Wanted: Venoms Expert. Found: Complications

[Elloria]

Josk practically licked his lips as Taured held up the vial filled with what the mage now considered “his” new toy. It was as beautiful as a newly bloomed rose. The purple liquid seemed to glisten in the sunlight, pregnant with the promise of a death that was glorious and terrible. Josk’s hand moved slowly towards the vial as if he could not believe he was about to receive such a wonderful present – indeed, as if there was nothing more perfect that he had ever seen in his life. “So beautiful,” he murmured, almost too quietly for anyone to hear. His fingers were less than an inch from the bottle when that thrice-damned, arrogant son of feral dog spoke up.

“You know, Josk. That venom has been thoroughly tested back in Empire Nirvana, I could simply tell you-”

As the humanoid spoke, Josk turned his head to look at it. There were no words to properly describe the glare that he leveled the humanoid with. It was arctic, yet fiery and filled with a quiet assurance that if one more word passed through the humanoid’s lips, Josk would readily and happily rip its tongue out. There was a very brief pause in which Baldur stared incredulously at the mage and Taured seemed to hesitate, but it quickly ended when the humanoid wisely chose to not continue its first line of thought. The mage turned back to Taured as the Rider spoke once more.

“I hope this shall be enough. I was told that a single drop was potent enough to do enough damage to result in death. I could always acquire more if you need it.”

Josk’s eyes widened slightly as he finally took the vial from the Rider. There was more to be acquired of this incredibly powerful venom? His fingers gently stroked the vial. So much to do, so many tests to run…

“I’m hoping for a cure, if that is at all possible with the venom’s properties.”

Damn moralists. He really should have seen it coming, especially since it was the Riders asking. Of course they wanted a cure. Wouldn’t want anyone to suffer catastrophic death and all, now would we? The mage gave an internal sigh. And here he was hoping he could experiment on it and just keep the thought of an antidote to himself – one never put all of one’s cards on the table, after all. But if the Riders were asking for a solution, Josk would be hard-pressed to keep it from them should he discover an antidote. Then again…did Nirvanians already have a cure? It was a risk, but he had to know. What was the point of getting a new toy if someone else had already figured out all the quirks to it? As he stared at the vial that was lovingly cupped in his hands, he said, “Baldur…you say this venom has been extensively tested in your homeland. Has anyone ever developed an antidote?”

[Amur]

Ace’s eyes widened as this Taured-guy told him that he had defeated Master Hunter Latro in combat. As Baldur had already told Ace that simply surviving an encounter with a Hunter was a feat worth recognition then surely actually beating a Hunter was a step up from that. Ace wasn’t entirely sure how he should show recognition of such an accomplishment.

“Yew BEET a Hunter!?”
Ace asked, awestruck. Looking over to Baldur, who, to his surprised was giving this Taured-guy an almost quizzical look; Ace had seen that look many times before and already knew what was coming.

“Wait, you bested the Hunter in combat and didn’t kill-”
Ace wasn’t about to give Baldur the chance to finish what he had to say.

“Bruder, schloss oben! Nicht jedes Problem kann gelöst werden, indem man ihn tötet! Ich bin sicher, dass er seine Gründe hatte.”
He said sharply, drawing an incredulous look from Baldur in response. Who, after a moment of silence simply dropped what he was going to say and continued just standing in silence instead of opting to respond. Ace smiled gently and sat back.
---

Baldur couldn’t quite understand what was happening now; he had meant to ask a perfectly reasonable question. That being why Taured had not killed Master Hunter Latro upon defeating him, it likely would have saved both him and Ace a great deal of trouble. But Ace wasn’t going to let Baldur ask his question, he had already told Ace that the only solution to a Hunter causing problems was to kill it.

Why was Ace forgetting that?

He cast a very brief glance to the dragon: Varden and then back to Ace... Of course, the answer was likely a very simple one.

His attention was soon drawn back to Josk as he asked Baldur if anyone within Empire Nirvana had ever managed to create an antidote to Wyvern venom... So, now he wanted Baldur’s input? For one very brief moment he considered not saying anything, after all, Josk so very clearly wanted to the opportunity to discover everything about the venom for himself.

Nevertheless, Baldur simply shook his head and maintained his straight face.

“Why would they? Survival rates of Wyvern encounters are abysmally low to begin with, and to most sentient beings the sting is far too big to actually deliver the venom anyway, so the venom is actually the least threatening part of the Wyvern. On the rare occasion the cause of death is down to Wyvern venom, there would be no opportunity to administer an antidote anyway, Wyverns are highly aggressive creatures and seldom give up the chase once it has started. Most survivors are simply lucky that the Wyvern was more interested in devouring the fallen as opposed to chasing them, for it is the only reason they escaped with their lives.”
He stated flatly, believing that to be a sufficient explanation as to why an antidote, or cure for Wyvern venom had never been developed, based on how impractical the whole idea surrounding the antidote was.

[Mali]

Taured was about to answer that he didn’t duel to kill when Ace interrupted in their foreign tongue. He wondered if he should even answer it now. He knew what Baldur was asking, it was the same thing that the hunters had asked him back when he killed Alma. But then again, it was in part because Solomon was supposed to be dead that they asked. However, why did Baldur care that he hadn’t killed Solomon?

Taured listened as Josk asked Baldur if there was a cure already. He was shocked to hear that Josk would want to know. When Baldur had offered to tell Josk the properties of the venom, Josk had sent a glare in his direction. If he was so adamant about finding out the properties for himself, then why would he ask about a possible antidote?

Of course, Baldur explained that there wasn’t a cure that he been discovered so far. He explained that most didn’t survive the attack and those that did die during the hunt. It explained a lot to Taured and Varden. It sounded like feral dragons in Alagaesia, to an extent. They were also territorial beings when it came to protecting their territory. However, they weren’t considered as dangerous since they were lacking venom and could speak mentally to those attacking or trespassing.

However, Taured was pleased that there hadn’t been an antidote already created. He didn’t know why, as it would make things much easier to have an antidote now, but he was glad to have required Josk’s services. He suspected that an antidote would take a long time as Josk would have to find out all the properties first, but it was worth the wait.

Moving over to Varden’s sack, he pulled out an enchantment that he had made in advance. It served as a guide for messenger hawks. Once attached to the messenger hawk, it would find the rider pair wherever they were in Alagaesia and would also be able to find its way back to Josk’s residence in Ellesmera. Walking over to Josk, he handed him the enchantment.

“Any interesting traits you find about the venom, I would like to be notified. Attach this to a messenger hawk and it will find its way to me.” that was about all that he could do. Hopefully, Josk would contact him when he found something interesting. But then again, Josk didn’t seem like the type to share information so easily.

[/blockquote][/blockquote]