Chapter 574: Chapter 558 – To Heal or To Harm

“Medicine and Poison are just two sides of the same coin. Any healer worth their salt will likely know many, many ways to kill people, and master poisoners are similarly some of the best healers around. Everything they do are just different applications of the same knowledge.” - Saying attributed to the Silver Maiden.

“I must admit that I find all this very… intriquing, Lady DeVreys,” said Aziza when she saw the items that Aideen had picked out of the ones she procured on her behalf. Despite knowing that Aideen would craft a poison, the items she asked for were a source of confusion, for a rather obvious reason. “Honestly, I never would have guessed that you would be using these to concoct a poison. Only one of these things is even remotely poisonous in nature, and we use that as a spice regularly despite that.”

 

Indeed, the ingredients Aideen asked for were mostly various sorts of foodstuffs and spices, some common to the region, others rarer but still within Aziza’s power to procure. It was no surprise that Aziza was surprised that such things could be used to craft poisons, as they looked more like the ingredient list for some sort of stew instead.

 

“Sometimes even the simplest, harmless looking things hide thorns,” said Aideen with a slightly melancholic smile on her face. Most of her knowledge on the subject came from the decades where she had stayed in Tohrmutgent, where she researched medicine and antidotes together with Molin and Mallard. She rarely used the knowledge maliciously, but there were times for everything.

 

“Take these potatoes for example,” she then said as she lifted out a big, chunky potato out of a small pile on the table. The tuber was not native to Ur-Teros, having been introduced by dwarven merchants from Knallzog centuries before she was even born, but its hardy nature meant that it quickly spread throughout the southern continent as a food crop as well, especially popular in areas with poorer soil. “As it is, it’s something you’d cook up into some food. If you let it sprout first and then consume it, however, your stomach will likely feel as if it was a battlefield before long. The poisonous components can be extracted and concentrated if you know what you’re doing, and they will be part of what I’ll use.”

 

Kino, Eilonwy, and Aziza looked at the potato in Aideen’s hand with surprise on their features at what Aideen had just said.

 

“These are the ones you mention to be a known poisonous one, no? I reckon you people usually remove the poison by soaking and burying it first before use?” asked Aideen as she picked up a handful of brown, hard-shelled nuts. 

 

“Yes, Milady. It is known that these need to be cured properly before they could be used. They must be soaked in water for up to a week then buried in ash and soil for months,” said Aziza with a nod. “Nobody dared to eat them raw, as we have seen beasts die from doing so before.”

 

“Indeed, these contain some very potent poison, the sort that would likely kill you on the spot if you were to consume it raw,” noted Aideen with a nod of her head. “It’s a bit harder to extract the poison, but we only need a tiny amount to serve as a reagent in this case and to intensify the toxicity of the rest of the mixture.”

 

“Similarly, many other common foodstuffs had periods of time where they might be poisonous, or if they were prepared in certain ways to alter their composition,” she added almost nonchalantly. “Many of the common foods and spices around you can be used to create or be component to a poison if you know what you are doing.”

 

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“I must admit that my horizon has been widened, Milady,” said Aziza with some awe as Aideen set things up. Some of the ingredients needed to be prepared for a while before they could be turned to poison, while others would need lengthy extraction processes. It was a complicated endeavor, and one where Aideen had warned Aziza and Eilonwy to cover their noses and mouths with masks as even the fumes could be harmful to them. 

 

She herself and Kino were Unliving so they had no such need.

 

“Usually poisons that have results like what I’m making are more commonly found in venomous animals. Most of those would need to enter the bloodstream to take effect, like the poison of certain snakes, for example,” said Aideen while she carefully mixed a measured portion of the various components together. “In fact, as long as you don’t have any cuts or wounds in your mouth, you could outright drink most snake venom. It would just be digested harmlessly. It’s why I used mostly plant materials as the base of what I’m making.”

 

“Because their poisons are ones that take effect when ingested?” asked Eilonwy with interest. 

 

“Precisely. Plants generally have no stingers or fangs with which to inject venom into another being, so if they are poisonous, it is usually transmitted by touch or by ingestion. I’m making use of that quality to keep this poison effective and lethal even if it’s digested,” said Aideen with a nod as she stirred the clear fluid that resulted carefully. “It’s almost done. Just need to leave it for another day to blend together properly before you can make use of it. Have you figured out a way to move it yet?”

 

“I have, Great-Aunt,” replied Eilonwy as she displayed a small necromantic construct on her palm. The construct looked very much like a slightly larger version of her tiny spiders, though this one was larger, nearly the size of a thumbnail. The bulbous rear side of the construct opened up to show that it was hollow, clearly where Eilonwy intended to store the poison.

 

“Clever. You’ve done your reconnaissance to look out for wards by now I assume?” asked Aideen.

 

“Yes. I’ve delivered a batch of my smaller constructs to the tower three days ago. They’re still there even now, lurking in corners and outside the window. Nobody seemed to have even noticed them,” said Eilonwy. “None of the guards also reacted to a bird perching on top of the tower. The undead bird I used wasn’t the only one anyway. Many birds perched there at any time of day. Honestly, I had a harder time keeping my constructs safe from those birds than from the guards.”

 

“Very good. Then I’ll leave the rest to you.”

 

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