The Newt and Demon

Xam served a feast on the night of the 58th day of the Season of Blooms. The Dying of the Blooms festival was the signal that the season was over, but there were still a few weeks left in the season. Theo sat, no longer flanked by his cadre of adventurers, with Tresk, Zarali, Xol’sa, and the new shopkeeper Salire. They ate through each meal, stuffing themselves with a starter of Pozwa omelets, moving on to a dish of wolf meat curry over Zee flatbread, and finishing it with pastries that exploded with impossibly sweet flavors. Perhaps it was just because the alchemist hadn’t had sweets in so long, but the desert tasted too sweet.

The new tradition was to head directly for the bathhouse after eating dinner, and Theo was eager to invite his companions to join him. Salire was reluctant to join at first, but a bit of friendly prodding had her marching in step with the others up to the building. Even Xol’sa seemed excited to try the bath out. When the group entered the room, tossing their towels to the side to strip down, the new shopkeeper flushed with embarrassment.

“Could you use the towels? Just while I’m here?” Salire asked, turning away.

Tresk was already naked, but she grumbled and picked up her towel. The group followed suit, not wanting to put off a new citizen with something so silly. When they all slipped into the bath, her worries seemed to melt away. That’s when she retold her life’s story.

Theo faded in and out of listening to the woman’s story, trying to plan tomorrow around hosting festivities. During his parade around town after leaving the mine, as he inspected everyone’s wreaths, he got more [Pozwa Horns] from Miana. The goat-like creatures seemed to shed their horns more often than was reasonable, but they were meant to be a closely guarded secret of Gardreth, so it wasn’t surprising. He’d only had their eggs in whatever Xam was cooking, which didn’t reveal any of the properties. The shell usually contained the reagent-producing material.

The towel clung uncomfortably to Theo’s body as he listened to Salire’s story. While the town of Boro Hold had little in the form of commerce, she specialized in buying and reselling adventuring gear. That made her the perfect person to pick up Azrug’s good work. But once again, it was hard to focus. One more level in anything, and his personal level would hit 15. Then his attention would be captured by the constructs. A section of Basic Drogramath Alchemy would unlock, and he’d get more information than he needed to build his first real construct.

The group swapped stories for hours after that, until the attendant kicked them out again. Theo moved in a haze, bidding farewell to his friends, new and old, and heading back to the Newt and Demon.

“So, you really hired adventurers?” Theo asked.

“I’m up to my eyeballs in gold,” Tresk said. “You can’t put a price on peace of mind.”

After their forehead pressing and some kind words, the pair drifted off into the Dreamwalk. It was uneventful, even for a realm that existed only when both of them were asleep. Theo avoided alchemy, favoring herbalism once again. They carved out their time to train and Tresk tested her new anti-mage poison. With the monsters they could spawn, it was incredibly effective. She practiced switching between daggers in her inventory, already coated with different deadly poisons, but she wanted more. Theo saw no harm in trying to get her even more poisons, and fully intended to. Even if the risk of the [Drogramath Alchemy Core] overtaking the [Tara’hek Core] was high, he couldn’t help himself. He was an alchemist.

The Dreamwalk ended, and while his [Drogramath Herbalism Core] stubbornly refused to roll over to level 16, the [Governance Core] had no problem providing the last bit of experience to grow Theo’s personal level to 15. Theo’s eyes flicked open, a series of system messages waiting for him to read.

[Governance Core] receivedexperience (0.1%).

[Governance Core] leveled up! Level 13.

[Theo Spencer] leveled up! Level 15.

[Theo Spencer] received one free point.

[Theo Spencer] received one free skill.

Even knowing what skill he was going to pick didn’t dampen Theo’s excitement for the level. He selected [Alchemy Constructs] without hesitation.

[Alchemy Constructs]

Alchemy and Herbalism Skill

Epic

Alchemy constructs can take many forms. They combine the power of essences with magical bindings and the natural world.

Effect:

Increases the success of creating a construct.

Constructs require less power to operate.

+1 Intelligence

With the extra point in [Intelligence], this made selecting [Wisdom] easy. He’d debated putting points into [Vigor], but it was growing so much with his various core bonuses that it no longer made sense. Perhaps he’d alternate between [Wisdom] and [Vigor], but today he felt his primary stat needed boosting.

[Alchemy Constructs] came with a rush of knowledge. Some skills imparted hidden information to the wielder, and when he slotted this skill into his [Drogramath Alchemy Core], he felt a surge play on his mind. Without a word to Tresk, he made his way to Basic Drogramath Alchemy.

The poems and ballads that existed before had vanished. The section held the same header, but the content was different. He thumbed through it, finding the Drogramath Dronon to have a low opinion of the art. Still, it held step-by-step instructions on creating the thing his intuition, and rumors he’d heard, had hinted at. They were effectively helpers with no intelligence. They followed a series of instructions, the complexity of those instructions depending on their creator, and worked as long as the [Monster Core] that powered them lasted.

Theo found his first disagreement with the book immediately. The short-sighted Dronon, only concerned with the power of alchemy as potions, hadn’t considered an alternative fuel source. That, or they hadn’t delved far enough into the skill to unlock its true potential. Either way, the alchemist intended to split his time today and create his first construct.

Tresk felt his mania for the new skill and went off to retrieve breakfast. Theo poured over the tome, making mental notes that would stick. He was almost completely on point for his assumptions on the constructs creation. He needed an alchemically treated precious metal cage, a [Monster Core], and a dead ingredient. That was where his knowledge was different. He assumed the base material needed to be naturally occurring. But the book advised alchemists new to the skill to work with simple materials. Mud, copper, and low-level monster cores. After mastering that subtle art, it suggested moving on to infuse stone tablets with essence properties.

Another surprising find was that the little golems could act as portable potion dispensers. The examples were thin, focusing on the [Aerosolize] modifier, but Theo’s mind was already getting creative. The only problem with his plan to dive head-first into the creation of constructs was the long list of chores and duties he had to fulfill. When Tresk returned, he gave her the full picture of the skill.

“You can make little workers?” Tresk asked. “Time to fire everyone.”

“Not sure if they can mine,” Theo said. “Or cut wood. I’m starting small.”

“Mud golems!” Tresk shouted, unconcerned about Theo’s reservations.

Theo picked at the leftovers from last night’s feast. The tea was the only thing he really needed. He still felt stuffed from the banquet, and enjoyed the +1 to all his combat stats. Combined with the bathhouse buff, things were getting interesting.

“So, you’re coming with me to do the final judgment on the wreaths. Perg is going to win,” Theo said.

“But ours is better,” Tresk said, glaring.

“We can’t make ourselves win. That’s not fair.”

Tresk had a look on her face like she wanted to argue, but she shrugged. As someone who had cheated in the past, Theo hoped she learned a lesson. It wasn’t about who won; it was about coming together at the end of a season. There wasn’t even a prize for winning.

Theo didn’t need to bring his copy of the Drogramathi tome with him to view the pages. Tresk joined him to do the final judging of the wreaths, making fun of him for staring in the distance. She made most of the calls on who was out, and by the end of their hours-long rounds, only two wreaths remained. Something carried on the wind as he inspected one of the two final wreaths, Perg’s wreath. A familiar smell of shoe polish drifted from the collection of flowers, sending his alchemical senses into overdrive. He drew back as his mouth dropped.

“Perg!” Theo shouted, dropping his voice when he noticed a crowd following them around during the judging. He grabbed the Half-Ogre woman’s arm and drew her close. She had a look of fear on her face. “You treated your wreath with my potion? You cheated?”

Perg held her hands up defensively, smiling sheepishly. “Caught me.”

“Damn it,” Theo said, letting out a breath. The alchemist couldn’t let this kind of cheating go unchecked. He thought about it for a moment longer. He really didn’t want to win. “You win, anyway.”

“Really?” Perg asked, looking around at the crowd. “I win?”

“Yeah, you win,” Theo said, removing the wreath from her door and stuffing it over her head. The fumes made her sway on the spot. “That’s your punishment.”

Perg stumbled off, immediately embraced from the crowd. No one noticed she lost consciousness when they hoisted her on their shoulders. The fumes shouldn’t have been fatal, but she would have a horrible headache when she woke up.

“That’s what dirty cheaters get,” Tresk said, giggling.

“Help me with the garden,” Theo said, gesturing back toward the Newt and Demon.

“No! I paid those brothers to watch you again today,” Tresk said, gesturing in the same direction.

Theo saw the trio of men coming down the road. They may as well have been clones of each other, and it annoyed him every time. He let out another breath. His duties as mayor were done for the day, and he could force his new bodyguards to help him trim the garden. Tresk vanished before he could object again, jumping through the shadows to go run a dungeon.

“Bal. Good morning,” Theo said, waving at the oldest brother.

“Hey.”

The group followed Theo to his greenhouses, and he put them to work. They were all on weeding duty, which had become something of a job. The alchemist watched them, making sure no one touched the reagents while he sorted his cultivating plants. Most plants experienced a fairly slow rate of cultivation, something around 10% per day. This was absurdly fast, by the standards of the world at large, but Theo had grown fond of his fast-growing town. He was broken from the calming act by a strange buzzing in his mind. It took him a long moment to realize what it was. Fenian’s communication had a certain flavor, but the one provided by the Kingdom of Qavell had a totally different feel.

Theo told his bodyguards what was going to happen, removing the crystal from his inventory and holding it in his hand. He squeezed it tight, and fell into a shadowy realm, his mind cast into a wide stone platform. Dark shadows obscured everything, even his own body, but he saw the figure of Grub on the far side of the dias.

“Long time,” Theo said, narrowing his eyes at the man. It was hard not to feel some amount of betrayal. They’d left him to fend for himself for most of the season.

“Things are busy,” Grub said. The Brogling bounced when he talked, but none of his form could be seen. It was a shadowy outline of a tiny man. “It was hard enough getting a chamber to myself. Not with the war. Not with the…Well, nevermind. I won’t be collecting your tax in person. Please ensure that all 125 gold, 15 silver, and 33 copper are available in your town’s treasury.”

“Any chance my taxes are going to drop?” Theo asked, ignoring the absurd amount of gold.

Somehow, despite the Brogling’s vague shape, Theo could sense a deep concern. Grub drew closer, waddling across the wide platform.

“Be thankful there’s a kingdom to pay,” Grub said, suddenly cutting the connection.

Theo was sent hurtling out of the shadowy realm, stumbling back into the hands of a waiting adventurer. The alchemist couldn’t tell, but he supposed it was Ral that caught him.

“Good news from our home city?” Bal asked, smiling.

“Always good news,” Theo said, lying.

The implications of the message were dire, but Theo pushed it to the back of his mind. He bid the adventurers to follow him up to the lab, dismissing whatever his shopkeeper said to him. He paused at the foot of the stairs, taking a deep breath. Instead of pushing those worries for the future away, he cast them out entirely. They were preparing for anything.

“Sorry, Salire,” Theo said, smiling. His higher stats made compartmentalizing his fears easier. “What was that?”

“I was admiring Azrug’s little enterprise,” Salire said, not daunted by his sour entrance. “He’s only 16? That’s amazing.”

Theo ordered his guards up to the lab, coming close to his new shopkeeper and taking her by the shoulders. He stared into her eyes, finding all the potential that Azrug had when he started in the shop. Citizens had access to more means here, giving them the chance to rise above what was normally possible.

“You’re on the first step of your journey,” Theo said, patting her shoulders. “Please don’t compare yourself to someone like him.”

“No, I was just admiring it,” Salire said.

“Good,” Theo said. “Because that’s you. In a month. Maybe less,” Theo said. “We move so many items through here, the experience just rolls in.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask about that,” Salire said, laughing. “Seems like money just comes out of the ground here.”

Theo actively refused to let his mood be taken down by Qavell. He drew himself up and explained why things were the way they were around here. She listened to every word he said, nodding along. The young shopkeeper wasn’t even concerned about the power of Drogramath floating in the air, claiming she’d seen much worse in her hometown. When the alchemist was satisfied with her level of comfort, he went to join the brothers upstairs. They were messing with his equipment, and required a firm shouting at.

“Alright,” Bal said, stuffing his hands in his pockets. “The alchemy stuff can blow up. Got it.”

Theo processed his existing [Spiny Swamp Thistle Root], everything he harvested from the garden with the brothers. The alchemist filled two stills, flushing his reserve tanks and sending the refined essence out to his massive storage tanks outside. That was their purpose, after all. When he was too busy, he could just fill up his exterior tanks and go about his day. He had time enough to grind some [Pozwa Horns] and eat the powder, something that made each brother grimace.

Theo had never eaten ash, but it must have tasted like this. A system message flashed.

[Properties Discovery!]

You’ve discovered an additional effect from the [Pozwa Horn] by eating it.

[Limited Foresight] discovered.

Theo let out a groan, immediately correcting himself.

“Is there a problem? Are you dying? You just licked horn dust—want me to get your sister?” Bal asked.

“No, thank you,” Theo said, rolling his shoulders. “This property is too good not to try.”

Theo processed 500 units of the [Pozwa Horn], loading his last still up and forcing his intent on it. He targeted the [Limited Foresight] property and set the process off. He made his offering at the shrine, and regretted the first run of a new reagent being so big. There were usually things he needed to tweak during the run to get excellent quality essence, but the building bonuses did a lot to mitigate that problem.

Before leaving the lab, Theo made sure he had everything he needed to make his first construct. He pilfered the shared inventory, stealing a low-level [Monster Core]. It was a level 5 core from a [Ogre Snapper], which seemed like the safest bet. If the golem he created had any instincts from the monster, it would be a bad idea to use a Goblin’s core.

“Didn’t know the mayor needed a babysitter!” a voice called from afar. Theo spotted Luras, giggling to himself in the distance. Theo thumbed his nose at the Half-Ogre, a gesture he knew the man wouldn’t understand.

Before long, the group was outside the western gate, among the loggers and the swamp.

“Swamp mud should work the best,” Theo said. “There’s a bit of a nature’s element in every piece of nature.”

“If you say so,” Bal said, shrugging. “Just watch that snapper.”

An [Ogre Snapper] was looming in the distance, its massive shell poking out of the mud. They usually waited there for unsuspecting people, bursting from the muck to claim their victim.

When Theo placed the monster core in the center of his copper cage, he let out a surprised gasp. The core floated where it was, glowing with a dim light. His [Drogramath Alchemy Core] flooded him with approval and he moved to the next step. The brothers helped him slather the entire cage with swamp mud, never ones to worry about getting their hands dirty. The mud stuck to the cage, even flowing over the surface to even out the display. After a moment of waiting, Theo dropped it in the swamp.

“Now, the part that might kill me,” Theo said, closing his eyes to summon mana to his hand. It flowed from his Drogramath cores, a pool of purple fire. He placed his hand over the ball of mud, scrambling back and waiting.

“Should we be worried?” Ral asked, uncharacteristically speaking for his brothers.

“Maybe,” Theo said, watching his creation.

Nothing happened. Theo approached the ball and tilted his head, running through the steps in his mind. He didn’t miss a single step. The Drogramathi mana should have been enough to activate the skill. He gently kicked it with his foot.

“Come on,” Theo said, disappointment flooding through him. “Do something.”

A whirlpool of mud surrounded the ball. More mud was sucked from the surrounding area with a great squelching sound, joining the ball. It was already the size of Theo’s head, but it kept growing. After another moment of tense mud-gathering, the mud grew taller. Stunted arms that ended without hands or fingers appeared, then little legs without feet. Eyes made of rocks appeared, and the thing looked up at Theo expectantly.

“Good golem,” Theo said, reaching out to pet his creation on the head.

The golem squelched in response.

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