“Double double, toil and trouble. Cauldron burn and fire bubble. Filet of a fenny snake, in the cauldron boil and bake-”

“What in the hells? What are you talking about?” Master Alaria cut off Asher’s magical chanting as he was practicing his poison making.

“I thought it would help with the brewing or something. It’s an old song? Uh…chant? Yeah, an old chant that I know for witch’s brew..” Asher said as he beamed a smile that tried to plead his innocence.

“Well, we’re brewing, not spellcasting. So no witch’s here. I don’t know where you got it in your head that the two may be similar but they aren’t.” Master Alaria said as she took Asher’s small cauldron and began putting various ingredients into it. She flicked the black pot and looked at Asher.

“This is science.”

After some time passed she began pouring the liquid into test tubes and corking them. His small pot could render 5 uses of this particular substance. Asher picked up one of the test tubes and examined it.

POISON, BASIC(vial)

“Made from easily obtainable ingredients, this is a poison of mild strength. That doesn’t matter though because in a life or death situation, every little bit counts.”

You can use the poison in this vial to coat a weapon that deals slashing or piercing damage – or up to three pieces of ammunition. A creature hit by your poisoned weapon or ammunition must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or take extra poison damage (in addition to the damage dealt by the base weapon). The poison remains active for one minute after you apply it.

“This stuff doesn’t seem very effective.” Asher said as he finished looking at the vial and set it back in its place. “Doesn’t look like it’ll pack much of a punch.”

“It doesn’t need to,” Master Alaria quickly replied. “It just needs to tilt the odds of a fight in your favor. The stuff that puts things down for good without much effort is either too expensive to make or too dangerous to harvest the ingredients to make it. We do make the more exotic stuff sometimes, but the customers who can actually afford the stuff number less than the fingers on your two hands.” Master Alaria said as she picked up the vials, making sure the corks were secured in place. She handed the five vials to Asher.

“Here, they were made in your cauldron. This recipe easily makes up the bulk of the poisons that we sell and distribute. You know the recipe and you watched me do it, now all you have to do is show me you can make it.” Master Alaria said, a devilish grin on her face. “Do that, and I’ll show you some other, more exclusive recipes.”

Asher smiled at the prospect of not being stuck with just a basic poison recipe in his arsenal. “DEAL!”

“Good, you’ve got three days to show me you can proficiently brew a batch of basic poison. While I’m here, I’ll also let you watch me make a healing potion. It’s more expensive to make so I won’t ask you to make one for our little bargain.” Master Alaria said as she cleaned out the cauldron and began making the potion, Asher sitting in a chair off to the side watching the entire process.

As an eye of the Syndicate, Asher was afforded certain privileges. Namely the privilege to forego the mandatory training all the apprentices are required to attend every day. It was recognized and accepted that Asher’s physical prowess and fighting capabilities were better than those of most of the other Masters in the Syndicate. He also learned that his status as a member of one of the houses while being an Eye was also unique. Master Alaria had informed him that when someone was recognized as having the aptitude to be an Eye, they would quickly phase out of their role as an average rogue and begin taking on their assignments directly from the Guild Master. These assignments often meant the Eyes stepping back and taking on an observational role, their watchful gaze ready to stomp out any sign of rebellion or betrayal that may have been brewing within the organization.

From what Asher was told, it seemed that his father Aldrin would do what he could to separate the Eyes from the general Syndicate populace because their work will bring them into conflict and even kill some of their fellow Syndicate brethren. The normal career path for the average Eye would require years on the job, proving yourself to your house, the Syndicate branch, and the Guild Master. You lived a life by one set of rules and with one promotion, the rules could now be broken. Asher was impressed by the foresight Aldrin had when it came to understanding the mentality behind this and increasing job effectiveness. In some unforeseen way, Asher killing Fist was a big plus for Aldrin, a very destructive piece had been taken off the board and replaced with an equally powerful one that had no real ties with anyone in their organization other than Aldrin and a few others.

All this to say that Asher was granted a vast amount of freedom compared to the average member, and he used that time to learn and practice things that interested him. Only the higher ups knew what Asher had managed to accomplish on his first mission and everything else that floated around at this point were basically rumors. It was a strange thing to be greeted with respect by the other Masters and House Masters while still receiving looks of disdain from the apprentices and journeymen - the people around his age group.

Asher had learned pretty soon after Alaria had taught him the recipe that he had the ability to instantly create potions from a crafting tab in his ‘CHARACTER SKILLS’ section. As he explored the interface more, he couldn’t quite shake the feeling that everything just felt like a video game. He even somehow managed to conjure up the potion, glass bottle and all, when he created it. He chalked it up to some weird game mechanic or magic that he didn’t understand. The potency of his conjured potions were also of a higher caliber despite being made instantaneously. Something that would have taken an hour or more to prep and brew was reduced to simply needing the physical components followed by a thought and the game system took care of the rest, of course this only worked with known recipes. Any experimentation with potions and poisons needed to be done physically, which he wouldn’t dare risk doing without learning a bit more about the basics and how different components interact with one another. No point in taking the risk of mixing up a few things only to end up creating the fantasy form of mustard gas in his small office. For now, he’d keep his instantaneous creation ability a secret close to his chest.

When Master Alaria arrived on his test day, he passed it with flying colors. He carefully went through the process of preparing all of the ingredients, adding them in at the right times and mimicking everything he had seen Master Alaria do just three days earlier. She let out a low whistle of surprise as Asher rendered out and distilled the finished product into a potion bottle.

She took the bright red bottle and examined it.

“Yup, that’s the genuine article right there.” She said with a smile. “Looks like you have a real talent for this, it usually takes someone a few months or even years to learn how to do this stuff properly. To be honest, I didn’t think you’d be able to pull it off with the poison let alone the health potion.”

“Well I do have a pretty good teacher.” Asher said with a smile and a wink.

“Easy kid, flattery won’t get you anywhere.” She said with a chuckle. “Anyways, time to really test it.” Asher looked at Master Alaria with easily noticeable curiosity as she pulled a dagger out and cut herself on the forearm with it. It was a slightly deep wound, definitely past surface level, but not to the bone. The wound was bleeding profusely, a crimson trail running down her arm, to her fingertips and dripping into a quickly increasing puddle on the floor.

“Bottoms up!” She said as she tilted the bottle towards her mouth and downed the potion. Asher looked in awe as he watched her wounds quickly stitch itself closed. The different muscle fibers, tendons, and ligaments reconnected in their original place. The bleeding slowed down to a trickle and eventually disappeared altogether once the skin itself closed, a hardly visible scar was left in place of the once open wound.

“That..That’s amazing!” Asher stammered out. “I knew I did everything correctly, but seeing the effects up close. It’s unbelievable, how exactly does it all work? Are doctors even necessary here?”

“You know you have a pretty advanced vocabulary for a kid.”

“Oh?” Asher laughed a little nervously. “Yeah, Wallace has been teaching me the proper way to speak.” Asher put his finger over his lip to take the place of Wallace’s awesome mustache and mimicked his voice to the best of his ability. “He says a Young Master should do his best to not embarrass his family’s name and speak like he has some type of education and manners.”

Master Alaria tilted her head looking Asher up and down. “Hmm that seems like something Wallace would say. Anyways…” She grabbed the various ingredients that were used to make the basic health potion and laid them out on the table.

“The different herbs have different properties individually, increasing regenerative ability. Pain reduction. Blood replacement, just to name a few. These things also take on different properties when mixed together - some ingredients combine to have a different effect on the body. All of these things come together to make a cocktail that naturally heals the body when it is suffering from recent damage. It won’t help someone born with physical deformities or fix a wound that has already been naturally healed by your body. This potion is the all natural equivalent of minor healing magic, because not all of us can cast magic in whatever forms they may come in, or have a healer. So it’s valuable.”

“That’s super interesting, do we have books that outline the properties of specific ingredients?” Asher asked.

“Sure do, and just to answer your other question, yes doctors are still necessary. Compared to the wage of the average citizen, health potions are very expensive. The only ones who can typically afford this stuff are adventurers, royalty, and merchants who pull in a decent profit. Doctors fill in the gap of what is and isn’t affordable, so they’re a better option for the average person. Adventurers don’t make a ton of money, but since their line of work puts them in the face of danger more than most others…they’re willing to fork out the money for a life-saving treatment that they’re more than likely going to need at some point.”

“Well, not trying to be that guy.” Asher sauntered over next to Master Alaria’s side and pointed at the empty glass in her hand. “I believe I went above and beyond what was expected of me….and we kind of had a deal. I brew, you teach me new things to make.”

“You’re right, a deal is a deal. At this point you don’t really need to go to the brewing classes because the basic curriculum ends with making a basic health potion. Typically at that point we have everyone pick what they want to specialize in. Poisons, Potions, or Drugs and Alcohol. What do you want to learn more about?”

Asher beamed a smile at her that seemed to have a slight devilish look behind it. “All of it.”

Master Alaria nodded her head in agreement. “Good. I’m glad you have a thirst for knowledge, if you want to learn it all then you will need to read the Herbinomicon.”

“The what?”