thebastion | Day 293

Entry tags:

Day 293

Who: Rob, anyone
When: Day 293
What: Rob's Alchemy skill has increased. Or just grab him to talk if you want.
Where: Anywhere in the Bastion
Format: Will match
Warnings: None

For Colin

Rob's been spending a lot of time in the laboratory area this past week. He told Colin what he was doing - trying to make an invisibility potion from various ingredients that Paarthurnax bought in preparation for learning to make healing potions - but he hasn't been offering updates on how that's been going. If asked he's been having trouble processing the plants into reagents correctly, along with a few minor issues with a brewing process that's beyond what he ever tried to do in science class.

Today though, while Colin's back is towards the stairs, Rob comes down as quietly as he can (and of course because he's trying to be quiet he's louder than he normally is) and approaches Colin from behind with an open bottle in his hand. Assuming Colin doesn't respond to his ~~incredibly obvious~~ approach, he'll cough loudly. Either way, as soon as Colin starts to turn his head during this process, Rob will quaff the contents of the bottle. When Colin's gaze finally passes over where Rob's standing, there won't be anyone visible. For the next 17 seconds. Homemade invisibility potions in Skyrim don't last very long.

For Paarthurnax

When Paarthurnax looks like he isn't busy with anything, Rob crosses the bridge to the Dragonfield and approaches him.

"Hey, uh, Paarthurnax? Can I show you something?"

For Everyone Else

There's a tough-looking long-haired man walking around in mammoth-hide sandals, cargo shorts, a tank top, and a rabbit skull and leg bones strung out on a necklace around his neck, the faint blue glow of a shard coming from each eye socket. He's clinking slightly as he walks, which may be related to the bulges in the cargo pockets of his shorts. Whether you've seen him around before or not, if you want to talk to him now's a perfect opportunity.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Oh, hey, it's the guy with all the creepy yet cool-looking accessories that he taught how to fish, Shing recalls as he spots him nearby. It doesn't take him that long to approach, a small smile on his face as he waves him down and stops next to him. "Hey, Rob...! It's good to see you again..."

While he was going to ask how his attempts at fishing have been going thus far, the clinking noises in the other man's cargo shorts arrest his attention, and soon he finds his gaze lingering on the bulges in his pockets. Frowning, he tilts his head curiously and gestures vaguely at him. "... do you mind if I ask what's in there?"

"Huh? Oh. Sure." He pulls a bottle of transparent red liquid from his pocket and holds it up. "Invisibility potions."

"Whoa... that's really cool..." Shing can't help but stare at the red liquid in awe, blinking and nodding excitedly as he looks at the pockets once more before facing Rob. "Is that all you have in there? It looks like a lot."

Wow Shing it's like you've never seen an invisibility potion before.

"Yeah. I used up the rest of the ingredients I'd already gathered to make a bunch, since there isn't anything else particularly useful that I can make with them."

Also he was going to use a bunch to see how long he could hide from Colin but that ended fast.

To be fair, those things don't really exist in his world. Just potions that heal people.

Either way, Shing looks excited as he glances again at the red potion, trying and failing to hide his excitement. "Do you think I could try one?"

Healing potions will eventually exist here too, if Rob has any say in the matter. ...They won't be particularly strong healing potions, but they'll exist.

Rob looks at Shing's expression, then at the potion. Well, he does have extras ~~aka as many as are needed for the convenience of the threads in this post~~, and it'll give him a chance to see what it's like when he's not the one drinking it. He hands it over.

"It lasts for 17 seconds, or until you try to affect anything other than yourself, whichever comes first. It also makes you invisible to yourself, which can be kinda disorienting."

When Shing drinks it, he will indeed become invisible. It's not perfect though; if he looks at himself out of the corner of his eye he'll see a faint distortion where the parts of his body are, and it won't hide his footprints in the grass, which Rob will be watching for.

"Really? . . . huh." Shing blinks, pausing for a few moments to let that knowledge sink in before he takes the offered potion and drinks it up.

As soon as the invisibility kicks in, he can't help but laugh a little as he starts wandering around in the nearby area, grinning a little as he moves his arms around as a test.

"Whoa... this is really cool! You could do a lot with this, I think..." Like scaring people or sneaking up on them. Or pulling off a surprise attack. Though once he's gotten used to it, his attempts to look at himself through the invisibility are met with less enthusiasm as before, as he's not quite used to the weird afterimage effect his movements are having. "... you're right, though, this is kinda confusing..."

He pauses for a moment as he soon notices something when he tries to use his sword and shield - namely, that both are just floating around where he would be, too. "It's not perfect, but hey. It's still a pretty cool idea."

"The duration is the major issue, but it should still be useful to have around. I don't know if there's any way to improve it though; I'm just working off of some books from Paarthurnax's world, and they're mostly aimed at beginners. One of them does have a story about an alchemist who made invisibility potions that didn't wear off when the users attacked, so if that's true it might be possible, but I have no idea how I'd go about it."

"Ah... I'd be a terrible person to ask, too. Me, I'd just go charging in and attack while I still had some element of surprise to my name." At least Shing is admitting to being a reckless battler...

"If it's something he'd know about, maybe you could ask Paar?"

"He did give me the titles for the books but I don't think he has any personal experience himself; he's a bit big for delicate work like this. I'll have to see if he has any ideas though."

"That could work..." Shing pauses in thought, trying to see what else could be done in this situation. Blinking, he soon gets another idea.

"Maybe you could purchase some more potion books with those shards, too? If not purchase the potions themselves and try remaking them or something..."

Rob nods.

"I'm gonna ask him if he has any more book recommendations. I've run into a few places where I have questions that the books I have don't answer, so maybe other books will help. The books I have haven't said anything about finding out how a potion is made by looking at the finished product though. I don't know if that's even possible."

"I've been told you could do it, but again, I wouldn't be the right person to ask..."

Shing shrugs again, but then he grins at the work Rob's done on the potions so far. "It's all really nice, though! If nothing else it'd be great for quick sneak attacks, especially against the monsters we'd see on the Skyway..."

Rob nods.

"Or a way to escape."

"Yeah... you could also use it to sneak around at night, too, as needed."

Though he does soon think of a question now that they're talking about the potion. ". . . oh, wait. Is that potion something you could use multiple times, or is it just once a deal?"

"You drank it, didn't you? I mean, I'm not about to see if it does anything once it comes back out, but you could if you really want to."

"What, no! That's not what I meant!"

Shing has to pause for a moment to stop flailing and get that mental image out of his head, thanks Rob. "I mean, I already drank it once, right? Say I were handed another potion, would I be able to use that, or would it not work since I already had a potion?"

"Oh," Rob was thinking than Shing was being pretty stupid with that question but now it turns out it was actually reasonable, "no, it'll work. You can actually drink another one while you're invisible and it resets the duration. You can't drink anything else though or it'll end the effect, just more invisibility potions. I've got no idea why."

". . . huh. I see. So, theoretically, if you drank nothing but invisibility potions you could stay invisible as long as you wanted to?"

Made sense to him, at least... it would be inconvenient since you'd have to drink nothing but those things, but still. Everything useful did have its setbacks...

Rob blinks.

"As long as you didn't try to touch anything you weren't carrying other than the ground, pretty much. You'd also be chugging a potion every 17 seconds. You'd probably have to use the bathroom pretty quickly."

"I figured as much..." Shing pauses, laughing a little as he frowned in thought.

"If there was a way to extend how long that thing lasts, that would be really useful. Not that it isn't already, but. You know what I mean?"

He nods.

"I think it might just be that I'm not very good at making the potions yet. I had trouble preparing the ingredients at first. I'm going to try and figure out how to make other kinds, especially healing potions, but once I have I'll need to come back and see what I can do."

"That sounds reasonable... maybe there's other magic users here that you can ask for help? There's quite a few of us here, so you're bound to run into someone like that sooner or later..."

"Maybe, but I think it'd have to be someone from Paarthurnax's world, unless the different plants that he's brought here exist in other worlds."

"They might? And if nothing else we could also use some Shards in bringing them here, it could work..."

Day 293

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