Board Thread:Roleplaying/@comment-5583506-20150816180208/@comment-5583506-20150902164144

As the water was boiling, Anhjari carefully mixed the remaining ingredients. She then took a scalpel and brought it to one of her fingers, with a nervous expression. She whimpered as she made a small cut in it, watching as a blood drop wandered out from the slit. She held her finger over the boiling water and let five drops fall into the contents.

Ganvalyon raised an eyebrow. It said nothing in the book that the Elixir of Insight required blood. What was she hiding? Was she perhaps a natural talent of alchemy or was she somehow cheating in a way he couldn't foresee? She was definitely not an expert. He had seen it on her face when he had explained which elixir he wanted her to make. But she was doing everything correct so far.

What was she hiding?

When the blood-mixed water had finished boiling, the Khajiit wiped her finger off on a linen wrap, before pouring it down into the mixture, swhirling it around with a ladle. She then fastened the container to an alembic, placing a vial underneath the tap, and turned the wheel. After a while the finished elixir was poured into the vial. When she was sure there was nothing left, she removed the vial, put a cork in it and gave it five firm shakes before handing it to the headmaster for inspection.

The contents had a bright red, almost luminous glow to it.

Ganvalyon inspected the vial and glared at the Khajiit suspiciously. "If you have cheated somehow in creating this elixir, assuming it now is the real deal, by drinking from it I will learn how you did it."

"Go ahead, sir", said Anhjari.

The headmaster uncorked the vial and took a small sip from the elixir, smacking his lips. It didn't taste very well, but that wasn't the point. What mattered was whether or not the elixir successfully managed to clear his head and boosten his intellect for a short amount of time.

"Hmmm", he said, as his mind immediately began to work and think in different paths that hadn't occurred to him until now. "I definitely feel alot more... insightful than before. But I still can't see how you managed to make the elixir so flawless? So that means that either it is faulty, or it means that you did not cheat when you were making this. Otherwise I would have seen you through by now."

"It is not a trick", she replied.

He glared at Astien as well, wondering if he perhaps had something to do with this success, but his boostened insight didn't allow him to read anything. No matter how he reflected over the course of their actions whilst they were making the elixir, he couldn't think of one moment where they had cheated.

"Hmph", he grunted, still suspicious of how they had done it, and tossed the vial back to Anhjari. "Very well then. Welcome to the Crimson Academy. I hope you will enjoy your stay. Keep the Elixir of Insight as a token of a job well done."

He then slammed the alchemy book shut and left them alone in the study. "I do hope you will clean up after yourselves. Seeing as that lousy wretch Alvorn is nowhere to be found..."

There was a light ahead in the darkness.

Vemirius crouched. "Looks like some sort of cave entrance", he whispered. "We should be cautious. It could be a dead end, and then we will be stuck."