Undead Rot Poison

After Gred sold the elf's two weapons, he gave Jess six silver coins. That brought Jess's total earnings from the Duskwood trip to twenty-four silver.

The carriage fares and lodging had cost the two of them less than five silver altogether, so Jess had made a net profit of around twenty silver coins.

On his way home, he stopped by the rent collector at the street corner and paid his four silver coins for the month. Back in his room, he lay on his bed and counted the silver coins and loose copper he had left.

He didn't even want to think about wear and tear on his weapons anymore. He'd calculate those losses when something actually broke.

The herb-gathering trip had been far more frightening than Jess expected. They'd even run into a dangerous competitor and found themselves in serious danger again and again.

The problem was that, in Azeroth, if you wanted to make money, you either had to be born into a good family as the child of a noble, or risk your life for it.

Would it work to search only the forests of northern Elwynn, focusing on common herbs with steady demand, like Peacebloom?

But in places close to towns, they could barely find herbs even around dangerous Raven Hill. It would be even worse here.

And if they traveled farther away, how safe could even Elwynn Forest be, once they left settled areas?

Gnolls and murlocs were deadly. Worse, when it came to gathering herbs, both gnoll and murloc tribes were strong competitors. Ruth Lumere had told them that quite a few gnoll and murloc herbalists were much better at the work than the herbalists in Stormwind.

He urgently needed to find some way to get stronger.

It was a long time before he fell asleep. Early the next morning, he woke with a start before sunrise.

With nothing else to do, Jess went to Marin's study early and cleaned the room. Then he picked up an alchemy book titled Alchemy and Common Ailments and began reading.

That afternoon he planned to start making potions. He needed to learn how to grind Evil Claws, dry herbs, and turn them into powder.

When Marin came in, he found Jess reading intently.

"Interested in alchemy, Mr. Seso?"

"I am," Jess said. "When I was little, I dreamed of becoming an apothecary or a doctor. But I never had the chance to study under anyone. It's too late now, so I can only read about it to satisfy my curiosity."

"I have an alchemy room next door," Marin said. "It may not be as well equipped as the facilities in the Wizard's Sanctum, but it should be enough for simple recipes. You may use it for experiments, but you'll have to provide your own ingredients. Don't touch anything of mine in the cabinets."

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"Really? That's great!"

Jess was genuinely thrilled. On the way there that morning, he'd wondered whether he should buy a cauldron from Alchemist's Needs. Then he'd worried that boiling things over a fire in his tiny rented room might start a fire.

Now the problem was solved. He had access to a ready-made alchemy room. The job didn't pay much, but the benefits were first-rate.

"Make me a pot of tea, Jess." Marin beckoned to him. "Go into the alchemy room. Use the brown pot to bring the water from the waterskin to a boil. Let it cool for five minutes after boiling. While it cools, wash the teapot and add one teaspoon of Goldthorn. By then, the water should be ready for brewing. Bring the teapot here when it's done."

Jess took the book under his arm and went into the alchemy room. The wide array of pots, kettles, bowls, and other containers nearly made his head spin.

He found a bag of Goldthorn, a teaspoon, and a small brown pot on a shelf, then followed Marin's instructions to light the fire and boil the water.

He glanced at the label on the waterskin. It read Pure Spring Water. This must be the same pure spring water required by the Shadow Protection Potion recipe—water untouched by any magic.

Once the water boiled, he put out the flame, quickly washed the teapot, and added the Goldthorn. He checked his pocket watch. There were still four minutes to go, so he sat down and went back to his alchemy book.

As he read, he came across a passage describing the early symptoms of undead rot poison: difficulty falling asleep at night no matter how tired you were, the smell of a rotting corpse on your body, daylight feeling harsh on your eyes, and unexplained weakness and exhaustion during the day...

His heart sank. Had he caught corpse poison?

He turned the page. Other symptoms included vomiting green fluid and purple veins appearing on the arms.

Reluctantly, Jess rolled up his sleeve. Faint purple lines were visible on his arm.

Seriously? Had he really been infected?

The bottom of the page said severe cases could be fatal within three to five months, but early treatment could lead to a full recovery.

Thinking back to the fight with the walking dead in Raven Hill Cemetery, Jess couldn't remember being injured. Even when a ghoul spat poison at him, he'd managed to dodge it.

The book said undead rot poison could infect someone only if undead bodily fluids or ghoul venom came into contact with an open wound. If he hadn't been hurt, how could he have caught it?

He began searching his whole body for wounds he'd missed. Finally, he found several small, blackened holes in his lower leg.

What was this? Had a snake bitten him?

He remembered the countless black beetles that had poured out of the final stone coffin in the tomb. Gred had insisted that even if those insects bit someone, it wouldn't be a problem... And those beetles had two big fangs!

If they were harmless, why did the book say corpse poison could kill a person in a few months?!

Then Jess realized something. That advice had come from a dwarf. Dwarves evolved from the earthen and had much greater resistance to poison than other races. Why on earth had he trusted a dwarf's advice about poison?

The water was cooling!

He touched the pot and badly burned his hand. In a rush, he brewed the tea and carried the teapot back to the study. But his thoughts were full of only one thing.

Corpse poison... Corpse poison...

"You seem distracted," Marin said. He smelled the tea. "Not bad. You followed my instructions. I won't have to tell you how to make it next time."

At noon, as soon as he finished work, Jess ran straight to the library and began searching for medicines to treat corpse poison.

Soon he found a formula for a Restorative Potion, one of the fastest and most effective treatments. It could relieve symptoms immediately, prevent the poison from spreading over the next several days, and gradually clear away what remained. It could even repair the damage the poison had done to the body. Best of all, a single dose was enough to solve the problem for good.

The potion was also simple to make. He only had to boil Goldthorn—Master Marin's tea herb—with one other ingredient.

That ingredient was...

Jess turned the page.

Elemental Earth?!