Alakina Padgin was considered as the Chief Biochemist of Sahova. She loved taunting people, often sounding like "she knows you know she knows". Her characteristic trait is the nose-bleeding (for those who breathe) stench of rot and acid. The Venenium Laboratory, which she had acquired as a private personal space some three hundred years ago, was popular even among the anti-social Nuit wizards. It is one of the facilities that have provided successful experiments and projects. It was a matter of chance, really. One day the nondescript embalming fluid maker got bored with boiling citrus and decided to visit the neglected herbarium in the basement. There Alakina discovered poisonous frogs that fed on poisonous ooze. The discovery led to the creation of a harmful drug that induced hallucinations. Request for further research was approved, and then suddenly there was an interest in using psychoactive and biochemical weapons against the Suvan empire. Conquering the world sounded easy, until the poisonous frogs became extinct due to excessive hunting.
The Venenium Laboratory continues to be a place of interest for Nuits who want to push the boundaries of their immortality. It was soon discovered that the Sahovan Wizards possessed immunity to certain poisons. Alakina proved to be a genius, worthy of getting a life extension as a Sahovan Wizard. She had a knack for discovering something new every time she got bored.
It didn't help that her new apprentice was another boring creature. She was in her alchemist's robe, hugging a potted gelatinous substance. The room they were in was a big lecture hall and laboratory combined into two. She sniffed loudly and pointed the visitor to the corner of the hall where there was a drawer. Inside, Nimvahlis would find stacks of used robes. Some were stained with unusual smelling stuff, others looked like they haven't been washed for centuries. It was for his protection, Alakina said, they were going to handle some of the goo. The Ethaefal could find items and equipment to be in full laboratory regalia in the upper drawers and it was entirely up to him to prepare himself for his lesson.
Clearly Alakina was the more powerful between the two of them. Her presence was the mute color of white, a cold empty void. There was something familiar about her, scratching at the farthest wall of his mind. Once he approached, Alakina smiled, "Tell me what you see." Anybody else would say that it was a gelatinous yellowish-gray substance in a pot. But to those trained in auristics, one would see the explosion of colors, almost as if jumping from one hue to another. A psychoactive element. Instinct would tell Nimvahlis that it was a plant. Maybe.
"Eat it." She said plainly, pointing at the substance. Alakina looked as blank as her aura, a white-washed fence. But her eyes were searching, reading into Nimvahlis' own soul. He felt like he was being measured for something; he knew he could be read like a decrypted page by this Nuit. His new master's eyes bored on him holes that he wanted so much to cover. He was naked before Alakina, nothing but an expendable apprentice.
The yellowish-gray substance told him that he would find a moment of bliss if he chose to eat it. Its aura was convincing, enticing.