Excerpt from Potion Brewing Time by Mord Bart (Alchemist)
Potion time of brewing increases with each tier involved, up to Tier 7. For example, a Tier 1 potion will take approximately 1 minute to brew, depending on the specific ingredients. A Tier 2 potion will usually take 2 minutes on top of any existing brewing time. And Tier 3 potions will need at least 6 minutes to brew. As you can see, the pattern increases in length for each tier. These times are in addition to any cooking time needed for individual ingredients within the potion.
These are estimates, with each potion having minor variations depending on the ingredients involved. But the basic guidelines help you plan your potion making.
It may be possible to decrease these times with essence control or by having a compatible essence type with the potion you are making. A water essence user with good control will make it quicker and easier to make a water potion than a fire essence user with poor control.
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Drak peered at the two vials that Jake had told him to combine and felt a quiet sort of panic. He’d mentioned to his partner already that his practical alchemy skills may be a little less than Jake’s, but he realised that maybe he’d overstated it even then.
He had no idea what to do.
He glanced over to where Jake was peering into a mixing glass, stirring it periodically with a glass stirrer. Did he admit that he had no idea how to correctly combine these two things? Or just try it and hope for the best.
“How’s it going?” Ell asked. He was sitting on a bench at the far side of the workshop, reading a newspaper.
Drak gave him a smile that was all bluster and bullshit. “Great, just making sure I get this perfect.”
“Was that what Jake wanted you to do?” Ell queried, lowering his voice a little.
“Sure it is,” Drak said with false confidence. “I just haven’t done this for a bit, I’m a bit rusty.”
“You own an alchemy store,” Ell pointed out.
“And my dad was the alchemist. Jake’s the alchemist. I’m the businessman that supports them, finds their clients for them and handles the accounts side of things. I don’t make the actual potions… That much,” Drak admitted.
Ell stood up and crossed to where the dragonkin was standing. “Want me to help?”
“What’s taking so long?” Jake called out from across the warehouse. “That’s a simple combination process.”
“Sure it is,” Drak said with another false smile. “Just showing Ell how it works.”
Jake frowned but returned his attention to what he was working on.
“Are you sure you can do this stuff? You really need to tell him what you can do and what you can’t,” Ell said, taking the two vials from Drak. “He’s going to figure it out eventually.”
Drak gave a slightly sickly smile. “Maybe you are right. I should just let him know what I can handle and what’d going to be for him to do. Guess there’s no time like the present.”
Ell nodded his encouragement.
Drak crossed to where his business partner had now stopped stirring the mixture and was studying it.
“So, you know we talked before about my level of alchemy skills, “ Drak said casually, leaning over to look at what Jake was working on.
“That you are a bit behind where I am, yes,” Jake replied without looking up.
“Yes, that’s it,” Drak said. “Here’s the thing…”
Jake continued to work, running one hand through his blonde hair and pushing his round glasses up his nose. “Yeah?”
Drak glanced at Ell and decided that this wasn’t the time. “I’ve decided to show Ell a few basics, he seems really keen, and it never hurts to have another pair of hands around.”
“As long as he doesn’t want to be paid for it,” Jake replied, still without looking up.
“No, strictly volunteer work only,” Drak assured his partner. “I’ll let you get on.”
“Is that mixture ready yet?” Jake asked, finally looking up.
“Be just a moment,” Drak assured him. He crossed back to where Ell was standing, looking at a book he’d found on the shelf under the worktop. Drak recognised it as one of his father’s notebooks on the basics of alchemy.
“I found this, thought I’d double check what to do,” Ell said with a smile. “Did you have a chat with Jake?”
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“Sure, we had a chat about it all. But he’s happy for us to work together on this side of things while he’s busy over there,” Drak replied.
Ell shrugged. “Okay, he’s your business partner. We add the green one to the white one, one-third at a time and make sure it is mixed properly before we add more.”
Drak nodded, clueless. “Go on then.”
He watched as the man gently poured one liquid into the other, stirred it and repeated the process until the content of the vial had turned into a light, misty green shade. Drak took it off him with a big grin of encouragement and took it across the room to Jake.
“Here we go,” Drak said, handing the vial over.
Jake took it, and studied it for a second. “Nice work.”
“Thanks,” Drak replied. “I’ll go and get some refreshments for everyone now, I think.”
“Sounds good,” Jake replied, turning back to the worktop with the vial in one hand.
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Drak took drinks to Jake and Ell, who were both now clustered around the one worktop, with Jake explaining what he was doing to the other man. Drak headed back out to the store and was preparing himself a drink when the door opened and Silt came in.
“Hey Silt, how are you feeling?” Drak asked with a big grin. He handed the drink across to her and went back to making himself another one. After all, it was best to be on hand for potential customers while Jake and Ell handled the alchemy stuff back there.
“Better now, how are you doing?” she asked, sipping the drink.
“Good, much better, thanks,” he replied.
“Asher said you guys had what you need to make some potion or something, I thought you’d be helping with that,” she commented.
Drak shrugged. “Ell wants to learn some basic alchemy, so I left him with Jake to see how the process works. Nothing new there for me, but he’s just a beginner,” he lied calmly.
“Ell’s still here?” Silt said, frowning.
“Yeah, he didn’t really have anything to go home for and wanted to stick around for a while. We didn’t have the heart to turn him away, he’s an okay guy,” Drak replied.
Silt shrugged. “Whatever, I suppose. Well, I’m here about business as well.”
Drak brightened, hoping that she had a commission or a project that would bring in some coin. When she started to talk, his hope dramatically faded.
“You guys owe me some coin,” she said flatly. “And that job was far more than a simple introduction, so my fee has increased.”
“What?” Drak said, aghast. “We agreed on four silvers and three coppers.”
“Then you and your partner got us involved with kidnapping, nearly killed in that basement, nearly killed multiple times in the tunnels and then nearly killed by a supposed healer,” she replied. “I think that’s worth a lot more.”
“The healer was Ell’s idea!” Drak replied. “We had no idea what he was like. And you volunteered to come down to the basement. We didn’t add to our contract with you for that. You wanted to help Roy.”
“And I nearly died on a number of occasions for it!” she replied.
“So did we,” Drak replied. “But none of us knew we were going to end up in that situation. But we did save your life several times!”
Silt sighed, sipping her drink. “I guess you did.”
“We should be rewarded for protecting you from certain death,” Drak added, pushing his luck a little.
She glared at him. “Don’t push it, dragonkin.”
He gave her another of his best smiles. “Let’s just go with the original price and call it square?”
She finished her drink. “I guess so.”
“Great!” Drak replied. “There’s just one problem.”
“What?”
“We don’t have any money. We used everything we had to get what we needed for this potion,” Drak said.
Silt pinched the bridge of her nose as if she suddenly had a bad headache. “Why am I not surprised?”
“But we can pay you back. It might take a few days to raise the funds,” Drak assured her.
“Not like I can exactly take your stock to raise the coins you owe me, is it?” she said, shaking her head and gesturing to the empty shelves.
“It’s been a rough week,” Drak said, a touch defensively.
“Yeah, you can see that,” Silt replied. “Okay, I’ll give you a one week extension to raise some coins, but I’m not letting you guys off with it.”
“Does Asher know you are extorting money from his business partners?” Drak asked, trying his final bluff.
Her expression soured again. “I don’t think Asher would describe you as business partners,” she replied. “More like employees. Or a pain in the arse.”
“That’s not fair!” Drak said. “We fulfilled our bargain with Asher and he was perfectly happy with our services. I’m sure we will work together in the future.”
Silt pushed the glass back towards Drak. “I don’t care. You have one week to find the coins, or you’ll have me to deal with. And Asher isn’t going to stick his neck out for you over me. So don’t let me down.”
With that, she turned and left the store. Drak watched her go, then realised he had no more distraction for avoiding the alchemy work taking place out back and had best go and see what was happening.
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Having killed another twenty-five minutes with important tasks that couldn’t wait, Drak found himself without any other activities he could do, so he headed into the workshop. Ell was sitting back over the other side of the room, reading his newspaper once more. Jake was holding up a large vial of grey-green liquid, studying it in the light.
“How’s it going?” Drak asked.
“Great, thanks for your help,” Jake replied sarcastically.
Drak simply grinned at him but didn’t reply.
“It’s done. I’m done. You can get in touch with Borass and tell him to collect it in the morning. And I’m going to bed for about a day or so,” Jake replied. He handed the vial to Drak and headed out of the workshop in the direction of the flat above.
Ell stood up and walked over, bending to study the potion for a moment. “So what now?”
“Now I put this in the safe and go and find Borass to tell him to come and collect it,” Drak said, ignoring the passing feeling of dread that this activity gave him.
“Want some company?” Ell asked but sounded less enthusiastic than usual this time.
“It’s fine.” Drak replied, crossing to the safe and putting the vial in a stand in it. He locked it and grabbed his waistcoat from the hanger by the door. “I’ll be back in just a while.”
He walked out of the store and down the short distance to the bar where he had first met Borass. He guessed that he was in place as one of the Jeffs was standing outside the bar entrance, looking every bit the bouncer.
The man glared at Drak but didn’t say anything. Drak took a deep breath and walked in.