Torvallis! runs up to Malva in the inn, excitedly shaking a potion vial

[Torvallis!]

[May 1st, 4pm]

"Malva! Malva! Look: see!", Torvallis! yelled while vigorously shaking the vial up and down.

They then empathized the point by holding the vial in their fist and slamming it against the table a few times, upsetting a goblet on the other end of the table.

And then Torvallis! just stood back, grinning, waiting for a response from Malva

[Malva]

Malva winces, fully expecting the vial to explode upon being slammed on the table.
When Torvallis! stands back, she crosses her arms in faux nonchalance blinks at them a couple of times before asking:

"...What's that?"

[Torvallis!]

"It's a potion! That I brewed! And it doesn't explode!

. . . I'm not sure what it actually is though, probably nothing. Maybe a slight case of food poisoning?

So, um . . . am I safe enough to teach alchemy to, yet?"

[Malva]

"Well you'll only get safer the more you learn. But maybe let's try with something less inherently volatile first."

[Torvallis!]

"Well . . I've been trying to make healing potions. They haven't been doing much healing, but I've been doing an awful lot of healing."

[Malva]

"Erm, right, well perhaps we've just got to get down to the most basic techniques. Like certain things need to be heated to enable certain reactions and dissolutions, whereas other things may burn or explode when heated too much."

[Torvallis!]

"Yes! And you have to be skyclad and singing when making a poultice! I don't know what that does for a medicinal bandage, but it's in the recipe.

I remember many times, trying to make explosives, that in trying to bring them to a boil, they often went past a boil and exploded due to carelessness, too large a flame, a sudden breeze of wind, or other such happenstance.

I'm fairly certain the ingredients that cause such a thing are first, flammable, a source of fuel, second, prone to evaporation into the air for quicker ignition, and third, there's some, like saltpeter, that seems to make flammables more flammable."

[Malva]

"Yeah I'm not sure you actually need to be skyclad and singing when making a poultice, I think that's just what the person who wrote it thought.

As for the explosives, that's just why you need to pay full attention when making a potion. I suppose if you could find somewhere more sheltered from the wind that would also help."

[Torvallis!]

"Mhm, mhm. About the poultices: I've noticed that when you make them, they're actually much more effective than when I make them. A poultice that I make barely closes the wounds to get someone off their feet . . . I could do as well with my hands and some pressure. When you make them, they seem to stitch the wounds together a significant amount.

What's your secret there?"

[Malva]

"Are you thinking of health potions? I don't usually make poultices. It's mostly a trick of getting the most of your ingredients. For example, crushing an herb thoroughly will release more of its properties than putting it in whole. And again precision with heat is important; sometimes you need to make sure a solute dissolves completely, and other times you need to make sure the necessary chemicals don't boil off. Alcohols, for example, boil at a lower temperature than water."

[Torvallis!]

Looking at the 'potion' in their hands, which was still inert and unexplosive, (for the time being):

"Yeah . . . I can't even get health potions to work out for me. Can I watch you make some? And have you walk me through the process?"

[Malva]

"Sure. Let's go over to my work station."
 She gets up and heads to the bunkhouse.

[Torvallis!]

[Same thread?]

Torvallis! follows Malva over to the bunkhouse, pausing to chuck away the 'potion' in their hand, and wincing in preparation. It didn't explode, however.

[Malva]

[Yeah, it's easier not to split it up]

Malva steps over to her alchemy setup, pulls a pillow out from on under the bunk, and sits down. Torvallis! follows in behind her. She starts rummaging through her bag for her recipe book. "So do you already have the recipe?" She asks as she pulls out the book and starts flipping through the pages.

[Torvallis!]

"Uhhhh . . ."

Torvallis! fishes a poorly crafter book out of their robes and starts flipping through it.

"Spider web, young woman's kiss, no not that one . . .
Coal black phosphor, fire mana, no, not that one . . .
Hematite, orcthorn, no, not that one . . .
Drops of blood, drops of blood, no, not that one . . .
Blood pyrite, moonflower, giant rat claw, no, not that one . . .

Oh! Is it Giant Snakeskin, Blood Pyrite, Orcthorn, Maple Sap and Marvel Flowers?

I mean, if it is, that exploded on me last time!"

[Malva]

"Hmm, that doesn't sound quite right." She says as she flips to a two page spread in her recipe book. The left-hand side features 3 snakes coiled in unusual positions, the right-hand side what seems to be a list of far too many ingredients for one potion. 

"Let's see now..." She begins looking from page to page, slowly listing off ingredients [OOG: I'll pm you the recipe, I won't post it publicly.]

"Huh, that's actually pretty far off."

[Torvallis!]

"That . . . might explain a few things.

Black phosphor? Oh! So I was right when I kept putting that in!"

[Malva]

"I- did you hear me list that? Because I didn't list that."
She pauses.
"But I mean it won't ruin it, no."

[Torvallis!]

[I assumed you showed T! the full page and they misread]

"Alright, so, I have a lot of that already . .. walk me through making it? Although I guess unless you have a snakeskin, we can't actually make it"

[Malva]

"I do have one snakeskin right here, we can do this."
[I don't actually know if I do, but I'm not submitting this as between game production, so like...]

"First we will take [the first ingredient] and crush it in the mortar an pestle. This will take some time. It may seem like it's too hard for this wooden pestle, but if you just keep smashing it like this, it will cleave into smaller pieces." 

[I'll sign off on Alchemy 2 & 3 now so you can pre-pre-log, but I will finish this, I've just been busy]

[Torvallis!]

[<3]

Torvallis! takes out their own mortar and pestle, made of marble. The stone pestle crushes the [first ingredient] much faster than Malva's wooden pestle. They actually already have a good pestle technique from crushing herbs & spices for cooking.

[Malva]

"Oh wow, you're doing pretty well. Now we can add that to the cauldron. And then we'll take [ingredient 2] and crush it. This one's a fair bit easier."

[Torvallis!]

Torvallis! grunts in acknowledgement and carefully watches the fineness of the ingredients as Malva grinds them, whether she is taking care to place in them in any particular location in the cauldron, notes how she deals with any sticking dust in the bowl, (is it cleaned out? Is it carefully scraped into the pot? Is it left there while the next ingredient is ground down?), and other such small details.

[Malva]

She has a small blade/spatula that she uses to scrape any excess into the bowl. She doesn't put them anywhere in particular in the cauldron.

"Next we will take [Ingredient 3]. This one doesn't crush; I'm just going to cut it into small pieces."
She takes the ingredient and begins slicing it into ribbons using a small blade. She gathers up the pieces and puts them in the cauldron.

[Torvallis!]

Torvallis! considers this information carefully as they copy Malva, cutting it into ribbons.

"Are we looking to control the rate of reaction here? Or would it be better to, for example, grate it down into the cauldron? Is this an action of convenience, or an action of necessity?"

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