The Amell Legacy: Transgressions

[Marian Hawke]

Marian manages one of her rare, lopsided smiles, the charming ones that drive home how young and impressionable she is -- but also how sweet, in the few moments she's unguarded. What she could have been if she hadn't been abused and thrown away by her family, if she hadn't learned the lesson that she was worthless.

"That's pretty cool," she admits, tucking some hair behind her ear. "Have you ever done something like that?"

[Varric]

Varric snorts, looking amused. "I appreciate the vote of confidence, but no. I've managed to make substitutions that shouldn't entirely work but I still need more or less the same... weight of ingredients. Not physical weight obviously." He pauses, then allows, "at least, with potions and alchemical brews. Extracts have... much loosier rules, but they're also far less stable and shareable."

[Marian Hawke]

"I've actually been thinking about that..." begins Marian, hesitantly. "Um, but it can wait."

[Varric]

"No, no, go on," Varric says cheerfully. "Verbal testing works better if it doesn't all come in a block. By all means, change the subject for a bit so I can ambush you with another question."

[Marian Hawke]

"Well, it's just... Okay, so if you assume you have a companion, a spellcaster, right, and you have them manifest some simple cantrip, perhaps changing their hair color -- and you take a bit of that hair, and brew it into your extract -- can't you attune the extract to them instead of youself using the Sympatico Principle?"

[Varric]

Varric cocks his head to the side. "Hmmm. Sounds like a mirror of the infusion technique..." Varric murmurs thoughtfully. Instead of overcharging it so your magic can persist away from your aura... huh. "Where did you come up with that theory?" he asks in a louder voice.

[Marian Hawke]

"Uh," she says, blushing. "I just, you know. I was practicing the la-- I mean, um, brewing alchemist's fire like you told me, and um, it occurred to me, as I was considering some substitute ingredients to make things a little easier -- honestly, I hate working with fireapples, I always get the juice burns on my hands -- and um, well I don't have access to a red dragon like you'd suggested but then I thought about dragon merikos and..."

[Varric]

Varric raises an eyebrow and glances at Helene. "Working on a side project?" he observes. "How's it going?"

[Marian Hawke]

"uh. It's. Um. Fine?" Marian stammers, blushing.

[Helene Dakesh]

Helene cuts in, gently, "The pursuit of knowledge is never sinful. Please, enlighten us as to what you have been studying in your spare time."

[Marian Hawke]

"uh... well, it's just... I had this scroll... um..." She rubs the back of her head. "so I thought I'd try to see if I could make something a bit more.. blatantly magical."

[Varric]

"Put a pin in that 'never sinful' thing for a debate tonight," he says to Helene. "Blatantly magical how? You're not starting with an Evocation brew, right?" First rule of learning magic- you always start with Abjuration, Universal or Illusion magic, as none of those have spells that can do any serious harm until you get into the harder stuff.

[Marian Hawke]

She shakes her head, then cheats her eyes to Helen. "no, no. ah, divination."

[Varric]

That can reveal more than you ever wanted but... safer than most (Evocation bad, Transmutation... gods). "Fair enough. And logical, given your background. Need any help? Hints, advice, or even just a lesson on something tangential? I think everyone at your stage of learning wants to do a small thing on their own, see how it feels to do instead of leanrn.

[Marian Hawke]

"Ummm.."

She blushes a bit, but takes a deep breath. "Well, the thing is, near the end, I'm not sure I'm finishing it off right? I'm not sure if I should let the matrix fade before or after I stir the last time..."