Tresk groaned, rolling and falling out of her bed. “Ugh. My head.”

The poor marshling crawled along the ground, finding a spot in the room where the sun wasn’t shining. Theo threw his legs over the edge of his bed, watching the poor creature curl into a ball. She went too hard yesterday. No matter how many times Grot beat her on the log, she kept trying. While she expected the Dreamwalk to cure her hangover, it just didn’t happen.

“Too bad I never found sanchrin,” Theo said, finding a bucket to place near his companion. “You should retreat to Tero’gal.”

Alex honked, flapping her wings in agreement.

“Good idea,” Tresk groaned. Then she vanished on the spot, set to return in about five minutes.

Theo went down for breakfast, finding Xol’sa and Zarali already eating. He found a seat and looked over the spread that Sarisa and Rowan had gotten from Xam’s tavern. She was smart enough to know that people would search for greasy food. Sausages, oil-fried pozwa eggs, and a strange hangover cure that contained mostly fire salamander egg shells. The alchemist passed on the cure, going instead for a plate filled with sausages.

“Our Theo is wise enough to know,” Xol’sa said, jabbing his finger into the air. “A leader never gets too drunk.”

“He has an aversion to drinking,” Zarali said. She poked at the sausages on her plate. “Be nice.”

“I was mostly interested in how far Rivers had come.” Theo took a small bite of a sausage, finding the flavor to be explosive. Whisper had a secret blend of spices she wouldn’t reveal to anyone, no matter how much they begged. “Their new duke is doing well.”

The conversation rolled on, mostly falling on pleasant topics. Both Zarali and Xol’sa had seen Tresk competing in the log-rolling contest. Both agreed it was foolish to challenge a dwarf to drinking. After the conversation died, resulting in a temporary wave of silence in the dining room, Tresk thundered down the stairs. She snatched several things from the table. After shoving them down her throat, she darted out of the building without a word.

None seated at the table saw this as odd.

After chatting for a while, Theo left the manor and headed off to the lab. Salire wasn’t there, which likely meant she was hung over from the night before. The alchemist rummaged through her notes down in the shop, finding that there were several orders in for restoration potions. A quick thought to his lodestone network, and his plant golems were carrying supplies upstairs for him.

Theo designated three of his stills toward the production of restoration potions. He would use the remaining seven to create [Greater Hallow the Ground] potions. He ground [Spiny Swamp Thistle Roots], [Manashrooms], and [Moss Nettle] into three stills. The golems came in part-way through the process, bringing enough supplies to bolster his emptied stocks. While the new crop of [Dragon Talon Mushrooms] weren’t cultivated to their fullest, they were close enough for this batch of [Suffuse Potions].

By the time Theo got most of the ingredients ground and the stills boiling, Salire stumbled into the lab. She had dark circles under her eyes, and pulled away from any source of light.

“There’s a cure for hangovers,” Theo said, finishing the last of his stills. He moved to the far side of the room, cranking his air conditioner to full.

“Why haven’t you brewed it?” Salire grumbled, walking like a zombie throughout the room. She was looking for something.

“I’d need a sample of the sanchrin plant.”

“Do we have any [Fire Salamander Eggs]?”

“You’re after that half-ogre hangover cure, aren’t you? Xam is serving it.”

Salire’s hooded gaze scraped over the room, landing flatly on Theo. “Be right back.”

Theo laughed to himself, then double-checked his stills. They were all set on automatic runs, which wouldn’t require his attention. The three restoration essences were distilling straight into barrels, while the [Refined Suffuse Essence] would go directly into the building’s storage. The alchemist once again turned his attention to the lodestone network, closing his eyes to probe the strength of his willpower. When he had first attached the network to Tero’gal, the connection was tenuous. But as the days rolled on, that connection grew more stable.

“Time for an upgrade,” Theo said, ordering his army of plant golems to the back of the lab. He assembled piles of vegetation as he waited for them.

The strength of the golem’s connection to Tero’gal had grown to a point where he was confident they could all be upgraded. He turned each [Lesser Plant Golem] into a [Plant Golem], watching with satisfaction each time they assembled themselves. The second tier golems were stronger, faster, and more intelligent thanks to their higher-level cores. While he had made no improvements to their containment core, the monster core upgrade was enough.

The alchemist returned to the lab to find Salire crunching on raw salamander eggs. He excused himself, making his way to Throk’s workshop. The angry marshling was there, working on one of his hover engines.

“This right here,” Throk said without even turning around. “Is a small version of my power condenser.”

Theo spotted the device. It was a small, glowing artifice packed into a Drogramathi Iron cage. He could feel it sucking ambient power in from the surrounding air. Throk didn’t stop there, though. He turned, holding another device in his hands. It was a metal frame that seemed perfectly shaped to fit the alchemist’s mana slates.

“I already tested this with a discarded mana construct of yours,” Throk said, holding it out for Theo to inspect. “The siphon should charge your construct, allowing your golems to operate for longer periods of time. The recharging will degrade the constructs, so they’ll need to be changed… weekly? I don’t know.”

“Excellent work,” Theo said, taking the artifice from Throk. “I was just working on my golems.”

“Well, they’re doing good work out in the field.” Throk sighed. “Folks like the wheat you’re growing. And I know those copper golems have done good work in the mine.”

“How many of these can you produce?” Theo asked.

“I’ll give you a trickle. Gearing up for full-scale production on my remote sprayer platform.”

That was exciting. Judging by the Tworgnothi Copper cables laying around the workshop, Throk had taken Theo’s advice on controlling the airship remotely. That project was turning out to be more of a floating platform that sprayed potions from up high, but it didn’t need to operate at a high altitude. If the airship-thing was controlled remotely, there was no risk that the operator would get sick from the necromantic taint.

“How are your normal sprayers operating in Gronro? Are they doing well?”

“They’ve been doing fine,” Throk said, waving Theo’s concerns away. “Not enough moving parts for magical interference.”

“Next question. What do you think about the ambient necromantic mana lingering in the air? Is that going to reinfect the land once we’ve purged it?”

“We’re in triage mode.” Throk banged a wrench against the side of some machine. It kicked to life, humming in the workshop’s corner. “Better to focus our efforts on one thing at a time.”

Theo knew that was true, but couldn’t help himself. He understood a bit more about the way that power leaking from realms worked. Like a newly born star, the resurrected realm of Balkor would have been bright in the night’s sky. As the he chatted with Throk, the alchemist summoned a [Plant Golem] for testing.

“Oh, you’re going to do it here? In my lab?”

If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

“Why not?”

“I don’t know. What if it explodes?”

Theo regarded his golem, thinking about that possibility. The containment core should have been strong enough to prevent the thing from exploding. That was the most over-engineered part of the golems, after all. Since all the power passed through that containment core, there shouldn’t have been an issue. Throk was too used to the alchemist’s promises of ‘no explosions,’ forcing him to take the golem outside for testing.

“We’re replacing the siphon system, and the mana system,” Theo said, urging the golem to kneel to his level. “Unlike an artifice, we don’t have to wire this manually. Everything should just work.”

“Let’s hope so.”

Theo withdrew the crude mana construct from the golem’s chest. It sagged, large sections of decaying vegetation sloughing off in sheets. He jammed Throk’s new condenser into the thing’s chest before slotting his old mana construct into the new battery device. While the old mana construct needed an upgrade, this wasn’t the time. The alchemist was happy enough to get this one step completed. With everything inside the golem, he sent a mental command for it to awaken.

The golem drew the various pieces of vegetation into itself. It swelled as visible motes of mana drew inward, seeding the creature’s mana construct with power. Moments later, it moved, searching for commands from the lodestone network.

“That worked. Shockingly,” Theo said, inspecting the golem. Everything seemed to function, but the amount of power it drew from the air was low. “The only part I have to work on is the mana construct in your battery system.”

“You could always use my coins,” Throk shrugged. “Or a plate of Drogramathi Iron, maybe? Well, we would have to worry about discharge rates…”

Throk had some ideas on how to make that part of the golems better, but Theo’s mind centered on one fact. The golems should have been immune to the power of Balkor. If anyone needed to go out into the area north of Gronro, they could. The fleeting thought that his golems could act as massive siphons, removing energy from the air, left his mind as quickly as it entered. The necromantic magic that ruined the land was mana-based, not power-based. The difference was subtle, but mana was refined power. And Throk’s new artifices accepted power, not mana.

Theo was once again reminded that this was a problem for another time. Instead of fretting about it, he inspected his new golem and made plans to go to Gronro-Dir today.

[Plant Golem]

[Alchemy Construct]

Level 20

Plant Golems excel at tending to the natural world, while also having mild combat capabilities.

Containment Core: [Alchemically Treated Drogramathi Iron Cage]

Monster Core: [Fald Scrier] (Level 20)

Medium: [Plant Matter]

Alchemy Slates: [Mana Construct]

Power System: [Tworgnothi Copper Battery]

Siphon System: [Tworgnothi Copper Siphon Artifice]

Additional Modifications: None

After chatting with Throk for a bit, Theo left to head to the lab. Despite their industrial production of the [Greater Hallow the Soil] potion, he didn’t have the confidence he expected. This was the cure to heal the land, but they needed so much. The quantity required was staggering, and the more he thought about it the more he wanted another solution. But like the old marshling said, there was only so much they could do. The Southlands Alliance needed to focus their efforts on what they could change now. Like, right now. The folks in Gronro had it the worst, so immediate action was required.

The alchemist stuffed Drogramathi Iron bars into his inventory, soaking a construct tablet with [Fire Essence] as Salire watched him work. Theo double-checked his supplies before opening his administration interface, creating a new note. Alise would be mad if he didn’t tell her he was headed to Gronro to work on the corruption problem.

“You sure you don’t want to come?” Theo asked, packing a few last-minute things away into his inventory.

“I’m certain,” Salire said, laughing nervously. “Someone has to watch the stills. Right?”

Theo only nodded his response. Maybe it was time to upgrade the lab again. But more alchemy equipment didn’t mean more potions. The lab was at its capacity based on supply, rather than production. It didn’t take long for Alise to sign off on the trip to Gronro-Dir. Everyone in town had been worried about the town, although they didn’t express it. That problem was a shadow hanging over everyone.

“Ready?” Theo asked, waiting and watching the shadows. Moments later, Rowan and Sarisa emerged. They nodded in unison.

“I’m coming, too,” Alex said from afar. Theo could sense her circling overhead.

“Can you keep up?”

“We’ll see.”

The journey to Gronro-Dir would have taken days, if not weeks, on foot. Throk’s absurdly fast tram made the trip possible in an hour or two, depending on factors the marshling wouldn’t explain. Theo reflected on the lack of fixed rail systems in this world as he made his way to the platform. He would put money on the fact that Bantein and Partopour had something similar, if not another transportation system entirely. Tarantham seemed too stuffy to embrace such things, though.

Theo and his assistants climbed into the train car, strapping themselves in with a surly-looking dwarf. The attendant at the station waited for the all-clear, then sent the cart hurtling down the track. Opening one’s eyes and looking directly forward was a recipe for disaster. The alchemist kept his eyes shut tight as the landscape whipped by, preventing his eyeballs from drying out in an instant. No conversation could occur during the trip. The passengers listened to the sound of wind rushing by, and the occasional hum of the cart as it shot up a hill.

When the tram finally pulled into the Gronro station, all passengers disembarked on shaking legs. Theo felt the oppressive presence of the necromantic energy swirling around him in an instant. The guards near the main gate looked pale, almost sickly. Even the sky above glowed with an eerie green hue. Grot waved at the group from the gates, a smile painting his face.

“Welcome, archduke!” he shouted, seemingly unaffected by the foul air. Theo felt sick to his stomach.

“Duke Stormfist,” Theo said, bowing his head slightly. “Sorry for the unannounced visit. I wanted to see the stain of Balkor myself.”

“Look around.” Grot’s face darkened slightly. “The mountain itself screams in agony.”

Gronro was at a considerably higher elevation compared to both Rivers and Broken Tusk. Nestled between two mountain ranges, the town had been the ideal spot to stop the undead’s advancement. Grot had held Murder Passage the entire time, never losing a soldier during the fight. But now the people were flagging. Balkor had left behind a befoulment that would continue unless they intervened.

“Off to the wall,” Theo muttered, clapping his hand on Grot’s shoulder as he went. “Is everyone holding up?”

“Only just. We’re taking it in shifts. Folks get sick. They run down to the Tusk to get some rest, then return when they’re ready.”

“I don’t envy your position.” Theo watched a group of slumped soldiers as they passed. Whatever this sickness was, it ran deep. The alchemist paused as they passed by the town’s monolith. “That doesn’t look like Broken Tusk’s monolith.”

“No, the one in your town is weird,” Grot said, standing next to the root-like structure of his monolith. Broken Tusk’s crystalline monolith looked as though it could be made of onyx, or obsidian. The one here in Gronro appeared more like a tangle of roots, formed into the shape of a pillar with little blue fruiting crystals on the knotted surface.

The town’s seed core felt weaker than Broken Tusk’s version. With what little magical sense he had, Theo reached out and felt the composition of the seed core. It wasn’t low-leveled. A Level 20 seed core town should have flooded his weak senses with an errant will. But there was almost nothing behind the town. If he tried, the alchemist could pierce through the thing’s will and dominate it. That wouldn’t bring anything, positive or negative.

“Strange,” Theo said, moving off from the town’s center.

The northern walls were completely abandoned. Theo and his assistants ascended the battlements, peering over the edge to the endless expanse of undeath. Piles of skeletons created mounds almost as tall as the walls in the distance. The narrow bridge had been cleared, but the ravines below must have been filled with Balkor’s leavings. Everything was soaked in the necromantic energy. Even the stones beneath their feet.

“I’m worried the energy is going to soak into your town seed core,” Theo said.

“If it hasn’t already,” Grot laughed, regaining some of his humor.

The alchemist withdrew a barrel of his [Greater Hallow the Soil] potion in a barrel. He produced a flask, dipping it into the solution and splashing it on the ground. The effect was immediate and violent. Light soaked into the stones, washing across half of the northern wall to scour it clean. In a flash, all those on the wall breathed in fresh air. The color returned to Grot’s face.

“That’s something else,” the dwarf said, kneeling to inspect the stones.

Theo thought back to his experiments in Rivers. He used the same amount of potion to cover the same amount of area, gaining the same result. This meant that the potion didn’t care how foul the ground was. If it was only slightly tainted, or corrupted absolutely it would clear it away.

“We can cover the entire town today. Then some of the corruption outside of the northern gate,” Theo said, licking his lips. Despite his expectations for fortitude, his stomach was twisting in on itself. Being so close to the corruption made him want to vomit. “I might have something else, too.”

Sarisa, Rowan, and Grot all grabbed flasks and joined with the alchemist. The purged Balkor from Gronro over the course of hours. Those pale-faced soldiers in the town regained their composure the moment the town was cleared.

“It worked.” Theo breathed a sigh of relief.

Grot slapped him hard on the back, laughing. “Was there ever any doubt?”

Theo declined to answer, turning his attention to the area north of town.