Alchemical Discovery

More about Alchemical Discovery

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, the snow leopard looks around the corner, and spies a small room with alchemy potions, and some stairs leading up and away at the far end of the room. An ornate window in the distance is cracked, allowing small flurries of snow from outside into the room, settling upon surfaces here and there.

This seems to have been some sort of alchemist's study, though not a full scale alchemy laboratory. Perhaps an annex room, for apprentices to practice, away from the more serious work of the expert or even perhaps legendary alchemist's level? No doubt the expert alchemists would appreciate their own quiet space away from the unexpected bangs, and flashes of dangerous concoctions and elixirs mistakenly made by those still learning the craft. The historic Sinderion, master alchemist wouldn't be found in such a room as this, no, he worked in the field, or at his retreat, although some rumoured he would frequent the West Weald Inn, in Skingrad. Perhaps on account of his love of the local Surilie Borthers wine? He would be holed up for weeks or even months at a time on his alchemy "experiments".

Although unnoticed at first, the snow leopard spotted that despite signs of no recent human presence in the room, the candles were lit. No foot prints were present in the sprinkled snow on the flag stone flooring either. Lifting its head, and smelling the air, it was clear the candles were only recently lit, but still no human (or argonian, or orc, or elf) odours could be detected. The leopard had witnessed the power to create fire and light when observing the various bipedals do so at camp fires, or using spells, even fantastical conjurations of entities seemingly made entirely of fire, but with mobility of something living and breathing. Whilst the leopard could not understand the how, it did know they could, and they knew how.

Puzzled by this contradiction, the snow leopard searched the room, led by its nose. Pausing here and there to prod at something on the floor, before a Skever rat shot out from a small crevice. With naturally quick reflexes, the snow leopard caught and consumed the morsel. Whilst appreciating the snack, it then dawned on the snow leopard the small size of the Skever was quite small, indicating it wasn't fully grown, and so hadn't ventured far from its nest - and its parents and any number of siblings that would outnumber and risk serious injury to the snow leopard!

The air still chilling, even with a fur coat, the snow leopard decided to continue onwards. Pausing to glance through the cracked window, having thought it may have heard a sound outside. A slight crunch of a footstep into the snow. It was hard to tell with the wind picking up, and howling, rattling some loose external fittings, and the natural creak of the structure.

Further in there will be something more for me, the snow leopard urged itself.