Questions with Few Answers pt 1

(co-post LSP, Jaxx & Mdman
Elise then said. "The Baron has arranged for lunch for your team, at 12:30. It will be at that Café over there, pointing to Café 2 which was in the middle of the semi-circle of buildings. That concludes the tour, you have until then to explore the grounds here. Thank you for your time." And with that Elise left.

Dr. Jackal sighed in relief now that the tour was at an end. He looked around as he tried to remember where the nearby garden was then he closed his eyes and retraced his steps as he imagined the tour in his mind. Then once he got his bearings straight he looked at Sasha, who was assigned as his "keeper of sorts/escort", and said, "Ms. Lagrave if you wish to join me I plan to have get come coffee at that café and enjoy it at that garden." Dr. Jackal pointed to both places so the spies watching him from the shadows would hear him. Then he spoke, "So if you so desire and feel the urge to read in peace, I will gladly welcome the company. It's been a while since I was allowed to indulge myself in such luxury." Then Dr. Jackal gave Sasha a slight bow and headed to the café.

Cronk put a finger to his chin, looking around, wondering what he could get himself doing. Maybe he could go back and blow up something else. He shook his head. It wouldn’t be right. Not without Little Flower to appreciate it.

Cronk watched the Good Doctor walk toward the cafe. Cronk thought he’d get into trouble somehow if he was alone, so, holding up a finger toward Jackal, he called, “Good Doctor, Cronk come!”

Dr. Jackal stopped and used his cane to tap the ground before he turned to see Cronk who wanted to join him. Dr. Jackal nodded as he replied, "Of course Mr. Cronk. I believe they may have something to cater to your whims. Perhaps they even have an Irish coffee there. I could go for one of those myself. We can relax and get a little spoiled for a change." Then Dr. Jackal slowly turned around to make his way to the café with Cronk and Sasha behind him.

Cronk was pleased to have their company. Even though he was a little wary of The Masked One, because she may mistake him for a monster, she seemed to be an enjoyable person. Cronk followed, sauntering along behind them.

Sasha waited a beat before following the two men. "Docteur. I may have a few questions once we get seated." she said. "I need to be ready with as much information as possible to pass to my people."

Dr. Jackal nodded as he said, "I will try to accommodate you Ms. Lagrave. However I maybe lacking in some aspects. I wonder if we can get a waitress to attend to us in the garden for some refills? I do love my coffee and I am sure Mr. Cronk would need a refill as well." Dr. Jackal continued to walk towards the café as he wondered what kind of coffee they served. Since he was deprived of his favorite drink for five years he found himself trying to make up for his loss.

"I am quite sure your knowledge will be more than needed." She said, "I only have questions regarding the ingredients or more over the believed ingredients." Sasha took out two books one small and very worn that appeared to be a not book, the other looked hand made it's cover read "Enylopédie des Fleurs Vénéneuses". Sasha looked at the doctor. "Get yourself your coffee then we will begin."

Soon after Dr. Jackal, Cronk and Sasha were able to decide on what they wanted and managed to get a waitress to attend to them in the nearby garden. As it turned out they did have rather large cups for Cronk due to the orc staff on hand. Dr. Jackal managed to get a carafe of half espresso and half French coffee with cream and sugar. After sipping his coffee he embraced the aroma and let it ooze down his throat. He looked so calm and serene as he enjoyed that moment. Then he spoke before sipping his coffee again, "Now for your questions Ms. Lagrave?"

"What would be the most common form the more toxic ingredients come in? I presume powder as liquid would need glassware for storage and over long distances that is prone to breaking." Sasha had her books ready for annotation and references. "I have people with unsavory connections and it's not likely each one knows what they would be looking at but if I could tell them a powder of a certain color it would help track sources."

Dr. Jackal sipped his coffee as he pondered what Ms. Lagrave was asking. Her question sounded easy to ask, however there was no real simple answer. Then he swallowed his coffee before he spoke up, "Well I get what you are asking but your answer will vary based on the situation. Like in cooking, fresh ingredients are the best choice. However since our evil doctor is doing his work illegally he would need to resort to making a concentrated ingredient by reducing it to a serum or taking it a step further and dehydrating it. Both are very time consuming and require a lab to make. So you are indeed correct in a need for a lot of glassware. Sadly even if you saw jars and bottles of liquid or powdered ingredients it would be hard for a non specialist to tell what it is by mere sight. As it is the only way to tell the difference between salt and sugar is to smell or taste it. If you used that technique on stage materials we would have a lot of sick of dead people. However there is a much simpler way to test a sample of the ingredients as long as they take precaution to avoid direct contact with the ingredients."
Dr. Jack sipped his coffee and then said, "Your people would need a prepped kit of test tubes with a reactant already in it. I can make these kits and the instructions of the results to make it useful to anyone. Basically the person would safely put a small scoop the size of a sweet pea into a test tube and then cork it to see the reaction. Then they look at the list of reactions to see if the reaction matches and that would be a positive match. It helps that the reactions tend to be color coded, give off heat, give off cold, make bubbles, separate like vinegar and oil or become very viscous." Dr. Jackal sipped his coffee and then asked, "If this would help I can get to work once we leave this posh estate."

Cronk sat there, enjoying his Irish coffee. He would sip at it, leaving a cream mustache above his upper lip.

He was trying to understand what the Good Doctor and the Masked One were discussing. Cronk tended not to deal with toxic things, as he could easily get the application wrong. His strength was merely brute force.

Listening to the discussion, most of the scientific things were above Cronk’s head. “What viscous?” he inquired, attempting to follow the discussion.

Dr. Jackal swallowed his coffee and looked at the curious Cronk. He then thought for a moment and then answered, "It means to have a thick, sticky feeling between solid item and liquid. A good example would water and molasses. Water is easy to pour so it doesn't have much viscousnessto it and molasses is thick and sticky so it pours very slowly so it has a lot of viscousness in it. This can be affected by the temperature as well since when its cold it makes liquids stiff and harder to pour."

Cronk nodded his head in demonstration of understanding the explanation. He smiled at the Good Doctor and the Masked One with the creamy mustache.

Dr. Jackal nodded as he somehow helped Cronk understand the idea of viscosity. He asked, "I am glad you are appreciating these peaceful moments Mr. Conk. They are very important to have since our mission will test us in many ways. Our team seems to be getting along for now, but teamwork and trust are not easily acquired. Its easy to trust ones skills but trusting a person is totally different. I have seen good noble men do horrible things and criminals save children in a crisis. This world is always full of surprises." Dr. Jackal sipped his coffee and embraced its fragrance as he savored each moment. It was the first real geniune smile he had shown all day.

Cronk leaned forward, his elbows on the table. “Any hurt team will pay,” Cronk assured the Good Doctor. “Evil Doctor will pay. He kill Boss.”

Dr. Jackal looked at Cronk as he paused in mid thought. It irked him that Cronk was a similar but nicer version of his "other half" If he could even get to Cronk's level it would a vast improvement. He then replied, "It's only a matter of time before we find him Mr. Cronk. At that point feel free to break his legs so he can't run away when Mr. Sung questions him. If we kill him to soon he may have some helpers we may have to defeat later on. We want to stop him and whatever helpers he is working with." Dr. Jackal had pained smile as he spoke to Cronk.

Cronk couldn’t understand, or rather, his will would not allow him to understand why the Good Doctor didn’t want the Evil Doctor killed in sight. Of course, the Good Doctor didn’t know Boss. Cronk’s lips thinned in anger. It was then when Cronk realized he had a cream mustache.

Wiping his lip clean with a large hand, Cronk wondered if the Good Doctor would feel this way if Boss was his friend. Cronk looked to the Masked One. Certainly, a monster hunter would agree that the Evil Doctor should indeed be killed. He took a sip of the Irish coffee, awaiting a reply from Sasha.

Sasha paused before taking a note. "I can not provide such a thing to my people." Sasha stated. She took a breath seeming to concentrate, "Docteur I need you to understand, these people are not experts. You must speak plainly and not give me possibilities. I know you do not have all the answers but just play off the assumption you yourself were making large batches, and consider the most expeditious process. Quantity over quality. My people can't test things, they are going to be searching things like the black market and other such things they need to ask just the right things, I won't have people I know dying because we go in blindly or on an assumption you are only half sure of. I mean this with respect Docteur you are probably one of the most intelligent people I've met but working on this alone you need to understand you need to lower your thinking a touch, you said yourself the man we are after wasn't as bright think like him not like yourself. He will be buying the cheapest form so if that's a burlap sack filled with powdered hemlock that's what we look for. We don't need to worry about his lab space until we know who his supplier is."