Void Rift (rp) - Intermission

I don't say anything, I just keep looking at the book alongside Stephanie.

"The what?"
Crystal seems confused by the word.

 

Stephanie eventually flips through the tome to chapters on alchemy, detailing various potions with varying effects, a lot of it in the runic language. The few pieces of text that aren't in the runic language are either warnings on what not to mix, consume with or let the potions touch, or simpler ingredients for the potions, such as wheatgrass or cherry blossom petals.

 

If there are any diagrams, I look at those to see what to focus on.

 

A lot of the diagrams feature examples of how the potions should look over time, how to prepare the ingredients and what temperatures and environments to make the potion in; as well as a few examples of the effects to expect from drinking the potions. One of the diagrams shows a character drinking a potion before floating upwards, while another, for a love potion, shows a character drinking the potion before love hearts begin appearing between them and another character.

You notice a few notes and handwritten areas on some of the pages in Stephanie's handwriting, adding to the recipes, effects and other information, with information gathered presumably by Stephanie herself.

 

"Cataclysm. This world used to have its own set of gods, Nyx being one of them. After the Cataclysm, hardly anything was left. Whatever was became feral, but somehow, the Anubi managed to keep their society together."

________________________________

While Katie does that, a drow signals Artemis aside.

The group appears split; one half in the forest, and... the other half... somewhere.

 

Artemis walks over to the drow, trusting. I seem to notice, keeping an eye on Artemis.

 

"May I ask what brings you to our forests? The elder is curious."

 

"Exploration, really. A goddess called Xlentia opened up portals to other worlds, and we went through one to here to explore." Artemis says honestly.

 

The drow seems upset by this.
"You serve the Doombringer?"

 

"No, not at all. We almost killed her, though, sacrificing a friend to 'free' her." Artemis says, worried about disrupting the trust between her and the drows.

 

The drow seems confused.
"You mean... something was controlling her and the other Doombringer?" They ask, uneasy.

 

"I believe it's someone called the 'Hive Master' mind controlling them." Artemis explains.

 

"Then they should be punished for their crimes. We are all who remain of the omnifollowers, and you'd be hard-pressed to find any remaining followers of The Hunter."

 

"The Hunter?" Artemis asks, intrigued.

 

"Parzival, God of the Hunt. Then there's Eviala, Descendant of Gaia. Finally, Nyx, Goddes of Misery." The drow explains. "Only one race remains that follows each of the gods, and us omnifollowers follow parts of all of them."

 

"Those sort of sound like what people believe are "smaller gods" my world has. I was named after the Goddess of the Hunt, Artemis," Artemis says happily, "Though you'll probably want to speak to Stephanie if you want to learn more about them."

 

I look at some more potion types on the page.

"Woah. That's pretty cool."
Pause.
"Not the Cataclysm part, the Anubi keeping stuff together part."
He clarifies.

 

I teleport to the group that is not in the Forest.

 

There appear to be various healing potions, potions that cause the consumer to become ten times lighter, potions that cause the consumer to become ten times heavier, potions that alter the consumer's reaction speeds, so time appears to be moving either slower or faster...

There are a lot of potions on the various pages of the chapters, some chapters even dedicated to certain potion type variations in themselves.

As Stephanie turns one of the pages in the chapter, she very quickly covers one of the potions before skipping the page, turning red with embarrassment.

 

"My apologies, but not really. I must concern myself with this world, not yours."

You can't see them, that's the issue.

"It's kind of miraculous. They're the followers of Eviala."