Session 39.5: Crystal War Creations
April heads to the Gold Dragon Inn where she's staying with her parents for the time being after Valerie was discharged. April sleeps with them in her bedroll on the floor. Tristan had let April know the previous day that he wanted to discuss the crystals with her mum. So April set up a visit to their room at the inn, having wanted to introduce them to each other anyway.
Ethan, having been deemed a distraction at this point, was sent out to town.
Tristan arrives and notices how similar Valerie’s clothes look to Grace. She looks very well-kept and stylish despite the slight singed hair. April ushers him to take a seat at the table nearby while her mum sits on the bed.
He explains that during the war in Karnath, he came across some chemicals. More recently, he came across it again in Dal Qor and learned Valeries knew if it through April’s explanations of the chemical smell. April reveals that there were certain acidities and an inkling of the type of PH it was. She points out the types of acids she think may have been involved. There was a smoky smell and sweetness. When April mentions flashing colours, Tristan adds that the explosions containing the chemicals he mentioned were also multicolored.
Valerie explains that these were alchemical experiments with ground up crystals. Depending on the properties of the crystal, the chemical reaction and colours would change. The crystals she was asked to test in the cave were of a similar nature. It’s not the first time she’s worked with crystals, Last time, she brought them off the black market as she was an unlicensed artificer. She hadn’t yet realized then that they could be used in the war.
Tristan wonders what happened to the results of her experiments when she was done. Valerie thinks she might not be the only artificer to have stumbled upon this discovery. She certainly didn’t give her finding away, nor were they stolen. But the potion formula that accompanies the process for this discovery isn’t unknown. In fact, it’s common in the artificer community and so maybe others could have discovered it.
Tristan asks what the results alluded to. Valerie uses the red crystal and what it did to Genti as an example. Now imagine using the dust of a crystal like that infused in potion so you could throw it at someone. April wonders whether this research was the actual reason Valerie got taken. Her mum tells her it wasn’t the initial reason, but it became a bonus. They wanted the island’s location a first.
When Scotch island is brought up, April brings up dirt as being a reason for them to want the island. Specifically, the dirt on the island. She mentions the story about the arrow that pierced the ground and stopped a war as it impacted the environment. What if it was a place like that? Like in Thaliost? Valerie agrees it might be a place of magical properties as the grapes grew much faster as they should have. April mentions that they were only there for one week tending, which is very speedy in comparison to how normal vineyards work. Tristan wonders whether that’s what attracted the Commodore there in the first place.
April now wants to go back to Thaliost at one point as she knows the sporing doesn’t take effect in those areas. She’s been trying to find more areas through her soil samples.
