(Solo) Lengthy Preparations

by **Irriari** on July 31st, 2011, 11:08 pm

Lengthy Preparations

Afternoon, Day 66, Summer 511 AV

Irriari hands had shaken as she awoke from nightmares filled with Rhysol and the Ebonstryfe. Throughout the night she had woken up from the pain in her wing and grabbed her bow out of fear. Thankfully, Korin was no longer in the room. However, Irriari had no doubts that if she didn't complete the task to his satisfaction, he would be back in the room or elsewhere to kill her. She twirled the scroll between her fingers and opened it for the first time. After a few seconds of intently staring at the squiggly script on the page, Irriari sighed and rolled the parchment back up again. The leather quiver that laid next to her bed would hold it securely until she found someone who could read the name of her victim off of it. Irriari carefully wrapped the scroll around the inside of the conical quiver before picking up her bow and poison crafting kit.

It was afternoon in Ravok and the sun was in the middle of the sky, and she could almost feel the infernal rays hitting her from outside of the room. Sun, she had decided, lived only to irritate her eyes, and it did a splendid job of it. Ignoring her thoughts about the sun, Irriari walked outside and closed the door to her room before locking it with the skeleton key she had managed to fish out from her quiver. After a few twists and turns, she found herself amid the native Ravokians at the heart of the docks- the Nitrozian Plaza. Her destination, Black Tar's Alchemical Services, was only a few streets down to the south, into the Plaza of Dark Delights. It was one of the few shops Irriari had found herself at time and time again, though she didn't always buy something. The shopkeeper and the zith had developed an odd relationship, based on mutual interests. While they hardly ever talked, aside from when Irriari asked the price of this, or the toxicity of that, Irriari wanted to believe that they had a relationship. Simply having a store that stocked poisons and glassware was more than she had ever hoped for.

The sunlight bothered her during the short walk, as she knew it would, but it only took two or three chimes to reach the store. When she entered the gray store front, Irriari breathed in deeply and smiled. This was home. The ever present shopkeeper started to inform her of the stores rather odd policies but stopped when he realized who she was and then went quiet. Irriari knew that her poison crafting methodology left much to be desired, and her limited methods could only produce a few type of poisons. A long time ago, Sevrai had mentioned the importance of philtering but Irriari had already had a hard enough time getting a poision crafting kit from a wandering trader. A philtering kit would have cost more mizas than she had at the time, if she was lucky enough to stumble upon one. Now, she saw the philtering kit that had been sitting on the shelf for the better half of the season. An alembic accompanied it, though the oddly shaped piece of glassware wouldn't be able to fit in a traditional backpack. The unwieldiness of the glass had been one of the prime reasons she had neglected buying it up until today.

After she had picked up the kit and placed it on the counter, Irriari moved to the dried herb section of the store. In small vials and glasses crushed and whole herbs were preserved. Some had been ground into powder, while others were chopped finely instead. After looking at every powder, plant and paste for twenty chimes, Irriari settled on a bag of reddish leaves that had been chopped into half inch squares, a whole mint green plant that faintly resembled the Hasale'ith'savanht, and a small vial of plant oil.

Irriari walked up to the counter and nearly placed the 167 gold mizas she owed into the bronze dish provided but stopped just short of doing so. She didn't have any idea how to use the fancy alembic sitting in front of her. Nearly everything in the philtering kit was novel. The only way she could learn quickly would be by a book, provided she could read it. Irriari swore aloud. Why had she never wanted to learn when Sevrai had offered to teach her?

“Do you have any books on philtering here?” she asked hopefully

After a chime, the disembodied voice of the shop keeper responded.

“Yes, yes, on the book shelf, second row from the bottom, blue spine, third from the left.”

Quickly, Irriari set all her reagents on the table and moved to the book shelf before she forgot where the book was. The book was dusty, but showed no other signs of defect. It was relatively small compared to the others, and after dusting it off, Irriari brought it up to the counter and set it next to the rest of her purchases.

“That'll be 50 gold mizas.”

Irriari grimaced and pulled out more mizas from her dwindling pouchful. 217 golden mizas filled the bronze dish and nearly overflowed at the sides. With a nod to the shopkeeper, Irriari walked out the door and tried not to think about how quickly her money was being spent. She couldn't afford the bright orange poison she had wanted, but the amount of money she spent in the next few days hardly mattered. If the Ebonstryfe killed her for not bringing her victim back, she would have no way to spend it. Next, Irriari needed to purchase wine.

Purchased	Cost
Philtering Kit	150gm
Book: The Wonderous World of Philtering	50gm
Blissbane Leaves	4 gm
One Makari Plant (whole)	9 gm
Zarent Herb Oil (tiny vial)	4 gm

Total Spent: 217 gm

by **Irriari** on August 2nd, 2011, 12:10 am

Irriari walked back out to the Nitrozian plaza and decided to make the trek to her residence before looking for a fine wine to buy. One of the other reasons she had never philtered anything in the past was due to the fact that she needed alcohol. Originally, her kit had came with a small quantity of poorly made ale, but it had ran out too quickly. After three or four chimes and a quick nod to Tarsin, who was actually awake for once, Irriari made it to her room and placed the alembic down by the edge of the door so she could open it without dropping everything.

As Irriari stepped in the room her eyes looked over everything she could take in during once glance. Nothing seem disturbed and even the messy bed covers were as she left them. After checking all the corners from the doorway, Irriari stretched her hearing to include every inch of the room she could manage. A small scrap of paper rustled against the floor from the gust of wind that had blew into the room after she opened the door. Irriari waited a moment and allowed herself to calm her own breathing before she listened for anyone elses. After thirty seconds of steady in and out breathing at a measured three second count, all was still. Irriari tried, but heard no rapid heartbeats and no one breathing, aside from herself, so she picked up her alembic and walked inside. The alembic was placed carefully on the table and the kit was placed underneath, nestled between two oak table legs. Irriari had no idea where she was going to put the book, so she left it on the bed for the time being. The the three vials she had bought were stored in her poison crafting kit.

After everything was accounted for, Irriari picked her bow back up and and grabbed the book that was laying on the bed. Maybe she could find someone to read it for her. The zith was almost sure she could, for the right amount of mizas.

When she arrived back in the middle of the Nitrozian Plaza, Irriari's first thought was to go to the Silver Sliver for wine, but after the events a few nights prior, she wasn't sure that she would be welcomed with open arms, though few of her welcomes into the tavern could be classified as friendly. Like most of Ravok, if she had the mizas to pay, she was allowed to enter, if not, she was openly scorned. Only the bravest of idiotic humans attempted the latter or the two, due to the high probability of being attacked. After twenty chimes, Irriari passed a street vendor of wines and ale. While the ragged scar faced man hardly screamed 'quality merchant', Irriari didn't care and approached him anyways.

“I need the finest wine you have.”

The drunk and tired store owner nodded sluggishly and rummaged through the bottles that were stood up on the street.

“This is the best I got, 18 gms, straight from the 'eart of Zeltiva.”

The man looked at the bottle wistfully as he offered it to her. Doubtless, he had hoped to drink it one day, but so far, he had managed to stave off the temptation to do so. The bottle looked slightly fancier than the rest, but Irriari knew that 18 mizas was too much for a fine wine, after having seen patrons of the Sliver order theirs for 10.

“I'll give you 11 gms for it, or I can just take it now.”

The thought was a pleasant one, and while Irriari would have loved to simply leave with the bottle in hand, there were too many guards around to attempt it. The drunkard muttered and slurred a few sentences before holding his shaking hand out for payment. Irriari dropped 10 mizas in his hand and glared at him before walking away. The extra miza she had offered was her idea of a joke, though the man had hardly found it funny and she heard him cursing her as she walked away.

Now, before she could settle down for the evening to brew poisons, Irriari had to find someone on the streets of Ravok to read her the book she had bought.

by **Irriari** on August 2nd, 2011, 3:14 am

Irriari had wandered the street for a bell and not a single one of the people who littered the street seemed like they could read the book she purchased. Angrily, Irriari snarled at no one in particular before she continued hunting. Maybe she could get someone from the Institute of Higher Learning to teach her. Irriari shook her head. The Institute would ask too many questions and scoff at her for not being able to read. Then, who knows how much they would charge? No, she would have to find someone here, and quickly.

Irriari noticed a woman who was lounging against a wall, facing the river and the people that crossed the streets. Irriari approached her, intrigued that anyone would simply people watch. Irriari did so on a few occasions, but she had never seen a human who watched so intently. The woman’s deep blue eyes flicked from person to person, hardly bothering to spare a glance at Irriari as she knelt in front of her.

“I need someone to read this book to me. Can you help? I'll pay you 15 golden mizas.”

The woman grasped the book carefully when Irriari held it out. The womans right hand ran over the cover of the book before opening it and reading the first page. Irriari continued speaking,

“You don't need to read the whole thing- only for a bell or two.”

The woman nodded and finally spoke

“Yes, I can do that.”

The woman opened the book and began reading the contents of the book slowly. Irriari wanted to go back to her room at the Boarding House, but she could learn about philtering here, if she had to. After listening to the contents, Irriari had decided which sections she wanted to hear about.

“Can you start with 'What is Philtering?' and move onto 'An Alembic: A Philter's Best Friend', then we'll move onto 'Philtering: Basic and Intermediate Concepts'. I think that should be enough.”

The woman nodded and flipped to the first page that included a short description on philtering.

Philtering is the skill of mixing and brewing potions. It is always considered a supplemental skill because it is most often combined with other skills or arcana. Philtering truly shines forth and augments other skills. Knowing how to properly combine and brew substances is an art form in itself. Practitioners of medicine, perfumers, cooks and even painters or glyphers know that understanding philtering can be the difference between life and death, beauty and catastrophe, and finally exquisite taste or culinary ruin.

Irriari nodded. It was a simple enough definition, and one she had heard before. Philtering would be exceedingly useful, now that she could actually practice it.

“An Alembic: A Philter's Best Friend” the woman started

“An alembic is device that is connected with two tubes and used as a still. A liquid is placed in one flask, and when boiled, the vapors from the flask go through a tube, cool and condense. The distillation process is used to separate component materials from the original liquid. Use of an alembic or a retort (see Chapter 4: Retorts and their uses for more info) is necessary for anyone who wants to pursue distilling seriously.”

Irriari nodded. So, as she thought, she would need a retort or alembic to make what she wanted. Now she only needed to know how.

by **Irriari** on August 2nd, 2011, 3:32 am

The woman continued reading after flipping to the correct pages for Philtering: Basic and Intermediate Concepts.

“To demonstrate basic principles of distillation, we will start with an example used in herbalism. Alcohol is often used to cleanse wounds, though basic wines and ales do not have enough alcohol content to be as useful as they could. A distiller will use an alembic or pot still to boil the liquid until the vapor that rises condenses. This vapor has a higher content of alcohol than than pure wine. This condensed mixture can be put into bandages or used in other ways.

A more intermediate practice involves distilling the condensed mixture a second time, which makes the alcohol content even higher. Through such methods and experimentation, cooks, herbalists, doctors and even poisoners can benefit from philtering.”

Irriari nodded slowly, trying to process the wealth of information she had acquired from only a tiny part of the book. She grabbed 15 mizas out of her pouch and began the long walk back to the boarding house. Irriari spent the whole walk thinking about philters, retorts, alembics and poison.