[hider=Warrior Awakens]
“You were funded to produce spark-powder for the crown, not to use our money to pursue your own personal interests” Cerlina said sharply. She had arrived at Ignocious’s lab along with a handful of guards to ascertain the progress Ignocious had been making with his work. Only to find that no progress had been made on spark-powder in over a month and Ignocious attaching glowing enchanted vines to a stone statue lying on its back.

“Actually I think you will find that the crown agreed to fund all my projects” Ignocious replied. Cerlina had been in the room for nearly five minutes now, Ignocious had yet to even look her way further infuriating the Tuania noble. 

“Under the condition that your primary focus was on developing the spark powder” Cerlina retorted her patience for the alchemists antics starting to wear thin “You were not to start any of your other projects until your research into spark powder was finished”.

“I am aware” Ignocious replied still focusing on inserting the enchanted vines into the crevices on his golem’s surface. It was a very dangerous process and any skin contact made with the enchanted vines could have serious consequences on his health. As such he wore thick leather gloves making the procedure of attaching the vines even more laborious than it already was and Cerlina’s nagging was not helping “Which why I decided my work on spark-powder to be completed over a month ago.'' To this Cerlina’s face turned sour.

“Explain yourself and quickly” Cerlina growled. Ignocious let out a sigh as Cerlina continued to interrupt his work.

“I have done what was asked of me. I was able to reduce the size of the sparkpowder vessel so that it can be carried in a foot soldier’s hand. Now any farmboy your recruit to your army will be able to make use of this weapon, providing their smart enough not blow themselves up. Your welcome” He said with a smirk

“Yes you reduced the size of the vessel but at a significant cost to the explosive strength. Any mage adept enough at destruction magic could cast a spell twice as damaging”. Cerlina replied trying her best to remain calm in the face of Ignocious’s arrogance.

“Perhaps, but unlike mages you can create an endless supply of spark-powder, providing you have the material” Ignocious replied as he successfully inserted a vine around his golems neck

“Which brings us to our next problem” Cerlina continued. “The materials you use to create spark powder are difficult to come by. Even with the crowns funding we can only buy as much as is available on the market, which as I am sure you know isn’t a lot”. For the first time since Cerlina arrived Ignocious turned to face her. 

“I cannot control the availability of the materials required,” he said with a simple shrug “Despite the title of ‘alchemist’, we cannot create something from nothing, only manipulate something into something else”. Cerlina didn’t look convinced

“Perhaps not, but surely you can make your materials go further or have a smaller quantity have a larger effect” Cerlina said. It took Ignocious all his strength not to burst out laughing, it was clear she didn’t understand basic chemistry.

“I cannot control the laws of nature either, to make a substantial explosion sufficient materials are required. An explosion cannot come from nothing, nor can the ingredients make a product that is greater than their own value”. Cerlina looked Ignocious dead in the eye with a withering stare that would chill any normal man to the bone, Ignocious on the other hand simply looked annoyed.

“For such a smart man, you made foolish decision by lying to the crown. How exactly did you think it would end for you when it was discovered you have been pilfering the emperor’s purse for your own gains”. Ignocious stood unfazeded with a confidence that made Cerlina’s guards uncomfortable.

“I did not lie, I told the truth of the progress that I made, I simply didn't mention the progress made on spark-powder was complete” Ignocious said with a smile

“A lie of Omission is still a lie. I will give you one chance to explain to me why I shouldn’t have my guards arrest you right now” Cerlina said as she signalled her guards who started to surround Ignocious.

“Because spark-powder is merely a taste of what I have to offer the empire, what I am currently working on will be far more benfically I can assure you” Ignocious said as he turned to face the golem

“A...old dwarven statue” Cerlina replied doubtfully. Ignocious decided not to waste time explaining himself, he decided to let his golem do that for him.

“[i]Awaken my warrior[/i]” Ignocious shouted in the ancient language of the dwarves. The vines glowed far stronger than they had been before appearing like veins fueling the golems body. The once inanimate statue came to life, slowly lifting itself off the ground and standing at attention. Almost immediately the guards ran away from the golem knocking over tables and vases of spark-powder, greatly annoying Ignocious. One guard even ran out of the building in fear. Cerlina stumbled back in shock as the two meters high statue that would have taken at least a dozen full grown men to lift stood up on it’s own accord with seemingly no effort. Despite Ignocious’s annoyance on the clumsiness of Cerlina’s guards, it was easily offset by the reaction of those first witnessing his creation. 

“Behold” Ignocious exclaimed “[i]Golem raise your right hand[/i]” the hulking golem did so without hesitation “[i]Golem take a step forward[/i]” again the golem obeyed “[i]Golem lean backward[/i]” once again the golem obeyed, angling it’s body backwards and yet still maintaining it’s balance. Ignocious turned around to face the dumbfounded Cerlina, a grin stretching from ear to ear “I am sure his majesty would agree that an army of stone giants would be worth the cost of continuing to fund my projects”. It took Cerlina a moment to compose herself before she finally spoke

“Why didn’t you tell us about this before” Cerlina said, while she stammered a bit she had done well to recover from the initial shock. In turn a number of the guards had stopped cowering and resumed their posts, being careful to keep their distance from the golem. The guard who ran out the door earlier hadn’t returned, no doubt he would be dismissed or even imprisoned for abandoning the noble he had sworn to defend. Ignocious was a bit disappointed at how quickly Cerlina had come to terms with his golem.

“If I told the crown my work on the spark-powder was complete I had no reason to believe that you wouldn’t cut my funding right there and then. If that happened it would have taken me months to afford the materials I needed to continue my research”. Though he didn’t mention it, Ignocious also didn’t want to reveal his golem until he had finished activating it. He feared that one of the other alchemists might have stolen his work and taken credit for it. He knew if he mentioned this he would be seen as paranoid. “So yes, maybe I somewhat withheld the full truth of my research” he continued visually weighing his hands to either side of him “but in the end I would say it worked to everyone's benefit wouldn’t you agree”. He was about to give another smirk before the golem made a noise behind him once again scaring the guards. The vines that had been glowing brightly suddenly extinguished and the golem fell backwards onto the wooden floor causing it to break and splinter. Ignocious was unfazed, he had been expecting this and had ordered it to lean backwards because of it. The last time this happened it had almost crushed him. “However as you can see my work is still far from complete, right now the enchanted plants I am using to power my warrior will only sustain it for a matter of minutes, it would have lasted a few more minutes if you hadn’t interrupted me earlier” Ignocious said as he looked at the guards. While it was directed at Cerlina he knew that if he spoke to a noble, let alone the head advisor, in such a way it wouldn’t end well for him.

“I’m assuming you have a solution to this, otherwise this is nothing more than a spectacle” Cerlina questioned. Ignocious furrowed his brow

“For a matter of fact I do. It seems the dwarves used some sort of unknown power source to power their golems based here” Ignocious said as he pointed to a hole in the golems chest “Alas, whatever magic they used to power them has been lost to the sea of time. As such we must rely on other means. This brings me to the next step of my plans” Ignocious said as he turned to face Cerlina “From what I gather an elven merchant of notable influence arrived here in Nyhem with a large quantity of plants known as Mandrakes”. 

[/hider]