As Luck Would Have Had It [Research / Solo]

[Icyferno]

Status: Healthy / Rested

~

Something had been bothering the Swashbuckler recently. No, it was not that he had been up and about too much lately and deserved a break. No, it was not that people were levelling so much faster than him. Rather, this had something to do with his crafting subclass, Pharmacist.

It was a subclass which allows the user to craft potions. That much he understood. Yet, how was it that there were so few potion types available? Apart from the ones researched by himself and the other Pharmacists, there was little in the way of potions which should have been in pretty much every game, even those he would personally not consider using. Yet here he was, trying to recreate one of those potions for profit.

The potion in question was that of luck. In most games, these potions literally existed solely for the one, single purpose of increasing the chances of landing a critical hit. To be honest, he was never really a fan of such potions as he never really grasped the timing of when and when not to use one of these things. He guessed some people just could not do well in certain classes, much like the different subjects he took in school.

That said, even if he had no use for it, there would certainly exist a group of people, most likely Assassins, who would like to get their hands on such a product. As such, there was profit to be gained from going to all this trouble. Not that this project should give him as much trouble as his last one. How hard could it be to find everything he needed to concoct such a potion? It was all down to a matter of luck.

~

Word count: 290
Total word count (Pharmacist): 290
Notes: N/A

[Icyferno]

Status: Healthy / Rested

~

A few quick inquiries to the Pharmacist stalls he usually frequented yielded fair results. Most of them seemed to recommend four leaf clovers, which was also commonly associated with good luck back in the real world, originating from Ireland. It was a rare mutation of the shamrock, which seemed to be the case here as well. Four leaf clovers were hard to come by, naturally, so it was understandable that while people knew of it, it was actually proving to be a challenge to find.

Well, there were no two ways about it. Time was something he had on his hands, for he was the kind of person who knew precious few Adventurers. Include the fact that he had yet to join a guild, and the result was that he had few obligations, few meetings to attend and most importantly, had the ability to sit around and just do nothing while others slog away at their levels. Then again, he supposed that was a bad thing. Having people stronger than you was always a bad thing. He had a few encounters with Player Killers in the first month of the game, though things seemed to have simmered down quite a bit, as though the PKers had either given up or were grouping together to plan their next move. That in itself was not good, so perhaps he should train more, if only to be able to protect himself.

The stalls most likely to have the ingredient he wanted was likely to be some of the bigger stalls in the center of Londinium, not those in the outskirts he often visited. Prices were likely going to be higher too, and for an ingredient as rare as the four leave clover... his wallet was not going to like this. Chances are, once he was done preparing the potion, he would have to force himself to go out and hunt a bit, if only to earn some money to cover his recent spike in operating cost if not to increase his level. Delving too much into new possibilities tend to be draining on the pocket, especially since some of the other more prominent Pharmacists pick up on most of his new ideas quickly and sell it, thus preventing him from earning interest from his research. Those suckers only knew how to profit off of others and talk their way into getting business without doing the hard part: research, he thought sourly. Speechcraft was never his strong point. Perhaps that was where the problem lay.

Nevertheless, the central district awaited him, so with barely a few scraps of knowledge of the ingredients he may possibly need, he walked purposefully towards the center of town, where the larger stalls lay waiting.

~

Word count: 456
Total word count (Pharmacist): 290 + 456 = 746
Notes: N/A

[Icyferno]

Status: Healthy / Rested

~

Visiting the heart of Londinium was both a joy and a terrifying experience at the same time. It was a joy because it was the heart of innovation. Every new invention, every little tidbit on information was here. As they were unable to access the internet and discuss such things on forums and check information on a wiki, these things were extremely important. Even if one were as antisocial as him, constant trips to the center of town was vital in keeping oneself up to date with various pieces of news.

That said, it was also a terrifying experience because he was never really that great with crowds. With Adventurers and People of the Land milling about at virtually all hours of the day, it came to no surprise that he did not like coming here, essential or not.

Heading straight for his objective, he was rather pleased to note that the store had the item in stock. As expected, the price was steep. Since he was there, he also bought some other miscellaneous ingredients to stock up his supplies. It never hurt to be well stocked, especially if it meant less trips far from his base of operations.

His business completed, he hung around the town square, listening to the latest gossip. To his surprise, it seemed that someone had decided to travel beyond the combat zone of Sarum and discovered a new town, this one devoid of both a mysterious barrier blocking them and Adventurers. It seemed like a prime place to visit, yet at the same time, it sounded like it was an area out of his level range. Perhaps he should stop by the coastline to train first.

In any case, those issues could be solved later. Right now, his top priority was to create a stable prototype of the potion he was trying to recreate. It took a while to get back, but when he did, evening had fallen. He did not begin this project early in the first place, so it was a given it would be evening when he returned, but to always start things so late... He was going to miss out on too much sleep if he did this repeatedly.

Ingredients at hand, he began to formulate a recipe in his head, making mental notes against some of the things he would likely need for this research project. It was far from the most complex of things he had done, so with luck, everything should turn out just fine.

~

Word count: 418
Total word count (Pharmacist): 290 + 456 + 418 = 1164
Notes: N/A

[Icyferno]

Status: Healthy / Rested

~

A few minutes later, he sat at his 'work table', which was essentially a table he had never bothered to clear and usually left all his stuff on. Which was technically a bad thing, considering that one could not buy zones yet and thus he could not safeguard his stuff by restricting acccess to the house. All that stood in the way of any intruder was just a battered wooden door which looked more likely to fall off its hinges rather than keep someone out. A very good security system. He should probably stow all his stuff someplace safe, but he was living in the outskirts, and few rarely came to this area, so this hideyhole was not known at all. No one had even visited his shop before, although he supposed that was because of two reason: The first being that not many even knew where to find it, and the second being that even if they did know, it was a long walk, a walk which they could shorten by visiting more prominent Pharmacists who operated in the central area of Londinium. So in the end, he did not blame them, but himself for the lack of business.

Pulling out the materials he thought he needed for this experiment, he make a quick note of what he was going to use on a blank scrap of rough paper made of low level materials. It reminded him of some of the practical assessments done for his Science subjects; planning an experiment was included. Previously, he had never really given it much thought; it was just another part of his exams. But recently, he began to realize the value of writing things down before starting. He had not perfect memory, so knowing what he did, how much of an ingredient he used, was important in terms of trail and error.

After making notes, he began the experiment in earnest. To summarize what he did, he simply trimmed the main ingredient of the potion, the clovers, such that the rotted parts were completely cut out before rinsing the remainder and boiling the whole thing in a beaker of water. It was simple, sure, but then again, there was no need to over complicate things. He briefly considered adding some extra ingredients to even out the flavor, but decided against it. According to his sources, it was supposed to taste sour at first, then slowly transition into 'a really delicious, leafy taste' according to the weathered old man who ran a small stall at the very edge of Londinium.

Oh well. He supposed that even if it did end up sour, people should just deal with it. Either that, or he could modify the production process to even out the flavor. But in the end, Adventurers who wanted it would not have much of a choice in the matter. Does taste matter so much? Manufactured medicine, in particular, did not have great taste in the real world; the stuff he made and those man-made medicines were not really all that different in terms of how well the taste is perceived, though health freaks may prefer potions made from natural materials.

But in the end, that was someone else's problem, not his own. His current job was to produce potions and that was what he was doing.

The four leaf clover had been boiled for over an hour now; his bored musings were put on hold for the moment. Sieving the mixture, he regarded the greenish potion with a critical eye. It was time to find out if his efforts paid off. With luck, he would not need to try again through trail and error and get it right on his first try.

~

Word count: 620
Total word count (Pharmacist): 290 + 456 + 418 + 620 = 1784 (2094)
Notes: Last post was made during the AP bonus event. Typed in gray to avoid confusion.