Neil

It didn’t take me long to find the Telerath Grass and shove several handfuls of it into my garbage bag to satisfy the 2nd of my quest objectives. Although really if I was on an honest to god magical quest to find magical plants I couldn’t be using a garbage bag. I really needed to think of a better name for this thing. Reagent Rucksack? Fuck that was terrible. Well I had time and no one but me spoke English anyways so it wasn’t like Shassala would know how bad that was.

I had already put the fruits and vegetables into my Potion Pack after eating several of the sweet orange Yarlaw fruits and was just hunting for the last ingredient, the Moon Berries. Unfortunately, they were proving to be particularly elusive. I had however identified several other useful plants that I could use in the future.

NIGHT EYE GRASS

THIS GRASS WHEN EATEN CAN INCREASE A PERSONS NIGHT VISION, CAN BE REFINED TO INCREASE ITS POTENCY

ROUSING FRUIT

THIS FRUIT WHEN EATEN CAN MAKE A PERSON MORE AWAKE AND ALERT. EATING TOO MUCH CAN CAUSE SICKNESS, CAN BE REFINED TO INCREASE ITS EFFECTS, BOTH POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE.

SWIFT SHROOM

THIS MUSHROOM CAN INCREASE A PERSONS ENDURANCE AND STAMINA, TOO MUCH CAN HOWEVER CAUSE SICKNESS, CAN BE REFINED TO INCREASE ITS EFFECTS, BOTH POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE.

I was ecstatic about my finds so far and I fully planned on trying to make something out of every one of them. I had always enjoyed cooking, although this was closer to what my father preferred to do than actual cooking, but the idea of spending a few days trying out things with these plants still filled me with a sense of excitement.

As I dug through the garden looking for the Moon Berries I felt I was on the wrong track. ‘In fact speaking of tracks.’ I thought as I looked down.

I knew Shassala couldn’t have traveled too far to find all of the ingredients so they had to be on the mountain top somewhere. Shassala would also leave pretty big tracks if she were going through bushes or trees so she hadn’t gone this way.

Walking out of the thick of the garden I took a sharp left turn avoiding some Poisonous Sorath Grass that I almost walked through. Making my way around the edge of the mountain I was trying to see if I had missed anything around there and at the same time get a better view of the garden itself. Not finding anything over the edges of the mountain by the time I arrived at the spot I saw Shassala and her friends had left the mountain I turned around.

Looking at the garden I tried to look at it from her point of view. She had probably spotted all the plants she would need just following me from the 3-story building. The Telerath Grass is everywhere so that is easy enough to find. She would have passed several Creeping Vine Flowers, that leaves the Moon Berry tree or bush which she must have spotted at some point between were I now stood and my camp, all I had to do was retrace her steps, well not her steps, her path and I should find it.

I only had to take a dozen steps along the most direct path to the 3-story building when I saw a tree with dozens of bright blue plum sized fruits on it. “What is it?”

MOON BUSH

THE MOON BUSH ONLY GROWS IN SPOTS WITH ADEQUATE MOONLIGHT, SOIL COMPOSITION AND AMBIENT MAGIC. MANY PARTS OF THE TREE HAVE MEDICINAL PURPOSES.

“Jackpot!” I yelled to out loud smiling. My last ingredient found I wanted to check one thing before I went back to camp, turning around I walked back towards the edge of the cliff where I saw the three Lamia leave the mountaintop. Looking down I saw a rough trail, really more of a suggestion of a trail crisscrossing down the mountain. It didn’t look like anyone comes this way very often, that should give me the chance to get more comfortable here before other Lamia start visiting. Hopefully anyone who does come up here is friendly. Looking far into the valley I looked for smoke or any other signs of habitation but I couldn’t see anything yet. Still I knew they were there. If I wanted to avoid people I would have to go down up the other side of the mountain.

Walking to the Moon Bush I grabbed a dozen of the fruits and placed them in my bag, the quest said I only needed one but who knew how many it would take from me to make the potion correctly. There were a few on the underside of the bush that were still firm but more than a few looked like they were getting overripe and almost ready to go bad, I would have to harvest as many as I could while I could. Maybe there was a way to store them for longer?

My bag now uncomfortably full I walked back to my camp glancing up a set of stairs that led further up the mountain but walking past them. ‘I really should check out the rest of this place sometime.’ I thought to myself as I put the bag down near the now smoldering fire.

Getting my cooking set out of my tent I sat down near the burning embers of my fire. My cookware was a simple aluminum set made up of a deep plate, frying pan, a pot and even a small cup. All of the pieces folded into each other for easier storage and it was extremely light making it perfect for my usual hikes.

Picking up my two water bottles I ran over to the pool to collect some water. Looking at the rift for a moment with a smile I thought about attempting water magic quickly but discounted the idea. I really had no idea what to do with water magic whereas for this potion I had a general idea. Filling the bottles I walked back over to my tent and tried to make myself comfortable.

Taking out the three ingredients I needed for the potion I tried to remember what Shassala had done the other day.

First put the Berries in I remembered that much, or was it water first? Had she used the entire Berries? Or just the outside, the inside? Or the juice? I think she had ground up the Berry at one point. This was going to take a lot more experimentation than I had first thought.

Feeling the curious sensation of being both hopelessly lost and excited at the same time I decided to try a few different things and see what happened.

My first several potions were useless, I knew this because the windows told me so.

This is an amateur attempt at a healing potion, it probably won't cause any harm but it definitely will not heal anyone.

This "Potion" is essentially just berry juice mixed with grass, it has no effects magical or otherwise.

This is a terrible attempt at a healing potion, it will give anyone who drinks it a stomach-ache and intense diarrhea.

Really these boxes are starting to get a little sarcastic. Not for the first time I wondered what they were and where they got their information from? How did I even get here? And where was here?

Well it wasn’t like I had anyone I could ask, unless, could I ask the boxes what they were?

Looking at a Moon Berry I said “What is it?” and heard the ding and saw the box open.

MOON BERRY

These berries have many restorative properties and can be refined into different potions or salves.

Focusing on the box itself I asked again. “What is it?”

Another soft ding and a box opened up.

This is the representation of one of your species unique abilities and one part of your connection to GAIA the spirit of this world.

Well that was a little helpful. “What other abilities? What is Gaia? How did I get here?”

I tried asking these questions over and over again using different words or looking at different windows, even looking at myself. If there was a way to get more information I couldn’t find it right now. Although the wording the box used seemed to indicate at least that there were other humans here.

Deciding to get back to my goal for the day I thought about what I had attempted so far. I had used about a cup of water each time and the first time I had mushed up the entire Moon Berry, seeds and all. I placed it in the pot and simply put in an entire flower in the pot with it and tore up some Telerath Grass and added that in. The second time I had removed most of the skin of the Moon Berry but mushed up the rest and put it in, I had remembered that Shassala had used a knife to add in only the inside of the Creeping Vine flower however so I tried that with my own knife, and stirred in some mushed up Telerath Grass.

The third attempt I used just the Moon Berry Seeds discarding the rest, just a little bit of water and I mushed up the Grass before putting it in with the Flower Nectar. That had been the one that would cause ‘intense diarrhea’ so I could safely say I was going in the wrong direction.

Before I tried again I wanted to get a closer look at a few things. Picking up a Moon Berry that was far too ripe I removed the skin and then removed the seeds as well from the fruit and lay all three on a plate in separate piles.

“What is this?”

MOON BERRY SKIN

Can be used as a poultice to treat some skin conditions but should not be eaten as it can cause a stomachache and diarrhea.

“What is this?”

MOON BERRY PULP

Has many useful healing properties and can be eaten as a hearty snack. Eating too much can however cause stomach aches and induce magic shock.

“What is this?”

MOON BERRY SEED

This seed is extremely poisonous to most animals and if consumed will cause extreme stomachaches and diarrhea.

Well damn, that explains a few of the problems my other attempts had had, so no seeds and no skin from the berries, I also probably needed to use less Berry pulp and more water.

Picking up the grass I began rubbing it between my fingers getting a small green stain on my skin.

“What is it?”

TELERATH GRASS JUICE

A sticky liquid derived from Telerath grass. This acts as an emulsifying agent in many potions allowing different ingredients to work together with better synergy.

With a smile I placed some of the grass into the pot and began pulping it in the pot with my spoon trying to squeeze out as much of the liquid inside as possible.

Next I picked up the Moon Berry Pulp I had already separated and squeezed the juice into my pot I threw the rest in and picked up my knife and sliced the fruit into small pieces and mashing them with my spoon as well.

Putting down the cup I picked up the creeping vine flower and looked inside much closer than I had before. Spotting a small amount of moisture in the flower I tipped the flower over into the cup and then scooped the nectar out when it proved to thick to simply fall in. Repeating the process with three more flowers I added a cup of water into the pot started stirring the concoction with my spoon.

“That looks to be a little too much liquid I think? The color is all off too, too purply.” I said out loud. Very soon I was rewarded with a window appearing in front of me with a ding.

Quest Complete! Through haphazard experimentation you have created a healing potion.

Your potion making skills have improved.

With a smile I brought the pot up to my face and said. “What is it?”

Rudimentary Healing Potion

This potion will heal the simplest of injuries. Can be drank, or applied directly to the wound for a stronger more localized effect.

“YES!” I shouted jumping up and spilling half of the potion all over myself. With a laugh I put what I still had left in my cup. I wondered if I could make the next one ever better, I had a few ideas to improve the recipe.

Looking over my camp however I saw an absolute mess. There was Berry Skin all over the ground, fruit juice, pulp and even poisonous seeds. I really knew better than to let my camp get like this, if I wasn’t careful, I’d have bugs, birds, and god knows what else coming in here looking for food.

Picking up all of the garbage from the ground I placed it in a room next to the one my camp was in. I should probably do all of my experiments in there from now on, or even near the pool, if I wanted to keep my camp clean. So I picked up the rest of the Berries and grass, and moving them to the other room as well with my cookware.

Going to the pool I refilled my water bottles and dumped them on the ground of my camp trying to wash away as much of the mess as possible. If some wild animal walked into my camp I really would have no one to blame but myself.

That done I set out to find more Creeping Vine Flowers having realized that I was out of them when moving everything.

Picking up my Sack of Sorcery Ingredients, (no that was garbage too) I started walking towards the garden, but when I reached the end of the hall I was on I decided to take a right and go up the mountain rather than left towards the garden. It would be best to explore a little more of the mountaintop and since the vines mostly grew on the rock walls the garden wasn’t the best place to look for them anyways.

Walking up the stairs I looked over the ruins as I walked past them. Most of the ruins seemed to be small rooms like the one I was camping in but a few were different. Large round rooms, some with walls leading up to a point, and one even that had several small rooms leading away from the main corridor.

Unfortunately I didn’t find a single usable piece of pottery in any of them. I only had my two water canteens and although one was a half-liter and the other a full liter, I would have loved something a little smaller to store different potions in. As it stood I would either have to leave it in my cup, pot or sacrifice one of my canteens.

All too soon I had explored almost all of the upper ruins, they really weren’t that big, but surpsisingly twisty and maze like. I found eight of the Creeping Vine flowers. If I didn’t find more elsewhere I wouldn’t be able to make too many more potions. This would only be enough for one or two more the way I mixed them.

Really it was weird that the window had told me to get only three. That thought made me stop short.

“Why three?” I said out loud to myself. “What had the quest said?”

QUEST LOG

CURRENT QUESTS

FINISHED QUESTS

Hesitantly I reached out and touched the words FINISHED QUESTS and I was rewarded with the menu changing to show a small table with only one entry on it. Touching that I was greeted with a familiar looking window.

Find the following ingredients and make a health potion! Success will improve your POTIONS Skill.

3 CREEPING VINE FLOWERS

1 HANDFULL TELERATH GRASS

1 MOONBERRY FRUIT

1/2 CUP OF WATER

Looking at it I felt like an idiot. It wasn’t just a quest, it was a recipe. I had used several more berries and flowers than I had needed to. I wonder what I can make by actually following the recipe?

Turning around I started running back to my camp, getting turned around a few times before finding my way back to the stairs. Fortunately the ruins weren’t very large and most of the corridors were dead ends so I couldn’t get too lost.

When I went down the stairs I was still running back to my camp when I saw something that made me stop. There were four slimes sliding their way towards my camp, at least they had been until I turned the corner and I grabbed their attention, now they were sliding fairly quickly towards me. Turning to my right I was about to head down the stairs to the garden when I saw two more slimes silently sliding up them towards far closer than I had thought.

Of course in my excitement I had left my spears behind and I had used my hunting knife on the flowers leaving it there too. Right now I just my folding knife and a garbage bag filled with flowers against six monsters that were made of acid.

I summed up my thoughts in one word. “Fuck.” As I turned to the only direction open to me and ran back up the stairs.