Solo A Chemistry of Interests

[Loken]

2nd Day of Fall, 515 A.V.
11th bell

Continuation from "For the Night is Young..."

"And you are a very clever fellow! I like you. I like your swords. You and your swords come visit me in morning, yes? ... Tomorrow, you go to me, I maybe make you rich, eh?"

They were words spoken by they man he had met the previous night, and as agreed, Loken found himself standing in front of a house that looked like it needed to be condemned to hear out the strange persons business proposition. He wore his tiger hook sword from the harness on his back. After what had happened the night before, he took Azim's offer to bring his weapons seriously. He adjusted the strap of his backpack to hang comfortably over one of his shoulders before knocking on the door.

When he was welcomed into the establishment, Loken found his senses assaulted by a deluge of scents and smoke. Once his eyes adjusted to the atmosphere he felt immediately found the interior to be both crowded, yet desolate. At first glance many patrons of the building appeared to be devoid of their higher cognitive functions making them unfit for any meaningful interaction.

"Ah! Come in. Come in!" A smiling Benshira patted him on a shoulder as he walked in. "Hehe. Much wonder, is it not?" He was led through a sea of drug idled people who laid sprawled out on the floor and on rows of tattered bunks. "My honest opinion is that this place needs repairs..." That was when he looked to the ceiling in a gesture for Azim to follow his eyes upwards. "You do realize that your roof is dilapidated? "

The Cultist stopped by the bedside of a elderly man trapped within the euphoric delusions of addiction. Dropping his gaze onto the man. He felt nothing when he looked at the bony man. Loken wasn't particularly interested in the personal use of drugs. However, he was curious to learn how they were made and not against others use of them.

The Benshira eyes narrowed with a sly gleam. "I knew I liked you. Hard man with sword! Always of the point! Come, let us talk." Loken followed closely behind Azim to the mans personal lab in the back of the building where all the drugs that were sold were crafted. And It was first time where Azim had actually seen Loken truly smile. There were shelves of different sizes of vials, flasks, beakers, and all manner of devices used in a philtering lab. Azim closed the door behind him as Loken took the time to look over things.

The Cultist pick up a clean pestle out of an empty mortar that sat on a table to examine the crushing implement closely. "Last night you said that you could make me rich, how?"

"Oh-ho! You and your sword, they should work for me." Azim lifted his arms in a grand gesture towards the sky. "Help, Keep me and mine safe!"

"After what happened last night, you want me to be your sword for hire? To be the man to swiftly strike down your enemies? Or help you gather ingredients from monstrosities and other related tasks? If that is all you want, then I must decline. I do not seek to work as a mercenary." The Cultist walked over to Azim to hand the man the pestle.

"I myself walk a path of addiction. However, unlike the people out there laying upon those beds. My only vice is the pursuit of knowledge, and you have knowledge that I seek. Now here is what i offer. I am knowledgeable in the creation of poisons although lack practical experience in creating them. So I shall work for you as a 'poisoncrafter'.

When he finished speaking Loken's body language became less rigid and far more relaxed.That was business. However, now I am speaking to you as a friend. I want you to teach me what you know of chemistry. If you agree to that, then I'll then be more than obliged to help protect your business interests with my sword should the need arise... so do we have a deal, Azim?"

He stepped towards the elegantly dressed Benshira with an open outstretched hand. "A hard man, a clever sword, and sneaky poison" Azim grinned. "Lethal that team is." The drug dealer clasped Loken by the forearm to shake it. It was a modified handshake Loken did not expect to receive .The act clearly threw him off for a moment before clasping onto Azim's forearm arm. "We have deal!" Azim held the pestle in his free hand up towards Loken.

"First lesson is now."

[Loken]

"Where shall we begin?" He questioned with a faint hint of eagerness. Azim waved his hand towards the Cultist absently. "The work shall be lesson, and I shall profit from it." The ever smiling man rubbed his index finger and thumb together as if he were stroking a gold miza. "All is rain and water. Both fill sea and drown man, add some dirt and make mud. Poison and drugs are like two sides of same coin."

Loken had already proceeded to start working halfway through Azim's rambling about rain water. Honestly, he'd stopped listening as soon as the word 'profit' was mentioned. If his products were going to be sold, then he would aim to make them perfect. He'd already claimed an empty table as his workstation to set all of his things down. By the time Azim had finished speaking he had already removed his journal, quill, and ink form his pack. Drawn his sword to rest it on the table, and flipped to the poison notes he had written so long ago at The Sanctuary outside Riverfall.

Now, which of the select few poisons in his repertoire did he wish to uses as his inaugural poison into the craft?

Of the Serpente family, obviously 'Dark Tongue' was out unless Azim had black adder snake venom around? "Azim? Do you happen to have snake venom in stock?" The Benshira triumphantly walked over to a clay vase in the corner of the room. As if answering the Cultists prayer, removed the lid on the vase. "Ho-oh! One only need ask."

Loken was now curious about what was in the vase. He folded up his left sleeve, then eyed the serpent like creature under the water. With a palm strike, he thrust his hand forward to grab the snake just below its head to keep it from biting him. When he withdrew it, the Cultist held what appeared to be a creature he had never seen before. The snake's body appeared to be compressed as if someone were squished between two flat surfaces.

"Lovely creature. However, my poison knowledge only goes so far. I can craft things from land snakes, plant roots, and vines." The sea-snake began to writhe and churn in his grasp forcing him to grab its tail. "I am now curious to know why you have this?"

"Oh-ho, It venom is processed to make drug called 'Dregs of Tanroa'. Inhaling it make man forgets how time works. Is like mind becomes stuck. Seen man play in street puddle for maybe length of few chimes to bell from it. Great seller. I show you how to make sometime. "