Philtering: Something's Brewing

[Terminus Norin]

3 Spring AV510 Morning
Zaital Consulting


Terminus had been thinking about what to do since Avi was gone to the Spires and Leo and Sondra seemed to be off doing that which they did best when times were slow. He had thought of practicing his Reimancy since his Earth skills still needed brushing up, but there was the risk of taking down the building. He couldn't firedance for the same reason and practicing hunting and tracking were best done outside with Avi,besides he loved riding the winds with her while following some game animal. Swordplay was something best done outdoors too, he knew he could work on his herb garden, but the thing he wanted most to do was Philter. He had access to a full lab, but he wasn't in need of one yet, what he needed was a kettle and alcohol and a fire as well as the ingredients he needed and a few other items to distill the elixir with.

The kettle was easy enough, they kept a large iron kettle right by the hearth that they did not cook in so he could make things in it you might not want next to your food. The fire was easy as he could start simple fires with a thought or a flint and steel depending on how much work he wanted to go to. He also assembled his distillery so that he could concentrate and and purify the elixir. Then it was off to gather the herbs and ingredients.

He thought to make a dose of his fire coloring philter since he was getting low. The coloration Philter required a full day of boiling and watching to produce the vial he needed he could produce two vials of the substance if he worked hard but his skills were lacking enough that tat number was pushing it for amounts.

The first thing he would need was the alcohol, they kept some of the pure stuff not fit for drinking in his workroom. he checked to see that he had the required amount and then it was off to the garden to get the living components. Then he would have to see if the inorganic components were still in stock.


He walked out into his well tended garden, it had only a fraction of the plants he would require and most of them required harvesting by special methods. Fortunately today he needed only a few. He walked among the rows trying to find something ordinary and the right color he needed. He found some indigo plants that he was growing that were just about the right stage of ripeness, the large leaves spreading to catch Syna's light. He took his scythe from his belt and chopped the plants at the base, it would take several plants to distill enough blue coloration for the philter to be effective. He filled a small basket with two or three plants and went on through the plant rows searching for his prize. It was a small black bush with purple berries, when these berries were juiced and added a specially prepared extract, it increased the flammability of the extract by four times. He added some fresh jasmine for odor since the philter had an obnoxious odor otherwise and headed back into the house.

The inorganic ingredients were the alcohol which he had already assembled, that would allow him to extract the juices of the plants by soaking and macerating the plants in it while heating. He would need a stabilizing agent to slow the reaction down and something to reduce the evaporation rate so that the elixir would not evaporate in the vial quickly.

The stabilizing agent was a white powder he picked up at the local apothecary, it was made of substances that slowed potentially volatile reactions down. The other agent was a liquid when added to the philter would keep it from evaporating. He really needed to get a recipe for both.

[Terminus Norin]

Terminus gathered the roots he had taken from the garden including a few that would cause the color to infuse into the fire making it burn the desired color, these were in the form of white roots he had gathered in the forest the day before, that and a molasses like syrupy substance would complete the ingredient list.

The next step was to prepare the ingredients and add them to the cauldron with alcohol and let the mixture boil before sending the steam through the distillery to make the vial of coloration philter. Preparation was almost as tedious as the distilling process so he set to work on it.

First he had to separate the leaves of the indigo from the stems and roots as the leaves had the best blue color. This was done with an ordinary knife, slicing at the base of each leaf until he had a small pile of leaves. Then he carefully sorted through the leaves, taking the good leaves and leaving the ones that would not produce enough color. He placed the leaves on a flat stone and chopped them into smaller bits that he placed in a pot with some alcohol in it. This would allow the color to leech into the solution as he mashed the leaves to extract the valuable sap. It took a lot of leaves to make enough color for a distillation. He mashed them up in the solution and left them to steep like that for a couple of hours so that the color would leech from the leaves and combine with the alcohol.

The berries had to be juiced and also combined with alcohol, however they required a much smaller amount..a large bowl was good for them. he crushed the berries with a flat tool much like a large mortar until they had a thick liquid like substance and added the alcohol. they too had to sit for an hour or two to form an extract.

The roots could be sliced and added to a pot of boiling water, they would yield their juices in an hour as well. This required constant attention to the boiling product to make sure it did not boil over or burn, so he sat there for a full bell stirring and counter stirring and there was a clear, thick, fibrous fluid in the pot once the roots had broken down. This had to be strained into the cauldron through a cheesecloth until only the liquid remained, he discarded the pulp into a pile to breakdown and fertilize the garden. He also had to strain the berry and indigo juices the same way after cleaning the cloth with water each time he changed substances. he knew the liquid in the cauldron was separating into layers as each substance was less dense than the one before it, the heat of the fire would cause them to mix and evaporate and he would catch and cool the steam making the vial he needed. The final step of preparation was to add more alcohol and the solid substances, the powders and syrups into the cauldron and place it on the fire to heat.

from here on out he knew he would have to sit with the fire constantly to keep the flame at the right level and stir and counter stir the contents until they were mixed and boiling. this was not the most tedious part, but the liquid did not boil quickly either. Once it was simmering merrily he added the jasmine and placed the lid of the distiller on the cauldron and sealed it to it. then he let the fire burn to coals, just enough heat to keep the mixture hot and steaming without boiling it further. Then the part that would take all day began

[Terminus Norin]

Now the real waiting would begin. From here the mixture had to reduce and condense until it was the requisite strength and that was a slow process. It was also a process that he had to regulate and see to precisely or the Mixture would not yield the proper philter. He sighed and got out a good book to read while he tended the fire and watched the mixture.

The first step was to begin the heating process and that would entail lighting a fire under the mixture and bringing it to a boil. This required constant watching to make sure it did not boil over and to keep the fire at a level where it did not cause the mixture to heat too fast. He also had to stir the mixture five times clockwise and three counterclockwise until the mixture had turned a brilliant indigo. The mixture at this point was beginning to simmer, now it was time to distill the liquid into the vial and complete the philter.

He had to light a fire in the burner of his distillery and seal the cauldron, then watch to make sure that the concoction did not build up too much pressure and blow the whole apparatus. He also had to make sure that the mixture did not cool too rapidly or it would be too dilute and not ignite in the flames.

The slow part was the dripping, one tiny droplet at a time into the vial at the end of the distillery apparatus. He had to adjust the valves on the glass-works to release pressure and adjust the flame on the burner to keep the mixture at an even heat. He would read a little then adjust and check the vial and read more and adjust and look. Finally dark indigo droplets began to travel through the tubing, coiling and curling until a slow drip of thick, indigo liquid began to fill the vial. This was the distillation process and he was pretty sure with all the loss involved he was going to get two vials if he took all day to do it.

[Terminus Norin]

The distilling would take the majority of the day and then he would have to filter the distillate and see how much it yielded. He had about 15 chimes between having to check the distiller to get other things done,however the more often he checked the burner the more he could get. He adjusted the flame as the mixture was beginning to boil too rapidly. The level of the drops had stabilized back to a slow,steady drip and he could leave it for a while.

The Agency was kept pretty spotless, but he did have to clean now and then and take stock of the wares they had and compile a list of philters he could make and the ingredients that they would require. He also needed to work on a recipe for fireproofing even if it was looking to be a much more complex recipe than he had figured on. The time flew by with just the thoughts of what he had to do and he went back to check the distiller.

The mixture was slowly filling the flask with the fluid and he again made and adjustment to the burner to heat the reaction and turn the liquid from a thick indigo to a bright sapphire and it began again filling the flask. There were so many steps and each one had to mix just right or the mixture would not come out correctly. he also knew he would have to add more Jasmine during the final reduction or the stuff would smell like week old socks.

[Terminus Norin]

It had been hours of tending the burner and watching the mixture drip slowly into the flask. The resulting substance was a beautiful sapphire blue and the thickness of spit. This was not yet the final result as there was till too much liquid and it was not the right color, he also needed to add the Jasmine as the mixture right now smelled of old socks. He wrinkled his nose as he began filtering the Jasmine extract for addition to the mix.

He also put the flask on a low burner and added a few pinches of herb to it that would thin the mix a bit and add the ability for the final product to mix with the flames and change their color. He also added the jasmine extract for smell. Then he stirred the mix twice clockwise and once counter clockwise for 10 chimes. Then he switched the routine for 10 chimes. The mixture was beginning to turn a sky blue as it heated slowly. It was also beginning to turn oily which was what he wanted, it meant the mix was changing into the final Philter.

This stage of the process required constant attention to the mix, watching it and adjusting the burner so that the liquid in the flask would continue to change and reduce until there was not much of it left. If the mix overheated it would burn and ruin the last 10 hours work, if it under heated it would not reduce and would take even longer to finish. He watched the mix carefully as he continued to stir and adjust

[Terminus Norin]

The final stage of the philtering was the cooling and decanting stage. At this time the liquid in the flask had boiled down to a small amount of sky blue,very oily substance in the bottom of it. This was the final form the Philter would take and it had to be cooled slowly or it would thicken into a gel and be useless for anything other than bouncing off walls..which it might stick to if you weren't careful.

He turned off the burner in increments waiting 20 chimes between adjustments until two bells had passed and the flask was cool enough to handle but not room temperature yet. He could decant it at this time and let it finish cooling overnight before storing it. This particular Philter had a shelf life of years so it would keep for a while.

He went to a shelf lined with vials and selected two as he could probably decant about that much usable liquid . He fetched a special funnel with a fine wire mesh at its end, this would filter the final solids from the Philter and produce what he sought. He began slowly pouring the liquid in the flask into the vials via the funnel until the vial was full and then proceeded to the other. Unfortunately he did not get quite a full second vial..about half which he would mix with some red he had in a half vial and make a multi-colored flame with red and blue tones since the liquids did not mix but rather sat on top of each other.

With the vial finished he placed a cork in it and sealed it with wax. Then he put it on a shelf in a rack to cool. The vial cost him about 5 GM to make and would sell for 10 so he could make a handsome profit from enough of these.

OOCAnd that's a wrap folks

[Dusk]

XP Award! Terminus XP Award: Plant Identification: 1 XP, Philtering: 3 XP