Fail and Fail again

Brumsel frowned as he stared down back at the cauldron that had been bubbling as per the instructions just a minute ago a weirdly spicy fragrance permiated his home. Greeting his gaze now was a slightly charred and gelatinous mass, as the potion he had attempted to brew had coagulated.

A claw pensively reached for his chin, comparing the steps he had taken to brew said potion again with the recipe his good friend fey had handed him.

He did everything according to the instructions, had he been stirring the mixture too much? too little perhaps? maybe the temperature was off? His pensive frown deepened as he allowed his thoughts to trail for a second, looking out of the window in the kitchen of his small hut, the golden glow of the sunlight was being refracted as it came in through the window, bathing the room in a cozy shine.

As he watched the floating islands idly hover outside on the horizon, the deep blue sea deep below the islands, he managed to clear his mind of the frustrations that failing at this recipe again had brought with it.

Sure, he had tried once before and this time the liquid hadnt wanted to come together how it was intended to, rather all the ingredients had stayed perfectly seperated almost as if to mock him, no matter how vigorously he stirred. 

With a sigh the tyrian moved back over to the cauldron, disposing of the ruined potion before he started to clean the cauldron out to start over fresh. His tuft tail sweeped across the surfaces of the kitchen which was something brumsel had made a habit of as it allowed him to clean the counters whilst his hands organized other things. Pooling together the ingredients once again for the potion Brumsels eyes got caught by the emerald green hue of the large health potion which was part of the crafting process.

Seeing it again reminded him of the struggle learning to craft said potion had been, but part of that reliving of memories made him realise something crucial. He had managed to learn and master how to brew large health potions, so- clearly he could do it again for the giant health potions.

The berries used in crafting a giant health potions were iridescent and their flesh sparkled lightly when injured. They were a refreshing snack of their own but eating too many of them could cause ones magic to become unpredictable for a time as these berries were charged with the wild magic that freely flowed through Vitalus. Brumsel tossed one of the berries into his maw, a refreshing citrus aftertaste lingering on his lips.

He reviewed his notes again, taking a pencil to add little notes between the lines. „It must be the waters temperature.“ he told himself as he reviewed his past attempts in his mind. Not heating the water enough caused the potion to coagulate, whereas using too much heat caused the berries to lose its magical properties. He recalled past attempts and tried to bring the waters temperature to the forefront of his mind. It was a guessing game sure, but at this time he was willing to rely on a guess to finally make something that passed as a health potion, rather than meticulous testing to create a bunch of potions, all of which could turn out to be duds in the end again.

„Well here goes nothing.“ said Brumsel, stoking the fire under his cauldron to bring the mixture to a boil in front of him.

He had repeated this exact step countless times, but was willing to try once more before all ambition to see this to completion would surely leave him. A sigh escaped him as he saw the potion once again change viscocity. A sign that he had normally failed, yet this is when the potion sparked for a short moment, wild magic released by the berries crackling across the liquids surface. Whereever it struck the coloration from a deep blue changed to a rich red, slowly recoloring the entirety of the liquid that happily bubbled in front of him in his cauldron.

He watched in wideeyed disbelief, before realising that he needed to extinguish the fire lest it overcooks the potion. He scrambled to grab the bucket of water he had specifically set aside for this task and doused the flames with its contents. Smoke and vapor filled his hut, prompting Brumsel to hastily open a window. He coughed, the smoke irritating his throat yet once everything had settled and the smoke had dissipated he almost didnt dare to approach the cauldron to glance inside of it. Caustiously sneaking up to it like a wild animal glanced into the cauldron over the cauldrons edge with a mix of curiosity and anxiety plastered on his face. What he found staring back at him was a red liquid that shimmered lightly whenever he aggitated it with his wooden spoon he had used to stir the mixture before. He hesitantly brought the wooden spoon to his lips to give it a taste. It was surprisingly sour, which the tyrian hadn‘t expected, but he felt it carry magic too. Success at last.