This evening a medium sized table with a white table linen cloth is set up and several items are laid atop the neat white cloth. The items on the table are covered from view by purple pieces of fabric. Guildmaster Orick is standing near the table and waiting for everyone to be ushered into the atrium for the seminar. A lush garden with stone benches provides the modest seating for those who gather this evening.

1 Templar Initiates have been dismissed.

3 Templar Knight guards have been dismissed.

Sir Geddyorf, a heavy-set snapping turtle have been dismissed.

Trying her utmost to make her entrance quiet, Narcissa insists the three guards in Fidante livery remain at the doorway as she arrives inside the area proper with naught but her raven as company. Her lips curl slowly in a smile of greeting to Orick as she finds her seat, golden eyes drifting to see who else may arrive. "You have been busy; it looks splendid, Professor."

Emberly looks about her blue eyes pan over the table as it sits there with snacks and she finds the Guildmaster with a smile as she tilts her head in his direction.

"Oh nothing to brag about, just set a modest lesson to show everyone..." Orick says softly to Narcissa as the rest of the guests gather and he makes sure to follow up with, "And so I thank you for your kinds words, Lady Narcissa."

The Professor clears his throat and speaks up as people are still getting seated, "I am overjoyed to see so many inquisitive faces, my name is Guildmaster Orick Rose and I will be speaking to you all this evening about the basics of alchemy and the apothecary vocation. Interested parties should speak to me about enrollment at the end." He is an effervescent man with an infectious sort of energy that gives his words a pleasant cadence, "Now, please, take your seats and we'll begin!"

Carried in on light footsteps, Caprice quickly makes for a seat, herself, sparing a smile and nod for those already assembled as she settles in, eyes turned forward - and flicking with interest over the covered objects on the table.

"Modest. So says the subject matter expert. I wholly intend on being amazed." Narcissa counters with a quirk of a solitary brow. A polite nod is given to Emberly and Caprice as they appear. One 'shushing' motion, a pale finger pressed against her lips, is given to the raven who soon objects with a stubborn caw.


"Does anyone know the words of the College?" Orick looks around and he gives those gathered a moment to give him the answer, "Don't be shy." He gestures for them to speak up and call out the answer before he continues with his seminar.

Emberly tilts her head and is quiet, when there looks to be no one speaking she says "To Discover"

A messenger arrives, delivering a message to Emberly before departing.

"Truth be told, I am inclined to agree with her as I have not the slightest, apothecary I am not." Narcissa confesses, folding her hands in her lap.

"Perfectly stated Lady Emberly and may brevity attest to truth in this instance; as you see, those two words are our guide. To Discover. We do not create, rather, we unravel the divine mysteries left for us by the Gods. It is my sincere belief that all of Arvum is full of interesting recipes just waiting to be deciphered- ahem. Discovered." He pauses and his thin face breaks into a clever grin too wide for its own good as he remarks, "Take bread for instance.."

Master Orick's hazel eyes sweep over the gathered faces and he continues with the presence of a professor who has given this lecture before, rehearsed but not boring, "Bread is an alchemical formulae, a recipe composed of other parts, it is also one of the oldest ones that our ancestors saw fit to record. Remember," Orick goes over to pull a ball of dough out from under one of the purple pieces of fabric. "Water, flour, in some places up north they use salt of hartshorn to leaven the bread-" He kneads the bread as he talks and then tosses it back onto the table with a hard /smack!/ and speaks with an animated flair. "When we bring these wet and dry components together we change the flour into something new. Then, we change it again when we introduce fire." Orick pulls off another purple piece of fabric and below this one is several loaves of bread in a big cozy wicker basket. "Pass around the snacks." Orick says, handing the basket into the crowd as he continues, "Everytime you combine or alter something in nature you are performing alchemy. Many of the basic combinations rely on the elements of water, fire or heat, air and earth."

1 Templar Initiates, 3 Templar Knight guards, Sir Geddyorf, a heavy-set snapping turtle leave, following Cassandra.

Pickle have been dismissed.

A beautiful songbird have been dismissed.

2 Harthall House Guards have been dismissed.

"Perfectly stated Lady Emberly and may brevity attest to truth in this instance; as you see, those two words are our guide. To Discover. We do not create, rather, we unravel the divine mysteries left for us by the Gods. It is my sincere belief that all of Arvum is full of interesting recipes just waiting to be deciphered- ahem. Discovered." He pauses and his thin face breaks into a clever grin too wide for its own good as he remarks, "Take bread for instance.."

Master Orick's hazel eyes sweep over the gathered faces and he continues with the presence of a professor who has given this lecture before, rehearsed but not boring, "Bread is an alchemical formulae, a recipe composed of other parts, it is also one of the oldest ones that our ancestors saw fit to record. Remember," Orick goes over to pull a ball of dough out from under one of the purple pieces of fabric. "Water, flour, in some places up north they use salt of hartshorn to leaven the bread-" He kneads the bread as he talks and then tosses it back onto the table with a hard /smack!/ and speaks with an animated flair. "When we bring these wet and dry components together we change the flour into something new. Then, we change it again when we introduce fire." Orick pulls off another purple piece of fabric and below this one is several loaves of bread in a big cozy wicker basket. "Pass around the snacks." Orick says, handing the basket into the crowd as he continues, "Everytime you combine or alter something in nature you are performing alchemy. Many of the basic combinations rely on the elements of water, fire or heat, air and earth." (re, for Piccola)

Narcissa politely declines the snack as the basket goes around, but does remain the picture of perfect posture as she sits on the edge of her bench, listening attentively to her protege.


Piccola is just a little late.

She steps into the lecture hall like a tardy student: as quietly as frickin' possible, so as to not invite the professor's attention. She slinks on soft feet -- she wears leather boots rather than steel or heels -- towards a place to sit, and slowly lowers herself down onto the chair. As a complication of her gear, however, something catches on the back of the wooden furniture, some strap slips off her shoulder, and a quiver of around a dozen arrows clatters to the floor noisily along with her bow.

Then, in the din, a resigned sigh followed by a curse: "Fuck."


Njall, a Northern nullifier, Bryn, a flustered lovelorn Prodigal assistant arrive, following Svana.

Orick glances over when something breaks the silence but it does nothing to mar his concentration and he simply sends a polite smile and nod to Piccola as she finds her seat amoung them in the atrium. To the group he asks, "So are there any questions thus far? Does anyone have any questions about medicine, perhaps?" He nods to the bread basket going around the room and adds, "As you can see we are able to transmute simple elements into something that seems entirely new. In truth, the recipe for bread was always there. We just had to discover it, to find the proper amount of heat and time. By using the basic elements, fire, water, air and earth applied in new and interesting ways we can expand our book of recipes."

Master Orick is in the atrium with a group of people gathered on the stone benches and he is giving a seminar on the basic of alchemical principal. A table with a white table cloth is set and several somethings hidden up purple sheets remain atop the table. The only thing that is visible currently is a large wad of uncooked bread dough from earlier in the lesson.

Svana enters the atrium with her jaw set tightly; there is a rather square, unhappy look on her face. She moves to find a seat while she listens quietly, looking at Orick - then the bread dough.

Emberly looks to the basket and she makes a little change to the bread before handing it off, "medicine?" she nods "I am looking into trying to learn the reciepe for Balm, what level dose one need for that knowledge?"

"Grandness from simplicity, discovery with consideration given to the most basic of elements that once combined, truly aren't completely and hopelessly basic." Narcissa surmises after a wave of fond greeting to Piccola to help act as balm to the tardy entrance.


Piccola is busy gathering her gear back up again.

By the time she's done, and sat down on a bench, the Professor has completed his request for questions. She clears her throat, and then murmurs quietly, "May I speak with you after this, Professor? On a matter of importance." The petite woman smiles briefly at Narcissa from afar, and then looks to Svana. She pats the place on the stone bench next to her, inviting the Grayhope to sit there with a look and a nod of her head.

Attention is given back to Orick.




Orick nods to Narcissa's words and comments, "Precisely, Lady Narcissa." He casts a fleeting glance in Svana's direction and something about her expression gives him momentary pause but he continues with the same unabashed zeal for teaching that he displayed earler, stating, "The reason I mention this is because here at the college you studies can take any number of paths. The healing arts, the craft of a skill perfumer or perhaps even the path of the eternal student always learning more about the things around herself." Orick grins politely and turns to Emberly to answer her question, "I could teach you how to make a suncatcher balm but it takes a few months of study and the ingredients can be tough to come by in the winter season."

Orick glances back up across the room to Piccola when she calls for his attention and he smiles easily, "Of course."

Svana moves over toward Piccola with a small smile, sitting down beside the other woman and crossing her legs demurely. She listens to the lecture with some interest when Orick mentions perfume, though she visibly (and not literally) latches onto the word 'winter' when the suncatcher balm is mentioned.

Piccola has joined the an apothecary nook.

Svana has joined the an apothecary nook.


Piccola just smiles briefly in response to the Professor's acknowledgment.

And then she waits. She listens, of course, but she also waits. With Svana beside her, the late student can turn her attention to her, talking quietly and politely to the woman on the same bench.

Still being 'good', mind, but -- okay she'd be a terrible student.


Narcissa's burnished gaze flits only briefly to the two students now conversing amongst themselves before her attention goes back to Orick. "And what venture does this take us to next in your lesson? "

Pickle have been dismissed.

A beautiful songbird have been dismissed.

2 Harthall House Guards have been dismissed.

Professor Orick looks around the room at the expectant faces as he explains, "That was the base of my lesson, an explanation of how we discover formulae and the many different paths your vocation could take. I invite more questions at this time, an open discussion before we call the night to a close too early." The man smiles somberly as Narcissa has a questions and looks to her, "Simply this, the Gods have given us a wealth of things to examine and transmute but it fall on us to remember that discovery is seeing what everybody else has seen but thinking what nobody else has thought."

More than a little bit of vague disappointment draws itself over Svana's features as she's learned she's missed the entirety of the lecture. "What a shame! I shall have more questions for you." Svana wastes no time asking the hard-hitting ones, "Do mages work with elements often?" She asks, a sparkle in her eye. "I think that there is nothing wrong with thinking again about what others have thought as you never know what may come forth from your own individual exploration."


"What can alchemy teach us about our enemies?"

Piccola pipes up from her place on the bench. "Your thoughts, Professor." She explains. "You said it yourself: by studying what we can perceive we can discover how to change things to benefit us. And we have enemies, so I wonder what it is -- " She looks to her side at Svana, smiling just a little. " -- what it is you think about the enemies we face, Professor."

ANd she leaves it at that.


There is a bit of mirth on Orick's face as he smiles at Svana's observations, "Nothing wrong it, no. Infact its the way research functions most times, thinking again about what others have thought. What they have written." He walks around the table and leans his backside against it heavily when the talk turns to Mages, "Now there is an interesting subject, mages from my very limited understanding work with something greater than the elements."

Orick inclines his head to Piccola's query, "Take poisons for example, when we understand the human body we can understand the sort of things that bring it harm. That heal it. We gain that insight through years of study and through trying different paths. Different herb, perhaps." He pauses here and clears his throat as he collects his thoughts, "I posit this in face of all the evidence, if we want to use alchemy to learn about our enemies or harm them? We must first study the enemy and its place in the greater design."

Svana puts her fingers to her lips, carefully nipping at the nails while she listens to Orick with determination. Piccola's question gets a slight smile and a slight noise of praise. "It's true, mages work with something greater than the elements... but I believe that mages can weave the elements into their work too. I shall have to ask around, but you've given me something to think about."

Narcissa allows the other two to ask their questions, her own having been answered. She looks to Svana for but a moment, but says nothing else concerning that subject matter.


"Suppose for the moment I could get you a sample of something dangerous -- "

Piccola lifts an eyebrow. " -- would you be willing to run tests on it to learn more, Professor?" She crosses her arms. "Because if we could find a way to render it less dangerous or usable it may help us tip the balance in the war." The last part is more of a murmur. "Plus, we could always use more healers throughout the realm. How are your students, Professor? And are they willing to station themselves along the Great Road with the Knights of Solace?"

Looks like she's serious about this 'preparing for war' thing.



Orick has a polite smile as he looks between Svana and Piccola but he asks rather plainly, "Excuse me for being direct but what enemy are you fighting along the Great Road? Is it perhaps related to the beast attacks of recent infamy?" There is a beat and he adds, "I have a handful of students who may be able to assist me if healing is required. And then there are the Professors who we could reach out to as well.." He gives a vague shrug though and shakes his head, "It would be of great value if someone could donate a sample of the creature, blood would be ideal."

Svana stops to listen to Piccola as well, broken out of her own musings rather succinctly. She tilts her head at the General and raises her brows before looking back to Orick, taking in his answer with a deep breath.


"It's not that creature, Professor," replies the General bluntly.

"What I mean is simple. The Knights of Solace are getting killed along the Great Road. They protect it. So, we need to protect them." Beat. "If the College can maybe send some healers or apprentices along the Road, that would help the Knights, I'm sure. And that would mean we all stand a better chance as we travel. And as for the sample, I'll see if I can get a sample to you to analyze."

"That's all I had," she adds at the end.


"Has the House of Solace not been consulted for healers, or is it only from Tor that they can be supplied?" Narcissa asks rhetorically. "Not that I am adverse to it, I am anything but, but this seems that it should be a combined effort - as the Great Road was. Diversify the sources, and you'll have more strength."

"It a very reasonable request, I'll see what I can do and spread the word is needed for healers." Orick says with another succint nod and another look around the room as Narcissa speaks and he agrees openly, "The thought had flitted across my mind too, there are other more illustrious institutions full of healers." He nods to Narcissa, being diplomatic, "But I will speak to my Patrons and other Professors at the College and see what we can do to offer our support to the Great Road."