130. Alchemist: Gwaed.

The bloody fucking useless captain. He should be thankful he has a medic willing to work on this wreck he calls a ship. He should not be extorting more coins just because I have some bonds he doesn’t like. I think I will concoct something that will keep him shitting for the next couple of days. Never upset your bloody healer.

I have a lot of luggage with me because I brought some basic alchemy supplies. The sick bay was tiny. I reduced the two cots to one to make room for my alchemy and strung up my hammock in the corner. Above the hammock, I curtained off the corner so Sugnwr had a dark place to sleep. I left a rope hanging from the hammock, so Merch could come and go as she liked.

The first few seamen to come to the sick bay got the rough treatment. One got a potion to “clean out the disease,” which left him puking and shitting all night. The others got absolutely vile concoctions, whether they needed them or not. The idea was to get the word around about this so people would think twice about coming to see me. Should they just tough it out? Yes, they should, in 90% of the cases. This will make my workload easy for the trip.

My schedule is pretty cruisey. I am up a 4 am for the breakfast crowd. The off-shift comes through first, and then they go out and relieve the others, who come for their meal. I am done by 8 am. This is repeated in the afternoon, and I am busy between 4 pm and 8 pm. This is minimal effort for my Journeyman Level Cooking Skill. There is a lot of crossover between cooking and alchemy. The rest of the time, I am on call as the healer, and I made sure there was minimal call for the healer.

The trip to Northport will take about three months. That includes several stops on the way to small independent villages. Without the stops, it would take us just over two months, and I am sure the Imperial Navy will have it done in 6 weeks or less. I figure we are going to be two months behind this assassin. If she stays in Northport, that is fine. If she moves on, that is a problem. I know what she looks like, thanks to Tabitha. I have her smell and the taste of her blood, thanks to Modrica. I still can’t believe those two are Blood Sisters, Krvne sestre. I am a bit envious. I wish I had someone like that. Never mind, my bonds have always been enough.

I am starting to prepare my bonds for another one to join us. Merch is my latest bond, so Sugnwr has been through this. It still takes a lot of work to fit a new personality into our family. It took six months for Difetha and Sugnwr to settle. It only took a couple of months for Merch to settle in as she was very similar to her mother, Difetha. If I manage to bond with a Vulture, that is going to be a huge change. Our timing is not the best either. The best way would be to bond a new hatchling, but by the time we get to the breeding grounds, which is our second stop, the chicks will be just learning to fly. They will already have a basic personality and have fought with their siblings over food and a lot of other things. We will have to wait and see if I can find one I can bond with.

I have more reasons to bond with a Vulture than just the sensitivity to rotting carcases, although that ability will be invaluable, especially if the assassin has moved on from Northport. Vultures have very potent stomach acid to break down bacteria. I already have the Skill Strong Stomach from my rats, but this acid could be used as a weapon and in my alchemy. It will be useful, even if I have to throw up to access it.

Vultures also have good thermoregulation to keep their body temperature in a certain range. Being able to adjust my body temperature will help my blood alchemy. When I learned Infrared Vision from Sugnwr, it was a game changer for my alchemy. To be able to see when something is at the right temperature stopped so much wastage and upped the potency of the potions I could brew. Being able to regulate the temperature of my blood should mean I can increase the potency of my Blood Alchemy in the recipes that use my own blood.

I am also looking for more movement skills, but I have not been very successful at learning these from Sugnwr, so I am not getting my hopes up. I have got so many other things from Sugnwr I am not complaining. Infrared Vision, Echolocation, Blood Infection, and boosts to Sense Blood and Blood Poison all came from her. She seems to have the raw end of the deal, only learning Hidden Strike, Stealth and Blood Manipulation from me. She seems happy.

My rats Difetha and Merch have given me Olfaction, which is similar to the Hunter version of Blood Hound. Enhanced smell. I also have a Strong Stomach from them, allowing me to eat almost anything, and, of course, Rat Fur. Difetha learned several Blood Skills from me, but Merch is young and has only Stealth.

The Skills from my first bond, Tom, are still there, but they only grow slowly. My fighting style is called Catfighting, and I learned it from him. It best uses the claws and fangs I got from him. Tom was my bond through the time I was learning Alchemy and the specialisations of Poison and Blood Alchemy.

I studied Ninjutsu from childhood, so I have the standard Stealth, Throwing Weapons, Staff Weapons and Small Blades from that. My Unarmed Combat was merged into my Catfighting Skill, which boosted it to the Master Level. Druid was my second class, and my Blood Affinity seemed to change it into Blood Druid with the limits and benefits of that. I could never bond with something like Nyx. My bonds require blood, and no sap doesn’t count. I tried it.

It was my Alchemy and, in particular, the Blood Alchemy that really made my reputation as the Gwrach Waed or Blood Witch. The key to that was learning the Spiritual Sensitivity Skill. This meant I could tailor the amount and flavour of the spiritual energy into the potions. It made them very effective, especially if I could get a taste of my target blood. This Death assassin will need something very different from anything I have done in the past. Thanks to Modrica, I got to taste her blood, and I have some stored. This will probably be enough to push my Blood Alchemy Class to the Master Levels. I have never known anyone with a Class at the Master Level. It is very difficult to get there, and good things are supposed to happen. There are some ancient Elves who apparently have done it, but none of them were less than 200 years old when they did it. I am only just closing in on my first century. It is probably got something to do with the Elven philosophy of “slow and steady wins the race.” Elves are risk-averse in general.

I have set up my alchemy to analyse Lady Death’s blood. Using someone's own blood in the final poison is often very effective, but not in this case. Rot and Death are going to need to be countered with life and growth. The basis for this poison is going to be a mixture of a health potion and a fertility potion. Ideally, I would like to use the blood from a goblin, or preferably a goblin Shaman, as the base ingredient. I am not going to find any of those around here, so I will have to substitute things, and that will make it more complicated. My blood has many cleansing and rejuvenation abilities, so I will start with that as a base. Zebrafish can apparently regenerate their own heart, and Ruku is a fisherman. He might be able to catch me some to use. Now, let's see what other ingredients I will need. Jellyfish or stingray poison can add some bite to the concoction. The idea at this stage is to negate the death and rot with a healing base and then add something that will kill or, more likely, incapacitate. Healing and poisons don’t usually combine into one potion. A lot of this poison will be from ocean sources. I am going to need to lean heavily on my Improvise Skill. This is going to be a long process. Fortunately, I have some months on hand to work on it.

Gwaed

Class

BDruid

Alch

BAlch

PAlch

Ninjutsu

Total

Type

Attribute

Level

11

10

14

8

10

Constitution

Physical

Strength (PS)

6

3

8

0

7

6

30

112

Agility (PA)

12

2

3

4

5

16

42

Perception (PP)

10

1

4

0

11

14

40

Mental

Strength (MS)

15

8

11

3

5

42

131

Agility (MA)

20

4

11

10

0

8

2

55

Perception (MP)

15

2

0

3

0

4

10

34

Spiritual

Strength (SS)

7

2

3

10

14

4

40

137

Agility (SA)

8

2

11

10

14

8 53

Perception (SP)

7

1

4

10

14

8 44 Totals

100

25

55

50

70

32

48

380 Free Points

0

0

0

0

2

Resistances: Cold 24, Disease 32, Poison 33, Pain 24

Skills:

Novice:

Apprentice: Sewing 9, Conceal 8, Herb Lore 7, Fungus Lore 5

Sailing 8, Throw Weapons 9, Staff Weapons 7, Blunt Weapons 5

Mammal Lore 5, Sentient Lore 9, Anatomy Lore 6

Haemorrhage 8, Blood Infusion 9, Blood Infection 8

Barbarian 8, Infrared Vision 7,

Claws 8, Stalk 8, Fangs 9,

Journeyman: Common 11, Dwarvish 10, Animal Lore 11, Plant Lore 10

Echolocation 11, Olfaction 11, Sense Blood 14,

Blood Clot 10, Blood Cleanse 11, Poison Blood 10,

Blood Rejuvenation 11, Tasty 10.

Cooking 11, Strong Stomach 13, Rat Fur 10

Measure 10, Purify 11, Sense Spiritual 13, Spiritual Sensitivity 11

Poison Blade 10, Hidden Strike 11,

Stealth 10, Obfuscate 11,

Veil Status 10, Improvise 14

Master: Nightsight 15, Animal Bond 17, Small Blades 16,

Catfighting 15, Blood Manipulation 15,

Affinity: Blood

Monster Kills: 0

Bonds

Sgrapiwr - (Deceased Tomcat)

Difetha - (Deceased Rat)

Merch - small daughter rat

Stealth, Strong Constitution, Olfaction

Sugnwr - vampire bat -

Echolocation, Infrared Vision.

Disease - rabies

Blood Infection, Blood Poison, Blood Rejuvenation, Stealth, Sense Blood,

Hidden Strike, Stealth, Blood Manipulation.