Mini-Turn!Most or all of the group slowly ascends the stairs, wary of any danger. This paranoia intensifies as you near the top, and a heavy rushing sound becomes louder as you get closer.
The source of the sound becomes apparent as you clear the final steps, but it's only after Pitonous cautiously pokes his head through and then enters the doorway that you can fully tell what it is.
Apparently, the top of the structure is open- as is most of the floor. A band of solid ground rings the edge of the temple, but the middle is comprised of a giant hole. Within and above it swirls a dark vortex of water- presumably, this is the source of the heavy pull far above. Not surprisingly, it looks like the currents are flowing swiftly down.
What is surprising is that the vortex doesn't seem to occupy the whole thing. While you're wary of getting too close, lest the visible part be smaller than the actual effect, it seems as though there's sufficient room to get down without getting caught in the whirlpool. What's more, it looks like the shaft leads to multiple open rooms- in fact, the current floor looks like it may be the temple's narrowest point, as far as this tunnel is concerned.
As for whether there's anything in those rooms... hard to say. Some appear empty, some clearly have oddly-shaped debris in them, and almost all have visible doorways. The rooms themselves seem lit, though less severely, by the same light that permeates the outside, but the opening falls into darkness past a certain point.
Also, Skel glares angrily at Pitonous, and Drzkktizz contemplates the finer point of dissecting things for alchemy.
((Originally I'd intended alchemy to work Elder Scrolls style. Then I decided screw that, it'll be freeform like all magic.))
Essentially, to produce a potion requires coming up with valid excuses as to why your components should allow it to do that. A potion of healing might use aloe vera because it has certain healing properties already and a type of salamander that can regenerate limbs because that's obviously healing, for instance.
The rarity and power of a given item helps determine its suitability and power. Attempting to mix various sorts of grass into a healing potion because it's alive and can therefore heal, for instance, would probably require a lot of grass and/or be essentially useless. Animal flesh might be more potent, human flesh likely more potent still, and some sort of gemstone associated with healing, life, blood, or similar might make or assist with a truly potent concoction.
The manner in which something is harvested is fairly important. Specifically, more precisely relevant reagents (or portions thereof) are usually more potent but require more of them than more general ones. A potion of strength made from a bull would be weaker than that made from a lot of bull hearts, for instance, but you'd lose a lot of padding in the process. Thus, most alchemists attempt to harvest proper ingredients from the start; for instance, either collecting a handful of entire plants or an armful of just the flowers.
Finally, like all magical arts, alchemy can benefit from knowledge of other schools of magic. Healers can use their expertise to make better healing potions than someone who knows nothing of the art, fire mages can make better incendiaries, and so on.
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Topic: Darkmoon RTD [Turn 24: Poison and Pain] (Read 50097 times)