SnitchSeeker.com - View Single Post - SEMINAR 2: Healer's Challenge :: Straining, Harvesting, & Pickling Murtlap Tentacles

Stefan · 02-22-2017, 04:58 PM

SPOILER!!: Char!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tegz

The glass lid that she'd gently removed earlier was in her way, so Char nudged it further across her workstation with her unoccupied hand so that it wouldn't be, her attention on the murtlap. It had apparently noticed her hand but seemed like it wasn't particularly bothered by her for some reason. Well okay, Char would take that small victory. She nudged a few more crustaceans towards the lil guy, coaxing him over and making sure he associated her with food.

The part she wasn't sure about was if the tentacles felt anything or not. Surely they had some kind of sensory purpose? So the murtlap sure would notice when you touched it even if it apparently didn't hurt it to take the tentacles. Once she was sure said murtlap was eating and preoccupied, she moved her hand, still no sudden movements, to the back of the creature. How many tentacles did she need to harvest? She couldn't leave him tentacleless, right? The other murtlaps might tease him or something So maybe.... five? Since that was how many that had been in the jar....

Though that seemed a lot now that her hand was in the glass box. She carefully felt down deep amongst the tentacles, closer to the creature's actual back, and her fingers found the stubby bit, which she then walk-slid index finger and thumb up until it began to feel different, almost squishy. That was it, right? She checked again and then, still trying to be calm and gently, picked up the scissors with her free hand. The murtlap, she saw, was still eating.

Time to cut the first one. Bravely, Char lowered her other hand in, and then carefully moved the scissors in to cut the selected tentacle, being sure not to harm the parted ones as she did so. She removed the snipped tentacle and held her breath a bit, waiting to see of the murtlap would react, but it was pretty happy with its shrimp apparently. Char put the tentacle aside on the clean tray, using the hand which held the scissors to do so. Her other hand she kept in the box. Better than moving around too much.

She also began to feel around for another good tentacle. A long one? As long as she remained calm and was efficient, this went pretty smoothly so far. After three carefully harvested tentacles, Char wondered if it was enough. She checked the murtlap was eating between each one, and kept adding more crustaceans to the box as they seemed to be needed.

"Pr-Healer Reed?" Char asked, not quite able to put her hand up given her hands were currently in use with the murtlap. "How many do we need?" If he'd said she hadn't registered.

As River watched Abey extract the tentacle's juice, the man looked up as soon as he was addressed once more by Charlotte. "Hmm?" Oh, oh. He forgot to write that one down. He supposed ten tentacles would be the perfect count, but given that not everyone is into harvesting tentacles, he mentally reduced the number to half. "Five would be perfect, Miss Kettleburn. We don't want the poor creatures bald." River offered Char a grin, because...yes, tentacles and hair are pretty much the same you know. It's a big deal. Huge.

SPOILER!!: Levi!

River made a full 360 to face Levi this time and nodded at the boy. "Yes, of course, the tentacles will grow back, that's why it is important not to severe the stub, or the cartilage. Aside from introducing pain to the creature, it will cut off the necessary nerves for the tentacles to grow back." Besides, not every wound can be treated or reversed by magic.

SPOILER!!: EVERYONE!

Some were definitely not enjoying the activity, but nevertheless, they were all making good progress. Now that most of the participants have successfully harvested their own Murtlap tentacles, River excused himself from Abey and moved closer to his workstation. “Now that most of you have harvested your tentacles, it’s now time to pickle them properly. Each mason jar shall contain the following,” River turned to his blackboard, gave his wand a wave and more words formed on it, revealing all the ingredients and steps that have to be followed, “The steps are very easy, in fact, you need not perform any spell to finish the pickling process. Just follow the steps on the board, and we will be done with the seminar.” River gave his wand another flick and clean mason jars and blank labels flew from his workstation, and onto each and every occupied workstation. “Don’t forget to label them when you’re done.” He smiled to the rest of the class and went back to help Abey.

Quote:

PICKLING MURTLAP TENTACLES
(Hospital Grade Potency)

INGREDIENTS:
450 ml of Spirit Vinegar (Distilled White Vinegar in the US)

½ cup of sea salt

¼ cup of Sal Ammoniac

¼ cup of Sulfur Vive

20 ml of Distilled Water

10 Murtlap Tentacles

Note: To make a less potent/kitchen grade Murtlap Essence, simply omit the Sal Ammoniac and Sulfur Vive.
PROCEDURE:

Place the harvested tentacles inside the jar, and add ½ cup of sea salt. The tentacles should release the excess water it carries.

Drain the excess water back in the cauldron and add ½ cup of Sal Ammoniac, ½ cup of Sulfur Vive and 450 ml of the spirit vinegar;
Tip: When adding the vinegar, be careful not to let bubbles form. Try tilting the mason jar to the side, and slowly add the vinegar. Note that the extra air from the bubbles will affect the potency of the essence.

Top the solution with water to seal the preservatives, and have the liquid reach up to the jar’s neck. Put on the metal lid, and screw the band on.

Test if it has a good seal. Hold the jar by its mouth and the band should feel that it has a good hold on to the jar’s mouth/screw.

Label your jars, and stow it away in a cool, dry place.

SPOILER!!: Abester

"Exactly like that, Master Botros. Well done." River beamed at the first year, and helped him finish extracting the tentacles into his vial, and corked it for him. As much as he wanted to let Abey do the rest, they simply had no more time to spare since most were now pickling their tentacles. The important thing was, Abey was able to perform, and experience the task. "Label your vial after the seminar, and you may take the essence with you." He was a Gryffindor. He was sure it would be dead useful to the boy. "Now, we move on to harvesting your tentacles. We start off by slowly removing the lid," River took the liberty of opening the glass box, and gently put the lid aside. "Next is, we have to distract the murtlap with food. They love shrimps." he continued, getting his bowl of the treats from earlier, and passed it on the Abey. "Gently drop a couple of these in the box, and wait for the murtlap to eat it. Whenever you're ready, Abraham." It was a lot to take in, but River did his best not to put unnecessary pressure on the boy by calmly throwing in instructions. So far, so good.

OOC:
1. NOW is the time to do catch-up posts! Just label them appropriately and carry on with the rest of the activity;
2. This post contains the last set of instructions, and I will be needing a MAXIMUM of 5 posts for full activity credit;
3. There is actually an 'Easter Egg' in this seminar, and if you were successful in "finding" it, incentive points will be given. This is your last chance to find~~perform~~it. (See OOC Note #1)
4. You have until Friday, 24 February 2017, 5:00 PM GMT to complete everything.
5. Again, if you have any questions/clarifications IC or OOC, please label your posts or send me a VM/PM. Thank you! ^^

02-22-2017, 04:58 PM	#65 (permalink)
Stefan Abraxan Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Under Blueprints Posts: 25,495 Hogwarts RPG Name: Mackenzie Alistaire Mordaunt Slytherin Fifth Year Hogwarts RPG Name: Yoji Christopher Reed Ravenclaw First Year x12 x12	Jedi Master•General Iroh•Java Junkie• King ♛ Stefan •Mycroft Holmes•Dragon Lord•Druid Boy SPOILER!!: Char! Quote: Originally Posted by Tegz The glass lid that she'd gently removed earlier was in her way, so Char nudged it further across her workstation with her unoccupied hand so that it wouldn't be, her attention on the murtlap. It had apparently noticed her hand but seemed like it wasn't particularly bothered by her for some reason. Well okay, Char would take that small victory. She nudged a few more crustaceans towards the lil guy, coaxing him over and making sure he associated her with food. The part she wasn't sure about was if the tentacles felt anything or not. Surely they had some kind of sensory purpose? So the murtlap sure would notice when you touched it even if it apparently didn't hurt it to take the tentacles. Once she was sure said murtlap was eating and preoccupied, she moved her hand, still no sudden movements, to the back of the creature. How many tentacles did she need to harvest? She couldn't leave him tentacleless, right? The other murtlaps might tease him or something So maybe.... five? Since that was how many that had been in the jar.... Though that seemed a lot now that her hand was in the glass box. She carefully felt down deep amongst the tentacles, closer to the creature's actual back, and her fingers found the stubby bit, which she then walk-slid index finger and thumb up until it began to feel different, almost squishy. That was it, right? She checked again and then, still trying to be calm and gently, picked up the scissors with her free hand. The murtlap, she saw, was still eating. Time to cut the first one. Bravely, Char lowered her other hand in, and then carefully moved the scissors in to cut the selected tentacle, being sure not to harm the parted ones as she did so. She removed the snipped tentacle and held her breath a bit, waiting to see of the murtlap would react, but it was pretty happy with its shrimp apparently. Char put the tentacle aside on the clean tray, using the hand which held the scissors to do so. Her other hand she kept in the box. Better than moving around too much. She also began to feel around for another good tentacle. A long one? As long as she remained calm and was efficient, this went pretty smoothly so far. After three carefully harvested tentacles, Char wondered if it was enough. She checked the murtlap was eating between each one, and kept adding more crustaceans to the box as they seemed to be needed. "Pr-Healer Reed?" Char asked, not quite able to put her hand up given her hands were currently in use with the murtlap. "How many do we need?" If he'd said she hadn't registered. As River watched Abey extract the tentacle's juice, the man looked up as soon as he was addressed once more by Charlotte. "Hmm?" Oh, oh. He forgot to write that one down. He supposed ten tentacles would be the perfect count, but given that not everyone is into harvesting tentacles, he mentally reduced the number to half. "Five would be perfect, Miss Kettleburn. We don't want the poor creatures bald." River offered Char a grin, because...yes, tentacles and hair are pretty much the same you know. It's a big deal. Huge. SPOILER!!: Levi! Quote: Originally Posted by Oesed Levi had tried again and again without much success. He felt like it'd been so long that he'd more or less forgotten the instructions. The boy had to push up the goggles up to his forehead, again, and use his reading ones once more to review the steps. No touching the stub, otherwise...the healer had said the reason WHY, Levi knew, but--was it because of the nerves or...? He sighed, in frustration. Levi supposed those details were not too important at the moment so long as he did not pulled from the root. Because he wasn't supposed to pull at all, he was supposed to cut. Levi grabbed the scissors and as slowly as he could, lifted the box's lid. Two more failures later, Levi had managed to distract the murtlap with sufficient food to feel for the stub. It was--well, it felt much like the tentacles he'd touch earlier, but there was a slight difference. Or maybe it was the knowledge they were attached to a living thing this time. Levi had no love for the creature, but this made him narrow his eyes. In what he hoped was a centimeter above the stubs, Levi held his breath as he severed four tentacles. Taking more would maybe makelook the murtlap look...bald. Maybe. He placed them carefully on a tray, fed more shrimp to the murtlap and then closed the lid. "The tentacles do grow back, right, sir?" He hoped so. Levi was perhaps not overly concerned with his appearance, as evidenced by the fact that he'd yet to wipe off of his cheek the essence of murtlap stain, but he could not imagine walking around with chunks of hair missing. River made a full 360 to face Levi this time and nodded at the boy. "Yes, of course, the tentacles will grow back, that's why it is important not to severe the stub, or the cartilage. Aside from introducing pain to the creature, it will cut off the necessary nerves for the tentacles to grow back." Besides, not every wound can be treated or reversed by magic. SPOILER!!: EVERYONE! Gotcha! Some were definitely not enjoying the activity, but nevertheless, they were all making good progress. Now that most of the participants have successfully harvested their own Murtlap tentacles, River excused himself from Abey and moved closer to his workstation. “Now that most of you have harvested your tentacles, it’s now time to pickle them properly. Each mason jar shall contain the following,” River turned to his blackboard, gave his wand a wave and more words formed on it, revealing all the ingredients and steps that have to be followed, “The steps are very easy, in fact, you need not perform any spell to finish the pickling process. Just follow the steps on the board, and we will be done with the seminar.” River gave his wand another flick and clean mason jars and blank labels flew from his workstation, and onto each and every occupied workstation. “Don’t forget to label them when you’re done.” He smiled to the rest of the class and went back to help Abey. Quote: PICKLING MURTLAP TENTACLES (Hospital Grade Potency) INGREDIENTS: 450 ml of Spirit Vinegar (Distilled White Vinegar in the US) ½ cup of sea salt ¼ cup of Sal Ammoniac ¼ cup of Sulfur Vive 20 ml of Distilled Water 10 Murtlap Tentacles Note: To make a less potent/kitchen grade Murtlap Essence, simply omit the Sal Ammoniac and Sulfur Vive. PROCEDURE: Place the harvested tentacles inside the jar, and add ½ cup of sea salt. The tentacles should release the excess water it carries. Drain the excess water back in the cauldron and add ½ cup of Sal Ammoniac, ½ cup of Sulfur Vive and 450 ml of the spirit vinegar; Tip: When adding the vinegar, be careful not to let bubbles form. Try tilting the mason jar to the side, and slowly add the vinegar. Note that the extra air from the bubbles will affect the potency of the essence. Top the solution with water to seal the preservatives, and have the liquid reach up to the jar’s neck. Put on the metal lid, and screw the band on. Test if it has a good seal. Hold the jar by its mouth and the band should feel that it has a good hold on to the jar’s mouth/screw. Label your jars, and stow it away in a cool, dry place. SPOILER!!: Abester Quote: Originally Posted by Felixir This time, Abey was not nearly as stressed out as before, because now he was less worried that he would fall behind and not be able to catch up, because HELP was HERE. Hellooooooo. He watched the Healer closely, trying to make a mental note of exactly how everything was being done. Gently and slowly, riiiiiiiight. Well, THAT was certainly not how Abey had attempted things earlier. He had been a little too heavy-handed, which was funny actually because he didn't have heavy hands at all on account of his hands were all little because so was he. "Okay," Abey said with a firm nod, when it was his turn to try. Carefully - caaaaaaaarefully - he took the tentacle from the Healer Man and made sure to hold it by each end. With some difficulty, he did that twisty squeezy thing the Healer had tried, before adjusting his grip, and wringing it out a little more effectively. Hey! This wasn't so bad actually! Abey kept a CLOSE EYE on what he was doing too even though actually his mind was wanting to wander and watch everyone else for a moment. He HAD to keep looking to make sure he was collecting all the stuff he was squeezing out, otherwise what was the point? After a few moments, Abey was left with a rather sad and droopy looking tentacle, which he thought must have been all squeezed out now. He probably COULD have tried some more but then he might damage it and then what would have been the point of being so gentle in the first place? See? He could be smart. ... Sometimes. After dropping it into the bowl with the other one, Abey glanced up at the Healer, not quite confident, but no longer completely uncertain. "Like that?" "Exactly like that, Master Botros. Well done." River beamed at the first year, and helped him finish extracting the tentacles into his vial, and corked it for him. As much as he wanted to let Abey do the rest, they simply had no more time to spare since most were now pickling their tentacles. The important thing was, Abey was able to perform, and experience the task. "Label your vial after the seminar, and you may take the essence with you." He was a Gryffindor. He was sure it would be dead useful to the boy. "Now, we move on to harvesting your tentacles. We start off by slowly removing the lid," River took the liberty of opening the glass box, and gently put the lid aside. "Next is, we have to distract the murtlap with food. They love shrimps." he continued, getting his bowl of the treats from earlier, and passed it on the Abey. "Gently drop a couple of these in the box, and wait for the murtlap to eat it. Whenever you're ready, Abraham." It was a lot to take in, but River did his best not to put unnecessary pressure on the boy by calmly throwing in instructions. So far, so good. OOC: 1. NOW is the time to do catch-up posts! Just label them appropriately and carry on with the rest of the activity; 2. This post contains the last set of instructions, and I will be needing a MAXIMUM of 5 posts for full activity credit; 3. There is actually an 'Easter Egg' in this seminar, and if you were successful in "finding" it, incentive points will be given. This is your last chance to find~~perform~~it. (See OOC Note #1) 4. You have until Friday, 24 February 2017, 5:00 PM GMT to complete everything. 5. Again, if you have any questions/clarifications IC or OOC, please label your posts or send me a VM/PM. Thank you! ^^ __________________ "It didn't go quite as planned." \| The Underground Studio Translation: I may have caused irreversible damage on a monumental scale.