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The Cryptozoologist's Field Guide, Thursday, Per 2
Thursday, February 27th, 2020 01:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
arboreal_priestessBack in the Danger Shop today, where a chicken coop was sitting in a field, surrounded by boulders.
She pulled out a bunch of safety goggles and passed them around. "If you look close, you'll see the lenses on your goggles are polarized for your protection. That's because we're dealing with petrifactors today. All members of the Orphion family, a petrifactor is any type of cryptid that can turn flesh to stone. You might have heard of one of them, Medusa, a greater gorgon. We're studying two of the non-sapient petrifactors, basilisks and cockatrices. There are also stone spiders, but I don't even want to program those. Now everyone put on your goggles because turning to stone isn't fun. It won't be fatal here in the Danger Shop, but it won't be fun, either."
( Anyone screwing around and catching the gaze of a petrifactor here in the Danger Shop would find themselves frozen solid for the remainder of the class period and given detention when the class was over. )
That disturbing bit of trivia shared, Liam leaned down to pick the mole rat up, too. "So, if you find something turned to stone and they're too late to help, the best thing to do is check the eyes. If they are more transformed than most of the rest of the body, you've probably got yourself a gaze-petrifier. If not, or there's too much petrification to tell, examine what you can of the body. Unlike the movies, clothing and accessories don't turn to stone, so you should be able to get a full view. Puncture wounds suggest that the venom has been injected and the size of the wounds can give you a general idea of the size of the predator. A lack of puncture wounds suggests gaze-based, but with cryptozoology, nothing is a guarantee. Fortunately, if caught soon enough - by which we mean before death and usually just a few minutes after initial contact - the effects can be halted or even reversed. If you know the recipe for the antidote."
And suddenly there was a miniature chemistry table behind them, causing several of the cryptids to squawk and poke at the dirt elsewhere. "Guess what you're learning today."
She pulled out a bunch of safety goggles and passed them around. "If you look close, you'll see the lenses on your goggles are polarized for your protection. That's because we're dealing with petrifactors today. All members of the Orphion family, a petrifactor is any type of cryptid that can turn flesh to stone. You might have heard of one of them, Medusa, a greater gorgon. We're studying two of the non-sapient petrifactors, basilisks and cockatrices. There are also stone spiders, but I don't even want to program those. Now everyone put on your goggles because turning to stone isn't fun. It won't be fatal here in the Danger Shop, but it won't be fun, either."
( Anyone screwing around and catching the gaze of a petrifactor here in the Danger Shop would find themselves frozen solid for the remainder of the class period and given detention when the class was over. )
That disturbing bit of trivia shared, Liam leaned down to pick the mole rat up, too. "So, if you find something turned to stone and they're too late to help, the best thing to do is check the eyes. If they are more transformed than most of the rest of the body, you've probably got yourself a gaze-petrifier. If not, or there's too much petrification to tell, examine what you can of the body. Unlike the movies, clothing and accessories don't turn to stone, so you should be able to get a full view. Puncture wounds suggest that the venom has been injected and the size of the wounds can give you a general idea of the size of the predator. A lack of puncture wounds suggests gaze-based, but with cryptozoology, nothing is a guarantee. Fortunately, if caught soon enough - by which we mean before death and usually just a few minutes after initial contact - the effects can be halted or even reversed. If you know the recipe for the antidote."
And suddenly there was a miniature chemistry table behind them, causing several of the cryptids to squawk and poke at the dirt elsewhere. "Guess what you're learning today."