Swamped

You take a close look at Sunflower's face.

"His nose is twitching slightly. I think the smell is getting through, but not that much." You glance at the cauldron. "We could take him closer to that, though I don't know how safe it is. They've all got masks but they didn't have them on, and they implied the danger was burning it..."

You pause for a moment.

"You know, this might not be the only place they've been mixing this stuff. We may want the masks just in case."

"Already thought of that," Black says, handing one to you. He puts another one around Sunflower's neck. "Don't like the thought of having him smell that nasty stuff, but I'd also prefer it if we didn't have to negotiate with this Lady of theirs. Better if we're all here to get the jump on her. So over he goes."

"Well, we could just take a little and hold it up to his nose. That might be enough."

"Might not be," Black replies. "Maybe we need all of it to have enough impact."

You suppose that's fair. It's not that far from here, so you carry Sunflower right next to the cauldron. The twitching seems to pick up in intensity, but there's no sign of other movement.

"I'm not sure what else we can do, short of burning the stuff," you sigh. "It's having an effect, but not as much. Well, it was only a guess, anyhow."

You think about it a little more. The reason sound is effective in the first place is that making a melodic sound produces a small amount of sound ether - not enough to cast a spell, but it can disrupt an existing one.

But there's no such thing as scent ether, and even if there were, it probably wouldn't oppose light ether the way sound does. The impact you're getting right now is purely physical, and it seems that's not enough.

A thought strikes you. What if you could channel ether through the smell somehow? Perhaps even sound ether?

But that's just an impulsive thought. You have no idea how you'd even do it... well, smells are essentially a special form of air, and sound can travel through air.  So you suppose that if the air was thick enough with the smell, a sound would pass through it. But you can't imagine that meaning that his nose would notice it where his ears wouldn't...

Well, it's harmless enough to test. You grab the bell and ring it gently.

"He can't hear it," Black says. "Have you forgotten?"

"Just trying it out of desperation," you mutter, watching Sunflower carefully. It really doesn't seem to be working...

...well, he's wiggling a finger now. But maybe that's just the scent - it's been a minute or so, it might only be a matter of time.

On the other hand, if your wild idea is actually correct, maybe there's a way you can make it work faster.