Making the Metal of Potash - RPLOG
Participants
Date
9/5/477
Log
It's a nice day out, and the academy's alchemical section is slowly filling up with beings that are interested in the masterclass funded by Lady Longtail. The noble in question is currently rearing the day-staff, consisting of both full-time employees of the academy and several new hires for LongTech Industries. Security is arranged by the latter, while the prior are in charge of setups and demonstrations.
The lecture-room isn't quite full yet, but the benches are filling quite well by now, although neither Lady Longtail nor the esteemed mister Singewing have properly shown themselves yet.
Asher patters into the lecture hall, doing his best to take in the Academy. He had meant to go to the historical wing to see the display of "Dress Through the Ages" that he had heard about, but had been caught up in the crowd of students heading for a lecture! It was hard to go against the flow when you were less than three feet tall! "Well, since I'm here," the little corgi looks around and finds a vacant spot next to an immense Black Bear in scholar's robes. "Hello!" he says brightly, "Do you know what this lecture is about?"
The bear looks down and smiles at the tiny canine and puts a finger over his lips, then sits quietly watching the stage. "Oh," says Asher, "Sorry." He sits in silence with the large scholar, waiting for the lecture or demonstration or whatever was going on.
Cedric heard there would be yet another alchemist visiting from Cliffside, and he decided he just had to attend the class to see. At least this time it had apparently been organized and funded by someone somewhat reputable. Maybe he wouldn't have to go near Mossy Stone this time! Anyhow, the badger strolls into the lecture hall casually, dressed in a casual shirt and pants, and had brought some alchemy gear just in case they'd be doing any actual experiments. He looks around through the crowd, finding a sea of unfamiliar faces until he spots Asher and wanders over to sit next to him with a wave.
Jackson slowly makes his way through the Academy's ways, on his route to the alchemical section... The Collie no doubt getting a few strange glances as it's not often the sailor types make their way around to here. A few winks givin out generously to the females he passess before he makes his way into the room. His arms raising slightly before opening his coat to let Security see he was weaponless, before he moves to try and find a spot on the benches. "Well, this aught'a be a tad interesting."
From time to time, an elderly academic or two is guided towards a seat, not quite at the front row, but a little further back. In fact, the entire two front-rows are held vacant by security, for whatever reason they might have.
Soon enough, the seats are filling up, leaving only one or two spots at the back for late arrivals, and High Lady Flora Longtail arrives, wearing her fancy dress and smiling faintly, before coughing audibly to lessen the chatter among the beings that have gathered.
She waits a few minutes, coughs another few times, before finally continuing. "Yes... Welcome, yes. Flora has organized this day for any being interested in learning something about alchemy, or simply learning something new about the field. Flora will shortly explain what the plans for today are, because there are two options, yes... Firstly, Sir Singewing will be explaining about his recent research and the discoveries he's made, yes. Afterwards, there is a free lunch available for all beings currently present, and after that, there will be two separate practice-sessions."
The feline takes a short breath, before smiling lightly. "The first practice-session will be hosted and supervised by LongTech Industries, and will give a short introduction into the field. The second session will be headed by Sir Singewing, and those capable in alchemy will have a chance of reproducing his experiments, yes... However, since the reagents used in both experiments can be hazardous, Flora urges each and every being to follow the instructions from the supervision to the letter, yes. Thank you... Without further ado... Sir Boris Singewing," she murrs with a smile, moving off to a seat to the side as the owl in question is escorted to the lecture-stand.
"Hello, Cedric!" Asher calls out when he spots his badger friend, only to get SHUSHed by the big bear next to him. "Sorry," the corgi says, before turning to give Cedric a friendly smile as he takes his seat.
The little canine listens attentively, though he knows very little about the field of alchemy. His ears DO perk up noticeably at the mention of a free lunch, however. "Oh good," he says to Cedric, "This will be just fine than!" He realizes that this might not be the best thing to say in a room full of scholars and he corrects himself. "I mean, that there will be courses for beginners!" he says.
Cedric chuckles quietly at the tiny corgi after listening to the speech, and nods in agreement. The lunch part did sound really appealing to him as well. He cranes his neck a little, stretching to see past the head of the being in front of him as the cliffside owl-chemist takes the stage.
"Thank you, Milady," the old owl mumbles, before offering a smile towards the lecture-hall. "Well, let's start, shall we? I should say, it does an old man good to see so many new faces interested in alchemy, truly... I've been doing this for over twenty years, but it always delights me to see the young ones take an interest in the field," he admits with a smile, even as a liquid container with two large silvery metal balls and one smaller one is brought over.
"Now... This here... Is our potash-based metal... I should warn you all not to try this at home, since..." he begins, even as one of the assistants takes the smallest ball and drops it into a large container of water, quickly topping it with a pane of fire-retardant glass as embers fly everywhere.
"Look out!" Asher cries in reaction to the explosion on the stage, reaching for air magic to protect himself and those around him from the attack on the academy!
Then he realizes that it was part of the demonstration. He looks around sheepishly and returns to his seat. His ears burning pink at the stares of the scholars around him.
Also turns to stare at Asher curiously at the Corgi's reaction, lifting a brow in response and then after a few moments, he chuckles a little bit. He'd seen similar reactions before, and even aside from that, it wasn't really close to what could be done with a little fire magic. "You alright, Asher?" he asks the Corgi, before turning his attention nack to the stage.
"Ah, yes. Mister... Asher?" the owl mumbles as his eyes turn towards the corgi. "Don't worry, 'tis all part of the procedure... However... I could use a volunteer skilled with some air-magic for the next part. No complex spells, simply gently blow the oil from the sphere, and tell everyone what happens to it," he mumbles, gesturing at another small ball that was uncovered by the removal of the other two. "This metal has some... Interesting properties. For one, like gold, it doesn't rust in water, as you can see," he jokes, before the soft metal ball is placed on the stone table with a pair of tweezers. "Of course, unlike gold, it has a tendency to explode, and should be handled with care. Don't worry, it shouldn't explode just yet... Probably."
He turns to Cedric as well, smiling faintly, before he looks around the room. "I'll also need a fire-mage for the third demonstration... My skills lie in the manipulations of fluids, unfortunately, and as you can imagine, that is not... The most useful skill here."
Asher's ears practically glow with his embarrassment as the old owl points him out even more to the gathered audience. The little dog murmurs that he is fine to Cedric, then starts the long trot up to the stage. His embarrassment fades a little when faced with a task and he starts to carefully channel air math into a light breeze at the indicated metal. As he watches, the silvery metal starts to blacken as if it were burning. "Is it supposed to do that?" he asks nervously.
The badger nodded to Asher, "Yep. It's fascinating, right?" he answers, smiling to the Corgi before hearing the lecturer's call for a volunteer. Fire math... well, Cedric would probably be okay with doing a little bit of that, and so he nodded to the owl as he rose from his seat, raising his arm to volunteer. It didn't hurt that the owl reminded him of his adoptive grandfather a little bit... though mostly by merit of being a cliffside owl. He didn't honestly look very similar to gramps other than that. "I'm fairly practiced in fire maths, I think I could be of some help." he says, raising the volume of his voice slightly to be heard through the lecture hall, and looks down at Asher with a rub of his chin, saying "You should come up too. You're good with air math, right?" before making his way to the aisle leading to the stage, mumbling various 'excuse me's' and 'pardon's' as he works his way past several beings sitting there. His gear isn't quite up to standard for alchemical experimentation, but at least he'd thought to wear a long, belted ranger's jacket to protect his skin and fur just a bit.
Lina does a half twirl into the room before she stumbles and laughs to herself, looking slightly embarassed and straightening up when she sees the group all standing about, her clad in her longtech leathers and emblem. She hasn't intended them to see that, and pauses for a moment before waving to them all. "Hi, I'm Lina, nice to meet you. I'm wearing a uniform and I'm here to learn." she says in an attempt to explain why she is so happy, before moving over towards Lady Longtail and taking up observation.
A cough leaves Flora's muzzle as she looks towards Lina, before the owl smiles. "I see... Well, dear, unfortunately, you missed the explosion... Don't worry, though. There's ample time to learn!" the owl rebutes, smiling towards Flora and then back to Lina.
"And indeed, mister Asher. The metal is supposed to turn black, much like copper rusts green, and iron turns brown during prolonged exposure to water or air. Now, I wouldn't recommend touching the metal with your bare hands, since we don't know much about its toxicity yet, but considering it explodes in water, ingestion would be a bad thing. However... During this process, we can observe that the temperature of the metal goes up. Does anyone want to venture a guess as to what this means? Miss Lina, perhaps?" he offers, slicing off two small slices of the metal and putting it in a sealed petri-dish. "Would you mind passing this around the group so everyone can get a good look?" he asks the corgi with a smile, before turning to Cedric. "I propose we wait with the last demonstration until everyone's seen the metal, and miss Lina has offered us an answer to my question. What I want you to do," he mumbles, using a piece of cloth to clean off the last chunk, before gently placing the chunk on a slightly hollowed brick... "Is to set this little block on fire, slowly. It'll melt before you reach that point, that's quite alright."
Lina ponders and ponders the question, the cough unsettling but not detering her as she thinks. "It gets wet and it blows up? So... and it gets hotter when it does that?" she asks as she puzzles the question, hoping it the right one. "So... the water makes the metal hot and bothered, causing a reaction that ultimately upsets the metal enough that it has nothing to do but lash out violently?" She asks as she moves to help with the showing of samples.
Asher has little idea what the scholarly owl is talking about, but he nods and takes the petri dish and trots down to the first row of academics. He looks carefully at the covered bit of burnt substance. What sort of magic could make metal burn in water? "Here you go," he says, passing the dish to a serious looking crane. He smiles a bit at Lina's answer, it sounded like as good an explanation as any to the little canine.
Cedric doesn't know much more about this than Lina, but nodding to the owl after hers, he adds his own comment... in a very teacher's-pet and competitive manner he learned from his time in Cliffside. "Well... it's becoming something else and giving off energy because of that, isn't it?" he asks, before looking towards the chunk on the hollowed brick. He extends his palm towards it, preparing to the fire magic to heat up the chunk of metal slowly once instructed to.
As the petri-dish moves around the lecture-room, an occasional ooh is heard, and occasionally, one or two beings ask a short question about the hardness of the material, the melting-point, and so on, each of them hushed with a simple statement of "we'll get to that" from the owl.
"Now, miss Lina... As much as I'd love to find a sentient metal, I don't think that's the case," he offers, still smiling encouragingly. "What I think is happening, like Mister Asher was worried about, I think... Is that the metal slowly burns in air. Most of the students I've shown this to, they ask me the same question, because, except for the actual fire, everything points in that direction!" he exclaims with a clap, before gesturing Lina over. "I think you'll want to see this one, miss Lina! You look like the kind that can appreciate this. WHenever you're ready, mister... ?" he finally offers to Cedric, gesturing Asher over as well.
"As a note to the rest of the beings gathered, much as you'd want me to divulge into the methods of preparation right away, this... This is the way you get the young'uns interested in alchemy... For any questions about the theoretical basis, feel free to ask me during the lunchbreak, or after the practical session, which should show you exactly how to prepare your metal of potash, in any case."
Cedric performs the right calculations in his mind, immediately forgetting them afterwards as he enters the exact state needed to produce enough flame and heat to light the metal. It burns for a short period of time, the fire not the usual color of fire but a bright magenta instead. After it appears to be done, he quickly stops his spell and relaxes. "Like that?" he asks, wondering if he did it correctly.
Asher retrieves the covered dish from the last scholar at the back of the hall and trots back to the stage at the owl's call. "Um," he hesitates at the edge of the stage, watching the strangely colored fire magic at work, "Is it going to explode again?" The little canine scoots forward cautiously, still holding the dish in his hands. "It's just, I would like to have a little warning this time," he chuckles nervously.
Lina gawks at the pretty fire, not quite enwrapped in the idea of living metal but the beautiful show that was being put on. "That's really cool!" she exclaims decidedly, half reaching to touch it while it is active before she stops herself. "So you can make more colors? You could do a burning show! I just don't know how much money it would cost." she says as she flicks her tail about. "That was really neat!"
"Exactly like that!" the owl crows, another clap of his hands, before smiling towards Asher. "It won't explode unless we throw it into the water again... Well, that, or we chop it up into a fine powder. Took quite a few feathers away, that!"
"See my point about getting the next generation enthousiastic? I think we have a new being interesteded in alchemy, hmm?" he offers with a grin. "As for the color of the fire... I believe that, with enough study, we might be able to find other metals with other colors of fire! But... For a moment, let us think of other, more industrial applications. Although my studies are still largely inconclusive, I have... Reason to believe that we can use the high reactivity to extract other metals from various substances. We could, with some luck, find other metals to work with," he admits with a grin. "Now... Time for lunch! Anyone that can't wait for the practical sessions, or would rather attend the introductionary session Lady Longtail has arranged for you... But if you're up for a little experment, with the potential for an explosion or two, do come to the session I'm hosting. There'll be ample time to discuss your options over lunch, though."
Asher is relieved when nothing else explodes, and he is even more relieved when the old Owl announces lunch! The tiny canine hops from the low stage to follow the assembled scholars, then turns back. "Cedric," his tiny voice calls, "You wouldn't be interested in helping me with the beginners' class, would you?" The corgi thinks for a second, "Or maybe I could just come watch you at the advanced class?" he says, "I'm not really much of an alchemist."
Cedric scratches his head as he listens to Asher, still a little annoyed at the academy's kitchen staff for giving him such weird looks about wanting fried piz. Like they'd know taste if it clocked them over the head. "I'm not sure... I was thinking of going to the advanced class, actually... it sounded pretty interesting, and I've already taken basic alchemy back in Cliffside." he explains to Asher.
The owl smiles lightly as he moves along himself, even as Flora moves towards Asher and Cedric during the lunchbreak, chewing on a peeled lime. "Both classes are geared towards average beings, yes. Sir Singewing's class is a little more advanced, but not much, and the assistants will help anyone who needs a bit, yes. The LongTech Industries class is a set of similar experiments, though with other reagents, yes," she helpfully explains, before looking between Asher and Cedric with a gentle smile. "Flora hopes that everything was enjoyable, so far?"
Lina nods as she chews her food, approaching Flora to enjoy the remainder of it. After a swallow, she announces "Yes, I had fun Flora, and it was interesting and educational." she says before she exaggerates a bit. "I bet I could do the same thing just from watching! Not that I know any magic."
"Oh!" Asher exclaims as Flora and Boris come to visit as he finishes his lunch, "It was very exciting, Miss Flor- er, Lady Longtail." The little canine smiles weakly at Boris, "It's just that I sort of only came to the lecture by accident," he confesses. He nods at Cedric, "But I think I could come if Mister Cedric is willing to help me and Mister Singewing promises not to explode me!"
Cedric nods to Flora, Lina and Asher, already having made up his mind and nothing was going to sway him. "Yeah, it's been very enlightening so far. I was hoping to catch the rest of Master Singewing's lectures and demonstrations." he says, hinting towards his inclination to visit the advanced session. The badger looks down to Asher with another nod, "Of course I'll help. I'm not stingy like other cliffsider academics, you know?" he grins a friendly grin at the Corgi and glances around for a moment, before looking again to Flora. "Ah, come to think of it, I don't seem to recall which room that class was to be given in..."
"I really can't make any such promises, Mister Asher. Who knows what kind of reagents I find tomorrow?" the elder owl jokes, laughing heartily, before turning to Lina. "You still have a long way to go, young lady... Though, that enthousiastic attitude'll get you a long way! As for Cliffsiders... Would you say I'm a stingy Cliffsider academic, lad?" Singewing notes towards Lina and Cedric. "Both sessions are in the same room. Lady Longtail wishes to observe all participants. I can only presume she's looking for promising beings to take under her wings... Proverbially speaking, of course."
Asher pales a little at Boris's comment, but decides that it must be a joke and he chuckles weakly. "I'll give it a shot then," he says, "I'm sure that I will be able to learn something." The little corgi looks around at the other beings who towered above him. The old owl WAS joking about the odds of getting blown up, right?
"Hmm..." Cedric regards the owl's question for a moment before shaking his head. "Not really, no. But the three alchemists that came here before you were a bit high and mighty, you see..." he answers, looking to Asher. "Of course you will! And I'm sure he won't blow you up if he can avoid it." the badger grins, hopefully Asher will be able to tell that he's just joking as well.
"Oh, I can imagine. What was it they wanted again? Tree-bark? I've heard the story from Lady Longtail already. I'm more than happy to share my work, though. After all, if you don't share it, how will people learn of your discoveries and build on them?" he explains with a smirk, before guiding the trio along towards the lecture-hall. "Our process is quite simple, in actuality. And that's why curiosity is so important. If you don't try the simple things people tell you won't work, how will you ever hope to try and make something new? I should note, the reaction takes a long, long time, but we've got the whole afternoon ahead of us!"
"A slow reaction?" Asher asks, curious to see what the old owl has planned. And 'slow reaction' sounds like it might exclude large, fiery explosions. The little canine trots along with the group in the lecture hall, taking two or three steps to the others' one. "Cedric," he tugs at the badger's trousers, "Did you already know Mister Singewing at the Cliffside Academy?" The little dog had never left Sweetwater. It was hard to imagine somewhere as remote as Cliffside. It seemed to him that everyone from somewhere so far away MUST know each other.
Cedric nods to the alchemist, listening carefully and shakes his head at Asher. "No... there are several academies in Cliffside. And some would be completely dedicated to Alchemy, while others are more for Divine Math." he explains to Asher, "I went to the latter sort, though we had some alchemy classes they were more basic, nothing special." he says to the Corgi. "And right, I've got time for that." he says to Boris, still following the others toward the classroom.
Lina carries along behind everyone, listening to the two talk about the poor professor. "Simple?" she says rather intimmidated by the owls words, this wasn't simple work at all to the feline. "It really seems spectacular, like making a tool or some art. I bet if you tried to do something hard that no one said was possible you would really blow it away if this is all so easy for you!"
A smile on the owl's lips as he gestures at the hall for practicals, where several beings are already being instructed on the proper use of their equipment. "Right. As you all've waited long enough, lets commence our little experment. First things first, safety is important. I cannot stress this enough. Wear gloves, and don't put things in your mouth, over an open flame, or wash them off with water. You've seen what happened with the metal. If you're unsure, flag a supervisor, and we'll make sure you get out of this alive, and with all ten of your fingers left. Now..."
"Verify that you have a few chunks of charcoal, a flask of oil, and a supply of wood, in addition to your tools. You will need a flask, possibly two, pestle and mortar, a standard flameless alchemical heater, and an open-flame heater."
Asher panics for a moment. He does not have ANY of those things! Then he realizes that a number of work stations have been set up and supplies provided. The corgi produces his own fitted leather gloves from his satchel. "Glad I have these," he says happily. The academy catered to all sorts, but gloves always tended to be over large for the small canine. Asher picks a work station near Cedric and carefully catalogues and arranges his materials. So far, he recognized what all these things were. . .
Cedric retrieves a pair of gloves from his bag and prepares to get down to business. "Ah, I don't have a pair of gloves in here for small folk, I'm afraid." he frowns at Asher, but hten notices that he's managed to find some of his own. He settles down at the workstation with Asher and listens before touching anything.
Lina nods as she listens to the needed materials, finding a workstation and trying to remember to check everything before she forgot the items involved. She already has gloves, so she doesn't seem to need to do anything but marvel at all of the items arrayed around her. She looks around to pick a supervisor out, and then waits anxiously, trying to guess what she'll be doing with this array of goodies, and if it would make be half as pretty as what she saw before.
"First things first, you will obviously need potash. Keep in mind you'll only be able to make a litte bit of metal with the supplies you have stalled out, we will supplement you when we figure you've earned it, the bird explains, before looking to the wooden blocks. "Put the wooden blocks in a small bowl, they should be under your table. Subsequently, gently light the fire and keep an eye on the flames. The wood MUST be burned to a fine ash. If you feel confident enough you won't burn the building down, and one of the assistants feels the same, you can also start grinding up the charcoal into a fine powder, like so. The ammount of charcoal you have available should be more than enough to make a decent ball of metal, once we're through."
Asher stands on a stool so he can see the work space. "Um, Cedric," he asks, "Do you want to do the burning bit?" The corgi does his best to wave down an aide. "I think I could grind up the charcoal while you do that!"
Cedric nods to Asher "That sounds good to me. Let's get to it, then?" he smiles and retrieves some wooden blocks to burn into ash. He's fairly skilled with fire magic, or at least, enough to burn wood into ash while containing the flames so that they don't spread from his control. Still, he puts a little concentration into his work, just to be sure...
Lina grabs all the wood she feels will fit in the bowl safely and then attempts to stack them artisticallly before she stretches and figures what to do. She leaves the blocks alone and starts to decidedly grind up charcoal, because she isn't the most talented mathemagician. She hasn't a clue what to do but follow instructions, but follow them she shall, slowly and carefully so that things don't blow up in her face, occasionally looking around to see what everyone else does so she has a better understanding of how to proceed.
A smile adorns the old owl's snout, and he gestures at several beings, magically capable and otherwise. "Simply light the wood, make sure it burns slowly and completely, until you have nothing but a fine ash. If you can use air magic, I suggest setting up a gentle flow of air around the wood, if not, simply arrange the wood such that air can freely flow around it."
"For the alchemists among you, surely, you remember the proper ways to prepare potash... We burn the wood, and use the ashes to prepare lye. After this, we can extract a small amount of potash by subsequently evaporating the water from the lye-extract... However, since most of us here have seen the demonstration of what happens when the metal touches water, and, I can assure you, water-vapors are quite enough to set such a thing off, I urge you to come collect a cucurbit, alembic and a retort, such that we may safely collect the water without fear of explosions. In addition, we have enough of a supply of wood, ashes, charcoal and potash, in case you wish to re-try any of the experiments we do here."
Asher has no idea what the old owl is talking about and looks hopelessly at Cedric. "Please tell me you understood that," he says quietly. The little corgi picks up the mortar and pestle, carefully grinding up the charcoal for use in their experiment.
Cedric nods as he listens to the old owl's instructions carefully going up quickly to retrieve the proper alchemical tools and recognizing them for what they are and what they do... the cucurbit, alembic and retort, setting them up at his workstation with Asher before dissolving the ashes from the burnt blocks into the water and performing the process fairly well... though nowhere near as skilled as a master alchemist.
Lina looks absolutely lost for a few moments, listening to the professor with a half blank look as she attempts to make sense of it all. She eventually burns the wood, carefully and... attempts the potash, looking sadly to her burning art she had to dismantle. Another time.
Another smile, and both Flora and the owl move around to inspect everything. "Once you have your wood-ashes, simply use use a bowl, filled with water, and add your wood-ashes to it. Gently stir it for at least five minutes, and then let it set, allowing the ashes to sink to the bottom."
"Once this is done, carefully pour the liquid into your cucurbit, ensuring the ash does not flow along. After this, you may heat the mixture until all the water has evaporated... You should be left with a small amount of fine, white powder."
Cucurbit? "What's a cucumbert?" Asher asks Cedric, setting down the thoroughly powdered charcoal and watching the badger work. The little canine is certainly FAR out of his depth here and contents himself with watching the alchemy happen.
The badger, still listening very carefully to Master Singewing, prepares his bowl of water, leaning over to explain what he's doing to the smaller corgi throughout the process. He adds his wood ashes carefully to the bowl afterwards, and begins to stir gently with the proper stirring instrument. Still trying to put the process into simpler terms for the corgi before attempting to heat the mixture using his own fire magic. He's not quite used to the heating devices provided, and trusts his own magic a little more... besides, a little heat should be no problem!
Lina jumps as she recieves straight forward instructions without any fancy names, putting a smiley face in the wood ashes for good luck before she fills adds them to water, beginning the long stirring process. As she gets bored she starts to try and humm tunes she has heard to pass the time, then allowing the ashes to sink she sighs. The fancy word throws her off, but she works towards that fine white powder.
