Stranger Among Strangers by G Akella

Author:G Akella [Akella, G]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-11-17T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 31

I make my way to the inn invisible, happy to trade a bit of time for a lot of safety. With all the recent changes to the world and the locals' attitude towards my person, I don't feel like taking on unnecessary risks.

Sneaking into my room through the window, I grab a quick snack, take the alchemical bench out of the chest, and sort the reagents in my inventory.

On the subject of inventory, Arkon went live with a rather innovative sorting and categorization system. Reagents are classified by the same gradation system as items, and, depending on rarity, possess a particular number of qualities, each with a particular degree of potency. Brown moss possesses four properties, though I'm only familiar with two: Poison (Daggers) 4 and Blind 2, which are quite enough for brewing poison. Of course, it would be nice to discover the other two, but the local alchemy gurus will no doubt demand money for it, and I don't have any gold to spare for the moment.

The Perception skill determines the ability to discern properties. My skill level is at two, so I can only discern two properties, both of which are already known. There's a small chance to discover an additional property by consuming a reagent, but—and this comes as a surprise to no one—few players are willing to gobble up chunks of dead flesh, slug slime, and the like. The trade-off just isn't worth it—particularly given the heaps of tables recorded in the Chronicles listing properties of thousands of reagents found in Arkon. Unfortunately, none of those tables include brown moss. Even if someone has come across it before, they decided not to share the information with anyone. Just as I won't. What is my incentive for sharing? That's right, diddly-squat.

After getting a fire going, I place upon it the crucible with all the required ingredients, mix the concoction with a special ladle, activate the timer, and head to the coffee machine. The brew will be done without any more involvement from me—I just need to be there in time to complete the process.

The magical science of alchemy is subject to law and order. The brewing of any potion requires a minimum of two different ingredients sharing one property—this is the only way for the reagents to transfer said property to the end product. The same applies to the brewing of poisons. Aside from reagents, each brew requires a base. For instance, potions are brewed on a water base, elixirs need specific infusions, and poisons require hard animal fat for subsequent coating. Potions can also be poisons, by the way. In fact, it's thanks to potions that I earned my mastery achievement. It's not that hard to empty a dozen vials of poison into a common pot used to feed the port laborers of Vaedarr, sending two hundred NPCs to their deaths in one fell swoop. The hard part is getting the quest from the overseer of a rival port to begin with. Absent such quests, this manner of mass murder, though fun as hell, yields no credit.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.