Exp And Other Drugs

The three women continued to converse amongst themselves as Intalru studied under the toad.. "Ye keep pounding that Blisterwort like that an ye'll wind up blind as ah worm, Donnae stop jus be gentle with it! ack! yer doin it on purpose aintcha?" The toad Mogogol was constantly berating Intalru the entire time. "What uses does Blisterwort have?" Intalru asked as he 'Slowly' ground the strange herb into a paste. "Ye daft? why do ye think ets called Blisterwort? Makes a narsty little rash but if'n ya mix't with bloodroot and Fire lily flowers, Is downright murderous.." "So how many poisons are you going to be teaching me?" Intalru asked worried this was going to take a long time. "I ain't even taughtcha nuttin yet, Afta ye show me sumtin worth while tha real lessons start." The toad replied confirming Intalru's fears.. After Intalru finished mixing several different poisons together the Toad spoke up again. "Ye might make a decent apothecary yet boy'o, Alright foller me and don't touch Nuttin!" The Mogogol paid Intalru a compliment before turning around and walking towards the door..

After following him outside Intalru realized he wasn't in Kansas.. the swamp anymore. "Where are we?" "Is ma real home laddie, ah connected the doorway to that Hackit shack to this ere bog a couple Millenia ago. The ole Clock don't tick ere like it does O'er der.." After saying his piece the scottoad jumped onto a rinky dink boat and waited for Intalru to join him. "What so like a hour here is a second there?" "Ack! no ye must've biled yer head as a hatchlin coming up with that, Times normal there, it don't move ere at all, Ya can stay here for years without getting hungry or old.. But che get sleepy right quick so le's urry up an finish this so ah can take me nap in peace.." "Wait so how old are you?" "Mmm dunno, but ahm older den yer whole race seeing as I watched ta first O' yer kind hatch.." The Mogogol pondered for a moment before he pushed the boat through the swamp. After a short while the Mogogol steered the boat to a decrepit dock and hopped off before walking towards two shacks that looked exactly like the other one... "C'mon now ah ain't got all howlin day.."

Intalru jumped off the boat and as he walked towards the shack the Mogogol opened the door to the shack on the left. Phshhh! The two were s.u.c.k.e.d inside instantly and Intalru felt like he was falling again... "D*mn!t!!!" Intalru shouted as he quickly approached another swamp.Just before he splashed into the water his stomach lurched as he lost all his inertia. Intalru floated an inch above the water before gravity kicked in again.. Splash! Ptew! ptew! "Oh my God it's in my mouth!!" The young Draconian made it to shore before he started retching. "Hahaha Shoulda kept yer flapper shut instead'a hootin an hollering like a bampot." The Mogogol said as he pulled himself onto dry land. "Where are we now?" "This ere is me teachin bog.. Every year ere's just a tick O' da clock back on Toril." "... how long are we going to be here?" Intalru grew even more fearful as he asked the Mogogol a question he didn't want answered..

"Bout n' hour." The Mogogol replied with a toady smile... " Wait so every year here is a second right?" "Aye." ... "We're going to be here for over three thousand years??!!!!" "Ya don't need ta scream like a Jessie, no hunger, no ole age.. is perfect fer learnin!"

After what felt like a few days of learning about different types of poisons one could extract from plants Intalru let loose a massive yawn. "Donnae be gettin tuckered yet boy'o still a heap left ta learn, Take a whiff O' this.. It'll put some pep in ye." The Mogogol handed Intalru a small vial with a white powdery substance... Is that.. No, it can't be.. then again I know a cannabis dryad and a Cubensis Myconid... "Uhm teach what exactly is this?" Intalru said while holding the vial. "S'a special concoction O' mine I brewed it up from some O' the shrubs behind the shack." "Appraise!"

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Name: Haste dust

Purity: 58%

Description: The product of refining the active ingredients from Erythroxylum coca leaves.

Uses: Stamina +50, Haste.

(Side effects: Chance of addiction, seizure, death. depending on dosage size)

(Past Knowledge)

Name: Cocaine

Uses: When snorted cocaine stimulates the 'Reward pathway' of the brain leading to a euphoric feeling and near boundless energy. When used as a topical ointment cocaine is valuable anesthetic and vasoconstricting agent.

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"How did you come up with the idea to refine that plant?" Intalru was curious as to why the Mogogol would even be interested in the bushes in the first place.. The people of South America would chew on coca leaves to combat altitude sickness and stave off hunger, the Spaniards took over and enslaved the people, forcing them to work on their farms. Once they noticed that the native slaves who chewed the leaves worked harder they encouraged all the slaves to chew leaves. In 1855 a German chemist refined the plant trying figure out what the active compounds were, he realized that they could be used for dieting, menstrual cramps, antiseptics, analgesics, muscle relaxers, and an energy booster.. and that's how coke was made. But why did the Toad man refine the plant?

"Ah pick pieces O' ery plant ah see an feed em to me test mice, Tha lil' Bassa's ran in circles for an hour afore passing out." "Well then since you're supplying I won't be rude.." Intalru used the claw on his smallest finger to pull some 'Haste powder' from the vial before taking a whiff. "That burns so smooth!" "Ahaha!! Laddie yer a strange un anyun ever tell ya that?" "More often than I care to admit.." After hearing that the Mogogol laughed even harder before they continued the lesson.

After Intalru worked with every plant and fungus in the swamp the Mogogol taught him how to 'milk' snakes for venom and extract poisons from the glands of various creatures that he kept in the different enclosures built on separate islands in the swamp. By the time they finished the final lesson Intalru had learned multiple poison and medical related skills and advanced them all to peak levels. He even gained a few rare titles to boot!

"Issa'boot time ye git back ta tha three Lassie's boy'o" "Thank you for everything teach.." Intalru was genuinely sad that he was never going to see the Mogogol again. "Aww donnae be turnin inta a Jessie on me now, ere' take sum O' these an git!" The Toadsman pushed a few vials filled with Various 'Solutions' into Intalru's claws.. "You're the best teacher ever!" Intalru hugged the old toad before appraising the vials separately.. LSD, coke, mescaline, opium... basically any drug you can refine from a plant. Turns out the old toad had a mighty green thumb and grew every plant he came across, after about a thousand years in Intalru mentioned and described a few different plants that had 'uses' the toad would be interested in. The Toadsman was surprised to hear about a few of them and disappeared for a while to collect some that matched the descriptions Intalru gave. "Aye that ah am, and while ye weren't the brightest student ah ever taught ye been the most fun.. if'n you ever have a kid ya should send em my way and I'll appily teach em a thing er two." Before leaving the swamp Intalru talked the old toad into letting him take a few cuttings and made a bag out of a large pitcher plant to store them in.

"I swear I didn't know he was going to be so much trouble when he hatched, he was the last one to make it, Hell I thought the egg was a dud.." Yail Voct was complaining to the young girls that were kind enough to hear her out when suddenly... ""Where did he go!!"" Amanda and Velma shouted in synch scaring the Sh!t out of the brood keeper. "What's going on?" the old lizard asked in confusion. "I lost connection to his mind" Amanda replied. "I knew it!!! You were talking to him while he was out of sight weren't you?!" Velma pointed accusingly. Amanda cut Yail out of her mental link before continuing. "I was actually just listening to the lesson... that toad talks funny and I wanted to hear more." Velma knew she wasn't lying but still eyed the Myconid warily.. "Wait.. how did you know he was gone?...." Amanda asked while crossing her arms. (Hehe umm he has one of my flowers around his neck remember? I felt it disappear.. Does it look like it's going to rain soon?) Velma looked at the cloudless sky trying to change the conversation. "Hold up!" Amanda made Velma look at her before continuing "That flower is part of you? Have you been touching his c.h.e.s.t the whole time!? how dare you gripe about my mental link when you were PHYSICALLY touching him!" the two women started arguing but to Yail's eyes it just looked like a staring contest.. "You two should learn to get along.. you're probably going to be spending a lot of time together."

As the three women sat in silence Velma felt a familiar presence before Sha Na's spectre appeared. "Greetings kind spirit have you found my brother.. Hello Brood keeper how are you?" Sha Na had decided to check on the Spirit she contracted with and was pleasantly surprised to find that she was with Yail Voct. "Hello Bright eyes I'm happy to see that you are learning properly under Zul Sha.. has he been treating you well?" "Teacher is somewhat mean at times but he truly is a great shaman. How has Intalru been? is he with you now?" The three women on the raft begin shuffling their feet an looking around aimlessly.. "Is he okay?.." Sha Na was beginning to worry that he picked a fight with another 'smooth skin' or was possibly eaten by the green dragon..

"He's fine sister, he's just in the middle of his last test then we will be coming to your village, it's nice to meet you my name is Amanda" The Myconid managed to link to the spectre's connection to Sha Na and began shaking her hands while bowing her head slightly. "Sister? Thank you I can't wait to formally meet you in person" Sha Na was slightly confused by the talking mushroom but was happy to hear that Intalru was going to be coming to the village soon. "She not your sister she's my sister!" Velma started shouting before tackling the Myconid resulting in the two of them falling into the water.. "...Brood keeper?" "I'm just as confused as you are child.." Yail Voct replied while watching the two young women try to drown each other. After an hour of bickering Velma started smiling and stared at the shack. "He's back!" Amanda instantly searched for Intalru and was happy to see that he was safe.

As Intalru opened the shack he was greeted by Sha Na's spectre "Hello Intalru did everything go well?" "Sha Na?? what happened to you!" Intalru thought his sister had died and turned into a ghost.. "Nothing happened to her child she is using 'astral projection' to see you." Yail Voct explained from the raft. "Oh so your coming into your role as a shaman, that's great! Did you get skills or are you just able to use the abilities?" Intalru asked hoping to clear up the doubts that Joe the basilisk put in his head.. the women all stared at Intalru before Yail opened her mouth again. "I believe you need a new druid teacher.." "D*mn!t I just spent thousands of years studying... now I gotta study more!" Intalru yelled. "Don't worry now we can go through the learning arc together!" Amanda said into his mind as reassurance.. "Thanks..." was all Intalru could say.