Brazen Wolfe Tabletop

Oneshot Throwback – The Salve of Youth

The man nervously stood at the barrel on the corner of an alley near where a few shopkeepers were hawking their wares. He knew the power of what he held in the pale pink salve in the jars before him. He had invested a lot of time and gold into what was in the jar.

He was an alchemist by trade so it was no surprise that when people came up that knew him from one of the shops in town that they asked him for the usual potions, ointments and salves. “Well, actually I don’t have any of those now. I don’t work for Mr Green any more. But I do have something else…” he had said before the first customers left him. This then brought the attention of the store owners who made him move away from their business for fear of dragging their business down with his.

Eventually he left for home for the day without having made a single sale. Opening the door to the single bed room that he was staying in, out of the generosity of an old friend, he fell face first onto the old bed. There was only so long he could remain here living like this. He had sacrificed everything for this salve and he was risking a lot in how it was made. Tomorrow, he would try again and show off what it could do. Tomorrow there was a big market where nobles would come to shop for the wares of the city and there he surely would be able to sell his salve, surely. As he tried to get comfortable he unwound the bandages on his left arm and applied some of his salve to the arm. Within minutes the wrinkled, damaged and ghastly skin was looking like it did a few months ago – before the accident.

The sun was just cresting over the walls of the city when he stood on the corner of the road in and the road to the market, away from regular stores he stopped each and every person. “You, yes you there. I have developed this salve that will make your skin as soft and smooth. It will take away the years or even recover…” he began each time but the merchants, nobles or commoners would just pass by him.

After a few hours he began to give up hope again when he saw a figure striding through the streets towards him, someone he had never wanted to see again. “There you are Theo. I thought I heard your voice here earlier. I really do wish you’d consider coming back to work with me. You can’t let an accident stop you from earning an honest coin.” the tall man said with a fake smile.

Mr Green had requested that Theo create vials of alchemist fire for an order, but when the customer arrived to pick up they robbed him and threw the contents of one vial over his arm. Mr Green then docked his pay based on the lost merchandise and blamed Theo on the mistake. This pushed Theo to look into ways to heal and aid his burnt and destroyed flesh and in doing so, he came across his Salve.

But despite this Theo didn’t want to make enemies in a small city and had to play it cool “Thanks for your offer but I am doing quite well. I have nearly recovered from the accident and am turning over a new leaf. Thanks for the offer Mr Green but no thank you at this stage.” he replied. But Theo could not be prepared for the snake-like reflexes that grabbed his wrist and pulled off the bandages from his arm. The crowd around him shrieked with horror at the vision of his deformity.

“I doubt that anyone would buy from an alchemist who looks like that. My offer won’t be there forever and I have clients that want to do business with you again.” he said snidely as he walked away.

Theo clutched his hand and looked down at the salve on his little barrel. This was it, the hill he would die on. “I don’t need your offer. I can heal this arm with my own concoction. Behold!” he said dramatically as he held out his deformed arm and applied the salve cautiously to the cries of the onlookers who were drawn to the commotion. Within a few moments his skin smoothed and regained a normal colour, the flesh underneath filled out and nearly all evidence of the accident was removed.

Immediately people’s cries of shock, disgust and horror turned into wonderment. People rushed to his barrel and started to ask about his salve, how he had done it, what magic he used (of which there was none) and how much it would cost them. Mr Green watched slack-jawed with a look of disbelief. Theo’s business was about to kick off.