Welcome to Gaia! ::

The students sat, and the horseman watched them, eyes occasionally rolling in his head. As the buzz of students dies down, the buzz of insects rise up in the background, something moving outside. It is replaced by sound of a gag as suddenly, the horseman for a lack of a better term, began to vomit up a small handful of moths- nothing else. These moths scattered around the room, landing on various old papers, empty jars. A few taking a liking to the papers on a desk. As far as the horseman is concerned, this is nothing unusual. “Pardon, my darlings wished to have some time…roaming.” One large moth in particular landed on his head, tiny layer of moth dust falling to his shoulders.

“So.” He began, bringing the still fresh, raw liver to his mouth. “You have come to take-“ a bite, and blood rolled down his chin, staining the dirty cloth wrapped around his neck “-a class. On Alchemy.” His disdain was evident in the way the mandibles clattered together and a hiss escaped him. “I do not teach classes. I teach a way of life. That said, I will teach you. The more minds the better. Or is that moths?” His voice suddenly turned into a light clicking. “Never mind. Anyway, I am Bulbous Rex. Your…” he sighed, “instructor. While I admit I am hesitant in the idea any of you might grasp the art of Alchemy, I have been proven wrong before. Delightfully so, haven’t we my dears?” The moths do not move, but one on his head moved to his shoulder like a beloved familiar might.

“Now, first things first, that paper brush and ink? Notes. Take them.”The jars he didn’t mention smelled quite putrid.

“Before we get into the actual process, let me give you a brief summary of just what is it I, what we of my kin, do. Alchemy comes in two basic forms. Constructive and destructive. You have one guess at which is harder and the hint is destructive. Almost anyone will a little bit of skill and ruin a crop, but to raise that crop, to bring it to a full lush harvest? That needs a bit more. I will not be teaching how to blight a crop or poison a field. How to rot flesh from bone or how to siphon an enemy’s FEAR. Nor, will I be teaching you how to kill without ever lifting a claw. I will, for the instruction of destructive alchemy, be teaching how to create a ward stone. An object that hampers one’s FEAR. For better or worse. For those who might be-“ a groan “-familiar with protection charms, they work somewhat similarly. They lessen the FEAR one might take in or use. They are good to slow the process of FEAR healing, or to prevent an enemy from gaining strength and using their FEAR born gifts. Do know what you will be making is only temporary. I was told having grubs like yourselves running around with such things, weak as they might be, could be hazardous. Personally I think it would just be an effective method of culling.”

The moth crawled it’s way into his lap and he stroked it’s wings, almost affectionately. “On the other side of this art we have the way of constructive alchemy. More complex a subject. Bolstering one’s FEAR intake, healing, harvesting…” Mandibles clicked together excitedly. “Usually we use our skill to take human objects and alter them. Make them usable for us. That is, we change them into FEAR. The living, the dead, all things can become FEAR, this is our belief. This is one of our goals. But that is another subject. Today you will be creating FEAR Reeds.” The moth flew from the horseman’s lap to the desk, picking up a small seed in the shape of a skull. “That, grublings is a dead seed. A small concentration of FEAR inscribed with the potential to produce even more FEAR. They provide an extra boost to one’s power when raised and harvested properly. You’ll all be just getting a weak thing so, I’m not too worried about you grubs breaking anything of value.” The moth flew back to Bulbous, and then like it was no big deal, he allowed it to crawl in his mouth and make it’s way into his stomach. The wings flicking through the semi translucent skin, along with what looked to be a half decomposed human skull.

They had been dismissed with a flippant wave of Bulbous’s hand and now they were back, much to his obvious displeasure. Today the class was much of the same, only their instructor had traded the alchemist sets for other materials. Pots, dirt piles, inks and brushes, all laid scattered haphazardly. Not to mention, their ‘desks’, (if the flat planks of wood could be called that) had nothing on them. Two scrolls were on the walls hung, ragged and yellowed with age. One them, the same scrawled print from yesterday, only these instructions were more… pictures than words. “I hope you all brought whatever sorry excuse for a dead seed or ward stone you made yesterday because I really don’t want to have to get things out for you. Again.” A clacking came from his jaw as wings could be seen fluttering rabidly in his stomach.

“Now, IF you had the misfortune to utterly fail at your first attempt or for whatever reason chose to just not have one, you’ll still be able to attempt some excuse at alchemy with the extras I have laying about. You won’t get the choice of what you get however. Mostly because I’ve found that if you fail at one aspect, you might not flounder so much at the other. But, there have been…rare events.” A shrug as he reached into his gut to pull out a half eaten leg of what looked to be kirinni. A crunch as he snapped open the bone, a fine silvery dust pouring out into his hand. The meat was simply left to hang. “Now, depending on what you created we shall put it into what I like to call the dormant stage. At this phase of alchemy, we have the inscribed base, but, it is still fairly weak. It cannot give more nor truly take as they are supposed to when fully mature. In fact to put it bluntly, they’re prone to failing catastrophically if used at this stage. So we must let them lie dormant to ripen. Oh speaking of ripe-“

Going to the back, he returns with what looks like the rotting flesh and skin of minipets. “You’ll all be needing some of these. That aside, the procedure is fairly simple. For destructive, you will be taking your ward stone and wrapping it up with certain skins that have runes written in various substances on them. For constructive you will be planting your seed in soil filled with a few items-“ the dust he had collected in his hand was then shoved back into his gut, the moths inside flying erratically and glowing from the looks of it “- which will be soaked into your seed. Once done, you will place them on the mat just behind me, all you need to do is make sure they are in the circle.”
A cough and a small glowing moth flew out from him before landing on the rotting minipets. The mat the teacher had pointed to was just in front of the covered back and if one listened closely, they might hear what sounded like whispers.

“That said, don’t kill yourselves.” Bulbous simply went to the corner on the work station, half reading a tome he picked up from the floor, half watching the students.

The final day and yet- The teacher had cleared the desks from the seating area, and all that remained were the scareons and the plants, which had now sprouted into tall reeds. Bright and vivid red, a crackling gold pattern on them. The scareons looked to be in much worse shape. Some looked to be nothing more than bones. Overall, it seemed like they had done a good job, but the way Bulbous was looking at them, he was not congratulating them just yet.
“I must say,” he began, a single moth, small and tiny circling his head. “I did not expect anything to happen. So I am… pleased with the results thus far. But creating something effective is only good if it can be used. In the case of ward stones, how long might they retain their effectiveness and if they might backfire on you. In the case of dead seeds, if you can harvest the reeds you grow and not let FEAR go wasted. The reason I said yesterday’s task would be most important? Because now you reap what you sew. Fetch the scareons and plants, and take a second to guess how well you did.”

As the students gathered their things he smiled, “Alright now getting to harvest your results is fairly simple, but also simple to ruin. For those with ward stones-“ reaching over he grabbed an extra scareon, one that looked like it would break from the lack of anything, it was all skin and bones, “-p***k your finger and remove the stone, it is that simple. But make sure you don’t bloody it up. Just a small p***k. You’ll notice a small jagged edge on the collars are made just for this reason. Do not be forceful. Trust me on this.” A jagged rip, and the scareon and wards stone both exploded, though the horseman looked unharmed. The empty cage however, had been flung into the wall. “Yes. And unlike you, I have experience with these things. Please do not have this happen. Should your ward stone crack, leave it. It is broken and I will need to remove it.”

A clatter of bones and moths flew from the back cleaning up the bits of scareon. “As for those with dead seeds. Your seeds have sprouted reeds that can be used in harvest, ripe with FEAR in a natural near raw form.” Grabbing the spare one he slid a finger up the side. “Use the plant edge to cut your finger. It is worth note that on a large scale, as we need to activate one with the base fear to activate the others. Now, a bit of blood having woken the plant, gently pull it free by the root. If all goes well, you will have a delicious snack, if not,-“ He ripped up the plant, which quickly turned to ash. “Your efforts will have been in vain. When you all are done, please leave your reeds and stones on the mat. They will be returned to you at a later date."

Malodore had shuffled into the classroom with fascination - while the scent was foul, sometimes one had to get dirty to learn, and it wasn't above plunging itself neck-deep in rot for the sake of knowledge (as long as it could have a long bath afterwards). The specimens were most intriguing; clearly, their instructor was conducting an investigation into decay and decomposition, a subject most undead had at least passing knowledge of.

The plague doctor wanted to investigate the tables, desperately, but decorum kept it from doing so. The sudden shrieks of pain sent a jolt of mixed eagerness and anxiety through it - the eagerness from curiosity and fascination, the anxiety from the sounds' source being evidently canine. It knew too many canines to be entirely at ease with the sound of canine anguish. And then... then their instructor arrived.

Incredible.

Malodore obediently sat down with a thump, keeping its gaze fixed on the Horseman as long as it dared. Anyone who carried around organs was automatically on the plague doctor's really intriguing people list. Anyone who did that while also carrying living beings around in his belly as if it were entirely normal...

... well. If Nurse Cricket hadn't already had bugs of her own, there would be some serious competition here.

It did not care about how bad the ink smelled. What mattered was that it take all the notes. All of them. It wrote down as many of Bulbous' words as it possibly could. Constructive, destructive... it had always considered harm and health to be two sides of the same coin, and it was pleased that the Horseman seemed to share that view. Malodore was utterly entranced.

When the time came to select which task to study, the plague doctor went right for the small seed. The task set that the Horseman labeled 'Constructive' was, after all, its first calling. The equipment and ingredients it had been given were obviously worn and a bit messy - pity, that, a clean laboratory was a happy laboratory - but it was still fascinated despite that faint disappointment.

Malodore carefully put its seed in a dish, then turned to the ingredients it had been given, opening each small tin, pouch, and vial and inspecting each one individually. There were so many things to choose from, and so few it could actually identify... but it decided to stick with the few ingredients it already knew. Strangleweed oil and heartheal essence - the first was sourced in a plant that grew with incredible vigor, so with any luck its oil also possessed an inclination towards vitality. The second was fairly obvious, just from the name. Or so it hoped.

((Constructive, +2 bonus))

Rafael took a longer time finding his way to his seat than he should have. Maybe it was because there was just so much to look at! Every few seconds he was distracted by something else.

When he finally did make his way do his seat, he peered around at his fellow students. It was strange to recognize their faces, almost as though they were all old friends.

The horseman, on the other hand...well, Rafe wasn't quite sure how to feel about him. Or any of the Famine people, for that matter. They freaked him out, and he could swear he kept hearing something about rats; that put him on edge.

He took notes as best he could, but quickly found that he had very little idea of what to do. Instead, he decided to watch Malodore and do everything that the plague doctor was doing. After all, Rafe reasoned, Malodore was older, smarter and interested in science.

Copying his every move was sure to yield positive results, right?


Constructive +2 bonus

The moment Clyde stepped into the class, he had immediately contemplated rather to hold his breath or continue breathing and rush out the door the moment it ended. Neither seemed like good ideas right now so he decided to suck it up and took a sit near the middle. He probably would have just felt fine with the class if only the instructor had not released a huge load of moths in their general direction from his mouth.

Fascinating how he could keep so many in his body, disgusting how one nearly flew into his open stomach.

He tried to keep up with the note taking, missing a couple of points here and there for not writing fast enough. Maybe he can try to get what he missed later.


[ Constructive, +4 bonus because it's capped at +4 8U ]

Perhaps it was for the best that Aleria's sense of smell was not particularly keen. The presence was overwhelming as soon as Aleria entered the lab, the corners of their eyes stinging.

Peering around the room, the demon took in the surroundings, amazed by the amount of ingredients and materials laying about. They swept up their coat, so that it would not brush against the sand, curling up on one of the carpets.

The tinkling of bells are a comfort, and even as the teacher vomited up a series of moths.

This clan was truly fascinating-- they were intrinsically tied to the earth. Plants, insects, earth hovels-- they sorely wished for a series of books to read about the culture, wishing to absorb the knowledge.

Instead, Aleria settled for taking notes, wincing as they opened the jar, deciding almost immediately that they would be studying constructive alchemy.

The demon pressed a seed into the dish with delicate fingers, moving carefully. The oils were numerous, ranging from Silken Sweet oil to Firefox Limbic Oil, getting just enough of them to fuse nicely.

Quote:

Constructive:
-place the seed in a dish and after setting up
-Roll 8D4 to determine which oils are fused, (can be made up, nothing human please). For every EVEN number you roll, your seed gains +1 bonus, the bonus caps out at 4 however.

Results: +4 bonus