"What happened?"
"The kobold was thirsty and drank some brandy by accident." -- Anon Guest
On the plus side, the enemy was getting a routing it never suspected from a foe they couldn't even focus on. On the minus side, this had to be doing something awful for Chrysanthemum's bodily systems. Dragonkin had different biology to mammalian lifeforms. A drop of alcohol might dull a human's senses, but to one of reptillian descent... It was like a plus three Potion of Haste.
Lady Anthe was currently a blur of destruction and devastation amongst the underground cult of the devastator. Bodies flung into the air, cells opened so violently that the doors flew off the hinges, the altar exploded into a shower of rubble, and cultists' robes burst into flames. Wraithvine, carefully gathering ingredients from the environment, leaned over to Marvin and said, "Exactly how much brandy did she have?"
Marvin helplessly showed Wraithvine the empty skin that used to contain the brandy. "Tried t' tell her it weren't water, but by then it was gone."
"Oh dear," said Wraithvine in the calm, cool, and collected way that meant things had entirely gone to shit and ze didn't want to cause any alarm. "I'll need to make extra, then."
Marvin sort of hid behind the wizardly Elf. "So... what are you making?"
"Potion of torpor," ze was busy with hir potion brewing kit. Cranking a squeezing apparatus and counting drops as they gathered into a special phial. "Triple strength should do it. I hope. Two potential worst cases - it only slows her down a little..." Careful, thin slices into the miniature cauldron, and a measure of pure spring water, followed by the crackling powder from a dried leaf, crumbled into the mix.
"Or..?" prompted Marvin.
"Or it conks her completely out and we have to make sure she's still breathing during her extended rest." Wraithvine turned a small hourglass and fanned away the fumes. Ze turned one eye towards Marvin. "Have we learned something today?"
"Never sneaking alcohol into a water skin ever again," said Marvin, making an X over his heart with one finger.
Wraithvine added the contents of the cauldron to the contents of the phial, and watched as it changed colour and fizzed angrily. "Good." Ze stoppered the potion and held it out in the palm of hir hand. It vanished, and the constant thrum of Lady Anthe's clawed feet slowed to a patter, then steps that slowed to a halt.
"Tha's some kind'a rush," sighed Lady Anthe, and then fell over into a snore. By the creaking of her bag of holding, Marvin could guess she'd been trying to slow down through encumbrance. Marvin opened it and tipped it carefully out, then set to the self-appointed task of separating the useless stuff from the potentially valuable. He even carefully washed out the empty phial and returned it to Wraithvine.
Wraithvine, for hir part, gently arranged Chrysanthemum's sleeping form into a position more likely to be helpful for their impending vigil. Ze said, "You take first watch," and began to meditate. The ambient light faded to the point where it merely gave shape to the darkness.
Marvin, for his sins, worked on honing his blade and repairing his shield. In between those tasks, he worked on reminding himself that Lady Anthe had probably eliminated every possible threat in the immediate area. She had well earned this rest, for sure.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / serrnovik]
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