Third Chord - God Plot: The Poisonous Python

[fair_trouble]

Who: Emery-Apollo, Tsuyukusa, Link, Kaitlyn, Natalia, a giant poisonous lizard, potentially some sailors.
What: Emery has hired some Corsairs to kill a monster that is poisoning the land in Hesaeth.
Where: Above an abandoned Hesaeth mine.
When: In between various missions to gather steel and powder.
OOC Info: Here.

As the Spring turns more solidly to Summer, Emery has been going about approaching various Corsairs with a job offer.

As a byproduct of ether experimentation, the Imperials have made a monster nicknamed “Python.” Python, Emery explained, is a large quadruped reptile which continually creates and secretes poison. Python not only poisons its prey, but it also contaminates water, soil, or any living thing it comes into contact with. What’s more, it’s an aggressive predator that continually seeks out food.

With their typical levels of responsibility, the Imperials decided to deal with it by dumping the monster onto Hesaeth. Python has found an abandoned mine to take shelter in, but regularly leaves to go hunting. It’s surviving on the small, hardy birds and mammals that make the desert its home, but it’s only a matter of time until it moves on. If it reaches a source of water, or any active mines, the situation could be disastrous.

Emery has magic that can purify the monster’s poison, but he’s not confident in his ability to take it out by himself. Thus he has gathered together a small assortment of skilled fighters under the promise of modest repayment.

To get to Python’s hideout requires an overnight trip by boat and then a hike of a few hours, and then it’s a battle against a wild enemy that cannot be touched with bare skin.

Comments

[fair_trouble]

Emery's tempted to tease Tau for his disgruntlement, mild though it may be, but he's honestly grateful enough to have help with healing that he suppresses it but for a brief flicker of a smirk in Tau's direction.

Then it's onto Link, as Natalia suggests, though Natalia's hibernation shouldn't be needed. "I'd have to be working really slowly for it to get that bad," Emery assures Natalia. "C'mere, Link."

Since the Python's blood just got on Link's face, Link will be treated to Emery cupping his face in both hands. Emery peers down at Link intently, and again summons forth the purification magic. Link is treated to the same powerful ether flow and summery heat that Tau was, but the feeling is concentrated much more in Link's head.

As before it's brief, only about a minute or two before Emery lets go.

"Natalia, give me your hands."

[newmemorywhodis]

Link will stare back, just as intently, as Emery heals his face. It's a strangely familiar sensation; once that reminds him of eating sundelion-infused meals.

With the healing now complete - and everyone else either healed, or being attended to - Link will give Emery a nod of thanks, before scurrying over to Python's carcas.

Link squats down next to it, peering closely at the beast's teeth. Link likes the look of those. He bets he could make some really good elixirs with them. Pulling out a knife, the considering expression on his face clearly suggests that he's thinking about how best to pry said teeth out.

[theriflespiral]

She lets Emery take her hands. Thankfully, it barely hurts-- her heart, after all, is unaffected by this as yet.

"... Do you know the origins of this particular beast, Emery? I admit to being curious since before we arrived."

[fair_trouble]

Purifying isn't too hard, particularly with Natalia's relatively minimal exposure and with Emery getting into the swing of it. So he hums and answers the question while his hands are wrapped around hers.

"It was created in an Imperial research lab attached to the University of Maikrecht. They do various kinds of ether experiments on animals, and occasionally people. When I-" Emery hesitates for a moment. "-looked into it, I discovered that they'd been experimenting on a clutch of eggs, trying to affect the poisons they'd have when they hatched. Most of them didn't hatch at all, and the rest that did all died. I'm not really sure what they were hoping to accomplish but I think with Python they got more than they could handle."

He'd gotten his information from a mixture of his divination abilities and occasional sneaking around the campus. It wasn't the most thorough of investigations, Emery had been more concerned with stopping Python before it could do too much damage. The Imperial scientists had thought a place as lowly and barren as Hesaeth couldn't be damaged much anyway, but what flora and fauna does live in the desert would undoubtedly disagree.

Speaking of which, Emery should get started on purifying the Python's carcass. He lets go of Natalia's hands and turns in the direction of the carcass.

And spots Link crouched next to it.



"Wh- Hey!"

Emery is now hurrying over to Link with the air of someone who just spotted their cat trying to eat plastic.

"That's still dangerous!"

[heaven_rooted]

Tau's method of healing isn't by heating. He slips a wallet from his beltpouch, pulling out a leaf, and after looking over Kaitlyn, places it over where the blood had made contact.

"Might feel a little warm, but not nearly like you're being cooked," he says, throwing something of a flat look in Emery's direction before he focuses. It's a pretty straight-forward process, if somewhat bypassing standard expectations, but Tau knows plants, and he coaxes this one to absorb the toxins from Kaitlyn's skin. Thankfully it doesn't seem to have spread very far. When he's done he removes the leaf, now darkened, and when he closes his hand around it, it crumbles into dust.

"...."

The commotion from Emery makes him look over again. What the hell is Link doing? Not that Tau looks particularly concerned so much as thinking 'you idiot.'

[newmemorywhodis]

But what if the cat really, really wants to eat the plastic? Is that such a crime?

And just like a cat, Link shamelessly stares back at Emery, knife still in hand. But he doesn't make any further moves towards the corpse.

"...I want its teeth."

[fair_trouble]

If Emery were paying closer attention, he might have thrown a pout in Tau's direction. But as it is, he has other cats to herd.

Link's response earns a blink.

"Why?"

The word slips out, a little exasperated and mostly flummoxed. Emery hadn't considered that anyone would have much interest in the Python's body- you know, what with the whole deadly poison issue- but taking a moment to think about it, it occurs to him that Link might be after a souvenir or to use the teeth for... something. Crafting or something.

"Fine, just. Let me start detoxifying the body first, okay?"

Emery moves over to Python's carcass and kneels on the dark, blood-soaked soil. He puts one hand on Python's back and the other on its head and slowly, Emery begins to glow with holy ether.

[frost_and_shinies]

Kaitlyn would quickly pull a glove off as Tau approached, to let him see her bare hand... And place the leaf against it.

"... Wow," she muttered, as the warmth flowed through her... And the pain faded, the leaf turning black.

She was clearly kind of trying to ignore Link looting the monster. Professional courtesy... Not like she could draw anything of use from it, after all.

"... Thank you. I'll be fine. I... I think that's all of us?"

[theriflespiral]

"I believe so. Save Emery himself, of course. You did get pretty close, are you all right?"

[heaven_rooted]

Tau just looks on from where he is, not wanting to get any closer to the dead thing than he'd been.

"Eh, wouldn't worry too much about Emery," he says as he eyes the other. Who had so adamantly had them avoid contact with the thing as much as possible.

He can sense it, the ether that flows from him. It's different. Pure, if he had to put a word to it. But then after what Emery had done in detoxifying his exposure to the poison, Tau's not entirely surprised that taking care of an entire toxic carcass is the next step.

[newmemorywhodis]

"...They're useful," was the reply Link had given Emery. Either for elixirs, or Fusing to weapons and arrows.

Or for just that happily little feeling that comes with having lots of things squireled away in his pack.

Thankfully though, Link is willing to wait for Emery to detoxify the body first; he gives a nod. And then stands nearby and watches the process happen intently.

[fair_trouble]

"I'm fine," Emery says without looking up. "I burn this kind of thing up without even noticing."

The sun, which had been so low to the horizon when they first arrived, is now well up in the air. It shines on Emery, enhancing the glowing aura of holy ether that surrounds him. It flares up, licking across the ground and carcass like flames made of light.

Emery could swear he can see the poison that saturates the Python's body. It's like a thick, choking darkness that fills the veins and organs, but with Apollo's light he sees it vanishing wherever he concentrates his power. And it's just as astonishingly easy to banish the poisonous darkness as real darkness vanishes under the light of the sun. The only issue is...



"Uuughhh this is going to take forever."

...There is a lot of poison to clear. With a groan, Emery realizes he's also probably going to have to spend a lot of time in this area tracking down the places it's been so he can clean them up.

Which is a bit of a problem when there are people waiting on him. Emery glances at Link, then slaps both his hands onto the skull and focuses. An intense amount of light pours out of Emery and into the skull.

A moment later he lets go and gestures at Link.

"Uh, but the teeth should be okay to take now."

[theriflespiral]

Yep. It's reached the mopping up stage. In this case, literally.

"Anything I can help with? After a meal I should be able to start casting again."

[newmemorywhodis]

Link brightens - and then immediately moves in. He starts yanking on the teeth, digging the knife into the gums to help lever them out.

It's a process that might not be entirely pleasant for the squeamish to watch.

[heaven_rooted]

Tau hasn't said anything while Emery sets to work. He does stare at Link as once again the Hylian sets back to work in picking the carcass of parts. No, he does not understand this one's ways.

He watches, and while he can't see the poison he way that Emery does, he can smell the difference, and to some degree sense the thinning miasma that would have continued to seep into the environment around the creature's body.

"What more do we have to do around here?" He doesn't mind how long it takes because he knows it's important to deal with things thoroughly.

[fair_trouble]

Emery turns towards the others, carefully not watching Link's enthusiastic display of amateur dentistry. (The glimpse he did get was almost grodier than watching the Python get beheaded was.)

"Once everything's detoxed, it should be safe for the body to remain here," Emery says. "Honestly, you can all just head back whenever you want. I can catch up with you later."

Even if they sail off without him, his throne room gives him an easy way to travel around.

[frost_and_shinies]

"... Nice to know we succeeded," Kaitlyn responds. Even as she is... Glancing at Link's work.

"There's more to do for sure, though, huh? Can I be of much help?"

[heaven_rooted]

"I'll have a look around to make sure this thing hasn't left any other messes in the area," Tau says. It'd give him a chance to check out what's left of the plantlife around here as well. They seem like they could use a bit of bolstering.

[newmemorywhodis]

Link gives Kaitlyn a curious look - maybe she wants teeth too? Or perhaps she'd like some scales. He can understand that; he'd also been eying those.

So he nods, and gives her a knife before pulling out another one from the bottomless pit that was his Korok-enchanted pack. She can have at it, if she likes.