Master Of None

”Holy heavens! What’s that smell!?” Gil and Midnight were nearly put on the floor with the wave of toxic smells coming from the alchemy lab.

”Oh stop your crying. It’s just the dregs of an antidote potion. It will be fine.” Remey’s taunting voice called Gil and Midnight in but Midnight quickly retreated.

A dragon had a much more sensitive nose than most other beings. Therefore, Midnight found that the intense smell was not worth the trouble. She backed right out of it and was gone. Gil couldn’t even get a word in before she had made her way toward the top deck.

”Well this awful smell was enough to scare Midnight away.” Covering his nose did not help Gil at all as he walked in to the lab. He managed to find Walker and Remey over different cauldrons boiling away.

”It made Onyx leave too. I’m sure they will be fine.” Walker had a cloth over his face but Remey was seemingly fine. She had become used to these smells long ago.

”This is the last batch from what you had sent to us while you worked.” Gil and Midnight had someone take away any of the tearing falcon blood while they worked. It wasn’t something that they could just run back and forth doing since the bodies needed to be taken care of quickly.

”So what about the actual potion? This can’t be it…” Gil couldn’t fathom that the potion would be so gross.

”Really? It’s right next to you Gil.” Remey shook her head and focused on the current cauldrons. This left Walker to explain.

”The potion needs the blood purified to be used as an ingredient. I was surprised that the rest of the process was mixing our smelly ingredient and some herbs to soak. This is the antidote and it will be done in an hour after we add what’s left here.” The process was more interesting than Walker had originally thought.

The fact that the process went so in depth as purifying one single ingredient then turned around and just left the others to soak was off. But he had managed to see Remey cutting and mincing some herbs to soak. The same reason as I’m cooking was given, to let them spread the medicines within.

”So that will become this?” The difference in color was the most drastic thing Gil had picked out. The rusty brown color of the purified blood turned in to a somewhat clear red potion that could just be dyed water. And when Gil leaned his head close he smelled a pleasant floral scent. Much better than the singular ingredient.

”Exactly, the best part is that this potion can be drunk or applied. Apparently, only a handful of potions are like that but because of the weaker potion this one is like that.” As far as Walker could see, this would increase the ability to heal those encountering the purple bank frogs many times over.

”Well that’s good.” Gil wasn’t sure how it all really worked since potions were not his specialty. However, he did see the value. ”I was wondering if you could help derive the purple bank frog poison for a poison drip arrow I’m making? The purple feathers are perfect for it. I just don’t have anything to do with the yellow feathers other than regular arrows.”

”We were wondering about the yellow color on the arrows too. This antidote potion will work for that poison as well but who knows how well. Remey said that we would have to add ingredients or change the potion completely depending on what the monster was and what the poison did.” Walker felt that he was somewhat letting everyone down.

The reason for this was that there could be a person that encountered this poisonous monster before they had any inkling of what it was. That left them without an antidote and the pure home that someone would defeat one. Other than that, they would also need the body of the monster to be somewhat intact so that they could extract the poison from it.

”Well, I think we can head to the top deck while Remey works. That way we will be able to get out of Remey’s way and also keep an eye out for any fighting.” Walker knew that there was a tough chance they would be able to see what the monster was ahead of the ship. There were many of the scouting and clearing groups ahead of the ship. However, it was worth the shot, especially since they could climb a look out tower.

”That means we can work on our sight while we make arrows. And Yes, you helped Remey, scared away Midnight who was helping me, so that means you are now helping me. Sound good Remey?” Gil completely captured Walker without even asking Walker’s permission.

”Fine by me, he already kept the ingredients in good condition through the toughest part. I should be fine here. I already called for the alchemists on board to help bottling and cooling these potions after they are done. They are good for five months. A pretty solid amount of time.” Remey was happy with this as the efficacy time for the potion. It was above the average four months meaning she did well in asking Walker to help control temperature.

”Well…I guess that’s alright.” Walker actually wanted to take some time to meditate but had already been dragged in to something else. After a quick check that Remey really didn’t need him, he followed Gil back up to the top deck where a few more groups had returned to change shifts.

”It looks like everyone has been busy. The purple bank frogs must be more prevalent than we thought.” Gil was both happy and annoyed by this. He knew that there would be more treating falcon materials if there was more of their prey around. He would be missing out on them because the other elves would lay claim to them. But he was happy because that meant that the route was being well cleared for the other ships. Especially Alma’s.

”It’s good, a lot of the healers are getting some experience working in a ship. I’m sure Alice has partnered up with Su by now to completely take charge of the healing. Honestly, she might be changing things around as we speak.” Walker could imagine it now. Su and Alice ordering around the healers and the nuns that had come on the ship to make the entire healing floors more efficient.

The tower that they were climbing was just shorter than the masts that were set up to carry the massive wind catching sails. The sails himself had been made from a special braided fabric that was later made with wind elemental runes. This allowed them to be able to catch the wind under any circumstance to push the ship faster. It was also the last fallback when the ship lost magical power to move or steam power. The dwarves had many back up plans.

Climbing the steps of the tower brought them past a few people moving up and down. They were mostly elves since the elves had the best archers and in relation, the best eyesight. They had proven to be the best to take the lookout while a few of the demi-humans with certain monster or animal traits had also taken the positions as watchers.

”See, from up here we can see forever. Now let’s start work on carving some arrow shafts.” Gil tossed Walker a knife and pointed out the one he had already carved from the tearing falcon bones. ”Just straighten it out, remove the ends, and focus on creating notches here, here, and here.” Gil showed off the speed of his skill by making one in the blink of an eye.

”You know you will need to check my work over and over. I doubt I will be able to watch the banks much.” This wasn’t really an issue. Walker had not helped Gil make arrows in a long time. They would have the chance to bond while Walker worked on a skill he didn’t use.

”Just keep trying to copy me and we will be fine. I have all the bones from the tearing falcons. If we mess some up it’s not the end of the world. But if you mess too many up…well, someone needs to test the arrows.’ Gil’s evil smile made Walker question if Gil was truly a hero or if he had somehow managed to become a hidden villain.

”By any means, I will see what I can do.” Walker took the carving knife and started to carve away at the bone using the same technique that Gil did. He was sure that this would end up being a new skill as long as he spent the time on it. He just had to put in the work.

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