Alchemy Tools
These are the basic methods to use each of the currently available alchemy tools. You can also read through the Alchemy Lecture I have presented in the past, which also goes over the use of the basic tools of the trade.
- mortar and pestle
-This pair of instruments will be used in the first step of all herb preparations, the crushing of the herb into a pulp or powder.
-Holding one in each hand, if you crush the item in your mortar with your pestle, you will begin to see the item ground down from its natural form.
CRUSH <item> in my mortar with my pestle
- Wayerd pyramid and it's variations (greenhouse, pineapple, etc.)
-To use this device, open it and put in the herb you would like to dry
-Close the device and, during good weather in the daylight hours, head outside and look for a place you can safely place the pyramid on the ground
-A good rule of thumb to help prevent honest mistakes is to guard your pyramid once on the ground, and to tie a piece of string around your finger to remember to pick it up when you move on
-Once on the ground, if the sun is shining, you should hear a low humming come from the pyramid
-After a number of hums, which varies on the type of herb, collect your pyramid and remove your dried herbs (you can tell they are dried because they will in most cases say so, for example you will see 'a dried eghmok moss'); they are ready to be used or crushed into a powder. As an aside to this, your mechanical lore skill will enable you to dry more items in a block, so for example a person with 100 ML may only dry 4 at a time, however someone with 200 ML may dry 6. I have not done testing nor gathered enough data to know the specifics of these numbers, only that as I myself have progressed in ranks, so have the number of items I can dry at once.
- unlonchai bucket
-Put your herb or water in it and close, shake it once and wait, in a few moments, the water or herb will have cooled to freezing
-Be forewarned, the elementals that live in the buckets have formed a sort of union, and no longer tolerate excessive shaking of their homes. If you push your luck with shaking them too much, they may leave the buckets, thereby leaving the bucket useless.
- portable stove
-To use this device, you will need a combustible material (notes on my detailed herb information page will let you know what forgeable items can be burnt), such as charcoal, place the charcoal into the stove, light the charcoal (with a knife and flint or magical means), close the stove and drop it, then guard
-Get yourself a jar and fill it with what it is you want to heat, put the jar onto the stove and wait
- tincture jar (detailed instructions here)
-To use this device, put in healing herb powder and grain alcohol in a 4:1 ratio (4 parts alcohol to 1 part herb). Close the jar, wait 10 minutes, shake the jar, wait 10 minutes, shake the jar, wait 10 minutes then open and retrieve your mix.
-You can LOOK at the jar at any time once you have begun the process to see more information about the stage you are on.
- vials, jars, bottles, gourds (use 'pour help' in game for additional information)
-although not a 'proper' alchemy tool in the sense of the ones above, you will always be needing to transfer water, oil or other liquids from one container to another. When you are mixing, you need all your items into consolidated items (for example if you need 3 doses of water, you can't use "a water, a water, a water", you need 1 'a water' that counts as 3 parts. To combine the waters, you need to:
pour my <container1/potion/water/etc> into my <container2>
Also useful quick-list of the in game syntax:
- BREAK my <item> half/piece
- COMBINE <item> (when holding 2 of the same things)
- COUNT my <item>
- CRUSH <item> in my mortar with my pestle
- POUR my <container1/potion/water/etc> into my <container2>
The following items are alchemy-related, however they are either not directly related to herb processing or are optional items that can help make the processing more convenient and/or fun.
- a fine rosewood case
Quest reward item that turns into a portable scale, your own MAMAS. While not necessary to the process, keeping track of the weight of your items does come in handy, esp. if you are selling your finished product. Keeping your finished products low in weight is often very appealing to burden-conscious warriors!
- a candle mold
Purchased from alchemy stores around Elanthia, you can STUDY them in order to shape them differently and then use melted wax processed from foraged honey comb to make useable candles.
- garlands
Purchased from the Empath shop in Crossing, herbs can be put onto the garland to make for easy access to them.
- a Wayerd pyramid with a cambrinth capstone
A Fairly rare item sold at a few GM-run auctions. Bypasses the normal pyramid system by allowing you to dry items at night and inside. Holds 10 mana, and uses 1 mana per hum. From my testing, does not dry things with any more strength than the normal ones, just has the benefits of convenience.
If you wish to get a broader perspective on the different types and tools of alchemy from an IG standpoint, seek out the following IG books (a listing of library locations and books hosted at each can be found on the Elanthipedia wiki here):
- "Alchemy", call numbers "HRxxA" or "IxxA"
- "A Brief History of Alchemy", call numbers "HwvBH" or "HwvtBHA"
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