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

> 'Why did you follow me anyways? We could have just had a normal conversation, you know.'
> 'Did you need something from a witch?'

{The Weird Witch - Feeling Good!}

"Why were you following me around anyway? You could've just like..walked up and said hello."
"Um. Well, I was, totally gonna do that!" He wobbles back and forth while he talks. "But 'cause I thought you were a witch and we might talk about witch stuff I didn't wanna talk anywhere too public, or while you were already with someone, in case it might 'out' you or somethin'."
"..You seem perfectly happy talking about being a witch now." You gesture to the still-crowded streets nearby.
"Well, nobody believes me when I talk about it, but it was, you know, in case someone knew you and had some evidence, so me saying you were a witch would make them all suspicious!"
"I'm already half Mana. So, me using magic wouldn't even be a surprise..."
"Really?" he looks astonished again. "I just thought it meant alchemists were green!"

You pause for a second, snort, and then just laugh out loud for a moment. Something about it just makes that the funniest response you've gotten to your unusual skin tone.
Niko just seems confused by the laughter. "What?"
"Um, nevermind. Is there some reason you wanted to talk to me, if I was a witch?"
"Not exactly, specifically, I mean..I was just excited to meet another one, 'cause we're so rare," he says. "Umm, to be honest I'm still in training and I thought getting some tips from someone a little older would be helpful.

"But an alchemist is just as exciting, though! Do you do commission work?"
"In theory, yeah..I don't know how to make very much right now, though," you say.
"Ooh, but when you get better you can make super good catalysts, right?" he says eagerly, undeterred.
"Assuming I know what those are by then.."
"I can ask my gramma to send recipes for the really good ones! But, until then, I could just request stuff that'll help you get lots of practice in. You could get better and make money at the same time!" You think of asking where he's supposedly getting money from, but decide against it for now. "Do you take orders directly, or through the scary glasses guy?"
"Um.."
"At the castle?"
"Oh." He means Stahl. "The second one."
"Great! You'll hear from me soon!" He goes zooming off faster than you think is safe in that gigantic robe, and also a little too fast to have hoped to follow him.

You had a few more questions about him supposedly being a witch and so on, but it seems they'll just have to wait. It's probably a good idea to hurry to the workshop at this point anyway.

Thankfully, Miriam isn't here yet. You half-expected to find her already at the front door with her arms crossed and an annoyed expression at having to wait for you to get there. Once inside, you get things ready to do some alchemy, and after a little while she arrives carrying a few pieces of broken-off, half-rusted metal, as well as a small notebook and pen.

{Doing Science - Professor E Gadd}

"What will you make out of this?" she asks.
"Um, polish powder. Like, for polishing stuff."
"Hmm." She scribbles some notes. You just go on and get to work.

Even though you haven't tried this recipe before, it's ridiculously easy to do. Which turns out to be extremely fortunate, because Miriam keeps poking her head toward the cauldron or interrupting you to ask all kinds of weird questions, only to respond with "hmm" and more note-taking. It's very distracting and makes it tough to concentrate on your work, and surely would've led to disaster if you'd tried to actually make another bomb while dealing with it. Still, eventually it's over with, and you have a bag of perfectly good polish powder to work with, along with a bit of leftover scraps. (+1 Polish Powder, +2 Scrap Metal)

"So this is what alchemy looks like," she says, examining the finished product briefly before handing it back to you. "Very little of this makes sense from a scientific perspective. One shouldn't be able to begin with metal and end with this--which doesn't even include metal in it."
"Well, um, it is a kind of magic," you say. From what you can gather, she considers natural, non-magical things to be 'scientific'.
"Right, but all magic has a logic to it. In this case, I believe it's the conversion and combination of things on a conceptual level rather than a physical one. You took something with the capacity to shine, and turned it into something intended to make other things shine. I assume creating a bomb this way involves converting it from something capable of burning, for example..."
"More or less?"
Miriam nods. "It's interesting to see. At any rate, I can conclude that it isn't anything like what I do. You aren't at all likely to crowd out my niche given the wide variety of objects you are able to produce this way.

"That said...I do have an offer to make which I think you will find attractive." Miriam's glasses shine and she smirks in a kind of unhinged-seeming way.
"Yeah..?"
"I understand your work involves going out of town and fighting monsters in order to procure the ingredients necessary to make certain objects. I would like to offer my services in helping you do so. I believe 100 Cole per day, along with meals and sleeping arrangements, would make it worth my time."
"Oh..okay. You know how to fight?"

"But of course! I had to make it all the way to Syzygy on my own, and the roads are not entirely safe." She displays a crossbow which was hiding..somewhere inside her weird coat. "This is my weapon of choice, along with my personal supply of explosives, though the latter is limited in quantity." She puts it away again. "However, my most valuable asset is not my fighting abilites; rather, I believe my keen observational skills will be greatly of use to you. To demonstrate this, I'm prepared to offer you a free trial of my skills. The next time you go out of town, take me along--for at most one week--free of charge. I'll show you what I'm capable of!" If it weren't part of a sales pitch, her tone of voice would make that last sentence sound like a threat.
"Um, thanks," you say.

She nods again. "It is getting late. We shall meet again soon." With that, Miriam dashes out. You feel pretty tired after all of that, and go straight to bed.

Soon, it's another new day, and time to decide once again what to do with it.

>

Date: 1/12
Time: Dawn

Status & Inventory:

3716 Cole

Location: Syzygy - Sarah's Workshop

Character Status:

SpoilerShow

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

SpoilerShow

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

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

SpoilerShow

• Hatchet Throw: Throw a hatchet in any of 8 directions. Does physical damage to whatever it hits first.
  
• Slice & Dice: Chop-chop-chop-chop! Attempts 5-10 normal attacks, all on the same target, at reduced accuracy.

Fee: 0 Cole

Miranda (???): Uninjured, Fine
Weapon: Knight's Sword
Armor: Knight's Armor
Accessory: None
Skills:

SpoilerShow

• Zero Motivation (passive): Eh. Miranda has less energy states than normal (Exhausted, Okay, Fine). It costs energy to perform regular move and attack actions in battle. Active skills require a large percentage of her maximum energy.
  
• Chill (passive): Whatever, it's fine. Miranda regains a small amount of energy anytime she isn't doing anything, regardless of if it's out of town or even in the middle of a battle.
  
• Spin Slash: Gotta respect the classics. Slashes everything in the 8 tiles surrounding Miranda for physical damage.
  
• Lazy Combo: Way too much effort. Performs six normal attacks in a row (which can have distinct targets), and then lacks the motivation to do anything at all for the next two turns (Chill is disabled during these turns).
  
• Slack Off (3/3): Miranda's favorite activity. Doesn't accomplish anything immediate, but restores a moderate amount of energy instead of spending it. Has a 2-turn cooldown and only works 3 times per battle.

Fee: 500 Cole

Miriam Kovich: Uninjured, 10/10 Bombs
Weapon: Crossbow
Armor: Lab Coat

Skills:

SpoilerShow

• SCIENCE! (passive): Nothing can be allowed to deter the march of progress! Miriam's determination to discover the unknown gives her seemingly boundless energy. Instead her skills use up her limited supply of bombs, which can only be replenished back at town or by Sarah giving her items of the category [Bomb Supply] out of the basket and a night to turn them into more bombs. The quality and type of item affects how many bombs it can produce.
  
• Keen Eye (passive): A scientist must always be paying attention! To everything. Miriam's presence in the party increases the probability of finding more items, and of finding a wider variety of items. Some items can only be initially discovered with Miriam in the party.
  
• Observation: Let's see what makes you tick... Miriam can spend an entire turn (both the move and act portions) on observing an enemy and provide tactical data about that enemy type's behaviors, weaknesses, strengths, etc. This data remains available indefinitely after being obtained once.
  
• CrossBomb (1): The obvious combination. Miriam attaches a small bomb to a crossbow bolt. Hits any enemy in normal attack range for normal attack damage, then causes explosive fire damage to the 3x3 square centered on the target. This can also be aimed at empty squares for tactical effect.

Fee: FREE TRAIL x 1 (100 Cole after)

Dual Techs:

SpoilerShow

Sarah & Dave:
Ether Hatchet (Hatchet Throw + Ether Light): Do the thing! Targets any enemy on a straight line from Dave which he could hit with Hatchet Throw. Deals physical damage to the target and then magical damage to anything in the 3x3 square centered on the target.

All other info

A/N:

SpoilerShow

SORRY FOR LONG. No meaningful way to cut all this up, unfortunately; it's mostly "consequences of decisions previously made" stuff.

Being busy for a while is perfectly fine. School and other Real Jobs always take priority, for readers and for me as well. I just want to be sure it's not completely forgotten.

Another party member, and this one is practical to take along right away! I said before that Miranda was the one with weird mechanics, but I guess probably every character is going to have their own personal quirks. Miriam is also the character with the equivalent of a "Scan spell", which is...pretty important.

Also, we can now get personal requests from Niko. I'm not sure if I was clear enough when I talked about it in an "in-story" tutorial when personal requests were introduced, but the idea is that most potential party members become actual party members primarily by fulfilling enough of their requests. This is how getting Niko as a hireable party member will work, and why it's useful to get requests from him.