I Hate getting Stunned... [Research - Complete]

[Hanelli]

She knew that there were ways of making an already-existing salve or solution (as they were colloquially called in the Pharmacist’s tongue) but there was something missing—were there any remedies for another annoying debuff that people ran into lately (that ranked ‘up there’ with Poison) which was called ‘Stun’—in other parts of the gaming world this would be more commonly known as ‘Paaralyzed’. Knowing that being unable to move, or a chance of your own attacks missing, was very irritating, especially if you were the one the party relied on damage output, so here she was, locked away in a dusty corner of an abandoned library, poring over books and other things that she’d managed to grab and nab off of the shelves. She had now piled them on a table, and had managed to dust off the layer of dirt and grime; and she was now seated on said table, leafing through the books and other material she had with her. She also had some paper and quill (courtesy of a Scribe who was looking to get rid of his excess inventory) and she was now taking down notes; as well as adding in her own about the ‘Stun’ / ‘Paralyze’ debuff.

“Hmm, getting Stunned, even for a moment, proves to be potentially disastrous…” she said in Japanese, scribbling away—unlike most of the notations that were done in Western orientation, left-to-right, hers was done Eastern-style; meaning, from top to bottom, right-to-left, and there were lots of fancy-shmancy kana and kanji tossed in between the meager furigana writing she’d noted so far. “Risk of getting targeted increases by a certain percent; and getting hit by another attack while stunned will increase damage reflected on the player…” she muttered to herself, taking down even more notes as she began preparing a basis for research—she’d seen it all, even in this game: whenever people were momentarily or even just Stunned for a moment, the tide of battle could and would get ugly for them. More damage inflicted, lesser chances of getting away; and even in some instances, attacks either not hitting at full power or even missing completely… these were some of the things she’d also added to the list.

She then decided to break down the listings into each topic, and then took up the small package she’d brought along—it was another sampling of base Materials she’d picked up in the market, and knowing that there was potential research going to take place here, she would be needing a base sample of items in order to be able to mix and match whatever it was she was going to concoct. She then realized that in order for this to be accepted into the System, she’d have to rewrite it all in English—but she’d have to deal with that later; as she was already on a roll. After the quill came to a stop, she then looked over one of the books that she had in front of her, as if looking for a way (and some means) in order to be able to make something that could be used on the go, without having to stop and drink and potentially even get hit while in the heat of things. She then felt her brows furrow downward, and then she continued to write down even more benefits and disadvantages in order to gain a clearer sense of what was going on.

[575]

[Hanelli]

So far, this was what she’d written down on her piece of paper:

Stun / Paralyze debuff:

Desc.: wherein a player suffers a debuff consisting of either temporary stoppage in movement, therefore leaving them open to more attacks. Also makes attacks of any kind less effective, because limbs refuse to cooperate with the body.

How to treat it?

• In battle, being Stunned is every tank’s worst nightmare. How can they dish out the damage if they cannot move their arms or legs to either attack or avoid?
• Solution cannot be in the form of a liquid that needs to be drunk; therefore it must be made in the form of a capsule.
• Said solution must take effect within seconds; every second a person spends while under the state of being Stunned is critical, mot especially if they are taking all the damage

She then turned to the material she had in front of her, and then started taking note of what compounds could cause outright paralysis—and she was not surprised to see that whenever Assassins would employ poisons in order to get the job done, they would also mix in some form of powder that would render the unfortunate drinker stunned and unable to move while the poison was taking effect. “It can also come in the form of electric attacks—a jolt of enough power can momentarily shut off one’s body processes…how scary can that get,” she said to herself, reading off the book that was now perched in front of her. She knew that she was going to be in here for a while, so she needed to make the most of it.

Browsing through the collection of books, she then pulled out the one that dealt a lot with snakes; because she had a feeling that it wasn’t just poison that these snakes could spew out, there were also some paralysis-inducing toxins that were present in their systems. I remember something my tutor told me… one of her friends died due to an untreated snake bite… it caused her to freeze up and then… death came along. Very scary… she thought, her mind drifting for a bit to her missing ‘mentor’—where could she be at this point—and then pulled herself back to the present and then began riffling through the book that had information about all kinds of animals on it—it was surprising that since the city limits was modeled after London, some of the amenities housed within it were modern—even if the game was set in a ‘backwards’ reality. She then began humming to herself as she began taking down more notes about the status ailment she wanted to counter:

• the stunning properties of snake bites can be found in their saliva, as compared to the normally-known ‘fangs’ (which carries the source of the poison)
• any contact with the saliva of these particular species will cause the affected area to become ‘numb’ to all other sensations, hence the perfect time for snakes to sink their fangs into their prey
• there are rare cases when snakes have the actual paralysis-inducing ‘venom’ in their systems; as most rely on poison in order to get their prey

She then realized that if she came up with something that she could use for both Poison and Stun, which would make her potential research for an Antidote craft pointless, so she left it at that. She then decided to focus on this one instead—and then reached for something in the package she’d brought along with her to the deserted library area where she was right now. There was an actual sample of a noxious, failed mixture that resulted in paralysis if ingested—and she wanted to figure out the formula for that one as well, but she decided to save her curiosity for another time. Wondering if it was a good idea to actually test it on her, she reached for the sample—but then stopped. No, that’s a terrible idea. How are you going to make the solution, if you’ll cause the problem? She thought to herself, shaking her head and instead unpacking the Pharmacist’s Kit she’d brought along with her in order to analyze the ‘mixture’ that she’d procured, courtesy of another Pharmacist who had accidentally made the mixture and had seen the effects of it first-hand when their pet rabbit had licked a few drops of the mixture off their hands by complete and total accident.

[750]

[Hanelli]

After several minutes of bustling around, she had finally managed to complete setting up her Pharmacist’s Kit—and now her entire workspace looked like it belonged to a mad scientist; with books stacked to one side; and all sorts of glass apparatus placed haphazardly on the rest of the surface. She was secretly glad that the entire thing was set up to her preferences; and now she stood at one end of the table, wondering if ‘deconcocting’ a botched mixture would be like the same way a certain universe did it in its sixth year of schooling… back to the present, she then slipped on another pair of latex gloves and then ever-so-carefully picked up the bottle that housed the evil mix; the moment she’d uncorked the bottle, a stench permeated the room and she turned away, coughing and covering her nose in order to avoid most of the harsh odor that came from the now-open bottle. “Is it just me or is this mix intended to kill people?” she hissed to herself, quickly setting it down someplace safe and digging out a battered, yet still serviceable, pair of goggles that she slipped on over her eyes. They were old, and were a bit on the grimy side, but they were still usable.

And besides, doesn’t this world have some modern ‘amenities’ available, even while keeping in theme with its reversed timeline? I mean… yeah… science was a big thing when the 1800s came along, but that may just be me remembering old stuff from school… she thought as she turned back to the work space area, and then quickly, yet gently, poured some of the noxious solution into some clear dish that she quickly left to sit out while she was looking through the ‘manual’ that the Pharmacist’s set came along with. “How to distill Unknown Mixtures…” while looking through the rest of the instructions. After a while, she then tossed the ‘manual’ aside and then quickly began the painstaking process of dissolving the mixture into its purest compounds, so that she could tell what ingredients were used in order to make said botched mixture—and then from there she could work on making an actual solution for the problem. She already knew that the mixture had to be in tablet form, so making it liquid was going to be out of the question—what if she’d made it into a powder instead?

But that would be so wrong on so many levels… she thought as she let the mixture sit in the dish, while she scooted over to one end of the ‘mad scientist’ setup and then fed the instruments a ‘drop’ of the mixture. She wondered if said instruments could decipher what the distill as made of, so to be on the safe side, she also began with the process of manually trying to figure it out herself—because there was always this one chance wherein even ‘scientific’ processes could go terribly wrong. She then got out the extra ‘pot’ she’d used in concocting the poison she’d made before, and then quickly dumped in the rest of the failed mixture inside it and then started a fire underneath it. Granted, there was no ‘electricity’ in the building so she was pretty sure that no ‘smoke alarms’ or anything of that sort would go off. While she was waiting for the mixture in the pot to boil—she snuck a look over at the instruments, and saw that even said instruments were having a hard time in figuring out what the hell the mixture was made of.

“Well then,” she said simply, grabbing another one of the books that she’d taken for researching what made paralytic mixtures work that way and began leafing through it, in order to gain some sense of what she was doing. Granted, she knew a bit about making stuff, but doing the reverse process for them? It was something she’d never attempted in a while, so she was going into unfamiliar territory. As she was reading through the different compounds from the book, she heard a distinct hissing noise—what was going on? She then looked up from said book and saw that the other end of the kit was making weird noises, so she quickly placed a bookmark on the page which she was reading, and then made her way over to where the other ‘end’ of the set was bubbling like mad—it then issued a drop into another one of the glass dishes she’d set under it; and this drop was unnaturally clear—what was it made of? There was no distinct odor wafting from it—and she then took a closer examination to figure it out what it was.

[790]

[Hanelli]

Seeing as she had no way of figuring out what the mysterious ‘clear drop’ was, she as just about ready to abandon the entire thing—when she caught scent of what was wafting up from the dish—and it was more than enough to make her nose recoil out of sheer disgust. What the hell is that scent?! It smells horrible! She thought, quickly running an examination on it—and daring herself to actually taste it—and she was secretly thankful that one of her skills allowed her to recover much quicker than normal—it left an abruptly metallic taste lingering on her tongue. “Eww,” she said, scraping her tongue with a piece of tissue paper as best as she could—even spitting several times in order to get the horrid taste out of her mouth—and then quickly wrote down the discovery—that there was something that involved metal, r rust involved. she then looked though the assembly of ingredients that she’d brought with her; and after cautiously sniffing and examining everything carefully, she then isolated one of the Impure Solvents; and then marked it as such with a bit of scrap paper.

“One ingredient down, and several more to go,” she said to herself, designating that one ingredient she would need was an Impure Solvent—the kind that tasted horribly like tap water gone bad. She then continued to dissect the remaining ingredients that she needed in order to be able to make the anti-Paralysis potion she was now concocting—and then she knew she’d be going into even more research as she’d be creating the actual Paralysis potion itself for her own use in the near future…and then the sample she’d placed in the pot started to boil and bubble like mad. She then rushed over to it, slapping the goggles down and then peered into the crevice, before fishing out a wooden stirrer and extracting a bit of the mixture she was trying to decipher. She then took out an extra dish and ladled it there, before setting it out to cool and then turning back to the notes that she was now writing.

Ingredients for Anti-Paralysis/Stun Soluion:
- 1 Impure Solvent

She then began riffling through the book she had in front of her; waiting as patiently as she could manage in order to be able to examine the other ‘samples’ that were waiting near her. After taking additional notes down on how to be able to prevent ‘numbing’; she then turned back to look at the dish that was now sufficiently cool—and saw that most of the liquid had boiled away; leaving some sort of powdery remains. She then took a very careful sniff; and then felt a slight tickle—before turning away and sneezing; there was something that she was potentially allergic to in this mixture as well! Ah shit. Bear it until you’re done! She thought to herself as she quickly amended the base ingredient list that she was working on:

Ingredients for Anti-Paralysis/Stun Soluion:
- 1 Impure Solvent
- 2 Impure Tablet

She noted that even if there was just what looked like a small ‘remain’ of powdery debris; when she’d touched it with her pinky finger, it turned out to be quite a lot; so she then made adjustments to the recipe she was working on. She knew that she was a little over halfway done; and now she needed just one more ingredient—and then she heard the ‘kit’ going off like mad again. She then rushed over to where it was, and then suddenly caught a sharp scent wafting from it—was it something like spearmint; or anise? She could not tell; and she then made further additions to the list; and saw that it was pretty much rounded off:

Ingredients for Anti-Paralysis/Stun Soluion:
- 1 Impure Solvent
- 2 Impure Tablet
- 1 Base Herb

She then beamed; seeing as this was definitely possible—and now she cleared out the entire workspace; and was now going to actually try to make something of the sort to see if it would counter the effects of being stunned. She then made sure that there was enough of the ‘noxious failure’ so that she could have something to test the actual ‘potion’ with. I hope I don’t run out of ingredients… she thought, looking over at the stash of materials she’d bought—was it going to be enough for this foray into madness?

[744]

[Hanelli]

Han then started to clear out the ‘workspace’; and sine she knew that this was going to have to be a tablet; she would need to focus more on the process of making the item itself. She then quickly rummaged through what she had on-hand, and then came up with the trusty mortar and pestle. Taking note of the rough draft of the recipe that she’d started on, she quickly rummaged through the ingredients she’d bought—and saw that she was slipped some extra by the seller; and cracked a grin—at least she wasn’t going to end up too short-handed on this. She then selected the items that were of higher quality—because she needed to make sure that higher quality gave better results—and then began grinding up the first Impure Tablet; and then proceeded to write down the steps while she was actually doing it. I’m not so sure that this would be the way it works but what the hell, I’m concocting either salvation or my doom, she thought to herself as she continued to grind up the Impure Tablet into a powder.

Once she’d done that, she quickly picked up another item—this time it was the Base Herb—and noted that there was a distinct peppermint odor wafting from it. Grinning, she then began whistling as she tossed the herb into the bowl and began grinding it up as well; making sure that the herb and the tablet mixed well together. She was just literally making up the steps as she went; and while she was grinding, a thought popped into her head. Why not make it the same way the Medicinal Tablet goes? Mix everything together, mash it up, then cook it until it turns into some sort of weird mush and then poof, presto, cut it to size and make some tablets…? Went through her mind—and she quickly stopped grinding the two ingredients together as she quickly set up another spot with a small, shallow pot over a low fire that she’d hastily assembled out of extra-old, extra-musty books that quickly ignited once a source of flame was brought close to it.

Once the ‘cooking pot’ was set up, she then returned to her area, and then decided to toss in the Impure Solvent to make things interesting—and then picked up the same bottle she’d already marked earlier, and tapped it, before opening it and draining the contents into the bowl; and she then began mixing everything together with a renewed vigor. She knew that she had to get this right—well, hopefully—and not end up making something else instead. after a few more minutes of grinding and making sure that the mixture was now a liquid pile of slop, she then took the remaining Impure Tablet and dropped it into the mixture, where it fizzled on contact; and she winced—what was going on—and then continued grinding the ingredients together; and checking on the fire every-so-often so that it would be eventually warm enough to make the mixture cook in its own ‘juice’. She was aiming for something that had the rough texture of pancake batter before it was added to the fire, and several more minutes of mixing and grinding proved that the mixture she was making was nearing that consistency—and she was now ready for the next step in the process.

[567]

[1 / 3 for Anti-Stun Solution]

[Hanelli]

Now that she had succeeded in making the mixture look like something that resembled uncooked pancake batter, she then carried over the mortar the small ‘pan’ that was now somewhat heated up. Wondering if this really needed ‘oil’, or another thing that a Chef could add, she then shook her head, before finally emptying the contents of the bowl into the pan—upon making contact with the metal, it sputtered and sizzled—and she shook out the entire mortar, to make sure she didn’t miss anything—and then even tapped on the backside of the bowl to make sure that all of the mixture had fallen into the ‘pan’. She now decided to leave it to stew, to cook in its own juice for a bit—and then quickly went over to where the ‘set’ was still bubbling. She then began the painstaking process of dismantling everything, and then keeping it into the designated ‘storage cubes’ and then just opening her inventory and then popping it all back inside. I seriously wonder how our inventories can hold so much without breaking our backs… but… she thought, finally getting the idea of investing in a belt-bag after the entire ‘ordeal’ was over.

She then began clearing out the part where she’d tossed the entire thing together; but making sure to place a weight on the piece of paper that held the recipe; just in case it decided to fly away of its own accord. She then looked over to the pot and saw that it was literally taking its time, so she started taking a few deep breaths and blowing on the fire to keep it going; before picking up what looked like an abandoned magazine and fanning, before ending up feeding, it to the fire as well. We need lighters. That’s it. She thought as she continued to look over the rest of the mixture that she was trying to cook and complete before she ran out of time—and stamina as well—to finish the entire thing. She then decided to return to the research material and read up more on the works of how and why people experienced numbing pain and how to avoid it in certain situations.

It felt like an eternity had passed; but she then decided to look at the mixture once again—and saw that it had somehow cooled down into a certain shape. She then knew she had to get the rest of the process down, before completing the entire thing and submitting it for approval… she then took out a mold and then prepared the chopping board as well, in order to attempt to mold the tablet that she was about to make. There was no hope in making it like ‘modern-day’ gel capsules, so she had to resort to making it much like chewable miniature ‘pancakes’…hopefully it worked, but it was just one step in refining the entire process. She then picked up the ‘pan’ and then started moving it around, making sure that the mixture was cooked enough in order for her to start the final step of the process… the actual testing of the product. Please be viable, please be viable, please be viable… she thought as she moved quickly—she knew she had little time before the mixture cooled completely and became harder to mold into bite-sized shapes.

[560]

[2 / 3 for Anti-Stun Solution]

[Hanelli]

Now that she was working with the cooled ‘lump’, she decided to try and make them as small and as bite-sized as possible—because these things needed to be eaten right on the fly—and then began rolling the malleable ‘blob’ into something that was much less smaller than a coaster-sized pancake. Knowing that she had little time, she quickly began shifting the structure around, before ending up with a really long ‘roll’; and she then decided to use one of the edges of the cutter instead in order to cut up the solution. She then ended up with something that looked like bite-sized blobs; and there was a distinct peppermint-scent to them; so at least that was one effect she was gunning for. Now that the entire thing was done, she then braced herself and decided to test the entire concoction upon herself—but she had to act quickly; otherwise she’d end up being Paralyzed for a very long time without any chance of even moving off from the floor.

Maybe I should contact someone else first before I do this…? But it’s too pressing in order to even try, she said, shelving the idea and then picking up the vial that contained more or less half of the noxious, botched mixture that she’d gotten to use as a base in order to make the current ‘end result’. Hoping for the best, she then raised it in a cheer-like formation, before saying to nobody in particular, “Kampai,” and then downed the entire contents of the bottle in one go, holding her breath as much as she could—because it really stank so bad. the moment she felt the liquid hit her throat, it burned up; it was like it was on fire—and then, the bottle she was holding fell from her grip and smashed against the floor—a sign that it was potent. Too potent! Ack! Move! She thought, feeling her center of gravity shift ever so slightly; so that she was slumping over backward—and she forced herself to fall forward instead so that she could at least land face-first on the table; and within reach of the Anti-Stun solution that she’d made.

With her pitching her weigh so far forward, she ended up falling face-first—only to have her chin take the brunt of the impact, and she could only gasp—because her tongue was rendered useless and unable to speak. She then tried to move her arms, but instead found that she was frozen like a statue—and she could only rely on throwing her weight against her chin in order to move towards the pile of bite-sized ‘goodies’ that she’d made. Hoping that her chin could take such punishment, she then inched her way forward—and each budge was painfully laborious; since she couldn’t move her arms nor legs—and she continued to use the table like a ‘guide’, inching ever-so-slowly towards the pile—and it took her a great deal of time to get to the pile—and once she was close enough, she could feel her chin going butt-numb as well from all the inching and moving forward.

Stupid idea, stupid idea, stupid idea… she thought to herself as she was finally close to the pile some time later—and in a move of desperation, threw her entire body against the pile—sending it flying—and then she knew that she was doomed, for most of it had rolled off the table and was now on the dirty floor! Ah neep, she thought, trying to inch her way towards one piece that was tantalizingly located near her nose—and after much pain—finally managed to angle herself in such a way she could attempt to suck in the thing using her mouth like a vacuum. Would her crazy idea work, though…?

[639]

[3 / 3 for Anti-Stun Solution, now testing. Enjoy the humiliation, lol.]

[Hanelli]

She then willed herself to take a deep breath—because it was just her body that was just paralyzed—and that didn’t work. Ah hell, seriously? She thought with some annoyance, forcing herself to move much closer towards the morsel and finally managing to get her mouth near the thing. Just get over here already! She thought, quickly inhaling as deeply as she possibly could and feeling the thing actually getting sucked into the nexus that was her mouth, and she felt it go down. Strangely though, instead of having to chew it, he solution she had mixed up melted upon contact with her saliva, and she then felt as if she was being released from something—quite slowly at first—and then all at once her body crumpled and her knees hit the floor; which stung—and then her face ended up hitting the rest of the table where she’d placed everything—before finally hitting the floor quite painfully. She then tried to move he hands—and saw that she could; then she tried to wiggle her feet—and saw that they were wiggling!

“Next time, get someone to help,” she said, slapping a hand to her forehead; and then gasping as she felt a sharp pain somewhere near the knee area. She then pulled herself out of the underside of the table; and saw that both her knees were bleeding—or was t bleeding pixels, because she was not sure if there was real ‘blood’ in the game—and saw the broken glass that had caused the discomfort. Hissing as she carefully avoided the glass, she then pulled herself back up, and parked herself into a chair once again, and then began to write, her hand trembling with excitement as she realized that it did work—making corrections to the recipe, before crossing out a few things here and there—and then seeing that there was another piece that hadn’t fallen over, she reached for it and popped it into her mouth. At first it was like a lump of something chewable—but then as it hit the back of her throat, it somehow liquefied itself and then went down much like water.

After finalizing the notes, she then looked over everything with a flourish—and decided that she would make this abandoned area her ‘base of operations’ because nobody else was there; and she needed a place to actually conduct all these experiments and crafting practices in peace! She then sighed; because she knew that she had to work on beautifying the area so that it was like a normal place where someone had a temporary ‘lab’, but no permanent place to call 'home'. Ah well, time to see if they would approve of this… she thought, looking over the formal copy of the recipe he’d made, and then tidying up after herself and then leaving the place—as she needed to look for the spot wherein other people like herself filed such claims—and waited for the axe to fall to see if it would be approved or not. At least I tried… she thought to herself, whistling a tune as she made her way into the city, clutching the piece of paper tight that held all the information that was needed regarding her research attempt.

[550]