(The Stormhold Salves) More To Learn Than Antidotes

by **Suresslynn** on August 30th, 2014, 6:11 am

77th of summer, 514

Suresslynn grinned as she walked into the shop again, looking to spending another day working on antidotes with Sahfri. The Dhani enjoyed working on mixing antidotes, though she did prefer making poisons. Unfortunately, with Syliras looking down on such a pragmatic and useful solution to problems, she was stuck with mixing antidotes for the venom of the local serpentry.

As she stepped into the shop, the Dhani was somewhat surprised to see that there wasn't anything set out for mixing antidotes in the shop. "Hello, Suresslynn. I'll be needing your help with something other than the antidotes this morning. Plus, it'll help you identify herbs by something other than the way they look or smell, which will help us both." Sahfri said, taking down a few different herb containers and setting down a large basket of herbs. "This," she said, holding up an aromatic herb with round leaves, "is Batonal, which normally used for cooking, but it sometimes used for internal discomfort. With me so far?" she said, smiling slightly at the viper.

"Of course, ma'am. The nice smelling round leafed one is called Batonal. I couldn't spell that if my fangs depended on it, but I know the name now." she said, smiling slightly. When the Eypharian merely smiled and held up a bottle with a name tag, the Dhani gave a stab at reading the label but ultimately smiled and shook her head. " I'm not good with common writing, but I can at least tell it apart from other words." she said, smiling slightly.

Sahfri chuckled and shook her head, then set the boxes she gotten before Suresslynn and standing up to deal with some other things in the shop that needed to be dealt with. "You sort out the Batonal and put it away. Once you get done with that, come get me and I'll start you on antidotes again for a while, though I think we've got enough copperhead to get by." she said, smiling again.

Suresslynn simply nodded and sat down in front of the boxes of herbs. "All right, ma'am. I'll do my best." she said, taking a leaf she knew to Batonal and setting it aside before pulling out herbs one by one. Most of the time she was easily able to pick out Batonal, but every so often she'd find one that she wasn't entirely certain about and compare it to the Batonal she had set aside. Usually she'd find that they were matches and she'd add them to the pile, but occasionally she'd have to set aside one that wasn't what she was looking for.

by **Suresslynn** on August 30th, 2014, 3:26 pm

After a bell had passed working with the herbs, Suresslynn had finally gotten all the Batonal sorted into its boxes, and with direction from Sahfri, had gotten everything put away except for the big box of herbs. "All right, Suresslynn, we've gotten a request for cottonmouth antivenom now. They sometimes show up around the rivers around her during springtime, but occasionally we get them during the summer. It's not as bad as the copperheads by a long shot, but apparently, there's been a few bites." she said, setting out the mixes for cottonmouth antivenom and showing Suresslynn how to mix it.

Suresslynn paused to consider this new job, then laughed slightly as she started working. "You know, about the only way this would be weirder is if I started mixing antivenom for my own venom." the viper said as she set aside the first vial of antivenom. Sahfri merely smiled and started working on the herbs while Suresslynn made some more antivenom.

After some time on this, Suresslynn cocked her head to the side in thought as something occurred to her. "There hasn't been anyone come in to buy anything yet. Is this just a slow day or is something going on today?" she asked, not daring to turn away from her mix to face Sahfri, in case she accidentally messed up and turned the mixture purple or something and made it into something dangerous.

At her question, Sahfri started laughing with genuine amusement, to the point where it took the Eypharian woman a few moments to calm down. "Suresslynn, there were four customers in here when you were working on the herbs for me, and there's been another two since I had you start on the antivenom for the cottonmouths. You've been so focused on your work you haven't noticed them, which I appreciate to an extent, but do try to pay attention to whats going on around you while you work." the four armed woman said with some amusement as she kept at sorting herbs.

Suresslynn blushed with embarrassment at that particular revelation, surprised that six people had come and gone while she worked without her even noticing. Resolving to try and pay attention more to the people around her, Suresslynn got back to work on the antivenom. When the next customer came in, she was able to overhear him asking Sahfri for an herb called "Gigar" for something to do with babies, but Suresslynn didn't pay quite that much attention to the conversation. Pleased with herself for having noticed that customer, Suresslynn got so absorbed in her work again that she failed to notice the next customer until Sahfri tapped her on the shoulder and asked for a bottle of the cottonmouth antivenom. Handing it over to the other Ekytolian woman, Suresslynn turned back and blushed with shame again as she realized that she still had a lot of work to do on paying attention while she worked.

by **Suresslynn** on August 30th, 2014, 4:54 pm

It was midday and the Stormhold Salves had done a brisk business throughout the morning, with Suresslynn even managing to mostly notice when a customer came in. However, by this point, the Dhani was surprisingly hungry and was wondering what to do about it. She herself had never worked at a shop before and wasn't sure about the etiquette regarding such things, nor was she going to ask Sahfri if she could wander off to go hunting, not when it could take her a while to find a decent meal.

However, a few chimes after the midday bell, the Eypharian woman let a noise of mixed frustration and surprise. "Mice. We have mice in the shop. Well, I've got something to deal with them..." Sahfri said quietly as she walked over to the few herbs to start mixing something to poison the mice. Before she could get started on that though, Suresslynn stood up.

"I'll handle them, ma'am. I was getting hungry anyway, and I might be able to find where they're coming from so that we can stop up their hole." she said cheerfully.

Sahfri stopped and considered Suresslynn a moment before nodding. "That works out. Go somewhere out of sight to change though. I don't want a customer walking while you're naked. And do be careful while you're slithering about my herbs." she said, her tone pleased with the Dhani, who simply grinned and stepped to a place out of sight to take off her clothes and strip.

Less than a chime later, a nine foot long black snake slithered out of the corner and over to Sahfri. "So that's what you look like as a snake...don't go biting me now, I don't think I have an antivenom on hand for you." she said jokingly as she picked Suresslynn up and set her where she had found the mouse.

Once she was where she needed to be, Suresslynn started slithering through the herbs, careful not to let out a hiss and disturb her prey. It wasn't long before she found the mouse, and one quick strike later she had the furry rodent dead in her mouth. Opening her jaw, she started swallowing her meal, which took her about a chime before she started looking for another mouse or at least the place where the mouse had gotten into the shop, trying to follow the scent back to where it had come from.

For almost half a bell, the snake slithered through the herbs, occasionally letting out a hiss to let Sahfri know where she was among her herbs so that the woman didn't grab her unawares, though she was careful to keep quiet when she heard a customer come into the shop so she didn't cause unnecessary problems because people held foolish and uneducated superstitions and suspicions about snakes. Eventually, the viper found the hole where the mouse had come from and stuck her head into the hole, earning her a surprised squeak and a mouse paw to the snout, which smarted a bit but really only served to give the sadomasochistic Dhani a small surge of excitement as she bit back at the mouse, taking some enjoyment in the rodents fear and struggles as her fangs sunk into it and slowly drained its life away before she swallowed her prey whole.

When she emerged from the hole, she looked out at the shop to make sure that there weren't any customers, then looked around at the herbs to make sure she'd be able to find the place before letting a few loud hisses to get Sahfri's attention. After the Eypharian picked the Dhani up and set her back on the ground, Suresslynn slithered back to her clothes and changed back to human form before putting her clothes back on.

"Got the one you found, and one that was hanging out in his hole. Made for a nice meal. By they way, you teaching me about that herb is already helping out. The hole is behind that big box of Batonal." she said grinning slightly as she emerged back into sight before sitting down as Sahfri went over to look.

"Thank you, Suresslynn. That'll be easy enough to fix." the Eypharian woman said as she took the bottle of rat poison she had made and sprinkled it liberally around the hole, though she was careful to keep it away from the herbs. "That'll hold until I can fix it tomorrow. In the meantime, lets teach you another herb before the day gets out. But first, I need to go order the supplies I need to fix the hole. Watch the shop a moment, would you?" she asked, smiling as she stepped out and left Suresslynn to keep an eye on things.

by **Suresslynn** on August 31st, 2014, 1:55 pm

Sahfri wasn't gone long, maybe half a bell, and when she returned the Eypharian sighed and ran one of her hands through her hair. "That was more complicated than it needed to be, but the hole will be fixed pretty quickly. In the meantime..." she said, reaching down and pulling out another box of herbs and handing it to Suresslynn before taking the big box of unsorted herbs back out and setting it on the counter. "Now this," she said, taking out another herb with dark green leaves that had white undersides and light blue flowers in the shape of a herb, though the Dhani noticed it had been dried out. "This is Acson, an interesting little plant. If it's fresh, it's poisonous to the touch, and will give you a mild rash. If you infused into a drink or into food it's a lot more dangerous, causing really bad vomiting and nausea. Not a fun experience, to be sure." she said, smiling slightly as Suresslynn glanced at the plant in surprise before dropping it on the desk and looking at her hand.

"If it's that dangerous, why do we have it here in the shop. Aren't poisons and such illegal here in Syliras?" she asked, her tone more than a lot curious. If there was a loophole in that law, she really wanted to know it so she could exploit it and make something a little more fun than antivenom.

But Suresslynn's hopes were dashed when Sahfri shook her head with a small smile. "You'll notice that I said that it was dangerous when fresh. The stuff here in the shop is dried, and when it's dried it acts as antidote to a lot of animal based poisons. Problem is, it tastes like rotten feces, so no one really wants to take it if they don't have to. Of course it can be made into a syrup and that helps a little, but...it's still not something that tastes good. Go ahead and sort it into the boxes, then I'll teach you how to make the syrup." she said, stepping away from the boxes and leaving Suresslynn to her work.

They didn't have nearly as much Acson as they had Batonal, so it took Suresslynn less time to sort them all out, and it was fairly easy to identify due to its odd coloring. When she was done, she looked over at Sahfri. "Got them all sorted out." she said to her employer, noting that the Eypharian woman had become something of a teacher to her as well.

Sahfri looked over at Suresslynn and grinned, then stood up and got all the things they'd need to make the syrup before sitting down next to Suresslynn. "All right, here we go. Now watch carefully..." she said as she started turning the Acson into a syrup. After she finished, she passed the stuff to Suresslynn and the Dhani started on her own syrup mix. It took a few tries, the first two she made were completely inedible and the third was incredibly noxious, but after that she got it down well enough and the Eypharian left Suresslynn to it.

After she had made the syrup mix a few times, Sahfri pulled Suresslynn and started showing how to dry the herbs quickly in the field should she need to do so. It wasn't long before Suresslynn had that down as well and Sahfri said there wasn't much more she could teach Suresslynn about Acson. "Just be careful with it. Don't go carrying around the fresh stuff in the city, I doubt that will go over well." she said, setting the freshly dried Acson in same box as the rest of the stuff.

by **Suresslynn** on September 1st, 2014, 4:02 am

Time passed as the two worked in the shop and eventually the day passed into night and Sahfri locked the door. "All right, time to clean up and get everything ready for tomorrow. Suresslynn, put some of that mouse poison in front of the hole again, would you?" she asked as she started sweeping the floor with her lower hands and dusting the shelves with her upper hands.

Suresslynn nodded at the request, then went and got the poison before tracking down the mouse hole she had found earlier. "Nothing there, rodent wise. Perhaps those were the only two. If you want, I could check in a few days before we close it up, make sure they don't have any other tunnels." she said as she sprinkled the rat poison around the entrance of the hole, moving herbs to make sure she didn't accidentally poison any of them. That would be the very last thing she needed, what with her already apparently being on some sort of knight watch-list because of her poisoning skill.

After that, she helped clean for another bell before Sahfri declared the shop ready to close up for the night. "There, ready for another day. And if you want to look to see what's in that hole before we close it up, feel free to do so, but be careful. I don't want to have to take my wall apart to get you out if you get stuck." she said as Suresslynn put her coat on and got ready to leave.

"Hey, I don't want to get stuck in your walls. I'm a snake, not a bug. But I'll see you on my next workday. Goodnight, ma'am." she said as she stepped out of the shop, smiling at her employer before she headed back to where she was spending the night.