The Mercenary Alchemist

"It happened during the Wheat War between Crezenza and Dimechi. Our company was paid by the Banker lords of Crezenza to secure a key village from which to advance into the domain of the Dimechians, capturing their fields and granaries as we went. At this village however, we met resistance. A small company of not even a hundred men against our two thousand, hired by the local grain exchange to protect their business wouldn't let us advance regardless of any guarantees we gave them. We decided to take the village, trusting our in superior numbers to grant us a swift victory- just a small skirmish like any other during the summer's war season. As it turned out- not so. The grain exchange had procured the services of a combat Alchemist. She had with her a retinue of a few others, all armed with the newest types of arquebus: long- barreled, large caliber. As we advanced, certain of victory, they started shooting. Instantly everyone realized that we had fallen into a trap by underestimating the enemy and not doing recoinnanace. I saw twenty men burst into flames inside their harnesses, flailing about. Another shot sent a group of men into a frenzy, attacking our own men. There was some form of magic, I am sure, imbued into the lead shot they were firing. After a dozen shots hundreds of men were dead and out formation was in complete disarray. We had to retreat soon after losing hundreds to our own incompetence." - A mercenary veteran of the Grain War

Hello!

So this one was another exploration done on my fantasy world setting. I wanted to imagine what a mage or an alchemist could do when presented with a firearm. The alchemist prepares the weapon with special rounds of varying materials, imbueing them with alchemical preparations and spells designed to trigger when they strike a target. The rounds maybe have engravings, symbols and such to hold the magical charge. They do however need to handle these rounds carefully not to set them off prematurely. Operating an arquebus with such rounds is therefore a very dangerous task requiring special training from the alchemist. This is usually done only by the trusted retinue of the alchemist who travel with them as they offer their services to lords, influentials and mercenary companies alike.

Final color.

Lineart only.

Sketch.