Furavendine Ward

Pronunciation - /fuhr-a-VEN-deen/ Furavendine Wards is located on the axial border of the desert surrounding The City of Drapes. There, Archon Furavendine has access to both the silicate sands and forest plants necessary for the creation of her specialty, alchemy. As the foremost master on the creation of bottled magical effects, Archon Furavendine relies heavily on her Bonds to keep her research running, not only because they are responsible for gathering her ingredients, but because they are also the subjects on whom she tests her creations' efficacy. Bonds in Furavendine Wards can earn a living in two ways. The first is to work as either a gatherer or a glassmaker, though this choice almost never pays enough to support a life of comfort. The alternative is to volunteer to be the throat down which a potion (of unknown strength or effect) is poured. Payment is based on the danger of the experiment, with improvements on existing recipes paying less than experiments that are meant to test the results of a completely new and unknown concoction. This is not to say, of course, that testing alterations to existing recipes is safe. On the contrary, it is entirely possible that an attempt to increase the efficiency of a healing potion could also turn it into pure acid in the stomach of a sentient humanoid. There is no way to tell until it passes a humanoid trial. Payment is rendered whether the subject lives or dies, so there are cases where a Bond will set their family up for several years by volunteering to test a deadly neurotoxin with newly improved effects, knowing that the money will support their family once they have escaped this life for the next. Because Archon Furavendine's alchemical pursuits require the cultivation of extremely unique flora and fauna, these beings cause trouble for her operation from time to time. It is these complications that often bring her into contact with adventurers, as throwing inexperienced test subjects into the gaze of a cockatrice is simply wasteful when a fair payment of gold or wares will buy off an entire adventuring party for a greater likelihood of success - and allow the tests subjects to be put to better use.