At each individual section of the table, there was a 4 oz bottle of water, a mortal and pestle, and very heavy work gloves. There were also two baskets of berries; one that looked like slightly smaller blueberries and the other were fat, black berries.
"In the baskets in front of you, you have bilberries, which are blueberries' European cousin, and atropa balladonna berries, more widely known as deadly nightshade. Those berries are very poisonous and if you eat them, you won't die in here, but you'll still have a bad day. And I'll spend the rest of the semester calling you a moron that eats poisonous berries."
Which is also the length of time she'd give them detention for.
"So, bilberries got a reputation for improving eyesight during the world wars. They don't, but Eastern Europe has a hell of a basilisk problem and keeping a bunch of bilberries handy could be the literal difference between life and death if you managed to swallow some before your throat turned to stone. However bilberries by themselves can't completely undo the damage, so you'd be alive, but partially turned to stone. Belladonna is a natural pain reliever, up until it kills you horribly, and mixing the two together makes for a topical analgesic when applied to the affected areas, either the eyes or the puncture wounds. Petrification turns your nerve endings to stone, which I can assure you, is incredibly painful. And again, don't mix the bilberries and the belladonna if you're going to need to ingest the bilberries."
She tossed some of the berries into a mortar and pestle and began grinding. "You're going to want about three large tablespoons full of both berries and then you're going to mix them together in this bottle of water. You're going to want distilled water; unicorn water is the best, because it's cleansed down to a molecular level, but they're almost extinct, so you'll be paying an arm and a leg for a bottle, possible literally, depending on who you're buying it from. Mix the three ingredients together, and then liberally smear it where necessary."
Very scientifically put, Verity.
"This doesn't have much of a shelf life, so your best bet is to keep bilberry jam and a vial of tincture of belladonna in your first aid kit, where you can combine them at need. Of course, you'd better hope you have a friend who can do this, because you'll mostly be in pain and losing your vision." Helping! "Again, this won't reverse anything, it'll just keep you alive and/or reduce the agony. If you want to live and having working eyesight, you need antivenin, specifically the antivenin particular to whatever got you. Basilisk antivenin doesn't do shit for cockatrice attacks, neither works if you've been bit by a stone spider, and if you're up against a greater gorgon, you don't really have a chance anyway."
She grinned at them. "So start mixing up your topical ointments."
no subject
"In the baskets in front of you, you have bilberries, which are blueberries' European cousin, and atropa balladonna berries, more widely known as deadly nightshade. Those berries are very poisonous and if you eat them, you won't die in here, but you'll still have a bad day. And I'll spend the rest of the semester calling you a moron that eats poisonous berries."
Which is also the length of time she'd give them detention for.
"So, bilberries got a reputation for improving eyesight during the world wars. They don't, but Eastern Europe has a hell of a basilisk problem and keeping a bunch of bilberries handy could be the literal difference between life and death if you managed to swallow some before your throat turned to stone. However bilberries by themselves can't completely undo the damage, so you'd be alive, but partially turned to stone. Belladonna is a natural pain reliever, up until it kills you horribly, and mixing the two together makes for a topical analgesic when applied to the affected areas, either the eyes or the puncture wounds. Petrification turns your nerve endings to stone, which I can assure you, is incredibly painful. And again, don't mix the bilberries and the belladonna if you're going to need to ingest the bilberries."
She tossed some of the berries into a mortar and pestle and began grinding. "You're going to want about three large tablespoons full of both berries and then you're going to mix them together in this bottle of water. You're going to want distilled water; unicorn water is the best, because it's cleansed down to a molecular level, but they're almost extinct, so you'll be paying an arm and a leg for a bottle, possible literally, depending on who you're buying it from. Mix the three ingredients together, and then liberally smear it where necessary."
Very scientifically put, Verity.
"This doesn't have much of a shelf life, so your best bet is to keep bilberry jam and a vial of tincture of belladonna in your first aid kit, where you can combine them at need. Of course, you'd better hope you have a friend who can do this, because you'll mostly be in pain and losing your vision." Helping! "Again, this won't reverse anything, it'll just keep you alive and/or reduce the agony. If you want to live and having working eyesight, you need antivenin, specifically the antivenin particular to whatever got you. Basilisk antivenin doesn't do shit for cockatrice attacks, neither works if you've been bit by a stone spider, and if you're up against a greater gorgon, you don't really have a chance anyway."
She grinned at them. "So start mixing up your topical ointments."