The Newt and Demon - Chapter 4.43 - The Garden Party

Sarisa and Rowan had worked closely with Xam to get the garden party going. They organized the catering, which was easy enough, but also decorated the area. A large table dominated the center of the space. Magical lights hung from the iron fence. There was even a Broken Tusker playing a strange, violin-like instrument at the far end of the manor’s garden. Like most things in the town, the music was rough and raucous. The people set to gather there were arriving as a trickle, moving into the space as the sun dipped lower in the sky.

The guest who stuck out among everyone was Bilgrob.That wasn’t a surprise. If anyone wanted to talk to the Priest of Spit, they needed a ladder. Fortunately, the Ogre was kind enough to kneel when someone spoke to him.

“You know the worst part about this stuff?” Tresk asked, muttering from Theo’s side. She seemed to want to be closer to him recently. He almost regretted letting those feelings enter his mind for the first time since he arrived. It bled through. “You gotta be all happy. Smile at everyone and whatever.”

“We don’t have enough gatherings like this.” Theo looked over at the crowd. He spotted Salire talking with Fenian.

“Jealousy?” Tresk asked. “Really!? Please don’t tell me you like Salire. What about old Tresk? Am I chopped… liver? Why is that saying in my head?”

“That’s an Earth saying. I am jealous. Because he’s going to steal away my future apprentice. Lure her in the same way he got Azrug.”

“Where is that spiky little bastard, anyway?”

“The administrative reports say he’s taken time off to level his other cores.”

Tresk wrapped her arms around Theo’s waist. It was all she could manage, since the top of her head barely came up to his belly button. “What day is it?”

“The 17th.”

“We got time, but we’ll have to plan the next festival.”

The southlands of Qavell celebrated at least one festival per season. Since each season was 70 days long, that left little time for celebrations. This little garden party was the perfect thing to break those long periods of nothing up. After seeing the way the guests talked with each other, all having a good time, he was interested in doing this more often. Tresk remained as an ornament while they mingled among the crowd. Sarisa kept the party as invitation-only, making it more manageable to talk.

The thing that excited Theo the most was that no one expected him to give a speech. He never captured the spirit of things when they forced him up on a podium. Instead, it was just a pleasant gathering with Xam’s amazing cooking. With the amount of mead the town imported from Rivers and Daub, the alchemist knew the brewers were getting rich.

Zarali was there with Xol’sa. The priestess had many theories about how she could create Drogramathi cores using the temple, but the wizard was interested in giving Theo a hard time. With his health improving, he went back to being the mother hen of magic. The alchemist wouldn’t blame him, though. There was a serious lack of mages in town, and it was only getting worse. The split between cores was weighed heavily out of favor for magic-users.

Much of Theo’s time at the party was spent being lectured by Xol’sa on the value of wizards. The alchemist’s prior experience with magic-users told a different tale, though. Uharis, as far as anyone knew, was still on the moon. Without his Burning Eye core, it was unlikely he’d return to the planet. But there was always that chance.

“Not to intrude,” Bilgrob said, approaching the conversation. It was hard for him to not intrude. He was massive. His eyes pierced Xol’sa for a long time before he continued. “I can feel the scars on your soul healing, Elf. I’m sorry we haven’t introduced ourselves yet.”

“You’re the talk of the town,” Xol’sa said, holding his mug up to toast the Ogre.

“The alchemist did a fine job patching your soul up,” Bilgrob said. Theo could sense the caution in his voice, although his intuition was barely a whisper. “I hate for this to be the first thing I say to you, but there are lingering problems.”

Zarali pulled Xol’sa close, a look of concern painting her face. Bilgrob sat on the ground, trying his best to be at eye-level with everyone. Tresk would have to sit on Theo’s shoulders to accomplish that, but she still went on her tippy-toes.

“What problems?”

“May I?” Bilgrob asked, a mote of green mana forming in his hand.

Xol’sa shared a look with Zarali. The Drogramathi Priestess nodded nervously.

The Ogre closed his eyes, then the ball of energy rushed into Xol’sa’s chest. He let out a surprised gasp, but there seemed to be no negative effects. Bilgrob mumbled something to himself, nodding along. Theo put together that the priest was looking at something within the elf, like a doctor looking over a report. When his eyes finally snapped open, he had a confused look on his face.

“Now that is strange,” Bilgrob said, rubbing his chin. He hoisted his barrel-tankard and took a long drink. “Where are you from?”

“I don’t really know.”

“He’s part of the Bara’thier,” Zarali answered.

“A catchall term for extra-dimensional creatures. Not at all specific enough.” Bilgrob turned, nodding at Theo. “I don’t think the alchemist knows what he did for you, wizard. But your soul is having trouble adjusting to this universe. Well, nothing a few treatments from me can’t help. May I?”

“Of course.”

A pulse of green magic flowed from the Ogre, wrapping itself around Xol’sa. It soaked into his skin, the markings on the Elf’s flesh flashing sympathetically for only a moment. Then it was gone.

“What in the realms does that mean?” Xol’sa asked. “‘Rats will be more likely to bite your toes’, what did you do?”

“Ah, well,” Bilgrob started. “My patron works in strange ways. When I heal people, he leaves behind a gift.”

Theo and Tresk removed themselves from the situation before it got ugly. Xol’sa was logical enough to understand that the Ogre’s healing came at a cost. But the rest of the party didn’t seem to care about that little corner of the garden. It went on for hours. Far later into the night than the alchemist was normally comfortable staying up. His stamina bar drained as the night went on, but it was easy. He didn’t need to entertain the people there, allowing him to enjoy the night.

When people cleared out from the garden, some simply entered the manor for rest, Tresk, Theo, and Alex made their way to the bedroom. The alchemist thanked Sarisa and Rowan for an excellent party and headed straight for the Dreamwalk. The room swirled, then they were standing in a sterile room. Grated floors below them and metal walls on every side. A small table sat in the center of the room. The only door leading into the room slid open, a dark figure stepping through.

Raven black hair, cascading over pale shoulders. A figure walked into the room and Theo panicked. Injecting his will into the Dreamwalk, he sent them flying far away. Out onto the coast of South America, where trees lay on their sides. A wasteland to fight away that image. The ghostly form of the Harbinger standing over the corpses of his old squad. Temporary friends in the last breaths of a dying world.

“Don’t do that,” Theo said, balling his fists at his side.

“I didn’t do a damn thing!” Tresk shouted. “You steered us on the way in.”

Theo looked down at Yuri’s body, covered in that comfortable environmental suit. The Harbinger stood over them all, looking down with his bird-like features. The alchemist realized what had happened. But today wasn’t the day to confront old ghosts. She wasn’t even real. That was just a memory—a sad recreation from a life long dead.

“Sorry. I thought you were probing my thoughts.”

“I’m always probing your thoughts. Which is why I’d never make you relive that. Come on, dude. Who do you think I am?”

I am here, also.

“And we love you for it, Alex. You’re the best goose.”

“Thank you.”

Tresk wrapped her arms around Theo. She squeezed him tightly. “This is why we always pick a place near Broken Tusk to hang out in the Dreamwalk. He doesn’t enjoy reliving that stuff. Anyway,” She flicked her hand and the scene shifted. Back to the garden party. Bilgrob sat on the ground, the scene frozen in time. “What do you think about the Ogre guy?”

Theo took a deep breath. “He’s nice. I can’t feel any bad intentions from him.”

“Yeah, I like him. I’d never let him heal me, but he’s cool.”

Theo shook off the feelings of uncertainty. A smile spread across his face as he stooped low, scooping up Tresk and pulling her into a hug. “I’m going to work with Alex tonight. Help her with the nature aspect while I refine my new alchemy process.”

Tresk gasped for air. “An alchemy pun? While you’re crushing me?”

“Let me crush you for just a little longer.”

The Marshling groaned, but offered no further resistance. When they were done hugging it out, she ran off to fight some monsters. Her technique for the rapier was developing, even if it was slow. Theo wondered if Fenian had any genuine interest in helping her learn the blade, or if this was another one of his selfish endeavors. It hardly mattered to Tresk. She’d figure out the best way to use the weapon no matter what. And she had the perfect place to practice.

Theo made notes for his book in his administration interface while he worked with Alex. They found a pleasant spot just outside of the manor’s garden for her to practice her nature affinity abilities. He was convinced that if she understood how her powers worked ‌she’d get an idea of how to cultivate new powers.

There was something about Belgar’s third tier process that struck Theo as strange. He considered that it might have been his insight, giving him clues for the fourth tier process. But the way the alcohol helped properties bind during the distillation process seemed strange. It felt like a temporary solution to a wider problem, almost as though he was emulating something bigger. He worked on variations of the alcohol brewing method, desperate to improve on the process.

Falling into his work was an easy way to forget all of the problems he faced. The shining jewel of the entire thing was that it was getting better. They had a handle on the undead problem, even if it was frightening to consider how close those things were. Ziz and his guys would work on the weird underwater tower soon enough. After that, they’d have a monorail heading off to Rivers and Daub, and Gronro-dir. This was the most proactive time since he took over the town.

Alex made some progress with her nature aspect, but Theo could feel she was missing something. As a growing goose, she’d need to put everything she had into learning about herself. That wasn’t a thought the alchemist expected to have, but stranger things had happened in the town. By the end of the Dreamwalk, he had made little progress on improving Belgar’s third tier distillation technique. He had seen some areas to improve, but those were mostly time-saving measures.

“Alright,” Tresk said, clapping her hands together. Theo and Alex had hardly moved from their spot. The Marshling was covered in blood and viscera. “Time to go. Dawn is approaching and… yeah, Sarisa and Rowan are coming up with tea.”

Theo shook his head. “You’re so much better at that than me.”

“Yeah. I’m a dreamer.”

The scene swirled, sending the group back into the real world. Theo sat up in his bed, looking over at Tresk. “How far away from our bodies can you see when we’re in the Dreamwalk?”

Tresk shrugged, tilting her head back and forth. “Uh… Not that far. It’s more of a general sense.”

Weird. Alex honked, removing herself from her comfortable goose box.

Breakfast was pleasant enough. Most of the guests who had attended the party—the ones who remained in the manor—were hung over. That resulted in a delightfully silent breakfast, leaving Theo to write notes on his developing instruction book. Once they were done there, Tresk went off for patrol duty. Alex and Theo had a brief meeting with Alise and the administration staff. The only thing of note was the merchant fleet departing. One boat was bound for the southern lizard islands, while two others were heading off to Tarantham.

Alise wanted to write those two boats off as losses, but it seemed too nihilistic for Theo. The Elves were confident enough in their abilities that they should come back in one piece. The administrators had to go through Tarantham law to determine the validity of the rescue. So long as they didn’t engage directly with the empire’s military, it was within the law to smuggle more members of House Wavecrest out.

After an incredibly boring meeting, Theo was excited about getting to the lab. Salire was waiting for him, bouncing excitedly in yet another floral-patterned sundress. They went over the pending orders before heading up to the lab.

“Shockingly, people don’t seem to care about the new potions,” Salire said with a shrug. She had drawn up all the new orders, but even as she tried to sell them people were interested in tier 2 potions more.

“They’re familiar with the second tier potions. We aren’t making as big of advances as normal, so that’s a problem.”

“Ah! I have an idea.” Salire seemed excited about this idea of hers. “Let’s make some attribute potions. They’re going to go nuts for those.”

Attribute potions had always been a big hit. Theo and Salire discussed the best attribute potions to start with. Unsurprisingly, that resulted in them setting up the stills to create strength, dexterity, and vigor potions. At least the budding alchemist could start with a run of the Zee-based alcohol. That left the alchemist to work on his book, reading out parts to make sure they were understandable.

“What better way to make sure the book makes sense?” Theo asked, watching as Salire did her work. While he knew she was responsible, it was best to keep an eye out. Especially as they drew closer to the brewing phase.

“No better way. No sir,” Salire said, stirring the mash. “If things don’t work out with the alchemy, you could always just make spirits.”

Theo looked up from his book. “You’d go blind drinking that. Please don’t drink our alchemy liquor.”

“I mean. I might have had a sip.” She flashed a knowing grin.

The alchemist returned to his book, adding a footnote with a warning about drinking the Zee liquor. “I might have snuck a few sips.”

“I knew you weren’t humorless, Theo.”

“Just mostly humorless.”

Late in the afternoon, Theo and Salire had created three distinct enchanted dilutions. One for each of the physical attributes. They had also made progress on the book, edging it closer to a completed state by the day. Once he was done with the body of the book, he’d pass it off to her for proofreading. It didn’t matter if there were grammatical mistakes in the text. But errors related to Drogramathi alchemy could be deadly. He aimed to plug those quickly.

The remainder of the day was consumed with brewing their new essences. As with the restoration potions they had tested before, the resulting essences were not an acceptable quality. Even with the small changes Theo made, they were missing part of the process. He hadn’t returned to Tero’gal today, and continued to put it off. It was a day of learning for Salire, and he didn’t want to miss it.

Theo clapped his hands together. “Right. Create a few of your fancy vials for me. We’ll brew a small batch before the day is done.”

Honk!

“Not you, Alex. I was talking to Salire. We’ll start with vigor.”

There was no sense in creating a small batch of these potions. People would buy anything that enhanced their attributes. Even if the potions were only one point better than the older ones, everyone would fall over themselves to get at it. As with last time, the potion was temperamental. The alchemist focused on mixing the essence, careful not to jostle the vial as he worked. It was a violent reaction, right on the edge of an explosion, but it stayed stable enough to produce a usable potion.

Theo ran his finger up the side of the fancy vial, studying the glowing yellow liquid within. He inspected the new potion, unsurprised at how superior it was to the old version.

[Greater Vigor Potion]

[Potion]

Common

Created by: Theo Spencer

Grade: Good Quality

Alignment:

Drogramath (Middling Bond)

Drink to enhance vigor.

Effect:

+19 Vigor for 2 hours.

“Significantly better,” Salire said, studying the potion. “Imagine binding it with a dilution modifier. How good would that be?”

Theo turned, smiling at his assistant. “You’re talking like an alchemist. Yeah, we should make a batch of modified tier 3 potions. I guess it’s a good time for a test. What should we be concerned about?”

As the alchemist turned away from the [Greater Vigor Potion], Salire considered the question. He got to work on the next two potions, combining the ingredients at the same time. Both reactions were more than a hair unstable, but they held together. The way to know if a reaction was horrible was the final grade on a potion.

Unsurprisingly, both the [Greater Dexterity Potion] and the [Greater Strength Potion] were copies of the [Greater Vigor Potion]. They were on the edge of making a potion that sent someone two tiers above where they were in terms of attributes. It was hard not to think about the implications of the potions.

“Are these potions dangerous, yet?” Theo asked, holding the glittering vial of red liquid in his hand.

“Ah. Forgot about your rules. Doesn’t seem too dangerous to me. Uh, what do you think?”

Theo shrugged. “I’ve already given out attribute potions that rival the best. Why not make it absurd?”

“Yeah! That’s the spirit!”