The Newt and Demon

5.64 - Shadow Wrapped

Theo had reached a bottleneck with his willpower training. Even within the Dreamwalk, he could no longer expand it. The training book that Xol’sa gave him was useful in some ways. The alchemist sat on a stump, looking up from the imagined book to see Tresk and Alex practicing mounted combat. He couldn’t deny that they were getting good at this. Each banking turn, flash of fire, slash of poison, and entangling root was expertly performed. He was left with his thoughts on the way things were progressing, and couldn’t deny the excitement he shared with Salire to see what the new potions had to offer.

New potions weren’t the only thing he looked forward to. Zaul had given him access to powerful abilities that could infuse his potions with extra power. Both Spirit Weaving and Shadow Wrap could impart some of his willpower into potions, which would increase them in some nebulous way. Theo rose from the stump, taking one step to appear near the shore near the beach in Broken Tusk. Tresk and Alex remained behind, fighting right outside the gates of the town.

The problem with a giant floating city was the fall. Theo had already observed the city falling into the water, creating a frightening tidal wave. If the plan was to bring it down for good near the harbor, the wave it created would be damaging. This was another small thing he had to worry about. The little things that came with a magical world often had rippling effects not unlike the fall of a city into the sea. With his Earth Sorcerer’s Core in his chest, he tested how hard it was to create an earthen barrier.

Sand was earth as far as the core was concerned. Theo started by moving large stones from the land, shoving it into the water. That was less effective than he would have liked so he swapped to moving massive mounds of dirt and sand like a great bulldozer. He selected a small section of the bay to test, then extrapolated how much time it would take to complete a solid line to protect the town from an errant wave from the north. If he guzzled mana potions, he could do it in two days. But if he got the town involved, paying for laborers and stonemasons to reinforce the protective mound, it might take a day.

“Problems, problems,” Tresk said with a dramatic sigh. She fanned herself like a damsel. “My poor demon boy has so many problems.”

“No kidding. Got anything to help me with this?”

“Not really,” Tresk shrugged. She leaned in close, stabbing her knife into the earthen barrier. “Nope. Can’t really stab the problem away.”

Theo gave her a lopsided grin, trying and failing not to smile at her antics. “Golems might be the answer,” he said, turning back to his work.

“Not a bad idea,” Alex said, taking to the sky. Tresk looked up at her, slightly offended that she wasn’t brought along for the ride. “That’s quite the span. Magical efforts seem more effective.”

But golems didn’t need to breathe. Theo hadn’t tried to create water golems, but something told him he didn’t have the pieces needed. All materials he had used to create golems were solid and eager to take a containment core. Ice golems made sense, even if they required a Freezing Construct for extended operations. Problems on problems and not a magical elf in sight to fix them all. Or a cat-person with a drinking problem for that matter.

Tresk and Alex helped Theo tweak his approach. They were fighting against both the concept of holding a wave back, and the problem of filling the deep bay all the way to the seabed. The structure under the wall-like section needed to be wide and stable. Sand and dirt weren’t cutting it, but they had few options.

“We’ll be lucky if the barrier stays up as the tide shifts,” Theo said, clicking his tongue.

“Ah, well,” Tresk said, slapping the alchemist on the back. “I’m sure you'll pull some potion out of your butt at the last second to save the day.”

“Thanks, Tresk.”

“I’m here all week. And the weeks after it.”

“Forever,” Alex put in.

No solution was found by the time the Dreamwalk ended. Theo was slightly relieved, presenting the chance to run his ideas past others before proceeding with his plan. He ate breakfast in silence, drafting several messages to people in town to draw up plans. The alchemist proposed the idea to Ziz as though he and his people would be in charge of the project alone, gauging his reaction to the massive job. Of course, he sent a message back almost immediately accepting the job. They would start within the hour.

With the town properly stirred up, Theo made his way to the Newt and Demon to display the new potions. They had stewed long enough in Tero’gal to be properly brewed. He found Salire already working on the third floor, preparing more zee-shine.

“Are you ready?” Theo asked, pulling potions out of his inventory and setting them down. He spread his willpower over the room, gaining a shiver from Salire but shielding them from unwanted eyes.

“Ugh, why are you so sad?” Alise asked, grimacing.

“I’m not sad!” Theo said. “My aura is sad. There’s a difference.”

Filing away the comments he got on the sensation people got from his aura wasn’t a good idea. Inspecting his emotions, Theo didn’t feel sad or depressed. The thing that ran through his mind most of the time was a focused determination to get things done. There was sorrow for his lost world there, but it was a distant pain. At this point it felt like mourning for a person who never existed.

“Anyway,” Theo said, dismissing the subject after his moment of self-reflection. “We have some potions to look at. And some interesting abilities to try out.”

“Which should we do first?”

“We’ll go in order,” Theo said, holding the third tier Greater Limited Foresight Potion up. He inspected it at the same time as Salire.

[Greater Potion of Limited Foresight]

[Potion]

Epic

Created by: Theo Spencer

Grade: Excellent Quality

Alignment:

Drogramath (Minor Bond)

For 12 hours after drinking this potion, the next 8 attacks made against you will miss.

Effect:

For 12 hours, all attacks, magical or otherwise, will miss. This potion may be overcome by gross differences in levels. Carries 8 charges.

This was a massive improvement of the second tier version of the potion. The duration and amount of charges double. A doubling wasn’t common in a potion’s effects when it jumped tiers, which was interesting. But they almost never gained additional effects unless combined with new modifiers.

“Very impressive,” Salire said, nodding with approval. “Are you going to use your magic… whatever on this one?”

“Let’s wait until the end.”

The next potion up for testing was the standard, unmodified poison. Poison was an effect that Theo had tested extensively. Since Tresk needed a constant supply, he had added many different modifiers to it. But the standard version was the most important for testing. The alchemist held the vial of third tier poison, inspecting it with Salire.

[Greater Poison]

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[Poison]

Common

Created by: Theo Spencer

Grade: Excellent Quality

Alignment:

Drogramath (Minor Bond)

Coat your weapon to deal additional damage over time to an enemy.

Effect:

Cripples an enemy, reducing their Dexterity by 8.

Applies a stacking DOT effect based on poison quality. Maximum 15 stacks.

This was a general improvement all around. The poison potion had never displayed specific damage numbers, but both the crippling effect and the amount of stacks had increased. They wouldn’t stock this in the shop, as Tresk would want them all for herself.

“A respectable improvement,” Salire said.

Theo scratched his chin, unsure of the value. “Five more stacks for how many hours of work?”

“It could bind to the other modifiers better than the second tier version,” Salire said with a shrug.

Theo hummed in response, unsure of that claim. Next was the Greater Potion of Assail. They examined it together.

[Greater Potion of Assail]

[Potion]

Rare

Created by: Theo Spencer

Alignment:

Drogramath (Minor Bond)

Grade: Good Quality

The next physical attack performed by the drinker ignores all resistances.

Effect:

Applies the [Assail] property to the drinker’s next attack. This effect ignores all resistances, regardless of their source.

There was absolutely no change between the second and third tier of this potion. Both Theo and Salire stared at it for some time, trying to puzzle out what had changed. After a bit of thought, the alchemist determined that the increased rank of the potion would overcome some resistances of the target. Salire made a note about that, scratching his thoughts down onto the page.

The Greater Desperate Attack potion was up next, which displayed a slight increase to the amount of health it consumed on use. The original version took an amount of healthy from the imbiber, putting that amount and half as much into their next attack. This new version used sixty percent.

“Woohoo,” Salier said with exactly no joy.

The last potion for today’s inspection was the Greater Rust Bomb. Theo hated everything to do with the grimelings. The ooze they left behind stunk. When that ooze was brewed into essence, everything smelled like raw sewage. Only the Cleansing Scrub potion got it out, and even then something of it was left behind. The alchemist held the Greater Rust Bomb, careful not to slosh it too much.

“Shall we?” he asked.

[Greater Rust Bomb]

[Bomb]

Uncommon

Created by: Theo Spencer

Alignment:

Drogramath (Minor Bond)

Grade: Excellent Quality

Covers the target in a sludge that eats away at all metal.

Effect:

Unless cleared away or purified, this sludge will eat all metal (magical or otherwise) for twenty minutes. The rate of decomposition depends on the rarity of this bomb.

Like the ooze the bomb was created from, Greater Rust Bomb was a devious little bomb. There was no mention about magical or mundane materials, but Theo suspected there was something about the rank of the magical items involved. This was certainly an improvement, but nothing to go crazy over. The alchemist was saving that for the end. Salire made her comments while he selected the two potions to imbue with his willpower. Zaul had given him access to two abilities, both of which should have a similar effect on crafted items. He planned to use Spirit Weaving first, eager to see the effects on the Greater Potion of Limited Foresight.

Theo checked that his aura was still shielding them before invoking the Spirit Weaving skill. Shadows flowed from his hands, wrapping around the vial of the potion. They seemed to probe at the surface, testing to see if it could infuse itself into the glass. After seeing that the glass was a container, it wove itself into the potion itself. Bands of midnight black spread through the potion, stealing the color away from not only the potion but the area around it.

Something left the alchemist after he used the skill. A piece of his willpower now rested in the potion, requiring some concentration to maintain. If his willpower wasn’t such an ocean of power, it would have been a problem.

“That looks ominous,” Salire said.

Theo held the pulsing potion up, inspecting it.

[Greater Potion of Limited Foresight]

[Potion] [Spiritwoven Potion]

Epic

Created by: Belgar

Grade: Excellent Quality

Alignment:

Drogramath (Minor Bond)

For 12 hours after drinking this potion, the next 8 attacks made against you will miss.

Effect:

For 12 hours, all attacks, magical or otherwise, will miss. This potion may be overcome by gross differences in levels. Carries 8 charges.

Spiritweave effect:

Doubles both the duration and charges of this potion.

Foresight effect now applies to all other attacks not listed (long-distance slaying actions, smiting actions, etc.)

“So this makes a potion overpowered. Got it,” Theo said.

“Immunity to… smiting actions?” Salire said. Her mouth hung open, brows peaked. “How many potions are you going to craft that seem geared to killing gods, Theo?”

“Pairing this potion with a farsight potion is scary,” Theo said, nodding to himself. “Which one should we do next?”

Salire looked around the lab, checking that Theo’s aura still protected them. “Nothing? I don’t want to be smited. Smote? Smotten?”

“Then drink this,” Theo said, holding the potion out with a stupid smile on his face.

Salire took the bottle and drank the potion. “Not sure if I feel better.”

Theo swung at her face without warning. Salire shifted slightly to the side, completely evading the strike.

“Hey! Now I’m down a charge…”

“Fifteen more to go.”

Theo’s joking didn’t land, though. Salire was shaken by the implications of the potion, and displayed some distress after drinking it. The implications were staggering.

“New rule,” Theo said, placing a comforting hand on Salire’s shoulder. “This doesn’t leave the lab. I can’t stop Tresk from scanning my memories, but she won’t share it.”

“Yeah, good idea. Do the gods know about it?”

“Zaul and Khahar. Which has me wondering… Who planned what and what are the implications?”

“Please leave me out of the god fight. I had enough trouble when frogs were my worst enemy.”

“Fair enough.”

Although Theo understood that the concerns of the gods would come down to Broken Tusk soon enough. Once here, it would spread over the entire world. He had a reflexive desire to check in with the Wanderer. Under the effects of this new protection potion, of course. But he pushed that idea to the side, focusing on what he could use to help him now. As he considered which potion to use Shadow Wrap on, he got the feeling that the ability wasn’t as powerful as Spirit Weaving. There would be a lesser version of the Spiritwoven effect on the item. It was the discount version of the more powerful ability.

“Which potion should we test next?” Theo asked.

“I don’t know.”

Theo wasn’t stung by the plain response. Salire needed time to process, and he was happy to give it. After a moment, he snapped his fingers and smiled to himself. “What are we doing? The perfect candidate is the Hallow Ground potion. Right?”

Salire brightened up at that suggestion. Theo was reminded of a time when Rowan poisoned some children to get her mind off of something. She was a half-ogre that needed something to run at.

“Good idea,” she said, scampering off to dig through their stores of potions. “More than a third tier potion, I want to see if your scary ability works on modified potions. Hallow the Soil might make more sense for practical applications, but I’d like to see if it binds to modified potions.”

“Fair enough,” Theo said, smiling at his assistant. The potion she picked left an uncomfortable knot in his stomach.

“Holy has worked so far, so why not this?”

It was the Holy modified Hallow Ground potion. The potion that sent the souls of the dead to the imbiber’s deity's realm for judgment. Theo now felt like Salire felt moments ago. He took the potion and held it for a few moments. Not wanting to be a hypocrite, he activated the Shadow Wrap ability. A similar effect was produced from his palms. Ribbons of shadows burst forth, searching for something to bind themselves to. The silvery liquid within the vial took on bands of impossible shadow, sucking in all light from around them. He inspected the resulting potion.

[Hallow Ground Potion]

[Holy]

[Potion] [Modified Potion] [Shadow Wrapped Potion]

Epic

Created by: Theo Spencer

Alignment:

Drogramath (Minor Bond)

Grade: Excellent Quality

Drink to create a zone of denial.

Effect:

Imbiber creates a fifty pace circle around themselves with the [Holy Ground] effect. Undead, ghost, etc creatures may cross into the circle, but will be afflicted with the Holy Judgment effect.

If the imbiber of this potion is aligned with a deity, the souls of the dead will be sent to that realm to await judgment. The afflicted shell will be destroyed.

Shadow Wrapped Effect:

Souls that are guaranteed to refuse any offers made by the deity are cast into the void.

Doubles the size of the circle created by this potion.

“That’s something else,” Theo said, wallowing hard as he read the description a few times.