Atelier Fletcher: Home Sweet Alchemical Home

[Fletcher]

The sound of birds in the trees nearby, and the sound of the Thames river behind him was a symphony to calm the soul. Fletcher took it all in, the sounds, the smells, inhaling deeply before opening his eyes again. It had taken some getting used to, and of course he couldn't have done it alone, but here he was. Before him stood a two story building, and it was all his. He'd been shown the place before by Bailin, his accountant, who had seemed to have picked the perfect spot for him. It was by the river, giving him access to water immediately if he needed running water for an experiment; it was central in Londinium, so people were able to easily stop by to visit the shop that was attached to the rest of the establishment. What the pair of them had decided was that for the sake of a long term investment, it was best set up as a living space, bazaar for Magitech, and workshop for research all in one.

It made sense given that there was space for it, and space for there to be extentions and renevations to be made if they needed to upsize later, but that was further down the track. The other added benefit of the house was that underground was a vault, or close enough to one without being an actual vault, which let them store anything secret or otherwise high-risk for general access. It was something that Fletcher insisted in one of their closing agreements for the initial loan just in case they did eventually hit it big with the weaponry side of Magitech; prototypes in his experience weren't necessarily the most stable, so keeping them locked up safe when not being worked on just made sense.

Fletcher approached the front door, Carbuncle following alongside him being just as eager to see the inside of the house as its master was. As the dwarf opened the door, the fox dashed inside, slipping through the gap before the summoner could get a word in edgewise as to who should see the place first. Swinging the door wider, Fletcher looked inside, it was dark through not having any lamps or candles alight, but it seemed welcoming enough. Light filtered in through the windows next to the front door, and from various other places around the house. Carbuncle was sitting in the foyer, just on the other side of the front door and was surveying the location, chirring happily to itself. In front of them was a spiral staircase leading upwards to a balcony overlooking the foyer, the space continuing onwards beyond his field of vision on the ground floor.

It was lush enough, but that was hardly the main reason he bought it. Fletcher locked the door behind him and wandered around the ground floor to get his bearings. Directly to his left was a large open area which he assumed that Bailin had pegged for where they'd set up the shop. It had the most basic wooden shelving, and the far wall housed another door which presumed would be the door for customers to use to keep them from entering the house through the residential front door. He'd need to get a sign made to advertise that the correct door was the shop, just to avoid any confusion. Off the back there was a bathroom and when he backtracked back into the foyer there was the Alchemy Laboratory as well as the Research Laboratory combined into one large long room stocked with basic equipment, although a lot of it would need to be replaced.

Carbuncle was still hanging out in the middle of the foyer, enjoying the coolness of the stone floor, curled up and having a nap while Fletcher continued to explore the house. Approaching the spiral staircase, he clambered up and found himself on the balcony, looking at the view down to the level below. It felt grandious, standing above the entryway; anyone that were to visit when he was atop the landing would be looking up at him. Fletcher immediately felt the potential to be much fancier suddenly. The landing behind him continued out into a large living space, or that's what he assumed it to be given it's central location. From there, there were two paths branching off in seperate directions. One side was a bathroom and two bedrooms, all furnished by bare basics in that they had a bed and little else; bathroom had simple anemities. The other corridor led down to a third bedroom and then opposite that was the library.

It seemed like it was well worth the investment, although still needed some work. Aside from furnishings, it was just very big. Not that Fletcher didn't like big, there was just this sense of lonliness to the place that just made it seem less like a home. His mind immediately jumped to Sark, or even Dorian; neither of them had spoken about having places of their own so if they wanted their own space to trial recipes or make stuff, there was ample space. It did mean that they didn't have to stay at the inn with a bunch of people, but he wondered if it was right to ask them for rent money to pay off his debt to Bailin. There were others he could ask too; Sayha for instance may not have a place and she might enjoy the library if only as a space to practise levelling her abilities as a scribe. Fletcher continued trawling his mind for other people that he'd be comfortable in asking to live with him, but the list of those that hadn't already implied they had a place to say was in reality quite short.

Fletcher returned to the large living space and sat down in the middle, looking around and thinking that it was in good measure for him to contact Sark to make some furniture for this place; he was sure they could come to some arrangement.With a whistle he beckoned Carbuncle to him, and the blue fox popped its head up to see what its master wanted. It didn't realise that the building was so large and began investigating the surroundings at its own pace, looking about the rooms to see if there was anything of note. In a short while the fox returned and came up to its master, satisfied of its new surroundings.

Word Count: 1073

[Fletcher]

While Carbuncle seemed satisfied about their new home for now, it still lacked the personal touch of having furniture and lighting; that said, he was an alchemist and could more than properly fix at least one of these problems. Perhaps he could make small ornaments that also emitted light? Having such things could also potentially sell was also a good step; seeing how they worked in his own home would also be a good proving ground for just how well they worked in practise. With that, it was settled; and it was a good thing that he had a stocked Alchemy lab downstairs that he could use for both resources and workspace.

Heading back downstairs, Fletcher took a turn to his left and had a look around the Alchemy Laboratory again. It was stocked, but only barely; it was better than tinkering in the back room of Warren’s store or even in a loaned room in an inn. Better yet, it was all his as the owner of the establishment. Rolling up his sleeves on his specially tailored lab coat, he had a look to see what he had to work with. From the junk he had already amassed, Fletcher had an idea for something to make that could sell especially well if marketed at the right time of year. Mana glowed, and that in of itself would be the draw factor for these decorative lights he had in mind; who needed electricity when you had magic? Fletcher started shifting through the junk and found some springs, nuts, bolts, and some other odds and ends; they would do as basic building blocks for what he wanted to make.

Fletched adjusted the goggles on his face and began assembling the pieces slowly and gingerly, swapping them out if he felt that they didn’t fit a certain aesthetic appeal. What was he making? He only had a vague idea in mind, but he figured that the best place to start would be the framework of just making a regular bedside lamp. It would be no different than making a normal Mana Powered Lamp, but the idea behind this one would be that it was closer to a work of art rather than your everyday appliance. Carbuncle jumped up from the floor to the workbench, watching as its master continued soldering pieces into place. If this was going to be the new spot to make inventions then Fletcher would need to invest in some kind of comfortable perch for the fox to rest in or on whilst the dwarf got to work. As good as the dwarf’s shoulder was when they were walking around, Carbuncle didn’t particularly like the idea of being so close to things that ran that hot; that was a calling for Salamander.

Word Count: 463
Total Word Count: 1536

Currently Making: Magic Display [33% COMPLETED]

Magic Display
Materials Required: 100 Gold
Posts Required: 3
Requirement: Level 10 Alchemist or Pharmacist
Description: An object designed through scientific or magical properties to bolster the aesthetic potential of a house. These inventions are typically little trinkets if manmade, or flora that is preserved through the use of potions or magic. The Alchemist or Pharmacist that crafts this item may rewrite its name and description. The crafter must also choose an available housing stat (SOL, BUR, INN, ING, REC, CUL) to apply to the finished furniture item. That item will give +1 to the respective stat. Choose a stat appropriate to the description of the item. For food crafted with an item level of 31-60, the stat bonus increases to +2, except that the Material Fee becomes 250 Gold. For food crafted with an item level of 61-90, the stat bonus increases to +3, except that the Material Fee becomes 500 Gold.

[Fletcher]

With Carbuncle in place to watch the magical happenings of his craft, Fletcher started manifesting mana into crystalline shards. The idea was to make something that would decorate his home, and the first thing that came to mind was a flower. It was a womanly touch that was missing from his abode, and he’d gone long without it to become a little bit disconnected to what that actually meant. Was it just things that looked pretty, or was it less utilitarian and more like that feng shui stuff that he’d heard mentioned in books. For all he knew of home décor, and he admitted he only knew very little, there wasn’t much he could really furnish his house with, so worrying too much about its positioning in any one room was pointless.

Having now a collection of crystals, he started fusing them together starting with the smallest, gradually working with bigger and bigger pieces and working around the central mass of his creation. It was gradually looking flower-like in appearance, but he was no florist or even an artist. Even then, his old standby of claiming it was experiment still vaguely rang true even now, but he really needed to move on to just jumping gung ho into his own form of art. Carbuncle looked up and chirruped in delight upon seeing the crystal mass that Fletcher had put together, looking almost like one of those glass lotus decorations that one may find in a marketplace back home, and that were popular in the more Asiatic regions of the world. Not that he minded, but as the person that made it he could already see the faults and laziness that had carried through to the final product.

All that was left was to mount it in some form and then it’d be ready. There were a few options he had for this. Putting it into a pot now may make it look something like a cactus, but if he wished for something more like a potted plant then he’d need to graft a stem onto it and then mount it all the same in some kind of make shift pot.

Word Count: 360
Currently Making: Magic Display [67% COMPLETED]

Magic Display
Materials Required: 100 Gold
Posts Required: 3
Requirement: Level 10 Alchemist or Pharmacist
Description: An object designed through scientific or magical properties to bolster the aesthetic potential of a house. These inventions are typically little trinkets if manmade, or flora that is preserved through the use of potions or magic. The Alchemist or Pharmacist that crafts this item may rewrite its name and description. The crafter must also choose an available housing stat (SOL, BUR, INN, ING, REC, CUL) to apply to the finished furniture item. That item will give +1 to the respective stat. Choose a stat appropriate to the description of the item. For food crafted with an item level of 31-60, the stat bonus increases to +2, except that the Material Fee becomes 250 Gold. For food crafted with an item level of 61-90, the stat bonus increases to +3, except that the Material Fee becomes 500 Gold.

[Fletcher]

Going with the idea to have it displayed as a potted flower as opposed to some genus of desert cactus. Fletcher began rifling through the cabinets that made up the long benches within the laboratory, looking for something to use as a base for some kind of magical pot. There were a few things, basic things, and some odds and ends that he was expecting more out of a pharmacy than from a magical garage. But in the rare instances where the usual comparison of Alchemy being less like potion making and more like an engineer faltered when it was more akin to creating works of art than doing what he was used to.

Fletcher smiled, picking up an old chipped beaker and setting it on the counter before pulling out an old bag of marbles from his inventory. He was running low on junk that he’d amassed from his adventures but that was likely a good thing given the new space and the need for new things. He was evolving from toying with the old and discarded, and that in of itself was another sign that he was moving into another stage of his life. The flower he’d assembled before was attacked to an old spring, which he’d coated with mana in the same way that one would make reinforced wire, giving him a makeshift stem. The rest of the assembly was simple and easy enough. Attach one bit to another and fuse the two together by channelling mana into it. Same for the next bit until he had a spring in a beaker with a crystalline arrangement crowning the top. Still holding the bag of marbles, he emptied the pouch of them into the beaker in place of having actual dirt.

The flower gave off a soft glow, nothing major but it hummed with magical energy. It was almost inspiring to see how things interacted in this world to make things such as this. Fletcher smiled again, picking up the potted flower and carefully bringing it over to the entrance of the room to sit on the counter nearest the door. The first thing made in this house was sure to have a special spot, and as an eternal reminder to what he’d made first, it’d take the closest spot to the door for all who entered to see.

Word Count: 391
Currently Making: Magic Display [100% COMPLETED]

Crystal Rose (Lv.30)
Magic Display
Effect: REC +1
Description: An ornate flower constructed of crystallised mana and stabilised to retain its form. It gives off a soft pink glow from it's entire form, but only in certain times of the day.

[Fletcher]

After getting settled into his new place, and by settled it was more coming to terms with the lack of equipment and furniture within his house. That said, it was still functional and he could still do alchemy within the walls of his new alchemy laboratory. The crystal flower that sat near the door was testament enough to that. The puzzle he had to piece together was a challenge set to him by someone he’d run into in the past and had even journeyed with before. It was a strange one, but not something overly complex given his aptitude in these affairs. What Capsule had tasked him was to make a device that would not only record but also play back sounds.

It sounded something like an old tape recorder that one would take vocal, mental records on, but more magical. And by more magical, in essence it just needed to be a stone that held the capacity to perform this action. With a snap of his fingers, Fletcher called to his side Sylph in order to get some insight on how to table this. The wind elemental summon was bound to know something about how voice travelled on the wind and how it was able to echo. ”What do you think, Sylph? I figure if we make an empty container like an Elemental Source Sphere and just rob it of everything then at least you’d be able to store something inside it, right?” The dwarf scratched his head, still mulling over ideas in his head as the fairy floated beside him, although curious as to how to solve their conundrum.

”Well, maybe. I can tell you how wind works but I can’t tell you how you can recreate that in physical form. After all, that’s your job.” The fairy shrugged, before continuing. ”Trying to play the same thing over and over as you need it would be harder but getting the sound to come out once would be easier.” Fletcher nodded in agreeance. If he were to just get the sound to come out once, it’d be the same as putting in and taking out something as opposed to rigging up a switch that would in essence play the same message over and over. Perhaps he’d need to develop the idea more with how echoes worked in mind, but for now he’d start with just the simple version and go from there.

Word Count: 403
Currently Making: Magitech Audio Storage [50% COMPLETED]

Magitech Audio Storage
Materials: Material fee (5 Gold x Item Level)
Post Requirement: 2 Posts
Requirements: Level 10 Alchemist
A craftable item which is a small, enchanted stone. It can record and playback a finite amount of audio based on the level of the item. It remains in a dormant state until powered by magitech.

[Fletcher]

Fletcher and Sylph got to work, starting with the bare basics of what they needed to start with to make this thing. The dwarf had amassed a bunch of glass buoys from the marketplace a while back and had used them as casings for Elemental Source Spheres countless times after finding that they were hollow on the inside and perfectly round, making the conduction of elemental energy particularly strong. The other side to using these was that as they were just glass, they were receptive to being influenced into an elemental bias. But that bias would be what would allow them to trap sound given its closeness to the wind element.

Sylph took the sphere in hand and began the process to make it into an Elemental Source Sphere, charging it with raw energy of her element. The minutes ticked by with Fletcher watching carefully as the elemental energy built up within the inside of the sphere. He just needed it to have the properties of a magical focus designed for dealing with that one particular element. As the swirling green energy came to rest within the sphere, Sylph passed the orb back to the dwarf, draping one leg over the other as she sat on the edge of the counter. Fletcher rolled the orb over in his gloved hand, assessing it. The Alchemist gloves were designed and capable of manipulating the mana within objects which allowed it to work as a remote control for most magitech items. In the instance of what he was trying t do now though, he wanted to take the mana out of it, or at least drain it dry, akin to having flat batteries but keeping the circuitry in tact.

Setting it on the counter and placing a gloved hand either side of the orb he began the slow process of mana extraction. The orb vibrated softly and the glowing became more intense as the trapped energy became more intense. It began to dissipate into the air, until all that was left was a glossy, green tinted crystal awaiting the addition of a vocal component and some mana. Fletcher was satisfied, and hoped that Capsule would be as well; only time would tell though, but as far as he was concerned he could chalk this up as another success.

Word Count: 385
Currently Making: Magitech Audio Storage [100% COMPLETED]

Magitech Audio Storage
Materials: Material fee (5 Gold x Item Level)
Post Requirement: 2 Posts
Requirements: Level 10 Alchemist
A craftable item which is a small, enchanted stone. It can record and playback a finite amount of audio based on the level of the item. It remains in a dormant state until powered by magitech.

Magitech Audio Storage (Lv.50)
A small, enchanted stone that has a glossy finish and a green tint to its surface. It can record and play back a finite amount of audio, but remains dormant until powered by mana.