• Solo • Against the Cold

[Doran]

Ashan 112, Arc 720

“I’ve always seemed to favour my Ellune side”, Plia admitted while she gathered the reagents that they would need in order to make their potion. After they had returned to Viden a couple of trials earlier – Doran had held a series of guest lectures at the university in Scalvoris - the young research assistant had donated blood again as the Mortalborn had come to the decision that he needed to conduct a few more studies before he started to test the potion on lab animals or humanoid volunteers. “At least, I’ve always struggled when it comes to learning new languages. My father speaks several languages nearly fluently, but I’ve barely managed to learn Rakahi in addition to Common and the Ancient Language. My full-blooded peers used to make fun of me because of that”, she admitted, the tone of her voice a hint softer as she momentarily averted her eyes, as if she were embarrassed because of what had happened.

“Your full-blooded peers were fools then”, the Mortalborn spoke as he briefly looked up from his work – he had been carefully measuring the base liquid for the potion – a type of alcohol – that he had then poured into a couple of vials that were arranged in a vial holder on the table in front of them. “You didn’t choose to not have a gift for languages; besides, you are one of my most promising students which ought to count more than something that is simply an aspect of one’s heritage”, he told her in no uncertain terms. He wasn’t making a compliment – he rarely made compliments – he was merely stating what was more or less a fact. Plia was quite talented – that was the reason why he had decided to hire her as one of his research assistants. Apart from that, making fun of someone because of something that they didn’t have any control over didn’t make any sense to him. He considered such to be a sign of a lack of intelligence.

“There’s at least one good thing about my favoring my Ellune side though”, the young woman continued as she set a number of different containers down on the table, smiling very gently. “My blood will hopefully enable us to make a working potion. I do not feel the cold as strongly as my father does”, she informed him, looking at him.

Their aim was to create a potion that temporarily gave the drinker an Ellune’s resistance to cold.

Said potion was part of a project that the Mortalborn conducted for his Licentiate in Alchemy. His aim was to establish a new branch of alchemy that he had decided to call Racial Blood Magic for the time being. It involved the creation of potions that gave the drinker the abilities of different races. The season before, he had already finished his work on a potion that gave you a Lotharro’s increased endurance and adrenaline and that would be especially useful when it came to the treatment of anaphylaxis and heart conditions – and ultimately donated several vials to the Order of the Adunih so that they could make use of it.

[Doran]

“When I was a child, I used to run out into the snow and roll around in it”, Plia said, smiling softly as she remembered. The Mortalborn who had known the young woman for several seasons now, since he had first met her during one of the classes that he had taught at the Academy of Viden, returned the smile. The scene that could see in front of his inner eye was quite comical, after all. He was aware that Ellune often covered themselves with snow when they were hot – he had lived in Viden long enough to be familiar with certain traits of that particular race - but rolling around in it was a bit of a different matter. “Father always laughed when I did that!” she remarked, shaking her head.

“Ellune can actually die when the temperatures rise above a certain point”, the young woman continued as she retrieved a few more reagents and carried a few apparatuses over to the table in the center of Doran’s private laboratory in the Obsidian Prism. He raised an eyebrow fractionally and looked at her with interest as she said that. Plia didn’t talk about her childhood or the complicated relationship with her full-blooded peers – on both sides – very often, so he appreciated the conversation; and besides that, what she said quite enlightening as there were some things that he hadn’t known yet – things that would aid him greatly in regard to his alchemical research.

“I’m not sure if I can die of a heatstroke as well because of my preference for cold temperatures or if my mixed blood protects me from that, and I don’t want to find out. I’ve never tried to hibernate like my full-blooded brethren either. There are some aspects of my mixed blood that I’m just not interested in researching further”, she admitted as she walked over to a cupboard in order to retrieve the container with the last reagent that they would need in order to make their potion.

[Doran]

“Here you are, professor”, Plia said once she had brought the last reagent. In the meantime, Doran had added the primer to the alcohol in order to prepare the it for the main reagent. There were other liquids that one could use to make a potion with, of course, such as tea. Alcohol would extend the potion’s shelf life though – which was key when it came to potions that people would probably store for a while before they finally drank them.

“Thank you, Plia”, he spoke as he accepted the container and set it aside before he added the young woman’s purified blood to the alcohol, a look of deep concentration on his face.

When it came to crafting potions, it was important that you added exactly the right amount – too much or too little of a reagent, even if it was just a single drop, could have harmful side effects – or no effect at all which could be just as bad in some cases. When he had made his adrenaline potion, he had ultimately decided on ten drops of Lotharro blood (which had led to seven drops of the finished potion being necessary for it to be effective). For that reason, he added ten drops of Plia’s blood to each of the vials now. Of course, it was entirely possible that a potion that was supposed to make the drinker more resistant to cold, would turn out to require a different dose of the main reagent, after all.

Blood Magic did not always work exactly the same way – although most potions required binders, primers and such in order to work, of course. Using the same amount of blood that he had used for his previous potion seemed like it would be a good starting point though.

“Could you put this here back, please?” he asked her and gestured towards what was left of the blood. Blood needed to be kept cool; which was why leaving it on the table with the other reagents would not be a good idea. He’d ask Plia to get it again – or just get it himself – if he decided to experiment with a different dose.

For now, the Mortalborn continued with the next step – the binder which was a reagent that would ensure that the different substances didn’t negate each other. Reagents often didn’t combine their properties well, one taking priority and neutralizing or weakening the other reagent. Barkskin possessed the capability of nurturing all qualities that were introduced to a medium.

Unlike Frageon crystals, it left a residue that a skilled doctor would likely be able to identify; as he didn’t plan on using his potion for illegal or nefarious purposes – such generally didn’t appeal to him particularly as he operated within the limits of the law - that didn’t matter though.

Three grams of finely ground Barkskin would be enough, he decided after he had given the matter a bit of thought. The last step would be the addition of a metabolizer that would speed up the alchemical reaction as it wouldn’t do if people had to wait and wait before they could finally step out of the door and into the cold without having to fear frostbite. A potion such as the one he was crafting needed to work quickly.

[Doran]

Some time later, Doran finally stoppered the last vial and held it up. His newest potion was a slightly darker shade of red than his adrenaline potion due to the fact that he had added a different binder; the color would not impact the effectiveness of the potion though. Satisfied that the process had gone smoothly so far, he opened his notebook and noted down what he had done so far before he tidied up his workspace, put the reagents as well as the various apparatuses back where they belonged and finally pulled off his gloves, revealing the crimson lines on the back of his hands, one of his mutations.

Plia didn’t say anything. She had seen them before. She knew what he had become and didn’t mind, but tended to be fairly curious about magic instead. She only grabbed a towel and wiped the table before she joined him, a questioning look on her youthful grey face. “Are we going to test the potion now, professor?” she asked him. She was fidgeting a little, as if she were nervous, he noticed.

“Is anything the matter?” he thus asked, in a deep and calm tone, as was his habit, raising an eyebrow fractionally – his body language tended to be somewhat understated most of the time. “If there is something that you would like to ask me, Plia, by all means do”, he added while he hung the lab coat on the hook near the door.

“I … I …” the young woman stammered as she took her own gloves and lab coat off before she took a deep breath. “I was wondering if you would allow me to help you a little when it comes to testing the potions on lab animals considering that it’s my blood that we used. Unless you plan on immediately testing it on humanoid volunteers?” she asked, one of her dark eyebrows rising noticeably, before she quickly added,

“Forgive me, if I’m too demanding, professor. I’d just really like to learn more.” She blushed as she said that, and then she looked up at him expectantly and a little shyly.

“That would only be fair, considering that you declined my money when I offered to pay you for your blood donation”, the Mortalborn spoke. He took no issue with that little “demand” of hers, but approved of her desire to help him and increase her knowledge instead. “Come with me then, Plia. We will start the first series of tests now as I see no reason why we should delay it. We will of course work with rats and mice first to see how they react to it. Considering that we used mostly the same reagents we will likely be able to shorten the process this time though”, he decided.

[Pig Boy]

Doran

Experience: 10 no magic

Knowledge:

Research: Races: Ellune are resistant to the cold
Research: Races: Ellune can hibernate
Research: Races: Ellune can die if it’s too hot
Research: Races: Ellune cover themselves with snow when they are hot
Alchemy x2

Renown: none

Skill Usage: Appropriate to level.

Loot/Losses: none

Injuries/Conditions: none

Consequences: none

Comments: I like the way you write alchemy. It all sounds very scientific and makes me feel dense

The dialogue and action between Doran and Plia's conversation and the actual action are very well balanced here, to where neither detracts from the point of the thread, which is to further Doran's research into the properties of various racial blood. I really enjoy the journey of knowledge that Doran takes with his series of alchemy threads. Always striving for more knowledge.

Good job!

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