Early Morning Alchemy Training

[Talia Swanheart]

Talia wakes up bright and early. Today was going to be the day she would finally ask Malva for some further training. It’s been a while since their last training session, and to be honest, she’s been really nervous to approach her again. She feared it wouldn’t be as easy this time around.

She gets ready, crawls out of her tent, and makes her way towards the bunkhouse. She is a ball of nerves and excitement. She enters the bunkhouse hoping to find Malva.

[Malva]

Malva enters the bunkhouse for the other door with an armful of flowers. "Morning, Talia" she says as she continues walking over to her bunk.

[Talia Swanheart]

“Good morning, Malva” she says and moves her way over to Malva’s bunk to join her. “ I was hoping, if you’re not too busy that is, you could teach me a little more alchemy.” She nervously continues, “I feel like I’m very close to where I want to be, so a little bit more training to improve my skills should be all I need. And then I’ll never bug you again.” She looks hopefully at Malva waiting for her response.

[Malva]

Malva stops for a bit, seeming pensive.

"I've already taught you a fair bit Talia. If I taught you much more you'd be dangerously close to myself!" She forces an awkward chuckle. "But I suppose you want to make the knights antidotes, don't you? You are just a step away from the skill required, as I recall from our last lesson..."

"... so perhaps if you offer me something worthwhile in return, I'll consider it."

[Talia Swanheart]

“Hmmmm.....I wouldn’t necessarily say I want it for the Knights, though it would really be hopeful if I could make antidotes. I just like learning and improving my skills.” she says, “I don’t really have much to offer. What kind of thing would you be interested in?”

[Malva]

"Well certainly recipes, any hard to come by ingredients, even information; if you can tell me with absolute certainty what a discord is, or what constitutes a 'plague creature', I'd accept that."

[Talia Swanheart]

“I’m afraid I do not know what those are”, she looks slightly confused but continues “and most of the recipes I have were given to me by yourself or Torivillas.” She grabs her book and of her bag and starts flicking through the pages, murmuring to herself as she does. Finally, she stops on a page. “There you are!” she says “Do you have the recipe for Stall? It’s a recipe my father taught me. It kind of halts the effects of potions or other alchemical effects for one hour. Which is pretty great if you’ve been poisoned by a spider or something.”

[Malva]

"Oh, no I don't have that! That would be a perfectly acceptable trade."

[Talia Swanheart]

“Great!”, she scribbles the recipe down on a piece of paper and hands it to Malva (oog: I’ll send it over a pm). “Can we start?”, she asks excitedly.

[Malva]

"Sure. Have you ever used an alembic before?"

[Talia Swanheart]

“I haven’t. How do they work?”

[Malva]

She picks up her alembic and starts demonstrating it. "An alembic is usually made out of glass or metal. They're these domes that gather and condense gas which then drips out this little spout. This is useful for separating solutions and mixtures with different boiling temperatures. So it's very useful for purifying things, as well as rending the ingredients from potions."

[Talia Swanheart]

Talia looks closely at the device as Malva explains it. "That's very interesting.", she says still observing the alembic, "I assume that you would only use the liquid that comes out of the spout for new potions and throw the rest out? Oh! And this would make rending potions so much easier. You would just boil the potion until each ingredient separates since they all have different boiling points. Right?". She looks up at Malva.

[Malva]

"Well it depends on the potion, but usually, yes. 
As for the different boiling points; yes. This will help you with everything that boils, but not everything does boil. For example if you have dissolved solids, those will be leftover in the alembic. Which, if there was only one solid, that's easy enough, but that's often not the case and you would need to separate them further."

[Talia Swanheart]

“I see....how would you do that?”

[Malva]

"Well you could separate by mass or by magnetism; some varieties of hematite are magnetic so you could try to separate them that way.
And even if you can't separate them, you can still investigate them under a magnifying glass. So for example you have salt and plant matter left; the salt will stand out as cubic crystals."

[Talia Swanheart]

“This is all so helpful and interesting! How can I get one of those?”

[Malva]

"I got mine in Applevale."

[Malva]

"Anyways, Talia, I think that's enough for now. Even if you don't have your own alembic, I'm sure your new understanding of boiling temperatures will help you in making antidotes."

[Signing off on Alchemy 4 for Talia]

[Talia Swanheart]

“Okay, well thanks so much, Malva! I promise this will be the last time I bother you. If you ever need anything, don’t hesitate to ask!”

(OOG: Thanks Danica!)

[Malva]

"Sure thing!"

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