Excerpt from Aragit Greyon’s Beginner’s Guide to Essences
All creatures can use Grey Essence, it is what makes up every living (and undead) being. Through the use of it, we can cast spells. In order to cast spells more effectively, you will need to be attuned to an aspected Essence such as the prime elements: fire, water, earth, air, light, dark, life and death, to name just a few.
Grey Essence is the way that most beginners wishing to become attuned can build their abilities by casting a spell of that element repeatedly, converting their Grey Essence into the desired type. Unlike attuned Essences, there is no downside to casting spells with Grey Essence. This contrasts with something like Fire Essence users who use their own body heat or Water Essence users who become dehydrated. However, there is always a cost such as depleting your Grey Essence if you use too much, though it is less noticeable than with attuned Essences.
Most spells rely on Grey Essence to some degree as it fills in for the essence you may not have. For example, the standard Fireball spell will use Fire Essence but also uses Transference Essence. But most people will still be able to cast a Fireball due to the use of Grey Essence. It serves as a multi-tool for most spells.
----------------------------------------
For the third day running, Jake found himself on The Loop and for the second day running, their destination was The Husk. Although this time, they had a half-elf with them and a slightly better chance of accomplishing their aims.
Drak was people-watching across the carriage, deep in his thoughts. Silt sat opposite them, reading the morning newspaper.
“So did you grow up in The Husk?” Jake asked her.
“No,” she replied, the newspaper unmoving.
“A native of Vine Road then?” he guessed.
The paper still didn’t move. “No.”
“She’s not much of a conversationalist, I’m thinking,” Drak said quietly.
“I guessed that,” Jake replied. “Thanks for stating the obvious.”
They passed the rest of the trip in silence and disembarked at the same station that the two had used the previous morning. Silt led them up to street level and headed in the opposite direction to their trip yesterday.
After a short walk on a different route, they arrived on the same street in front of the large derelict building. At least we had the right place, Jake thought, looking around. There were no signs of people anywhere.
Silt headed in the direction Drak had scouted the previous day where a stocky human was standing, clearly on guard duty.
“Hey,” she said to him. “Here to see Roy.”
The guy studied her for a moment. “Haven’t seen you in a while, Silt.”
She shrugged. “I’ve been busy with other stuff.”
“Don’t know if Roy is free today,” he replied gruffly.
She stared at him for a long moment. “Just tell Roy I’m here.”
He tried to return her flat stare but gave up and went through the door he was standing by. Five minutes later, he returned, gesturing to them to come through the door. Silt started to walk then glanced back at Jake and Drak and signalled for them to follow her.
The scene that greeted them was definitely a bit different to the warehouse they had visited during their encounter with Gage. This place seemed more like a camp than a place of work. People were moving around with great purpose, there were some people cooking food and others looked to be organising the content of some crates.
Jake glanced at Drak and noticed he was looking around, a slight frown on his face. “This doesn’t seem like a gang,” Jake said softly to his partner.
“I know what you mean,” Drak replied.
The two followed the man and Silt through a path between a series of tents and other temporary buildings. After a few minutes of walking, they arrived at a larger tent with doors tied back to allow easy access to the interior. The door guard waved them inside and headed back to his original post.
“Hey Roy,” Silt said as she walked inside.
Jake found himself in front of a female Goliath. She was a little under the typical height for the species of around 7 feet. She still had the stocky build that was common among Goliath along with grey skin and no visible body hair.
“Hello Silt, how’s it going?” Roy asked, her voice deep but still musical. She peered past the half-elf and looked at Jake and Drak. “Got some friends with you?”
“Roy, this is Jake and Drak,” she replied, gesturing to each in turn. “Asher asked me to introduce them to you.”
“You work for Asher then?” Roy asked them.
“It is more like we are partners, working towards mutual aims,” Drak said grandly.
Roy gave him a slightly sour look. “Partners?”
“We are helping Asher get back something he lost in return for his help finding something we need,” Jake said, deciding that flourishes weren’t going to be a good move with the Goliath. Being as direct as possible without giving everything away seemed to be the best option.
“That sounds more like it,” Roy replied, nodding. “He’s a cunning one, is Asher. So how does that bring you to my tent?”
“As part of our work with Asher, we’ve been asked to mediate between your group and Gage’s group to try to ease the current territorial conflict,” Drak said.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
Jake glanced at his partner, mentally shaking his head.
Roy laughed. “Let me get this right: Gage asked you to ask us to stop taking his territory? And you did this just because you were in the area and wanted to help ease conflict?”
Drak glanced at Jake, now slightly panicked at what else to say.
Jake actually shook his head this time. “Okay, here’s the situation. Gage has a crate that belongs to Asher. We need to get it for him. But the only way we can get it is if we get you and your associates to back off from Gage’s territory. So we are here to see if we can negotiate something with you and also to stop Gage from escalating things.”
Roy’s expression was unreadable. “Gage wants us to go away or he brings out more thugs?”
Jake nodded. “And I’m guessing he has plenty of those. I’m not sure if you are ready for a full-scale gang war.”
Roy considered this for a moment. “You guys have no idea what you are involved with,” she said with a sigh.
“Then explain it to us?” Jake asked.
“For starters, we are an association, not a gang,” Roy said. “We work together towards a shared goal. We aren’t here to make money, threaten people or engage in some gang war.”
“Business people?” Drak suggested.
Silt gave a little cough. “Not really.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Roy replied, glaring at the half-elf. “Just know we aren’t a gang in the sense that Gage and his idiots are.”
“So why the land grab?” Jake asked. “You must have known that it would lead to conflict with Gage?”
“Why should I trust you?” the Goliath asked. “I don’t know you.”
“We are just alchemists who are trying to get themselves out of a hole,” Jake said, deciding that honesty might be the best option here. Roy really didn’t seem anything like the stereotypical gangster that Gage was. It felt like something else was going on here.
“So you are motivated outsiders?” Roy said.
Jake gave a little smile. “If you like. We just ended up with a situation that needs solving before we can get on with our business. And get us out of the situation someone got us into,” he added, giving Drak a pointed stare.
Roy gestured to the seats opposite the table she was sitting behind. “We were hoping to use the territory we have taken as a bargaining tool.”
“For what?” Jake asked.
“Not what, who,” Roy replied.
Jake glanced at Drak who looked a bit perplexed. “Who?”
Roy sighed. “The reason we started taking over Gage’s territory is that he is holding someone important to our association. Our idea was to take some of his territories and use this as a bargaining chip to get him back. Because we don’t have the money he’s wanting for the ransom.”
“I’ve heard about this kind of thing before,” Drak said. “Gangs grab people and hold them for ransom. If you can’t pay, it can go badly.”
Jake shook his head. “So if you got this person back, you and your association would leave the area?”
Roy nodded. “We aren’t interested in being gang bosses, running territory or any of this crap. We just need leverage to get our friend back from Gage and this was the least-worst option we could find.”
“Can we help?” Drak suggested. “We have skills!”
For once, Jake only felt mildly irritated by his partner. While he wasn’t keen on rescuing hostages, it did seem a little more like something they could handle. He could immediately think of a couple of potions that would help them sneak into somewhere and get the person out of where he was being held.
“Do you know where this person is?” Jake asked.
“There’s a smithy on Hex Road, just a short distance from here that is one of Gage’s ‘legitimate’ businesses. Our information tells us that he’s in the basement underneath it. They often hold their hostages there because the smithy noise masks any fuss that their hostages might make,” Roy replied.
“I know the place,” Silt said. “I can take them there.”
Jake offered her a slightly surprised look. “That would be helpful.”
She shrugged. “I like Gneico, he’s a good guy for a gnome. I don’t mind helping out if we are going to rescue him.”
“What’s the help going to cost us?” Drak asked, frowning.
Silt smiled at him. “Free of charge. I really don’t like this hostage and ransom crap either. And Gage is an arsehole so any time I can help knock him down a step, then I’m up for it.”
“So the deal is you break out Gneico and we pack up and leave The Husk,” Roy stated. “That gets you the aim you have with Gage, just as long as he doesn’t realise that you are the ones that broke out their hostage.”
“I’m willing to take the chance,” Jake decided and glanced at Drak who also nodded. “We need to scout the place a bit, form a plan and grab a few supplies I think we’ll need. Can we meet back here tonight?”
Roy nodded. “Sure I can send a few guys along to help cover your retreat once you get out of the smithy,” she added. “Most of the territory between here and the place is in our hands. We aimed to get near enough to take over the place entirely but if you guys can save us the fight, I’m happy not to risk my people.”
“That sounds perfect,” Drak agreed with more enthusiasm than was really needed.
----------------------------------------
Silt and Jackson, the guy they met first watching the door, accompanied Jake and Drak to Hex Road to check out where the smithy was located. Jake wasn’t surprised that Silt seemed to know all the spots to check out the building without being seen.
The smithy was one of the larger ones that Jake had seen, definitely bigger than the smithies he had seen at home. But then this was the city, so it wasn’t surprising. It was clearly a working smithy with a number of smiths hard at work on different projects. Fires burning in the building made the whole area feel hot and the smells from the building met them several blocks back.
“Where’s the basement entrance?” Jake asked, sketching a few notes on his notepad.
“Through the warehouse next door,” Silt replied, pointing to the building to the right. “That’s used to store materials for the smithy but also as the way to access the basement without anyone being seen.”
“Looks like there’s a four-man security team,” Jackson remarked, pointing to two men standing at the door and another two inside the building whose shadows could just be seen.
“So we need something to knock them out,” Jake said thoughtfully.
“Quickly and quietly,” Silt added. “There will be more than just those four around and you don’t want to give anyone a heads-up that we are coming.”
“We can make a potion for that,” Drak said confidently, then glanced at Jake for confirmation.
Jake nodded. “We have the ingredients we need in the store for that. We can make those potions this afternoon.”
“The other thing is a distraction when you come out of the basement,” Jackson said. “Unless you can make yourselves invisible, then you need to attract everyone’s attention somewhere else so you can get Gneico out of there.”
Jake almost laughed but stopped himself. If he could just knock up an invisibility potion, they wouldn’t be in this mess in the first place! But then again, there were lesser potions that could help them be less visible that could be made from what was in the store. Not to the quality of the one they needed for Borass, of course. But that could still help people not see them easily.
“After dark is always a good time to do anything like this,” Silt added. “The darkness will help obscure what we are doing as well.”
“I agree,” Jackson said. “When you are on guard duty, between 2-3am is the hardest part of the night, when you feel least awake. That’s when we should strike.”
Drak glanced at him. “You are coming with us?”
Jackson shrugged. “Gneico’s my friend too. I’ll be your distraction.”
“So we meet up at Roy’s camp at midnight to finalise everything before we make a move after 2am,” Jake said, glancing at each person who nodded their agreement.