41 Ymiden 720
He'd crossed to Viden on accident with the misguided idea that he would be able to walk back to Scalvoris without trouble. He'd thought, upon figuring out how to move items with him, that he would be able to return and gather more supplies to bring. He was wrong. His attunement spark failed him and the mage was, for the first time in a long time, truly lost. He should have branded Isabella or her dreamscape but he'd simply forgotten to, so he'd stay in Viden for now. He'd use what he could find while he was in the city to build his new resources. He didn't have any nels so he earned some through little cons that relied on his magic. He made bets he knew he'd win against scholars who thought their knowledge would be superior to his discrete spells. He read 'palms' for the superstitious and solved a few petty thefts. He did all of that within two trials of landing in the coldest city he knew. He got enough for a room for a few trials. Ten trials, maybe twenty if he kept up with it and found more ways to make money while he was there.
Once he had a room at a reasonably priced inn, Balthazar began his real work. He was looking for ways to improve the Elements and his mind steered towards alchemy as the solution. He knew a decent alchemist in Viden. Doran. But where was he? Balthazar's search lead him to The Prime Atheneum, a grand library that was not nearly as grand on the second trip as it had been on the first... or maybe that was because Balthazar had a different purpose now. The last time he'd been here, it was simply to look around and see what he could find. Now he knew what he was looking for and all the other books in the world were just distractions like the thoughts about being trapped in Viden. Balthazar didn't immediately find Doran though, his eye catching on a book about alchemy as he moved quickly down the rows in search of the scholar. He stopped, pulled the book from the shelf, and found a table to do a little reading at.
The words floated off the page just a little and Balthazar turned inward to calm his rupture spark into passivity and soothe the mutation so that he could enjoy a little reading. It wasn't as academic a book as the title might have implied and Balthazar had to wonder if that was part of the reason it had made it into the library. It was a tome about the life and death of Alchemist Shazza. Shazza was a woman who had dedicated herself to the practice of alchemy from early in her life to the end of it. Balthazar admired a story but he cared a lot more about the alchemy she was performing than the adventures she went on. Another trial he might come back and read the story but totrial he flipped right passed it to the section of the book that held some of her basic techniques.
Grind this, sprinkle it on that, apply a thick coat of wax to this, melt it off over that. Balthazar had no idea what he was reading or what it was meant to produce and he quickly came to the decision that he should seek out a more academic book. So that was what he did. Balthazar began perusing the rows of books lining the Prime Atheneum. Alchemy for Beginners. Alchemy for Non-Alchemists, Alchemy for Powerful Mages, Alchemy for Yaris, Alchemy for Dummies, Alchemy for Mages Looking For A Quick Lesson, Elemental Alchemy? Balthazar ran through nearly a dozen more imaginary book names as his eyes traces the spines lined up. Unfortunately the books were not so conveniently labeled so Balthazar had to pull a few down, open them, flip through a few pages, and then put them back when he decided they were not the right one for him until at last he thought he'd found the book for him. It was quite simply titled, Reaching For Reagents, and it was one alchemists long list of reagents and uses for them. Well it was supposed to be but as Balthazar would discover, the author was rather long winded with little real information.
The most informative section of the book came at the beginning. A little forward from the author about the purpose and uses of alchemy. To the author, alchemy was an art form. You took the properties of one material and through some destructive method you turned into a paint which you used to enhance another item. Artistic, sure, but Balthazar understood the basic idea. It was like those glass flowers Isabella had that she crushed into a poison. Was that alchemy? Or just poison-making? If he put the poison on a blade, was that alchemy? What about if he used something else... what did he know of... hmm... Balthazar couldn't quite call any immediate reagent to mind so he went back to reading the forward.
A lot of what you achieved seemed to depend on your dedication and effort. If you merely painted the walls with your alchemical paint, then only that surface where the walls were painted would have whatever effect you desired... but if you built the walls with it the effect would be complete. It was all still a little confusing for Balthazar but he thought he was getting the hang of it. Most of the forward was about the theory of alchemy and so it was very artistically written and as a result Balthazar lost focus half way through and moved on to the more interesting part.
The reagents. That which Balthazar understood to be the core of alchemy. He didn't know what they did or how to make them do those things when applied to other materials, but he was hoping to learn.
They were organized by location and instinctively Balthazar flipped to Scalvoris to see what he could collect around his home. It was an immediately underwhelming collection. Balthazar thought back to that book with all the flora and fauna of Scalvoris that he'd had for a while back on the island but he didn't have it now when he was really curious about it. So he flipped to Viden to see if there was anything worth gathering around him. It seemed the author did not like Viden very much either. They enjoyed the scholars but not the climate so there was nothing useful in that chapter either. Growing a little frustrated with the lack of results and wanting to get back to finding Doran, Balthazar put the book away. He didn't need to know much about alchemy to get what he wanted from Doran.
And hey, maybe he'd get lucky and learn something along the way. That wouldn't be so bad... learning in Viden. Balthazar had no intention to join the Academy but maybe it would be useful to see if he could make some "friends" among the staff. It always helped to have friends in high places. Scalvoris had taught him that.
Balthazar left The Prime Atheneum and began moving towards the Obsidian Prism where he'd visited Doran before to discuss blood magic. He didn't have quite the best grasp on the path though. It had been a long time ago. Long enough that Balthazar had not had his attunement spark to map his movements. Long enough that he'd forgotten the way. But he did make it to the Obsidian Prism and once he was there he was easily able to find someone who knew of Doran. Rather than his home, they directed him to Doran's office and Balthazar thanked them before going off to find the alchemist.
