#debukefarmhold

Earl arives in much worse condition than he left. How long did the flash take? Did the venom care?

But appear they have. Earl bypassing the ward as he is a DeBuke

And Zara with him. They land with a crash on the dining room table

"HELP!" It's a whisper, even in her fear.

She scrambles to find something.. anything.. a frying pan! She SLAMS it against the floor, hurting her ears with the clang.

Well, that's one way to get attention!

She hits it repeatedly, as hard as she can.

Agnes comes into view "Childlings so help me if you're... " Then she sees Earl

"CLEM!" She yells!

Hurting Zara's ears a bit furtrher perhaps, but in this moment, not even thinking of that.

"P..poisonl..chimerical..." Earl grunts

Zara scrabbles back to Earl's side, kenning, trying to isolate the poison's glamour so she can attack it directly...

Clem bursts in, even as Zara has kenned it flowing through his veins. Three bites! Three locations! And yet, the bites were chosen not for maximum spread. Perhaps the spiders did not WANT to kill but had to obey? There should be time.

Maybe.

Clem looks at Zara, "Fill me in," She sits down and moves to look over the body cutting her cousin's voile off to get a look at the spider bites "Spider bites?"

"Mild. The poison is mild." A command, a nick-name...

"EIluned Countess. We held something she desired."

"She commanded them, she holds a spider-crown..."

"Knock the crown out of her..." She says "Zara, I got it... I see what your'e doing..." Clem says "Earl, options are cutting you open and lbeeding you out over the course of the next hour, or ..hell, let me try something."

"Trust you both" Earl heaves...fever, yet freezing

The venom weakens, at least, Zara thinks her nick name is working. It's hard to be sure

Zara hovers, cradling Earl's head on her lap and stroking his hair.

"Clem's here, Love."

Then Clem pricks him, gets a drop of the blood, and sings "He drinks a whiskey drink, he drinks a vodka drink, he drinks a lager drink, he drinks a cider drink.... "

A kiss on the forehead.

And then, Clem elderforms the purely chimerical venom into purely chimerical booze

"Heyyyy" earl says "I don't feel cold no more..." He reaches up for Zara, hand on hip, "Wanna snuggle milady?"

"Darn Earl, you're handsy when you're drunk," Clem observes.

"Clem... bless you, thou art a mensch."

"The elderform of the booze should last long enough for his body to process it SAFELY... and then be gone long before it can turn back to Venom," Clem says

"Right. Make sure he passes plenty of water."

"You're staying at the farm, Earl" Agnes says

"Mmm good" Earl says "No worries Auntie Aggey..agne.. Ag..ah you kknow who you are"

"This is what liquor does to a man's wits" Agnes huffs

"Pray, forgive the frying pan, Hearth Agnes."

She is still cradling Earl, in no way ready to let him up.

"No, this was for a good use, young lady. Your ears all right? I can get a compress" Agnes says

"Ringing a bit, but should settle."

"Wan me kiss it make it better?" Earl asks.

"What I want," Clem says "is for a detailed story on how this came to be"

"An Eiluned was searching for a book. Rather gobsmacked an innocent librarian."

"I caught one of her spies, and scryed her. She had a treasure - the crown, aye? - to control spiders..."

CLem nods listening, then a look to Agnes, "Hearth, I thinmk tea for earl and Zara would be welcome."

Agnes raises a brow, then nods to prepare it.

"She did not wish to share the book, and claimed it was for 'the good of concordia' that she take it and claim it. Feh."

"She tried to stun me with Grandeur." Nose-wrinkle. "Methinks the Countess is used to getting everything she wants."

"Someone's feeling entitled to be sure," Clem says "Go on."

"I agreed to not claim the book. I agreed."

"I spoke for no others."

"But when Earl did not give her the book she sought, she had her spiders attack him and sought to extort the book for his life."