The Way Ahead

Chapter 84b: Recipe for Success

“There was a message for you this morning.”

The voice snapped Edwin out of his morning stupor slightly as he stared at the innkeeper. He’d just descended from his room, “Sorry, wha?” he blinked.

“A runner from the Guild dropped this off for you. It is for you, right?”

He swept a wing across the counter, depositing a small black pebble on the wood. Edwin blinked at it uncomprehendingly, “Ummm. I may still be waking up, but that’s a rock?”

Edwin was still awful at reading Avior expressions, but it was clear even to him that the innkeeper was looking at Edwin like he was an idiot. Which wasn’t really a surprise, but it didn’t help him much here.

“Some problem?”

“Well… it’s a rock.”

“You have an issue with rocks? Where did you come from?”

“A very long way away, apparently.” Edwin responded, “I still don’t see how the rock plays into this.”

“Have you never seen a message stone before? What did they use back for you?”

“Ink and paper, usually. So, what am I missing here?”

“The stone. Identify it.” He was really done with Edwin, wasn’t he? Sigh.josei

Edwin shrugged and triggered Identify on the pebble.

Itsa rock!

A very rocky rock. Rocking all over. It rocks. Not a very big rock, though. It might be stoned. Maybe it will roll?

Okay, that didn’t work. Material?

I think this is Granite?

Alchemical Analysis?

50 - 90% Quartz

50 - 90% Elemental Oxygen

He should update his Quartz tag to be silica, shouldn’t he? It would also be nice if he was able to get actually pure substances so he could Almanac them properly and definitely… Eh, project for another day.

He shook his head, “Not getting it. Not sure what you’re trying to get me to do?”

“Didn’t you Identify it?”

“I did. No messages, though.”

“You don’t even have Common Knowledge?”

“Look, I come from so far away, you wouldn’t even believe it. I don’t suppose you could read it for me?” he sheepishly asked.

“Fine,” the innkeeper squacked, “But you’ll pay.”

“How much? I’ll pay double for my breakfast.”

“Hmm. That’ll be ten ves, then, and you need to wait until I’ve got everyone else taken care of.”

“Fine,” Edwin acquiesced, mostly just not wanting to make any kind of scene- being seriously overcharged was fine when the payment was on the order of ves- and slid the copper coins to the avior, who swept them up off the counter with the same Skill.

“Thank you for your patronage.”

“Food and message, please?” Edwin tapped his foot on the floor as he took a seat.

“Certainly, certainly,” the innkeeper stepped into the next room over and returned a moment later with a small loaf of bread on a wooden platter. Edwin took it and tore off a chunk, chewing on the food while waiting for his answer.

“To the Alchemist Errant, come to the Cope Hall at noon for an assessment of your capabilities.”

“That’s it?” Edwin was incredulous, “There’s really nothing else?”

“You’re welcome to look at it yourself. Or perhaps not?”

Edwin glared at the bird, snatched his pebble and loaf off the counter and returned to his room.

Noon came around quickly enough, and brought with it Edwin at ‘Cope Hall,’ a location he’d had to ask for directions in finding, and turned out to be a smaller building with doors surrounded by intricate carvings depicting some kind of story. Edwin was sure that it would be meaningful to somebody, but he couldn’t make heads or tails out of the scenes depicted. Something about people and avior, along with children. Trees were involved somehow… ah! It was the history of Panastalis, wasn’t it? Hmm. So, that would probably be representative of alchemy somehow? What were they doing?

His slow piecing together of the decorations was cut short as Edwin realized he might run late if he spent too much longer on the task, and cautiously crept inside. The interior wasn’t particularly well-lit, with the only sources of illumination being torches burning in an eerie green color, casting a pallor upon every surface and making it all look… sickly. The walls were lined with skulls and bones, darkly bubbling vials and bottles that were either faintly glowing or just catching the light in an odd way.

It was, in short, an extremely theatrical recreation of what a ‘potions lab’ might be, sans a- oh wait, no. There was the cauldron, though it wasn’t bubbling and the presumed firepit it sat over remained unlit and stocked with white rods that Edwin couldn’t Identify. There wasn’t anyone that Edwin could see in the room, though.

“Hello?” he cautioned, looking around for whoever was supposed to be examining him, “I was told to come here?”

There was no response, so Edwin took a seat on a nearby stool and waited.

After five minutes, Edwin was starting to get a bit impatient. Was he supposed to do something? He was pretty sure this was Cope Hall, and it was noon. Was his examiner running late, or was seeing what he was able to come up with entirely on his own part of the test?

Hm. Well, he didn’t know enough about any of the miscellaneous things in the room to do anything with them, so what did he have on him? He patted down his pockets, looking in his satchel. Hm. He mildly regretted offloading pretty much all of his ingredients into his cart, but it wasn’t like he could do precision mixing on the fly when fighting. Besides, they were likely safer when secured under several layers of Apparatus and hidden on the underside of his shelf than they would be on his person.

Some of what he did have was more appropriate for use in further experimentation, though. Concentrated firevine and sinbalyne oil, a few dried talsanenris berries, a flask of distilled water, and… not much else. Well, he could always make a healing potion. Maybe something to counteract hypothermia?

It was easy enough to make his tools- Sapper’s Apparatus meant he was never without a mixing bowl or stirring rod- and he settled in, geared up, and got started.

The primary component was water, naturally. The substances he dealt with were all far too potent to be used undiluted. It was also the one ingredient he could be generous with- he could concentrate the potion later by boiling some off if need be, and it was the one ingredient he had a functionally unlimited supply of. His heatstone had been set on permanent duty in his carriage as a source of heat for his distillery, and by consistently filling the water feed tank, he had nearly a barrel of distilled water ready for use at all times. He also had set up a charcoal filter to try and purify fresh water and… well, he was getting distracted.

He took a small measure of the water and, with a flex of Basic Thermokinesis accompanied with Infused Firestarting- his new Skill wasn’t strong enough to boil water yet, though he liked to exercise it- he boiled two of his talsanenris berries in it until they were completely rehydrated. Then he kept going until they had turned to mush, and filtered out most of the skin and pulp- instead of discarding it, he slipped it in a vial. It tasted good when he cooked, after all. Loads of nutrients.

Level up!

Basic Thermokinesis 16 → 17

Edwin mixed his talsanenris juice into the greater bowl, and guided by his Alchemy, measured out a few drops of his sinbalyne. If he had molai, this would possibly work as a preventative measure, as the buffering plant would help spread out the effects of the talsanenris. Using sinbalyne would instead encourage the potion to spread quickly into and through the bloodstream and combine with the talsanenris to deliver a jolt of metabolic energy to the entire body, rather than being digested normally. When he’d made potions before with it, it had resulted in Edwin jumping straight into the air as his body demanded he move. This one was much more diluted, so it shouldn’t be as dramatic, but he knew the theory was sound.

Once the potion was homogenous, Edwin took an Apparatus toothpick and allowed it to take a tiny drop- barely more than a bit of film clinging to it- of firevine oil. Too much, and it would probably be fatal, giving whoever ingested it instant heatstroke if not worse. The trick was using as little as possible, and even still Edwin would need to find a lab rat to try his potion on before drinking it himself.

A few more minutes of stirring, and Edwin was surprised by a pleasant pair of notifications.

Level up!

Alchemy 83 → 84

Arcadian Elixir 16 → 17

He must have been close to that Alchemy level if his little experiment had pushed him over the edge, and it probably also signified the completion of his potion. Very nice. He nodded in contentment and started bottling up the elixir, only to be stopped by a new, commanding voice.

“That will do for now. No need to bottle it, I can look at it now.”

Startled, Edwin looked around, only to spot a man with carefully combed hair and an enormous moustache to match standing off to the side. He strode over to the table Edwin was using for his experiment, and grabbed a spare beaker Edwin had set out, scooping up a measure of his elixir and holding it up to the light.

“Hmmm. Experimental flash-fever potion, medium quality. Interesting. Care to explain why you decided to make this?”

Fever potion? How did- oh wait. Alchemist’s Insight, isn’t it? It lets him Identify potions, I guess?

“It wasn’t entirely my intention, mister…” Edwin had made the mistake of improper address once lately, he wasn’t keen to repeat the incident any time soon.

“Cope. Shorob Cope.” The man continued to examine Edwin’s creation, not looking at Edwin.

“Mister Cope. I was hoping to make an anti-hypothermia potion, but I suppose if the result was a flash fever potion, I do need to add in a bit of molai to help lessen the severity. I thought I might be able to get away without it, but it seems like that isn’t so.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that! This might serve to shock a patient back into health, particularly if their blood is a bit low!”

Blood? What does any of that have to do with blood?

“Um, I guess? I wouldn’t really know about that. I was hoping to join the Guild, and I was told to come here? Then, I got a bit bored and thought it might be some kind of test, so I just tossed together a new potion with what I had on me. I wanted to try and make something new, you see.”

“New? You hadn’t made this before?”

“Well, no. Like I said, I was trying to make a-”

“Yes, yes. Well, well done! It’s nearly as good as I might have managed at your age. And this,” Cope tapped the apparatite container, “And this… apparatite substance? You made this, it seems?”

“Uh, yeah. I got a Trophy Path, and this was the result. It’s super versatile.”

“Indeed. Mostly alchemically neutral, too. Very useful.

“So,” the Prodigious Pioneer-Alchemist made some kind of grabbing motion at the bowl of fever-inducing elixir, and the liquid vanished, reappearing as a faintly lavender sphere in Cope’s hand, who slipped it into a hidden pocket in his fancy clothing, “Why should I sponsor you?”

“Well,” Edwin was marginally prepared for this, “I have extensive alchemical training and quite a bit of experience mixing my own potions. I believe that I would be able to fit in nicely within the Guild and contribute as needed to any projects, or undertake research of my own, even without the schooling the Guild mandates. My Alchemy is in the eighties, along with several supporting Skills, though those are admittedly much lower as they’re freshly evolved.”

“Hm. I see. Cocky, are we?”

Edwin shrugged, “I know what I’m capable of.”

“Ha!” he laughed, “You’re lucky I like a bit of attitude! Alchemy in the eighties…” he stroked his moustache, “Let me see some of what you’ve made in the past. If it’s good enough, you’re in.”

Edwin mentally shrugged and withdrew a few of his potions, the hexagonal vials they were in allowing his fingers to find them without even looking, “Some of my more standard healing potions.”

“Hm. Not much of a healing potion. Elixir of boosted recovery, medium quality. No Health-optimizations?”

“Errr… no? I don’t know how to do that sort of thing.”

“How’d you make these?” He asked, looking over the vial, and Edwin hoped he wouldn’t pocket those as well.

“Talsanenris and molai mainly, a bit of sinbalyne to reduce pain and hasten delivery. It’s my most general potion, meant to be imbibed as a bit of a quick stabilizer.”

“I see. Well, it’s not the best I’ve seen or even done, but did you come up with the formula yourself?”

Edwin nodded, “I did, yes.”

“Hm. That explains the pitiful ingredients. Brewing instructions?”

“Oh, you- Uhhh… actually, I think I’ll hold onto that one until after I get in to the Guild.”

“Smart man,” the alchemist winked at him, “Not that you need to worry about me. Now, Othniel…”

“Who?” Edwin asked.

“Oh, he’s another alchemist in the Guild. Keeping him around is a disgrace, the man barely contributes anything! No, he just has his apprentices repeat the same thing time and time again, yet he keeps pushing me out of my rightful positions! Funding is diverted, he’ll destroy curious samples meant for me, steal my notes and present them as his own and worse! He’s the quiet sort that you need to keep an especially keen eye upon. He’d rob your own mind blind and sell you what he took!”

“That… doesn’t sound great. Why don’t they deal with him?”

“Beats me! The man wouldn’t be able to figure out white gold if he had the Gaiash tell him everything.”

“So… am I in, or not?”

“Well, I won’t be able to get you full membership of the Guild yet, but I can pull you in on my team! I’ll get you set up with some lodging, you can work with me, and we can show the Master how deserving we are, eh?”

“Um, sure I guess. Will I have some books?”

“Of course you’ll have books, my friend! So, what do you say?”

Edwin nodded, “I mean, I guess? I don’t suppose I could get some more details about what this would entail, could I?”

“Oh, I’ll have one of the paper-pushers write up something for it. It’ll go great, my friend! Just you wait and see!”

Edwin smiled awkwardly as the large man clasped him in a side hug, trying to squeeze out from the grasp.

It was only hours later when Edwin was back in his room that he realized Cope had kept his healing potion after alll.

Dang it.