Yesterday, I received the most extraordinary news. My son
and I had made camp in a vale in the southeast corner of the Tanglefern
Thicket. We followed a mating swarm of arthids to this spot where they finally
settled to lay eggs. Dashyl, ever the diligent assistant, began to collect
specimens right away. In one morning we had collected more arthids than in a
full week of tromping through the Tanglefern wasteland. As the boy was busy
catching the tiny creatures, I performed the toxin extraction. We had worked
well into the afternoon when a man suddenly hailed to us as he approached. I
recognized him to be a venomist by trade from his blue and pink clothing.
Really, the venomists are the only other Sarion one would expect to see in the
Tanglefern, it is not a welcome place for anyone of any race on Rynaga,
especially off the traveled paths. Close, spiky foliage tears at your clothes
or any uncovered skin. Most of the plants here hold toxins that seep into your
skin and itch for days if a thorn or spine should scratch your flesh. Most who
enter here soon leave frustrated, daunted, overwhelmed and very, very itchy.
The venomists developed their outerwear specifically for the Tangelfern, thick
carapid shell makes up most of the frontal armor pieces. Pink flair was
originally added so venomists can be spotted by other venomists and not get caught
in a spear net when collecting specimens. I am only interested in collecting
arthid toxin, venomists come to the Tanglefern for any thing that can provide
them with ammunition for their craft, carapids, plants, decaying matter, all of
which are in plentiful supply here in Tanglefern.
Our visiting venomist introduced himself as Kalran of the
Keepers of Tangelfern. He was seasoned, one of the old guard who still traveled
far into the depths of the Tanglefern to collect the raw elements of his
poisons. Most venomists these days, he explained, rely on carapid ranchers or
arborists who established farms to raise toxic plants to procure their raw
materials. Kalran felt that wild carapids and wild plants held more powerful
toxins than those from captive or controlled situations. He asked me the
purpose of my expedition, so I described my intentions, but not my reasons. We
fell into a debate as to the most efficient manner to collect arthids. Kalran
preferred the spear net method because it was designed to capture many arthids
over a larger area. However, my complaint with this method is that it damages
both the arthid and their habitat, meaning you might catch more arthids, but you
have a higher mortality rate, thus limiting the amount of toxin you can
extract. Plus, with the nets ripping out the billow grass, it will be quite a
few passings of the moons before arthids will return to that area. No, I
championed my method of collection by hand, or at least my son’s hands, as the
case may be. Slower, but a greater percentage of arthids are collected intact,
and the billow grass is left to host arthids the next season.
At the end of our debate, Kalran let slip a most valuable
piece of information that could change the course of my experiments in
wonderful ways. He leaned toward me and said with a croked smile, “If it is a
lot of arthid toxin you want, then you need to seek out the starskin carapid.” “Starskin
carapid,” these words are now etched in my mind. With the light of the campfire
crackling under his face, Kalran talked about days when he was a young venomist,
learning his trade from those more experienced who would tell tales of a large
carapid with a midnight blue shell covered in tiny white starbursts that
opalesced in the sunlight. The creature would wait, silently camouflaged in the
underbrush, then attack its prey by injecting it with toxin through a stinger
on its proboscis, only emerging to eat when its prey had fallen dead a few
paces away. He said the toxin was the same toxin secreted by the tiny arthids.
My heart soared at what this meant. If one starskin carapid could be found, it
would provide as much toxin as a month of collecting arthids. I asked him where
this legendary creature was said to live. The other side of Blue Hollow was his
answer. It would take almost two weeks to travel to this area. Having used
about half of our supplies for the expedition, I decided to stop collecting arthids
and leave immediately. I thanked Kalran for his information and told him of my
plan to seek out the legendary carapid of which he spoke. He said he would not
interfere with my arthid collection and would turn back north where he hoped to
find more mating swarms. I told Dashyl the news and he was understandably
excited to not have to collect specimens by hand. While I write this he is breaking camp with
more enthusiasm than I have seen in quite awhile.
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