Atlantic Roleplay Community Boards

[Dharzhal]

---

Dharzhal searched through the vast array of colorful vials filled with liquids, powers and crystals that lined the tables and shelves of his laboratory. He was looking for two in particular. It had been what seemed ages since he had seen them, or even thought about them, but this morning's meeting with Matron Kal'iksix revived his need for them. They would serve as the basis for a new, perhaps even more powerful, batch of poison.

He had earlier perused his journals to find a very old entry, to refresh his memory on what he had accomplished with the poison in aiding Lord Thrax to assume control of Papua...

*Excerpt from a Journal*

'The toxin has been completed, and was tested successfully upon several hapless peasants. It works on humans at least, perhaps other races as well.

I destroyed the notes I made in creating it; I see no need for any more of it to be made. It is a vile thing and I take no real pride in what I have done. Still, the amount I made was small, barely enough to fill one potion bottle.

I spent many long days perfecting it, refining it, bit by bit, until it does what Thrax wants it to do. One small taste is enough to set in motion the condition, irreversible, unless a proper amount of the cure is administered. Once imbibed, in any form, whether liquid or solid (as it is crystalline in original form), the victim, after some initial nausea, will feel mild euphoria. This will pass within hours, for as it spreads throughout the body, the victim's muscles will begin to contract, albeit very slowly, causing mild discomfort at first. Within a week or so, the pain will become unbearable and even if numbed by the strongest liquor, will incapacitate the strongest man, due to the severe constriction of muscle tissues. Outwardly, on the body, there is no visible sign of illness, no discoloration, hair loss, or such things. The only obvious symptom will be spasms of pain that shall cause the victim to tremble violently and cry out. There may be some vomiting accompanying these seizures. This will grow worse day by day, and, unless the cure is given in sufficient dosage, the victim will die an agonizingly painful death in less than a month. Even death and subsequent resurrection of the body shall not provide a cure. The toxin will return to crystalline form in the corpse, and if it is revived, blood flow will activate it once again.

The cure was even more difficult to create. I spent the very last reagents Streea had brought back with us from Har'oloth on it, to make sure it would work. It will take a considerable amount of it, imbibed all at once, to effect a complete cure, that is, a small amount will ease the symptoms for a while, providing temporary relief, but it will not be permanent. Only the proper dosage will neutralize the toxin entirely. I have made a greater quantity of the cure than of the toxin, naturally... '

If he had enough of it left, he could easily replicate it since the recipe for it was not written down. The recipe for the cure was, but was not published anywhere. All he needed was to make more of it; a new batch, even more lethal than the original.

Eventually he found what he was looking for. The residue in the vial had crystallized; the liquid long ago evaporated, leaving a thin film of crystals lining the tube. He shook it gently to loose them, unstopped the cork sealing the tube, and sniffed the air above the open end briefly. "Still potent; still deadly," he remarked.

It took him longer to find the vial holding a sample of the cure. There was more of that, thankfully, in case mistakes were made in the processing of the new batch.

Placing them within the security of a locked and warded casket, he set about for his next task: a journey into the untold and myriad dangers of the Underdark.