"Yeah it didn't work, that doesn't mean it was a failure though! I think the only thing it needs is a sort of magical something in the form of a liquid. The vial is inherently magical and as such it doesn't mix with the vodka. So all I should need is a binding agent of sorts, maybe just using mana-infused water could work! And I've got a plan to get it, you."
"Uhhhh, how?"
"Simple! You give me a Skeleton, and I throw it in some water to soak."
"That-That doesn't seem like it would work, at all. And besides, they're made of necrotic mana, It'd probably kill whatever you had drink it."
Isiah flashed a wide grin.
"Well, that's the fun of it! It's not like I'm gonna drink it, if it kills someone it won't be me!"
"And how do you intend to convince someone to drink something that'll probably kill them?"
"Money."
"Ahh, I guess that would do it for most people wouldn't it."
"Actually I could just use Inform and it would probably tell us."
He shot me a sheepish grin.
"Right. Speaking of."
He turned away and handed me a glass bottle filled with a sort of murky concoction. As I let it sit still in my hand, it slowly cleared up and a few dabs of Crimson dotted the top.
"I wanna know what the info card says."
"Mmm."
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Name: Vodka Concotction
Condition: Pristine
Description
A bottle of Vodka filled with a small amount of Crimson. An attempt at creating a new form of drink that's been done incorrectly.
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Huh, I guess it is possible.
"Well good news for you, it says it's been done incorrectly, so it is possible."
The grin that split his lips at those words was nearly creepy in its size.
"Told ya."
He said with a smug grin.
"Well congratulations, your dumbass plans are possible."
"I don't want to hear anything about dumbass plans outta your mouth after what you did down there."
"Oh shut up man."
He cackled at me.
"Now all you gotta do is give me your skeleton."
"I-I never said I agreed to lend one!"
"Well why not, you said you weren't going back for a while anyway."
Unfortunately, I couldn't find a flaw in his logic.
"Fine, but if I'm gonna be lending my skeletons then I want a cut."
"10%."
"I'm giving you an entire infinite mana battery to you, you're gonna have to try harder than that."
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"But the only thing you have to do is give me a skeleton, you don't have a lick in anything else."
"Doesn't matter, I'm lending you an important asset."
He leaned back against the wall.
"15%."
I crossed my arms.
"25%."
He flicked his left hand to the side.
"17%."
I tapped the ground with my normal leg.
"30%."
He glared at me.
"20%."
"Deal."
Whilst he didn't seem too enthused I was pretty happy with it. I don't plan on delving for a while and I was considering not bringing Joe in the 1st place, 4's a crowd, especially in a dim mineshaft.
So lending him for this purpose worked just fine for me.
He showed me to the basement where he pointed to a cask.
"I'm already ready for ya, so just bring him out."
Putting my focus on Ossuary I pulled out Joe. Originally I was quite surprised that this skill didn't have any sort of Forbidden Magic casting cost, but then I learned that using it without adding extra mana, is in fact free. It's not a spell and was a normal skill, and therefore free of the typical downsides of Forbidden Magic.
A swirling green vortex appeared in front of us, and over time it slowly grew, until it swelled to around 7 feet tall. All at once it vanished, leaving Joe in its wake.
"Now then, you're free to go, I have work to do."
Of course, I hadn't much better things to do, but I left anyway.
Outside I figured I'd just go for a walk or something, but a light drizzle stood in my path claiming any notion that it could be nice.
So I sat down on a chair he kept just outside and watched the rain hit the ground.
I remember when I first moved to Mudtooth, it was just after it happened.
I was still learning how to live my new life but as I walked around Asher's Rise I couldn't help but feel unsafe. The way the floor collapsed, and the screams that it wrought. The skyscraper had started falling apart and everyone knew it but never that severe.
Every sort of free land was consumed by the Mist Wood, the mists had an odd preserving effect on the things it couldn't mutate. They broke down much slower, and as a result, you'd be very surprised that the city was quite, well, perfect.
Towns and such had much more dirt about so the trees ended up swallowing them up, but the endless metal and concrete jungle made it nearly impossible for them to get as easily swallowed by the trees.
Not literally swallowed, figuratively, of course.
Buildings like this one were often used as bases for many settlements, the center parts of the city were much more cutthroat. The dungeons were much more prominent in places that had large levels of activity before the descent, as a result, people warred constantly, since having 2 dungeons would secure your future for the rest of time.
Rather than stick around Olga took us all to the fringes of the city, where things are pretty much entirely safe.
I'd grown used to the skyscraper, very few ways in that were the same ways out. It was a safe place that was nearly unraidable. So the people weren't half bad. Since it used to be an office many people had kept the old desks and people reigned their lives in office cubicles or out in the open
But we spent so much time worrying about the raiders that we never much considered the idea that this place could fall apart normally too.
I was just walking around, doing nothing in particular, They didn't do labor at 12 like we do here in Mudtooth. I remember looking out to the grey ocean outside and taking in the sight, then there was a massive groaning sound, and the floor just fell away.
Gone, then I remember the gut-wrenching feeling I got as I plummeted. I hit something, I never saw what it was, and started rolling. I slammed into a falling desk and felt the pain flare in my chest, trying to stand up but then another groan screamed out and the desk started falling.
We rolled all the way to a window frame and the desk fell through, I reached out and grabbed it as I fell out and barely caught myself. My fingers dug into it so hard they bled, people rushed by me screaming as they plummeted out of the 3rd story soon to be accompanied by a sickening crunch.
A chair fell from above and landed straight in my skull. And I was falling again.
It was odd, I remember seeing my hand and looking at how my blood had mixed with the dirt, and thinking, how interesting that was like my brain was running 2 strings of thought at the same time.
When I hit the ground every single inch of my body screamed. I watched as a little gray marble fell right beside me, it bounced for a while and once it stopped, it split in two.
And the mist surged in from all around us. I sat there unmoving for about a minute trying to breathe even though each one felt impossible, as blood trickled from my head over my eyes, then I tried to get up, but the only thing I felt was a tug and white hot pain that nearly made me pass out.
Using every ounce I had left in me I raised my head and saw that there was a deep gash in my stomach, and a piece of rebar had gone straight through the sides of my left leg.
I remember sitting there watching the pool of blood slowly expand for minutes, and then my arm started to tingle, and soon it was burning. I sat there and screamed as my flesh shifted and changed.
I know now that the shock had kept me from feeling my crushed bones and shattered ribs, but when the mist starts to take you over, no amount of anything could stop that horrific agony.
Then my left leg started to as well, and I passed out. I was never told who scooped up my shattered body from the red-stained cement and dragged me back inside. I'm not sure I would've thanked them, I definitely wouldn't now.
After that happened Olga decided to take us all elsewhere, and that led us all the way to here.
Getting up I headed back inside.
I needed a drink.