Her attempted diversion worked as intended, mostly. Under the accusatory look she got back from Bolst, her sudden enthusiasm for deflecting the blame withered. But done was done and now all eyes but Ortik’s were focused on someone else. So, Kori counted it as a win. With a shake of his head, Ortik turned his attention where she had tried to direct it before demanding an answer. “I don’t care who’s fault it is, for now, but I still don’t know what the scale is going on.” He glared at Bolst, “Why the scale is everyone running around like you’re trying to poison half the clan again?”
“Well, the good news Chief, no poison involved this time.” Bolst grinned as he tried to make light of the situation, the return glare telling him all he needed to know on if he’d succeeded or not. “The uhh… The bad news. Well… You know how your ap… Former apprentice… Made a much better healing product when she applied mana to your herbs?” His attempt to hedge around the topic instead of just outright saying it only seemed to make things worse. At least until Ortik’s eyes went wide when he parsed out what he was saying about Kori’s feat of improving a concoction with mana.
“Damnit Bolst… Which one of your little experiments did you let her work on?” A defeated note in his voice accompanying Ortik’s hand slowly rubbing the bridge of his muzzle between his eyes.
“She ran out of the luminous moss, since someone taught her to ask for help.” Trying to get at least a little jab in where he could, “So I had her help producing some flame liquor for the traps.” Most of the assembled kobolds didn’t really react to that, unfamiliar with the product or not understanding how Kori’s making a salve related. Ortik and Ylst having a better understanding of mana, and Ylst having seen the flasks, both go wide eyed at the implications.
Ylst spoke up before anyone else had a chance to, “All this for those 4 little flasks? Sure, their fire mana was pretty potent and I’m sure they’re dangerous. But they weren’t enough to panic over.”
Kori’s lack of tact led her to put her foot back in her mouth once again as she answered Ylst. “Oh no, those aren’t the problem. Those were the small testing batch we made second. I made a batch of the liquor the first time.” Pointing behind herself to the stone door, “still in there.”
Several of the Elders recalling the reaction when a certain barrel was rolled out of the testing room and lacking context on what a full batch entailed, quickly blanche at the prospect and had sudden difficulty in swallowing that lump in their throats.
Bolst, seeing things going worse and worse every time Kori joined the conversation, looked to Kori and said, “Why don’t I take over and fill them in Kori.” Getting a shrug in response he continued on, trying to salvage the situation with the group. “While she was producing what we normally consider a small batch of the liquor, a little more than a litre, her imbue Skill kicked in and the result was…” He paused a moment to find a word other than ‘horrifying’, finally settling on the simpler, “Volatile.”
Ylst gasped, suddenly realizing the nature of what was going on, “You made a of that stuff?” She backed away from the door slightly as she spoke. “Why the scale did you make more of it if you already had that much?”
Kori almost broke in with her own answer, only to feel a hand had settled on her shoulder. She looked to the side and saw that it was Kora. Her senior gave her a slight shake of the head to tell her to stay quiet.
“Because, the substance seems to react to the air. It well… It self ignites when exposed…” The stares slowly whittling down his usual confidence. “Once we sealed the first batch, none of us were willing to re-open it to try to extract a sample. So, I had her redo the experiment and reproduce the results, on a smaller scale for safer testing…”
Ortik glared at Ylst before she could interpose her question once again before speaking up himself. “I want to go back to an earlier point; you specifically said her ‘imbue’ Skill kicked in.” He turned to face his once apprentice, “Please elaborate.”
Once again, the center of attention; Kori tries to shrink back from the crowd only to find Kora’s hand still on her shoulder. Looking towards the woman she found an encouraging smile and an offer of silent support. With just a bit of her usual enthusiasm returning, she turned her attention back to Ortik to give her response. “I finally got the skill! It’s called [Imbue Concoction] and it lets me enhance anything considered a ‘concoction’. It’s pretty vague on what counts as one though.” Before anyone can interrupt her, she continues on, “You were totally right Spiritcaller Ortik, I must have been right on the edge of the skill from all the work with the ointment. I just needed to make something new to push it over.”
Giving her a pleased look accompanied by an exasperated sigh in response to her revelation. “Well done, Kori. Now Bolst, you said a small-scale test. How bad is it?” Ortik cuts back to the matter at hand now that his question had been answered.
“We made a batch at one fifth scale and bottled them in four fifty millilitre flasks.” He’s interrupted before he can continue his explanation.
“Four? But she still had four when I arrived?” Ylst gives him a confused look, “Have you set off all this panic without even testing?”
Putting on a bit of an offended look, Bolst answers like she’d just asked an incredibly stupid question, “No. Of course we tested it.” Shaking his head that she’d think he was the hatchling that cried cave in. “The recipe makes a little more than a full litre. There was around ten milliliters left over after bottling. We tested that.”
“Ten mil, that’s all this is about? How bad could ten mil have been that you created a panic like this?”
“Do you want to see what just ten mil of the stuff did?” Bolst nearing the end of his patience hollers at her. “Blonc, I need two of your men. Whoever’s got a strong back and a good grip. I’ll show you why I caused ‘a panic’ over ten mil.”
After a pair of soldiers were waved off to join him, and a brief argument at the door to let them all in, Bolst disappeared behind the heavy stone door. With the primary target of their attention no longer present, and Kora having mostly stayed to the background so far, Kori quickly found herself at the center of things once more.
Supressing the frown she’d worn since Bolst rebuked her, Ylst turns to Kori. “So, this imbue Skill. What else do you know so far? What’s it’s description?”
Quickly pulling up her status, Kori grabbed just the description, not wanting a repeat of the earlier reaction to her stats, and sent it to those assembled.
Imbue Concoction Tier 1, Rare
Allows mana to be imbued directly into a concoction during the final steps of the creation process in order to enhance and alter its effects. Results determined by the process used, quality of the ingredients, and level of this skill.
Concoction may be overcharged at the cost of additional mana. Success rate of producing an overcharged concoction is determined by the quality of the concoction and level of this skill.
While the others all read through her new Skill, Kori felt it necessary to add a detail that was missing from the description. “The overcharge bit, it’s really bad if it fails. Like blow up in my face bad.” Nodding to herself about her conclusion from how the skill felt.
“Well, at least we know what it is now.” Ortik replied as he finished reading the Skill. “Now if only we could figure out how you got it…”
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
Kori, not one to abide an unanswered question, even if it wasn’t one of her own. Interjected her opinion on the matter “I’ve been thinking about that. I didn’t learn [Mana Sense] until the inscriptionists tricked me with the slime ichor and I didn’t get control until I made my first imbued ointment.” Giving the others a moment to try and put those together. When no one made any comment that they reached the conclusion she wanted them to she continued. “What if imbue is because I learned with concoctions, not with the normal mana haze stuff?”
Both Ylst and Ortik looked at her like she’d grown an extra tail, clearly not accepting her theory. But before either of them could ask any other questions, the stone door slowly opened and the pair of soldiers marched out. They were carrying a familiarly deformed metal table between the pair of them, which Bolst directed them to place down next to the group. As they got closer Kori could see the expected divot in the surface of the table, a table that was over a centimeter thick solid metal.
“This,” Pointing to the table, “This is what a mere ten mil of the stuff did…” All of those gathered paled at the sight of the crater left behind, deep enough for Blonc to sink his armoured fist into. “And these two,” Gesturing at the guards next to him, “Just verified that we’ve got an entire pitcher of the stuff sitting in there…” As attention shifted to the guards everyone noticed that their hands were unsteady and their eyes were wide in dread. After everything else, no one needed to see their nod to verify what Bolst had said.
Ortik mumbled out his reply as though all thought had left him, “That’s… That’s not good…”
“No, no it isn’t, Chief. That’s why we have to test the ones we have to try and find out just how bad it is.” Waving over to towards the testing hall, “We’ve got four vials of the stuff over there. If we’re done yelling at each other, I’d really like to get to figuring out just how much of a scale blasted fool I am for telling her to imbue that stuff.” Clearly frustrated with the situation, he let slip a few choice words.
Clearly just wanting this to be done with, Ortik heaved a sigh before responding, “Fine. This is your mess, what do you need to help clean it up?”
Giving him a nod in return for his deferring to Bolst’s expertise, “First thing, we need a better idea of what it is. Har, can you appraise the vials?”
Har, having stayed out of the conversation as he had nothing to offer up to this point gives a quick reply, “You do know I have to touch them to do that, right?”
Kori was unsure if the others knew that Bolst had the [Appraisal] Skill, but instead of saying anything about it, he just gave Har a nod before replying himself. “Yes. Ylst, can you have a mage use your shield spell to protect him while he’s in the testing room?”
Several of her mages stepped forward as though to volunteer before Ylst waved them off. “If something goes wrong there’ll be no time to react. I’m the only one with flash-cast and using a water barrier seems like the best idea. I’ll do it myself.”
After a few words between the pair, mostly consisting of Ylst telling Har to run as fast as his ‘stubby little legs’ could take him if he saw so much as a spark, they were slowly walking into the room. Before they left sight, Kori watched as mana gathered and Ylst invoked a spell as a blue barrier formed ahead of her. It looked very similar to Ortik’s demonstration, though where his were opaque and colourless, hers looked like a shimmering sheet of water held in the shape of a large shield. Clearly, she wanted to be prepared.
Within a minute of the pair entering the hall Har came out walking at a more relaxed pace than when he had entered. He was followed by Ylst slowly backing out without ever turning her back on the room, the shield interposed between herself and its contents at all times.
The smile on Har’s face was plain to see and several tensed shoulders seem to relax a bit as he got closer to them. Clearly he was already calculating profits, one of the few things that could cause Har to smile like that, aside from Tuli that is.
“Well?”
“Basic flame flask, I’ve seen them before and they’re not cheap. Some adventurers use em to whittle down large groups or soften up a particularly nasty beast. They’re always in demand and Whatzakt imports all of em they get, so we can undercut them and rake in the coin!” He continued to smile at the thoughts of coins as he shared the appraisal.
Basic Flame Flask Tier 1, Common
This Alchemical concoction of viscous liquid will coat a limited area around the point of impact with its contents when thrown. Exposing the contents to air causes it to ignite and produce an explosive burst of flame.
This concoction has reduced efficacy due to improper bottling. Due to the sturdiness of the vessel, impact may fail to shatter the container and cause the concoction to become unstable.
After giving them a chance to read through the description he throws out a second one, “Oh, but all of them weren’t the same. Looks like one of them turned out a bit better than the rest.”
Basic Flame Flask Tier 1, Uncommon
This Alchemical concoction of viscous liquid will coat a limited area around the point of impact with its contents when thrown. Exposing the contents to air causes it to ignite and produce a powerful explosive burst of flame.
This concoction has reduced efficacy due to improper bottling. Due to the sturdiness of the vessel, impact may fail to shatter the container and cause the concoction to become unstable.
“That all ya needed me for? I’m a busy kobold, got a shipment of stone to get ready to go and Tuli’s waiting for me to come collect.” The wink he gave to punctuate his sentence recalled a brief image of the last time Kori saw Har and Tuli together in her mind causing her to blush. Normally not an easy thing to see on a red scaled kobold, but somehow going by the knowing grins she saw on the others, they still did.
“Wait. Still got the big one to do.” Bolst piped in before Har could scurry off.
“We know what the little ones are, just you know, extrapolate…” A pleading look entered his eyes as he turned to Ortik hoping for a way out, “Please?”
“Gotta agree with Bolst on this one. Sorry Har.” Replied Ortik to his reticent friend.
“Just a quick in and out Har, poke it at the bottom, definitely not anywhere near the lid, then you can go see Tuli.” Bolst tries to soothe his nerves and get him moving.
Giving Ortik a hard stare at his apparent betrayal. “That’s it. When this is said and done, you’re taking [Merchants Apprentice] and I’m walking you through every warehouse I can access in Whatzakt until you’ve got at least a maxed-out tier two [Appraisal].” He turns to the rest of them, “The rest of you too! “Panning his view across the other Elders before he paused at Blonc, “Except you…”
A look like he was about to argue his exclusion came across Blonc face, until several of the others all stared at him and he closed his mouth with a snap before giving them sullen glares and mumbling something about it only being ‘one little tavern brawl’.
Bolst waved off Ylst from joining them, her barrier a bit too flashy for the confines of a lab, before Har and he ventured into the lab. Less than two minutes after they had departed, a few things happen. The first, was that Kori noticed the little blinking light of a notification. The second, just a few moments after the notification, was the door pulling open just wide enough for a kobold to squeeze through and then Har sprinting out faster than Kori had ever seen a kobold move in her life. Each of his strides covered ground faster than should be possible.
He didn’t even come to a stop when he reached the group of Elders, simply sharing the system description as he continued his mad dash across the chamber. All the assembled kobolds could hear from the man as he passed was, “Nope! Scale that! Not my problem.”
The lot of them moved a bit further away from the entrance to the lab as they looked at the description shared by the already out of sight merchant.
Unstable Massive Flame Flask Tier 1, Unique
This alchemical monstrosity is similar to the basic flame flask, the viscous liquid will cling to surfaces on contact and self-ignite when exposed to open air. The increased volume and mana density in this concoction will amplify the effects of the reaction significantly in comparison to the standard flame flask.
WARNING: This concoction has been exposed to air during the creation process, it has become unstable.
The more of the description the group read, the larger the gap between the group and the door seemed to grow.
With the spectacle of Har’s departure ended and the Elders all sharing wide eyed stares back and forth from each other and the description hanging in front of them, Kori decided it was a good time to check out why she had suddenly gotten a notification.
<
Kori’s eyes widened, though at a glance none would suspect the reason differed from those around her as she pokes the titles with her usual mental ‘’ pulling up their details.
Crafter of Curiosities, Tier 1, RareA crafter who has succeeded in creating a Unique Tier one item. Whether through sheer determination or complete happenstance, you have succeeded where many others fail. Unique may be a boon or a bane when it comes to items, they are seldom easy to place on a grading of quality and are often unpredictable.
This title grants increased Skill growth for tier one crafting skills and may improve quality of next class ascension for crafting classes. Grants +3 Serendipity.
Unique Prodigy, Epic You have proven yourself a prodigy of the crafting world, whether an event of serendipitous fortune or the culmination of a generation’s labours, you have crafted a unique item prior to unlocking your tier one class.
This title grants increased Skill growth for crafting skills and will improve the quality of the next crafting class attained. Grants +3 to all Ability Scores.
Not noticing that the commotion around her from the description of the flame flask had died down while Kori read and reread her new titles over and over again, and giving no consideration to the situation, she let out a bellowing “That is awesome!” Drawing all eyes to herself as several of the Elders seem to take her enthusiasm to be for the destructive threat still waiting in the lab and began to glare at her.