Skill Upgraded: Alchemy (IX)

70% potion crafting success rate.

I sat at the long table they’d set up for me in the growing room. The table was crowded with the tools of my trade; cucurbits, alembics, mortar and pestles, and lutes. Back in the shadow realm, I had thought these contraptions were just for show; I hadn’t needed any one of them when using my crafting menu. Now, I knew better. A lot of the plants in this place required manipulation to be turned into anything useful.

I pushed away the small flask of orange liquid that was my first successful Snakeroot Extract. Tanya would be very happy with me for that one. It didn’t do damage on its own but it had a guaranteed stun effect that would render opponents harmless for a full thirty seconds. Plenty of time to take their heads off.

I folded my arms in front of me on the table and let my head drop down, my head fuzzy with exhaustion. I’d been working nonstop for three days trying to win her favor. She’d been thrilled when I’d filled every last flask the Crafters had but then she’d pulled out a stash twice as big and so I’d kept working. I didn’t have recipes for these plants so I’d just stumbled around having all sorts of things blow up in my face until I’d found three combinations that worked.

Damn, I was though. The small drips and drabs of respect I was getting from the other members of the Outsiders were a nice surprise. Even Ryan had softened just a little as my poisons proved effective in the field. Not enough for him to tell me where my friends had gone but enough that he didn’t threaten to kick me out every few seconds.

“This is amazing Joe.”

I must have dozed off because Tanya’s words scared the shit out of me. I flung myself back from the table, almost tumbling right into the divet of water.

“What? I mean, good. Glad you enjoy it.”

Frank smacked me with a wing and dropped from his spot on my shoulder, almost knocking my valuable tools right off the table.

“Piss off Frank, none of this is for you.”

Tanya laughed and walked around the table, stroking the bird's feathered chest. “Leave off Joe, he is only trying to help.”

Frank snapped at her fingers, turning his back on the woman and rudely sauntering to the other side of the table.

“You don’t know him like I do,” I muttered. “He’s out to sabotage me, I know it.”

“I think you’re getting a little paranoid. Do I need to send you to bed for a good night's sleep?” she asked.

I rubbed my stubbled face, forcing myself not to yawn. “It wouldn’t help. I don’t sleep well as it is.”

She remained silent for a little while, looking at me with an uncomfortable amount of sympathy. “Is it because your family is missing?”

I looked up at her, folding my arms over my chest. “Yes.”

“You know, before all this started, I had a daughter,” Tanya said, her eyes becoming watery. “She didn’t make it.”

“I’m sorry.”

She took a shuddering breath and looked at me. “Don’t apologize. It’s not your fault. I just wanted you to know that I understand what you’re going through. What you’re doing here is important. It will help us fight back against the monsters that killed my daughter and hundreds of thousands of other people.”

“Do you really think we can defeat a God and his messed up games?” I asked.

“We have to try, or all this work is for nothing. You might not be able to get your family back, but with your skills, you can take down the God responsible for their deaths.”

I stood and turned my back on her. I had personal experience with a Primordial. One who, in the brief moments before she had sent me back to this reality, had told me to say hello to her brother. I ground my teeth together thinking about it. Melumek and all his lackeys in the Fellowship of Fayum were more than a force to be reckoned with. I might be the Chosen One of his sister but that gave me very little in the grand scope of things. If I stood a chance at taking him and his cult down then I needed my family by my side.

“That’s the problem, Tanya,” I said, keeping my back to her. “I don’t even know if my family is dead. They could still be out there. They could be captured. Maybe even being tortured. Could you live with knowing your daughter was missing and no one was searching for her because it was too risky?” I turned back to her, showing her the pain I’d stopped trying to hide. “I’ve lost someone before. I can’t lose them too.”

Tanya stood on shaking legs and looked up at me with determination painted all over her face. “Wait here. I’ll be back.”

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She turned and rushed from the room. I dropped back into my seat and let out a hard sigh. Showing my emotions like that took a heavy toll on me. Images of Rory were flashing through my mind again. I tried to gather them up and shove them back in the box they belonged in but they were determined to stay out this time.

I focused on making a few more poisons. Stuffing every other one into my bum bag like I’d been doing for the last day or so. It was hard to tell time down here in the sewers. I wasn’t even sure if time meant anything anymore unless it impacted a questline; we sure as hell weren’t checking the days off a calendar.

Sob wiggled in my pocket. He seemed to enjoy sitting in there even if it wasn’t the usual place you would find a horse. At first, I’d loved the fact that he’d been turned into a mouse but the humor of it was starting to wear thin. Finding Nigel and getting him to fix what he had done was high up on my list of things I needed to do. Too bad the game didn’t allow for custom quests; I would have to use my old-school notebook and charcoal to keep track of it all.

The sound of Tanya’s hurried feet in the tunnel outside the growing room broke me from my bouncing thoughts. I sat up straight, staring at the door as she rushed through it, her tan robe flapping around her. She was smiling, a half-crumpled piece of yellowed paper in her hand.

She slammed it down in front of me and stood back, her hands resting on her ample hips. “That is your treasure map to your family.”

I snatched up the paper and read the words scrawled over it.

Mission details: Raid the Old Mill

Scouts have located an Old Mill on the peninsula over the Swan River. They have determined it holds a large store of goods that will help the Outsiders.

The scouts report that the mill is protected by mutated monsters not native to this area. It is believed they are escaped animals from the zoo that now lies empty to the south of the Old Mill.

Proceed with caution. These monsters are not familiar to us and we can not confirm all the powers and skills they might have.

Nora Nightingale will take point on this mission. I expect detailed reports upon your return.

Ryan.

I let out a loud whoop of joy and jumped to my feet, folding my arms around Tanya and hugging her tight. She laughed and patted my arms, gently easing me off of her.

“Go find your family, Joe. Just be careful. If you don’t come back with anything Ryan might not let you back in.”

“Can I take Theo and Gabby with me?” I asked.

Tanya made a face and shook her head. “Theo will not allow that and neither will Ryan. They are needed here. I’m afraid on this mission, you will be on your own.”

“Shut the hell up!”

Tanya laughed. “I’m sorry, not completely alone.”

Frank flapped his wings and landed heavily back in his spot on my shoulder. I hissed through my teeth, sure carrying a weight on one shoulder for this long was going to cause me some killer back problems in the future.

“Now, go,” Tanya said. “Before Ryan changes his mind.”

I ran, traversing the maze of tunnels with ease. People yelped as they got out of my way, or tried to talk to me but I whizzed past without giving them any attention. Nora and Stella were all that mattered right now. I would find the others too but I had to start somewhere and this was it. I needed to see them, alive and well like I knew they had to be.

I stopped for a short moment back in the room I shared with Gabby and Theo. I wrote them a quick note, explaining where I had gone so they wouldn’t worry, before taking off for the main exit. I didn’t know Perth very well but the note said the Old Mill was on a peninsula on the Swan River. All I had to do was get to the river and follow it. I could do that.

I reached for the door but before I could yank it open Ryan slammed his beefy hand into it, holding it closed.

“What the hell?” I snapped.

Ryan smirked and jerked his finger back toward the giant pool of water in the middle of the room. “Come with me.”

“Ryan, I don’t have…”

Before I could finish my sentence he interrupted, “there is time enough for this, trust me.”

I bit my tongue on the not-so-kind words that wanted to escape past my lips. Pissing off Ryan right now would not be a good idea. I’d heard the rumors that there was a makeshift jail down here somewhere where Ryan sent members of the Outsiders who misbehaved. I didn’t have the time to be thrown into one of those cells.

Begrudgingly I followed him over the bridge to the large rectangular slab of stone in the center of the concrete island. My body was buzzing with the need to move. To head out that door and run until I couldn’t run anymore. I glanced down at Sob still sitting quietly in my pocket just to make sure he wasn’t filling me with electricity but it appeared that he was sleeping.

Ryan rounded the slab and placed his hands on it, leaning over the stone with a serious look on his face. He jabbed at one of the lines carved into the stone that snaked off a larger central divet.

“This is the tunnel you need to follow,” he said, tracing the line with a finger. “It’s a large one so you won’t get lost along the path. The tunnel will dip low and you’ll hear running water along the entire length of it. The water you are following dumps out into the Swan River but unless you really like to swim you’ll pop out through this manhole here on Mill Point Road. The exit is marked by a big cross that our scouts painted on the wall.”

He looked up at me to make sure I was listening and blinked as he realized I was drawing my own map in my little notebook. He grunted and added, “you would have made a good scout yourself if you weren’t so damn distracted all the time.”

I stopped drawing and looked at him being very careful with my words, “they are my family. When they’re safe, we can discuss me playing the good scouting boy.”

The man grunted again. “As you’ve said before. Now the scouts reported odd sightings of animals that looked a lot like lions, giraffes, and even an elephant. They’re not native to this country and their mutations make them unpredictable and dangerous. You are on your own. Stealth is your best play. Do you understand me?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Good. Now go,” he said, swinging around to point at a tunnel on the opposite side of the room from the large front door. “Find my people and bring them back.”

I shook his hand before rushing away, chewing through my stamina as I disappeared down the darker tunnel. Nora and Stella were waiting for me and I couldn’t let them down again.