Chapter 47

Brewery

It had been a long week. For whatever reason, today was the longest day of the week. I slumped into my chair by the light of the stove. Exhausted. Thrush passed me a bowl of squash soup and we dug in right after we toasted to our day over a new beer.

[Butter Pearl.]

[Silver Rank. Level 33/100 Epic.]

[Origin: Wicker Flicker’s Brewery. Shadeena.]

[No attributes.]

The beer was the color of a ghost. White with a vague glow-in-the-dark. Left alone, luster particles swirled on their own in an eternal vortex. The swirling pearl glittered in the low firelight.

“To collecting the rest of our shards,” Thrush said and raised his mug.

“To the rest of our shards,” I said.

We toasted and drank.

The beer went down like a ghost. It felt as though I’d swallowed a laminar of a stretched out specter. The foam was the most substantive part of the beer. It too was the color of a ghost, but with a little less of the glow-in-the-dark feature.

Most remarkable was the taste. It was one of the cleanest beers I’ve ever had. Crispiest. There was only a vague flavor of malted grain. The carbonation was piquant and loud.

“Fun,” Thrush said, swinging his feet that dangled off the barrel he sat upon.

“Fun’s a good word for this beer,” I said.

“I’m at 101 shards after our last delivery. What about you?”

“The spontaneity beers have been slow to brew, but I’ll be donating the final lot to Dellia after dinner. The last batch is definitely done.”

Brewing another 50 barrels of beer this week brought my Brewer level up to 65. After my daily production, I brewed a few small batches of simple beers using my new Mash Master skill. After reaching level 5 with the skill, I was able to use it in quantities up to 750ml. Every one of those beers went into waterskins that Thrush kept for bartering with the Blue Besties. The cellar now had a massive pile of them. I encouraged Thrush to take as many as he wanted and he promised to do just that.

“I thought about bartering with the Goblins again,” Thrush said. “Maybe for more candles. Maybe for anything else.”

“I’ve been thinking about how much time it takes me to brew 10 barrels a day,” I said. “I was thinking about building equipment that can handle larger batches. I’m also going through twenty times more wood than last year to keep up with GloomGlower’s order. That means I need to spend that much more time lumbering again.”

“I can get trees for you,” Thrush said.

“That would help. I think what would help the most is getting a mash tun and a lautering tun. The first one steeps the grains in water. The second one separates the wort from the spent grains.”

“Are they really big pots, then?” Thrush said.

“Yes. Really big kettles, if you will. If I had some large enough to brew 50 gallon batches at a time, That would save me at least eight hours a day.”

“We need more metal,” Thrush said.

“I was hoping to get an item I could collect shards for, but I’ve only got this ingredient guide book.”

“Are you going to complete the shard quest now?”

“Might as well,” I said.

We finished the last of our soup and took our time enjoying the rest of the Butter Pearl beer. Then I began filling the remaining 24 waterskins with my spontaneity beer. I donated them to Dellia until I received my 100th shard.

Upon acquiring the last one, the shards all withdrew from my inventory in a flood of refracting material. They swirled together in a tornado of shapes and light until coming together in a silent bang and flash of light.

Floating in mid-air was the book.

[Shard Quest: Brewer’s Guide to Magic Ingredients: 100/100]

[Shard Quest Complete.]

[Reward: Brewer’s Guide to Magic Ingredients.]

I grabbed the book out of the air and sat beside Thrush so he and I could check it out. The binding was thick and constructed from a mix of gold and leather. The pages were as thick as thumbnails.

“Read the introduction,” Thrush said.

I cleared my throat.

“This is the Brewer’s Guide to Magic Ingredients. This list has been curated and will continue to be curated by select adventurers who travel the brewer’s path and pursue affinities in alchemy. When ingredients are thoroughly explored, this book will be updated automatically. This legendary item has been brought to you by the influence of Forgan, God of Alchemy.”

I flipped through an alphabetical list of ingredients; adjuncts in brewing. There were herbs, roots, essences, oils, alternative grains, sugars, and a host of other adjuncts. Beneath each name was a description, origin and location, an illustration of the ingredient through various levels of processing, and then a brewer’s attribute when used.

“Almost all of them have attributes,” Thrush said.

“Look at this one,” I said and pinned the page down with a finger. “Powdered Oxykelp. Native to the eastern Red Stone isle. When mixed with Blue Brewer’s yeast, this will imbue the beer with Brewer’s Attribute: Waterbreathing.”

“You could brew some for yourself, Thrush said. “Then you could come fishing with me.”

“The cold would kill me.”

“Oh yes. That’s a part of being human, isn't it.”

“Look,” I said, flipping back through the beginning, “Cowbell’s root. Cowbell leaves make a dull clang when disturbed by the wind. The leaves are veined with metal. When roasted, and steeped, the roots imbue the beer with Brewer’s Attribute: Mist Hidden.”

I consulted the glossary of attributes and slid a finger down the third page of ‘M’s to Mist Hidden.

“Mist Hidden: When offered as a libation, enshrouds the area in a wall of mist that cannot be navigated through except by those who drink from the same beer. High value. Stealth. Base building.”

“I know you said that you’d rather have a mash tun and lauter tun,” Thrush said, “but this book sounds like it’s got a ton of really good information.”

“Yea, you might be right about that. Perhaps I was getting ahead of myself, but that doesn’t change the fact that I could really use larger brewing vessels.”

“How would you make one?”

“From what I’ve learned from leveling up, it would involve a lot of metal.”

“I’ll go to the shipwreck and see if there are any pieces I can bring back,” Thrush said. “Otherwise I’ll try and barter with the goblins.”

“That will take you a few days. Are you sure you’ll be alright without smoked fish for more than a few hours?”

“Hawkin. Most of my inventory is now smoked fish. I’ve got quite a collection going. Trust me when I say that I’m prepared.”

“Alright,” I said. “Let’s get a good night’s rest. Tomorrow is another day. I’ll try and level up Mash Master as much as I can, that way I can save on firewood.”

“You’ll have to construct a building to put your new brewery in,” Thrush said.

“New brewery?”

“Well if you’re going to build these big mash tuns and lauter tuns, you’re essentially building a brewery.”

“I-I guess. Yea, I hadn’t quite put two and two together yet.”

“What are you going to name it?”