Completed [Open] A new home

[Bethsyliss]

Oh, no... I had forgotten about the body, she thought, her hand moving to cover her mouth in a gesture of shameful guilt. The lassst thing I need right now is someone coming to sssnoop around. I've never been this tired in my entire life, and I really need to focusss so I can create the antidote. Oh, dear, he's coming up... Sssiku help me. There was a loud rap on the door. Syliss had to think fast. She had seen prostitutes around the streets in the Pillars of Dust and decided to give that route a try. It was the best she could come up with. She quickly removed her linen robes and threw them towards the bed where Ronin was using her linen cloak as a blanket. "Ssshift!" she whispered sharply to him. There was another rap on the door, even stronger this time. Syliss leaped to Ronin's backpack where the Dhani's venom glands were stored and pushed it under the bed, less to hide it than to discourage the guard from getting close to it if he happened to enter. She quickly packed the equipment she had just bought away. "Anyone in there?" a voice called. Syliss figured the person would open the door themselves anyway if she didn't, so there was no point in pretending the flat was empty. She rushed to the door in her undergarments and opened the door a crack. "What is it?" she said, trying to seem as vulgar as possible. She was faced with an armed city guard. "I'm investigating the death of a male Dhani last night. I'd like to speak with the master of the house." "The massster of the house is busy right now," she retorted, "and he's paying me good money not to be disssturbed. Come back later." "This is an urgent matter, awtol shyke. Your client can stay in bed for all I care, he just needs to answer my questions." "I said, he's busy," she repeated. "He's been with me all night, ssso whatever happened, I can asssure you he doesn't know anything about it." "Then you won't mind if I take a look," he said. "Actually, I do mind," she retorted indignantly. But the guard didn't care. He pushed Syliss aside and barged into her apartment. Syliss fervently hoped Ronin had had time to shift into human form and that he would know how to play this properly.

[Ronin Invictus]

Ronin's eyes widened as he heard the guard climbing up the stairs, followed by a loud knocking on the door. He shifted almost immediately after Bethsyliss told him to, going along with her plan. He bit his lip as he positioned himself into a sort of sitting up position on the bed, covering the wounds now screaming in pain with the movement strategically with the linen cloak he used as a blanket, making it seem like he was simply trying to preserve his privacy. As Bethsyliss conversed at the door with the guard Ronin tried to come up with a plan of action, covering anything the guard might have a question about in the room. Just then the guard pushed past Bethsyliss and into the room, Ronin tried his best to keep from grimacing and keeping a straight, although slightly irritated look on his face.

The guard seemed to breifly look around the room, looking for anything suspicious before he turned towards Ronin who stared at the Jackal as he looked around briefly. The guard then turned towards Ronin, "As you heard me say previously I am investigating the murder of a male Dhani, I am just here to ask a few questions." As the guard looked over Ronin he raised a brow slightly as he caught a glimpse of the still swollen wound on his shoulder, although it was not as bad as it used to be, the guard held that question off for now it seemed though.

"Where were you last night?" the guard began, Ronin did not hesitate with the answer.

"I was here, with her as she said." Ronin gestured towards Bethsyliss, not even sparing her a glance to try and convince the guard that she was just a prostitute. "Now obviously, I wasn't running around killing Dhani, so why are you wasting my time?" Ronin added pointedly, but the guard persisted.

The guard then gestured towards the wound on Ronin's shoulder, "How did that happen then?" Ronin was prepared for the question already as he was not able to conceal that particular wound.

"I am an alchemist, I spilled some acid on my skin early yesterday, I had to make a cut to reduce the swelling, it was much worse before." Ronin's explanation covered both his wound and the alchemical set that was in plain sight, not something a normal person would have. The guard seemed slightly startled by Ronin's explanation, but then he nodded slightly.

"Well, it seems there isn't anything going on here," the guard said, "But before I leave did you happen to see anything out of the ordinary recently, anything at all? Even the smallest detail could help solve this."

Ronin shook his head, "As I said I was here all night." Ronin added irritably. The guard nodded slightly then.

"I will let you two get on to your business then." the guard added, before turning and walking out the door. Ronin waited a few minutes after he left, before slumping down on the bed again. Shifting had taken a great deal of energy which he could not afford to lose at the moment. The wounds on his stomach seemed to reopen with movement, although the makeshift bandages seemed to be holding the warm liquid at bay for now. The pain had returned with a vengeance and Ronin remained still once more to avoid irritating the wounds further.

[Bethsyliss]

Syliss held her breath for a couple of minutes after the guard had departed, her anxiety wavering as the possibility of danger faded away, then slammed the door shut and burst into explosive laughter. Her terror had turned into gleeful joy with the realization that her plan had worked out quite well. "You're no alchemissst!" she accused playfully, before remembering her task remained unfinished and she had to eliminate the poison from Ronin's body before she could really rest. She concentrated hard to remember the procedure. I've got this, she said to herself, perhaps to reassure herself more than anything. Since the incident in 422, all vipersss in the nest were inoculated against viper poison to prevent such thingsss from happening again. I was only sssix yearsss old but I ssstill remember how it'sss done... She deployed her instruments near the brazier, started a fire with the coal she had purchased and went to work. First, she had to extract venom from the source of the infection. Her mother had taught her the method decades ago, when she passed her knowledge of the basics of poison crafting on to her. Syliss filled a metal container with some water and set it on the fire. She waited for it to boil, then threw in the two Dhani venom glands. After several minutes, she squeezed the glands with a pair of tweezers to get the remainder out of them and removed them from the boiling container, disposing of them in one of the refuse bags provided with the kits. She waited some more for the water to evaporate with all the impurities it had drawn from the glands, leaving only a layer of thick venom paste. She removed the container from the brazier and almost singed herself in the process. She got up, said, "Would you hand me back my robesss, please?" and dressed herself before going back to work. The venom in the metal container gave off a pungent odor of rot which caused Syliss to wrinkle her nose. With a spoon, she collected the concentrated venom into a test-tube. She carefully poured in water to dilute the yellowish substance and agitated it thoroughly. Then she removed the stopped, threw her head backwards, and swallowed the foul mixture in one gulp. Now I've only got to wait a few minutesss, she thought, stifling a nervous fit of trembling. Since my body has long been inoculated againssst all viper toxinsss, it already knows how to defend itssself and will quickly produce neutralizersss to get rid of the venom, recognizing its nature. I'll only need to passs these neutralizers on to Ronin and he'll be fine, in the processs making himssself immune to viper infectionsss forever. After a few difficult moments during which she had forced herself not to vomit, which would have prevented her body from producing what she called neutralizers by dealing with the poison anatomically, she decided it was time to transfer these neutralizers. For an instant she felt slightly faint and nauseous, but that quickly faded as her body fended off the infectious particles. She took a lancet from the appraisal kit and moved over to the bed where Ronin lay, on the other side of the room. She did not know of a way to chemically isolate the neutralizers -- she was a poisoner, after all, not an alchemist, and it was only her knowledge of the mechanisms of immunity which allowed her to devise this course of action. "Let'sss hope I'm not giving you anything elssse," she whispered gently, then pricked her little finger with the metal lancet and let out a gasp of pain. She placed her bleeding finger over the wound on Ronin's shoulder; it had reopened slightly because of the ginger root he had ingested. Syliss's blood poured in drops into the sting, entering Ronin's body. She felt slightly dizzy and paled a little, but remained in her position until her blood clotted and her finger stopped bleeding. "There we go. You'll be alright now," she sighed with apparent relief. It was over. She still had to monitor his condition to see if his health did improve and make sure he didn't contract yet another infection from Syliss's blood donation, but she hadn't been ill for months and it was unlikely she had picked up a disease during their journey across the lifeless desert of Eyktol, so she was confident it would turn out well. His wounds would finally be able to close properly, since he wouldn't be on anticoagulants anymore, and he'd heal nicely. She smiled finally and hugged the man whose life she had endangered and saved, then blushed furiously and pulled back, remembering he was not wearing anything else than her cloak to cover the more intimate parts of his male anatomy.

[Ronin Invictus]

Ronin chuckled slightly at Bethsyliss' joke, relieved himself after the guard had left. Ronin then watched with interest as Bethsyliss started making the antidote. He didn't quite understand what she was doing but nonetheless he watched with interest from where he laid on the bed. Ronin wrinkled his nose as the container that contained the venom let out a pungent rotting smell that permeated the room for a few moments. Bethsyliss then collected the venom in a test tube, diluting it with water. When she drank it in one gulp Ronin was quite surprised raising his brow slightly in surprise. He did not expect that to be part of the process.

Ronin stayed still although when she held up her pricked finger to his wound, trusting her process, whatever it was. Once she was finished she seemed to be visibly relieved, and in turn Ronin felt relieved, she then smiled, quickly hugging him, but pulling back abruptly, blushing. Ronin then realized he had no clothes on besides the makeshift blanket covering him, which could be the source of Bethsyliss' embarrassment. As Ronin watched her blush, he suddenly pulled her back closer to him, kissing her quickly as he realized how beautiful he actually thought she was. His underlying thoughts masked previously by the fear that she had just took him through the desert with him because he had paid her five hundred mizas, and maybe that was a big part of the reason why she did, but he didn't pay her to help him after he was bitten by the Dhani.

Ronin pulled back then, and stared at Bethsyliss for a few long moments. In those few moments, he realized how stupid he was. She was not expecting it, who knew how she would react.

ooc: awkward... o.o

[Elira]

XP Award!

Ronin Invictus

XP Award:

• Acting +1
• Running +1
• Unarmed Combat +1

Lore:

• Ahnatep: Oasis in the Desert
• Slaves Can't Count Past Twenty
• Ronin One, Dhani None
• Side-Effects of Anticoagulants

Losses:

• -500 GM paid to Bethsyliss for getting you out of the desert.

Notes: Thanks for letting me grade your thread. If you have any questions or concerns with any XP or lore that I gave you, let me know and I'll be happy to take a look at it.

Please mark your thread as graded so it can be deleted by someone with powers far greater than mine.

Bethsyliss

If you bring your PC out of retirement, let me know and I'll add your grade here.
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