Desideria

"Extremely forgetful and often unreliable, Desi tends to be one of the more relatable dragons in the clan. Many would have turned down the idea of a Tundra as an alchemist, but despite his countless mishaps he remains the most experienced in the clan when it comes to transmuting goo." — by FourLeaf Not for Sale Notes > One of 5 existing/only unexalted leaf/cyan/thicket dragon Achievements > N/A

White Slime Transmutation A slippery concoction of white slime. This doesn't look useful at all... but maybe... 0 Primary Alchemist Tools Apparel An alchemist's tools of the trade. 900 Baffling Parchment Paper Trinkets A mysterious piece of torn parchment. The only characters you can see are [MP PMJHNC D], but there must be other pieces with more. (3 of 7) 500

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"Squiggles! Where are you?" Desideria called out in excitement. He was part of Sornieth's new batch of alchemical recruits — and Baldwin had actually given him homework today! That news couldn't have made him any happier. He'd learn alchemy better than anyone, and he'd show them! He'd find his old clan, the one that had abandoned his egg in the Scarred Wasteland. And he'd show them! He'd make more diseases in his cauldron than Plaguebringer in the Wyrmwound!

... if he could even figure out the cauldron, of course. The Tundra dumped out his bag, a mess of papers and glass vials flying cross the floor of his den. The green-tinted liquid in his cauldron glowed like an enchanted lava lamp, illuminating the scattered mess as he searched through his notes. Surely he'd written down Baldwin's instructions somewhere?

A small noise caught his attention, and he looked up in time to see his amphithere pull out a few feathers and drop them in the cauldron.

"Squiggles, no! That's Daddy's cauldron, you don't touch Daddy's cauldron!" He quickly grabbed the amphithere, moving it to a safe distance as it squeaked indignantly. "You know feathers in the cauldron make that nasty silvery slime! Now I have to clean this out."

Desi reached into the cauldron, pulling out a small pile of quivering gold sludge with a frown on his face. "Gold this time, huh? Bet you threw more than feathers in here.... ah, well." He threw the muck at the pile of trash building up in the corner. He'd get around to throwing that away, eventually. He was sure it wasn't good for anything.

A small flurry of squeaks erupted from the back of the den, indicating that Squiggles had found the mouse cages again. Desi had planned ahead for that, though. He'd tied the cages shut so the amphithere — or, more accurately, nobody — couldn't get in. Of course that meant nobody could get out either, but he couldn't worry about that now. He had to find the instructions for his cauldron!

The dragon searched frantically through the seemingly-growing mess on the floor. It just had to be here somewhere —

He paused for a moment, picking up a wrinkled scroll. This was it! He unfolded it slowly, squinting at the writing scrawled across the parchment. "Yes! This looks... easy enough, let's see.... gold muck, not sure what that is. Broken bottle? Maybe I can smash a beaker for that. Podid claws — I can probably skip that, those things are mean. What's this? Irro— no... irritable... irrational...."

He frowned for a moment, then turned to the doorway. Surely someone in the clan would know what this word was.

He stepped outside, frowning for a moment at the empty corridor, then his expression brightened. Just his luck — Ollivar happened to be back from his travels early.

"Yo, Ollie!" Desi ran after the Imperial, hoping he would be able to help.

"Desi! Good to see you," the large dragon stopped and dipped his head at the Tundra. "May I ask how your alchemical studies are going?"

"Pretty good, actually — I was wondering if you could help me?" He looked up at the Imperial, excitement in his eyes.

"Why, of course! I assume it has to do with that scroll, yes? Let me see."

Desi offered the scroll to the Imperial. "I'm not sure what that word is, three — no, four lines down."

"Ah, I see. That would be irradiated alchemical reduction." He handed the scroll back to Desi.

"Yes, that's it! I knew that! Thank you, sir!" He turned to head back to his den.

"Anytime, Desi," Ollivar said with a smile. "And good luck with that shopping list! Hope you find everything you need at the trading post." The Imperial turned and continued toward the tunnel to the athenaeum.

Wait.... shopping list? Desi looked down at the scroll in his talons in horror. "Oh, no...." This wasn't the set of instructions for his cauldron. It was indeed a shopping list, or rather, a transmutation list...

"This is Baldwin's list!" Desi realized, head snapping up suddenly. "I grabbed the wrong one! He has my instructions! Oh, no, no no!"

The Tundra flew into his room faster than a sleep-deprived Spiral and quickly started shoving stuff back into his bag. He had to hurry, before Baldwin closed his station for the day. And if he did make it in time, he'd have to swap the papers without being noticed. He didn't want to look like a bad student, after all. Taking his mentor's papers instead of his homework — how would that look if someone found out?

Finally the last of his mess was in the bag, and he raced toward the entrance of the main cavern. He could make it in time without being caught, he just knew it.

He jumped into the air, heading southeast. He could hear dragons complaining as he narrowly missed their heads during takeoff, but he couldn't stop now. He'd apologize later. If he remembered.

Had Desi chosen to stop and apologize for nearly beheading his clanmates, he would not have made it in time. He would have, however, seen Ollivar smile slightly and shake his head, mumbling something along the lines of, "Poor kid. I should have told him Baldwin's stand closed three hours ago."

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