Maikana
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Chapter 35 – Youngling’s first hangover
🕑 Added 2025-03-12 03:00:05 +0000 UTCThe only solace she could take in her paralysis was that her ability to interact with the system seemed unimpeded. Several notifications had rung out as she felt herself moved somewhere slightly more comfortable, though the tingling sensation prevented her from being actually comfortable.
The first notification she saw, soon after succumbing to the effects was a welcome addition to her Vitality. Hopefully one that will help in overcoming the situation all the quicker.
<<Ability Score improved. Vitality increased 16 -> 17 >>
As she was being moved and settled, Kora talked to her all the while. “You grabbed a white skull centipede, its poisonous and our scales offer little protection. The mucus it emits is a strong paralytic. It’s only lethal when used in combination with an injuring trap preventing them from stemming the bleeding or whatever.” With seemingly enough information now available to identify the condition Kori’s status reveals it to her.
<<Status condition applied. White Skull Centipede Toxin. Severity: high >>
Wait… isn’t that stuff so strong that a dilute tincture of it made Bolst a fortune? Severity high? I think I’m in trouble here...
“That wasn’t very smart. Hilarious, but not smart.” Laughing at her junior’s unfortunate situation before she continues her explanation of the toxin as Kori lay there unmoving. “The centipedes primarily use it as a defense mechanism so it’s a lot stronger than if it was just for their prey, but aside from not being able to move for a while it’s relatively harmless”
After a few minutes of silence, she hears Kora shuffling away and the sounds of talking that she can’t quite make out with another woman present before the sounds of footsteps approach once again and she hears Kora’s voice.
“This is an antidote; it’s a mixture of stone nettle you may have encountered before with a few other additives to improve the effect with this particular poison.” Kori feels her head tilted back a bit as a slow dribble of a sweet tasting liquid flows over her tongue. “You’ll probably have a fever for a day or two afterwards and you may feel a bit ill, but it’ll help with the poison.”
As she lay there immobilized for the next however long it takes, she receives several notifications, one after the other. The first being yet another point of vitality.
<<Ability Score improved. Vitality increased 17 -> 18 >>
Followed by a reduction in her status condition.
<<Status condition reduced. White Skull Centipede Toxin. Severity: moderate >>
And then even more as the condition lowers and ends.
<<Skill proficiency improved. Poison Resistance level 2 -> 3 >>
<<Status condition reduced. White Skull Centipede Toxin. Severity: low>>
At some point, she heard yelling before Korse came to talk, well not to exactly, more at her.
“Not how I imagined your first day going… I’m told you’ll be fine, perhaps a little ill for a bit, but fine. So that’s good.” He pauses as she hears some rustling sounds before feeling his hand on-top of her own, leading to a moment of panic before she remembers that someone had wiped any residue off of her hands already. “I’ve impressed upon Bolst that he should teach you the basics rather than jump straight in on hazardous poisons.” She hears his sigh and imagines his other hand is likely rubbing the bridge of his muzzle. “I think he was a little over excited at having someone who was interested in his work instead of just wanting to make things fall in holes or impale them with sharp rocks.”
“I’ll leave you here to recover, unless it’s late I should still be at the brood chamber when you return. If you miss dinner, I’ll have something set aside for you.” After a few more moments and a pat on her hand she feels him pull away and hears the clack of his claws on the stone floors as he walks away.
Sometime later she finally gets the notification she’d been waiting for, along with another unexpected gain.
<<Ability Score improved. Vitality increased 18 -> 19 >>
<<Status condition removed. White Skull Centipede Toxin >>
The barrage of needles under her scales slowly abating, Kori finds that she’s able to move bit by bit, not much at first, but enough to open her eyes a little and see that she’s in a large room. Once she can turn her head, she finds that she’s on a sleeping mat not dissimilar to the thin one in her den and that there is a line of them stretching out before her. Each with a small raised wall of stone at the head of the space. All of the others are empty.
It takes at least half an hour from being able to open her eyes to feel up to sitting up and staying up. Thinking back on the events, it was all in all, a very unpleasant way to spend, well she’s not entirely certain how long.
With her movement someone finally noticed that she was stirring and a young kobold approached her, “How are you feeling?” Helping Kori scoot back a bit to rest her back against the slab of stone that stands beside her mat, “I’m Matron Erc, you’re in the recovery room in the upper cavern by the trapper’s hall. Bolst asked me to keep an eye on you until you were up.” Placing her hand on Kori’s forehead and checking her eyes. “You’re already looking a bit flush and feel a little warm, it’s just the antidote doing its thing.”
“How long since I was poisoned?”
“Oh, that was a good three hours ago dear. Honestly, that’s pretty good for grabbing one of those squirmy scale blighters with a bare hand.” Her scrunched face telling Kori just how she feels about the centipedes. “Bet’cha even got a poison resistance skill for your troubles.”
“Already had it… Did get two levels for my trouble though.” Forcing a smile that she didn’t really feel, “Could I get some water?”
Likely having expected the request Erc grabs a jug sitting at the ready on the slab of stone Kori was leaning against and fills a small mug. Much to Kori’s embarrassment, Erc holds on to the mug and helps her drink from it rather than placing it in her hands. Likely not trusting her to not drop it yet.
“You’ll need to stay here for a bit, least until you can walk from one end of the room to the other without stumbling, twice.” Giving her a stern look to communicate that she’ll take no exception. “If you feel up to it, I’ll help you up and we can get started. If not, let me know when you’re ready.”
Her first attempt went worse than Kori expected, with only Erc’s help keeping her from meeting muzzle to floor, and several other trips and stumbles besides. Her feet felt like they’d grown twice their size, claws dragging as she can’t quite keep them lifted and pointed forward.
It said the status was ended… Shouldn’t I be fine already?
It took another half hour before she was confident of moving about on her own without support and managed to make two full circuits of the otherwise empty infirmary. “Well, there you go. Up and moving and steady on your feet.” Erc beams with pride as though she were responsible for that feat of recovery. Which considering that Kori knew nothing of the woman’s class she could very well be she supposed. “I’ll walk you back to the Trapper’s Hall. You can find your way back down from there, right?” receiving a nod in response before guiding Kori out.
A few short minutes of walking later, with only a slight stumble when she turned her head a little too quickly, Kori found herself back with the trappers, the stone door leading into Bolst’s workshop closed tight and barely anyone remaining working on the various mechanisms strewn about the room in some form of haphazard organization.
The path back to the Clan’s caverns was a little winding with various offshoots and turns, but ultimately fairly simple to follow and she arrived back at the brood chamber well after everyone had finished dinner, thankful to find that while Korse had already left for the evening, he had left some food out for her in his little alcove as he said he would. Quickly eating what little she could stomach, her gut roiling at the prospect of any more, she joined her siblings in their evening conversations and games before she collapsed into a dreamless sleep as soon as her scales hit the leather of her mat.
Waking to the sounds of her siblings out and about, still not feeling quite hungry but knowing she’d regret not eating, she forced down as much as she could manage before the thought of eating more made her feel like she’d rather lick a slime. Looking for Korse, he unfortunately was not present this morning as he needed to attend the Elder’s meeting. One of the minders thankfully passed along a message that she was to return to the trappers, while also admonishing her to not handle any strange bugs.
The walk back to the hall was much more difficult than the steady incline had been the previous day, she felt a bit winded and had to stop on more than one occasion. “Is this cause of the antidote?” Mumbling to herself as she placed a hand on her brow like the matron had the day before, but not really sure what she was trying to feel for.
Finally arriving at the hall she approached the stone door to Bolst’s work space, without Korse alongside her this time the warrior sitting guard outside didn’t bother to get up as she approached. “Back already? I was sure I’d never see ya again after they had to carry you out.” Laughing, she wasn’t sure if it was at her guts for returning or her misfortune for how she left, either way it didn’t really sit well with her. “Sorry, ya’ll hav’ta wait here til I get the go ahead from the Elder.” Pausing a moment, “Or the young miss. Either or.”
He slowly pulls himself up, the butt of the spear that had been resting beside him bracing his ascent, before he disappears behind the door for a few minutes.
While she waited Kori examined the various mechanisms being worked on again, starting to see a bit of the plan behind the chaos of the room with everything arrayed from the various stations that were preparing materials to be passed on to those making parts and then those to the ones assembling the complete traps. Oddly she sees that the last stage is actually taking them apart again, likely to be transported into the tunnels to be put to use.
The Door eventually opened, revealing Kora alongside the guard. “Good morning! Hope you’re not feeling too bad from the antidote.” Giving her a quick look over and noting her flushed appearance. “They leave you feeling pretty gross, right? But it’s better than staying like that for longer.” Thinking for a minute, then laughing a bit “Or it is until you’ve got high tier two poison resistance, then the hour or so shaved off isn’t worth dealing with the side effects.”
“It’s not too bad, though I could barely eat half my breakfast before even looking at it felt unpleasant.” Giving her head a slow shake, not wanting a repeat of the last time she turned too quickly. “Don’t know if I’m up for doing anything that needs a steady hand today…”
“Only steady hand you’ll need for the next bit is to write notes.” Continuing to laugh at her predicament. For whatever reason her laugh didn’t seem even mildly offensive like the guards had. “After yesterday Bolst, with vigorous input from Korse of course, has decided that you need the [Basic Toxicology] Skill if you’re going to be allowed to work in his lab.”
“Is that anything like Herbalism? It took me weeks go get that skill…” Not liking where it sounds like this is going.
“Yup!” Her grin spreading. “But don’t worry, I’ll help you. You’ll have it in a week, tops.” The grin continuing to spread but taking on a more mischievous leaning, one could almost say an evil one. “Besides,” The word stretched and drawn out, “You already have herbalism, you’ll get it much faster than a random newbie.”
After greeting Bolst and apologizing for the events of the previous day, to which he also apologized for the lack of clarity in his instructions, she spent the rest of the day filling details about various toxins on a small stack of pages. Unlike her herbalism information, what was presented to her was in a more generic leaning. Things like the types of toxins and how some affect the blood while others the muscles and organs and others nerves and the mind.
The difference between poison and venom was a very important lesson for Kori. If she had known that before she may have realized that the sheen on the centipede’s shell was dangerous and been more cautious, rather than assuming the fangs were the dangerous part and focusing on not getting bitten. As was the lesson on bright markings being indicators of a creature being poisonous.
These lessons went on for the next several days, culminating in a test of identifying which poisons or venoms descriptions belonged to which of the various creatures in Bolst’s tanks on her fifth day there, not including the day of the mishap.
She was able to identify most of the poisons easily, the animals they belonged to were more colourful and less violent in appearance making them easier to spot. But made a few mistakes on the venomous side, mistakenly believing that the little spiders in their multiple layered tank were the most dangerous of them, they weren’t. That honour belonged to one of the fish. Apparently, the ugly little thing that was trying to disguise itself as a slightly fuzzy looking rock had a venom so potent it felt like your blood was on fire as your muscles seized. The spider’s venom would of course still kill you; it just didn’t go about it in such a mean way.
That last push was enough to get her the skill that she would need to be allowed to work in the lab, and arm her with knowledge, precautions, and techniques for identifying and dealing with such creatures, both here and in the future.
<<Skill Acquired, Basic Toxicology, Uncommon, Level 1>>
She was also eying what Bolst referred to as his ‘big book of poisons’ with hopes she’d be allowed to make a copy of it if she could get her hands on another blank book.
Maybe if I make enough of the ointment, they’ll give me a book if I ask?
