Chapter 15

Beyond the Cabin

Hawkin

Brewer’s Reputation: 600,600.

The sea was easy. The sun was warm and the wind was brisk. I sat beneath the towering staghorn sumac and looked out upon the sea.

Four incredible ingredients were laid before me. Each in their own containers. Ethereal barley grains formed a pile within a wooden bowl. Each grain emitted holy light. Though the grains were immobile, the light danced and moved through each one. Another bowl beside that contained a pile of ghostly hops. Then there was a small cup of unearthly colored yeast. The gourd, the last container, held mystic colored water. Hard work had earned me enough of each forged ethereal ingredient to brew a gallon of ethereal beer.

I began the brewing process with my level 1105 Brewer’s Bubble skill. When it came down to the foam, I selected my level 1 Sticky Meringue sub skill. Then a final prompt came up.

[To complete your first Greater Planes Cutter Beer, use the Alchemical Control skill.]

[Use Alchemical Control?]

[Y/N/]

Yes, I thought.

The entire world around the floating Brewer’s Bubble of beer wavered like a mirage. The effect stopped and the beer imploded with great force. The color of the beer changed into spectral colors. Colors I couldn’t describe. Colors that put a shock in my mind. Colors without names.

It took me a moment to recover, and once I did, I guided the beer in a stream into five 750ml bottles. When the last one was corked, I received another system prompt.

[Quest: Brew your first Greater Planes Cutter beer, complete!]

[Style: Crisp. Foam: Sticky Meringue.]

[Reward: Clone Ethereal Beer skill. Forge Ethereal Label skill. 20 silver rank Brewer’s loot chests. 2 gold rank Brewer’s loot chests. 2 Planes Cutter loot chests.]

[Planes Cutter Master level earned!]

[Greater Planes Cutter beer cannot be used until it is labeled.]

I immediately received a quest to name and label the beers. I was happy to find out that creating ethereal labels was less labor intensive than forging the ingredients. The meditative focus was still needed, and within the hour, I was able to forge 1 label. It was a simple thick sheet that sheened chimerical colors. The label read “Beyond the Cabin. A simple crisp style ale with sticky meringue foam. Brewery Hawkin. Silver.”

I received a few more loot chests after completing that small quest. And after all that brewing, I was exhausted and just about out of mana. I enjoyed a few sips of a sour blueberry mana ale and took some time to enjoy the stunning sight of the sun sparkling on the sea.

Then I had myself a sip of a Lesser Planes Cutter beer.

The ethereal plane of summer fields was different. The sun was setting, and I had never seen it budge in all the time I spent there. I knew what it meant. I heaved a sigh and took a look at the cellar Barnacle-eyes and I had dug and then brought up the last remaining barrel. Then I went for a stroll. One final stroll through the chest high mess of cosmos.

“It’s bittersweet, isn’t it?” Dellia said.

I turned. Dellia was there placing her arm through mine. Her smile flashed like a shooting star.

“Dellia,” I stammered. “It’s good to see you. I’m going to miss this place.”

Dellia led us forward at an ambling pace and said, “part of me will miss it and part of me won’t. This has been a learning experience for us both and now that you are capable of opening pockets of ethereal planes, our journey is well underway. Just like this sun. Do you see how beautiful dusk is here, Hawkin? You’re witnessing the closure of an ethereal plane.”

We spent a few minutes quietly taking in the beauty. Then I broke the silence and said, “when I was a child and lived in the city, my neighborhood changed seemingly overnight. Ugly houses were built. Beautiful trees were cut down. Old streets were paved over and they weren’t called Olde anymore. None of those old things seemed important to anyone, but they were important to me. I told myself I would run away one day to a place where the trees could stay as long as they wished. This all reminds me of that day. I almost can’t believe that this is it; my last day on this plane.”

“The suffering of change, Hawkin. Fret not. You will experience your own ethereal plane that you will master to your heart’s content. You will soon see, but for now there are other things I’d like to talk about. I have a favor to ask.”

“If I can fulfill your favor, I will,” I said.

“Apart from the Greater Planes Cutter beer you’ve just brewed, will you please include my name on the labels?”

“That’s it? That seems like a small favor?”

“Tell me you’ll do it.”

“You can count on me,” I said.

“I know,” she said. “Thank you. It’s a matter of spreading my influence.”

We walked in companionable silence for sometime before Dellia asked to hear about what I’d been up to lately. She was all ears and asked question after question. Again, many of her questions involved Thrush. At last, she took a deep breath, and said, “It’s been good to hear about you, Hawkin. Before I go, it is important that you keep track of the recipes you use to brew Greater Planes Cutter beers. If you don’t, you’ll lose track of which ones bring you where. Understand?”

I made eye contact and nodded.

“Now, tell me more about Abigail,” she said through a yawn. “Has she mentioned Potere?”

I spoke at length of everything Abigail and I had discussed when it came to the gods. At some point, I turned to Dellia, only to find her gone once more. I chuckled and wondered if she had even cared to hear about Potere at all.

My chuckles quickly withered when I realized how dark it was getting. I took up a jog and returned to the cellar where my sole remaining barrel sat. As soon as my hand landed on a stave, the ethereal plane vanished. I found myself beneath the colossal sumac with the barrel in the leaves and sand beside me.

It was still afternoon, and the sun was still bright. I felt refreshed and full of energy and life.

Farewell summer meadows.

I spent some time in my head before deciding to open up some loot chests. I went through 20 silver rank Brewer’s loot chests and earned an overwhelming amount of various hops, yeasts, bottles of beer, and glassware. Notable items included 5 liquor barrels, a bushel of various botanical ingredients, and a few firkins of beers from breweries I’d never heard of before.

1 of the silver rank Brewer’s loot chests transmuted into a legendary loot chest. It held 6 gold rank bottles of beer, and 1 fable rank bottle of beer. The highest rank item I’d ever laid eyes on. It was something I wanted to share with my companions back home.

The gold rank Brewer’s loot chests were exciting because I received 6 coils of different hop vines. In addition to 3 other coils, I was 1 shy of completing the Ten Vines collection quest.

The 2 Planes Cutter loot chests contained nothing but forging skill books. I was ecstatic to see the skill books because they were going to make forging ethereal ingredients much easier.

Now for the big adventure, I thought as I held up one of my Beyond the Cabin Greater Planes Cutter beers.

[New quest: Drink your first Greater Planes Cutter beer.]

[Reward: 10 silver rank Brewer’s loot chests.]