Mark of the Fool

Chapter 804: Poisonous Possibilities

Hidden in a far corner of the room sat a container crafted of a grey-white metal, a material that Alex had never seen before. Glyphs of strengthening and hardening were etched into its surface; making it impervious to even the force of a battering ram.

Professor Jules waved a hand over the lid andwith the same tell-tale hiss of escaping airthe box slowly opened.

Inside, a padded container and two sets of metal prongs held a vial of reinforced glass. Within the vial was a sample of the black ichor that had eventually taken Uldars life.

That's a lot of precautions, Alex said.

True, but they were necessary, Isolde said. As we started our analysis, we understood that all precautions would be needed, considering what we were handling.

Professor Jules nodded emphatically. Mr. Roth, I have handled many substances in my long career. Some were medicinal, most were toxic; so believe me when I tell you that this is the deadliest toxin I have ever encountered, and that is no exaggeration.

It is almost magnificent. Isolde said with a mix of admiration and dread. The poison is multi-layered. For one, it is a neurotoxin, which of course, damages the brain and nervous system.

That might explain why Uldars memory was so spotty, Alex said.

But that's not all, Professor Jules said. Its also necrotic and rots its victim from the inside, and it has anticoagulant propertiescausing haemorrhaginga stimulant

Why a stimulant? Alex asked.

We think that property makes the poison spread quicker, Isolde reasoned. The heart would beat faster to circulate the toxin through the blood vessels at an accelerated rate. Then thats when the paralytic comes in.

Alex grimaced. Of course it would also paralyse.

And that's not the worst of it, the alchemy professor continued. There's a component to it that attacks the very essence of a creature: eating away its mana, weakening divinity, andwe suspectsevering the connections between the soul and body.

The colour drained from Alex's face. He squinted at the substance, horrified. And you learned this from a bit of residue?

From what we could tell from the small amount we have here, the toxin has been long diluted: it is a mere sample of what remained within Uldar at the end of his life. Isolde shook her head. It was likely many times more potent when he was first injected.

Alex swallowed. Yeah, now, I can see why you took so many precautions He considered the toxin carefully. You said that it attacks the essence of something? Does that mean it could kill something thats bloodless?

We tested it on a dungeon core and a Ravener-spawn. Isolde said. The Ravener-spawn died very quickly, and quite horribly, it spread through the dungeon core at a slower rate, but it did eventually overwhelm its essence and destroy it.

Alex looked at them sharply. What if we use it on the Ravener? Do you think we could kill it?

Isolde and Professor Jules considered the question, their eyes fixed on the poison.

We actually thought of that, Professor Jules said. And I noted that in our logbook as a possibility to explore later. Judging from what we've seen in Uldars drawings, it could technically be possible, but unfortunately, the sample we have would not be enough to kill it. And from what we've seen of its design, only the essence-eating aspect of the toxin could work on itit is a construct after all, with no nervous system to disrupt, or blood to poisonbut Uldar made it resistant to essence eating toxins.

But he didn't make it immune, did he? Alex asked.

...no, he did not, Isolde said. I am not sure he could have. As a matter fact, I am quite sure that he would have, if he could have; just like he would have cured himself of the venom if he was able to do so.

Mr. Roth, Professor Jules said gently. We thought of using this substance against the Ravener, but there are several problems. We still have no idea how it reconstitutes itself: even if the poison attacks the essence of the Ravener, that doesnt mean it wouldnt be able to regenerate in a hundred years.

Do you think that could make it harder for it to remake itself? Alex asked. Like, if we used it on a lich, would it have a harder time regenerating?

On a lich? Professor Jules asked.

Hypothetically.

Hypothetically, yes, she said. From my understanding, the poison would significantly damage the lichs soul shadow. It might even spread to its phylactery, severing the actual souls connection to the material world. But we don't know enough about the Raveners reconstitution process to even guess how effective the venom could be.

And unfortunately, we do not have enough of the poison to even attempt that. Isolde looked uncomfortable. Between us, we used a stent and an alchemical pump to extract as much of the residue as we could from the gods corpse. We then purified it in the lab. She pointed to the sample. What you see there is the purest sample left anywhere.

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What about all the black stuff that was in Uldars sanctum? Alex asked. Theres gotta be some poison in there.

Professor Jules shook her head. We analysed that substance: the poison has been heavily diluted as well as contaminated with the tonics and other medicines he used.

We could concentrate it further, couldnt we? Alex said, pointing at the sample. And extract as much usable toxin from the remaining substance in his sanctum and then use that to create a pure dose, which we then combine with what we have here.

Isolde paused. Thatcould that be a possibility, Professor Jules?

The alchemy professor stopped, her eyes squinting through her mask. I hadn't considered it so thoroughly, since the residual substance in his bedchamber was so heavily contaminated.

She went to a cabinet, opened it, and removed a smallbeaker of black liquid.

Alexs eyebrows rose.

This is a sample from Uldars bedchamber; its contaminated with the medicines he used in his attempts to cure himself. She put the beaker on a table, then picked up a logbook from a bookshelf, quickly flipping through the pages and muttering softly. Its so contaminated it's barely toxic anymore. Typical safety protocols are all that's necessary to handle it now, but, just give me a moment to do some quick math.

Professor Jules began jotting calculations in the logbook. I'm estimating how much poison we would likely get from the amount of substance in his sleeping chamberand

The pen scrawled faster.

She was steadily becoming more excited, judging from her movements.

The pen abruptly stopped writing, and her shoulders sagged. No, even in the best case scenariounless, in this case, we just happened to have miraculously collected the most contaminated substance from his bedchamber, and everything else there is purerthen it wont work. We won't have enough of a dose: the Raveners complex mana systems, its resistance to essence-destruction, and its size would make what youre suggesting as effective as trying to poison a whale with a thimbleful of dwarven fire-brandy.

Hold on. Alexs eyes moved back and forth as his mind worked. Think. Adapt. Think. Adapt. Think. Adapt. Could we make more of it by reverse engineering it? Then we could make as much as we needed, couldn't we?

Many of the elements of the poison areunknown, Professor Jules said. What I mean by that is we werent able to determine what its exact constituents are. We suspect that many are unique: probably substances unique to the demon-lord that the fae used. Without capturing our own demon lord of poisons, I don't think we could replicate it.

Alex opened his mouth.

No, Mr. Roth. Professor Jules said, her tone chilly. We cannot capture a demon-lord of poisons, even if we did know where to find one.

I wasn't going to suggest that! Alex said. What I was about to say is maybe we could combine the poison with a catalyst. We might not be able to make more, but we could combine it with other substances to increase its potency: maybe make something new.

Combine it with? Isolde asked.

For one, chaos essence, Alex said. Uldars process for making the Ravener makes it react badly to chaos essence, thats if its anything like the dungeon cores.

I have a theory as to why that might be, Professor Jules said. The Ravener was engineered to replace a demon-lord by using part of its shell to create its body. That demon-lord had already been heavily modified by the fae to increase the potency of its venoms. They basically took a creature of chaos and honed it towards a particular purpose. It's like imposing law onto chaos, which likely made the creature somewhat unstable.

So when you combine chaos essencewhich is also unstablewith dungeon core remains Alex said. the dungeon core essence tries to return to pure chaos, then

Boom, Isolde said, spreading her arms.

Which could be really nasty, Alex said. Chaos essence to disrupt the Ravener from the inside, and the essence-destroying poison to shatter whats left.

Not bad, Professor Jules said. Wed have to watch that the chaos essence doesn't damage the sample. It still might not be enough, even with such a potent brew.

That's where the bane comes in, Alex said.

Bane? Isolde asked.

A soul cutting material. Alex took the bane knife from his bag. Usually, it's useless in combat: you need a calm soul for bane to work on it, but Kelda figured out a way around that. I used a machine she had to cut away Uldars patch from the Mark of the General, and believe me, my soul was definitely in turmoil.

Fascinating, Professor Jules said. But the Ravener doesn't have a soul to cut into.

Thats true, but I think with some adjustments Alex said. I could make it work: the Mark isn't exactly a soulit's similarbut not quite the same. Keldas machine cut the Marks patch away. And the Marks have a similar design to the Ravener, from what Ive seen of Uldars notes. I could take parts of Keldas machine, modify them to make them portable, and use them as a delivery systemalong with an enhancerfor the poison. What do you think, professor? Do you think it could work?

Isolde turned to Professor Jules, as the older woman considered the idea.

How would it work exactly? the professor asked.

Alex continued thinking. Im thinkingthat our machinesmade of altered parts from Keldaswould inject the poison and bane crystals into the Ravener. The energies of the machines would let the bane shards slice intoits essence, which would then be like bits of shrapnel inside its mana pathways. The chaos essence would break down, making it vulnerable enough for a terminal dose of poison to finish it off.

Hmmmm. Jules voice sounded excited again. In theory, it has the potential to work. In theory, mind you. I will still need to translate more of Uldars design notes to make a better guess. We wouldn't be able to test our different solutions, though. We could only test them on the Ravener itself.

So you think the idea's worth pursuing? Alex asked.

Absolutely. She smiled, her eyes crinkling beneath her mask. We should start on it as soon as possible; well need to recruit more personnel for our endeavour, however, people we can trust.

Well, I'll be here to take the lead on the poison, Alex said. And I can help with analysing Uldars notes. The young wizard reached into his pouch, taking out Keda's coin with the image of a red mouse in its centre. Youre helping us even now, Kelda.

What is that? Isolde asked.

A Coin of Silent Friends, Alex said. Every member of Keldas inner circle had one, apparently. The coin is very mana conductive; its made of a copper and zinc alloy.

Interesting, Professor Jules said. I would've liked to have met this Kelda.

You don't know how many times I've thought that myself, Alex said, putting the coin away and fondly patting the pouch. Alright. I can get started with the machines and use a benign solution to test them with. The young wizard turned his attention back to the dungeon core hed picked up, which was tucked under his arm. We have a plan for the venom. Now, lets see if I can trigger those images again.

Alex held the dungeon core between his palms.

Let's see what I can learn about the Ravener.