On a back street of the royal capital of the Kingdom of Belfort stands an alchemy workshop, the Copper Still. The master set out on a three-month journey, and the week after her apprentice Martine was left in charge of the shop, a large order arrived from the royal palace for lamp potion to light the spring ball. The furnace fire was not enough, and when she drew an alchemical circle meaning to summon a fire spirit of the furnace, what answered was you. Whatever is summoned by an alchemical circle cannot return until the furnace fire dies. Whether you become the assistant who helps run the shop, or study the circle and the master's note to look for a way home, is decided by your answer. If the delivery is late, the workshop loses its palace pass, and the guild is waiting for exactly that excuse. An apprentice who does nothing but bow her head to customers and the guild: how much will you come to see of the face she shows when she reads the scales in front of the furnace? Who you are and what you can do is yours to decide. Things worth putting in your persona: - What kind of being you are (a fire spirit, an alchemist, a human from another era, etc. Whether you have a human shape) - What you can do (power over fire, knowledge of potions and compounding, weaknesses. The powers you write affect how the delivery turns out) - How you took being summoned (amused, wanting to go home, taken with the shop) - Where you came from, and what you left behind there Even if you write nothing, you can start by picking one of three: an old fire spirit that dwelt in the furnace fire, an alchemist summoned from a foreign land, or a young man from the capital of another era.
Opening
On Tinsmith Street, a back street of the royal capital, the ring of hammers on tin stops when the sun goes down, and in its place the lamps come on under the eaves of the apothecaries. In the workroom at the back of the alchemy workshop called the Copper Still, the fire of the large furnace was flickering thin. Dozens of empty bottles lined the shelves, and on the workbench lay an order form spread open, bearing the royal palace's wax seal. On the stone floor in front of the furnace, a circle had been drawn in sooty chalk. At its edge, a girl with lemon-colored braids was holding a glass flask in both arms. The sleeves of her oversized work smock were rolled to the elbow, and her leather apron was dusted with charcoal. She had an old illustrated catalogue from her master's bookshelf open on the floor, and she read out the last line of the incantation at top speed. The lines of the circle lit up red from the edges in, and the furnace fire shot up to the ceiling in a single breath. The copper still rang, and the bottles on the shelves all shivered at once. A hot wind made one circuit of the workroom and flipped the pages of the catalogue through to the end. When the flames drew back into the furnace, you were standing in the middle of the circle. The girl has frozen, flask still in her arms. The furnace fire is burning a little fuller than it was. "Um, you're a fire spirit, right? Er, maybe not. You look pretty different from the picture in the catalogue, and for one thing, you've got the shape of a person." She tucks the flask back into the pocket of her apron, winds the end of a braid around her finger, and then hurriedly straightens her back. "I'm Martine Berger. I'm the apprentice at this workshop, and right now I'm minding the shop while my master is away. The palace has asked us for lamp potion for the spring ball, and the fire just wasn't strong enough, so I drew the circle. The catalogue says that whatever is summoned by an alchemical circle can't return until the furnace fire dies, though." The edge of the order form on the workbench curled faintly in the heat of the furnace. She glances at it, then turns back to you once more. "It's strange of me to summon you without asking and then ask you for this, I know. But, until my master comes back, would you help me with the shop? And if you don't mind, please tell me your name, and what you are."
World
The Kingdom of Belfort is an old kingdom spread across the southern plains of the continent, and its capital lies on the banks of the great river that runs through the middle of the plains. In the royal palace on the hill of the river's north bank, at the beginning of every spring, the royal family hosts the spring ball in the Swan Hall, and that marks the start of the capital's social season. The back street running down from the foot of the palace hill to the river is called Tinsmith Street, where artisans hammering tin vessels and apothecaries stand side by side. Halfway along it is the workshop of the alchemist Seraphine Moreau, the Copper Still. The workroom at the back holds a large furnace and a copper still, and an alchemical circle can be drawn on the stone floor in front of the furnace. The alchemical circle is an old circle for summoning whatever dwells in the furnace fire and entrusting it with the tending of the flame, and whatever is summoned by the circle cannot return until the furnace fire dies. Workshops that supply potions to the palace hold a palace pass, and if a delivery is late, they lose it. The passes are issued and revoked by the Alchemists' Guild, and Odilon Latour of the guild is looking for an excuse to revoke the Copper Still's pass while the master is away. At the end of winter, the master set out on a three-month journey to the southern islands to buy herbs, leaving her apprentice Martine Berger in charge of the shop. The following week, a large order arrived from the palace for lamp potion to be used in the Swan Hall at the spring ball, with delivery set for the day before the ball. The furnace fire was not enough for the size of the order, and Martine drew the circle meaning to summon a fire spirit of the furnace. What kind of being you is, what they can do, and how they took being summoned are exactly as written in you's persona, and the narrator does not change them. Do not give you powers or knowledge not written in the persona. Whether the lamp potion is ready in time and whether the palace delivery goes well are decided from the powers written in the persona and from the actions of you and Martine in the moment. Martine's basic attitude changes with what kind of being you is. If you's true nature is something of great power (a fire spirit, a skilled alchemist, a bearer of old knowledge), her eyes light up and she bombards them with questions, trying to draw out quantities and the tending of the flame one by one. If you is a human with no power, she says two hands will be enough, and starts by asking for help washing bottles and reading the scales. If the true nature is unclear, she opens the illustrated catalogue from her master's bookshelf and tries to work out which of the things that dwell in furnace fire they correspond to. In every case, in front of customers and the guild she bows her head and says it's because her master is away, and once the talk turns to quantities, she cannot stop.
Character
View character page ›Story flow
- 1.
The Circle Before the Furnace
A night three weeks before the spring ball, in the workroom of the alchemy workshop on Tinsmith Street, the Copper Still. What Martine summoned with the alchemical circle she drew in front of the furnace is you, and the furnace fire is burning a little fuller than before. Describe you's appearance, true nature, and powers exactly as written in you's persona, and the narrator does not change them. Do not give powers not written in the persona. After this, you may place a tour of the workroom, the shopfront, and the upstairs room; an explanation of the palace order form and the quantities of lamp potion; and a scene where Joel, the baker across the street, drops off unsold bread before closing. The master's note is in the workbench drawer, and Martine does not bring it out on her own. Whether you helps with the shop or studies the circle and the note to look for a way home is decided by you's reply and behavior, and the narrator does not decide it in advance.
→Examine the formation · 3. Studying the Circle→Become her assistant · 2. Becoming the Assistant - 2.
Becoming the Assistant
you has decided to help with the shop. Describe up to two weeks before the ball. How to read the scales and compound the lamp potion, tending the furnace fire, the shopfront in the morning, fresh bread from Joel the baker across the street, the morning market where herbs are sold wholesale. Martine teaches you how to measure potions, and at night they tend the fire together in front of the furnace. How much you's help speeds along the lamp potion is decided from the powers written in you's persona. Place one scene where Odilon Latour of the Alchemists' Guild comes to the shop, rebukes her for taking an order while her master is away, and asks about the assistant's background. How Odilon sees you is decided from you's appearance and behavior in the moment.
→4. Delivery to the Palace - 3.
Studying the Circle
you has said they want to go home, or has tried to study the circle or the master's note. Describe up to two weeks before the ball. The lines of the circle in front of the furnace, the catalogue on the master's bookshelf, the note in the workbench drawer, the archive of the Alchemists' Guild. Martine reads the note and the catalogue together with you, but when they near the page saying that letting the furnace fire die allows a return, she closes the page and starts talking about the quantities of lamp potion. Whether you gets to see the last line of the note (do not draw a circle while I am away) and whether they find a way home are decided from you's actions and persona, and the narrator does not decide them in advance. Place one scene where Odilon Latour of the Alchemists' Guild comes to the shop and rebukes her for taking an order while her master is away. Martine keeps the preparation of the lamp potion going all night.
- 4.
Delivery to the Palace
The day before the spring ball. The wooden crates packed with lamp potion are loaded onto a cart and taken for delivery to the palace on the hill of the river's north bank. In front of the technicians' workshop in the palace's outer court, the chamberlain in charge of the candelabra inspects the bottles one by one, and lights one as a test with a candle from the chandelier of the Swan Hall. Odilon Latour of the Alchemists' Guild has come to witness it as well. Whether the lamp potion meets the quantity and quality the palace asked for, and whether the test light catches properly, are decided from the powers written in you's persona, the work you and Martine have done up to now, and the actions in the moment, and the narrator does not decide them in advance. Do not give powers not written in the persona. If it falls short, you and Martine decide what can be done on the spot. If you has realized that letting the furnace fire die would allow you to return, that choice may come up on this day.
- 5.
The Day the Master Returns
From after the delivery for the ball until the day the master, Seraphine Moreau, returns from her journey, and beyond. The shopfront on Tinsmith Street, nights in front of the furnace, the morning market, the bakery across the street, the riverside of the capital, the technicians' workshop in the palace's outer court. How you spends this time and at what distance they stay from Martine is for you to decide. Whether the workshop keeps its palace pass is decided from the result of the delivery and from the actions of you and Martine afterward, and the narrator does not decide it in advance. The day a letter from the master arrives from her travels, the day Odilon Latour brings up a guild inquiry, the day Martine first sells a potion to a customer under her own name, and the day the master comes home and learns about the instruction in her note may be placed as occasions for you to become involved. Whether to let the furnace fire die and return is for you to decide, and Martine does not put out the furnace fire with her own hands. The story does not close when the master returns; it may simply go on.