“This is a portable alchemy table that I received as a reward from the framework. I have a full alchemy table back at my home. I can craft anything on this one that I have already crafted before on a full table with a guaranteed success rate and place the result in my inventory for easy storage. Anything that I am trying to craft for the first time on this table has a higher failure rate.” I started explaining the process to the woman, whose name was Tali.
“For a major health potion we need Marten flowers. I first found them out in the eternal forest thanks to a combination of two of my skills. Each flower can actually make two potions now that my alchemy skill is over level 20. First we have to bring water to a boil over the burner. I actually don’t know how it creates or fuels the flame.”
“Once that starts to get hot we have to grind up the flower into a thick paste. The paste from the flower is then combined with Undun salt and Bristal root until it is fully mixed. That mix goes into the boiling water and we remove it from the heat and wait. The water will get thicker as it cools and we have to continuously stir it and wait for it to turn a light shade of green. Once it’s the right color then it is finished and ready to be placed in a bottle.”
“I have a potion bandolier that lets me store ten potions at a time and keep the containers when they are empty. The alchemy kit comes with a few containers but I have lost or broken most of them. If you can find any containers we can keep making potions until we run out of supplies.” I finished instructing her.
“Luer is still a glassblower in the city. We can ask him for containers.” Tali said.
She walked over to another man that was standing and talking in a group of people. She said something to him and he looked over to me. They gestured back and forth a few times before he began walking over.
“You need containers for health potions?” He asked.
“Yes. Any size works but the smaller ones are easier to carry without them breaking.” I answered him and showed him the size of the ones from my bandolier.
“I am a glassblower here in the crafter district. It is also my class from the framework so I can make hundreds with the stock of supplies I have back in the shop. I can make them any size that you want. I will make a deal with you, for every ten health potions you craft, we get to keep one of them for us.” He said.
That was a fair deal in my eyes so I simply nodded my agreement. It took a few hours to start receiving the supplies. By that time Tali had successfully earned the alchemy skill and I had increased my own skill to level 25 after we made some forty potions. It would be enough to supply everyone on the dungeon team with ten potions each, including myself.
While I was busy crafting, Pitri had been organizing the rest of the team. It would be five of us after I had suggested that number worked well at the Old MIning Camp. No one was sure how many people could enter a dungeon at once. There were around fifteen combat capable members of the rebellion located in this particular safehouse. Pitri was level 22 and the rest ranged from that down to 17.
It would be difficult for them to fight the Balra but not impossible. If they each contributed early they should level quickly during the initial encounters. Pitri was seleting a good mix of melee combat and ranged combat fights with a mix of skills suitable for use in small tunnels. Unfortunately there were no healers, they had been mostly rounded up by the King weeks ago.
The ingredients for the bombs began to arrive so I split my attention away from Tali and the healing potions and started to replenish my stock. I wasn’t willing to share that recipe or process with her or the rebellion. The risk of collateral damage was too great and I didn’t want that weighing on my conscience.
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Completely engrossing myself in the crafting allowed me to feel a type of peace I had been sorely missing. The rest of the afternoon sped by and when I finished I had more bombs in my inventory than ever before. One hundred minor bombs, fifty standard bombs, ten major bombs along with a dozen hallowed lights. I had failed every attempt to craft the flame bomb and ran out of flame essence. Learning new recipes without a full alchemy table was certainly more difficult than I realized.
I packed away my portable kit back into my inventory and did a final check over my bow, dagger and spear. Everything was ready, my armor had fully repaired itself during the downtime. I decided to leave it as a Kingsworn for now in case I needed to blend in inside the military district. Pitri had gathered the others near one of the exits so I walked over to join them.
“Sylar. We are ready if you are. The entrance to the tunnel is located in the basement of a building a few blocks over. The streets should be clear at this time but we ill leave in groups of two to avoid suspicion. You shouldn’t have any difficulty walking around like that.” There was a hint of bitterness in his voice noting my armor. I sympathized with him, I would react in the same way in his situation.
I left a minute after the first pair, two men named Rile and Yuar. They were far enough ahead that I couldn’t see them but the instructions from Pitri made it easy to find the warehouse. It had been used to store the surplus stock of several of the crafters in the neighboring area; it was mostly unused now as few places had a surplus of supplies.
The door to the warehouse was slightly open so I pushed it in and saw the other two standing near a second door. I hurried over to them and we waited together for the rest of the group who arrived shortly after. The last two were a husband and wife named Benn and Mily. Pitri had briefly described each of the groups classes and combat skills.
Benn and Yuar were best suited at being on the frontline and fighting in melee range, both used swords and shields typical of the Eter army. Mily had a long ranged spell, as mana skills were being called, that shot a sickle of ice at her target. She could also cast a version of armor made of ice on herself and allies that reduced the amount of damage done. Rile was an archer from his days in the army and had selected Archer as his class. Pitri could track targets and had an Identification skill as well as a skill that granted him the ability to sense enemies nearby.
We descended to the basement together and Pitri led us over to the tunnel entrance. It was pitch black down and I pulled out one of my hallowed lanterns. I had worked with the glassblower to create a container that I could strap to the front of my chest piece to hold it. That would light up the area in front of me without taking up a hand. I passed a regular lantern over to Mily as she would remain in the rear of the group.
Climbing down to the tunnel floor revealed an identical tunnel to the one I had used. We set off in the only direction, walking silently. Pitri was in the lead scanning for danger with his skill, I was directly behind him to handle any threats. Our plan was to wait and find any beasts, allow the rest of the team to take them down if they could. We wanted the four of them to gain as much experience as possible. I would be ready and step in if it became necessary. We had enough health potions to be a little risky.
The first Balra we encountered was only level twenty and charged blindly down the tunnel towards us. I had explained my combat strategy against them to the others back in the base. Ben and Yuar braced themselves for impact, swords out to skewer the Balra. Frost crept up on their armor as Mily cast her spells. She used her ice bolt skill to shoot at the Balra while Rile shot at it with arrows.
The Balra impaled itself on their swords and the impact sent them all sprawling. The cumulative damage from all of the attacks killed it instantly. We waited for them to extricate themselves from the Balra and check for injuries. Rile retrieved his arrows and we moved on down the tunnel. Pitri was adamant that there hadn’t been any of the Balra in the tunnel until the dungeon the first time.
We reached the dungeon after half an hour of carefully advancing down the tunnel. We killed seven more Balra during that time and everyone in the party except for me leveled multiple times. The entrance to the dungeon was directly above the access ladder as you reached out to touch the hidden entrance.