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Sweetwine Woods
64th Vhalar, 717
64th Vhalar, 717
It all began with a disturbingly common occurrence in Tio’s life: an explosion.
It was said that there were a number of plants and flowers that'd yet to be discovered in Sweetwine Woods which held properties no Alchemist had ever been able to extract before, and when Tio has heard this he saw a chance to make a whole lot of money. If he could figure out how to steal their effects first he'd be able to sell the method to other alchemists. So he'd packed up his kit, hopped on his horse and headed out into the forest, ready to do some experimenting.
It couldn't have been ten minutes after he arrived that problems occurred. Tio had lit a small camp fire to boil down the reagents he wanted to test with, but since he’d forgotten to pack a hook to hang his cauldron on had instead animated Risas and had him hold it over the flame. He added the first flower he wanted to test into the cauldron and turned his back to pick up a few other reagents, when a fizzing sound alerted him to the fact that something was terribly wrong. By the time he realized what was happening however it was too late; the contents of his cauldron exploded, blasting the fire below it to pieces and sending a shower of embers flying into the surrounding bushes. The embers found food in the dry wood and leaves, and within seconds the beginnings of a terrible forest fire was growing right in front of him.
“Bugger bugger bugger bugger bugger…” Tio repeatedly rapidly as he ran back and forth from his campsite to the stream nearby, filling up a bucket with water and handing it to Risas who, being dead and all, was able to get far closer to the heat than he could. Their team firefighting effort was somewhat helpful, but with so much fuel the fire was growing faster than they could quench it, and it was soon becoming dangerous for them to be so close. Tio would normally have retreated already, but nobody was expecting a forest fire on a day like this and there were sure to be hunters out in the woods who'd pay with their lives for his mistake if this fire grew out of control.
Although perhaps it was too late for that already. In a whoosh of flames an entire tree suddenly burst alight, and it seemed to be a signal for the rest of the fire to grow even hotter, too hot for Tio to even get close too anymore. There was no chance of stopping it now!
But then the strangest thing happened. Like a furious animal calming down the flames began to decrease in intensity, and gradually began to shrink until nothing remained but embers.
“What in Faldrun’s fiery ass is going on here?!” An unfamiliar voice yelled, and Tio turned around to be met with the sight of a peculiar old man glaring at him. If looks could kill Tio would have beaten, burnt and torn to pieces by this one. Yet his fear dissolved into curiosity as he noticed the old man's hand, which was outstretched towards the remnants of the fire. You could almost see the cogs in his mind clicking together before the realization finally hit him.
“Wait… the fire… that was you! You put it out with your mind!”
It was said that there were a number of plants and flowers that'd yet to be discovered in Sweetwine Woods which held properties no Alchemist had ever been able to extract before, and when Tio has heard this he saw a chance to make a whole lot of money. If he could figure out how to steal their effects first he'd be able to sell the method to other alchemists. So he'd packed up his kit, hopped on his horse and headed out into the forest, ready to do some experimenting.
It couldn't have been ten minutes after he arrived that problems occurred. Tio had lit a small camp fire to boil down the reagents he wanted to test with, but since he’d forgotten to pack a hook to hang his cauldron on had instead animated Risas and had him hold it over the flame. He added the first flower he wanted to test into the cauldron and turned his back to pick up a few other reagents, when a fizzing sound alerted him to the fact that something was terribly wrong. By the time he realized what was happening however it was too late; the contents of his cauldron exploded, blasting the fire below it to pieces and sending a shower of embers flying into the surrounding bushes. The embers found food in the dry wood and leaves, and within seconds the beginnings of a terrible forest fire was growing right in front of him.
“Bugger bugger bugger bugger bugger…” Tio repeatedly rapidly as he ran back and forth from his campsite to the stream nearby, filling up a bucket with water and handing it to Risas who, being dead and all, was able to get far closer to the heat than he could. Their team firefighting effort was somewhat helpful, but with so much fuel the fire was growing faster than they could quench it, and it was soon becoming dangerous for them to be so close. Tio would normally have retreated already, but nobody was expecting a forest fire on a day like this and there were sure to be hunters out in the woods who'd pay with their lives for his mistake if this fire grew out of control.
Although perhaps it was too late for that already. In a whoosh of flames an entire tree suddenly burst alight, and it seemed to be a signal for the rest of the fire to grow even hotter, too hot for Tio to even get close too anymore. There was no chance of stopping it now!
But then the strangest thing happened. Like a furious animal calming down the flames began to decrease in intensity, and gradually began to shrink until nothing remained but embers.
“What in Faldrun’s fiery ass is going on here?!” An unfamiliar voice yelled, and Tio turned around to be met with the sight of a peculiar old man glaring at him. If looks could kill Tio would have beaten, burnt and torn to pieces by this one. Yet his fear dissolved into curiosity as he noticed the old man's hand, which was outstretched towards the remnants of the fire. You could almost see the cogs in his mind clicking together before the realization finally hit him.
“Wait… the fire… that was you! You put it out with your mind!”
