The Newt and Demon

This was Theo’s first big distillation run since he filled Fenian’s order. He looked at the 3,000 reagents in his inventory and smiled. He improved the process, thanks to the artifices and his new still, to a point where he was confident he could process 2,000 units in a single day. The labor that he removed was the grinding of reagents, a step in the brewing process he would never miss. The [Alchemical Grinder Artifices] removed that stage entirely, easily chewing through hundreds of units of reagents in a heartbeat.

Theo positioned his grinder over the [Drogramath Still], feeding 500 units of the [Spiny Swamp Thistle Root] in and listening to the satisfying whirring sound. He topped it off with [Purified Water], set the [Flame Artifice] to the lowest setting, and moved on to his two smaller stills. The alchemist repeated the same process on the 200 unit stills, setting them all to the lowest setting on the artifice and turning his attention to the [Healing Essence] he had stored in his inventory.

The bell rang downstairs, followed closely by Azrug’s booming voice. His new confidence was an inspiration, spurring Theo on to process as many [Lesser Healing Potions] as he could. He noted another step of inefficiency in his process as he generated several hundred flat-bottomed vials. His [Glassware Artifice] would deposit the vials directly into his inventory, but he had to remove them and set up the reaction by hand. The part of the reaction that he cheated on was the reaction itself. His intuition told him this was something specific to Drogramath alchemy, where he could set off a large-scale reaction in a big flask.

Theo set off a series of 100-unit reactions, creating five flasks of bubbling red healing potions. He dispensed all 500 units of the excellent quality [Lesser Healing Potions] into individual vials. During the process, which the alchemist estimated to have taken half an hour, the bell rang several times downstairs. Each time, Azrug’s voice carried up the stairs for a few minutes before the bell rang again. He swapped the flasks from the still’s condenser before going downstairs to hand over the new potions.

“I’ve made a few more sales,” Azrug said, beaming from behind the counter.

Theo noticed that the young man didn’t have his book out today. There was an aura around him that exuded excitement.

“Out of towners?” Theo asked.

“Yeah, adventurers,” Azrug said. “They’re mostly interested in restoration potions—they’re all very surprised we have lesser potions.”

“Right. I have a few more to add to your stock,” Theo said, crowding the shelves with the 500 [Lesser Healing Potions].

Theo took a moment to think about the flood of new adventurers. He looked back on his memory, finding that at least four of them came to the shop today. It was a good thing he bought the rights to the [Swamp Dungeon]. He was uncertain about the implications of someone coming in and buying it from under his nose, although he suspected they needed to be the mayor of an adjoining town to do that. His thoughts on the matter concluded with the inevitability of it all. Broken Tusk had at least three dungeons nearby. The information was finally spreading wide enough to see that flood of adventurers they expected.

“How long should I run the shop each day?” Azrug asked, breaking Theo out of his thoughts.

“That’s up to you, now,” Theo said. The alchemist summoned the interface for the Newt and Demon, flicking through the menus until he found something he’d missed before. Buried in the ownership tab, he found a section where he could assign a shopkeeper. He mentally gave Azrug that position and the building shifted under their feet. A small key appeared in the Half-Ogre’s hands and the door at the top of the stairs rattled. When he went to inspect the upstairs door, it now had a lock and key.

“That works,” Azrug said. “You’re giving a kid a lot of responsibility.”

“Is it a responsibility you don’t want?” Theo asked, cocking an eyebrow.

“It’s a bit much,” Azrug said. The excited sheen on his face faded a little.

Theo clapped his hand over the shopkeeper’s shoulder and smiled. His tail swept the floor, the excitement of possibility building. “I’m here to support you, but the shop is yours to run. You’re already better at dealing with customers, so it just makes sense. The cores you got seal the deal—I was told you only get specific cores if you’re really driven to do something.”

“That’s true,” Azrug said, brightening up.

“Keep your old hours, or change them depending on how busy things are,” Theo said. “You’ll get an inventory power, eventually. Carry some potions around with you and go looking for the adventurers. Just play it by ear and know there’s no wrong move.”

Azrug smiled sheepishly. “Thanks, Theo.”

“What? No more ‘boss’?” Theo asked.

“Maybe mayor,” Azrug said. “But not boss.”

Theo nodded, then something tingled in his mind. He waved to the shopkeeper and darted upstairs in time to find his flasks almost overflowing. He swapped them out and took a seat near the window, withdrawing a parchment he hadn’t looked at in a while. It was the basis of the alchemy book he intended to write, something to distill the confusing Drogramath alchemy book that Fenian gave him. His concentration broke after the bell rang downstairs, joined by no boisterous speeches from Azrug. The Half-Ogre came up the stairs, poking his head up and grimacing.

“People are lined up outside,” Azrug said. “Coming to pay rent.”

“Well, I should have expected that,” Theo said, joining his shopkeeper downstairs. “We need a better system for this.”

A line stretched out the door and up the road. Theo instructed Azrug to collect the money, keeping no formal list of what everyone actually owed. The alchemist didn’t care if they could pay their rent, whatever that actually meant. It was money that went straight to the capital. Money that the alchemist would prefer to stay within the confines of Broken Tusk’s walls. Half the citizens were short on their rent, half of that number coming empty-handed. The two to five copper coins they owed were nothing. He waved them away without accepting apologies.

Theo urged the crowd to stick around before leaving, addressing them all on the street outside. “I want to make something clear,” Theo said. “I have no ill will to Qavell, or the administration in the capital. Broken Tusk owes them for the planting of the seed town core. That being said, I don’t expect anyone to pay rent if they can’t. If you can’t find the money for the week, you don’t even have to tell me. I’ll foot the bill. It’s not a problem.”

“Good, I’m broke,” Miana said, garnering a wave of laughter from the group.

“For the sake of transparency, we owe less than a silver coin this week,” Theo said, shrugging. It was an incredibly insignificant sum of money to him. He reflected, for a moment, how far he’d come since he arrived in Broken Tusk. He summoned his mayor interface and flagged every plot of land as paid.

“That’s very selfless of you, Theo,” Aarok said from the crowd.

“Not really,” Theo said. He was being honest. “The only thing I ask is the same ‌charity for your neighbors. If someone is struggling, don’t let them suffer in silence. Speak up, and we’ll work together to solve their problem.”

“We could really use better lodgings,” a Half-Ogre named Oruk, a man who had labored for Theo in the past, said.

“Houses, right,” Theo said. “Almost everything in Broken Tusk is manually built. Alright, it’s on my list. I’ll purchase a few house seed cores when Fenian is back in town. I have five left, but I’m selling those to adventurers.”

A murmur of approval washed through the crowd, smiles spreading across every face. Theo couldn’t help but join them, watching with excitement as they dispersed. The alchemist and Azrug retreated into the Newt and Demon.

“What’s the plan there?” Azrug asked.

Theo shrugged. It looked like a benevolent act, but it was a practical approach. The rents they owed were so small, it wasn’t worth chasing them down for the money. Providing houses for free would reduce the chance of disease spreading and people getting sick from shoddy roofs. “It’s the most practical approach,” Theo said, boiling it down to the core of his thoughts. “The rent is tiny, so who cares? The house seed cores are cheap enough—seems like something we should have already.”

“You can admit that you’re just a nice guy. You know that, right?” Azrug asked.

“I won’t deny it, anyway,” Theo said. “Think of it this way. The stronger Broken Tusk is, the stronger we are. We’re all links in a chain. Part of a cycle that generates money.”

“I like money,” Azrug said, beaming.

“Me too.”

Theo went back upstairs, consulting his mayor interface to see how many occupied plots of lands didn’t have house seed cores. 20 houses needed to be replaced with seed cores. That would cost him 4 gold coins, assuming Fenian kept his old rate. This posed a serious problem for his current strategy, cutting into his defense fund significantly. The alchemist looked over his stills, bubbling away, and nodded to himself. He’d need to make a lot more potions if he wanted to fund the town.

The first prediction of the day was that he’d distill around 2,000 units of essence, getting to the other 1,000 tomorrow. Theo’s dire need for money pushed him beyond what he expected to accomplish, distilling every unit of restoration potion and bottling them all. It was an absurd amount of work to do in a day, forcing him to pop a [Lesser Stamina Potion] somewhere around midday and make a trip to the river to fill and purify his water barrels.

Theo wiped sweat from his brow, going downstairs to check on Azrug. Another adventurer just left the shop and there was a pile of silver and copper coins sitting on the counter.

“I’m done for the day,” Azrug said. “Here’s the take.”

Theo took the coins into his inventory. He raised an eyebrow when he saw the amount. Azrug made the shop 55 silver, 20 copper today. “Where did these adventurer’s come from?”

“I was talking to one of them,” Azrug said, smiling. “They heard about the alchemy shop sometime last week, but it took them a while to organize. Once that other adventurer—Jarson—got back to Qavell, it spread like wildfire.”

“That makes sense,” Theo said. “It’s a bit of a journey back to the capital.”

Theo withdrew 6 silver coins from his inventory, handing it over to the shopkeeper. “Just a little more than your usual two copper, huh?”

Azrug’s eyes lit up. He took the coins, the light in his eyes fading. “What am I going to do with all this money? This is more money than I’ve seen in one place at one time.”

“Well, you have cores now,” Theo said. “So you’ll be trying to buy other cores to upgrade yours. There’s also your seed core house, which I’ll buy the next time Fenian is in town. It would be nice if those who could afford to help did so.”

“Right… more expenses,” Azrug said.

Tresk returned shortly after Azrug departed for the day. She hit level 11 in both her cores, something that surprised Theo. She explained that when she was sneaking through the dungeon, she employed her tracking core’s abilities to find enemies. This constant use of her skill ‌made it shoot up so much. Compared to the alchemist’s herbalism core, it was very easy to get experience with.

“What are those?” Theo asked, pointing at her boots. They were new and carried a shimmer that he hadn’t seen before.

“Oh yeah!” Tresk said, posing with her new boots. “I got them from the dungeon. Tenth level boss finally dropped something decent. Leather boots that make me better at sneaking.”

Theo inspected them closer, nodding his approval. He looked at his own tattered clothes, something he’d put by the wayside for a long time. Every turn he took led him away from getting decent gear for himself, but he didn’t mind. Where Tresk’s life depended on decent gear, his equipment didn’t. He could brew potions all day in his underwear and it wouldn’t matter.

[Marsh Stompers]

[Leather Boots]

Rare

Enchanted leather boots.

Effect:

Increases the effectiveness of stealth abilities.

[Effect Locked]

[Effect Locked]

“Why does it have two locked effects?” Theo asked.

“That happens sometimes,” Tresk said, waving a dismissive hand. “Equipment generated by a dungeon can come with a locked effect. You need a [Loremaster] to identify the effects—there’s usually some story behind the boots that unlocks.”

Theo scratched his chin, tilting his head. “That sounds like a business opportunity.”

“Speaking of, I still need to figure out what my third core is going to be,” Tresk said. “I need to talk with those foreign adventures. They’ll have some good pairings.”

They settled in for a quiet night, eating their food and discussing small topics. Tresk was confident she could solo the fifteenth floor, but Theo was unsure. He knew little about adventuring, but it seemed like a risky thing for a sneaking class to do solo. He would defer to her judgment, even if he complained about it.

Despite taking a [Lesser Stamina Potion], Tresk fell asleep ‌quickly. Theo was left with his thoughts for a while, replaying the day in his head and making plans for the future. His immediate goals were centered on upgrading the town to level 15 and getting the new defenses, but he couldn’t stop thinking about level 10. Once he reached 10 in his [Drogramath Alchemy Core], he knew things would change. The alchemist would have access to more powerful potions, but his superior intuition told him it would come at a cost. Recipes were going to be more complex than the simple mashes he’d been doing.

Sleep found him, after a while, and he drifted off. The comfort of his absurdly luxurious bed helped a lot.