realmofstories | [Open] A poisonous feast

A low grunt. Yep.

He moved a hand, down to a pouch hanging off his belt, pulling out something wrapped up well. The one thing he'd kept a hold of, maybe a little smaller than when he'd initially picked it up. "Meat coated with it do well enough?" What he'd had on hand at the moment, he'd consumed all of the fruits and vegetable he'd sampled from. "I can go hunt down others as well," he had the scent and could pick them out easily enough.

"Before the scent was solid I had to eat some of what carried the scent to be sure it was that and not coming from something else."

"I'm glad-- I've tagged each one with the name of the victim and as close of a time I could get from anyone of when they ate the foodstuff and bought it, and which stalls they visited to buy them from. Can't say how accurate it all is, but it's better than nothing. I got some paper you can use to mark down any findings you have if you need them."

Pulling out a scroll, Dojima unfurled it carefully, showing Naomi.

"I drew out a map of the market stalls and started putting in the locations the foodstuffs were bought from. As you can see, it's all random; it's not localized to a particular stall, or producer. Pretty good evidence that it's outside contamination and not something inherent to someone's field, like it being enchanted or cursed."

At her question... Dojima sighed, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Right. I'm... trying to be objective about this. I have to be. But..."

The frustration was obvious on his face. Palpable. If Adachi appeared infront of him at this moment, there would be no restraint.

"He said he was the 'Fairest' Queen. I didn't mention that on the journal post because although I could tell he was dressed up for the role, considering he wasn't the type to wear dresses-- He could've easily lied. After all, he lied about plenty before."

So many things. Too many things.

"I wanted to go by information I could confirm, not theories." She'd understand, right? The need to be thorough and not jump to conclusions...

"I do read bedtime stories to Nanako; one of them was Snow White, so I knew that was the likely candidate, but I couldn't risk it being anyone else... I asked the Librarians for every book that had an notable queen in it, especially if they were vain, or powerful. The Snow Queen, the White Witch, the Queen of Hearts, the White and Red Queens from Through the Looking Glass, Titania the fairy queen, Queen Goddesses of different Mythologies... "

Rolling his map up again, Dojima rubbed his temples, feeling the strain on his eyes get worse, all of a sudden.

"But with this poisoning, putting people to sleep? Into a coma? I'm positive it's Adachi, and he's the 'Evil Queen' from Snow White, or whatever odd variation there could be."

[ Crane would soon see Dojima on a white horse, armored up with a dog running beside him. Like he'd just been waiting for this information and was fully prepared.

But a decent distance from the Castle, Dojima slowed, leading his horse into the woods. A good time to swing by and make a battle plan, or whatever kind it was going to be. ]

[ He's still flying around the castle, he easily spots him riding up, and swoops down to meet him, dodging branches and trees as he landed. ]

Dojima?

Watching him, she raised an eyebrow at what he drew from his belt, but her second brow rose when he mentioned it was meat. "Yes. That will work." Tainted meat would be a great source - she could see how the poison responded to heat after she collected the information she required too.

"I see... That's one method to improve your tracking ability I suppose. Still, if it serves its purpose." Accepting the wrapped meat, she nodded. "I may not require as many samples so you can bring back a few, but try to dispose of the rest. We don't need anymore victims."

Shoulders shrugged. "Has a certain taste to it, very faint. Stronger than the smell at times. Does the same whenever I eat various things that could be used for... this." Brewing and what not, so easiest way to make for certain and- well. If he could get a taste the smell was easier to identify, strangely. Even for things he could pick up on the scent of far more easily. Best way he knew how to explain that one.

76 nodded. "Been doing that once I identify a stall selling the stuff, as unhappy as that makes them." He at least paid for the bit he'd eaten, even if that wasn't much when he threw in a few other bits of gold. He hunted and foraged most of his food and supplies, he could afford it.

"Hm... I'll have to keep that in mind..." Especially for any future projects. What a strange world this continued to be...

"And here I would think they would value having their customers be able to return. Then again, it's not often you come across merchants in fairytales thinking about the long term. The typical story length doesn't permit that..." What a time to have a daughter; really the only reason she had that refresher. "I'll give you some more gold to use so you're not spending all of your own."

"Feel free to." He'd at least come around, and it would probably be better than him basically pawning things off when he came across various plants and the like in the forest. Sure he gathered things for himself, but it wasn't as if he could do anything other than eat them or use them for cooking food.

A low hum, because it wasn't wrong- "A few were happy to comply, some were just annoyed," and others were more irritated with bein inconvenienced and he didn't bother giving them more gold than the piece for the fruit or vegetable he'd eaten. "If you want to part with any, sure."

She'd be able to reward him with other things that pawning away might not be able to.

"Hm, hooray for the few," she blandly cheered, shaking her head still. Walking over to her counter, she briefly disappeared behind it, but came back with a small pouch. "I don't know how many stands you've already gone to, but this should cover at least inspecting the rest. You can keep whatever's left or return it - I just want to avoid having more people poisoned."

Accepting all the evidence, Naomi nodded. The labeling would help her determine just how deadly the poison was - how long it took until it progressed to the number of bites someone may have taken. Yes, she could work out the dosage to lethality already. As for the map, it did appear random - though, she wouldn't be surprised if upon closer investigation, that more frequented stalls would have more poison spread throughout its products.

Standing straight, she crossed her arms and sighed.

"I believe you are correct. I've read Snow White a few times to Alyssa now - the only queen that would mentioned being the 'fairest' was the Evil Queen. She asked that frequently of her Magic Mirror and attempted to kill Snow White when the girl became the 'fairest' by the Mirror's words."

[Try as she might, Karkat doesn't stir when she nudges him. In fact, all he really does is groan and curl up further on himself, but he doesn't awaken.]

[It's probably hard to tell if he looks ok due to his grey skin. But one could argue he looks a little paler, and it looks like he's been sweating.]

Stomach aches seem to be a common side-effect, as well as turning green. I'm not sure about the green part, but I've been mixing some teas and potions to help with stomach aches for those who need it.

And it looks like some people seem to be succumbing to paralysis if they haven't passed out.

"That I can manage." Symptom management was basically like first response, wasn't it? Keeping people stable until proper medical help could be given. Ana was more than capable of doing that.

"Hold my breath?"

"Good." Pretty much - more nursing than first response; they weren't going out.

"Yes... I'm the Sea Witch. Brewing potions doesn't happen on land for me."

"I see..." So, that would explain the question about holding her breath.

"I'm afraid I can't hold my breath for very long. But if you can tolerate it, my Essence has allowed me some knowledge of brewing potions on land."

"I'm sure we could work in tandem with you on land and myself in the grotto. We could prepare enough to have this cleared up sooner."

It was only a matter of getting the brew perfected.

Has anyone tried an emetic or charcoal? Works on pirates.

There was a brief snort, and it sounded almost amused. Hooray, blandly spoken, indeed.

The pouch was taken carefully, adding it to one of the spare satchels attached to his belt. "I'll return it, not hurting for gold." He barely spent what he got as rewards for the campaigns lately. "Anything in particular you want me to keep an eye out for? Other than the obvious."

[Her face makes it pretty clear she's having none of that "sit and wait until the coast is clear" business. She isn't mad at him for suggesting it, of course! She knows he's coming from love. But that doesn't mean she's going to stay back while he goes ahead.]

Eugene, you've seen what's been happening all around the Index. [She's walking on as she talks.] I am not letting any more time go by before he's stopped.

He breathes out in relief when she says that, smiling some. "Well, you can take all of this, and I can keep bringing more of anything you need," he assures her. "I'm just glad I can help."

[He knew she would be like this, and there's always the usual push and pull before he eventually relents. This time, however, he's going to be more adamant.]

And I'm not making you do that. All I want is to make sure there aren't any guards hidden somewhere on our way there and just make sure we're heading in the right direction, that's all. This place is huge, and while my best guess is that he's in the throne room, it can't hurt to be careful—especially when this isn't even our own world and we're still figuring out everything about this place.

[He then lightly takes her hands into his, his face sincere.]

Five minutes—no three. Just give me that much time to make sure things are clear and I won't stop you anymore from here on out. [A light grin.] I'll even let you lead the charge and get the first hit in.

[Just as she thought; she'd need to do something drastic to wake him up. And, given that he seemed to be put to sleep by eating fruit, did that she mean...she would have to...]

"J-Junpei, are you sure you're not playing a prank...?"

[Her face was already going red at the mere thought of potentially having to kiss him. She gave him another shake, partially to stall. She'd never kissed anyone!]

"...b-but maybe this wouldn't count...?"

[ No response. His head fell back as she shook him, drool starting to drip from his mouth.

If he was pulling a prank, he was really keeping the act up well... ]

Ngh...

G-gh---Huh?!

[ Junpei's eyes went wide, and he sprang up-- well, sat up, hand reaching around, looking for something-- ]

S-shit, evoker!! Where's my evo---

[ And then, a pause. He felt dizzy and a bit sick, but not like he did when he first got Hermes. And it wasn't dark at all, and... ]

[ ...Who the heck was this dude? ]

... Uh...

[ He lifted his hand, pointing at the his new guest, but couldn't quite think of what to ask. Give him a moment. He still looked pretty pale. ]

"Guh!"

[ Junpei quickly dropped the apple, turning to look back at the... man? Man-beast? The dude? ]

... A-ah, thanks dude. Uh...

[ He didn't want to impose, but with his new 'quirk'... ]

Do you ... think you could help me pick out the non-poisonous stuff? My essence changed recently, and I'm wondering if it's affecting things...

Edited 2020-10-21 04:42 (UTC)

[Open] A poisonous feast

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