Closed Brews, Ales and High Spirits [Liyana]

[Noblesse]

Brews, Ales and High Spirits The road to becoming a master Philterer is one that is oft challenging and fraught with hardships. This is true, most especially to an aspiring philterer’s pockets. Special ingredients are sometimes hard to come by in the North, and the necessary equipments for this trade are equally expensive. And so for this very reason, Liyana Winterflame had decided to seek a job as a brewer at the Red Diamond. It would be a win-win situation; she would be able to save enough money as well as practice both of her skills at brewing and philtering. It was halfway through the afternoon when Liyana arrived at the establishment. The tavern was quite empty of its patrons, and so there were only a couple of employees left who were working the day shift. Liyana, staying true to her goal, headed towards the bar to inquire about the job she wanted to apply for. There were two people in the bar area, and they were discussing rather animatedly about something. One was a man who seemed to be the bartender, and the other was a stocky middle aged woman. When Liyana came closer though, their conversation slowly died down as they both turned to look at her. It was the woman who spoke first. “Yes, is there something I can do for ya?” her voice was gruff but accommodating. She looked at Liyana with a cheery glint in her eyes. The bartender looked as jolly as the older woman, too. A toothy grin was spread across his face as he turned to wiping the mugs behind the counter.

[Liyana Winterflame]

The tavern was readying for the evening rush, and the smell of food was in the air. The hurricane of sensations hit Liyana and made her stomach rumble. Liyana breathed it all in. Her mouth watered in anticipation. "I haven't eaten anything this lavish since my parents died", she thought. Liyana had been left little money, and so she had not dared squander any of it before she secured a job. Before the incidents, she had chosen to bide her time, practicing her skills slowly, and only doing a few freelance jobs when it suited her. "It's not a complete loss, though", she thought, "I'll be able to have fun with potions and be paid for it." She faced the owners and smiled. "Hello. I seek employment as a philterer and a brewer." She expected them to have a vague memory of her; she had come here a few times before, for entertainment, but did not remain long. She disliked alcohol and preferred her own drugs. Less drowsiness, more happiness. "I believe I can be of special service to you." Philtering was not uncommon in Avanthal, the healers being knowledgeable about it, but it had been rarely practiced alongside cooking. At least not as much as Liyana had.

[Noblesse]

The woman placed a hand on her hips as her sharp eyes assessed the younger Vantha in close scrutiny. After a few ticks, she finally nodded. "So ya here looking for a job, eh? Well the name's Huzak. I run this place for old man Rayvoris since he can't come here much anymore." She shrugged. "What did you say your name was, again? I don't think you've introduced yourself yet lassie." Huzak nodded curtly upon hearing Liyana speak her name. "You're saying earlier you wanted to be a brewer here at the Diamond, right? You've got nerve instantly assuming I'll benefit from that service you're offering." Huzak laughed, her large belly undulating in her raucous fit. "That's so harsh Huzak. What if the lady's right in saying she can be of use to the business?" the bartender interjected lightly, his hands busily wiping away at the counter. "I don't just hire any body from the streets asking for a job. Red Diamond is a business Verrall, not a day care for youngsters." the woman snapped at man, who only returned a wide grin in reply. Huzak turned to Liyana again, a finger tapping her rounded chin in thought. Then she smirked, crossing her thick arms across her even thicker chest. "Well then, if you really want that job, why don't ya show me what you've got up yar sleeves? Whip something up for me. Verrall will oversee your work to make sure you don't blow the place up. I'll be expecting something good before the night rush comes." With that, Huzak walked off towards one of her wenches slacking off with a customer, leaving Liyana with the challenge of proving her worth under the watchful eyes of Verrall the bartender. OOCHey Liyana, kindly remove the underscore from your name. It's unnecessary since the server accepts spaces as valid characters too.

[Liyana Winterflame]

A few minutes later and Liyana was led into the philtering lab. Surprise flushed into Liyana as she looked at the equipment. It was a professional philtering lab. Not a simple kit, or the make-shift things Liyana managed with at home. No, this was a full-blown majestic lab. If Verral noticed her sudden intake of breath, he didn't show it. He waved his hand at the lab. "This is what you have to work with. You can also use whatever ingredients you can find. Help yourself. Shelves, drawers, crates." He took a deep a breath and exhaled slowly before speaking. "I'm going to make this as clear as possible. To prove your worth you have to mix something tasty and with nice fancy properties." He held out his hands parallel in front of him to symbolize a balance. Both palms pointing up. "Making a tasty cocktail won't be enough, and neither will making a bitter-tasting love potion." Verral walked to the corner and seated himself. He slumped and closed his eyes. Perhaps he'll nap. --------------- Liyana explored the equipment. She read labels, observed colors, and smelled a few that she did not recognize -- her curiosity exceeding her caution. She decided she would make "Earth-Shatter" -- her specialty. It's a fancy name, but it sounds better than "Flavored-Tea Beer". It's essentially an alcoholic drink with caffeine extracted from Tea leaves. The beer is concentrated, the caffeine is concentrated, and the added flavors are concentrated as well -- to offset the concentrated taste. It's more of a blueprint than an exact recipe: Flavors are regularly changed or experimented with, and often one wants lest alcohol less judgement get too clouded. Being boisterous while frenzied and energetic is not exactly something safe to do alone. Liyana took a deep breath. Now to get the preparation started. She poured a mug of beer from one of the casks and set it in the lab's distiller. Not barely large enough for large-scale production, but just the size for chemical experiments. On another side of the lab, she set a beaker of water on a lit brazier. While she waited for the distiller to start evaporating and the beaker to start boiling, she started preparing the flavoring. She tapped her cheek while she thought of a suitable taste. Not cinnamon-apples. Nothing that powerful; not all people have a taste for it. I have to play this safe. Still, she needs something to impress them. Lemon-mint is refreshing. Safe but too normal. Nuts and Berries would be an agreeable taste, but I can't risk messing up one of the ingredients. They're too many, and one slip-up would ruin the taste completely. And after it's concentrated it'll taste like dirt-tar. Liyana sighed, opened her eyes, and her frowning face relaxed. Okay, I'll just try something new. Desperate times call for desperate measures. She spaced out for a few moments before deciding. Mints, Lemons, and one or two types of berries. It has the extra tang of berries without being either bland or risky. Good enough for now. The water had started boiling so she rushed to turned it off and add some tea leaves. She couldn't find Black Tea so she used Green instead. It has less caffeine but it'll do for now. She'll just try to run an extra concentration round later. She looked over her shoulder at the distiller and noticed it started to fog. It'll be done soon. Liyana went back and gathered ingredients for the flavoring. She browsed the shelves, finger on lip, meticulously thoughtful and alert. She crushed the ingredients with a mortar a pestle. Mint leaves. Chopped lemons. Berries. The ones that seemed too soft she hardened with heat. Then she threw in a few pinches of compatible-smelling spices that caught her fancy. Philtering may be an exact science, but cooking is an art. She couldn't find any of the emulsifiers she knew of. Liyana needed them to give a semblance of coherence to the mix. Petch it. She'll just use a few dabs of honey. It'll compensate for the sourness of the berry. Once the flavoring mix was done she ran back to the alcohol being distilled. It was almost done. Alcohol and water have different boiling temperatures, but any carelessness would have had them both mix at the other end, making her redo the entire thing. When she noticed a pause in the evaporation -- signaling the temperature gap between the liquids -- she turned the heat of. Liyana left the alcohol to cool in the alembic and went back to the tea. The leaves had steeped for some time and so the color was deep. Exactly like I want it. She filtered out the leaves and put the drink back on the heater. If she was making normal tea, reheating it would have started activating some acids better left untouched. However, she wasn't making a medicine and she could spare a few nutrients to burn off. All she needed was the caffeine. The less water there is alongside it the better. Liyana scooped up the flavoring -- now a goo -- and took a tiny taste. It tasted like sweet fruit salad. Some say too powerful, but this is what the situation demanded. Verral slowly returned to consciousness as Liyana took out the alcohol from the apparatus. It had a strong smell, sure, but for him to smell if from over there he must have a keen sense of smell. She decided it would be best to hurry up and have everything done before anyone saw it. This was her formula and until she made a better invention she was going to stick with it. She mixed the flavoring goo, the alcohol spirit, and the tea concentrate into one bottle. Liyana closed the cap and shook it well. Hah. Now let them try guessing what's in this one. Not one chef in a hundred would guess what she used tea in this, even if they did discover the flavor with their taste buds. And a philterer would be too horrified with the cooking ingredients to bother. It was only then that Liyana remembered her surroundings. Verral was awakening earlier, but it had been a long time since then. She frowned slightly in thought. Had he completely regained consciousness? oocI hope this pleases you. :3

[Noblesse]

"Mhmm... That smells interesting. What do you have there?" Verall peered over Liyana's shoulders as he rubbed his eyes languidly. He took the bottle in her hands, after asking Liyana for it, opened the cap, took one whiff of the concoction and grinned in his easygoing way. "Eh. Beer? Pretty safe choice if you ask me. But let's see what the big madam thinks of it" As if on cue, Huzak walked to the philtering section of the kitchen (for indeed, it is still part of the Red Diamond's kitchen, only it's on the furthest, less busy part of the large place). There was a scowl on her face as she approached the two. "It's already getting crowded out thar, lassie. You done with yar business yet?" "Look Huzak, she's got something prepared just for you. Beer." Verall chimed, waving the bottle of Liyana's finished product in front of the older woman. He set down two wooden mugs on the table and poured the pungent drink in them, half-filled. "Cheers." The two brought the mugs to their lips and took the first sip, both of them silent for a while as they evaluated the taste of it on their tongues. It was sweet, bitter, and strong at the same time. It was Huzak who spoke first. "Interesting. It has quite the tang I've never seen before. It's different, to say the least. Whatcha think Verall?" "Well, for the life of me I can't seem to discern what the individual flavors are. Which is good in the drinks business, I guess." Verall licked his lips in thought. "It could use some improvements, but I don't see why we can't hire the lady. She's got talent, Huzak, and methinks she only needs some practice get her whipping up high-quality drinks." "Are you telling me to hire her" Huzak asked to which the man replied, "Yes I am. It's what I call investment." The dark-haired woman sighed resignedly. "Fine, I'll hire her. Ya happy now? She's yar responsibility so you hafta watch over her to make sure she doesn't mess up." This time, she turned to Liyana and addressed her gruffly. "You, lassie. I expect ya to be here tomorrow after lunch. Ya'll be working under Verall here. He's easy on everyone but that doesn't mean ya can goof off. I hate slackers." There was a twinkle in her eyes that betrayed the amusement behind them. Huzak nodded in dismissal and swiftly returned to her duties. Verall smiled. "Don't worry about her, she's usually just like that. She'll come to like you soon enough." He said, trying to encourage the new addition to the Red Diamond's culinary team. "Right. See you tomorrow then. Now off with you!" The bartender laughed, shooing Liyana away as he led her out the kitchen. And then he settled in his place at the bar, preparing his counter for the dreaded evening rush.

[Noblesse]

ℬ
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Liyana Winterflame

Skill	XP Earned
Rhetoric	1 XP
Philtering	1 XP
Observation	1 XP

	Lore Earned
•	Applying as a Philterer at the Diamond
•	Mouthwatering Smell of Food in Taverns
•	Earth Shatter: Flavored Tea Beer
•	Choosing the Right Flavors to Impress

Additional Notes :

Congratulations on the new job! I will send you a PM with the details concerning your work shortly after this.

Arise ye of noble heart

If you have any concerns regarding your grade, please send me a PM and we can figure it out.