to provide materials and that he should have gathered more at the time. He began to go into the generally accepted tenet that learning to gather was part of the overall scope of the craft when Inoadar interrupted him. Both faces registered the shock of such brazen insolence, but he pressed on to reply that he had HAD enough for the process, but it had been ruined by the Kelvic attack the night before.

The Master's expression changed to one of sympathetic scheming. He said he would find out what he could, but in the meantime, Inoadar should make use of the time. Inoadar thanked him for his indulgence and returned to the text to see if he could find some hint as to what else may have contributed to his partial failure.

He was cross referencing to find unique properties of the one type of mushroom, when he cane across a generalization that struck a chord. In the "Fungal Toxins" glossary, there was a footnote:

A fungal mycelium is a network of threadlike filaments called hyphae. The mycelium obtains nutrients (usually from decaying organic matter) and produces the fruiting body. Often the bulk of the mycelium will be underground. According to the 503 AV text "Fungal Biology: Concepts and Connections," the mycelium of one giant fungus growing in Taldera underlies more than 1,500 acres of forest.

'Underground...' he began analyzing what this could mean, 'decaying organic matter' He had found with his experiments with the shelf fungus that it was only the very leading edge of the fungal connection to the wood that had any potency, though his sample had been poorly selected and bore no results. It was the enzymes at the leading edge that altered the wood, causing catalytic response.

Here the book indicated the mushrooms feeding off decaying matter in the ground. This sort of material would already be greatly blended with different substances, and altered by the parasites and tiny organisms that led to its decay. These mushrooms did not need a very potent enzyme to render any effective "digestion".

If he transferred that hypothesis to the mushrooms he and Irriari had taken from the tree trunk, it stood to reason that those mushrooms needed a much more potent catalyst, one that was already geared for cellular breakdown in order to attack the far more cohesive matter of patterned cellular consistency. He had not only diluted his serum with all his trials and errors, he had "confused" its catalytic approach with all the variety. He needed to mix his fresh new serum with Kelvic blood beforehand, to pre-establish the catalytic tendency needed to trigger the proper effect.

And if he could get hold of the even more pure enzyme present IN the wood at the point of fungal breach, it would be even more potent still. He needed to find Irriari and either persuade her to "donate" her sample to their shared knowledge, or go back to the woods.

[Inoadar]

The Master called Inoadar into his chamber. He told him that, for reasons he could not discuss, he could not allow him to intrude upon Irriari's focus on her studies at this time.

"I'm not going to intrude, I just want to ask her if..." Inoadar began, thinking that simply explaining his need for the mushrooms, if she was not using them, or even offering to have her gain from his research by extending his findings to her later, would not be intrusive.

"You JUST..." The Master interrupted sternly, "...need to be patient, and wait until she is finished with her current program."

Inoadar was surprised by the tone of the Master's reproach. "I'm sorry, Master, I just..." he stopped, realizing that he was just going to be repeating what he'd already been stopped from saying. "...I just...want to apologize for wasting your time. I will wait until she is available again. May I ask if there is an estimate how long she will be...occupied."

"I do not have that information." he responded woodenly.

'Ahhh. a clue.' Inoadar thought, keeping the disappointment showing on his face. He surely had the information, or he probably wouldn't have interrupted him so quickly with the talk of her 'current program.' Plus there was something about the absolute clarity of the wording that rang false. He would have expected more like an 'I don't know, it depends on what shes doing.' or a more critical 'Do you really want to make plans based on nothing more than an estimate?' Add to that the initial 'reasons I can not discuss' and you have something over and above a matter of curriculum. The only thing he was still curious about was whether the Master had deliberately dropped the clues for him.

He thanked the Master as if accepting the lack of answers and walked back toward his lab station. He looked at the shelves beyond the Master's desk and saw the text he had been using most recently sitting out of place. He walked over to place it in its proper slot. When he got there, he saw a book on the Master's desk. Oddly enough, it was text on Philtering techniques and equipment. There was a book mark in it with the letters "IRR" just visible. Inoadar looked up and saw that The Master had his back to him. He opened the book and saw that it was on a page in the section on 'Calcination' and showed a crucible.

He replaced the book mark and closed it so the "IRR" was no longer visible to casual glances. 'So, Irriari is undergoing her crucible.' he thought with a grimace. He had no idea what was involved in that. But he knew he was definitely going to have to wait to talk to her. He wished her luck.

OOC - continues here.

[Alric Wilmot]

Grades Inoadar Poison +3 Intelligence +3 Brawling +2 Herbalism +1 Investigation +1 Lores:Lore of Healing Hand, Impromptu net, Unwillingly given clues, Kelvic's blood mixed with Fungal Serum has interesting results Notes Secret : Forgive me for your lack of Lores, a lot happened and try as I might, I wasn't sure if all might be covered in one lore or not. If you have suggestions for lore I have missed and that you want, PM me. Otherwise, good thread. Please edit your post in the request thread to indicate that this has been graded.