Rajit: Level 14: The Remix

In the potion workshop of Hyssop Home. “Are you sure?” Fhahana Norsys, the resident apothecarist of Hyssop Home clicked the scissors together thoughtfully. “Yes, yes, I am sure. Do you want it in writing? I should’ve gotten it cut a long time ago!” Rajit wiggled on the high stool she was sitting on; they’d borrowed it from Kaffrie’s lounge to get the small blonde halfling up to a comfortable height. “It’s such a shame, you have such pretty hair…” Fhahana breathed out wistfully, steeling herself for what she was going to do. She began reaching for a pair of gloves on the table. “Oh, come on ‘hana. You know I won’t get sick, with all I do I bet most of my clothes are more toxic than you.” The halfling gave her a smirk and swung her legs on the stool. “I’ll be fine. You’ll be fine. Promise.”
 
Fhahana set the gloves down and turned to look at Rajit. It wasn’t often she got to touch other people. Fhahana was a Simic Hybrid, her biology having been spliced with some kind of poisonous fish which constantly exuded a toxic coating. The experiments had left her with mottled blue skin in places, and her own hair had bleached out. Most notably though the toxicity had presented itself rather unfortunately, with even mild exposure often being enough to make others break out in hives or suffer nausea. She’d quickly learned to avoid intimacy of any kind, and the loneliness had driven her to begin her own research on antitoxins and a way to counteract her own toxicity. That research and her combined fastidious nature had made her a natural apothecarist, and with the proper use of gloves and heavy clothing she’d found work at Hyssop Home, where she’d met Rajit in the workshop.
 
Rajit was careless, or at least Fhahana thought so. As resistant to poison as stout halflings were any unnecessary risk was reckless. Despite that, Rajit was telling the truth, the halfling practically swam in dangerous and poisonous chemicals. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad? It had been a very long time since she’d touched anyone, even their hair. “So… uh… how short again?” Fhahana held up a her thumb and forefingers a few inches apart and moved them a bit as if considering.
 
“I want it out of my eyes and off my neck. It keeps coming out of the bun and getting stuck to my glasses and getting in the way, especially when I sweat. Maybe keep it shorter on this side,” Rajit tapped her forehead on her right side. “I mostly aim with this eye, and I don’t want anything getting in the way. So maybe leave a couple inches there and take it down to twice that on the other side?” Rajit spoke like it wasn’t much, but on a halfling every inch counted quite a bit.
 
“Okay, well here goes nothing…” Fhahana ran the comb through Rajit’s hair, the thin strands separating easily. A few tangles had to be pulled out where Rajit’s messy buns had done her no fairs, but soon it was brushed down smooth reaching nearly her shoulders. The Simic Hybrid was enjoying her work, it had been a long time she’d touched another person or felt their warmth on her skin. The blonde locks came tumbling down one after another, and almost too quickly she found herself down with her work. She ran her hand through Rajit’s hair one last time, and combed out some loose hair and finally held up the mirror. “It kind of suits you. You kind of went from farmgirl to handsome debutante.”
 
Rajit tilted her head as she looked at herself in the mirror. “Wow, these glasses are enormous. They look so out of place now.” Rajit slid off the stool with a thump and twirled once. “So breezy! Thanks ‘hana, it looks great.” Rajit gave Fhahana a hug around her waist, about the best the halfling could manage. Fhana patted her one last time on the head in turn. “No hives either, you sure you’re okay?”
 
“Feeling better than ever. Everything just seems so much clearer now, you know? I’m going to go make some new glasses, it’s time to retire these.” Rajit waved and left the room, tromping off towards her room to retrieve her glassblowing tools. Fhanana chuckled and shook her head, she’d been asking about the toxins, but it seemed to have had no effect on Rajit. She looked down at the mess of blonde hair on the floor. With a sigh she dusted her hands off and heads towards the broom in the corner.
 
Some time that afternoon Rajit had come to an odd realization. Her eyes were, well, different. She definitely needed new lenses, but she didn’t need a pair, each one of her eyes was going to need a different lens. She set about the work of carving the lenses and purifying the glass, finally coming to a settled prescription. The thickness of the two lenses didn’t match, and the curvature made it hard to make them the same size. She’d need even bigger glasses than before… unless she just kept the lenses separate!
 
“Oh, why hadn’t I thought of this before?” That was a question Rajit had been asking a lot lately. She had her suspicions that her headband of intellect was making her realize things more easily, but she’d been having a lot of forehead slapping moments lately. This was another one of them. “Monolenses, or monocles I guess. If I make a few lenses of different kinds I will be able to combine them with a modular rack too.” Rajit began drawing some basic blueprints for a series of interchangeable lenses and a few different holders that she could put to either eye, giving her flexibility in how she viewed things.
 
The glasswork took her a few days but eventually she had her eye piece ready. Satisfied with it, she turned to look at herself in the mirror. “‘hana said handsome, but I still just see farmgirl.” Rajit picked at her clothes, the heavy woolen jacket and pants covered in stains from chemicals and worn in some patches. “Well, in for a copper, in for a gold right? Hopefully Annabelle could help me out.” Rajit went to visit the matriarch of the Nearwood family, and after a few hours of sketching and discussing with the master seamstress, Rajit went back to her day to day, looking forward to her order.
 
When at last the day came Rajit wiped down her dusty and neglected mirror, covered in smoke and residue from her experiments. It would be a normal hanging mirror for an average person, but for a halfling it was full-length. Rajit put the coat on with a barely contained grin. It fit very well, she could move in it easily. The light leather undercoat gave her some protection, and the silk skirt, shirt and tie she wore underneath it certainly gave it some style. Next came the canvas topcoat and gloves. She wiggled her fingers easily in the gloves; they permitted far more dexterity than her old clumsy gauntlets. She rolled her shoulders and adjusted the collar getting a feel for the movement. She tucked a few of the lenses on her chain in a jacket compartment behind the breast panel, and buckled a pair of belts across her hips. At last she pulled on the thick boots, and rocked up to her feet, grinding her heel into the floor to ensure a snug fit. Taking a single lens from the jacket she put it in her eye and looked at herself clearly in the mirror. She had changed.
 
“Wow. I had no idea that was in me.” She couldn’t help but grin at herself. She looked different. She felt different. She was even thinking different; people did change after all, just like things could be transmuted and alchemy could transform she found herself different. She turned and angled in front of the mirror; she even moved differently, especially without the bulky half-plate armor she’d used to wear. “Not bad at all.” She mimed drawing her crossbow a few times, and reaching for a flask from her bandolier and gave herself a final nod.
 
Rajit reaches level 14, taking her 3rd level in Artificer Wizard. Her recent acquisition of a headband of intellect and rededication to her studies have produced results. She has expanded her knowledge of magic rituals, and developed some new spells. Most notable of these is a potion which grants the user Darkvision, a distilled essence of cat’s eye vision she calls the Cat’s Eye Cordial. She has also developed a new bolthead loaded with flash powder which she can use to cause Blindness/Deafness on a target. Rajit has changed her style, no longer looking like she fits among the common folk she has left behind the farmgirl look of her Folk Hero background as her mad science has driven her towards being a Researcher, making her a Sage (Scientist.) Rajit’s decision to leave behind her half-plate armor and rely on her own agility and mage armor, as well as her constant habit of having her nose down in books despite her worsening eyes have resulted in reworked skill changes. Rajit is losing proficiency in Survival and Perception, as her senses continue to dull, but she gains proficiency in Arcana and Acrobatics as her knowledge grows and her reflexes sharpen.