2 hours.. It took a whole 2 hours just to get inside the store. I swear to god if I have to go through something like this I will give everyone a very warm maybe even “brainy” spectacle.
Dude chill!
......shut up
Anyway! I say in my head before going through the door. Wolly’s curiosities is as the name suggests a shop with many peculiar things . Just by passing through the door you instantly feel claustrophobic. The many “curiosities” that pile up around the wooden walls of the shop instantly made me hesitate to sell my books. A somewhat short man with Brutish features stood behind a counter cluttered with various trinkets.
“what do ye want ?” he said somewhat annoyed
“what?”
“what do you want ?!, you stand behind a counter all day arguing about prices with morons and as if that’s not enough you have to repeat yourself! Society really has gone to shit”
Ok self I take back everything I said, you are not that crazy.
Awww thanks
“ I have books for you”
“yes i am not blind yet ,let me see....” he yanked the books out of my hands. He is surprisingly strong for his age
“So I take it you are wolly”
He just stared flatly at me
“OK then”
After he finished mumbling something about idiots (I’m not sure what, I didn’t quite catch all the curses he spewed out) he started examining closely the books.
“Boy where did you get dem books?”
“Why you asking ?”
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“ They are all worthless, those ain’t no books ,waste of perfectly good paper is what they are!”
I stood there with the oh so focused stare that only cows could have.
“Sooo how much ?”
“Well if you think of the condition they are in as well as the contents...” as he was thinking I swear I heard something along the lines of “who even writes about lusty maids, and what in the nine hells is an argonian?”
“You are lucky i’m feeling generous today Boy, 1 gold”
My jaw dropped. Those are all books that have been in my family for generations.
“But –“
“No ‘buts’ you ain’t finding no deal better than this “
“But “
“ another ‘but’ out of your mouth and I will kick you out. Now do we have a deal ?”
“Fuck it , here “
I give him my books and get the gold coin.
“This is daylight robbery!!!” I said as I smacked the door.
“Yeah yeah goodbye kid, nice doin business with ya! Now lets see ‘Lifts her tail : certainly not Kind sir....’”
As I was walking along the road I started wandering did he actually have Mandragora? I mean there was nothing on display and not one of all the people that left the store had one with them. God damn hyenas den!.
After the unpleasant experience at Wolly’s I was almost ready to snap the neck of the pharmacist the moment I went inside . Thankfully the transaction was much calmer than the previous one . I got both the madragora root and the Datura bulb. It even had distilled alcohol and needles. All these in conjunction with the simple alembic lightened my wallet. To be exact I was 1 gold and 3 bronze coins lighter. NOW THATS GOALS.
After 25 minutes of running to go back home I swear i felt like something was scanning me head to toe. I guess paranoia gets worse the more you tire yourself. Good to know.
Anyway I went into my study and took out a mortar and pestle along with the only book that I had left. The wonders of höd by Marcus Steamwillow
Ok so I just grind the Datura until it is a paste. Then and only then must I add in the mandragora root and grind them together until the mixture acquires a purple hue. I didn’t remember the rest so I just read it “Afterwards you mix it with the alcohol and pour it into the alembic. By using ten units of höd periodically over 10 minutes of distillation you should acquire a purple bubling liquid. Congratulations you got the fabled Mandragora Officiranum and if you used Datura as I did you then have in your hands your key to the path of a scholar” and etc. I don’t feel like reading an essay regarding the beauty of knowledge. OK so I just added höd .
....
Fuck
Forgot about it...
Fuck I already put it into the fire. Uhhhhhh
I start searching for my notes so that I could find a clue on what needed to be done but in my hurry I pushed a lava bloom petal on my desk into the fire.
Suddenly small red particles started to flow into the alembic.
.....
Wait
I grab the another petal and throw it in. The same reaction happens.
This. This could work