>>5303510>>5303513>>5303521"How fast does it spread?"
"For a Mandragoran to be fully formed, the plant must first reside inside the host. Once it's in, it will not leave, and further distress or pulling from the human will only make it grow faster to shut it up."
"When the corpse is nearly in decomposition, it's pores will spread it's seeds and infect the air with their residue."
"Airborne infection..."
"Villages were nearly taken overnight by a single instance of a Mandragoran appearing inside their soil. The disease is not to be taken lightly."
"But how do we take the Mandragora heart if they all kill us with sound? Is there no way or staying alive after hearing it's scream."
"No. Especially if you're the one pulling it from the earth. But I do know where you can find a Mandragora heart from a fully grown tree. There is a nun in a town a few hours away from here, Eliza. She fancies herself to be the protector of the plants, eating and sleeping with them as if they were human. She has turned down several of my pleads to take remove the heart herself, but perhaps with the likes of you going there, maybe she'll be convinced." Bolzack makes no effort in hiding that he wants her dead.
"Sorry, Bolzack. I don't get along too well with holy people. What's in there for me, anyway?"
"Isn't it obvious? If we can extract the serum, we will be able to heal your woman, seeing as you two are potential saviors of the town, your antidotes will be the first in line to be delivered."
"I don't trust you, Bolzack. Something tells me you're hiding something from us."
"You attempt to look deep into his mind, seeing if Bolzack had any underlying motives despite your impaired senses.
Visions of a younger Bolzack and an unknown woman in his care appear behind him as he attempts to retrieve the heart for her sake, going so far as to infect his own people with the Mandragora to experiment on them and develop a cure, killing them and letting them die just for the sake of having a faster way to heal the woman.
Given how common mutations are, it is likely that the reason the mandragorans remained strong in their presence was not due to mere persistence, but from active and premeditated growth.
"For the sake of trusting you, lord Bolzack. Do you mind if I observed your progress with the medicine? I'm familiar with plants, maybe I could provide you some insight."
"I would prefer if you let the research to me, especially when there is little to be done at this point." He deflects as Gyove appears for more counseling.
"We don't need their help, milord, accordion to our scientists, we can achieve a cure through regenerating the heart in the next few seasons."
"Enough of your nonsense, Gyove! Cromwell will be eradicated before how many seasons it takes for an artificial heart to be created!" He angrily pushes his counselor away from the conversation.
