Morn excitedly set his supplies on the work bench he'd constructed with the help of the village carpenter, Hendrick. Hendrick had spent most of the time that the two spent constructing the bench complimenting Morn's prosthetic hand. Particularly the wood used.
Morn learned that the prosthetic was constructed with a fireproof ironwood that could only be found near the Stormpass. He'd remarked that the wood was nearly indestructible as long as its temperature remained above freezing, at which point it would become soft and workable. By the time the bench was done and Hendrick had left, Morn was sick of the words 'amazing' and 'wood'.
Using his 'remarkable' prosthetic, Morn placed a small, tightly sealed metal box with a tempered glass lid on the table. He then attached a tube to the box and connected it to the gas tank.
"Time to find out your properties!"
Morn reached under the workbench, retrieving a small wooden cage reinforced with tightly meshed metal wire. Inside was a small rat-like creature with sacks of fat on either side of its body, and a strange paddle-like organ protruding from the ends of its tail.
This creature was known as an Oarat, named for its oar-like organ. It was a common creature that could live on land, while also travelling between islands with its flotation sacks and tail-oar.
The creatures were a staple food of poorer islands, and a key test subject for alkimiya. A single oarat could give birth to anywhere from 10 to 20 pups in a litter, and could produce up to 8 litters per year. With their high birth rates, oarats were kept in large quantities by Yoltaen alkimiya labs as test subjects for newly discovered or invented gases.
Morn opened the metal box and placed the cage inside, the oarat squealed angrily as Morn closed the lid and ensured it was sealed tightly. He quickly loosened the valve of the gas tank, allowing the new gas to flow into the box with the rat. After a moment, he closed the valve and observed the oarat.
The creature showed no signs of being affected, leading Morn to believe the gas had supplementary effects, but on its own wouldn't cause any abnormalities in those who inhaled it. Morn equipped his inhalant mask that doubled as protection from airborne disease and various gases, then removed the tube from the box and opened it outside the workshop. After letting the box empty of gas, Morn put the box on the table and began another test.
He took out his gas mixing equipment, including a special gas called Natill. The gas would shine in sun or torch light and had the unique property of always occupying the space between two other gases. It could be used to determine if a gas had mixed properly or not, as if it hadn't, the Natill would shine in between the two gases, showing that they remained separate.
Morn remembered his training and began to mix the gas. In alkimiya, there are three types of materials:
The base, a powder or liquid that when mixed in the same air tight container as the second kind of material, a reagent, would produce a tier one arcane gas. Reagents provided supplementary effects that were not obvious without the addition of the third kind of material, catalysts.
A tier one gas would become a tier two gas when mixed with certain combinations of the catalysts. Catalysts provide the strange effects of arcane gases, such as hallucinations or numbing effects.
Morn suspected that the new gas Azur had found was the second kind, a reagent. If he mixed it with a suitable base, it would form a tier one gas and could then be mixed with a catalyst to create new gas formulas.
Morn spent the next half hour attempting to mix the new gas, that he had decided to name 'Azure', with the various bases he had brought with him from Yol. Despite his efforts, he had failed to find a combination that resulted in a tier one gas.
With no solutions, Morn took a short break and wandered through the village, aiming to find Vincent. As he arrived at the Apothecary's home and workshop, he found Vincent talking with Toli outside the building. The two had just finished discussing the stock of herbs when Morn arrived.
"Hello!" Morn said cheerily, "Vincent, Azur reminded me to give you a lesson on gas research. Are you free by any chance?"
Vincent smiled and spoke happily, "Indeed I am. I just finished my report with Toli, so I can come with you right away."
"Excellent!"
Morn was about to return to his workshop with Vincent in tow, when Toli began to smoke his pipe. The smell of the smoke gave Morn a sudden reminder. He turned around and hurriedly approached the elder.
"Toli, could I by chance have some of your dried carlisle berries? I would like to try using it in my research."
Toli nodded relaxedly, holding his pipe between his teeth as he handed a small pouch of the dried berry skins to Morn.
"Have 'em, I have a large supply at my hut, I don't mind parting with a bit."
With that, Toli walked calmly away, heading towards the bakery.
Morn smiled then returned to Vincent's side, leading him back to the workshop. At his workbench, Morn began to grind the berry skins as Vincent watched. When he had ground them into a fine powder, he spread a pinch of the dust around in a large cauldron he had borrowed from the leatherworker, Andrew. He placed an airtight lid made from metal with a tempered glass viewing hole in the side over the cauldron.
Vincent peered curiously over his shoulder as Morn ensured the seal was airtight, then began to pump the gas he had dubbed 'Azure' in honour of Azur through a tube and into the cauldron. After a few seconds, the powdered carlisle berry began to glow dimly, then disappeared in a dim flash of light as the entire inside of the cauldron filled with a light pink gas.
Morn shouted excitedly while Vincent's mouth hung open in surprise.
"Yes! Vincent, the carlisle berry is a perfect base for Azure gas. They mix together extremely well. What I've just made is a tier one arcane gas, it can now be mixed with certain catalysts to make new gases! We'll have to try mixing various catalysts with this gas and see which ones combine."
Vincent smiled happily, "This is a far more interesting lesson than the theory lessons Azur has been teaching me."
Morn nodded quickly.
"Of course! Research has always been the best part of a harvester's job."
The two began to mix various gases into small samples of the tier one gas that the two had jokingly named 'TEGM', short for Toli's Extraordinary Gas Mixture.
After an hour, they had tried all of the gases and found that only Voln, a catalyst that causes a violent temper and hallucinations of being attacked, was capable of mixing with TEGM to form a tier two gas. This was confirmed by using Natill to check if the gases had mixed. Morn noted down the whole process in his notebook, using a brush pen and black ink.
When they'd finished producing a cauldron full of the tier two gas, Morn transferred it to a large gas tank and set it on the workbench. Morn then placed the metal box containing the caged oarat on the table once again and connected a tube to the box.
"Alright, Vincent. Now we are going to test the gas on the rat. The effects of the tier one gas are unknown, but gas mixtures containing Voln typically cause the test subject to hallucinate and begin to panic. We can use this as a baseline to determine the effects of the tier one gas and how it reacts with the catalyst, are you ready?"
Vincent nodded, though testing on animals was never something he wanted to do, he had been forced to many times as an apothecary. Originally, he had lived many sleepless nights eaten away by guilt of failed herbal medicines harming the animals. But after many years, he no longer lost sleep over the process.
"I am ready, let's begin."
The two observed the oarat carefully as Morn opened the valve, allowing the tier two gas to fill the rat's box. For several minutes, nothing happened. Though the gas did fill only the bottom half of the container, as was made obvious by the pale pink colour of the gas. This led Morn to suspect a few of the characteristics of the gas.
"Gas mixtures containing Voln usually show obvious effects within a minute, this result leads me to believe that one of TEGM's effects is 'slow acting.' Additionally, the gas is staying to the bottom of the container, indicating that it is denser than air. These are already two of its characteristics, we will wait to see the effects of Voln appear to confirm its effects on a catalyst."
Morn spoke scientifically, impressing Vincent with his observations. The process reminded him of his early days training as an apothecary on the great island of Teka with his father. His father had taught him everything he knew about his profession.
Unfortunately, his father had passed away after being attacked by a poisonous snake in the jungles of Teka while harvesting herbs. Without his father, Vincent had moved away, finding Toli's island by accident after being raided by pirates as he travelled past Palk.
He'd been thrown overboard with only a barrel to hang onto, then drifted for nearly a day. Thankfully, the fishermen were out and managed to spot him. One swam out to bring him to the island and he'd lived there ever since.
After ten more minutes had passed of Vincent reminiscing, Morn was beginning to consider that the gas may have neutralised the effects of Voln. However, just as he was about to give up, the oarat let out a terrible shriek.
The creature slammed violently into the walls of the cage. Its mouth foamed and its eyes rolled back in its head as it began to beat itself over the skull with the oar end of its tail. The creature scratched at its body, tearing off clumps of fur and parts of skin. Eventually, it gnawed through its own tail, clawed its eyes out, and collapsed in the corner of the cage before dying from blood loss.
Vincent and Morn stared wordlessly at the cage, unnerved by the sudden and intense self-inflicted violence they had just witnessed. The two exchanged a terrified glance, before staring at the large tank of gas.