Chase was running for all she was worth, when she heard the sound of her doom approaching.

Branches cracked and crackled behind her, and she didn’t look back. She knew what she would see, and any seconds a backward glance would cost would be seconds she couldn’t replace. Instead, Chase kept her precious burden close to her chest and forced her legs to go faster, eyes straining to pick out obstacles in the path ahead.

Though “path” was beyond generous, here. She was fleeing through the deep woods now, places that had long been without people to keep the trees restrained. The game trails that wound between them were barely wide enough for her.

Her pursuers didn’t have that problem. They didn’t use the trails, and the wide branches overhead were strong enough to support their swarming forms.

They were small, smaller even than Chase, but they were legion. And they were hungry.

Furthermore they had very, very sharp teeth, so Chase ran. Which wasn’t at all what she was made to do because Chase was a halven.

Halvens were small, pudgy, and had a disposition that rewarded sedentary pursuits. They usually dwelled in farming communities, ate prodigiously, and avoided things like adventure and life-and-death struggles at all costs.

Which made Chase all the more freakish, because she had too many dreams, and not enough chances of fulfilling them in her home. She’d left her home a shambles, skipped town with a known liar and rascal, and broken the law four times over in order to accomplish all of this. She hadn’t even told her mother goodbye!

Mind you, there had been extenuating circumstances…

A flash of red, a ribbon tied to a tree, and Chase swerved toward it, taking the left-hand fork in the path.

She almost missed seeing the cord stretched between the trees, but caught it in time to execute a quick hop.

PER+1

She was mildly surprised that she had gained perception, instead of agility. But as her eyes and hearing sharpened, just a bit, she wasn’t too upset at the help. More perception meant less chance of falling to the traps.

And she HAD gained a point of agility just yesterday. The rules which governed reality in general seemed to dictate that it took more work to increase your attributes, the further up you got.

But now was not the time for that. Chase hugged her burden tighter, feeling the comforting warmth, as she charged through fallen leaves, sending them upward in a spray.

They were gaining on her, now. The rustling was coming from either side, not just behind her. Right on her heels, pushing themselves to leap down upon the tasty meal that awaited, ready to swarm down in a fury of teeth and claws…

Then another tripwire loomed out between a pair of bushes, and she was moving too quickly to dodge it-

But her feet went right through it, and she stumbled in surprise, but recovered. Illusion, Chase knew. I won’t get that lucky twice.

Some of the traps were illusions. Some weren’t.

Not that it mattered, since she jumped the rest of the triplines she saw. And as her legs ached and her breath burned in her chest from the last leap, she got a consolation prize for all her hard work.

CON+1

Some of her exhaustion eased, and she pushed herself harder… but it wasn’t working. Above her, her foes chattered, sharp and shrill. They smelled victory. They would not relent.

And then, as Chase burst into a clearing, the way ahead split down two paths, both flagged with ribbons… and both blocked off by tarps strung between the trees. They looked identical. They moved identically in the cold breeze.

One is an illusion, Chase knew, and hesitated, slowed for a second.

Then a branch creaked right behind her, and she had no more time to hesitate. That one? She guessed, and darted forward, put on a last burst of speed-

-and ran headlong into the tightly-stretched tarp.

Chase had a fleeting second to regret her choice, as the tarp stretched out… then rebounded, hurtling her back…

…and sending the pie in her arms straight to the ground, splattering fruit and crust in a wide arc.

The exhausted halven closed her eyes as smushed strawberries rained down on her face. Her pointed ears furled in shame, as the horde behind her descended, and started to gorge their faces, arguing over the sweet treat.

Then came wet raspy heat on her face, and a strong odor of unwashed fur, and Chase opened her eyes to glare at the monkeys who had gone for the lower-hanging fruit, so to speak, and were licking her face clean. “Shoo!” She said, waving a hand.

They scattered, scolding her in incoherent babble, then surged in again to get the last few licks of strawberry from her hair. She sighed and let them, staring up at the sky.

A sky that was soon obscured by a shadow, a silhouette of a man as he peered down at her, face friendly but unsympathetic. It was a sharp face, with angular cheekbones and a pointy goatee, but it was softened a bit by his handlebar mustaches. And his snazzy red and black top hat clung jauntily to his head, defying gravity as he bent over and offered her a hand up.

“You were doing pretty well this time,” Thomasi Jacobi Venturi said, hauling Chase to her feet. “You made it to the finish line, at least.”

Behind him, the other tarp disappeared, and a plush fox toy walked out from behind the illusion. “No, she made it to the fake finish line,” he said. His name was Renny, and he was the second co-conspirator in the most black-hearted of operations; operation toughen up the halven.

It was the third co-conspirator that Chase loathed the most, though. And that Co-conspirator was Chase Berrymore herself. She’d been mad, absolutely mad, to ask Thomasi for help, to make her more like the traditional heroes she’d read about in the adventure books of her youth. Those heroes weren’t pudgy, or weak, or fearful, or any of a number of things that Chase still was.

To be fair, she hadn’t known the depths of torture they had planned for her, after she made her request.

“Did you get any gains from this time around, at least?” Thomasi asked, before he began taking down the tarp, gloved fingers flying with easy dexterity as he undid the knots.

Chase nodded, still trying to get her breath. “Perception. And… constitution,” she wheezed.

“It must be nice to be able to get constitution from exercise,” Renny said, glass eyes glittering as he considered her.

Chase glared back at him, brown eyes doing their best to commit ocular murder. But after a second, she relented. It wasn’t really his fault. Renny was a toy golem, a sentient being animated by pure magic, and toughened in ways toys were not meant to be toughened. Renny could walk for days on end if he had to, carry large burdens without trouble, and endure damage that would reduce Chase to chunky pesto sauce. He didn’t GET the idea of exercising hard, not really.

Besides, Renny was too adorable. Chase just couldn’t stay angry at him for long. And he’d proven a hell of a friend, too. Thrown together by fate, and caught up in an epic-but-scary adventure, they’d had to work together to survive. And at the end of it all, he had given up a chance to return home to keep her company, and venture out into lands unknown.

Well, unknown to him, anyway. “We’ll do a geography lesson tonight, I think,” Chase said as she gathered the remnants of her stamina. “After dinner.”

“Works for me!” Thomasi said. “I’ve been wondering how the borders shifted during my prison time.”

Renny didn’t say anything, but Chase noticed that his ears had perked up, and his tail was wagging slightly.

“Right. After dinner,” Chase said, as her belly grumbled. Thomasi had insisted that she do this run on a mostly-empty stomach, and like a fool, she’d agreed. She cast one last look at the precious, shattered pie and the thoroughly out-of-season strawberries. They didn’t have many of those left. Certainly not enough for a new pie.

“Come on, then. I’ve about got the fire going.” Thomasi said and tucked the rolled up tarp under one arm, leading the way back to camp. Chase fell in behind him, brushing dirt off her dress.

“Clean and Press,” Renny intoned behind her, and the dirt shuddered away to nothing, as did the sweat she’d recently coated it with. Which would have been a lot better but for the fact that Chase was still sweating. Doesn’t matter, she thought to herself. In a bit under an hour he’ll have enough sanity back to do that again. I’ll just ask then.

The campfire was indeed crackling merrily, once they emerged into the cleared spot in the trees. Thomasi’s wagon sat off to one side, tailgate open and displaying a loose array of junk. Its brightly colored sides billowed in the late fall wind, red and blue and gold, dancing in the breeze. Not far away, Dobbin the horse foraged in the grass for tasty morsels. He’d hauled the wagon and the trio of friends placidly and without complaint these long miles.

“You didn’t get the pots and pans out?” Chase asked, surprised. “What were you doing?”

“I didn’t know what was on the menu tonight,” Thomasi shrugged. “Cooking isn’t my thing.”

Chase snorted. “Flour. Beans. Salt. Rice. Olive oil. The bottom of a jar of strawberries. A pinch of sugar. And some rabbit- thank you for that by the way, Renny. That list of ingredients should tell you we don’t have many options left. It’s not hard to figure out I’d only need a few tools, here.”

“And like I’ve said many times before, I’m no cook. And you’re leaving out all the herbs I’ve been scrounging up, for my share of the work,” Thomasi looked sorrowful.

Despite her hangry-ness, Chase felt herself nodding. “You have helped. Never said you didn’t.” So she resisted the urge to bang the pots and pans around when she was hauling the various implements out of the back of the wagon.

“I hope you like arancini,” she said, arraying the ingredients carefully around the campfire, making sure the herbs were in neat little piles. Thomasi helped with that, at least.

Then, once it was done, Chase started cooking.

An outline appeared in her vision, and started filling up with a golden bar. Ingredients flew and whirled, as she grabbed the various tools called for with each component.

First came the flatbread. She had no yeast or anything else to make it rise, so it had to be flatbread. Which was fine, because she just needed it to be breadcrumbs. That was two cooking operations in of itself, and she lost a flatbread piece midway through, as the recipe failed. Gritting her teeth, the hungry halven tried again, and got it… along with a consolation prize.

Your Cooking skill is now level 15!

The rest of it was easier. The rice boiled with herbs, until it turned into herbal rice. Then the rabbit meat got separated out into tiny chunks and mixed with mushed beans. They were taking the place of eggs, but it seemed to work. Then all of it went together.

The end result, by the sixth or seventh step, was a set of fist-sized fried rice balls, garnished with pine nuts, fontina, and parsley, stuffed with rabbit meat and black bean paste. They smelled delicious, and Chase risked burning her mouth as she plucked one from the pan and started to bite in…

“Pickpocket,” Thomasi said, and it vanished from her fingers.

Her teeth clacked together. She glared up at Thomasi, and considered taking a bite out of him, instead.

“You wanted to be competent,” he said. “If I’d failed, you would have gained some perception.” He took a big bite out of the arancini, and rolled his eyes heavenward. “Mfff! Gloriouf.”

“Right. Sure,” Chase sneered. “And the fact that you get to eat first is no factor at all in your decision, here.”

“Mum whatfoevah,” Thomasi said, through a mouth full of fried rice.

Chase ate, eyes watchful for more shenanigans, but Thomasi was content to share the rest of the repast with her. And it was a pretty decent meal, for all she was lacking a few key ingredients. That said… “We need more supplies. We’ll have to hit a town tomorrow. Fortunately, we’re not far from a good one.” She pointed through the trees, at the multiple plumes of smoke highlighted against the setting sun. “That’s Arretzi, up ahead.”

“Mm. How big?” Thomasi asked, licking loose breadcrumbs from his gloves.

“According to my mother, it’s huge.”

“That’s what she said,” Thomasi grinned.

“Yes, that is what she said. Why else would I say that?” Chase explained slowly. Was he dense?

“Private joke.”

“Ah. One of those things.”

“Yes. Definitely.”

Thomasi did this sometimes, he found random things and turns of phrases hilarious. Chase marked it down to his nature. Thomasi, among other things, was a Player. What exactly that meant, she didn’t know. But it did mean that he was weird.

So instead of trying to unravel the details of the joke, she focused on explaining what lay ahead. “Here. Actually, this is a good time for that geography lesson. Lecture.”

Your Lecture skill is now level 4!

Thomasi and Renny scooted in closer, watching Chase across the crackling fire.

“We’re in the Barony of Lafiore. It’s a small place, as it goes. A couple of dozen villages, and two small cities. The biggest one is the baronial seat… which we aren’t going to, for obvious reasons.”

“Quite,” Thomasi said, mustaches twitching. “Baroness Floria’s chief servant wanting us captured or dead, for example. Well, if she’s still alive.”

Renny spoke up. “Even if she’s not, I can’t imagine the Baroness wanting you running around free. Or any other player.”

“Given how she treated us, I’m inclined to agree. Though her reasons are still a mystery. For now.” Thomasi tossed a stick into the fire.

“You’re burning lecture time,” Chase scolded him. “My buff only lasts so long!” In actuality it had about twenty-eight minutes to go and she doubted that she’d need that much, but Chase knew that once Thomasi got going he had a habit of being a chatterbox. She didn’t want to waste too much moxie on this task.

“Apologies, oh erudite educator,” Thomasi stood and bowed, sweeping his hat off. “I’ll owe you a proper gift once we’re finished, as an apology.”

“Uh, okay,” Chase eyed him. “Anyway, about Lafiore. We’re a small land, amidst giants. Our two biggest neighbors are Salami and Ferrari. They hate each other, which my Father says has kept us safe. They won’t trade with each other and are constantly squabbling up north of here, but they keep it out of Lafiore. There are all sorts of agreements that make sure we can’t go to war with either of them.”

“I’m wondering if that’s why you have the Law of Decades?” Renny asked.

“Ah,” Chase said, cautiously. The law in question mandated that each person could legally only have one job per ten years of their life or fraction thereof, and carried steep fines if broken. She had broken that law four times over, which would normally be enough to land her family into some serious debt and penalties under normal circumstances. But they had been far from normal circumstances.

As to why the law existed, Renny had raised an interesting point. Was it due to treaties with their more warlike neighbors? “That’s… possible. I know that most travelers from other lands look at us weirdly when the subject of the Law comes up.” She blinked. “I never thought of it that way.”

“It makes sense,” Thomasi said, shrugging. “Combining multiple jobs is a way to fast power. If your neighbors know that you’re gimping your people, they won’t see you as a threat. Although…” he frowned, pulling a stick from the fire, and doodling in the dirt. “Although, if that were true, I’m uncertain why it would apply to crafting jobs as well. There are probably some economic reasons. Somebody doesn’t want too much competition, I’m betting.” He cocked an eye at her. “Do you have trade guilds?”

“Yes, actually. All through the big towns,” Chase shivered. Guilds made her nervous. Like most of her village she’d been taught they were evil. Even if they weren’t the old horrors, from the guild wars, decades ago, the modern ones had issues. “When you get to level twenty-five in a profession, you can go and try to petition a guild to join. But it takes a lot of money, usually. Or politics. That’s what the adults said, anyway.”

“There it is,” Thomasi said. “Trade guilds have been historically used to hold down the competition, and ensure a hierarchy that benefits those above them. I’ll bet someone burned a lot of influence and money lobbying to make sure it wasn’t just adventuring jobs that got suppressed.”

“I don’t know about that,” Chase said, feeling absurdly defensive about her home barony. “The Baroness is by all accounts a fair and kind woman. Surely she wouldn’t let someone get an advantage like that just because of, well, money. Or whatever.”

“Why is she a Baroness?” Renny asked.

“What? Well, she was the last Baron’s heir. You know how that works, right?” Gods, she hoped so. She didn’t want to try explaining the birds and bees to a magically animated plush toy. Even with Chase’s considerable charisma, she expected it would be awkward.

“No,” Renny said, tugging on his tail with one paw. “I mean back where I come from baronesses and barons don’t rule over multiple settlements. Or if they do it’s a couple of small villages, and stuff like that. But your baroness has two cities.”

“I don’t know exactly why that is,” Chase confessed. “Most of the lands around here have a baron or baroness, and some lords and ladies. Some of the lands are very small and some are pretty large… Salami’s huge, for instance… but the highest noble I’ve ever heard of is a Count. He’s down in Pansyli.”

“I expect it’s to do with the Wholly Gnoman Empire’s dissolution,” Thomasi said. “Nobody wants to go too high in noble ranks, because then they’ll be seen as having ambitions to try and unify or resurrect the old empire. And that brings far more trouble than it’s worth… unless you can back up your words, of course.”

“Okay!” Chase said, trying to reign in her frustration. “My lecture buff’s timer is still going, so if I might continue, please?”

Thomasi lifted his hands in apology, pausing to chuck the stick back in the fire.

Renny nodded and waved a paw.

“So the city we’re going to is the second-biggest one in Lafiore. It’s on the border of Salami, right on the Aryes river. It’s the great city of Arettzi, famous for its craftsmen.”

“Well of course there are bunches of handmade things in our etsy,” Thomasi said, mustaches quivering with contained mirth.

“No, Aretsy. AH-retsy,” Chase said, making sure he heard her right. But Thomasi still looked like he was trying not to laugh. Well, whatever. He was weird. “ANYWAY. The city has a lot of guilds, like you mentioned. And it’s got plenty of supplies, so we can stock up. Then you can do your thing and get us papers to cross the border into Salami.”

“My thing?” Thomasi looked at her, puzzled. “I’m not sure what you mean.”

“Your thing! Lying! You know what I’m talking about, you’re a bigger Grifter than I am!” How could he not get what she’d been driving at?

“I do.” He sighed. “But you believed me when I said I didn’t. And that’s the problem. Your willpower is mush.”

“I… oh.” His look of confusion had been flawless. “Maybe… you’re too good?”

“I am good. I’ve had lots of practice. And don’t get me wrong, from what Renny told me about that part inside the prison, you’re pretty good too. You just haven’t had the practice.”

“I managed to do fine in Bothernot, For like, years,” Chase said, sulkily.

“Yes, but in both cases you were up against amateurs. Willpower is what aids you in noticing lies, strange as it sounds.” He sighed again. “You’re good with falsehoods. You’re bad at defending against them. Which is a problem. Normally I’d prescribe taking a willpower-boosting job, but I don’t have any I could montage to you.”

“I do,” said Renny. “Elementalists get good willpower.”

“Mm. Could go that route,” Thomasi said. “But… what’s your willpower right now, anyway?”

“Status,” Chase said, and eyed the numbers that defined most of her existence. “Forty-four. Close Status.”

“Too low.” Thomasi shook his head. “Taking on a new job to shore up a weakness just means it’ll retard your growth with that attribute. No, painful as it is, you’re better off training it up.”

“I do have Teacher,” Chase protested. “That job boosts willpower.”

“Oh, right. Sorry, are you done with your lecture? I quite forgot.”

“I am. I was hoping for a level, but I need to do more lecturing. But you got the gist of it, where we’re going, I mean. And, uh, that’s most of what I know about Arettzi.”

“Mm. See, it’s not good to depend on crafting jobs for attribute growth. They’re nice when they happen, but there’s no need to rush them. Although… I was going to offer you one more tonight.”

“Oh?” Chase squinted at him. “You think we have time for a montage? We’ll be exhausted come the morning!”

A montage was an ancient ritual that locked master and student into a flurry of activity, training exercises sped up to an absurd point. If done successfully, it ended up with the student learning one of the master’s jobs. It also took about half a day, with no breaks allowed. Most halvens avoided this method, since it left them exhausted.

“Pfft, no,” Thomasi waved a gloved hand. “I don’t know the job.”

Chase frowned. “Then why would I want it? I only have a single crafting job slot left. And how am I supposed to unlock it, if you can’t montage it?”

“Because it’s a simple one to unlock, if you have the right tools,” Thomasi said, and moved to the back of the wagon. “Remember how I said I had a gift for you?” He rummaged around, and came out with a small metal case.

“A gift?” Chase crept clearer, not knowing what to expect. Thomasi once had six full wagons full of junk. After a building fell on them, he’d been reduced to one full wagon, and whatever junk he could salvage. Also a pack of monkeys and Dobbin, but that was beside the point. The point was that he could have anything stuck back in the wagon. And apparently he’d found something just for her.

“Yes,” Thomasi said, flipping the metal case open. Then he rummaged back in the cart again.

“Paints?” Chase said, confused, as she looked at tiny colored glass jars, brushes, and mixing wells. “Why on Generica would I want to be a painter- oh…” She said, as Thomasi pulled out a small bundle, and realization clicked into place.

They were cards. Small cards, each one with a drawing of Thomasi’s top hat on the back, and a red, blue, and gold background. But the other side was blank, just simple white pasteboard.

“I had them printed up long ago. The paint set I got somewhere along the way… I think it was a prize from one of Chilli’s games. But combined together, I think you can put them to better use than I, yes?”

“Yes,” Chase breathed. “My fortuna deck... this is what I need. Thank you.”

“I told him that you’d been missing your cards,” Renny tugged on her skirt, and she glanced down to him with gratitude. “We can’t fix them, because they’re messed up and missing some, but you can paint new ones, right?”

“I think so,” Chase said, marching over to the fire and pulling up a stone. “I’ll have to go from memory… but I’ve got a skill for that, thanks to Teacher. And I can check them with my book.” She patted the pack on her back. It had an explanation of each card, and some rough art that she could use as a guide.

Although, come to think of it, she didn’t have to. She could change the art a bit, couldn’t she? Personalize it, make it her deck. Yes! Yes, that made sense. “Thank you,” she said again.

Thomasi beamed. “Don’t mention it. Besides, it’ll benefit me in the long run. Fortune tellers and circuses go together like pasta and tomato sauce, you know,” he took a seat next to her, and placed a set of old posters nearby. “Here. For practice. I don’t know how many you’ll have to go through to unlock Painter.”

The answer, arrived at two hours later, was about five paintings worth.

Congratulations! By painting a basic painting, you have unlocked the Painter job!

Would you like to become a Painter at this time? Y/N?

For a second, she hesitated. It was her last crafting job slot. She’d have to mess with guilds if she wanted to change it around, once set.

But…

It DID feel right. “Yes,” Chase breathed.

You are now a level 1 Painter!

DEX+1

PER+1

You have learned the Fast Dry skill!

You have learned the Painting skill!

Your Painting skill is now level 1!

Sighing, and blinking the bleariness from her eyes, Chase leaned back and considered her “masterpiece.” It looked a little like Greta, her sister, smiling and waving goodbye. Or maybe hello? It was hard to say. “Thank you again, Thomasi,” she said… and found nobody by the fire, when she turned. “Uh,” she said, looking around… and saw a snoring bedroll not far away.

“It’s very late,” Renny told her from across the fire. “I’ve been feeding the fire for a few hours now so you had light to work by.”

“Oh,” Chase said, glancing up at the sky. The waxing moon was farther along on its track, near the top of the trees, by now. Chase blinked, then frowned in irritation. “Agh! And now I’m weirdly refreshed, thanks to the new job. It’ll be harder to get to sleep.”

“Will it? Is that how it works for flesh people?” Renny asked.

“Flesh people sounds creepy, and yes. Kind of. I mean, I COULD go to sleep if I tried. But…” she cast a glance down at her new paint set, and then over to the cards. The blank cards, just waiting to be turned into a proper deck. “I could fast dry them as I went,” she muttered. “Then it’s just half a minute a card. Thirty seconds a card is nothing, really. And I can knock them out fast, so I can practice with them tomorrow…”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea? You’ll be grumpy if you don’t sleep. Most fl… most living folks are.”

“Ah, it’ll be fine,” Chase said, opening her pack and cracking open her fortuna book. “It’ll only be an hour, at most. Then I’ll get a proper night’s rest. Besides, we’ll be coming to the city tomorrow. I won’t have time for painting, then.”

“If you’re sure,” Renny said, backing off and letting her do her thing.

Washing her brush of paint and drying it on a rag, Chase bent to the task.

The halven girl got no sleep, but she was right about one thing.

She didn’t have time for painting cards, in the days to come.

CHASE'S CHARACTER SHEET

Spoiler: Spoiler

Name: Chase Berrymore

Age: 15 Years

Jobs:

Halven level 9, Cook level 4, Archer level 5, Grifter level 6, Oracle level 8, Painter level 2, Teacher level 2

Attributes / Pools / Defenses

Strength: 55 Constitution: 33 / Hit Points: 88 / Armor: 0

Intelligence: 54 Wisdom: 87 / Sanity: 141 / Mental Fortitude: 45

Dexterity: 96 Agility: 58 / Stamina: 154 / Endurance: 0

Charisma: 117 Willpower: 44 / Moxie: 161 / Cool: 51

Perception: 65 Luck: 116 / Fortune: 181 / Fate: 32

Generic Skills

Archery – Level 1

Brawling – Level 7

Climb – Level 15

Dagger – Level 2

Dodge – Level 12

Fishing – Level 14

Ride – Level 10

Stealth – Level 14

Swim – Level 7

Throwing – Level 24

Halven Skills

Fate's Friend – Level N/A

Small in a Good Way – Level N/A

Cook Skills

Cooking - Level 15

Freshen - Level 10

Archer Skills

Aim – Level 6

Demoralizing Shot – Level 1

Far Shot – Level 1

Missile Mastery – Level N/A

Quickdraw – Level N/A

Rapid Fire – Level N/A

Razor Arrow – Level 1

Ricochet Shot – Level 10

Grifter Skills

Fools Gold – Level 1

Forgery – Level 1

Master of Disguise – Level 3

Pickpocket – Level 1

Silent Activation – Level 6

Silver Tongue – Level 3

Size Up – Level 1

Unflappable – Level N/A

Oracle Skills

Absorb Condition – Level N/A

Afflict Self – Level 1

Diagnose – Level N/A

Divine Pawn – Level N/A

Foresight – Level 21

Lesser Healing – Level 29

Omens and Portents – Level N/A

Transfer Condition – Level 3

Painter Skills

Fast Dry – Level N/A

Painting – Level 5

Teacher Skills

Lecture – Level 4

Smarty Pants – Level N/A

Unlocked Jobs

Farmer, Herbalist