[LN Day 11] Extracting the Midnight Oil(s)

[Reo]

Reo settles in around the campfire, placing a bronze cookfire over it. The general hubub of the night seemed common now, especially with the incursions of previous nights. Funnily enough, he was likely better guarded now than during the day, and with interest spread around to the edges of the camp and few idle people awake looking for food, it was probably the best possible time to have a cooking fire to himself undisturbed.

Not that he would be eating freely from what he was working on. That seemed...well, like a recipe for disaster.

He starts with the seed pods, tossing some into his mortar and pestle and grinding it up before tossing it into the pot. It crackles slightly as it dries under the heat, turning brittle. With a careful eye, Reo waits until it is on the edge of burning and pours in a few glugs of wine from he bottle, stirring the concoction. It was a trick Amara had shown him: many herbs spoiled unless they could be dried, and water never quite seemed to get the same potency out. Wine, however, seemed to, and it had the added benefit of a pleasurable sensation when delivered to the patient as well. Reo lets the mixture reduce until syrupy and pours it into a pot in his medicine kit.

He moves to bough of fruit next, starting with grinding the leaves as he had done the seeds. This time though, he starts by peeling the fruit and tossing the rind into the pot, letting it dry out. The leaves join it soon after. As they edges begin to curl and crack from the heat, Reo squeezes the fruit, letting the juices run into the bowl of the pot, adding back in the wine.

When both are cool Reo dips in his piece of jade to test for any taint, and begins to study its properties.

"Now, am I going to be able to find out what you are, or do I need to administer you to someone?"

Trying to isolate the chemical effects of the iridescent pods, Medicine (Herbalism)/Intelligence: 7d10o10k4 28
Find the effect of fruit, Medicine (Herbalism)/Intelligence: 7d10o10k4 32

[Canary]

The seeds in the pods create odd runs through the concotion, implying there's something different about them than the pods themselves.

When the seeds of the plant are cooked, he makes the mistake... or discovery... of accidentally inhaling a tiny amount of the fumes. After a few minutes, he feels his muscles start to cramp up, nearly making him fall over before they finally release.