7.59 - Special Mushrooms

The Newt and Demon

“I see someone got into my food,” Sarisa said, glaring with accusation at Theo as he descended the stairs. “And now we got a hobo living in the garden. Well, another hobo. My brother is a welcome hobo.”

Theo craned his neck, looking out the back window to find Elrin and his tiger hanging out in the backyard. “Strange. I thought he’d be gone by now.”

“You fed him. Like a stray Marsh Wolf, he’s gonna stick around,” Sarisa grumbled. “Gonna take me a minute to make food. Since you ate it all.”

Tresk might’ve been upset, but Theo wasn’t. She got over it quickly, walking with the alchemist into the garden. Elrin had his hood pulled up, the fine material of the garment casting a long shadow over his face. He didn’t look up, still scratching the tiger behind the ear.

“Thought you’d be gone by now,” Theo said, repeating the sentiment he had expressed to Sarisa.

Elrin took a long time to respond. Drawing in a steady breath, he looked up and nodded at the alchemist. “Maybe I’ve been doing everything by myself for too long. Haven’t found a monster I couldn’t kill since coming here.”

“Wow, sounds like he needs something,” Tresk said, speaking into Theo’s mind. “Exploit his neediness. Home boy said he’s a good crafter. Get me a dagger or twelve.”

“What do you need help with?” Theo asked. Elrin had already mentioned how he might need help with something. But what could it be?

“Two things,” Elrin said. “I have a few shards to place on that continent you call Tarantham. But the Shard Network has warned me about an unexpected force waiting for me.”

“Eleventh hour plot twists?” Tresk asked. “In Broken Tusk? No way! Why can’t you just take Fenian, Twist, or Jan?”

That was an oddly pointed question coming from the lizard. If it was the power of a throneholder Elrin needed, he could take Fenian. They already had history, so why not? That left only one option.

“Because the void is involved somehow,” Theo said. “What do you know?”

Elrin shrugged, standing and looking west. “I can survey an area for the world’s energy. There’s something strange near one of the old resting places for a shard. Once I place it, we’ll see what kind of plot unfurls. At that point, I may need your secret core’s power.”

“Not much of a secret if everyone knows about it, huh?” Theo asked. “You can count on me.”

“And me, if you need it. I’m the Herald’s hand on the mortal plane,” Tresk said, folding her arms.

“Might as well bring the whole gang,” Elrin said. “Minus the other guy.”

“Khahar,” Theo said. “We don’t know what’ll happen if we bring him here, so best if we leave him where he is. But we can ask him to look out in the middle realms.”

“I like that name for them,” Tresk said with a giggle. “Middle realms… Wait, what’s gonna happen to the moon? Should we start a space program?”

“My stance on the moon hasn’t changed. They’re on their own.”

“Poor moon people…” Elrin said, trailing off.

The group talked for longer. Theo wanted to grill him on a few things, but Elrin truly didn’t know more than he was letting on. There was a surge of magical energy in the area near Tarantham City, and he couldn’t predict what would happen when the shard was introduced. Before that could happen, there were a few things he had to get done. Which meant Theo and Tresk were on standby while he got ready. ȒΆ𐌽ŐβÊṥ

“Breakfast is ready!” Sarisa shouted from inside the manor, drawing the attention of the group.

“Guess I could eat before I go,” Elrin said. He was the first to head in, leaving Tresk and Theo in the garden to share a rapid series of thoughts.

Concerns, hopes, and a desire for more of the omelette Sarisa had made last night. The sausages had added a nice touch, bringing much needed heart-eroding grease to the table.

Sarisa, Rowan, Theo, Tresk, and Elrin all gathered at the table. It wasn’t the omelette they expected, but still looked delicious. Sarisa got her hands on some kind of potato and had fried those before mixing them with cheese and scrambled pozwa eggs. After eating a bit too much food last night, the alchemist held back. He ate half the plate and placed the other half in his inventory for later.

“As exciting as this has been, I need to start my work,” Elrin said, nodding to everyone seated at the table. “Thanks for the hospitality.”

And then he was gone, leaving everyone shaking their heads.

“At least he was nice about it this time,” Tresk said. “Our boy is learning social skills.”

“Seems like he spent a lot of time alone before coming here,” Theo said. “Anyway, think we should talk to Fenian about this?”

“Nah. He’s adventuring with the boys north of Gronro,” Tresk said.

“Wow. Surprised he’s even on the same continent.”

“Is he, though?” Rowan asked. “Fenian split our continent into pieces, so is it still the same continent?”

“Yeah, still the same continent,” Theo confirmed. “Just different islands on the continent. Well, I better shut up before one of you spontaneously schools me on geography.”

“Good idea,” Tresk said with a wink.

But it was nice having the boys nearby. Fenian still had access to the Bridge of Shadows, making whatever trips he wanted to take out into the world simple enough. Theo suspected he wasn’t doing much trading right now. The moment the elf began large-scale trading operations again, was the moment he was up to something. That’s when the Southlands alliance would scramble to help him in whatever weird mission he had created.

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Life with Fenian was never boring.

“And now I return to my boring life of alchemy,” Theo said.

“I really don’t know how you think what you do is boring,” Tresk said, folding her arms. “Your potions are cool.”

Theo smiled, patting Tresk on the head. “Thanks for that. Things are gonna get much more exciting soon enough. Once the arena is done.”

“Hell yeah!”

With the administrators covering the running of the nation and Ziz and the boys taking care of the arena project, Theo was free to screw around in the lab. As long as Salire had space for him to do so. Even at the early hour, she was already hard at work in the lab.

“And I left you a few stills,” Salire said, gesturing vaguely to the room. “Just had a feeling in my bones you’d need it.”

Theo looked around the lab, finding five stills waiting for him to use. “Wait, really?”

“No, of course not. Just had some extra space for you.”

Theo clicked his tongue, watching as his assistant laughed at him. Well, she would have her own assistant soon enough. “Perhaps we really need a second alchemy lab… I’m about to go pillage Tarantham so I can get one.”

“Good luck,” Salire said with a lazy wave. “Round up a few of your high-level friends to make it happen.”

Theo started with the Ironcap Mushroom, starting two stills for the Ironskin and Quench property. Next he processed Lizard Beard Mushrooms to extract the Scales and Tails properties. If only for the comedy factor, he wanted to see what those would produce. The alchemist had already spent a lot of time considering what the properties would produce while he was in the dungeon, so he was eager to see if he was correct.

The first essence to be completed from this batch was the Ironskin Essence. The liquid was a clear essence with a silver sheen. It almost appeared there were flecks of metal floating inside. There were no surprises when he combined the water and catalyst. It bubbled slightly, but the flecks of metal on the inside seemed to break that up. After stoppering the vial, he held it at arm's length and inspected the result.

[Ironskin Potion]

[Potion]

Rare

Created by: Theo Spencer

Purity: 90%

Drink to gain Ironskin effect for 5 minutes.

Effect:

Imbiber’s skin is turned to iron, increasing their defense significantly at the cost of mobility.

“Hey Jane, come check this out,” Theo said, holding the potion out for her to inspect.

Jane took the potion, examining it from several angles before nodding with approval. "This is just another version of the Barkskin potion," she said. "That one is decently popular with adventurers, but mostly those who want to be on the front line with a shield. This one will be even more popular. Is the reagent hard to get?"

"Not as long as we can find it in the caves below the city. I thought that would be a pretty decent potion, but I suppose we still need to test it."

"What else are you testing today?" Jane asked, leaning over the other stills and giving them a good sniff. "It's something I've never seen before, by the smell of it."

"The next property is quench," Theo said, holding the glass flask filled with the essence up for her to see. This one was slightly strange. With a murky gray color, the alchemist had the feeling this was a potion someone would pour over their weapon to gain a powerful effect.

Jane watched as Theo finished brewing the potion. It had a more viscous consistency. The bubbles that rose to the top of the mixture popped and sent hot globules of an oily substance flying everywhere. The alchemist placed his hand on top of it, feeling the sting of the potion but unwilling to allow it to contaminate his other projects. When it was done, he shook his hand and held the murky potion up for both him and Jane to inspect.

[Quench Potion]

[Potion]

Rare

Created by: Theo Spencer

Purity: 92%

Applying this potion to any bladed object will make it tougher as though quenched in oil.

Effect:

Quenches a bladed item. The quality of the quenching depends on the purity of this potion.

“Oh! That’s a unique effect,” Salire said, taking a note in her notebook. “We haven’t seen something like that yet, have we?”

“Just the Sharp Potion,” Theo said. “But that’s only a temporary effect.”

Instead of adding a temporary sharpness to a bladed weapon, this item acted like a blacksmith quenching a weapon they had just finished. Since the potion didn't mention it, Theo assumed this effect was permanent.

"Okay, you've got to stick around for the next two potions," Theo said, rubbing his hands together. "And I need you to drink one of them."

"I absolutely refuse to drink a potion, especially when you've got that face on," Jane said.

"How about this? I drink one of the potions, and you drink the other. I'll even let you pick first."

Jane offered Theo a concerned look, but eventually nodded. "Okay, fine, let's do it."

The chances Theo would come out on top in this were fifty-fifty. If he was forced to take the Tails Potion, it didn’t matter. He already had a tail. He got to work on bottling the two potions, finding that both performed normally during the brewing process. There was something strange about them he didn’t recognize, but neither seemed harmful. That’s when Salire’s escalation of the bet came to a head.

“So, how about we make it better,” Salire said, leaning over the worktable with a devious smile. “No inspecting the potions before I pick. Neither of us gets to know what’s in there.”

“Let’s go,” Theo said, finishing both potions off and placing them on the table. “Your chariot awaits.”

Both potions looked similar. Each was effervescent with a pale green-blue color. Salire passed her hand over one and then the other. Her brows knit as she internalized the decision. “This one,” she said, scooping one potion up. She smiled, handing it over to Theo. “For you. I’ll have the other one.”

Theo took his potion, removing the stopper and holding it up. “To your health.”

Salire giggled to herself, downing the potion in one go. “Ugh. Tastes like slime.”

“How do you know what slime tastes like?” Theo asked, chugging his own potion. “Ugh, mine tastes like slime, too.”

Both Salire and Theo waited for something to happen. The effects of the potions weren’t immediate, but the alchemist eventually felt something stirring inside him. It started as an uncomfortable feeling in his stomach, but eventually migrated to his… tail. It swished back and forth a few times and he got dizzy. The world seemed to tilt to one side for only a moment before going back to normal. Standing and staring down at the ground and swaying slightly, he felt more sure-footed.

“Wait, which one did I get?” Theo asked.

When the alchemist looked up, he saw which potion he had taken. Salire’s skin was covered in a thin layer of iridescent scales. She had a broad frown on her face as she scratched at the scales forming on her forearms. “Yeah, I got the bad one… Why did you get the good one?”

Theo looked back at his butt. His tail swept from side-to-side, slightly fatter than it had been in the past. “Oh. I got the Tails Potion.” The alchemist rubbed his hands together, doing his best to guess what the potion did. He suspected it made him steadier on his feet. With a few powerful swipes to either side, Theo nodded with approval.

“This potion is pretty good,” he said. “I think you got the losing potion.”

“Maybe… I feel sleeker,” Salire said. After a beat, she shook her head. “Okay, we should’ve saved some to inspect. I have no idea what mine does. Feels like I might be faster, and maybe I can stick to walls.”

“Wow, good powers. I feel like I’m steadier.”

“Well, how about we brew some more. Then we can inspect them,” Salire said.

“Good idea. The jury is still out as to who lost.”

“Uh-huh,” Salire said, scratching at the scales on her face. “Whatever you say.”