Sign: Snake
Buffs: Serpent’s Kiss (Romance twice as easy)
Debuffs: Curse of the Unspecified (Start the game with no gender, no name, and no other identifying feature)
EXP: 1,255
Alchemy
Coagula (LVL 0, 54 SKP) Ready to level up!
Solvé (LVL 0, 29 SKP)
Theoria (LVL 1, 13 SKP)
Botany
Sowing (LVL 0, 5 SKP)
Tending (LVL 0, 50 SKP) Ready to level up!
?
Cooking
Fire (LVL 1, 28 SKP)
Water (LVL 0, 24 SKP)
?
Homesteading
Fire Tending (LVL 0, 7 SKP)
Tidying (LVL 1, 84 SKP)
?
Speech
Logic (LVL 1, 13 SKP)
Linguistics (LVL 0, 31 SKP) Ready to level up!
Cajoling (LVL 0, 10 SKP)
Total SKP: 341
Inventory:
Auros: 0
Cards of Destiny: 5 of ?? Discovered
Names: 4
Evengeline, The Pure Snow (Holly)
Vitas, The Wind Thief (Sparrow)
Gillygad, The Stiched-Up Wonder (Pitchfork)
Zinia, The Serpent’s Caress (Snake)
Passive Skills:
(Theoria LVL 1) Pure Substances: Some metals are especially luminous. Some hands are more precise than others. These hands shall become sharpened scalpels, made of the most luminous Silver. Higher maximum Quality points are possible for all potions.
(Fire LVL 1) Ignited: The Elemental branch of magic lends this Sorcerer the ability to cook faster using fire. Prepare fried or baked meals twice as quickly. Get burnt less.
(Tidying LVL 1) Dirt Buster: The magical branch of Purification lends this Sorcerer the ability to ‘Bust Dirt.’ Dust and grime accumulate at an infinitesimally slow rate on objects you have cleaned.
(Logic LVL 1) Rhetoric: The magical branch of Entreatment lends this Sorcerer the ability of heightened ‘Rhetoric.’ The structure of your arguments is smooth, regular, and orthogonal. Spirits and people are more likely to agree with you.
Spells:
Wild and Overwhelming Growth (LVL 1) Accelerate the growth of plants and fungi. Enchanted plants grow ten times faster (Overwhelming Influence), BUT enchanted plants sometimes disregard their original form.
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My hand was still throbbing painfully. I had learned my first spell, Growth, and in my exuberance cast it on three different plants.
As I nursed my right hand, I thought that it was a good thing I didn’t align Growth with Arrow, to make Sacrificial Growth, which took a heavier physical toll in casting the spell. The spell already made my arm nearly unusable. What would be the step up? Would my hand have fallen off?
I had sent Cheerful off with my latest batch of Winter’s Kiss, this time heading to Galatea Summerby.
I couldn’t do much in my current state. Certainly cleaning was out of the question. But I still had a request from Bernard Caskard for a potion to help him talk to Miss Mary. I had identified that the potion I would make for him was Dancing Tongue. I had nearly all the ingredients ready for that potion.
I still had to unlock Amara Dulcis.
In the solarium, when I cast Growth, I had put all my plants side by side, on a long waist-high table. From left to right I had: Mystery Plant (strongly suspected of being Amara Dulcis), Allheal, Belladonna, and finally Balm. All except Balm were very slightly glowing with a purplish tinge.
I walked over to the Mystery Plant. I tried running through all the different ways I’ve unlocked plants before. I pinched off a leaf, and brought it into the kitchen to throw in the fire. I tasted a leaf, I tried to count the leaves, and ask the plant what its name was. But nothing worked.
The Growth spell must have been at work after I already cast it because it looked like the Mystery Plant had grown an inch or two since I last laid eyes on it. And, it was growing in a very particular direction. It looked like it was stretching its stalks and leaves to the right.
Maybe it wanted to be on the right-hand side of all the other plants? Maybe something about the shade-to-sun ratio was better there for the Mystery Plant? Even as I made my decision, I knew that my explanation was ludicrous. The sun-to-shade ratio was the same on the whole shelf.
Awkwardly using just my left arm (my right hurt too much to use), I moved the new plant around so that from left to right I had: Allheal, Belladonna, Balm, then Mystery Plant.
Before my eyes, the new growth of the mystery plant started shifting, very slowly, but still perceptibly, now to the left instead of the right.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
I scratched my head. Maybe I moved it too far? I decided to rearrange the plants so that Mystery Plant was one space to the left: Allheal, Belladonna, Mystery Plant, then Balm.
The Mystery Plant started edging left again. I was just about to move it one more space to the left when the farthest leaf’s tip of the Mystery Plant brushed against the bushy Belladonna.
I saw the plant shiver slightly, and then a message appeared.
[https://i.imgur.com/NiVAa3c.jpg]
Amara Dulcis
Solanum dulcamara
Planet: Mercury
Sign: Snake
Also known as Bittersweet Nightshade or Felonwort, this woody plant prefers shady and moist areas. It is under the governance of Mercury and Snake, which grants it a quick, seductive vigor. Hang around the neck to ward off deception. Chew and spit out a leaf to loosen your own tongue. It prefers the company of its cousin, Belladonna, and is frequently paired with Belladonna in potions.
I unlocked it!
Now reading the description, I saw that the Amara was probably growing to be in closer proximity to its ‘cousin,’ Belladonna. After carefully reading the description, I took both Amara and Belladonna and put them in a shady corner of the solarium, where tall pots and shelving obstructed the sun’s rays. For good measure, I watered both again, (gaining 3 EXP to Tending).
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Before starting on making Dancing Tongue, I wanted to level up again. Maybe I could increase the quality of my potion if I picked the right skill to level? I looked at every level-up skill available.
Alchemy:
Coagula (LVL 0, 54 SKP) Ready to level up!
Botany:
Tending (LVL 0, 50 SKP) Ready to level up!
Speech:
Linguistics (LVL 0, 31 SKP) Ready to level up!
The obvious choice was of course Coagula since it was a branch of the Alchemy tree. Although, I was tempted by Botany, since I had so recently discovered that I could magically grow plants.
I resolved to pick the Alchemical skill. I mentally selected the Ready to level up! Message next to Coagula.
Do You Wish To Level Up?
Coagula Level 1 Grants ‘Coalescing Membranes’ Passive Effect
I mentally answered yes.
Coalescing Membranes!
Passive Effect: The membranes of the parts which make up the whole shall be in accordance. Ingredients combine more smoothly, producing higher quality potions.
That’s exactly the effect I was looking for! Now when I brewed Dancing Tongue, it would come out with higher Quality Points. Fortune was truly smiling on me today!
Being on this administrative kick, I thought maybe I should pick a Card of Destiny.
I took the deck out of my pocket and thumbed the cards about the table, examining the different faces. I already knew that Hole in the Ground was bad business, and if I shuffled the cards and picked that one, I couldn’t get EXP all day. Since I was fixing to brew a potion, I did not want to risk that.
I still wasn't sure what The Cat or The Midnight Candle cards would give me. What if they were worse debuffs than even Hole in the Ground?
I put the cards away, without picking one. Maybe one day, I would figure out how to get rid of the bad cards, and trick Destiny into giving me only luck and good fortune. Until then, I didn’t feel much like taking a chance. I was on a streak, and did not want to come crashing down.
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Now that I had all my ingredients, I re-read the instructions for Dancing Tongue.
Phys. Wine: Take one handful each of Amara Dulcis and Dill. They should be fresh for better taste, but if dried ingredients are to be used, only take half a handful each. Pour into a suitable vessel and add one bottle of an inferior wine according to the purpose of the potion.
Red Wine: the aspect of the Snake will be more present; use this if Dancing Tongue is brewed with the aim of tempting and seducing.
White Wine: the aspect of Water Lily will be more present; use this if Dancing Tongue is brewed with the aim of inspiring song and poetry.
I followed the instructions to the letter, using red wine, a handful of Amara plucked fresh from the plant and only half a handful of dried Dill.
I poured everything into a large jug-like glass, and put a stopper into it.
After the wine is added to the herbs, seal the container and let it stand for two nights. Strain the resulting concoction. Add one leaf of Belladonna to strengthen the aspect of Snake. If the aspect of Water Lily is to be strengthened, leave the Belladonna out, and simply pour the concoction into the finest crystal or glass vessel available.
Now I had to wait two days for the herbs to steep. I sighed, and put the container up in a cabinet. The whole procedure had only taken minutes, and I was out of things to do.
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I found myself upstairs, looking at the other Grimoires. I had learned a magic spell, and although casting it had made my arm ache something awful, I really wanted to learn more spells.
I was high on the excitement of magic. Finally, I was doing real Sorcery!
I briefly glanced at the next section of Contemplations on the GREEN and the RED, the same book where I had learned the spell Growth. To my surprise, the words no longer screamed in my head as my eyes traced over the letters. Spurred by the lack of intrusiveness from the book, and curious about the next spell I might learn, I read the entirety of section two, comfortably seated on my bed.
A very fuzzy image began to form in my head. As I finished the last words of section two, I tried to bring that image into clearer detail.
Spell Locked. Gain at least one level in each Botanical skill to unlock LVL 3 Spell.
I frowned.
I quickly checked my character sheet. I had not leveled a single Botanical skill. Worse yet, I had not even discovered all the Botanical skills. It would be awhile before I could continue the Contemplations.
I put it aside. I had a selection of other volumes to look through.
I listlessly picked up each, feigning interest for a moment, before discarding it and going onto the next. I was somewhat puzzled by the book entitled The Parallel Journey of the Three Huntsman which Observed the Clockwise Oscillation of the Moon. I could have sworn that it was called something else when I had first looked at it. Shrugging my shoulders, and chalking it up to the book’s long title and my faulty memory, I put it aside and gingerly picked up the only book that I knew I wanted to read.
The slim pink cover glistened salaciously in the sunlight. As I held up the book, intent on opening to the first page, I was overwhelmed with a sense that I was doing something highly personal and embarrassing. I quickly jumped from my bed, made sure my bedroom door was shut and locked, and even covered my small window with the curtain.
No one else was in the house, I reminded myself. I had felt so lonely before, but now I found the solitude suiting. No one would walk in on me reading Ma Chère, and for some reason I could not even explain to myself, that fact was very soothing.
I was still supposed to be reading up on the Signs, but the allure of the other Grimoires, (and especially the little pink fruit I held in my hands), was difficult to overcome. I was interested in Wheel, which I barely brushed on when last I conducted my research on the Signs. As a concession to doing what's right, I promised myself that if I learned another spell, I would go read up on another Sign before aligning it.
And anyway, beyond learning about Signs, I was much more attracted to discover why this book should embarrass, disgust, and delight me so, without having read a single word.
I finally cracked open the pink cover, flipped to the first page, and began reading:
Ma Chère, love of my life, fire of my demise. My creature, my pneuma.
Mah-Share: the word feels like a caress while holding a mouthful of gravel.
She was plain 'Poppet' at first, climbing out of the baptismal bath, and standing only four feet tall. She was ‘My Dear’ when helping me sweep the floors and water my plants. She was ‘It,’ during the trials. But inside the humid chambers of my beating heart, she was always Ma Chère.
Did she have a precursor? She did, indeed she did. In point of fact, there might have been no Ma Chère at all had I not created doll after doll, which would be the weak prototypes for the crowning glory of my creation.
Esteemed Sorcerers of the jury, exhibit number one is what the Signs, the misinformed, simple, dead souls, envied. Look at what crawls from the shadows.
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