Jackal Among Snakes

The Alchemist living beneath the hot sands of the Burnt Desert was nowhere near as insignificant as his name implied. The master of this obsidian castle was not merely a practitioner of alchemy. He embodied it. Literally.

His body was alchemy manifest.

The principle of alchemy—fantasy alchemy, at least—was that of exchange. The most famous example would be turning lead to gold. In ‘Heroes of Berendar,’ alchemy was dually a process by which potions were created, and a magic of conversion.

The Alchemist had displayed these qualities when Argrave had entered. His eyes and teeth had receded back into his head, whereupon they were alchemized within his body to form a single giant eye that better scrutinized Argrave. His body was a constant boiling ocean of alchemy, able to reform what he had into whatever body parts he needed.

Now, Argrave followed this hulking monstrosity through his abode of sterile obsidian. He was alone. The Brumesingers, Argrave’s companions—all were outside, idle.

The Alchemist’s silken black robe of hair sunk into his back as they walked, leaving a blank slate of ivory flesh behind. Slowly, lips formed, eyes just after them.

“You are a servant of Erlebnis?” he asked from the newly formed lips, voice harsh and loud.

The sight of the shifting flesh might have terrified Argrave had he not gone through the Low Way in the past, yet more disquieting was the fact he was being asked any questions at all. He was not surprised the Alchemist had seen through the Blessing of Supersession so easily, though.

“No,” Argrave answered, suppressing the urge to add extraneous details. Answer only the question you are asked, he reminded himself, repeating it mentally like a mantra.

The lips and eyes on the Alchemist’s back merged into one giant eyeball that shone with green light for but a moment. Argrave could see spell matrixes within the eye’s pupil. Argrave knew not what the monstrous figure was doing, and he didn’t dare ask.

Soon enough, the eye was replaced by the black robe once again, and Argrave heaved a sigh of relief.

There was much mystery surrounding the Alchemist. Argrave had dedicated weeks of research to writing the wiki’s article for this character. He had combed through countless in-game books, looking for references, even symbolic references, to link the Alchemist to anything—a faction, a religion, a god.

Argrave’s experience with ‘Heroes of Berendar’ narrowed things down… but gave nothing concrete.

Firstly, Argrave knew the Alchemist had associated with an ancient god. He didn’t know the details of this association, nor did he know which ancient god, nor any details beyond the fact that the two were linked.

Secondly, Argrave knew the Alchemist had once been mortal, and that his change was brought about by magic. Details were hazy on this end, too—some records claimed it was a hostile spell, others claimed it was a ritual taken willingly for the purpose of embodying alchemy.

Thirdly, the Alchemist was old. Millennia old, at least. Argrave knew he was aware of Gerechtigkeit. He could be enlisted for the final battle, something Argrave was sure as hell going to do.

man before him remained a mystery. The Alchemist was not receptive to questions. He was more apathetic than cruel, but he was also entirely intolerant of the most insignificant annoyances, questions being foremost among them. Argrave’s personal conjecture was that the Alchemist lived in

was

of polished obsidian doors. He did not need to raise a hand—the doors started shifting aside as he neared. Argrave knew what was beyond. He had come here time and time again. Even still, it had been months since he had seen it, and viewing it in-person

The shelves held books, and every single book, without fail, had a white cover. A great many of them had lettering on the cover—even more were blank. Spread out across the room were obsidian tables. They looked like altars, in truth, but there was no

in his time on Berendar. He’d seen the libraries within the Order of the Gray Owl’s buildings, the ancient

blank covers. The mini-hands at the end of his fingers served to bring precision—with it, he effectively had ten normal-sized human

in his right hand with five writing implements in the other. Seeing the small hands on the tips of his finger

coldly once Argrave did nothing. He had already begun writing with two of his

straightened his back at once and ran through his planned lecture. He stepped

it has the capacity to take aspects of magical artifacts and embody them, if they are alchemized inside your body,”

said, each of his five small hands writing

or lifeforce, from anything that it

of converting most organic matter into blood. Unlike most other

my normal biological processes. Together, they can produce magic-imbued blood. You have achieved something similar with chimeras,” Argrave said, pointing to the

body rejects false blood,” the Alchemist said—his

Argrave continued, undaunted. “Creatures that have naturally occurring magic within their blood—dragons, wyverns, my pets the Singers of the Brume, certain species of elves… they all share one thing in common; their blood is not corrosive because their body creates it for them. It isn’t

reached away, retrieving books that were not blank. Argrave barely saw

magic blood… the third thing to be alchemized within the Wraith’s Heart is to be my own heart,” he explained, voice shaking somewhat. “And further, it establishes the necessity for the Unsullied Knife,” Argrave pointed to the scalpel on the obsidian table. “Crude tools could not extract

exhaled. He reviewed what he had said, ensuring that nothing had been left out. The Alchemist said nothing, moving with purpose throughout the library as he examined countless texts and wrote in his blank books. The wait was insufferable, but Argrave

at

met the Alchemist’s gray-eyed gaze with his own.

in ‘Heroes of Berendar’ learned quickly. The Alchemist very rarely rewarded the player for doing anything. One would fetch him an incredibly rare item… and receive nothing

this alchemized heart

will have to reform itself to

the Alchemist nodded. “It will. As such, I am establishing another condition to

I… get it back

“No.”

mage! Argrave wished to ask, but he’d already

He nodded. “Okay.”

the door. The mini hand on the tip of his finger pointed, too. "Go. You will be led to a room on the outer wings of my castle. You will stay there during your period of change, so that I might observe these changes. I expect your companions to tend to your needs while you are here. They will be given access and