Player Progression Story The Black Elixir

[Caelamus]

OOC note: This Progression was written as part of the Storyweb System, linked here. This post pertains to the activities of the Digmaan's League. Those interested to partake in this roleplay in future missions should seek out the League to offer assistance in roleplay, to fully partake in future posts.​

The Black Elixir, and discoveries.
Written alongside @AlphaInsomnia ​

After hours of scouring not only the city markets and forests for various animals, plants and wildlife for experimentation, Zzalangua returns to the lab with numerous cages full of chittering bugs and the scurrying of rats, mice and other small rodents he could find. The team gathered up in the confines of their lab ready to set out and begin the experiments in full using a specialized cage mage of clear glass with regulated airflow. One by one the team began the trials.

First on their list were smaller insects such as ants, spiders, flies and other various species that Zzalangua could find roaming about the forest. One by one each species encapsulated in small test tubes were deposited into the containment unit for testing, first on their list were ants. The small tube of ants immediately began scattering about to explore their new environment, nearby Llozzi'sil, on the other hand, began preparing the substance for the trials. Wearing their specialized alchemy gear to prevent accidental breathing of the Black Elixir's fumes, they dipped in the edge of a cryostim to steadily extract a small amount of the liquid to expose to the ants. However, the results of the experiment were almost instant, within seconds of being exposed to the liquid in a sealed environment the ants all began to experience symptoms. They all stopped as if their senses had gone awry before quickly dying within seconds of exposure, which nearby Zuzumi diligently documented. The process was progressively repeated on other species of insects and arachnids with similar results, all of them died within seconds of exposure.

After the trials conducted on smaller species of insects, tests moved along onto smaller mammals such as rats and other small rodents, which piqued the interests of nearby Ztril, raising the question if they too would die as quickly as the ants or display some degree of behavioral changes prior to it. Nevertheless, Zzalangua prepared the cages and took one of the mice with a pair of specialized tongs, quickly opening the lid of the containment unit to drop the rodent inside with the remains of the insects and Black Elixir within. All while the trio of excited Al-Allar stood behind Zzalangua prepared to write down notes as they overviewed the effects. It wasn't before long they began to take place, within seconds of exposure to the Black Elixir the mouse test subject began to experience very similar symptoms to the ants albeit in a far more delayed manner. While it did not drop dead immediately, the mouse which was before scattering around frantically suddenly lost energy as if it had been sapped from it, slowing until it stopped in its tracks, staring intensely at the wall of the container before promptly falling to its side dead. Though strangely the small rodent experienced a sudden rush of adrenaline prior to death, still kicking its legs even while in its deceased state. The mouse was quickly removed from the container and set aside in a jar for later studies. The team decided to move on to larger rodents such as rats with similar results, however, it seemed the rat lasted slightly longer than the smaller mouse.

The next stage of experimentation began, this time it was Ztril who extracted the next sample of the Black Elixir within a cryostim to deposit it in a small aquarium full of common fish found in a creek. Little minnows and other small aquatic life darted about every bit as frantic as the insects and rodents when introduced to their new environment. Zzalangua on standby took the same tongs used for the rodents to gently lift the lid of the aquarium for Ztril to deposit the sample within. Llozzi'sil and Zuzumi stood to watch close by with their notes, jotting down their findings with frantic excitement. The results of the experiment itself and the exposure to the aquarium had very similar results to when it was exposed to insects and rodents. The water quickly became toxic and systematically killed off all of the small fish within, though their manner of death seemed as if they were drowning. Though behavioral wise, the fish didn't seem to behave out of the ordinary prior to their death.

The next trials began, the team moved back to the special container, cleaning it out of the carcasses of insects, mice, rats, and other previous subjects to make way for the upcoming tests on flora. They cleaned out the older sample of the Black Elixir and let the box air out in a secured environment outside away from the lab for clean results in the next trials. First on their list were common poppies, this time Zuzumi took the cryostim to extract the next sample of the elixir to deposit in the box with the poppies. Carefully leaning over while donned in his alchemical equipment, Zuzumi would drop a small amount of the elixir on the plant and within seconds the team found their result. The plant itself quickly began to die, rot and erode at an alarming rate, first it took on traits similar to Dulofall before quickly turning black and turning to dust, similar to the compound itself. Next on their list; fireweed. Llozzi'sil reached over to take the sample in hand while Zuzumi prepared the next sample of the Black Elixir. Carefully and quickly Llozzi'sil dropped the leaves of fireweed into the container followed by Zuzumi dropping a small droplet on top of the leaves. Similarly to the poppies, the results were almost instant, the fireweed's natural combustion ability immediately activated-- both it and the Black Elixir burst into flames and the container was filled with virulent smog. Parts of the container cracked from the small eruption of fire and virulent gas, the team quickly scrambled with the help of Chief of Risk Management, Ztrill, to dispose of what was left of the safety container elsewhere, out of harm's way of themselves and others. Frantically taking the container outside repeatedly yelling "Frak! Frak! Frak!" at the top of his lungs, Ztril was successful in removing it from the premise. The trio of Al-Allar quickly made note that the Black Elixir seemed highly flammable or at the very least, the fire made its effects more prominent. The gas burned up just as quickly as it had begun, choking out the fire in what was left of the discarded container within minutes. The group moved on to testing metals which yielded some results; when exposed to magnetite, the compound attempted to, in what they saw, reach for the source of magnetite. Much to the immediate horror of the researchers, black spikes seemed to protrude from the mixture in the direction of the magnetite which prompted several of the gathered observers to retreat from the room in a panic. The substance did not seem to move further than the confines of its container, however, prompting another cautious test to be initiated. Although the same exact thing happened, several researchers couldn't help but flinch as the viscous fluid protrude outward in a spiked pattern. The results were documented, noting a clear reaction at the presence of magnetite, though what the reaction was exactly is debatable.

Llozzi'sil and Zuzumi, in addition to the other ongoing experiments, decided to introduce the Black Elixir to a small container with a sample of vocadine, however, this produced little in the way of results, especially since the objective was to discover if anything in the compound was organic by evaporation. Once the substance was introduced, however, it evaporated anyways, as it was a normal reaction for the Black Elixir, and the only notable result was that, when vocadine was introduced, the evaporation occurred at a quicker rate. There were too many factors, given vocadine is known to influence the reactions of chemical compounds, but not a single property of it actually evaporated organic materials into steam, which lead to another debatable result.

After performing chemical trials, the group moved onto temperature related tests. First, at the behest of Ztril who was more than a little reluctant over performing the heat test, began the next involving the use of glace to test if the mixture could, in fact, freeze like any other liquid. Zuzumi once again took to collecting another sample of the Black Elixir to quickly deposit into a small testing vial set up on a sturdy rack. While Llozzi'sil took the sample of glace with a different cryostim. The pair worked in tandem to quickly uncap and add a small droplet of glace to the elixir housed within the vial. As expected, the liquid froze, at the suggestion of Zzalangua the group decided to expose the frozen sample to one of the remaining mice. To their surprise it did nothing, the test subject survived up until the liquid thawed and began giving off its gas once again.

Shortly after the trials including glace and the discovery of how to safely handle the concoction, the group decided to expose the previously frozen sample to heat. Though the results were similar in reaction to fireweed. The liquid seemed to quickly combust, burn and boil faster than water and began giving off more clouds of gas at an alarming rate, evaporating rather quickly. Nearby Ztril let out a sigh of relief that it didn't result in a small scale explosion this time as it had with the fireweed. The group decided to move on with the next test, salt. Zzalangua this time was the one to conduct the experiment at the behest of the others. Reaching over to take a pinch of salt with a small spoon, he'd sprinkle it over one of the pre-existing samples the team had recycled from other experiments, however, the results were lackluster by comparison to the other previous experiments. The salt dissolved into nothingness once it touched the elixir liquid.

Finally, after conducting all other experiments, the group moved on to performing biopsies and dissection on the rodents killed by the Black Elixir to try and determine the cause of death. Zuzumi and Ztril taking charge with their knowledge and surgical precision began to conduct the tests donned with surgical masks to avoid the potential risk of being exposed to the sickness. The group was shocked to find a growing black fluid similar to the Black Elixir found in the lungs of each rodent killed and tested. The rodents also seemed to suffer other various side effects prior to their death, such as enlarged pupils, severe redness and inflammation around the lungs and not limited to minor bleeding from each of their noses.

However, due to their exposure to the cracked unit and efforts performing a biopsy, Ztril found himself infected with minor symptoms later on in the evening such as nausea, minor coughing, and sneezing that seemed more or less like an ordinary cold. However as he laid down for the night after a productive day of experimenting, he found himself suffering minor hallucinations such as voices and lingering shadows, it was short lived and persisted for a period of two days after the events of the experiments.

Perhaps more experiments were in order..