You have 16 Days Until Your Place of Business is Shut Down

>Acquainting ourselves with the people we may be working with in the foreseeable future might be wise. Who knows, we might be able to find someone willing to help us as well.

>Make sure to bring your Cole, we might find something really nice to buy like armor or something!

>Check in with Hagel and ask him where he thinks a good place to find ores/metals would be.

> If we can make stuff on the go, I say use 2 Magic Grass to make 2 Supplements. By the time we get back to town we might be able to make something of use with them!

> Also, is there someone in town, like an appraisal service, that can classify all of the stuff we've got? I mean, some might be easy to guess but the appraisals might tell us if a Puniball is [Fuel] or if Magic Grass is [Medicinal Herb], etc.

> That (???) location is Syzygy is making me suspicious. Check that shit as soon as we get back.

> Also do everything infuriatingCrimson suggests.

You decide to go visit the shops on Marie's list, and then also Stahl. Considering your first impression of the guy you're pretty sure she's talking about, it's something you fear just enough to put it off for last.

It would be good if you could find someone else to hire to help you out with fighting monsters out of town. But, well...most of the people you know aren't exactly the monster-fighting type. Dave goes out with his parents to chop wood, hunt game, and occasionally drive off minor annoyances from the farmlands that the knights can't be bothered with, but he's no expert, either.

First you go to the grocer's, where Hazel Tethel is waiting behind the counter as usual. Her family are lion (you think?) beastfolk; she's a small girl of twelve years by now sporting short blonde hair and a seemingly everlasting supply of energy and cheerfulness. About two years ago, her father was ill and her mother had to go run an errand. The store was supposed to just be closed, but Hazel turned the sign to 'open' and stood behind the counter, and by the time her mother got back she was on the verge of selling the entire store out. Ever since then her parents just handle the accounting, stocking, and other things like that and have her man the storefront.

"Hiya Sarah! I thought you already did this month's shopping, didja forget somethin'?" The best way you can put it is that Hazel is a prodigy at greed. She's never had any trouble handling change or receipts, and she seems to know exactly how to take advantage of being a cute little girl to strongarm people into buying things they would never buy, and considerably more of things they would. You would dread meeting the kind of person she'll mature into for the first time, and feel genuinely fortunate to have been introduced to her early enough to count as a 'friend' rather than a 'target'...most of the time.

"Well, yeah, but something else happened..." You explain the situation.
"Aww, that's awful! Marie's such a big meanie!" she says. "Soo, are you askin' for a discount or somethin'?" She manages a tone of voice which, while still cheerful and friendly as ever, conveys the discount to be a near impossibility.
"No, I just..well, I might need to buy more groceries as alchemy ingredients I guess. And...if your parents happened to run into an alchemy book, like with some weird recipes that don't make any sense? I might be able to use that..."
"Oh, that's great! More oppo--, opportunities to do business!" she exclaims. "Ac-tually, daddy found this old cookbook when he was cleaning out the attic the other day," she adds, grabbing a book with both hands from behind the counter and flopping it onto the counter. "It looks rilly old, but he said the recipes would just make mush. He didn't think I could sell it!" She adds to this last bit a brilliant smile which shows off her unsettlingly sharp teeth.
"Err, well I want it, but I don't really have a lot of money right now.."
"Aww, that's okay! Since you're gonna be such a good cus-tomer in the future, I can give you a special discount. Ten Cole! Today only!"

You are literally unable to say no to that, and wind up with another recipe book (and 10 less Cole). You'll thumb through and see what you can learn to make from it when you get back to the workshop. For now, you thank Hazel and head to the next place on the list before she can dig up something else you badly need.

---

You've never really had occasion to be to an antique and knickknack store before, but it sort of makes sense that old things or weird useless things could have good properties to combine into something actually useful. You poke your head in the door to find the place seemingly deserted, and then hesitantly take a couple of steps inside, the door jingling as it closes.
"Wha!" A head pops up from under the counter, followed by its owner making an effort to stand fully upright. It's a brown-skinned mana--earth affinity, you suspect--with a wrinkled face, gray-white hair, and squinted, bespectacled eyes. Mana live a very long time, so for one to look this old he has to be really old, probably the oldest thing in the shop. "Oho, a customer!" he says happily. "Uh, forgive me young miss, we usually don't have a lot of customers this time of decade."
"Er.." You don't know exactly how to respond to that, so you just introduce yourself. "I'm Sarah Kennigan.."
"Oho!" He interrupts you. "Marie's girl. Finally pointed you my way, eh?" He pauses, lifting his glasses and bringing his eyes ever so slightly out of their characteristic squint. "...You really are that green. Lands alive. Her-hmn!" He clears his throat abruptly, returning to the squinty expression. "Anywho, I'm sure we'll do lots of fine business together. Alchemists always need things nobody else seems to want, don't they? Hmm."
"Yeah, uh, I guess so.."
"Ah, but you won't have much money right now, eh? Just coming around to see what's here?" You feel a bit like he's been reading your script. This is almost certainly Master's doing...somehow. "Well, I'm Janus," he says, offering a handshake. "Nice to finally meet you."
You return the handshake a little awkwardly. "Yeah, same."
"Ehh, I feel like we haven't hit it off that well. Note to self: tone down 'quirky old man' a little." He rubs his goatee a bit in thought. "Hmm...how about a free sample? Kids love those," he says, and pulls out a small, gemstone-looking thing, placing it on the counter. It glows faintly with a white light.
"Um...thanks..what is it?" you say, picking it up to take a closer look.
"Funniest thing, I don't recall. I remember alchemists used to go crazy over...whatever that is, ages ago. Not the faintest idea what it's good for, but it is shiny! Anywho, I'm sure you've got somewhere else to be. Feel free to visit anytime!"
"Uh, sure."

---

Next up is the drugstore. You've actually been here before a few times, but you don't exactly like to. The owner--or, well, you think he's the owner, he's the only one who's ever here it seems like--is kind of annoying. He's a human in his mid-twenties, dark-haired and just generally average-looking, and usually friendly enough...but he just loves to insert some useless fact and/or complete nonsense into a conversation whenever he can get a word in edgewise. Case in point: As you walk in you over hear him speaking to a customer who's just bought something. "Thank you for your business. Hey, did you know a watched pot boils sometimes? Mine did that just the other day..."

To be perfectly honest, you've been introduced but you don't know the guy's name, and you're not entirely sure he knows yours. You sort of shuffle over to the shelves to glance over them. It's all the same kind of stuff as usual: Packaged remedies for minor stuff like colds, some bandages and antiseptic junk for injuries, and a bunch of miscellaneous sundries. The more serious drugs are behind the counter where kids can't get into them. You briefly wonder if you could just buy his stock of bandages or something and turn that in for this month's assignment, but in addition to the fact that whoever's judging the assignment probably isn't stupid your financial situation couldn't possibly make that feasible anyway. Still, there might be some stuff here that would make good ingredients for a healing item or something? If only you knew a few more recipes of that type...

Your thoughts are interrupted by the realization that the guy behind the counter is trying to get your attention. You turn toward him and go up to the counter, trying to hide your fears that he's going to be boring at you. "Um, sorry," you say.
"It's fine. Nine out of ten Syzygians don't know they're being called unless you use their name. Anyway, someone mail ordered something a couple of weeks ago, and said a 'green person' would be in to receive it. I..didn't really know what they meant, but uh..."
"Yeah, yeah," you nod, biting back some annoyance. He hands you the package, which is conspicuously book-shaped. "Uh..thanks."
"Sure. Oh, do you have a prescription to fill, though? You don't look too well..."
"No, it's just my normal skin color," you say, monotone. "I'm half Mana."
"Oh, ok. Sorry about that. I thought there were only ten skin tones Mana could have, I'm gonna have to take some notes. Oh no, I've been spreading misinformation..." He turns his head down to pull out a notebook and a pen and starts flipping through it, and you take the opportunity to escape the shop.

---

You check in with Hagel real quick, asking him if he knows of any place you could actually go to find good ores or whatever to make Ingots out of. "Sure," he says, "just go to the mines. That's where all my ore comes from. Well...actually you probably shouldn't go to the mines, the monsters down there are nasty. Uh..how about: Go there when you're really sure you're prepared, maybe hire a real warrior for a bodyguard first."

---

Finally, you head to the last stop on this little trip: The royal palace again. You guess it's time to properly introduce yourself to Stahl, and head inside, preparing to wait in line and then maybe get yelled at.

It turns out the place is not nearly as busy today as it was before, which is good news, except that now you'll have to face this guy sooner. You swallow your nervousness and just walk up to the desk, where the same person as yesterday is indeed waiting.

"Oh, there you are," he says, apparently expecting you. "I thought Miranda would've pointed you my way yesterday. Or...if she did, you're even less punctual than I thought. I don't know how you expect to succeed if you can't keep better track of time."
"No, she didn't say anything about you," you say. "Master wrote a note saying your name was Stahl..?"
"Right," he nods. "Stahl Kazak. And you'd be Sarah Kennigan, half-Mana, former orphan, adoptee of Marie Anacosta. Correct?"
"Uh..yeah." Having your name and history rattled off like a grocery list is unnerving.
"Good. That's out of the way. Now I can tell you what you're here for."
"What...I'm here for," you repeat slowly, attempting to make sense of the sentence.

"Right," he nods curtly. "Your assignment is of course of extremely high priority, but I imagine you need money now in order to buy whatever it is alchemists use to do alchemy with."
"Yeah..."
"Well, we can help each other then." He leans forward slightly, folding his hands over each other. "I receive a wide variety of requests from all kinds of people for all kinds of reasons, and I match those requests to those who are able to complete them. You may think of me as a go-between for freelancers. My office is under the authority of the crown; we handle the payments, and I scrutinize the requests that go through me carefully. So you don't have to worry about not being paid or giving someone something they really shouldn't have."
"Oh, okay."
"Since of course you should be focusing on your assignment, I'll only allow you to take on three jobs at a time for now. And, as you are a completely inexperienced worker, I don't feel comfortable giving you anything too major or difficult at the moment. Still, would you like to take a look at what's available right now?"
"Uh..sure."

Stahl gives you a list of requests to possibly take on:

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1. Bring 1 Ingot by 1/30 - 200 Cole
   
2. Bring 1 Bomb; no time limit - 1000 Cole
   
3. Bring 5 Wood Chips by 1/24 - 250 Cole
   
4. Bring 1 Wild Grapes by 1/10 - 100 Cole
   
5. Slay 10 Puni by 1/30 - 500 Cole

"Please keep in mind that once you accept a request, I and the client will both expect you to complete it. There's no direct punishment for failing to deliver, but I guarantee you there will be some negative consequences. On the other hand, if you already have something a request is for, I can pay you for it right now. By the way, for monster slaying requests only the ones you kill after taking on the request actually count."

>

Date: 1/2
Time: About three quarters

Status & Inventory:

226 Cole

Character Status:

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Sarah Kennigan: Barely Scratched, Energetic
Weapon: Basic Staff
Armor: Normal Clothes
Accessory: None
Skills:

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Ether Light: A self-defense technique from Master. Non-elemental magic attack, any 1 square.

Dave Barrett: Barely Scratched, Just Fine
Weapon: Hatchets
Armor: Normal Clothes
Accessory: None
Skills:

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Hatchet Throw: Throw a hatchet in any of 8 directions. Does physical damage to whatever it hits first.

Fee: 0 Cole

Basket (18/60):

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Magic Grass x 6
Puniball x 1
Wolf Fur x 2
Wild Grapes x 2
Wood Chips x 4
Gem??? x 1
(Book) x 2

Container:

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Spoiled Milk x 1
Tap Water x ∞

Known Recipes:

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Ingot: 1 Day; [Metal]
Cloth: 1 Day; [String]
Supplement: 1/2 Day; 1 [Any]
Healing Paste: 3/4 Day; 1 Supplement, 1 [Medicinal Herb], 1 [Fuel]
Bomb: 3/4 Day; 1 Supplement, 1 [Paper], 1 [Fuel]

Known Item Categories:

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[Any]
(All items, seriously)

[Fuel]
Wood Chips

[Medicinal Herb]
Magic Grass

[Metal]
(nothing yet)

[Paper]
(nothing yet)

[String]
Wolf Fur

Locations:

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Syzygy: Home town.
-Sarah's Workshop
-Castle Front Desk (Current Location)
-Castle Hallway
-Hagel's Smithy
-Tethel Family Grocers
-Janus' Odds and Ends
-The Pharmacy

Nearby Forest: Half a day's walk east of Syzygy.
-Forest Entrance

The Mines: A full day's walk north of Syzygy.

A/N:

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Ough, all of the introductions. All of them.

Alchemy is demanding and basically requires you to spend all the time you're doing alchemy on only alchemy, aside from 'events' which don't count as spending time.

RE: (???)-That was just my notation for "all the shops you haven't checked out yet". Sorry.

RE: Appraisal: Basically the stuff in brackets is a tag representing a slightly more detailed description of what kind of item is necessary in the actual recipe. Alchemists basically have to be appraisers of their own ingredients because the properties an alchemist is interested in aren't things any normal person would see in them...but the tag is supposed to be fairly obvious as to what fits under it and what doesn't most of the time. Oh well, the status menu is getting pretty unwieldy, but I'm going to try adding a list of known "ingredient categories" with types of items we've seen that fit under each listed.