[h3][color=bedded][b][center] Thomas Richard Harrison [/center][/b][/color][/h3]
[center][indent][color=bedded][i]Location:[/i][/color] The Apothecary.
[color=bedded][i]Interacting with:[/i][/color] The Merchant of Menace (shopkeeper), Satilla. [/indent][/center]

No saltpeter? What self-respecting alchemical shop carries no saltpeter? And the reason for the stock? Pishposh, Saltpeter had no such effects. Did it? Something to investigate further, although not in front of good company. A slight color took to the cheeks at the mention of that particular use. Satilla after all a... Never mind, maybe herbalists wouldn't know such a rumored use for nitrates. Maybe the hint the old codger suggested escaped her, although the impotence of a wizard's wand... Well there were potions made specifically for that. Using a combination of rare fish oils, alkalized quicklime, fumes of aqua fortis, and about four other reagents and complex techniques to get tiny amount of usable product for all the materials and time put in. Not that it took much for it to work, but there were more readily available remedies. Which brought Thomas to the idea of substituting a fire beetle in lieu of a fire scarab. Honestly they were the same thing right?

[color=bedded]"Mrs. Fritzgivens at the wax shop then?"[/color] What horrific uses did she have for 50 grams of purified saltpeter? The sorcerer mused on, saltpeter after all was a rather versatile reagent to use and went by many names. [color=bedded]"Okay I'll go see if she still has some. I won't need a lot of fire beetle, I don't even know if it'll work..."[/color] Oh, a lie? The old man would lie to Thomas? A man who requested the elements to create an explosive device like a shopping list? Then again, maybe the old shopkeeper was already slightly senile and forgot when he had inventory? Then again there wasn't much inventory to track was there? The bare bones picked nearly clean, but think of all the money he ought to have had selling everything.

[color=bedded]"Maybe he's already gone a bit, you know... Off?"[/color] Thomas suggested the failing memory was the blame in a hush to his female companion. [color=bedded]"Did he have anything else good yesterday that went missing?"[/color] Thomas pondered a bit preening his hair with a hand as a wicked thought came to him. A suspicion of who else could be magically inclined in the village? This man had the stock to conduct some rituals after all, and evidently the good stuff was hidden in the back room. Or maybe that wax-shop owner...