Fantasy RPG Forum - Standing Trials

Ymiden 9, Arc 720

The temperatures were still rising which was such a strange thing in the Mortalborn’s opinion. The snow was melting, which was something that he had never seen before, since he had arrived in Viden more than two arcs prior. Places that had been hard to reach before were relatively easily accessible now, and the water level in the rivers and lakes and in the bay had begun to rise. It was unlikely that there would be floods, but still, the strange weather constituted the cause of some concern – and confusion – which was why he had begun to take notes about his observations in his journal.

He was just reading over them again. He was not a meteorologist and knew little about physics – he was a chemist and an alchemist first and foremost – but even a layman was capable of drawing certain comparisons and noticing that something was changing in rather unexpected ways. Did the heatwave have a natural cause though – or was something else at work? He was just pondering that question, sitting behind the desk made of dark wood in his study, dressed in comfortable clothes, a dark shirt and pants (he tended to dress more casually when he was in his own home), when he heard someone knock on the door.

He closed his journal abruptly, sat up a little straighter and called out to enter. A moment later, the door was being opened, and Elias, one of his servants, a dark-haired human male of approximately forty arcs of age that had worked for him since he had been Vuda’s alchemist in Etzos, stepped into the room and bowed deeply and respectfully before he told him, “A letter from the Academy just arrived, sir. I thought that you might want to be informed of that right now”, he added and stepped forward in order to hand a large cream-colored envelope that bore an official looking deep red seal to him.

“Thank you, Elias”, he replied and stood in order to accept the envelope before he sat down behind his desk again and opened it in order to take a look. He had to admit that he was quite curious as to what the letter was about. Did someone have a question about his research? Was it another invitation to a scientific conference? Did the Dean want him to hold more guest lectures abroad? Had Trandino who had to be nearing retirement age by now finally decided to step down? Or … he removed a piece of crisp white paper that was filled with exceptionally accurate handwriting from the envelope and started to read, furrowing his brow fractionally before he began to smile very lightly.

Apparently, the Academy of Viden had decided to give him permission to conduct his newest series of clinical trials that involved the development of a potion that temporarily granted the drinker an Ellune’s resistance to cold in one of the unused laboratories.

There would also be someone from the Infirmary present in order to help him, just in case. That was not something that he had a problem with. On the contrary, he considered an extra pair of hands to be a good idea. Besides, he knew most of the staff of the Infirmary since he had worked as a doctor there once upon a time himself. In fact, he still helped out when it was necessary every now and then.

He would take a look at the laboratory once he was done here, he decided (he still needed to deal with the paperwork that Olivia, another one of his servants had put on his desk that morning, just like every morning). He would also see if his research assistants had time and wanted to come along as they would help him with various aspects of the clinical trials (he would probably have lost his mind a long time ago and turned into a madman if he had been forced to do all the work alone).

In the afternoon, Doran, who had changed into an elegant bespoke suit of black with hints of silver as well as a lighter black wool coat (due to the current heatwave there was no need for something warmer at the moment) and his two research assistants, Plia Yishnai Velanar, a young woman of mixed Eidisi and Ellune descent and Harold James Shaw III, a human male, walked through the hallways of the Academy. Harold, Doran observed, walked quite closely to Plia and smiled at her frequently which caused the young woman to blush noticeably.

As he looked at the two of them, his thoughts inevitably began to drift towards a certain young man with shimmering color-changing eyes that had appeared in his dream but a relatively short while prior and changed his life so unexpectedly.

“Professor?” he could hear Plia’s voice and realized that he had stopped moving as he had been so lost in thoughts. He met the young, grey-skinned woman’s gaze for a moment before he inclined his head sharply and joined Harold and her once more in order to lead them the rest of the way to the laboratory.

Before long, the three of them found themselves in front of a heavy wooden double door, and he reached into a pocket of his suit jacket with a hand that was lined with crimson markings (one of his awakenings and a consequence of his progressing in his chosen magic that had another, most interesting side effect) in order to remove a key from it.

Once he had unlocked the door, he gestured for the two mortals to step inside before he followed them and closed the door behind them again so that they would have a bit of privacy.

“This looks nice, professor. I really look forward to working here”, Plia remarked softly as she took a look around. Doran inclined his head in agreement. The laboratory was clean and fairly spacious, and while the furniture was rather plain, everything, from the various apparatuses over the cupboards to the tables and the chairs where the volunteers would sit seemed to be in acceptable condition.

He would definitely be able to make this work, he decided. If he added some of his own equipment, it would be perfect, in fact.

“I think that we’ll stay here for a while and take a closer look at everything, just in case, and then I would like to go over the notes that we made on the animal tests with the two of you again and talk about the upcoming clinical trials, if you have time”, he told the two mortals. “We will follow the same guidelines as before and start with subtherapeutic doses before we gradually increase the dose”, he continued. There were certain standards that had to be upheld when it came to such research, after all. You couldn’t just brew a potion, feed it to someone and be done with it.

Everything had to be done a certain way.

Fortunately, Plia and Harold seemed to be quite happy to talk about science with him some more. The young couple (?) were both a bit on the nerdy side, and there were few things that they found more tempting than brewing potions, giving them to animals and people and discussing their findings.

Apart from each other maybe, he thought with a hint of amusement.

That evening, after he had finally returned to his apartment in the Obsidian Prism and eaten the dinner that Elias had prepared for him (a lighter meal consisting of two different kinds of rice as well as finely chopped roasted chicken and vegetables that had been seasoned with an interesting blend of spices), the Mortalborn sat in the salon, in one of the comfortable armchairs in front of the fireplace where a fire burnt quite merrily (it was considerably warmer now, but not warm enough to stop heating one’s home entirely).

He held a crystal glass that had been partially filled with brandy and that he occasionally took a sip from in his right hand (the alcoholic drink filled his body with a pleasant kind of warmth) and gazed at the Tanner Mantis appendages that had been mounted on the wall above the fireplace. He had slain the creature a few seasons earlier and subsequently researched if its various parts had any use in alchemy. He hadn’t been able to find a use for the Tanner Mantis though, and thus it had become a glorified hunting trophy, more or less.

As he sat there, he sighed contentedly and even somewhat happily. Of course, there was a lot more work that had to be done before he would finally be able to finish his project and defend the thesis that he was working on (it would be the last part of his Licentiate), but this trial at least had gone quite well.