Pretty much everyone in the village gets a tiny decorative gourd from Tric, including the shaman Dicllon. Tric finds her in a good mood from her recent appointment and gives her a present to take with her on her journey to the Grey Woods. She looks forward to her new responsibilities, as well as the opportunity to get away from the painful memories of the Battle for Estbryn, where she lost a dear friend. Tric thinks Dicllon will get along well with Neia, the intense shaman he and Heppa met in Wesmere.
As Dicllon looks over the small dried vegetable from the After Harvest Festival, Tric explains that humans are so enamored of farming that they grow these plants for the express purpose of producing art. He gives one to Fenowin, too, though he does not spend as much time with the sneeze-inducing druid as his cousin does.
During her time in the Heart Mountains, Heppa experimented on a concoction inspired by Fenowin’s airborne pollen attack. What resulted was a failed attempt to devise something harmless to elves that could interfere with the dark energies animating undead. She feels like the idea still has some merit, though. Now that she is back in Estbryn Forest with plenty of free time on her hands, she seeks out the druid for some mentoring. Heppa has a very small quantity of dapper inkcap in her possession still. She had used some of it in the unsuccessful powder she tried on the necrophages, but she keeps what she still has somewhere safe—the back of her hobby closet—rather than bring it to Fenowin’s glade with her. Probably it would only upset Fenowin if she brought it along.
Heppa is currently interested in figuring out an alchemical way to interfere with corrupting magics. If she can make such magic harder to do, then maybe she can stop some corruption before it even happens. Then no one will need to worry about cleansing areas after the fact. If she can find a formulation that works, then it could also help shadow mages like Rowan who have no desire to do necromancy. Such a treatment could prevent them from accidentally tearing apart the life force… or whatever it is that unrestrained energy from the aetherium does to the primal channels. Fenowin’s expertise of fae energy could be really insightful for this project. Maybe there is also something we can do to harden fae energy against the effects of corrupting energies! Heppa thinks excitedly, as ideas bounce around her head.
Fenowin really likes Heppa’s ideas, particularly the targeted nature of the necromancy suppression plan, going after individual casters rather than trying to affect a large area. She invites Heppa to spend mornings working alongside her in her potion preparation cave. The equipment and materials she has there are more varied than what can fit in the vest Alric gave Heppa. They would fill a whole cart! It ends up being an engaging experience for Heppa. She learns a great deal from Fenowin about elvish alchemical practices, and also the two women just get to know each other better. There were definitely some misunderstandings between them in the past, particularly related to dapper inkcap and a certain human ally, but after a season, a genuine friendship blossoms between them. Both of them are sometimes viewed as weird by others, which gives them something to bond over in addition to their alchemical interests.
By the end of the season, they have perfected a new formulation. Based on Aglana’s explanation of counterspelling, this is essentially a necromancy counterspell in a jar. Shatter it at the feet of a necromancer, and it will interfere with their ability to harshly draw energy from the aetherium. Heppa and Fenowin conduct trials proving that it has no effect on the primal magic of the fae. Heppa even ropes Tric into a few experiments, and it has no impact on his magic of the silver tongue. She is confident it will not impede normal human magic of the Alduin school, though she is unable to do a live test of that in Estbryn Forest. The jar itself is a little unwieldy, so a person can only carry so many, but Heppa is pleased with the progress she has made.
As for Fenowin, she likes the reversal of fortune. She has been so worried that enemy humans would use dapper inkcap to cut elves off from their magic, and now she and Heppa have figured out a way to flip the leaves on them.