Reggie continued to perform crowd control as Jordan and Bryn left the battlefield. Vince was also talking to the citizens, addressing each of them by name. His care for this town was apparent, even if his attitude left a lot to be desired. No one had been harmed in the attack, and some of the villagers had volunteered to assist Reggie in the disposal of the barbarian’s body. Jordan looked back at the scene behind him, admiring the teamwork of the community.
“Hey we need to make a stop” Bryn said, causing him to look over.
“We doing the toad slime beer idea? I’m ready to get weird” Jordan asked, his hands rubbing together in excitement.
“No, assume any ideas you have regarding tripping on drugs and clowns I’m automatically out on” Bryn said as he pulled out his coin pouch, checking his budget as they walked. “I saw an alchemy shop while we were fighting, we’re stopping there first” he said.
“Ugh, but I don’t know how any of this stuff works, I’m going to be so bored!” Jordan said, groaning dramatically.
“Suck it up, you’re an adult with a job, you can handle being bored for 10 minutes” Bryn said as the pair made their way through an alleyway back onto the Main Street of Dregmoor. While the town itself was small, the Main Street was bustling with activity. Various vendors were selling fruit and jewelry, though as the two passed by, none of the wares they sold looked familiar at all. Jordan looked at the selection, noticing that all the citrus fruits seemed to have limbs. A demon-dwarf man waved his produce in the air, shouting to anyone walking by his stall about his buy one get one sale. His primary seller appeared to be an orange with skinny arms but exceptionally thick glutes and thighs, and the 2 adventurers both stared for a moment before moving on.
“What’s a Satan Pear?” Jordan asked, looking at Bryn and pointing to a vendor selling blood red pears. The disturbing, twisted smile on the gnome salesman’s face spooked Bryn to his very core, and he pushed Bryn until they were moving down the street once again. After walking for a few more minutes, Bryn nudged Jordan and indicated they had arrived at their destination, pointing to a beaten down shack in between a barber and a convenience store.
The wooden painting of 2 potion vials that crossed to form an X was the only indication that the run down building they had stumbled upon was an alchemy shop. The wood that made up the store’s foundation appeared to be old and crumbling, the frame standing almost diagonally with how wobbly the structure was. As the pair approached, an abhorrent smell entered Jordan’s nose, causing him to immediately cover his nose and begin coughing.
He looked up to see Bryn smiling like a baby bird in a candy store, and he took a deep inhale of what Jordan could only assume are toxic fumes. Bryn strode to the front entrance, excitedly opening the door with a loud creak as Jordan followed behind. A bell jingled, and the pair were greeted by a narrow walkway that was surrounded by potion ingredients. The various shelves around the store were thrown together as haphazardly the building itself, though the actual product looked to be well cared for.
A few of the herbs on the shelves Jordan recognized from when Bryn would experiment back home, though most he didn’t and assumed those were native to Morten. As they approached the front desk, a demon-orc sat before them, his face buried in a book. His white lab coat and thick round glasses contrasted with his massive size. Standing at least 8 feet tall and weighing at least 300 lbs of muscle, Jordan felt wary as he cleared his throat to get the man’s attention.
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The man looked up, his face surprised as he appeared to have been lost in what he was reading. “Oh so sorry gentlemen, I suppose I should make an attempt at running my business” he said, closing his book and folding his hands in front of him. “My name is Maeve, and welcome to Dreg Draughts. How can I help you?” He asked politely. His voice had a boyish sweetness to it, and Jordan relaxed slightly as Bryn began speaking.
“Hello, we work for Everwatch and we’ve been assigned to help out for the next couple of months.” Bryn said, pulling his notebook out of his bag and flipping to a specific page. “The first thing we want to deal with are the trip toads that have been harassing you guys. Do you have any recommendations on dealing with them?” Bryn asked, his pen at the ready.
Jordan had noticed Maive flash a slight grimace at the mention of them working for Everwatch, but he quickly corrected and put his customer service face back on. “Oh the trip toads, everyone’s favorite. Last week a couple of them hopped into town and wrecked a bunch of stalls. Poor George had to run all over town to get all the thick oranges that ran away in the chaos.” he said as he stood up from his chair and walked over to a shelf behind him. Jordan shuddered at the thought of the thick oranges running rampant, and by the time he got over it, Maive had returned with 2 vials, one of them pink and one blue.
“These have been the most successful options in dealing with those guys. I assume you live in Zyphtal right?” He asked.
“Yeah we both do” Jordan said as Bryn examined both of the potions.
“Well one of the more common potions sold in Zyphtal is the freeze potion.” He said, putting his finger on the blue potion. “The same recipe is also used for arrow and bullet additives.” Maive said, the image of the barbarian elf’s frozen scimitar passing through Jordan’s mind. “This is a version of that same potion, but I’ve added in a piece of core from a humming fruit. This fruit gives a temporary boost in speed when eaten by a person, but broken down into a potion and mixed correctly it can increase both the speed of the potions effect and the overall potency.” He said, as Bryn furiously copied down the information.
“Usually monsters like toads are weak to elemental effects, but the thick layer of slime each one possesses is like a protective coating. This means the most effective way to deal with them is from the inside, so if you can make them consume this potion, they’ll freeze over in a matter of seconds.” He said, moving his finger from the blue potion to the pink one.
“This is a potion you’ve probably never heard of considering invented it yesterday.” Maive said, smiling slightly at Bryn’s look of excitement. “It’s made with a special blend that I won’t divulge completely, but the basis of it is the toad slime itself.” He said, the chunks floating in the concoction making that abundantly clear.
“It’s not going to be the best mouth feel, but if you drink this it makes you temporarily resistant to the hallucinogenic effects of the slime. You do need to drink a full 32 oz for it to have effect though.” He said, the thought of drinking that much of the chunky liquid more intimidating to Bryn than fighting the toads themselves.
After the party made their purchases, Bryn and Maive excitedly discussed theories and research, the large words of which caused Jordan to aimlessly walk around to other parts of the shop.
As he wandered, he felt himself drifting toward the shelf in the back right corner. This shelf was almost bare, a standout amongst the others that were nearly overflowing. Only one item occupied the space of the shelf: a small, blood red cactus.
Jordan leaned in to get a closer look, unable to pinpoint exactly what about it he was so entranced by. Did he associate the color with something from his past? Why were the thorns so spiky? What would it feel like if one of them poked him? All of these thoughts ran through Jordan’s head simultaneously on repeat, and his surroundings began to melt away before him as all that he could see in that moment was the plant’s crimson flesh and the piercing black spikes that protruded from it. He stuck a finger out and lightly touched one of the spines, pulling his finger back in immediate pain.
Looking down to see the blood trickle down from his finger made an inexplicable fury rise in Jordan’s chest. Why did the thorns hurt him? He couldn’t explain it but the pain wasn’t just from a plant’s natural defense system, it felt… personal. Like the spine was mocking him.
“Do you even know who made you?” Jordan said, though his normal voice did not come out. The sound from his mouth was a guttural, ancient language he had no prior knowledge of. The words he spoke had been forgotten to time, and his voice became unnaturally deep. He reached his hand back out to the cactus and began to touch his fingers to the spines again, the blood again starting to flow.
“The disrespect” Jordan’s new voice spoke. He felt his other arm being pulled away, as the reality of the shop came back into his vision. He saw Bryn standing in front of him, a look of panic and confusion on his face. Maive emerged from the back room, holding a towel and some sort of red potion. Jordan tried to recognize it, but no names came to mind. The only word in his mind was a name: Thornfather.