White smoke can be seen rising through the roof of the merchant's hall. Those who approach hear a variety of bubbling and sizzling noises accompanied by occasional soft muttering.
Within the otherwise vacant Merchant's Hall, Dr. Tretan Weisclooud has set up shop. His dirigible lies in several pieces about the hall in various states of (dis)repair. It isn't clear exactly how he managed to get it out of the tavern or through the door of the merchant's hall. Near the back, behind several piles of open crates, the good doctor stands behind a table decked with beakers, tubes, and papers bearing notes and drawings of alchemical circles. The glass containers are filled with fluids of various hues, some bubbling, others steaming, and a few practically frothing over.
"Dat should do eet," the doctor says to himself as he carefully pours a drop of purplish liquid into a beaker of frothing, opaque chemical, turning the whole thing bright orange. He braces himself momentarily as the mixture settles, as if fearing that it might explode. He takes his hat off and wipes the sweat from his brow, a satisfied smile playing across his face.
"Und now to find mine pupils?," he says to himself.
Wreynn slips into the room past Gareth as he turns, and darts from one table to the next until finally stopping in front of the table with the notes and drawings. Opening his pouch and producing some of his own notes for comparison he smiles glibly as several of what he assumed to be basic formula were exact matches. "I knew I was on the right track," Wreynn smirks, "but its a shame that I still don't know what to do with them once they're drawn."
Turning to Dr. Weisclooud he catches a whiff of one of the mixtures and begins to gag. "This stuff smells worse then some of the vile mixtures father made us drink as a punishment for misbehaving as kids." Wreynn chokes a little, and begins to regain his composure. "Father always said there was a price for knowledge, though I was quite hoping that it wouldn't be my lunch."
Dr. Weisclooud looks up as Garith and Wreynn enter. "Ah jes, good good. Jo two are jest in time. Ze mixture ez fenished." He holds up the bright orange potion for their inspection, then starts pouring it into two spare phials.
"Ja, eet does stink a bit. 'Owever, eet's not your lunch ju should be vorrying about. Zees concoction vill clear your minds unt allow you to learn in vun day vhat ordinarily takes years of study. Ze only qvestion ees what you vill lose."
"Ju may lose memories or skills, become afflicted vith madness, or even die. Eet iz not for ze faint of heart. If ju vish, I can train ju ze old fazhioned vay instead. Zere iz no guilt in taking ze safer road." The Doctor looks gravely serious as he pushes the phials to Garith and Wreynn. "I leave ze choize to ju."
Grimacing at the bright orange concoction, Wreynn places two Lesser Healing Potions on a table in front of them. Taking the mixture from the doctor, Wreynn toasts "To destiny, and where ever that road may lead us," and drinks the potion.
Wreynn gasps for air as the vile liquid coats his throat, he staggers and falls to a knee before Gareth and pretends to choke. All signs of life seem to vanish from Wreynn's face as he collapses like a rag doll into a small pile on the floor. [play possum].
Ripper turns from the red jar...which she'd been poking gently and steadily for the past few minutes. She blinks a few times at Wryenn's gagging act and then bounds over. She immediately starts rifling what pockets she can get to easily. [Search] Finding a few pieces of candy she plops down on the floor and begins unwrapping the treats for herself.
"He does that all the time when I make br'kfast. He's alright, see?"
The faerie squints a bit, selecting her spot carefully, and then pokes the rogue strategically between two ribs.
Wreynn stops Gareth short of being able to force the potion down his throat, holding his hand at bay and putting a stopper back on the vial. "That's not necessary at all. I'm perfectly fine, with the exception of the deep gouge in my leg and the weight of a candy happy fairy sitting on my chest rifling through my pockets. If you wouldn't mind helping me up, I don't see any need to worry about serious ill effects from taking this potion. Though, my head does feel a little strange and I'm starting to notice things that seem all too trivial at the moment that I had absolutely no comprehension of before."
Wreynn stands gingerly, "I wouldn't say that there aren't any long lasting ill effects, the doctor did warn us of them, and I do say that I think I am having a little bit of a problem holding my tongue. If I didn't know better, I'd say that it was acting more of its own accord, and I do find that to be most bothersome. It's going to make blendy into the shadows of the tavern a lot more interesting to say the least, if I'm even able to do that anymore. There's something about being a shadow that just seems hazy now, like an all too distant memory that I'm starting to forget."
"Should you need assistance after you take the potion, I'll offer you all the haste you gave, and we'll have Haven or Corvax here in moments. I have no faith that you're going to come through this without some ill effect, but isn't that the fun of taking mystery potions? Bottoms up!"
Garith bolts to the table full of diagrams and sifts through them as if looking for something. Faster and faster pages fly from the table. Garith seem to glance over each for a mear moment and then tosses it to the side. After finishing and having nothing but the bare table remaining he looks up that the people standing around him. With a smile and a perplexed look Garith kindly asks, ?Who might you all be??
"Oh you poor poor boy. It appears the potion did have a rather nasty side effect for you. It seems that you may have addled your brain a little bit. You may recall me as Wreynn, of the Reinholdt clan, Urdek, and partner on the road to destiny." Pointing at Ripper, "This, if you recall, is Ripper, she along with Arienna followed me to Jastrey, causing all sorts of trouble along the way. I can't forgive them for any of it, but they have made the journey rather interesting. I still think that they're quite bad luck, and I do have a knack to blame our current predicament on this one, but they mean well. Perhaps I should have left the pouch of red candies outside. Perhaps we would have both faired better from Dr. Weisclooud's little experiment."
It's a shame that your memory has been swept away. You are Garith, and you and I go far back. You were a mage once though I sense you are something different now. More or less I cannot say. You and I head up a mage's guild and have... had big plans for the future.
Motioning at Astrum "Let us go. I wish to see this town. Walk with me and we will discuss these matters." With that Garith sweeps out the door calling back to the man named Wreynn. "My friend meet me back here in a few hours and we will futher discuss our futures together." Then he walk outside quickly followed by Astrum.
Wreynn nods as Gareth and Astrum walk out, "I'll be here if you can find your way back. There's quite a bit to study, and I'll likely be taking quite a bit of time to learn it all." Turning back to the papers that Gareth left haphazardly on the floor and arranging them into a neat pile on the desk again, "So much to learn, but so simple, how did I not understand this before?"
Ripper pokes her pig-tailed head into the merchant's hall, nose twitching. After a few seconds of eyeing the various processes she darts into the room. It's very clear that she's at least -attempting- to be stealthy, though it's a bit like a child playing spy...back pressed to the wall, making dramatic "sneaking" music with her mouth as she moves. Finally she winds up kneeling next to a bottle of beakers, staring into a jar of reddish liquid.
"Oooooooo"