The Butcher of Gadobhra

Chapter 24: "The first thing to understand....."

The basement of the tavern was a maze of barrels and stacks of boxes. Derek hinted that it needed some work. The cleared area in one end had several work tables and what looked like a couple of covered wells by the wall. Derek was by one of the wells, getting a couple of buckets of water. "First rule: Use the water from this well. Don't take the top off the other one. The old well is bad."

Various ingredients were laid out on the tables. Several types of grains, some burnt grain, honey, berries, and flowers.

Rather than going over each item, Derek gave her a lecture on the basics. "The first thing to understand about brewing is that it isn't exact. It depends on the ingredients used, how you used them, and the person doing the brewing. The cantrips don't do the same thing for any two people, so you're going to have to feel your way along as you do more and more complex brews. Each brewer achieves their recipes by following a formula and by having a good idea of what they want to create."

"Cantrips? Brewing takes magic?" Suzette had never brewed in the real world. Alcohol got delivered like anything else.

"Of course, it does! How else could we turn some rotten vegetables and water into something glorious like ale? Let’s do a run through of a batch of small ale. You have the brewing skill, and that unlocks the cantrips for brewing. The book is open on the table there. They are pretty simple, couple of lines activated by voice."

Derek gestured at the items on the table. "Brewing ale and beer take some basic ingredients. Most any grain will make an alcoholic beverage, but for ale and beer I like to use barley and groats. Beer also gets the dried hops flowers in this pile. Grains get turned into malt. The rest of this is the subtle stuff: fruits, honey, dark roasted malt. These can add some flavors and body to your brews. Today though, we do basic ale."

"Ok, first we have the malt. Malt is grain that has just barely germinated and started to grow. This can be various grains but I use a combination of two barleys that we grow here in Sedgewick. Take four big scoops of each of those grains and put them in that barrel, then add one bucket of water. Always use water from that well. It goes deep and draws up very clean water. The cantrip will let the water soak into the grains and they'll germinate overnight. Just use the first cantrip in the book, there are no special gestures to it, just that line of verse."

Cantrips generally had three or four syllables, often in an older language. The important part of the process was holding the image in mind for what you wanted to happen. Lack of concentration meant nothing happened. Suzette mumbled the cantrip imagining the grain sprouting and growing, holding her hand over the grain. A green glow spread over the barrel of wet grain.

"Nice, that will do it. You got a nice glow going. On to the next step." Derek pushed a similar barrel of sprouted grain to her. "This is dry, crush it with the heavy rolling pin, and then mix in a scoop of the dried groats, and a scoop of the roasted malt and crush it again. When it's all crushed, toss it in this barrel. I'll get the water boiling."

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Once this was done the mixture of crushed grain, malt, and roasted malt were put in the barrel. Derek slowly poured in ten gallons of not quite boiling water over the mixture with a ladle. After about an hour, they poured off the liquid into a fresh barrel. Yeast was added and the barrel sealed.

Derek explained that the yeast and the 'first pourings' would slowly ferment to make a heavy ale. To speed things up, he had her use the second cantrip. "Same as the first. Hands over the barrel, and think about that nice ale you were pouring last night. Then say the cantrip slowly. You'll feel a bit of a drain on your mana for this one. Don't hold back, a bit of extra mana makes for an ale with a nice kick."

Luckily, Suzette had sampled this ale the night before and had a good idea of what Derek wanted. The cantrip was easy to say and she felt her mana pouring into the barrel. She pushed a bit harder, like she did with her other cantrips until she hit a bit of resistance. There was a deep green glow all over the barrel."

"Whew, that's good. That one will be potent. You must have a decent amount of mana to do that."

A sound from the corner got their attention. The barrel that Suzette had said the germination cantrip over had sprouted. More than sprouted! New grain sprouts were 6" high and rapidly getting taller. Derrek gave Suzette a long look. "So, I think maybe you get a passing grade on making the cantrip work, but we need to work on your control a bit. Let’s haul this outside before we have a farm growing in here.

The pigs were quite happy with a snack of germinated grains. Suzette washed out the barrel and brought it back down. This time she held the thought of the grain slowly germinating and redid the cantrip. By that time the used mash in the other barrel had cooled off. Derrek explained why that was important - hot mash and boiling water made for a worse brew.

He repeated the process with 10 more gallons of boiling water, explaining that the first batch would make a strong dark ale and the 'second pourings' would make a much lighter ale to drink with meals. When both barrels of liquid were ready, Derek added a bit of yeast to each and put the wooden tops on.

"Ok, last step. We can add other ingredients: herbs, fruit, a bit of honey. It can add a bit of flavor, or could also make the brew taste horrible. Each brewer has some different recipes and because we are mixing in some magic, there's variation from the brewer casting the cantrip. For today, let’s stick to basics. Pick out a fruit or honey, just one ingredient. Add that and the yeast and use the fermentation cantrip. And maybe just a bit less mana this time."

Nothing strange happened this time. While they cleaned everything up, Derek went over the process again until she had it memorized. "Tomorrow morning we'll check your ale and start on another batch. I'm going to toss down some barrels today as well. Business is picking up. Last chore. I've got to show you how to make Bludgeon Brew."

"Is it difficult?" Suzette could imagine the name brand had some exacting standards.

"Hardly." Derek grimaced. "It ain't good beer, it ain't brewing, and it ain't tough. Over here we have the official 'Bludgeon Brew Casks' and the official 'Bludgeon Brew kit.' Fill the cask with 40 gallons of water, that's up to this line on the inside of the barrel. Then dump the sack of ingredients in, stir, put on the top, and say the cantrip on the label. Dead simple. It's the one part of this deal with ACME I don't like. But people drink it."

Brewing 101 accomplished, Suzette ran off for alchemy lessons. She'd be back soon for the start of her shift.

=*=

"The first thing to understand about alchemy is it isn't exact. It depends on the components used, their amounts, the order you mix them in, and the flavor of the alchemist's magic. The cantrips don't do the same thing for any two people, so you're going to have to feel your way along as you do more and more complex potions."

Aliester had been waiting for her when she entered the shop and brought her back to his work area. He first had her don a heavy smock of grey material that came down to her knees and covered her arms to the wrists. "Wear this when working here, in case of a spill. Most things won't cause permanent harm, but when things get spilled, they can combine in odd ways. There are also several sets of gloves and goggles hanging on the rack."

"The first component of any brew is universal solvent, otherwise known as pure water. You can produce it easily by boiling water and catching the steam on a cool metal plate and letting it drip into a cup. Simple potions are created by dissolving ingredients in pure water with a cantrip, then heating the concoction until it turns, and finally focusing your magic and your will upon it. For today we will start with a simple potion to give a warrior strength in battle."

Aliester had her pour a beaker full of pure water, add a hair from a bull, a bit of powdered iron, and a smidgeon of ground horseradish root. He had her practice with the cantrip, keeping the image in her mind of the ingredients fading into the water until it was clear again. Her first try succeeded to his satisfaction.

"Very good, the solution is clear, yet holds the essence of the ingredients. Next, we place it on this runed stone pad, an ingenious little device I created, and heat the mixture slowly. You'll see the mixture start to take on color; when it reaches its max potency, you'll need to focus on the effect you are trying for, and push mana into it. The second cantrip is helpful with this, but eventually you will not need it. The words and gestures of the cantrips are a tool, the real magic comes from the thoughts in your mind and the mana you pour into the effect. I'll guide you through this one."

The mixture heated slowly, becoming pink, and then darker red. Aliester signaled her to begin the cantrip. She could feel her mana drain away. For an image, she imagined the legendary hero Samson, standing between two pillars as he shook down the temple of his captors. She felt her mana stop pouring into the potion, and she received a message.

Success! You have created your first potion.

You receive the two cantrips: Universal Solvent and Mana Infusion.

You have learned to make a weak potion of Catastrophic Strength. The person drinking this potion will gain 2 STR for 1 minute before taking 200 points of damage as his overworked muscles snap. There is also an increased chance of causing damage to anything touched during this minute.

Gain 50 EP in Alchemy

Gain 50 EP in INT

Aliester capped the potion and handed it to her. "An interesting effect. We may need to work on the image you are using for your STR potions. Let’s move onto weak healing potions next."