21 – Underground Potion Crafting

I woke to the sound of rain in the courtyard. Outside my window, a strong spring storm was falling upon the trees and vegetable beds. Leaves hung heavy with much-needed rain. It seemed the bluebells wouldn’t need watering today.

I did a quick check in on my orb world. It was raining there too. The landscape looked beautiful with drifting cloudbanks and sheets of rain fading into the horizon. To my surprise, my overall mana capacity had climbed from 1680 to 1760.

My little spell creatures had been busy.

Previously, a good night of sleep would only replenish my spent mana. Increasing the total capacity had required active pondering. But with these guys pondering in their free time, my mana reserves had increased by almost a hundred while I slept.

Maybe catching up with these wizards wouldn’t be as hard as I thought.

Even though I wanted to push through to level 9, I was more excited about the prospect of staining my staff. A good stain could enhance a staff’s performance well beyond what the wood alone could do. But first I needed to do a little more research.

I went into the kitchen to make myself a cup of coffee, passing Linli at the round table, who was reading what looked like a newspaper printed on parchment. He raised his pipe in silent greeting.

I made my coffee using the pour-over method with a cheesecloth filter and a very steampunk-looking gnomish water boiler. Steaming cup in hand, I headed up to the library.

According to The Art of Crafting a Staff, wood was energetically neutral. Some might think a wooden staff would favor plant and water magic for obvious reasons, but trees breathe in air that they use to create the very fibers of their wood, which balances it in the air direction. Roots take up minerals from the soil, which adds a slight earth affinity, and sunlight gathered from the leaves gives it fire and light affinity as well. So, all other things being equal, wood is a neutral medium, at least with regard to elemental magic.

Of course, the type of wood and things it is exposed to during its growth can tip the balance toward one magic type or another. Other than the natural qualities of the wood, the best way to enhance its affinities is by staining it with a potion.

The Art of Crafting a Staff was sparse on potion details, so I had to rifle through the shelves looking for something that could give me recipes for the different types of stains. Eventually, I found a dusty old tome titled Liber Potentia Minor that was filled with potions for beginner wizards. Near the back was a section dedicated to staff stains.

I sipped my coffee as the rain beat against the ancient glass windows. This book confirmed what the wizards had been arguing about last night. There were two main types of stains. Water-based stains reduced mana usage, while oil-based stains increased spell potency and took longer to dry. It was basically a question of whether I wanted to cast more spells or stronger spells.

Since my build was already going in the glass canon direction, the oil-based stain was the clear choice for me, although I did make a mental note to acquire some kind of defensive spell if one was offered to me.

The oil-based stain potion required several ingredients: a suitable oil as a base, Tree of Heaven bark powder as a general-use mana conductor, and herbs of the corresponding magical affinity that the wizard wanted to enhance.

A brief scan of the appendix informed me that orris root powder was perfect to add a water affinity, while dried moss could add a decent plant affinity.

There were no references to herbs that added a void affinity.

I spent the next hour scouring the bookshelves for something I could use to increase the power of my void spells. In the end, the only thing I could find was a passing reference to the legendary wizard Urk, who was speculated to have been a user of void magic. Apparently, he drank netherroot tea every morning because he believed it increased his magical abilities.

It wasn’t a lot to go on, but it was something.

After cross-referencing in Liber Potentia Minor, I discovered that it was a crafting herb of uncommon rarity that could be used to create space in an already saturated solution to allow the addition of more herbs.

Creating space sounded a hell of a lot like creating a void.

It was good enough for me.

I rushed back downstairs. Now Erl and Bagavash were at the table too, smoking, imbibing coffee, and reading the news. I guess the rainy day was enough for them to cancel their morning sparring session.

“War’s getting bad,” Bagavash grunted. “Says here the necromancers are striking further and further behind the White Tower’s lines.”

“Kids are going missing,” Erl said. “This is not good for anyone.”

They nodded at me as I reached the bottom step.

“Is Myrl around?” I asked. “He promised to teach me potion crafting today.”

“Already in the crafting room,” Bagavash said, gesturing toward a large wooden door set into the far wall.

I thanked him, made myself another cup of coffee, and headed to the door.

It opened into a curving stone stairway that led into the depths beneath the tower. The stairs took me to a long underground tunnel lit by emberlight and lined with many doors and side passages.

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I might have been lost if not for the sound of Myrl’s voice humming to himself and the signature smell of his smoking blend.

A door that had been left open led down a short flight of stairs to what was basically a dungeon. It was a large underground room with a vaulted stone ceiling, filled with all manner of cauldrons, chemistry equipment, and jars of herbs. They had a veritable apothecary down here. An entire wall was taken up by a wooden shelf with cubby holes, each one filled by a different jar of crafting ingredients.

Myrl stood over a small cauldron, stirring, smoking, and humming to himself.

I cleared my throat to announce my presence.

“Ahh, you made it!” he said with a big grin. “So what did you end up deciding on?”

“Oil-based stain,” I said. “I want my spells to be stronger.”

“Wise lad. As a wizard with over seventy level 1 spells, I made the same choice. Just remember that as you upgrade your spells, the mana cost increases too. It may seem like you have a lot of mana now, but just wait till you get your first level 5 spell.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I said.

“Since I don’t think anyone really knows what oil complements void magic, I would just go with tung oil as your base. It’s pretty standard for all oil-based staff stains. We keep it in that clay jar over there.”

I lifted the lid and peered into the viscous, reflective depths. “How much do I need?”

“Ladle yourself two quarts and pour them into a cauldron. Here, you can use this one next to me.”