I really need to reorganise the supplies I keep down in my lair at the guildhall. Despite attaching large labels to the containers stating - Do Not Touch! Poisonous! or variations thereof - where relevant, there have been one or two incidents. There are some that perhaps might be best kept locked away in a separate place, rather than leaving them in their current position on the workbench, arranged by use or action.
The action a resource exerts determines its use. And in many cases the action of a material is of just as much interest to Ellyana for its healing use as it is to me for a more detrimental property. It's often just a matter of dosage or method of administration that determines whether the effect of a substance will be beneficial or otherwise. And that's why Ellyana takes just as much interest in my collection as I do myself. And I suspect it's also why she sometimes forgets my supplies can be harmful and spends time looking over them. If only she'd wait until I'm around, it wouldn't be so bad ...
I strolled down into the lair a few turns ago just in time to see Ellyana trying to remove the stopper from a glass vial. I snatched the vial from her hand before it opened. She glared as I replaced it in position. 'I was only going to sniff at it - what harm is there in that?' She paled slightly when I told her that should the vial have been opened there might just have been time for me to take her hand before we both succumbed and fell into a final, eternal sleep. 'That's the most powerful poison I have,' I told her 'Only to be opened after taking some rather extreme precautions.' She nodded and carried on looking through the assorted herbs and liquids. 'Oh, I've heard of this one,' and before I could intervene she opened the bottle and sniffed at the contents.
I turmed as I heard a gasp, and recognised the bottle slipping from Ellyana's hand as she passed out. I caught the bottle in one hand, her in the other, clamping my mouth shut as I did, holding my breath, not even breathing through my nose. I put the bottle on the workbench, jammed the stopper in place, lifted Ellyana and headed for the stairs out from the lair, counting as I did so.
She's asked before, and since, for the reasons why I count. When farming I count up to keep a tally of kills or coin - setting a target is the only way to know when you've finished a session of farming. If I'm facing a known number of enemies I count down as they're dealt with. But in this case the count was the number of breaths she'd taken since opening that bottle, as a measure of what harm might have been done.
I negotiated the stairs as fast as I could with Ellyana in my arms, and slammed the door behind me before rushing outside the Mooon. I laid her down beside the stream and searched the workshed for a piece of cloth. I found a suitable piece and grabbed it and a bucket as I rushed back to her side, soaking the cloth in the stream before placing it over her nose and mouth. The fumes from that bottle dissolve fairly easily in water, so the wet cloth would help to clear any away from her nose, mouth or lungs.
There was no-one around except our pet hen Lenore. I was running my hand, wetted in the stream, over Ellyana's face as I realised I was telling her to just breathe, that I had an antidote in the lair - and that Lenore would look after her while I was away for a few moments! I filled the bucket with water and hurried to the lair, taking a deep breath before entering. Leaving the bucket of water to dissolve any fumes I found the antidote and hurried back to Ellyana.
She was breathing evenly though the breaths were shallow. I wetted the cloth again, and remembering the count I'd kept in my head, made an estimation of the amount of antidote needed. I dripped the calculated amount of the thick liquid onto the wet cloth and replaced it over her nose and mouth.
The result was fairly instantaneous and quite gratifying - she coughed once, twice, and several times more. After a few moments she was able to take a deep, shuddering breath. 'Just lie still, Ellyana, try to take deep, regular breaths. I know it's uncomfortable breathing through wet material, but that's what you need to do.' i brushed hair away from her face and eyes. 'You're going to have a headache, and maybe a sore throat.' I lifted the cloth as another bout of coughing and retching seized her for a few moments, then replaced it again. 'We can remove this soon,' I said, listening to the count in my mind - the number of times she'd taken a breath of the antidote.
Sure enough, within a part-marc, she was fine apart from the headache. I had some honeyed tea with me, and drinking that eased any soreness in her throat, and no doubt washed away the taste of both poison and antidote from her mouth. After a few sips she was able to enquire what had happened.
'The one you sniffed? It affects a person's lungs. Slows the breathing, and enough exposure will stop it completely. So my interest in it is fairly obvious. For you, I suppose it could be used to control a severe cough.'
'And the antidote?' Ellyana asked, sipping at her tea.
'That stimulates breathing, ' I replied. 'Just like it did with you. From a healing point of view it' be useful for someone with breathing problems. I keep it because it's an antidote for some of the stuff I have down in the lair.'
'You have an antidote for everything down there?'
I nodded. 'I know sometimes I can be impulsive - but I don't work with any of my poisons without having the antidote. Luckily for you.'

After some sleep, Ellyana was none the worse for her misadventure. From the affair I learned that the trouble and expense of getting hold of antidotes are well spent. And she learned the hard way how I sometimes experiment with my supplies. And we've agreed that in future we won't work with any of the materials alone, if at all possible.