How I screwed up, but got a second chance.
How I screwed up
It was a day like any other in Skingrad, wake up, eat Breakfast with Vigge and Sulinus, Stop by All Things Alchemical to check for new ingredients, or whether the Apprentice alchemy gear had come in, and then visit my dad, Sinderion, performing alchemy experiments. Sinderion ended up in a basement because his experiments were know to go awry, or explode, in other words. I always wore my special 'resist fire shoes' while down there. I usually ate lunch at the West Weald Inn. (Where my Father's basement is located.) I always made sure to leave a big tip so my Father could continue his research in the basement, and went back to the guildhall to practice spells, study with Adrienne, listen to Druja explaining a new spell she had created. Then I ate dinner and went to bed early, and the day started again.
Today was a bit different. It was identical up until the point where Sinderion said he got a letter from Honditar. Honditar is my younger brother, by 7 years. He resides in a cabin just outside of Chorrol. He is a self-proclaimed mountain man, a serious hunter, and an athlete always willing to share his advanced knowledge. It basically said that he was coming to visit, and by the time we got this letter, he would be almost here.
"Your Brother is coming, and he wants to learn more about alchemy. He should be here after lunch. Listen Al, I have important research to do regarding the Nirnroot sample you brought me yesterday. I need to go to Shadeleaf copse tonight to see if I can find more, and to confirm the blue glow they have. I need you to take him to the Mage's guild, and teach him a thing or two. Keep it to basic restore fatigue and health, he's not a wizard."
I nodded and waited at the North gate. After about 15 minutes of chatting with the guard on duty, the gates were opened for Honditar, the famed hunter, famed around here, that is. I greeted him and led him to the guildhall.
"So it's good to get some seeds from the flax plant, as you can mix them with venison to make a feather potion, drastically increasing your income. With more experience, you could earn enough to feed yourself!" I joked. "Ha ha... So you are going back to Chorrol with me tomorrow to go hunt?" "Yeah, I might as well show off my spells, my Solar Flare spell kills the deer and cooks the meat at the same time." I showed him a few more things, wrapping up. Then I remembered the experiment.
The Arcane University wrote in yesterday, wanting to know if Frost salts could be used with Void salts, Adrienne managed to find some samples of both salts, and asked me to conduct the experiment, and tell her the results. I asked Honditar to stay, knowing it would teach him how to mix fragile ingredients... well, I added Fire salts to the Mortar and pestle, ground them up, and did the same with the void salts. I put them in a rather large vial, and added some water.
I began to explain the process of mixing to Honditar, and put the top of the vial close to his face for him to see for himself. I had screwed up about 5 seconds earlier. You see, elemental damage is an explosive thing, especially in potions and ingredients containing this property. I had some corks specially enchanted to stop an explosion inside a vial, which usual happened about five seconds after the to ingredients came together. I forgot to put such a cork on.
When Honditar saw it suddenly fizz up, he put his hands in front of his face as an instinct. That probably saved his life. He was blasted into a wall, his abdomen pelted by the glass shards of the unenchanted vial, his hands badly burned. I blew back a ways, but I was still wearing my resist fire shoes, so all I got was a bad shock.
Honditar, approx. 4 inches away from the blast, was jiggling like a fish out of water, his hands all black, smelling like smoke, his abdomen turning crimson. The town guard apparently heard the boom, and rushed into the alchemy lab to investigate.
The alchemy lab is a small lab I made consisting of the upstairs table moved into the basement, with a few mushrooms and a set of basic alchemy apparatuses. I've used it for the past few months for my experiments and to eat dinner on.
My exile
The town guard fined me for aggravated assault (100 gp) I paid, but when the mage's council heard, they suspended me from the guild, and sent me to jail. So I rotted for some months, slowly forgetting my magical skills, even the snazzy teleporting one Raminus Polus taught me. From what I heard, the Imperial City Prison, where I was 'stationed' ran out of room. They let me go, but told me never to enter a city, and to only pass through settlements.
The legion sent a few men to spread the word of my exile. I was a pretty darn famous mage, so they told everybody. So I was outside the Imperial Prison with no place to go, and no possessions to speak of. I walked around the prison, looking to see if there was a nearby camp. I saw an Ayleid ruin across the lake, and decided to investigate.
I crossed the lake, and took a look at the premises. A bandit camp outside, Two bandits, hadn't noticed me yet. I only remember one spell, the flare spell. I only remembered it because it was two words and a simple gesture, easy to focus it, too. I could read while casting it!
I readied the spell in my mind, fire appearing on my finger tips. One of the bandit noticed me, and readied a bow that was strapped to her back. She alerted the other bandit, who ran to a crate to withdraw a mace. As I ran closer to the archer, she notched an arrow. The melee bandit began to run towards me. As the archer pulled the bowstring back, I focused energy into my hands and released it. She fires her arrow.
My spell engulfed the fine steel arrow, partially burning the wooden shaft, and singing off the aerodynamic feathers at the end. The flare collided with her, burning her to a crisp. I looked away. The arrow fell to the ground, 6 inches away from my feet. The melee bandit was now upon me.
"You think fire can best steel, you snobby mage!?" he yelled before he swung. I doubled back, falling on my rump, hearing the mace whistle just above my mane. I fired Flare from point blank, and the results were not pretty.
I scrounged up some food, and ate my dinner. and went to bed early in a tent, thankful for the garlic hanging above my head. In the morning I grabbed the bow, some of the fur armor that wasn't burnt, and all the arrows I could carry, and began to head to Skingrad.
The trip was uneventful at most, I had to immolate a few wolves. I found many forts and a couple Ayleid ruins, and started to feel like an explorer. I came upon Derelict Mine by sunset. I knew this place, because the local goblin hunters were obsessed with it. I turned around, and there it was, Skingrad. I knew a camp on the other side of the city walls that I sometimes stayed at to hunt, Fat Ramp camp. I headed there.
There were two bandits there. I had the upper hill advantage. I sent a flare into one and rolled down the hill away from the camp, to not be spotted. However, when a cutthroat's buddy suddenly gets barbecued beside him, he tends to investigate the immediate area. He climbed the hill to get a vantage point, but my blue Sack Cloth Shirt blended in with the night.
I hopped up and sent and tried to light him up. My shot missed, but hit a bush right by him, sending him ablaze. He barely had time to scream. I found some boar meat, gulped it down, and slept for the night.
The morning succeeding that day, I headed to the vineyards, to try and find a job. Hey, technically it was outside of a city. Luckily, it seems, Gaston Surilie is an early riser (5:00 am) and agreed to let me use my alchemical skills to make better wine for the Surilie brothers. He asked the town guard stationed outside the west gate allowed me passage into the city for fifteen minutes to get a Mortar and Pestle. I ran to All Things Alchemical, quickly bought the apparatus I needed, and told the proprietor my situation. I then had to run back to the west gate, jumped off the bridge, (which hurt) to make it out just in time.
I started my work by harvesting some grapes, sampling a few to learn their characteristics, and I got some strawberries from a cupboard in the little stable thingy. I mixed them together and tasted it.
That was a bad combination. It was too fruity with a bitterness I wouldn't forget soon. I had my lunch break, consisting of an apple and some cheese that Uuras gave me, and went to hunt, using 5 of my precious iron arrows. I got some venison, luckily. With a cleaning knife I found in the stable thing, I cut it up into 5 meals worth.
I slept in Uuras's sheep overhang, using a sleeping sheep as a pillow. In the morning I found another apple on the ground a spent the day trying new taste combinations for the grapes. I'm going to skip the failures and get to the part where I found some rice in a crate. I mixed it together the usual way, bored of the constant failure.
I tasted the combination. Boom! Poof! I felt like a new person! This was going to be a hit. I made another bottle and gave it to Gaston to try. He loved it! My blend was a major hit with the wine Aficiondos around Skingrad, and a boxer in the Arena used it to win a championship match. Money was pouring in from the customers.
I had earned my place in civilization once more. The Skingrad guild took me back in, and I became an even more reputed mage. The End.
Credits: Honditar as Honditar. Falcar as Honditar's Stunt double. (The explosion) Sinderion as My Father. Me as the Main character. Uuras as the Cheese obsessed shepherd who fed me. Owyn as Bandit 1. Branwen as Bandit archer. Gogan as Bandit 3 Vigge the cautious as bandit 4
Note: No Honditars or bandits were exploded, and no sheep were inhumanely used as pillows or drooled on during a certain High elf's sleep during the making of this fanfic