( Black Tar's Alchemical Services) A Day of Shopping

by **Asta** on November 17th, 2016, 1:08 pm

Fall 89 516

Asta found herself with too much time on her hands and an equally as great amount of curiosity. Some might say it had to be with stereotypical cat like behavior, a statement Asta herself would beg to differ. In truth she would be offended by the idea that she was at all behaving like she should. Be this as it may, her sudden on set of wonder lust had landed her at the alchemy shop. It was a pleasant enough afternoon and Asta saw nothing wrong with spending her time perusing the items for share.

Typical of the kind of shop it was there were bottles made of colored glass of various kinds and raw ingredients for those so inclined to brew together something themselves. Asta was eyeing the glass bottles semi enchanted by the colors they left on the floor when the sun shone through the glass and left brightly colored patches of light on the floor.

She shook her head bringing herself out of whatever revelry the color light had induced. She moved from the display towards the rawer ingredients. It was not as though she didn't trust the shop owner or their suppliers..entirely. It was simply Asta trusted herself more than other people whose experience levels she did not know, she had seen the results of botched alchemy once and it was not something she cared to relive.

A bunch of dried leaves caught her attention and she picked them up to get a better look at the bunch. The were a dark green and slightly pointed in their leaves. Asta was sure she had seen the plant species before, she brought it to her nose and breathed them in, the characteristic smell coming from the dried leaves confirmed that she had found the leaves she was looking for.

She was debating on rather or not it was worth her time to invest in them. She had no immediate use for them, but she did not see them often and it might be worth her time to collect them now. Given the time of year it might be next year before she did again, after all it did have a short growing season and drying any kind of plant was always a delicate matter. Hence why she was looking in a story herself rather than forging in the wilderness.

by **Sayana** on November 24th, 2016, 11:28 pm

“I’m looking for a place to find strong herbs,” Sayana spoke to one of the merchants at the marketplace.

“You mean something to spice up your food? There’s the Spicy Lass. Just go down that way, make a right and then a left…” But already Sayana was shaking her head.

“No, I mean something a little more… potent.” She reiterated. The merchant looked her up and down, either sizing her up or trying to remember her distinctly as someone he didn’t want to mess with. Fortunately her black cloak hid her most prominent features, her arms, but even so her facial features were quite distinct as well as her darkened skin.

Sayana was about to call upon a friendly bout of hypnotism, when at last he relented and gave her the directions to a place called Black Tar’s Alchemical Services. She thanked him then set off for the shop.

When she arrived at the store, it reminded her oddly of the Stormhold Salves. Lots of bottles and various jars or bags of herbs. She hoped it wasn’t merely an herbalist’s shop and that there would actually be some punch to these plants. She wore a long red and black dress, but it was mostly covered with the cloak she wore. Hidden under the cloak was a small bag she carried of her own concoctions as well as her everyday weapons, the six daggers at her hips.

She caught sight of a small jar of brown powder. Could that be… Phantom’s Shell?

She rummaged through her own bag to produce a vial of the same poison. After taking a few calming breaths, she focused on clearing her mind to tap into her magic. In… and out. Her djed was there, she just had to reach for it. Closing her eyes she concentrated on a deep black void, a circle surrounded by dazzling flames. Pulling within herself, she focused the djed on her eyes and…

As she slowly opened her eyes she felt a subtle change. The colours around objects were slightly blurred, but that didn’t matter. She needed to focus on the auras of the two poisons. One was a dazzling green swirling with energy. While her own, a greenish brown, murky and dim. Sayana was about to give up and leave it at that, but when she focused her djed upon her hands and fingertips the strangest sensation hit her. First she felt an angry itch on both her hands, the sudden and startling pain. The Eypharian gasped and her concentration on the auristics dissolved completely.

It was only then that she realized there was a woman in the shop, not too far from her. “Sorry about that. Just examining the goods. This one is pretty potent.” She explained as she held up the jar from the shop. Her left mid hand still tingled from the aura of the poison. It must have been more refined or of better quality than her own.

“Do you know of anything a little less strong for casual use? I have a few scores I’d like to settle.”

Credit: Shimoje