Fable - Ask The First Group Project (College of Elbion, Freshman Class)

[Aiko]

ENCH 101: Intro to Potions​

“Right then, we’ll take the last few minutes to go over the syllabus.” Maester Ironheart, oft called ‘Ironlung’ behind his back, began waving an eraser off the black board behind him. He spoke for a while at the importance of honesty, that only a knife-ear would dare cheat on a test, that no dwarf had ever been convicted of plagiarism at Elbion. That potion making was serious business and it wasn’t something a mage could learn by ‘cramming the night before the exam’. That potion making was essential even if a mage didn’t plan to go into enchanting, and several other things that only a small portion of the students pretended to care about.

"All right then, I guess it's time to get to what you folks actually care about, the grading scale." Ironheart said, and Aiko noticed a distinct shift in her classmates, perhaps 70% of them.

"You will have six assignments throughout the year, each worth five percent of your overall grade. An in-class midterm at week seven will be another thirty percent. Then there's the good news that there is no final exam for this course." The dwarf smiled. "Instead the last forty percent of your grade will come from a group project you'll submit at the end of the semester. Each of you have been randomly selected into a group of four to make a single potion with some advanced properties. These potions are each distinct, so you will only be able to rely on your group mates, and not other groups. There are four stages your team will go through that will require a checkin. First, proper identification of the potion and it's material components. Next is acquisition of quality components. Next is the initial brew, and ideally the last step is refining the brew process into a proper potion. In the back of the class I've put together sample draughts labeled with each of your names. The members of your group are the student's who have the same potion as you, which you can identify by it's color. " The class almost immediately shifted it's eyes away from Maester Ironheart and to the back of the room. Aiko caught a wry smile on the Maester's face.

"There is no curve, and you must obtain grade of at least a B to take any 200 level courses with the enchanting department. I will see each of you in class Thursday." Maester Ironheart said and left the room, afterwards the sound of eager footfalls echoed as everyone rushed to find out what color they had been assigned.

Aiko followed behind the rest of the class, aiming to show dignity over enthusiasm. She scanned the remains of the small bottles until she found one simply labeled 'knife-ear' and sighed before picking it up.

Entranced for a moment by it's soft blue color she looked around the room for matching bottles. Just who would she be paired with?

 

[Atticus]

Blue.

It was perhaps a colour he should be grateful for, as he had used the colour a great many times in his paintings over the years. It wasn't his favourite, nor was the potion inside... just what was it? Atticus held it up to his nose, but could not smell anything that gave away even a smidgen of something.

"Oh! Blue!" He exclaimed, seeing Aiko in possession of the same. Holding up his own, he grimaced as he had been about to shake the potion in it's bottle but now treated it as if a reaction could burst through if he had. "It is the same, isn't it?"

Of course it was. He compared his bottle to her own, glancing between the shades before determining them to be the exact same. "They sure are!"

His face fell, seeing the label meant for her.

"We can do without that." He declared, pulling off the ghastly label and crushing it in his fist.