[center][h3]Winterhold College - Way Fourward[/h3]
[color=salmon][b]Ace[/b] - [u]Level[/u]: [b]9[/b] - [u]Total EXP[/u]: 516/90[/color]
Level 7 Heismay (64/70) Sectonia & Mokou
[b]Word Count:[/b] 2086 (+3)[/center]

Predictably, the warped metal of Heismay’s sword meant that he could no longer sheath the weapon properly. He was tempted to ditch it, knowing he’d look ridiculous carrying the thing around. He doubted that this labyrinth had a blacksmith, and he couldn’t depend on finding a new sword before one turned up. As strong as the scythe had been against an unguarded large target, it simply wasn’t a weapon for actual dueling, as its top-heavy design would throw him off balance with every swing.

Holding the longsaber by the blade in a reverse grip, the eugief took one last look at the lava-littered, rot-spattered nexus chamber and ambled wearily toward the lone exit. “I’ve had more than my fill of occult rituals,” he confessed. “Twould be nice to stumble upon a pleasant bathhouse or well-supplied bar, for once.” He pressed his shoulder against the dor and pushed with a grunt, heaving the oaken slab open to reveal another room.

[center][b]Potion Garden[/b]
[img]https://media.rimworld.gallery/e3/03/e303a12875cb4b6385544bf0f64a8fe08fe9a596becf8fb64eebf6205222a787.png[/img][/center]

Beyond the doorway lay a fairly small, naturalistic room. A thick canopy of leaves from different trees formed the domed ceiling overhead. Hanging vines with berries that glowed warmly like Christmas lights provided light, while rows of bulbous, deep red fungi grew from rich, sandy planters along the walls. Shelves offered books on potioncraft as well as collections of botanical and mycological research, while picture frames provided a look at common potion ingredients, carefully dried and preserved. The floor looked like a mix between mossy stone brick and dirt, and while Heismay could see a couple green [url=https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ILM5DkuARNE/maxresdefault.jpg]jellies[/url] oozing along the floor, he couldn’t identify any immediate threats. It was a welcome change, and after a moment he let down his guard. “Tis another dead end,” he observed, “But at least our lives are not in peril.”

Ace reached down to pat Heismay on the shoulder, a sense of relief in his voice when he said, [color=salmon]"I'll take it."[/color]

The garden seemed pretty cozy, with a warmer atmosphere than any of the rooms they'd been in so far. Maybe this one would actually be fun to explore? The Cadet really hoped so. As his eyes trailed over the various plants, reading material, and everything else, eventually he looked back towards the group of Seekers and gave them all a resolute nod. First things first.

[color=salmon]"Have either of you found any clues about getting out of this place?"[/color] he asked Sectonia and Mokou. [color=salmon]"Me and Heismay met up pretty quick, but since we kept getting the short end of the stick I dunno if we're any closer to figuring out how to leave."[/color]

He looked at Heismay and shrugged. Lack of progress was hardly their fault after all, since they couldn't control at all where they ended up. After a moment Ace started to rummage around in his bag. [color=salmon]"This is about all I found so far..."[/color]

[hider=Items So Far]Bottle of assorted [url=https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/be2ef8f0cd9b.png]pills[/url]
Scrap metal and springs
Dog treats
Air-purifying sleep mask
[url=https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/5abf839131fa.png]Frog toy[/url]
Frisbee
[url=https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/8fe9f63834da.png]Voodoo doll[/url][/hider]

Ace paused when he produced the last item, surprised that he had it with him. He must have just shoved it in with the rest of the items without thinking about it. Regardless it was part of the pile, and though he couldn't determine if any of them had much use, maybe one of the others had seen something that they could be used with. There was also the Tormentor’s spirit too.

[color=92278f]”Ace, did you forget about the ‘hat’ that makes what spirits drop more valuable?”[/color] Sectonia said producing the hat of avarice, although she refused to look at it directly she had to concede that its power was incredibly useful. Of course, Ace wanted nothing to do with the grotesque magical artifact, but after a little cajoling from the queen Heismay was convinced to give it a try.

“Ack,” the eugief muttered. He needed one hand to help steady the weighty thing on his head, and that wasn’t all that made it unwieldy. “This accursed hat is hurting me. Quick, hand me the spirit. I want this blasted thing gone.” The moment after he crushed the Tormentor spirit, the Symbol of Avarice clattered to the floor behind him. His displeased look told Sectonia everything she needed to know about the experience. Sectonia knew the hat did this however, and offered a death pulse to at least heal the physical damage. The mental scarring though, remained.

[center][hider=Item Obtained][b][url=https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/5fd51fe56220.webp]Fists of Elhazar[/url][/b]
A set of gauntlets forged of demonic materials. One of a handful of exceptional warriors from the Kingdom of Men, Elhazar fought his way through many levels of the Crucible bearing these weapons. The wearer’s heavy attacks deal greater stagger, and upon achieving a ten-hit combo subsequent attacks are always critical until the combo is lost.[/hider][/center]

Heismay examined the gauntlets carefully. “Sinister, certainly, yet they seem to be high quality.” He glanced around at the others. Since he braved the cursed hat in order to obtain these, did that mean that he had first claim…? That did seem to be the case, as though Ace eyed the armor pieces appreciatively he did not make any attempt to separate them from the eugief. 

And as for the topic of escaping… [color=92278f]”No idea. We encountered a room that shut off all magic besides its own, which gave me this potent magical item.”[/color] Sectonia said, showing the others the Last Prism. [color=92278f]”At first I figured you would need these items to even use magic in this place, but no, it was just that room. And I feel like there was an unintended side effect from this item, but I could not tell when I grabbed it. Has anyone noticed anything?”[/color]

“From my point of view, it seems like you’ve been rather… Aggressive. Smashing whatever it is that’s in front of you even after a fight. Perhaps you’ve been cursed with a bit of rage” Mokou comments from her side of the room, picking up a book of potioncraft and flipping through a few pages, “I haven’t figured out a methodology to this place yet myself. But I imagine there *has* to be a path out.”

Adding onto Mokou’s first comment, Ace looked at the queen and said, [color=salmon]"yeah, during that battle you went a little kut-kurazy and were bashing everything around you for a sec there, including me!"[/color]

For what it was worth the hunter did not seem upset about that fact, he just briefly rubbed at the spot on his side where he'd been struck and gave Sectonia a friendly nod. [color=salmon]"It's Ya-cool though, no hard feelings."[/color]

[color=92278f]”Hmm…. I see… I will need to rectify this. Anger used in such an ugly way will not do.”[/color] Sectonia said, closing the matter in a matter of fact voice.

Heismay padded around as began to give the room a more thorough search. It looked like this chamber would be ideal for brewing potions, but that was no craft of his, so he hoped to find anything else that might be of use. “I can only hope that one of the rituals we dispelled would have otherwise impeded our escape.”

Approaching a counter, he found a couple scribbled notes along with a large key. It looked rather like it would fit the keyhole in one of the labyrinth doorways, although none of them had been locked so far. A tag on the key’s loop read ‘Sylvia’. “Hm,” he grunted, then put the key away in order to glance over the notes. Recipes, ratios, ingredient costs…nothing that really concerned him. When he tried a nearby chest, he found it locked, but instead of a conventional lock it featured some kind of liquid receptacle with an eye on it. “Curious…”

With no leads that they could see to chase, the other Seekers followed Heismay's example and fanned out to take advantage of the more relaxed atmosphere and see what they could turn up. Ace had turned his attention to the ingredients growing around the chamber, releasing the humbee to fly up and investigate the higher growing fruit (and nibble of course). The Cadet moved back and forth to match up the plants and mushrooms with their descriptions to see what was edible and what probably wasn't, though he regardless of what they were used for he did take samples of pretty much everything. Examining one of the slimes revealed that while they were content to just crawl along and clean up the walls and floor they did not like people getting too close to them. Thankfully its jump at the Cadet was telegraphed, and the creature itself was not very formidable, though it did yield green chu jelly. As Ace continued harvesting, he turned to look over his shoulder to see what Heismay was curious about. 

[color=salmon]"Wanna try opening it?"[/color] he asked. Since the whole room was potion focused, they could probably make whatever concoction needed from the ingredients growing around the area. 

[color=92278f]”I will leave you to it. Potion creation is not in my skillset. If you want to know what an ingredient does magically, I can identify that. But you would have as much luck as I with making the correct potion.”[/color] Sectonia said, giving a rare instance of stating something she couldn’t do. To be honest, potion craft was pretty rare on Popstar in general and no one in Foralia was good at it. But at the same time, it often seemed to offer less power than simple sorcery.

“You think a certain potion would open it?” That made sense thematically at least, although it struck Heismay as a little kooky. He peered around at all the potion ingredients and instructions cluelessly, not sure where to begin. After a quick look at the eye symbol on the potion lock for confirmation, he made his way around the room again, skimming the various recipes. “Potions…health, mana, stamina…tonics…enhancers…ah, perhaps this is it? I see a recipe for a ‘sight enhancer’ with an eye symbol. But this recipe…it reads ‘three parts A, four parts B, three parts C.’ I haven’t the foggiest what those mean, however.”

At this point Ace had approached to get a better look at the chest and lock, concurring that yes, it probably did need a potion of some kind to open. If he had to guess how the contraption determined what liquid was in the container, it would most likely be some sort of mystical ability embedded into it. Normally that would make the hunter less inclined to mess around with it, but compared to what they'd just been through in the last room, and the one before it, this wasn't that bad at all.

[color=salmon]"Huh. Maybe it's as easy as the name of what goes in it?"[/color] Ace guessed, holding up one of the [url=https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/525a7578b00c.png]plant ingredients[/url] to let it dangle by the leaves. [color=salmon]"Bog Beet for B?"[/color]

Though he went over to one of the mixing stations in the room, he did not throw the beet in yet. He'd hate to end up with a failed combo after all. [color=salmon]"I don't mind taking a shot at making it though, I've made tons of potions before,"[/color] he said, though it would be his first time using anything that had magical properties to make them. 

Sectonia grabbed one of the potion lists that seemed to say ‘this is A, this is B’ sorta stuff. She then looked at the potions that were unlabeled then the list again. [color=92278f]”No, I think it has to be based on its magical element. For example, this one you guys found is D, or water element. Not useful for making that potion, but I have a list here of what element is which letter. If someone could find more ingredients, I can tell you what magimins they have.”[/color] Sectonia said.