The Lotus Blossoms!

[pfm1995]

Current Initiative: 10

Ivory knife makes to step away, but in her moment of vulnerability Tuoni doesn't let her. With one leg below her knee and the other above it on the other side, he twist his hips violently to try and send her sprawling to the ground.

Spoiler: Charms

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Spending 5m on his MA Excellency to make a grapple attempt.

Spoiler: Rolls

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Decisive Attack - (16d10)[4][4][4][7][2][2][7][3][6][8][4][4][2][5][10][7](79) + 1 (spending another point of wp) (5 MA + 4 Dex + 1 Specialty + 2 Stunt + 5 Excellency - 1 Wound Penalty)
Grapple Attempt - (10d10)[9][6][4][3][6][7][9][7][8][6](65) (Difficulty 2)
Control Roll - (9d10)[10][2][8][9][6][2][3][10][9](59)

If this works, Tuoni will make a Smash Decisive attack. Hard to tell how many rounds of control I'm sacrificing, so I'll just roll a bunch extra:
Damage - (20d10)[4][1][6][7][7][3][10][1][5][4][1][1][3][6][4][5][2][10][4][8](92)

If this all works, it'll leave Ivory Knife prone.

[Eurus]

Current Initiative: 0

Caught by Tuoni, all that Ivory Knife can do is attempt to move with the throw; she yields, trying to roll when she lands so that she'll be able to rise quickly without much injury.

Spoiler: OOC

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Can't use Doe Eyes Defense, so maybe it'll end here. 6 dodge, +1 Form, +1 stunt, 8 total.

[Eurus]

Current Initiative: 0

Ivory Knife lands harder than she'd hoped, but manages to roll to a kneeling position. That's good enough for her to start singing again; a high, arcing melody of bittersweet longing. Against Tuoni, it's a sharp, sweet thing, like the first chill of autumn, threatening to scour his essence with a thousand subtle cuts; to those in the stands, it's softer, stirring the soul to remember love and heartbreak.

Spoiler: OOC

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Flurrying a withering kiai with a perform check to inspire feelings of... let's call it "sentimentality", in everyone who can hear. Even though she can't pick how these feelings express themselves, the hope is that she might be able to take advantage of what people are feeling to support another instill attempt later. 2-die excellency for one mote on the perform check.

Spoiler: Rolls

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Attack:
MA(5)+Dex(5)+Specialty(1)+Stunt(2)
(13d10)[3][8][5][4][4][4][5][1][2][6][6][4][10](62)

Damage: (Base 11)
(15d10)[6][6][3][8][6][4][9][4][1][10][7][8][10][8][7](97)

Perform:
Perform(5)+Charisma(2)+HPM(3)+Stunt(2)+Excellency( 2)
(14d10)[3][4][9][5][2][3][8][5][6][3][5][7][8][1](69)

[pfm1995]

Current Initiative: 10

The sound washes over Tuoni, and it's sentimentality is a hard, bitter thing bringing to mind winters colder than any Ivory Knife has likely ever known. The sound washes over him, but like the first chill of autumn he meets it and shrugs it off as he steps back to await another opening.

Spoiler: OOC

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5 base + 1 Form + 1 Stunt - 1 Wound Penalty - 1 Black Claw, total of 5

[Eurus]

Current Initiative: 0

Ivory Knife takes a step back and concentrates on Tuoni, sharpening her song as much as she's able. Pouring all of her strength into the attack, it's clear that she intends to see this end one way or another.

Spoiler: OOC

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Ten mote excellency on a withering kiai.

Spoiler: Rolls

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MA(5)+Dex(5)+Specialty(1)+Stunt(2)+Excellency(10)
(23d10)[7][4][8][3][3][4][4][5][8][1][7][8][10][5][2][6][10][4][4][1][7][8][3](122)

Base damage of... 12, actually? I don't know why I kept thinking it was 11. Oh well.
(18d10)[7][7][9][4][7][9][3][1][6][7][8][8][9][2][2][3][9][2](103)

[pfm1995]

Current Initiative: 7

Tuoni ignores the caterwauling entirely, breaking through the wall of sound in a gliding slide that aimed to take the feet right out from under Ivory Knife.

Spoiler: Charms

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Spending 5m on his MA Excellency

Spoiler: Rolls

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Grapple Attack - (16d10)[10][2][5][3][9][10][6][4][8][8][5][8][1][8][6][3](96) + 1 (spending yet another point of willpower - tomorrows gonna suck if he makes it) (5 MA + 4 Dex + 1 Specialty + 2 Stunt + 5 Excellency - 1 Wound Penalty)
Grapple Attempt - (7d10)[4][6][3][1][8][3][6](31)
Control Roll - (9d10)[7][6][7][6][9][2][2][1][1](41)
Withering Slam - (20d10)[3][6][4][1][6][9][5][3][7][10][1][8][8][7][10][1][3][3][2][10](107)

[Eurus]

Current Initiative: 14

The funny thing about feigning luck and weakness as a fighting style is that your actual lucky breaks start looking like you planned it. Ivory Knife falls back from Tuoni's assault, half stumbling - until her ankle wobbles under her, and her voice tightens in genuine sounding alarm (but then, it always sounds genuine, doesn't it) getting even sharper until a lance of sound forms between her and him, enough to crack the very clay of the earth below Tuoni's feet.

She recovers and drops back into a fighting stance, quickly posed. But then suddenly, she laughs.

"...What a sight we must be."

She shakes her head with a bitter smile, her voice relaxed but quiet.

"You're good. If this tournament was actually what it claimed to be, you'd easily be the better pick for Lupo's student."

Spoiler: OOC

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Instilling a sense of suspicion toward Lupo and his tournament. Two die excellency.

Spoiler: Roll

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Manip(5)+Socialize(5)+Stunt(2)+HPM(3)+Excellency(2 )
(17d10)[1][4][2][7][4][8][6][1][4][1][7][5][4][10][1][3][3](71)

[pfm1995]

Current Initiative: -2

Standing off balance and on his toes an inch from the cracked earth, Tuoni rocks backwards but answers, "What it claims to be? Were you thinking he organized this just to enjoy the show?" Still, the woman had a point - little information had been offered. What was the point of this whole event?

Eyes casting about in a desperate frenzy, Tuoni searched for any chink in Ivory Knife's defenses.

[Eurus]

Current Initiative: 12

It was dramatic, the change that had come over Ivory Knife. As though she was absorbing the very calm Tuoni had lost, shedding the cloak of barely-controlled emotion for something old and tired. But her voice was still beautiful.

"For fun? As likely as anything else, I suppose. He certainly didn't need to go to such elaborate lengths for a mere test. I have suspicions, but..."

She shrugged, rueful, remorseful.

"I won't blame you if you don't believe me, but I do respect you. I don't know what the endgame is here, but I'd like it if you came out in one piece."

Spoiler: OOC

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Attempting to raise Tuoni's suspicion to a major. She's being more direct in her implications, saying outright that she thinks there's something bad going on, so that hopefully fills the requirement for escalating evidence, and she's using Tuoni's admiration for her as a supporting argument/to get him to give her the benefit of the doubt so that she can create a major. Four die excellency, three motes.

Spoiler: Roll

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(19d10)[2][4][10][10][10][6][3][4][9][2][2][3][9][5][2][7][10][3][1](102)

[pfm1995]

"No, not as likely as anything else - the gods do not move for the whims of 'fun', and the test is proportional to the reward. Faith is necessary, to be taught, and already I've learned so much from being here. And I would not spend so much time focusing on my health." Tuoni's eyes continue to dart about, even as his voice emerges lispy and muffled from behind the mask. Still, his posture does shrink back and, though he's still focused on Ivory Knife he's keeping the stands in view as well.

Spoiler: OOC

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Spending two motes to raise my resolve by one, using the minor intimacy of 'Hope' - which apparently counts as major if used defensively, thanks to Wic's chicanery - to resist. Total resolve: 6

[Ascension]

Jai shrugs off Brown Leaf's hand when she admonishes him for disparaging Tuoni, but she's shamed him enough that he keeps his mouth shut after that...

...at least until the combatants down in the arena stop fighting and start talking.

"What are they talking about? I can't hear!" he complains.

Though blessed with keener hearing, Mourning Blade is cautious.

"Ivory Knife is... up to something," she mutters to herself.

[Eurus]

Current Initiative: 12

"Then I'll ask you outright."

Ivory Knife stopped circling, and rose out of her fighting stance. Her hands dropped to her sides, every inch of her posture and tone radiating calm as if she had given up - or simply decided that they weren't fighting anymore.

"One of us is going to win, and one of us is going to lose. We can grind ourselves to powder against each other in the meantime, and give this bloodthirsty assembly of gods whatever grim show it is they were willing to step down from their gossamer palaces for. Or we can end this now."

She extended a hand, beckoning or welcoming, and tilted her head to one side.

"Strike me down, or yield. It doesn't matter much, to me. But if you have something worth going home for, you may be better off on the outside."

Spoiler: OOC

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One last influence roll to try and persuade Tuoni to surrender. Seven die excellency.

Spoiler: Roll

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Manip(5)+Socialize(5)+HPM(3)+Excellency(7)+Stunt(2 )
(22d10)[9][7][9][1][4][5][9][2][6][8][2][10][10][7][6][2][10][4][5][10][1][6](133)

Ivory Knife actually is dropping her guard. No clue if that means anything mechanically, but she'll let herself go down if he hits or grapples her.

[Inspector Valin]

"I think it's over."

Wic sighs. It takes him a degree of effort to look away from the battle, but the logical part of Wirric's mind knows that two people talking will illuminate little. Instead, the northerner turns his gaze towards Lupo, curious as to how the inscrutable elder will react to this. What does this teach us of our hearts, sifu? Where's the clarity or understanding in a battle that resolves this way? He's learned something about both Ivory Knife and Tuoni from watching this match, but the martial arts student in Wic feels almost cheated. This final exchange shows nothing about their opposing styles or levels of skill. Ivory Knife was trying to end the match without contest, most likely by some sort of deception. Was that an affront to the tournament, and it's mysterious master? Or could this be one more variable that'd been planned on?

[pfm1995]

Current Initiative: -2

While he's still standing balanced, Tuoni does relax his shoulders as he thinks through Ivory Knife's argument.

"...I see your point, and your mistake. You believe that this is naught but a show; that we are entertainment. You are wrong. You call your art a bloodsport, something of no value in itself. In this, you are also wrong. Look beyond that, and you would see that this tournament is a chance to grow our art, to settle questions and learn new techniques. Still..."

Seeming to disappear into his own thoughts for a moment, Tuoni evidently comes to a decision. "Do you know the story of the Linowan masks? Our oldest songs sing of the chosen of the Sun, those lifted up through their own excellence to something more than men. They ruled over the world, but abandoned it - and the songs do not say why. In their place, the masks were created; a paltry replacement. Like the Sun's blessing, though, they are awarded only for excellence - excellence and sacrifice. I would not so dishonor it by surrendering out of fear of the consequences.

Also, while I admire you, I do not trust you yet."

He turns to face the assembled gods. "Does her statement constitute a surrender?"

Spoiler: OOC

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I think I can still use 'Hope' to boost my original roll, raising my Resolve by 1 after subtracting the Suspicion Major Intimacy. Spending 8m to boost my Resolve by 4.

If that doesn't work, well... give me a few minutes to think about how I want to play this.

[Sticks]

Brown Leaf looked between the two...no, they weren’t combatants at the moment...the two opposed forces in the arena, and wondered about the reason for their summoning. It was not in her nature to doubt such pure spirits, but...when it came down to it, she was just a country girl...who could pull oaks up by their roots if she needed to...at any rate, she hadn’t thought to question anything she’d been told until she took her second breath. It could be that she, and everyone else could be here under false pretenses. She looked at Lupo...he was the center of all this. What did he get out of this?

He was inscrutable, but perhaps in combat, she could learn what sort of a man he was...

[Ascension]

In the face of Wic and Brown Leaf's scrutiny, Lupo continues to be inscrutable, stone faced, eyes fixed on the fighters but expression betraying nothing.

Tuoni's question, however, stirs him into motion. He steps out from the shadow of the gods' pavilion, steps to the very edge of the overlooking balcony. To the eyes of the fighters on the arena floor, looking up at him, his head is perfectly silhouetted by the rising sun, a bold orange halo incongruous with the emerald starlight gleam of his eyes.

"A surrender?" he echoes, coldly, almost mockingly, and then he shakes his head. "No, a strategy. Which you might have seen were you not so close to being caught within it."

He folds his arms, and an arcane symbol slowly fades into visibility on his brow, glowing a deep green. He frowns.

"But we may be finished here, all the same. You show your hearts to me now, and all I see is fear. You have lost faith in the strength of your arms. You have lost faith in the strength of your Essence. You have lost faith in the strength of your wills. And so now you each beg for someone, anyone, to end it for you. The fight you've decided you can't finish through your own power."

He raises a finger, preemptively forestalling protest.

"Don't say a word. If you wish to prove me wrong, show me that resolve. If you cannot, get out of my sight."

[Sticks]

"Both o' ya'll are still standin', so both o' ya'll kin still fight!" Brown Leaf called down from the stands. "When ya try to master somethin', it'll end either in success'r failure, but s'in the attempt ya find the true value! One last stroke, then I'mma get down there an' give you both a hug, 'cause damn if ya don't deserve it."

[Inspector Valin]

The matter having been settled, Wic leans back in his seat, once again studying the two combatants. Whoever won in the end, this had been an interesting match.

[Eurus]

Ivory Knife doesn't look at Lupo. She doesn't glance up at Brown Leaf. She just stands there, silent, until a drop of blood slowly oozes and drips from the clenched fists at her side, bitten by her own nails.

A low, bitter chuckle bubbles from her lips, and she whispers, almost more to herself than to Tuoni.

"This would have been easier for both of us if you'd just hit me when I gave you the chance. Have it your way, then."

[Eurus]

Current Initiative: 12

Ivory Knife steps back into the fray, hands flashing out like daggers. Her song is replaced by a snarl, although even that is oddly melodic coming from her, and a haze of visible essence rises from the blood from where her nails bit into her palms. Any thought she had of ending this battle cleanly seems to be gone; she just strikes like a serpent.

Spoiler: OOC

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Decisive unarmed attack with Flexing the Emerald Claw (5m).

Spoiler: Roll

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MA(5)+Dex(5)+Accuracy(4)+Stunt(2)
(16d10)[2][6][2][6][5][9][2][6][9][10][7][7][1][10][4][8](94)

Damage:
(12d10)[6][3][4][8][5][2][5][7][5][10][2][7](64)

If the attack connects, the poison has Duration 7, inflicts 2i damage/round, and applies a -2 penalty to Tuoni's actions while it lasts. (Per poison rules, he makes a Stamina+Resistance roll and reduces the duration by that many rounds).

[pfm1995]

You mistake respect for fear, but if you insist...

Tuoni gives his own guttural growl in counterpoint to Ivory Knife and welcomes her attack, spreading his arms wide and viciously clapping both hands over her ears like the beat of a pair of enormous wings.

Spoiler: OOC

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Spending all five motes on his MA excellency.

Spoiler: Rolls

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Stamina and Resistance - (7d10)[4][4][7][5][2][1][6](29)

Withering Attack - (20d10)[8][3][6][5][8][7][1][5][9][4][2][3][8][3][4][9][10][2][5][8](110)
Withering Damage - (20d10)[8][10][3][1][4][6][8][9][8][8][4][5][1][9][10][9][6][10][3][4](126)

[Eurus]

Current Initiative: 5

Ivory Knife's movements are erratic as she tangles with Tuoni. She attacks aggressively, striking out with claw-shaped hands and furious shouts, then she falls back, dodging with equal desperation. The smear of blood that she left on Tuoni's clothes releases a haze of shimmering green essence, deluding the man's senses and sapping the strength from his limbs while she does her best to take him apart.

Spoiler: OOC

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Turn 1: Withering kiai attack.
Turn 2: Decisive kiai attack, 3m excellency.

Spoiler: Rolls

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Withering:
MA(5)+Dex(5)+Specialty(1)+Stunt(2)+Accuracy(5)
(18d10)[2][6][6][5][10][10][4][4][3][2][4][3][7][2][8][5][10][1](92)

Base damage of 12
(18d10)[5][7][5][7][6][2][7][3][6][3][8][10][4][9][5][9][4][5](105)

Decisive:
MA(5)+Dex(5)+Specialty(1)+Stunt(2)+Excellency(3)
(16d10)[8][7][8][1][9][1][3][5][3][1][9][3][2][4][9][7](80)

Damage depends on whatever her initiative is after that withering attack, a round of poison damage, and potentially another dodge.
(20d10)[10][5][9][7][7][4][9][4][4][3][3][8][1][6][2][9][3][10][9][1](114)

[Inspector Valin]

The green glow rising from the confrontation brings a cold chill to Wic's heart, even beneath the southern sun. The snake bears its fangs. As Ivory Knife rakes her nails across her adversary, the wanderer from Whitewall is on his feet and running for the stairs, messy hair falling about him as he goes. Interestingly, he's discarded his walking stick, instead carrying a small leather satchel to his side. Wic has no interest in defying Lupo, or interfering in the match, but letting someone die on his watch was a bridge too far for Wirric.

After all, the tourney rules said only that the combatants not kill a defeated foe. A deathblow in the ring is not out of the question here, and neither is a poison that lingers beyond the match. The thought of either makes Wic's gut squirm.

[pfm1995]

Ivory Knife's sickening essence writhes violently in Tuoni's veins; his movements, once fluid and graceful, become jittery and erratic as he starts to hyperventilate behind the mask. He pulls his elbows in; his feet never move more than an inch from the ground as he tries desperately to protect his core from Ivory Knife's raking attacks. His sleeves torn to shreds, as she makes a lunge he tenses for one final surge and leaps up - over her attack and over her head - only for his leg to collapse underneath him as he lands.

He's barely able to struggle up onto his hands before Ivory Knife's strike sends him down into unconsciousness, and ends the fight.

[Eurus]

Ivory Knife feels the jarring impact of her final blow against Tuoni shudder up her arms and into her stomach, foul and unsettling. She stands there over him for a moment, head spinning, trying to remember what comes next. Everything seems so fragmented, like she's a spectator looking down at herself and idly wondering what she'll do next.

The sight of Wirric running up to the arena, looking hurried and determined, snaps things back into focus. Tuoni is down, and while she knows that her strikes wouldn't kill - especially not a man like that, whose body felt like oak when she'd connected with it - the corrupted essence still flowing through and around him might do the job, if he was very unlucky.

She doesn't know much medicine (isn't entirely sure where to check a pulse, even), but she frowns and kneels down beside the man to confirm that he's still breathing.

[Sticks]

Brown Leaf leapt into the arena, not bothering with the stairs. She saw the essence in those last few blows as plainly as anyone, and feared for Tuoni.

She reached the group, Wic having beaten her there. She paused, hadn't Wic needed a cane before?

At any rate, she needed to see something first. Wic and Knife were kneeling over Tuoni. Brown Leaf figured Wic knew more about healing than she, Tuoni's mundane woulds were not her concern. She looked to Ivory Knife, and said in a calm voice, just above a whisper, "Hun, kin' I see your hands?"

[Ascension]

A look of concern crosses the face of The Golden Lord as Tuoni totters and falls, but Lupo gives a nod of approval.

"It is decided," Kokage booms in Old Realm, rising again to his feet.

Jai's enthusiasm floundered for a bit while it seemed like his idol was going to talk her way out of the fight, but he's much better pleased by her finale.

"Yeah, that's it, Ivory Knife!" he yells, and turns his sun-bright grin on Mourning Blade to brag, "I knew she could do it!"

The dour swordswoman's lip curls in disgust.

"I do not like the way that woman fights."

King Harnapuul delicately hmphs.

"Jealousy is unbecoming."

Mourning Blade merely gives him a glare.

[Confrog]

From the side of area closest to the ocean, you can hear a series of wet slapping noises growing louder as a man runs towards it, soaked to the skin. His rough clothes cling to his lean body as he sprints in the direction of the conflict he just witnessed come to a close in a burst of green light.

Risi unwraps the wet cloth bundle in his arms as he runs, dropping the cloth as soon as he's gotten to the fine leather satchel inside. He comes to a sliding halt in the dust next to Tuoni.

"I thought I'd be late to the fun,
but it seems I've arrived just in time."

He moves between the people beginning to crowd around Tuoni's form on the ground and immediately feels for a pulse, examining him as quickly as possible while he pulls out medical tools from the leather satchel.

Spoiler: Rolls

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Spending 1m for Flawless Diagnosis Technique on a Perception + Medicine roll to analyze Tuoni's condition and any current ailments.
(8d10)[8][2][4][9][4][6][7][6](46) + 1 success from Resplendent Satchel of Healing.

[Ascension]

Lupo allows himself a slight smile at Risi's last moment arrival.

"I had a feeling you would," he says to himself.

To a lesser physician, Tuoni's featureless mask might pose some impediment in assessing his condition, but Risi's skill passes beyond such limitations. He can tell that the Linowan has recently lost consciousness due to repeated blunt trauma - enough to leave deep bruises and lasting soreness, but not to threaten his life. There's a small amount of dried blood at Tuoni's ears, the legacy of the Nightingale's song, but as one of the Chosen, there should be no lasting damage to his hearing. The fingers missing from Tuoni's right hand are an old injury, irrelevant to his current condition.

And so what is it that still menaces him, leaving him twitching in his torpor, wresting unwilling groans from his lips?

Risi soon finds the answer. There, at Tuoni's neck, where Ivory Knife's fingernails broke flesh. It's a shallow wound, just the half-moon marks of human nails, not the long scratch of animal claws, but the veins around it bulge, the blood in them tinged with an unnatural green, and a faint acrid scent tickles the physician's nose.

Poison. A magical poison. Though the masked man is otherwise in stable condition, that poison still works through his system.

[Inspector Valin]

The blond haired pale man looks more than a little surprised at Risi's entrence. With a set of needles and a bottle in hand, it's not hard to guess he'd intended to treat the fallen linowan himself. However, seemingly sensing the stranger's confidence and craft, the scruffy man places the needles back in his satchel and backs away, giving space to the senior medic. Reaching into his bag, Wic sorts swiftly through vials and pouches, grabbing two liquids and a touch of some white erb. He holds the flora above one vial, pours the second into it, and watches the resulting concoction bubble for five seconds before passing it to Risi, as calm and professional an aide as he could ask for.

"Antivenom. Best I can do without preparation time. The desulilly should help clear the chakras of malign essence." He pauses, the strangeness of the new arrival finally dawning on him. He coughs, a touch nervously. "Err... who are you again?"

Spoiler

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(12d10)[72]Int+Craft (Alchemy)+Stunt. An antivenom should be a Basic Project for a guy with the supplies, right?