Walking into the boss chamber was like walking into a sauna. There was just enough water on the floor that grip would be suspect as well. Either way, I was ready to take this guy down. Sneaking in, I took aim at where his brain should be and fired, taking out two thirds of his health in one shot!

Yeah, right. At the last second, the mushroom bent just enough that the arrow missed completely. Opening his eyes, he glared at me with his head cocked and gave me a “no, no” shake with his index finger extended. Shit, this guy is a good bit smarter than his friends and I have lost the chance for a stealth attack. As I went to reload my crossbow, he turned his hand from the no gesture to a pistol, and fired a water bullet that struck me in my left bicep.

Paying attention to him once again, I dodged the next several bullets as he fired at me. I couldn’t quite zig zag, so I had to make do with alternating speed as best I could and adding in sliding stops. Damn, this water was going to be a pain in the ass. Especially if he keeps shooting from his throne. Charging forward, I managed to block one in four shots with my hammer, but was still down almost a quarter of my life before I got close enough to make him move. Slashing at his feet, I managed to get him to get down to my level. Smiling, I doused the end of my crossbow with a quick splash from my only pain potion, I slid forward in a kneel and fired blindly into the bastard’s cap.

That got his attention, as his next bullet failed to fire and gave me the opportunity to switch back to my hammer. Taking a chance, I used a jump to smash my hammer end right into his face, blocking his view as I came down to his side in another crouch. “[Reaper’s edge]” I snarled, swinging the scythe portion at one of his legs, and getting most of the way through before it got caught. Crap, that’s not going to do it! Before I could activate a mana edge to take out the rest of his leg, he bent a bit and tossed me away. Rolling down the stairs didn’t cause much damage, but it was jarring when my elbow connected with the corner of a step.

Rolling to my feet, I glanced at him to take stock of how I was doing. I had dropped to around 60% health, while he was still above 80%. His mobility would be limited, but with those water bullets he didn’t need it much. I ran around to the back side of the throne, giving me cover as he kept firing those bullets at me. Downing a health and stamina potion, I started channeling mana into the hammer portion of my weapon. Climbing up the back of the throne, I threw myself over the top at where I had seen him last, smiling at the shock in his eyes as he had yet to move. I unleashed a [Crushing Blow] into the bastard’s cap, and my momentum sent both of us sprawling into the floor below. Keeping close, I started slashing and bashing at him, the water not giving me the best grip of my weapon. That is until he got a foot in my stomach and sent me flying.

We both managed to stand up, and I smiled at having taken his health down to half and almost equal with mine. He made a show of brushing off his arms and cracking his neck, then instead of a pistol he flicked a wrist and generated a water whip from his right hand. From the slight motion on the floor, I guess his reach to be about three times mine. Before I could charge, he gave a mighty uppercut type of swing, and sent a narrow wave of water flashing into my eyes. I closed my eyes and darted forward in a duck as I felt his whip flash through where my head had just been. Rapidly blinking my eyes, I got in close to where his whip would be ineffective. Of course, his other hand crushed my ribs with a massive blow, taking most of the power out of my next swing. I saw him preparing to unleash a kick into my stomach from his injured leg, so I twisted sideways and held a [Mana edge] in the way, letting his momentum sever his foot for me. That got his attention, and he bashed the back of my head with the base of his whip before jumping back.

I staggered a bit, health dropping down to a quarter. Before I could drink another potion, his whip darted out and shattered the bottle in my hand. “I’m getting real sick of that whip.” I muttered. Keeping an eye on his whip, I took stock of my situation. Quarter health, low mana, and down to about a third of my max stamina. I couldn’t drink any potions with his whip, and he still had a third of his life. At least I had taken out his mobility, which basically stopped him from chaining combos with his whip. Knowing I probably wasn’t going to win this battle, I did a juke step and intended to fake going to the left, but my foot gave out right as I planted it. I managed to catch myself with my hands and scramble forward, but it was in vain as that water whip slashed across my chest and knocked me down. Every time I tried to get up, I got knocked down. Inevitably, the popup occurred.

You have died.

Death takes its toll of 10% of the experience required for the next level. You owe death one kill of a creature of equal or higher level before the end of one week.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Well that could have gone better, but it wasn’t without some improvements. Hammer mastery leveled once and changed to hammerscythe mastery, I also gained two levels in windless trajectory and boosted mana edge to beginner level 5. All of that was great, but if I was going to kill that boss, I still needed a few things. I headed to Dharkiss first, to see what he could sell me. Entering the store, I saw his stuttering apprentice.

“Hey there, can you help me with something?” Head jerking when he recognized me, I was getting sick of him bolting right when he saw me. “Stop!” I ordered, and he actually froze, eyes going wide. “Look, you aren’t going to be able to have your own shop if you need to keep running to Dharkiss whenever you see a customer who scares you. Now, take a deep breath in, count to three, and let it out slowly. Keep doing that until you can talk to me, I’m not going anywhere and you aren’t going to get Dharkiss to save you this time.” I was constantly getting closer, until I was inches from his face. I kept staring into his eyes as he did the breathing exercise, and it was pretty cool watching the panic drop out of his eyes.

Closing his eyes with one last breath, he finally asked, “Ha, how can I help you?” With barely any tremor in his voice.

“Much better. Now, I need enchanted crossbow bolts, preferably ice if you can.”

“I’m sorry sir, we don’t have any enchanters capable of enchanting the arrows. I can get you a crossbow that adds some ice damage, but it is rather minimal.”

“Say I shoot a puddle of water, will that freeze?”

“No, not a chance. You might have a 5% chance of freezing a limb, but that’s on a level 10 monster.”

“Damn. Do you have anything that could freeze water?”

“I’m sorry, but we don’t.”

“Damn. Ok, thanks for all your help.” I said, then added, “Glad to finally hear you speak.” Nodding at him, I left to go see Djarleen.

Unfortunately for me, she was busy brewing a rather complex looking potion as I walked in, so I quietly made my way to the back. While I waited for her to finish, I started going through my stock of acidic mushrooms, making around 30 caustic potions. I put one in a glass vial, but kept the rest in clay vials like Djarleen suggested. Realizing that I hadn’t seen what they could do, I went ahead and used [Essence of Potions], and leveled it up to beginner 2.

Caustic potion

This extremely acidic potion will do minor damage.

Causes 50 damage to either health or durability of metal items over 10 seconds

Not too shabby. Of course it was going to work best in destroying the already poorly maintained equipment of certain monsters like undead, but I’m sure it would work great to blind something. Acid to the face is generally debilitating. I looked into the other room, and Djarleen was still working hard on her potion. Bored, I started looking through my reagents and smiled when I remembered I had a few portions of the mycofiend spores. Hmmm, I wonder if an acidic potion could gain stunning properties from the spores? They already stunned and poisoned me, so let’s give it a go.

Dropping a single lot of the spores into the glass vial with the caustic potion, I gave it a slight swirl but didn’t put the top on immediately. The potion was fizzing like a shaken cola, bubbles rising almost to the top of the glass. As soon as bubbles stopped, I put the cap back on to seal it. My formerly green potion had turned a lovely shade of orange, and I had a new popup.

Alternate recipe discovered!

You have discovered an alternate recipe for the Pyrophoria potion. Please register this with the alchemists guild.

What the hell is a pyrophoria potion? Pyro obviously means fire, could this be Oblivion’s version of the fabled Greek Fire? [Essence of Potions] answered my burning questions.

Pyrophoria potion

This unstable concoction created from a caustic potion will burst into flame upon contact with air. Handle with care.

Causes 100 fire damage over 10 seconds

5% chance to inflict minor burn status

Oh, hello my wonderful new friend, you and I are going to have so much fun! I can’t wait to introduce you to a certain mushroom boss. “What’cha got there?” Djarleen interrupted my visions of burning bosses, causing me to jump and almost drop my new potion.

“Gods above, don’t scare me like that!” I cried out, shaking at how close I had come to igniting the lab. “Here, be careful with it. I found a new way to create a wonderful potion.” I said in a calmer manner, handing over my potion.

“Hmmm, pyrophoria potion? Not bad, not bad. What did you use to create it? My recipe uses Dragon Tongue pollen and firemander blood.”

“I added mycofiend spores to a caustic potion. It foamed up a good bit and turned orange.”

“Nice, those ingredients sound a lot easier to obtain. As soon as we register this with the guild you’ll get an achievement for it.”

“Oh really? Well, I would never turn down an achievement. While we’re there, could you show me what you were talking about with the mana stones? I think I have around 70 or so.”

“Sure. Let me finish bottling the potion I just made, it should be cool enough then we can head out.” As she headed back into the other room, I made a few more pyrophoria potions. When she came back, we headed into the small closet for a transport to the guild headquarters.

The trip was just as gut wrenching as the first time, and I asked Djarleen, “Does this ever get any easier?”

“Not really, you just get a little better at ignoring it every time.” Before she walked off, I caught a glimpse of her grimacing as she saw who was at the front desk. Looking over, I saw an old man with a ring of hair going around the side of his head and thin glasses perched on his nose. “Hello Montgomery, how have you been?”

The man looked up, and sniffed in our direction before replying. “Djarleen. I see you haven’t managed to blow yourself up yet.”

“Rude as always Montgomery. We have two new recipes to register. Which masters are in?”

Staring at her for a few seconds, he finally started looking through several of the papers on his desk. “Hersch, want me to get him?” He said with a condescending smile.

“Not a chance. Who is the other master in residence? We both know there have to be two at a time, so stop wasting mine and my apprentice’s. The sooner you stop acting like a dick the sooner we can leave you to your tiny kingdom.”

“Fine, I’ll send a message to Faraldo. Head to room one.”

“Nope, tell him we will be in room four. I need the circle there.”

“Whatever.”

Turning and pointing to one of the doors, Djarleen made a shooing motion. As soon as we were in the room with the door shut I asked her, “So I guess there’s some bad blood there?”

“You could say that. Let’s just say Montgomery likes to play gatekeeper, thinking himself all high and mighty and I enjoy taking him down on occasion.” She said while chuckling. “Anyway, don’t let him give you any grief, I’ll back you on things.” Before we could go any further there was a gentle knock at the door and a dwarf with his beard braiding into two tails walked in.

“Djarleen, good to see ya again lass. How’re things in the Underdark?”

“Calm as can be with an apprentice who doesn’t think things through Master Faraldo.”

“Hah! Tis about time ya got yerself a lil’ comeuppance!” Smiling, he turned his gaze to me. “And I assume this be the one givin’ ya grief? What’s yer name laddy?”

“Angus MacG, Master Faraldo.” I replied, liking the amiable dwarf. “Out of curiosity, just how do you keep your beard out of potions? It would be a shame if something that magnificent accidentally caught fire.”

“Aye, took me a few years to figger it out. The trick be in the end of the braids, see? I got these weights.” As he was showing them to me, he flicked each of them over a shoulder. “And with a lil’ flipperoo, my beard be safely tucked away behind me back. Now, before we get too distracted, what recipes do you have for me today lass?” He asked while turning back to Djarleen.

“Only one from me, but it’s one you’ll want to see. Here, check it out for yourself.” She said while handing over a purple potion.

“Is the crotchety bastard at the desk givin’ ya hell again? I coulda swore he told me two recipes.” He mumbled while looking the potion over. “Hmmm, well it’s obviously yer own work, I could pick yer mana signature out anywhere. Let’s see, drider silk, chameliguana blood, and . . . is that glass flower pollen?”

“You always had a knack for figuring out potions. Yeah, got it in one. There’s a few tricky steps, but I finally finished it.”

“Well, what does it do?”

“It’s a combination potion. Invisibility with wall clinging.”

“Hmmm, that be a nifty combination for someone wantin’ ta do some sneakin’. Well done, very well done. I assume this book be the directions?”

“Yes indeed. It isn’t elixir strength, but it should last for a couple hours.”

“Excellent, simply excellent. I’ll be testing it out later today, and we’ll get ya the credit ya deserve lass.”

“Thanks. Now, we also have another recipe for you to check out, one that you’ll probably be swearing at us for not discovering last week. I take it you went to the dragon plains for firemander blood and Dragon Tongue pollen?”

“Aye, those be ‘bout the only things worth the bloody feckin’ trek out there. Are ya gonna tell me ya got a copycat recipe?”

“Yep. Ok Angus, you’re up. Show Master Faraldo here the easy way to make a pyrophoria potion.”

I went ahead and started the potion from scratch, starting with the green morel mushroom in a glass of water, waiting for it to turn yellow. “You know, I never did find out what this type of mushroom was called?” I asked, looking at the other two alchemists.

“I just call it a caustic cap.” Djarleen answered. “Until now, it really didn’t have that many uses other than an acid potion.”

“Oh, ok then. Well, after you make that caustic potion, it is best to put it in a clay vial as the next part needs quick timing.” I explained, before taking out a packet with the spores. “These are the spores of a mycofiend.”

“What be a mycofiend? Some type of demonic mushroom?”

“Sorry, I don’t know if it is demonic. They are ambulatory mushrooms I came across in the Underdark. Levels are around 15 to 20. The straight pollen will cause a short paralysis and poisoning. Anyway, this is one of the drops. Add it in with a gentle swirl to help it mix, and you need to wait for the fizzing to stop before immediately capping the vial.” Once the reaction had finished, I handed the new potion over to Master Faraldo.

“I’ll be damned. It really is a pyrophoria potion, though it does a bit less damage than the one made with firemander blood. O’ course, I would trade that wee bit o’ damage for the ease of not fighting a firemander any day. You say these mycofiends are walking mushrooms, do they breathe fire? Please say they don’t.”

“No. They actually shoot a jet of water at you. Simple creatures that they are, it is really easy to dodge.”

“Well, Djarleen looks like I’ll have ta be visitin’ soon. Although, wait a sec, do ya have any more of those spores boyo?”

“Yes sir, I have about five doses left.”

“Here, let’s see what happens when you add them to this.” He said excitedly, while handing me a vial of bright red blood.

“Looks rather full, can I transfer it to a clay vial first?”

“Sure, sure, just hurry.” Smiling at the excitement in his voice, I transferred the blood and added the spores. The bubbling solution was a lot more vigorous, but the bubbles popped too rapidly for it to really come close to the edge of the vial. I quickly put the cap on the vial to seal it, thinking we had just found a third recipe for the pyrophoria potion. “Hurry and identify it, then hand it over boyo!”

Burning pyrophoria potion

The ingredients of this potion will react violently when exposed to air, releasing an intense but brief flame.

Does 150 burning damage over 5 seconds

50% chance to inflict burned status

“Ha! I knew it those spores would make a good replacement for tha pollen.” The dwarf declared firmly. “Guess I’ll still have to fight them lizards though. Can I buy those four doses left off ya boyo?”

“Sure. I’ve got enough of my other potions for what I’ll be needing them for.”

“Great. How does a gold per dose sound?”

“Done!” I exclaimed, happy to have gotten such a great deal. Judging by the smile on the dwarf’s face, he was more than happy to get a new reagent to play around with.

“So Master Faraldo,” Djarleen interrupted. “Do we get credit for our recipes?”

“Of course lass, of course. I’ll mark them in records. Open sale on all of them?”

“I’m fine with that.” I replied, not seeing any reason to deny people a small burning potion.

“See if you can get the thieves guild a six month monopoly on mine, then free it up for everyone else.” Djarleen spoke. “I’m sure that they will pay handsomely for a potion like mine.”

“No doubt.” I couldn’t help but reply. “Invisible and lets you climb walls? That just screams thieves, assassins, and spys.”

“All right, that’s all I need. Unless ya need me for somethin’ else lass?”

“No, thank you Master Faraldo.”

“Okay then, I’m off. Twas nice to meet ya boyo.”

As the dwarf left, Djarleen motioned me over to one of the benches. As I walked up, I noticed an odd circular array etched into the stone in gold. It was three feet wide, with two pentagrams inscribe within the circle, one point up and one point down. There were several runes placed within it, but each of the triangular points that touched the circle was empty, as well as the shape in the exact center.

“Congratulations, this usually isn’t revealed until much later in an alchemist’s career. What we have here is called a transmutation circle. It is used to improve the quality of ingredients. There is a tradeoff though, as nothing in this world is free. In order to get one of a higher grade ingredient, you must sacrifice ten identical lesser ingredients. In addition, ten percent of the transmuter’s mana pool is locked for four hours. I’ll show you how to do it the first time, then you can run it yourself a few times. Any questions?”

“Do you have one of these in your shop?”

“HAHAHAHA! Oh, gods no. The cost of the materials alone runs into the platinum range. Not to mention the design, runic inscriptions and the enchanting pushes the cost into something that only kingdoms can truly afford. That all?” At my nod, she continued, “Ok then, go ahead and place one of your mana stones in each of those triangles touching the circle edge. Make sure they are fully charged.”

Once everything was in place and charged, Djarleen placed her hands on two sunbursts in gold that were barely touching the edges of the circle. I could tell when she started, as the gold turned white. Pressure built, and the crystals all stood on end and started slowly rotating. A few seconds later, they were all floating an inch above the table, with arcs of energy starting to flow clockwise through the circle. The random arcs rapidly grew to a constant circle of white energy, flowing through each stone. I could feel a vortex form, and the very center a small pinprick of white energy formed. It grew each time a stone fired an arc of energy to the middle, the time between arcs growing ever shorter. As more arcs fired, the stones themselves started moving clockwise through the circle, and the circle started shrinking soon after. Faster and faster, until it looked like a ten spoked wheel that was rapidly shrinking. With a massive blast of light, everything coalesced into an octagonal crystal the size of my fist and left Djarleen panting as she hovered over the table.

“Damn, I forgot how much that drains out of you.” She panted. Smiling, she continued, “Well? What are you waiting for? Go ahead and check your prize.”

Grabbing the crystal, I went ahead and identified it.

Intermediate mana crystal

This is the most common type of mana crystal used for universal enchantments.

Mana 0/250

Well, this was interesting. The space was obviously more efficient, but it held only half the mana of the stones required to make it. “So what are the sizes of mana stones available?”

“Like most things, there are seven sizes of stones. Tiny is the smallest, grand is the largest. Intermediate is rank three.”

Doing a quick bit of mental math, I asked, “So a Grand mana stone can hold a little over 150,000 mana?”

“Yep. Each level holds five times the mana of the previous level. Are you ready to do this yourself? How many do you have to do?”

“I have 62 left, so six rounds. Let’s get this started, shall we?” Smiling, I placed everything where it needed to go and placed my hands on the starbursts. Channeling mana was easy at first, then it felt like it was simply gushing out of me. The best I can describe it, is if I was holding a fishing rod with a five pound bass on the end of the line in each hand. All while a battery is intermittently giving you a shock. At the end of the process, I was as drained as Djarleen looked when she had done it.

Slow clapping interrupted my panting for breath. “Well done Angus. Well done.” Smiling sadistically, she kept going, “Now, get going. You have five more rounds and I’ve got shit to do tonight.”

“Slave driver. She’s, ha, ha, a slave driver.” I panted to myself, trying to summon the fortitude to start round two.

Two hours and several stamina potions later, I finally had my seven intermediate mana crystals. “OK, are we ready to head back?” At Djarleen’s nod, we started back and I looked at a popup I had received shortly after Master Faraldo had left, but I hadn’t gotten the chance to look at yet.

Achievement unlocked!

Achievement

Action

Bonus

Next level

More than one way to skin a cat I

Create an alternate recipe for a potion. Must use different ingredients.

+5% created potion strength

Create 5 alternate recipes