"This place is pretty cool!" Luz said as they landed just outside the outer walls. The castle-turned-research lab had been built right on the cliff, and the Boiling Sea had since eroded most of the cliff out from under it, leaving it perched on a stone pillar sticking out of the ocean. Only magic kept it all from collapsing into the water, and a stone bridge connected it to the rest of the Titan. Luz and Boscha had landed on this bridge, and now faced a black iron gate, with draconic gargoyles on either side.
The gate opened as they approached and they were allowed entrance into the grounds surrounding the Atelier, which was occupied with smaller buildings and facilities, including paddocks for animals and small herb gardens; both of which were used to gather ingredients for potions. Several Guards lined the path between the gate and the Atelier's large front doors, and they were dressed similarly to Coven Scouts, only with yellow cloaks over dull brown robes, which were styled more like plague doctor outfits, complete with matching masks. They had no weapons, but their belts were filled with potion vials and pouches of ominous powders, marking them as far from defenceless.
As the girls approached the castle entrance, the large doors swung open and Vitimir stepped out, flanked by two hulking guards that were dragging a cage behind them; a cage containing Morton. Luz gasped upon seeing him, but was relieved to see he wasn't injured.
"Morton!" she cried; "Are you okay!?"
"I'm fine. I'm sorry Luz, I never meant for this to happen! I- mmph!" Morton was cut off by Vitimir shooting a glob of yellow slime at him, which covered his mouth and sealed it shut.
Vitimir then lowered his face mask so he could smile kindly at Luz, and bowed in greeting. "Good evening, Young Luz. My name is Vitimir Bazamet, and I am the Head Witch of the Potions Coven. I would like to thank you for accepting my invitation to dinner."
"You didn't exactly give me a choice!" Luz glared at the man; "Let Morton and Barcus go, Vitimir!" she demanded.
The man put his hands up slowly; "I apologise for this, Young Luz. I truly wish our first proper meeting didn't have to be like this, but I needed a way to speak to you in a private setting." he said politely, his eyes seeming a lot kinder than when Boscha had last seen him. "Being close to the Emperor, you naturally would distrust me, so I took drastic measures."
Luz frowned; did that mean he was like Mason and this had all been a ploy to get her attention? "If that's true, then where is Barcus? Let him and Morton go, and we'll talk."
"I'm afraid I can't do that. I've waited too long to get a chance to speak to you; I can't risk you running away! But don't worry, neither your friend or this man will be hurt and I will release them after we've had our dinner." Vitimir said, clapping his hands. The two guards dragged Morton's cage out of sight, then Vitimir gestured for Luz and Boscha to follow him; "Right this way."
Luz glared at the back of the man's head as he led them both into the Atelier. The interior was eclectic and chaotic; witches and demons in plague doctor attire were running about all over the place, and every single bit of open space was being utilised for something. The walls were plastered with research notes and complex formulas, and every patch of floor that wasn't being used as a path had been covered by planters for herbs, pens for different kinds of beasts, cauldrons with all manner of potions bubbling away inside, and other potions related paraphernalia. It was insane, and from the look on Vitimir's face, he was not happy about it.
"I apologise for my Coven's unsightly nature. The lower floors are for my less accomplished brewers. They are tasked with fulfilling supply orders for hospitals, apothecaries, and other assorted businesses. Unfortunately they seem to work most efficiently in this madness… The upper floors are far less chaotic, and more fitting of an Angel's sensibilities." he said, sneering at everyone he passed, but flashing a kind smile at Luz when he turned to face her.
The young Arch-Angel was getting a very strange vibe from Vitimir, and Boscha was definitely starting to feel her skin crawl whenever Vitimir looked at Luz. He escorted them to a huge spiral staircase in the centre of the Atelier, and while it looked daunting to climb, the moment the three stepped onto the first few steps, they began to move on their own like a Human Realm escalator. As they went higher and higher, things got quieter, cleaner, and far less chaotic. The quality of the Coven Members' clothing also increased, becoming black or white robes with yellow bands, similar to Vitimir's outfit, only with plague doctor masks over their faces. They were also not running around, but rather speaking quietly and calmly, or working at meticulously organised laboratory set-ups covered by glass domes.
"My finer members conduct their research up here, either in teams supervised by an elite, or in personal labs. They research new transmutation spells, study how to infuse different magics into different ingredients, and of course, discover new potions formulas. The Elixirs that your mentor is so dependent on were first formulated here, by my predecessor… back before he lost his mind." Vitimir explained.
"Lost his mind?" Luz repeated.
"Oh yes. Safety and caution weren't practised much before I took over, and Old Jack Twoclaw inhaled a few too many fumes. I became his apprentice fresh from my graduation from Hexside, and ended up running the coven by the time I was 21. He lingered for ten more years though without retiring before he finally passed. At least Scooter Crane had the good grace to step down before he croaks."
Luz and Boscha exchanged suspicious looks, wondering if Head Witch Twoclaw had really gone mad on his own, or if Vitimir had been involved. The man was definitely conniving enough!
"Your parents work on these upper levels too, Boscha. Morel has a lab of their own on the second highest floor, while your mother is part of an elite team on the floor below theirs." Vitimir said, acting as if he hadn't drugged and interrogated her just yesterday.
"Huh, cool." Boscha mumbled non-committally.
Once they reached the end of the stair case, they found themselves at the peak of the Atelier's central spire, which was all black iron and sterile white ceramic tiles. This was Vitimir's personal laboratory, and it was filled with apparatus and ingredients that Luz had never heard of and Boscha could only have dreamed of working with. Crystal vials in strange shapes, cauldrons made of odd materials and at different sizes, liquids and powders of every hue, and books, tomes, and research notes all set out in a meticulously arranged way. The smell was also strange; like a mix between the smell of a sterile hospital environment and the earthy, natural scent of Eda's lab. Several doors led off from the central chamber of the lab, one of which Vitimir began leading the girls through.
"I've had dinner arranged for on the western balcony so you can see the sunset. It's quite a beautiful sight from here." he smiled.
Luz, beginning to get a really bad feeling, couldn't help but say; "Please tell me this isn't supposed to be a romantic kind of dinner."
To her immense relief, Vitimir's expression briefly flashed to one of concerned disgust; "What!? Of course not! You are a child! And one that is already quite in love with a certain Miss Blight, if I recall. I understand your concerns, but I assure you that my desires for this dinner are totally innocent!"
Luz and Boscha weren't so sure about that, but they were at least confident that he was being honest about the romantic aspect. It made Luz feel a little more at ease as she followed him down a short hallway and through another door out onto a large balcony that was pointing westward. It was quite a spectacular view, with the Titan's skull off to their right and the whole rest of the isles to their left, and the setting sun directly ahead of them. A dinner table had been set up on the balcony with three chairs.
Vitimir pulled out one of the chairs and gestured for Luz to sit in it, which she did nervously. The man then seemed to pause for a moment, then repeated the gesture with Boscha, as if only just remembering she was there. Once the girls were seated, Vitimir took his own seat and smiled.
"My subordinates will bring the food shortly, but first I need to make sure you're more comfortable." he said kindly, drawing a spell circle then offering a hand to Luz through it; "Allow me to make you an oath, to reassure you."
Surprised, Luz tentatively took the offered hand, and kept her mouth firmly shut so she wasn't tricked into making an oath. Vitimir then said; "I hereby swear that I have no intention of hurting you, treating you cruelly, or allowing the Emperor to kidnap and harm you."
Luz's eyes widened; was Vitimir actually being genuine!? The oath spell circle faded into their hands, sealing the oath, and Vitimir took his hand back with a smile, appearing satisfied by the girl's shock.
"I-I don't understand. What is this all about, Vitimir? You kidnapped my friend to get me here, but don't plan to hurt me or hand me over to Belos? I don't understand." Luz said warily.
Vitimir just smiled; "I want you on my side. Ever since I first saw you at the Covention, I've known what you are and have desperately wanted to speak to you. You are the spitting image of someone who was very dear to me, and whom I lost many years ago."
Boscha looked confused, while Luz gasped; "You knew Cassiel!?"
The name caused pain to flash through Vitimir's eyes; "I did. I'll be sure to tell you all about it, but let us enjoy the sunset first. It was an experience I often had with her."
The Head Witch looked away from Luz and stared out at the horizon, watching the sunset with a nostalgic expression. Boscha and Luz exchanged curious looks, then the former subtly nodded to the latter's ring, which contained Rasiel's spirit.
Carefully, so Vitimir wouldn't notice, Luz pointed the ring under the table and rubbed it with her thumb, signalling Rasiel to emerge from it. He immediately nodded to the girls and poked his head through the floor to make sure no one would notice when he phased through it completely. Once he'd confirmed the coast was clear, he gave the girls a quick salute, then descended through the floor to the next level.
Rasiel did not like leaving Luz and Boscha alone with Vitimir; something about the way he looked at Luz gave him the creeps, but he knew his mission. He needed to find Barcus and Morton, then report their location to Eda!
Thankfully, the old walls of the Alchemist Atelier were thick, and Rasiel could fairly easily sink into them without immediately popping out on the other side, so he had plenty of places to hide if anyone showed up. Floating back up into the rest of Vitimir's personal floor, Rasiel began methodically searching through the rooms. Aside from the balcony and the main lab, there other rooms included Vitimir's bedroom (which seemed to have been set up for two people, with half of the room looking untouched), a massive storeroom filled with jars and vials of ingredients for his potions, a second hallway and balcony that pointed eastward instead of westward, and a strange room that gave Rasiel a sense of dread.
The room was a bedroom, and was decorated like it belonged to a stereotypical little girl; everything was pink and frilly, with stuffed animals and girly dresses in all manner of styles. Rasiel had seen some girls wearing such things around Bonesborough, though not in such large sizes. The door into the room was also odd, as there was a secondary crystal door that could only be opened and closed by magic. On the surface, it looked like it was meant to keep potentially dangerous fumes from the lab out of the room… but it could also keep someone in.
"Unless Vitimir has a daughter no one's mentioned… I do not like the implications here." Rasiel whispered to himself. He dearly wished he had his body so he could begin rummaging through Vitimir's room and books for information, but he was on a time crunch, so he stuffed his fears down and descended to the next floor.
He continued his methodical search room by room, floor by floor, always remaining out of sight; a task that got harder with each floor as it got more chaotic and more Coven Members were running about completing their research and fulfilling their orders. The final couple of floors took what felt like forever, to the point that Rasiel had eventually opted to just lie flat and hide in the ceiling with his face poking out as he crawled around looking for signs of either Barcus or Morton. Finding absolutely no signs of them in the above ground sections of the Atelier, Rasiel then made his way down into the dungeons (the place had once been a castle after all). The dungeons/basement of the Atelier was primarily home to a few small and dingy labs, some old disused storerooms full of dusty crates, and disturbingly, a few old cells that looked like they'd been used somewhat recently. Rasiel felt sympathy for whatever poor souls had been kept there, likely as subjects for experimental potions, like the Wild Witches that Eda and Lilith had saved a while back.
It was while exploring this section of the Atelier that Rasiel found something interesting; a hidden staircase that was built inside one of the outer walls. Quickly floating up this hidden staircase, Rasiel discovered that it led all the way back to Vitimir's rooms. He then floated all the way back down to the bottom, and upon seeing no way out (likely due to it being a secret passage he couldn't open without a body), he just phased through the wall and grinned widely as he found an underground lab, one that was largely disused and stripped of most equipment and supplies, but which had a few cells built into the far wall… a pair of occupied cells. Morton was in the cell on the right, banging the funnel on his head against the bars like it was a tin cup, while Barcus was in the cell beside him, playing Go Fish with his own Oracle Spirit. The spirit was emerging from a tiny stone hidden in the hinge of Barcus' glasses, and the cards were a magically depleted deck of Hexes Hold'Em Cards.
After checking that there was no one else in the room to guard the pair, Rasiel made himself known.
"Barcus! Mr. Morton!" he whispered, getting their attention. Both turned to him with wide eyes, while Barcus grinned and Morton looked surprised.
"You're Luz's spirit friend! How did you get in here?" Barcus woofed, tossing aside his cards.
"Wait, I know you! You're that guy who runs errands for Eda sometimes! Rasmus, right?" Morton asked.
"It's Rasiel, Mr. Morton. And I got here by walking through the walls. But why are you still trapped if you have your Oracle Spirit with you, Barcus?" Rasiel asked in return.
Barcus directed his spirit to try and phase through the same wall Rasiel had walked through, only for it to be stopped as it if were a normal flesh and blood creature. Rasiel frowned and examined the stone; "Hmm, the walls of the room must contain salt. Salt is a purifying agent and harmful to unnatural beings like Oracle Spirits. They can't cross it, while someone like me can since I'm not actually dead; I'm more like an Astral Projection." Rasiel theorised.
"So does that mean you can get us out!?" Morton asked eagerly.
"No. Unfortunately, I can't turn corporeal at will like an Oracle Spirit. But Eda and Barcus' parents are waiting nearby to bust in and rescue you both. But how exactly were you captured? Did Vitimir send people after you?" Rasiel asked.
Barcus frowned and Morton looked down guiltily; "No… I got word last night that my delivery of ingredients from here wasn't going to be able to make it, so I had to come and collect it myself immediately, or they'd sell it to someone else. I needed them badly and couldn't carry it all myself, so I asked Barcus to help me… As soon as we walked into the Atelier, we were captured and dragged down here. I was let out a little while ago when Luz showed up, but then I was stuffed back down here."
"They were aware I was in the CATTs, though I don't know how." Barcus said.
"Vitimir drugged Boscha with Blabber Serum." Rasiel explained, "I'll give you the full story later; Luz and Boscha are keeping Vitimir busy and I've got a bad feeling, so now that I know where you are, I can let Eda and your parents know too. Do you know how to open the secret passage into this room?"
Barcus woofed; "There's a key hole disguised as a chip in the brickwork. I saw the guards with a small brass key that fit it and unlocked the passage. All of them use the same key from what I saw."
Rasiel nodded; "Small brass key, chip in the brickwork; got it. The others will be here soon."
With that, he retreated back through the secret passage and began making his way to the central staircase of the Atelier's sub-levels, which Luna had told them housed her secret exit. He floated down to the apparent bottom of the stairs and saw a familiar chip in the brick pillar that the stairs were built around, marking a secret entrance. Floating through the floor here, he found that the staircase actually continued all the way down the rocky pillar that the Alchemist Atelier was built on. It had been constructed by Luna as both an escape route, a secret entrance, and a path directly to the Boiling Sea for when she was in need of a swim.
Reaching the very bottom, Rasiel poked his head out through the wall and found himself outside, where the waves of the Boiling Sea were crashing against the rocks. He couldn't see Eda or the others, so whistled sharply. In a puff of cyan smoke, Eda, Rom, and Howlena appeared, having been staying invisible with glyph combos so they weren't spotted.
"Rasiel! How are things going in there?" Eda asked immediately.
"It's creepy. Vitimir swore an oath that he didn't want to hurt Luz or hand her over to the Emperor, but something about the way he's acting is scaring me. By the way, do you know if he has a partner or daughter?" Rasiel asked.
Eda frowned; "Not that I've ever heard of. Why?"
"Just a strange hunch I've got… I saw something unusual in his personal quarters." he muttered, rubbing his beard.
Howlena growled lowly; "Enough talk! Where is my Pup!?"
"He's safe, and locked up with Morton in a cell within a secret room." Rasiel said, before explaining the situation. "It shouldn't be hard to reach them; there are no guards posted, likely to avoid exposing the secret passage. Speaking of, do you have a key to open the way in?" he asked, pointing to what appeared to be the normal weathered rock and bone of the Titan.
Eda nodded and pulled out a small silver key with unusual teeth (that were actually modelled on real teeth). "Luna transmuted this for me. Now let's see here…" she approached the rock and began tracing her hands over it, until she found an oddly shaped crack. "Aha!"
Slipping the key into the crack, Eda wiggled it around until there was a click and a series of magical runes appeared on a patch of rock beside her. The runes disappeared and a chunk of rock shaped like a door popped out and slid aside to allow entrance to the spiral staircase Rasiel had climbed down.
"Bingo, we're in! Let's get going!" Eda said with a smirk.
Howlena and Rom nodded, following her into the secret passage while Rasiel floated on ahead to show them the way. Rom cast a Beast-Keeping spell to muffle the sounds of their footsteps (normally used for hunting creatures), and they moved silently up the stairs. It was a long climb, and once they reached the top, Eda had to cast a tiny light spell to find the chip in the stone that served as the keyhole to unlock the way forward. Once she found it, one more turn of the silver key had the ceiling above them slide open to reveal the lowest sub-level of the Atelier, which Rasiel had found earlier.
"We're close. We need to go up one level, then hang a right and head to the end of the hall. That's where the entrance to the second secret staircase is." Rasiel whispered.
They nodded and followed him up the staircase, letting him scout ahead to ensure the coast was clear. Once he confirmed it was, they headed to the secret passage and found the hidden key hole.
"We need some kind of brass key to open it." the Ancient Angel whispered again.
Eda frowned and tried the silver key anyway, but it wouldn't turn. It looked like this wasn't one of the passages Luna had discovered or created, so her key was useless. Silently, she peered into the nearest storeroom and found an old brass weight used with a set of scales to measure the weight of ingredients. Using some fire magic, she heated it up then shaped the molten brass into a vague key shape, then worked it into the key hole with magic in an attempt to make it take the right shape. Once she was confident, Eda cooled the metal and solidified it, then took a deep breath and turned the key.
Red runes appeared on the wall in front of them, making Eda sigh with relief, thinking the door was about to open like the last two had. Unfortunately, she was quite wrong and instead of opening, the wall's runes spread across the rest of the hallway, and a wall of crystal suddenly slammed down behind them, trapping them in the hallway.
"No!" Eda yelled, as the wooden doors in the hallway suddenly turned to stone and became immovable, completely trapping her, Rom, and Howlena.
"A trap!?" Rom growled.
"I'll bust us out! A little of Harpy Mode's corrosive aura should melt this crystal!" Eda declared, calling on the Owl Beast and transforming into her Harpy Form. However almost as soon as she gained the form, she lost it again and fell to her knees, feeling her magic draining.
"W-What's going on!?" she cried.
Rom and Howlena both tried to cast spells too, but their spell circles shattered immediately. Howlena then sniffed the air, and growled.
"There's a new scent in the air!" she barked.
"Indeed."
Everyone snapped around to see a group of Potions Coven Members marching forward, the leader of which was one of the hulking brutes that had dragged off Morton's cage earlier.
"Head Witch Vitimir expected that the Angel wouldn't come alone. Did you really think we wouldn't know about every secret passage in and out of this place?" the leader said with a chuckle in his voice; "Head Witch Vitimir had the entire place searched from top to bottom the instant he was in power!"
"Dang, we really did walk into a trap!" Eda cursed, "What the heck did you do to our magic!?"
"Oh, that's a little something special we whipped up. You, Owl Lady, both inspired and interfered in its creation! It is a new Bile Inhibitor potion that prevents the afflicted from using their magic. It was inspired as a counter to the Bile Booster you used in your attack on the castle." the man boasted; "Progress in making an aerosol version was going well too, until you attacked our facility in the Toes! As a result, the aerosol version breaks down too quickly, so it only leaves you without magic for about a minute. Thankfully, we can just give you the liquid version after we've knocked you out."
The Brute snapped his fingers and the magically concealed air vents that were pumping the aerosol Bile Inhibitor into the room began to pump out another gas; this one visibly yellow in hue. One whiff had Eda feeling like her eyes were becoming heavy.
"Sleeping nettles… Rasiel get out of here and warn Luz!" Eda ordered, falling to her knees.
"But-!"
"Go! You can't help us now…" the Owl Lady trailed off as she passed out, hitting the ground asleep. Rom followed soon after, while Howlena swelled herself up to the size of a horse in hopes of outlasting the sleeping gas long enough for the Bile Inhibitor to wear off, but it was in-vain and she soon passed out too.
Rasiel grimaced and phased through the wall into the secret passage and began rushing back up to the top floor to warn Luz. Behind him, the Brute growled; "One of them's getting away! Go warn the Head Witch! Put the whole Atelier in lockdown! And get these three dosed with the liquid version of the inhibitor, and then into a cell; we've got plans for them!"
[Meanwhile]
Back up in Vitimir's chambers, Boscha was becoming more and more confused by the situation at hand. After the sun had finished setting, Vitimir had snapped his fingers and lit the lanterns around the balcony so they could still see, and then witches from the Titania restaurant began bringing food up, apparently having been hired to cater this private dinner party. When Boscha had reacted with surprise, Vitimir had smiled and said; "I can't very well show my personal guest a lesser experience than I did you and your parents. That would be rude!"
Since then, they'd been eating the (absurdly delicious) meal as Vitimir made small talk with them, telling them a bit about his achievements in the Potions Coven, expressing how sorry he was that he didn't do anything to help Luz at the castle or the Conformatorium, and generally being a good host. It was clear he was working hard to make Luz like him and listen to his proposal for her to join his side (whatever side that actually was), but to Boscha's immense confusion, it seemed to be working!
Luz had started of suspicious, but as the meal went on, she grew more and more comfortable; giggling at some of Vitimir's bad jokes, hanging on his every word, and freely talking about some of her own achievements, stopping short only when it came to talking about the CATTs. It was almost like she was under the effects of Blabber Serum, but Luz would have noticed that and they'd been dosed with an antidote to it already, so it couldn't be that. On the other hand, Luz couldn't help but feel a connection to the man; he was a bit of an awkward weirdo, and clearly enjoyed his work a great deal. His earnest apologies for not helping her before, and his apologies for the harsh actions he'd taken today to get her to come visit him had made her warm to him. She rationalised it as being just like the situation was Mason, who'd apparently kidnapped Pebbles to get her to meet with him in secret! Perhaps she could convince Vitimir to join the CATTs too! Then there'd be no need for all this subterfuge! Luz was sure that if the others heard the full story, they'd understand.
For his part, Vitimir was having the time of his life talking to a young lady who was clearly showing him respect and appreciation without any hint of disgust for his appearance. "I am glad to find you're as kind-hearted as the rumours of you claim, Luz."
"Well I am from Crest Kindness, though I don't really consider myself a member of it any more." Luz smiled.
"Ah yes, the Crest Orders. Cassiel told me all about them, and the resemblance angels from the same order have with each other. I have to ask; are you related to Cassiel? Or is the resemblance truly just because you're in the same Crest Order?" Vitimir asked.
Luz shook her head; "It's just the Crest Order thing. At least as far as I know; we could be distantly related somehow. With the way Angels in the Crest Orders handle family, it's possible. I first heard of Cassiel here in the Demon Realm."
Vitimir frowned sadly; "Are you certain?"
"I am. I'm sorry Vitimir… was Cassiel that important to you?" Luz asked.
"She was the love of my life. We were close from the moment we met, and for five or six years afterwards. I had planned to ask her to marry me, but alas, she was targeted by bad people who knew she was really an Angel." Vitimir's expression was one of deep regret, while his eyes were full of anger and hate; "I tried to help her, but it all went wrong and she ended up fleeing. She left me and all her friends behind and vanished. I searched for her for 15 years, and you're the first clue I've had."
Luz gasped softly, while Boscha raised an eyebrow in surprise. So that was why Vitimir had gone so far; just like Mason wanting to save his petrified mother, Vitimir wanted to find his lost love again! From what Luz knew about Cassiel and the "fake" angel incident from years ago, Belos probably found out about Cassiel and tried to bring her to his side like he had Luz, only for it to all go wrong and for Cassiel to flee. Now Vitimir was working against Belos from the inside! Why else would he swear not to try and hand Luz over to Belos?
"I'm really sorry I couldn't be of more help to you, Vitimir. But maybe I can help? Maybe once this is all over, I can go to the Divine Realm and find Cassiel? Or if she's hiding in the Human Realm, I could find her there! If she's still alive then there has to be a way!" Luz said, smiling determinedly.
Vitimir smiled right back; "You would do that for me?"
"Of course! I love helping people, and you're a nice guy! Even if you did get my attention in the wrong way." Luz chirped.
Something about those words, and Luz's smile, made Boscha smell a rat. This was getting too weird for her comfort; she knew Luz was nice and forgiving, but was she really this naive? Not only that, but the way Vitimir's smile grew wider as he leaned over the table to pet the girl's head with his long arms was creeping her out too, especially since Luz was making a (admittedly adorable) little trilling sound in response.
"Hey, now that we're all getting along and Luz is happy to talk to you, why don't you let Barcus and that Morton guy go now? There's no reason to keep them locked up any more." Boscha suddenly piped up, having a sneaking suspicion that something was wrong here.
Annoyance briefly flashed across Vitimir's face, before he gave an apologetic look; "Of course. I'll have them released after dinner."
"Why not now? Surely keeping them in a cage for this long is already cruel." Boscha crossed her arms.
"It's fine Boscha, I'm sure they're fine." Luz smiled, waving off her concern; "They're not hurt and Vitimir promised to let them go. They can wait a little while longer."
In an instant, Boscha had to use every scrap of willpower to control her expressions and let not a single rogue emotion slip. Now she knew for certain; something was influencing Luz! There was no way she'd let her friend (or anyone else) rot in a cage while she was at a fancy dinner and had the power to do something about it! Forcing herself to shrug and sigh, then say; "Fine, do whatever you want.", Boscha's mind began to race.
Obviously something had been slipped to Luz through what she'd eaten or drunk. Boscha looked at her own food and began to pick at the leftovers, though she didn't feel anything unusual or out of the ordinary. Potions Students at Hexside were trained early on to detect potions in their system, though it is something they had to actively focus on, so only true masters of Potions Magic could detect them instinctively. Boscha wasn't that good yet, hence why she hadn't noticed the Blabber Serum until it was too late, but as she calmed her breathing and focused her mind, she found nothing in her own system. So whatever Vitimir had slipped into the food had only been given to Luz.
With that in mind, Boscha grabbed her glass and drained it thoroughly, before refilling it with water and draining it again. She went for a second refill and Luz giggled at her.
"Thirsty, Boscha?" she asked teasingly.
"Well this is fancy spring water from the Cobalt Cape of the Snowy Ribcage; it doesn't get much fancier." she said haughtily, making Luz giggle again as she turned her attention back to Vitimir.
The water didn't get much purer either, which is exactly what Boscha wanted, especially after using the first refill to cleanse the glass. She then sat back in her chair and pretended to relax, subtly reaching into her pocket to the pouch of herbs Willow had given her. The three-eyed girl made a note to thank Willow later, as she felt through the pouch for the familiar shape and texture of what she needed. Once she found what she wanted, she pulled it out and subtly put it in her mouth while miming a yawn. She chewed slowly, grinding the herb up, then left it in her mouth as she pretended to take a sip and allowed the herb to enter the water via backwash. It was kind of gross, but Luz would thank her for it when she was done! Boscha repeated this with a few other ingredients, all while using some stealthy fire magic to heat the liquid, and a fumigation spell to erase the smell and vapour; a crucial spell for brewing in public places.
With this, and a little water magic to stir the liquid, Boscha brewed a simple potion right under Vitimir's long pointy nose. He didn't suspect a thing due to being so preoccupied with Luz. The potion was a simple Mind-Clearing Draught, which would neutralise any potions effecting the brain. Unless whatever Vitimir had slipped to Luz had been designed to resist such a draught, it should snap Luz back to normal.
Casting one final spell to change the colour of the potion to match the juice Luz was drinking, Boscha waited for the perfect moment of distraction, then smirked and pointed towards the Titan's Skull.
"Hey look, it's a Roc!" she said.
Luz and Vitimir turned to where she pointed, where a giant falcon-like bird was flying around one of the Titan's horns. While they were distracted, Boscha switched her glass with Luz's, while casting a spell on Luz's original glass to make it look like it was full of clear water, ensuring no one noticed the switch.
"Huh, that is a big bird!" Luz commented.
"It is, and their feathers are quite effective in potions. Not as much as your own of course, but still useful." Vitimir smirked, briefly eyeing Luz's shrunken wings.
The look wasn't covetous, so Boscha didn't think all this was a ploy to get Luz's feathers, but that just made her more worried. What was Vitimir's endgame if he wasn't doing this for the Emperor or ingredients?
The two rabbited on for a bit, while Boscha waited anxiously for Luz to take a drink whilst trying to hide how tense she was. Eventually Luz reached for her glass and Boscha had to practically pinch herself to stop her face from reacting with relief. The young Angel lifted the glass to her lips and took a big gulp.
Instantly, Luz's cheeks bulged with the liquid as the taste hit her and she hesitated to swallow. Boscha was briefly petrified that Luz would spit it out, especially as Vitimir was now looking at her with concern, but thankfully Luz's good manners won out and she swallowed reluctantly, drinking the potion.
"Are you alright, Luz?" Vitimir asked.
"Yeah, but that tasted really bad! Did something happen to my juice?" Luz frowned, sniffing it suspiciously. She briefly turned to glare at Boscha, assuming it was a prank by her, only to suddenly turn pale as the potion took effect. Boscha could see it in Luz's eyes as the effects of whatever Vitimir slipped her were cured and she realised what had been done to her. The horror in her eyes was palpable, but Boscha could see her trying to hold it in and not react, so Vitimir wasn't alerted that his plan was foiled.
"Luz?" Vitimir frowned, "What is it? Something wrong with your drink…?"
The man reached for it, but Luz quickly snatched it up and gulped the rest down, hiding a grimace at the taste, then bracing herself as she told a lie; "No no, I was mistaken. I think I just got some food stuck in my teeth and it made a weird taste with the juice! It's gone now! All good!"
Her throat burned, and Boscha knew it was a lie (and not even a good one), but Vitimir bought it immediately. "Oh good. I was worried for a mome-"
The man's words were cut off by the sudden sound of an alarm blaring throughout the Atelier, startling Luz and Boscha. Vitimir leapt to his feet and pulled out a Comm-pact marked with the Potions Coven Sigil, then opened it and made a call.
"What's going on!?" he demanded.
"The trap we set for the CATTs worked and we've apprehended the Owl Lady and two others, but they had some kind of spirit with them. They aren't effected by the salt or barriers and are heading your way!" a voice on the other side yelled.
Hearing this, Luz and Boscha both slowly got to their feet, then as Vitimir noticed them standing and prepared to say something, Rasiel suddenly burst out onto the balcony.
"Luz, Boscha! Run! It's a trap!" he yelled, flying into Vitimir's face and flapping his wings madly, thankful that at least his spirit form still had them.
Vitimir was shocked and staggered back a step, but soon smirked when he realised Rasiel couldn't hurt him. "A spirit that can't become corporeal? And those wings… you're some kind of Angelic Spirit, aren't you? You must be under Luz's command."
He then turned to Luz, and while still smirking and assuming his potion was still in play, he said; "Luz dear, please order your spirit to stop this nonsense."
Luz responded with a growl and said; "I'll stop this nonsense myself!" before firing a blast of light at Vitimir. The man hadn't been expecting that and screamed in pain as the blast hit his shoulder and made him stagger back.
"W-What!? How did you-!?" Vitimir's shocked cry was once again interrupted, this time by Boscha pulling out Willow's herb pouch with one hand and summoning Maya in staff mode with the other, before using fire to burn a couple of seeds that she tossed at him. These were Skunkweed Seeds and released a noxious green gas when burned, making Vitimir cover his nose and mouth to stop himself from breathing it in and throwing up.
While he was gagging on the smell, Luz blocked her nostrils with ice, just like she had against Godric, then created a light blade and lunged at him, intending to use the Head Witch as a hostage to save Eda and the others. Unfortunately, Vitimir was craftier than Luz expected, and even while gagging on the gas, he'd been secretly drawing a spell circle with one of his toe claws. The resulting spell transmuted the gas into a green slime that covered everyone (except the incorporeal Rasiel). The sticky slime smelled just as foul as the gas, and also trapped both Luz and Boscha, while Vitimir was able to cast another transmutation to evaporate the slime on him, freeing him. He ran towards Boscha, while Luz released a blast of light from every pore of her body, vaporising the slime trapping her and allowing her to move freely again. She turned to attack him, but froze when she saw Vitimir had reached Boscha first and was now stood behind the still trapped girl, holding a steak knife to her throat. He used his free hand to yank her staff away from her and toss Maya into the sticky slime, trapping her too.
"Hold it right there, Luz. I don't want to hurt you, but I don't care a bit about slitting this girl's throat! Stop your spells and recall your spirit, now!" he ordered.
Luz growled, and Boscha hissed; "Don't listen to him, Luz! Getting caught was my own fault, so forget me and take him out!"
The girl hesitated, and Vitimir pressed the knife further against Boscha's throat, nicking the skin ever so slightly. Seeing this made Luz freeze.
"Stop! I'll obey! I just-" her mind raced, trying to find a solution; "W-Why are you doing all this? You wanted me on your side, right? And to help you find Cassiel? You could have done that without slipping me a potion!"
Vitimir's eyes narrowed; "So you noticed, huh? That problem with your drink… that was the Alembic girl slipping you an antidote! I should have known she'd be crafty!"
"You didn't answer her question, Vitimir! Or do you just not want to admit that what you slipped her was a love potion!" Boscha snarled. "Don't even try to deny it! I saw what it did to Luz; she was hanging on your every word! That and this whole fancy dinner was some creepy scheme to make her fall in love with you, right!?"
Luz went pale as Rasiel snarled; "You filthy degenerate!"
"Shut it, Spirit!" Vitimir snarled right back, then used his free hand to grab a fist full of Boscha's hair and pull her head back painfully, making her wince; "And I said earlier that I've got no such interest in a child! My heart belongs to Cassiel and Cassiel alone!"
"T-Then what was that potion for really!?" Luz cried.
The terrifying Coven Head scowled, then his expression softened as he looked at Luz; "It was a love potion, but not a romantic or, Titan Forbid, an intimate one. It was a Familial Love Potion."
"F-Familial!?" Luz repeated.
"Yes. Family is all I ever wanted! Cassiel as my wife, and a child of our own… That was taken away from me! But you… you look so much like Cassiel, but there are little differences too. With you, I could pretend… pretend that you were my child with her!" Vitimir confessed.
Luz, Rasiel, and Boscha all went green; "This was all some sick ploy to brainwash Luz into becoming your daughter!?" Rasiel exclaimed.
"It would have worked too, if not for this little brat!" he pulled Boscha's hair again; "But it doesn't matter. I can still do this! Do as I say Luz, and recall your spirit and your magic."
"Ignore him Luz! Forget me and blast him!" Boscha yelled.
But even with Boscha's go ahead, everyone in the room knew Luz wouldn't be able to abandon Boscha and let her die. Reluctant and feeling sick to her stomach, Luz dismissed her light sword and held out her hand with the ring on it, signalling for Rasiel to return to it. Without a body there wasn't much he could do, but he could perhaps surprise the others later! Once he was back in the ring, Vitimir nodded approvingly.
"Good girl. Now slowly put the ring on the ground and slide it over to me." he ordered.
Luz did so, kicking the ring to him while keeping her hands up. Vitimir kept his knife at Boscha's throat as he ordered her to pick the ring up and hand it to him, which she did. Once he had the ring in hand, he slipped it into his pocket.
"Very good. This could have gone so much easier. With my potion in your system, soon you wouldn't have even realised anything was different. I'll protect and care for you, away from the CATTs and their pointless rebellion. When the Emperor's Day of Unity is complete, we will all become Angels and become one with the Divine Realm! I will be able to find Cassiel and our family will be complete!" Vitimir said with a terrifyingly creepy smile on his face. His eyes were wide and deranged, completely lost in his delusion.
Luz felt like vomiting, and between the lingering burn in her throat from her earlier lie, and the taste of bile on her tongue, the poor girl really felt awful. All she could choke out in response to the mad man's delusions was; "Cassiel is not my mother! I told you that already!"
"No. But she will be. Now, since this brat cured my potion's effects, we'll have to start from scratch. I'll craft a new potion, I was planning to anyway, and when it's done you will truly be my daughter in body and soul! Until then, I think it's time for you to sleep."
With that, Vitimir pulled a vial out from under his hat and tossed it at Luz's feet, causing it to shatter and produce a cloud of yellow Sleeping Nettle Gas. Luz coughed and tried to move out of the gas cloud, but Vitimir just held the knife to Boscha's throat with a look of warning, and Luz was forced to give up and pass out. Before she could hit the ground, Vitimir transmuted the residual gas into some kind of bouncy yellow gunk to break her fall.
"Excellent, I can begin my work! As for you…" Vitimir sneered at Boscha and began dragging her back into the Atelier, where they were swiftly met by some guards. Vitimir ordered them to collect Luz and place her in a room he indicated behind Boscha's back, while also telling them to cage Maya and have the Alembics come up to his lab. Boscha thought for a moment that he was going to use her to threaten them or something, but he instead dragged her over to a seemingly random patch of wall and pulled out a little brass key, which opened the secret passage Rasiel had found earlier. Vitimir then forced Boscha to march all the way down to the bottom of the long flight of stairs and through another secret door, coming out in the old abandoned lab that contained the cells of Barcus and Morton. Two other cells were occupied as well now; one by Eda, and the other by Rom and Howlena, all three of whom looked groggy and weak.
One of the guards that had been posted in the room following Eda's capture saluted to Vitimir, who ordered him to open Barcus' cell. He then immediately tossed Boscha into it.
"There; now you're out of my hair!" he smirked as the guard closed the cell behind the girl.
"You freak! Let us and Luz go!" Boscha demanded impotently.
"Boscha!? What happened up there!?" Eda cried; "Is Luz okay?"
"Luz is fine and will soon be free from all this rebel nonsense. Worry more about yourselves; I'll be sending men down here soon to cart you off to the Emperor's Coven. I hate to waste such a talented Potioneer, but having you around would present unnecessary risks." Vitimir sneered. He then looked to Barcus' parents and raised an eyebrow; "I've no idea who you two are. No matter, you can join the Owl Lady on her trip to the Castle. I've no use for more test subjects at the moment."
"And what about us? What are you going to do to me and kids!?" Morton cried.
Vitimir hummed in thought; "You're talented in Potions but less of a hassle than the Owl Lady, so I'll make use of you. A few mind-altering substances and you'll be obedient little puppets brewing away and freeing up some of my other more talented people for more important research. Don't worry, I'll make sure my potions keep you happy and docile as you work yourselves to death."
With that he turned to the guard and told him to expect a contingent of more advanced guards to come down and collect the prisoners soon, then left to return to his lab and begin work on his potions for Luz. The instant he was gone, Eda yelled out to Boscha.
"Kid, seriously! What happened!?"
"It was all a trap from the start! Vitimir is completely messed up in the head! His whole plan is to brainwash Luz into being his daughter out of some weird family fantasy! He tried to drug her with a Familial Love Potion."
"He WHAT!?" Eda snarled, so enraged that she might have turned into the Owl Beast if the guards hadn't already force-fed her an Elixir along with the Bile Inhibitor while she was knocked out.
"I cured it without Vitimir noticing, but then the alarms went off and we ended up in a fight with Vitimir." Boscha explained.
"Huh, so that's how Vitimir's shoulder got hurt; he took a blast from Luz, right? How did you guys lose? Luz has gotta be stronger than that creep!" Eda asked.
Boscha flushed and looked away; "I-I tried to help but messed up and got caught. Vitimir threatened me and forced Luz to surrender. Now we're all locked up, that Spirit Guy's ring is in Vitimir's hands, and Luz is gonna be drugged again!"
"Kid, listen! This looks bad, but it's not over yet! We can totally bust out of here! We just need to think of a plan…" Eda said, trying to stay calm as she turned and glared at the single guard in the room, who was standing as far from them as he could, watching impassively.
Unfortunately for the captives, there would be no time to plan. The guards Vitimir had promised arrived only a minute later to take the adults (sans Morton) to the Emperor's Castle, where a horrible fate was inevitably awaiting them. Eda, Rom, and Howlena prepared to put up one heck of a struggle, but the guards weren't playing around; they simply tossed a gas bomb of Sleeping Nettles into their cells to knock the trio out. Eda only managed to get off some seriously hardcore curse words before she succumbed to sleep for the second time that day, while Howlena and Rom snarled furiously until they too passed out.
Barcus howled at them, which Boscha and Morton were unable to understand, but nothing he said could awaken them. With that, the transport guards opened the cells and dragged the trio away, conscripting the guard left in the room to help them, since there were only five guards in the transport unit and they needed at least two to carry each prisoner. Boscha spat foul curses at them as they left, trying to provoke them into maybe coming after her and buying Eda and the others a few more seconds, or perhaps open the cell to get at her so they could fight back and escape, but they all just ignored her and disappeared back through the secret passage, leaving her alone with Barcus and Morton in the cells of the disused lab.
As soon as they were gone, Boscha grit her teeth until her temper boiled over and she kicked the bars of the cell with a furious scream. "NO! DANG IT! This isn't how it was supposed to go!"
She began to stalk around the cell like a caged Tiger; "I failed again! I'm not supposed to be a freaking failure! I am Boscha Alembic, Captain of the Banshees, top of the potions track, and Queen Bee of Hexside! So why!? Why do I keep screwing up!?"
She punched the bars hard in her anger, making her finger crack. She winced and backed off, before tears of pain, fury, and shame filled her eyes and she sat down on the ground and began to hug her knees, hiding her face from the watching Barcus. Morton couldn't see her properly from his cell, having to poke his head out as much as the bars would let him to even catch a glimpse as he said;
"Miss Alembic, you're being too hard on yourself. You're just a kid and you got tricked and outplayed by a Coven Head! Even Eda got outplayed by them too! There's nothing to be ashamed of." he said, feeling awkward as he tried to comfort her.
Boscha shook her head miserably; "You don't get it. This whole stupid situation was because I screwed up!"
Barcus woofed with a raised eyebrow, which Boscha took to be a question, so she explained. "I got mad because Skara wouldn't tell me stuff about what she was doing with the CATTs; stuff that I knew she couldn't tell me. I got jealous of her hanging out with Luz and the Hexsquad more than me, and threw a stupid tantrum then sat around feeling sorry for myself. If I hadn't done that, Daddy would never have taken me to that stupid dinner with Vitimir. I wouldn't have gotten drugged and outed you as one of the CATTs, you wouldn't have gotten captured, and none of this would have happened."
She buried her face in her knees again; "All of this is my fault. Luz even got captured again because I'm an idiot! I'm supposed to be a winner! But I'm just another loser. A pathetic loser who couldn't do anything but bully people."
Barcus watched the girl for a long moment; he and Morton didn't blame her for their predicament, since she hadn't willingly sold them out, but it was hard to get that through to someone who was currently in the midst of a crisis of self-confidence. But as he watched Boscha's shoulders begin shaking as she tried to hide her crying from him, he felt like he had to say something… so he decided to make a confession of his own.
Summoning his Oracle Spirit (which he'd hidden when the guards showed up, so they wouldn't confiscate his glasses), Barcus used its magic to speak telepathically with Boscha. His biology made it impossible to speak the common tongue with his mouth, but he still understood it and could think in that language, allowing him to communicate with others through telepathy.
"Boscha, I don't truly know you, but I know how difficult it is to try and turn back from being a bully and a bad person." he confessed.
Boscha lifted her head just enough for her third eye to be peeking out at him. She didn't say a word, but she was watching him curiously so he continued. He trotted closer to her and sat down beside her.
"I'm the son of a Dog Lycan and a Direwolf and for a time, my parents wanted to raise me with my Mom's Direwolf pack. As a halfbreed, I wasn't really accepted, so Mom sent me to Glandus; the toughest magical school on the Isles, so I could learn to become strong and stand up for myself. It worked too well, and from the time I was 5 until I was about 8, I became a vicious beast. I was a terrible bully, using violence to assert my dominance at Glandus, then using the magic I learned there to dominate the other pups in the pack. It got to the point that everyone I knew who was my own age hated or feared me, if not both. Eventually I went too far and hurt one of the other pups badly. I felt awful, and their parents tried to kill me. It caused a big fight within Mom's pack, and Mom and Dad ended up having to defeat that other pup's parents in a formal fight to stop them coming after me." Barcus said, his eyes full of sadness and self-loathing as he recalled those times.
Boscha, who'd only ever known Barcus as the laid back and chill person he was now, was incredibly shocked to learn he had once been so terrible. She lifted her head fully to stare at him with horrified surprise, making Barcus nod sagely, as if to confirm that he was telling the truth.
"The Alpha of the Pack ended up getting involved and excused my actions, saying the number one factor in Direwolf society was strength. I was the stronger pup, so I had a right to do as I wanted to the weaker ones. That, combined with seeing what I'd done to that other pup and seeing my parents have to fight to save my life, made me realise that I wasn't becoming strong; I was becoming a monster. I was too afraid to hurt anyone after that, and both my classmates and fellow pups soon realised it and came at me for revenge. Eventually my parents left the pack and pulled me out of Glandus to protect me. We settled into my Dad's home town of Bonesborough and I was enrolled in Hexside. I was safe, but I still hated myself and avoided everyone, leading to me eventually getting bullied. That's when I met Jerbo; he stood up for me one day, and to repay him I used a bit of my potions expertise to help him mix a new batch of abomination goo. We became friends and he introduced me to Viney, who was driven out of St. Epiderm by bullies. They thought I was another victim like them, so I confessed everything. I'll never forget what they said to me and how it helped me, so I'll say the same thing to you."
Barcus turned and looked Boscha in the eye as she hung on his every word; "You were a monster and a bad person. You don't deny it. But you know you were wrong, and regardless of the reasons why, you turned over a new leaf. That makes you quite incredible."
"W-What?" Boscha whispered.
"It's true. It's one thing to have enough strength to push people around and make sure they don't mess with you, but it's far more difficult to face the consequences for your actions and try to become a better person. And you have become a better person. You wouldn't feel so much guilt for what you did if there wasn't a truly good person inside you." Barcus said seriously.
Boscha's eyes widened; "B-But I caused this whole mess by being stupid and weak, and throwing a tantrum!"
Barcus shook his head; "Vitimir caused this mess because he really is a monster. And sure, throwing a tantrum like that was immature and wrong of you, but you realise that! Trying to be a better person doesn't mean not making mistakes any more, it just means learning to take responsibility and making up for those mistakes! Even people who were never bullies do things like that! Like one time, I was making a potion and the smell really bothered Viney, who got angry and snapped at me harshly. She wouldn't talk to me for a few days, then came back crying and apologising for being so mean. Since her nose is so sensitive, she had a valid reason to be upset, just like you did; she just reacted in the wrong way and then had to cool off and apologise."
Boscha thought back to earlier, where she had spoken to Skara and finally said sorry for being mean. She really did have a right to be upset that the person she lov- CARED about most was hanging out with other people and keeping secrets, but the way Boscha had expressed that had been wrong and so she'd said sorry. And Barcus was right; Boscha had no control over what Vitimir did, and she'd been trying to help fix it!
"So I'm not just some pathetic loser?" she asked softly, allowing her vulnerable side to be seen.
"No." Barcus said firmly; "You only lose when its over, and its only over when you give up. If you don't give up, then you can keep going and win! You're the Top Student in the potions track; if we put our heads together with Morton, we can definitely escape and save the others!"
The three-eyed girl stared at him for a minute and saw the determination in his eyes. Barcus was right! She hadn't lost yet! And she wouldn't lose; she was Boscha Alembic and she was a winner, even at redeeming herself! Getting to her feet, Boscha rubbed the residual tears from her eyes then lightly slapped her own cheeks, before her own gray eyes began to burn like silver flames of determination.
"Alright, enough being pathetic and feeling sorry for myself! I'm busting us out of here and saving the others! I won't let that jerk Vitimir get one over on me!" she declared, pumping her fist.
Barcus smiled and barked approvingly, getting to his feet too, while Morton (who'd only been able to hear Boscha's side of the conversation) looked doubtful.
"But how? Barcus' spirit can't phase through the salt in the walls and he tried damaging the bars, but nothing worked. And Vitimir disabled my magic with my sigil…" Morton sighed dejectedly, showing his coven sigil and the yellow lines spreading from it into the veins of his wrist.
Boscha blinked; "Wait, he can do that!? I heard that Belos did that to Luz, but I thought that was unique to her sigil!"
"So did we." Barcus said via telepathy; "But either all Coven Heads can control their members magic like that and have been keeping it secret, or Vitimir figured out how to do it."
Boscha rubbed her chin in thought; Vitimir claimed to have the Emperor's favour, so maybe all sigils could do it and Belos taught him how to control it. She shook that thought off for now.
"Forget that for now. Let me try something…" Boscha said. She considered trying to summon Maya but decided against it; Vitimir had ordered the Palisman captured after he dragged Boscha off, so summoning her might alert him or the guards to something being up. She instead tried using a fire spell on the bars, but she couldn't heat the metal enough to melt it; that kind of fire was still a bit beyond her, at least not without consuming a stupid amount of magic.
"Okay, so that's not gonna work… Barcus, your spirit can move through the bars, right?" she asked.
She got a woof of confirmation, making her smile; "So we have access to everything in this room." she muttered, looking around. It was a mostly abandoned lab with only a few old worktops that had been stripped of equipment, as well as a few crates full of old broken junk and jars of ingredients. Seeing these gave Boscha an idea, and she reached into her pockets. She frowned when she saw that Vitimir had taken the pouch of herbs from Willow, but then smirked as she pulled the pocket inside out and saw a few stray scraps of usable materials; a dulled Daggerdil leaf, a root from a Carabas Herb, half a petal from the bloom of a Skunkweed, and a miniscule seed from a Thornivine plant. That last one especially reminded Boscha of the day she'd first met Luz, and the day Willow had first taught her a hard-learned lesson.
Looking around the cell itself, Boscha was pleased to see a pail of water for drinking (which looked less than appetising) and a chamberpot for a bathroom. Holding her nose, Boscha peered inside the pot and sighed with relief upon seeing it unused and relatively clean.
"Alright, I've got a plan. Barcus, have your spirit bring me some of those ingredient jars!" she ordered.
Barcus woofed and obeyed, and his spirits began collecting the jars. Morton watched with a frown; "What are you planning, Miss Alembic? Barcus already sniffed those things out and there are no useful potions that can be made with them even if we had the right equipment!"
Boscha just smirked and grabbed the Chamberpot and poured the pail of water into it; "Don't underestimate me! I made a Mind-Cleansing Potion in a wine glass right under Vitimir's pointy nose! I can make something here!" she declared. "Now pass me that funnel on your head!"
Having no better ideas, Morton obeyed and held the funnel out for Barcus' spirit to grab and bring to Boscha. She immediately used the top of it to chip at one of the walls, carving off a few slivers. "If it stops spirits, then this stone contains salt, perfect for purifying this water!" she whispered to herself, as she sprinkled the powder into the pot of water, then used fire magic to rapidly boil it. Using water magic to stir it and a Potions spell to skim off the impurities that couldn't be boiled away, Boscha soon ended up with the purest water she could hope for, and the perfect base for her potion. She then carefully began preparing ingredients, smashing a jar to use the glass as a cutting implement, grinding others between the stone floor and the jar's lid, and having Barcus put his claws to work.
"Shredded Daggerdil Leaf, added to boiling water for viscosity… then the oil from a Thornivine seed to raise the alkali content… Some of this old powdered fairy wing to neutralise the mild poison of the leaf… ground teeth from a Peach Omomorat to keep it from congealing entirely… and finely chopped Rubicon skin to react with the Thornivine Oil and further raise the alkali content!" she said, grinning as she looked down at her work. Everything had boiled down into a viscous purple gloop that looked almost like a lighter shade of abomination goo.
Barcus looked at it oddly, while Morton commented; "All that stuff mixed together just makes a weird alkali glue! That's not gonna do anything but give whoever ingests it a terrible stomach ache!"
Boscha smirked; "Then it's a good thing we're not ingesting it. Besides, there's still one more step…"
She used a piece of broken glass to scoop out some of the goop and rub it on a section of one of the bars, then leaned close and whistled. It was a high pitch sound that made Barcus wince, but he could also sense the magic in the sound. Suddenly, the purple goop she'd whistled on turned a fluorescent yellow and began to release a rusty smell, as well as a low hiss as it ate through the bar. Barcus's eyes widened as Boscha repeated the process lower down on the same bar, causing that bar to fall off, each end melted away by the now corrosive substance.
"What was that!?" Morton exclaimed.
"A trick I learned from Skara." Boscha said wistfully; "Not long after she joined the CATTs, she came over to my house and showed me a trick she'd learned from someone there. I think it was probably Raine Whispers, since Skara always gushed about learning stuff from them. It's a kind of Bardic Magic that uses sound waves to change the chemistry of a liquid. I'm not great at it yet, so I can only alter things in certain ways, which is why I had to make a certain base potion before I could turn it into the powerful acid I needed." she explained. "I can invert alkaline and acidic liquids, and the process magnifies the effect; so a moderate alkaline becomes a powerful acid and vice versa. However the change also loosens the liquid by weakening the chemical bonds."
"That's why you made it so thick first!" Barcus grinned. Boscha really did have a great plan after all!
The girl smiled to herself as she began to slather more goop onto the other bars; even when Skara had been forced to keep secrets from her, she'd still done her best to give Boscha something cool! Now it was going to save their butts, and the others too!
A few seconds and one whistle later, and all the bars of Barcus' and Boscha's cell had clattered to the ground, allowing them to escape the cell. Boscha immediately set about doing the same to Morton's cell, and they each picked up a couple of the bars to use as blunt weapons (Barcus had his spirit pick up his).
"We're free!" Morton cheered, "Now we need to get out of here!"
"Not without Luz and Eda." Boscha said firmly.
"And my parents." Barcus added.
"Of course! I wouldn't abandon them! Eda kept me in business for years, and Luz has been a big help." Morton said. When Luz's discovery of using the plant glyph to grow Goldwort had ended Eda's need to buy Elixirs from him, she'd felt so guilty over reducing his business that she began offering to grow plants for him to make up for it. She'd stopped after he urged her to, but she'd still ended up pointing Willow in his direction to sell her own plant ingredients to him at cheap prices.
"Then let's go!" Boscha declared.
She slathered a large amount of her purple goop onto the wall that served as the entrance to the secret passage, melting a fairly large hole but using up almost all of what Boscha had left.
"This passage should take us straight up to Vitimir's lab." Boscha said.
"And to one of the sub-levels too. We should stop there first and steal some ingredients for potions." Barcus suggested.
That got an agreement from all of them, so they ran up the stairs to the sub-level exit that Morton and Barcus had been brought through when they were captured. Boscha used the last of her goop to make the acid needed to burn a way through the closed entrance, but when the wall melted away, it revealed a stunned guard who had been patrolling the hallway and noticed the melting wall. Before the guard could scream for help or attack, Boscha tossed the now-empty chamberpot at his head, landing a perfect shot with her grudgby skills and getting it stuck over his face. A swift smack to the pot from one of the repurposed cell bars knocked the man right out, and Barcus was able to have his spirit frisk the man, until he came away with two valuable items.
The first was a brass key for the secret passage, and the second was a leather belt with a strange wheel shaped vessel on one hip and a series of small spherical glass vials on the other.
"What is this?" Boscha frowned, fiddling with the odd belt. While examining it, she accidentally nudged one of the small vials, which suddenly filled with water before detaching from the belt. She hadn't been expecting it, so it fell to the floor and shattered, much to her annoyance. Then a moment later, the glass shards vanished and a new vial appeared where the previous one had been.
"Oh, a Combat Potioneer Belt!" Morton said, eyeing it. "They're designed for Potioneers to make potion bombs and projectiles on the go. You take off a vial and it fills with water, and then you add ingredients to create a quick and volatile potion to throw at the enemy. Once the glass shatters, it'll reform on the belt." he pointed to the strange wheel-like vessel; "That is the ingredient drum. Just tap on the compartment you want and it'll give you some of the ingredient inside. These belts are standard issue to the Combat Potioneers of the Coven."
Boscha hummed and opened up the ingredient drum, taking stock of what was inside. "Not a lot to work with… there are storerooms down here, right? Let's stuff this mook in one of them and stock up!" she said.