Andochtuir's page

Hey everyone, I have a bit of bad news. Unfortunately, my workload has not decreased over the holidays and it is projected to get worse. As such I am forced to drop out of a number of campaigns, including this one. This has nothing to do with you all as writers or with the GM, I think you're all fantastic at it. It's just real life critting me in the face, unfortunately. I wish I could pay the bills with PBP, but alas :( I wish you all the best and thank you all for the opportunity to play in this one.

Kind regards,
Trevor/Andy

Apologies, I've been absent for the boards for a few weeks now. In short, I was promoted a third time to lead a specific team. Except, leading this team is a lot worse in retrospect than I was let onto. There is a lot of internal struggle, people not liking eachother, people with a lot of unknown healthproblems and people who seem to be severely underqualified for the position they are on the team for. And I am somehow expected to make this mess work. To say it's exhausting having to do my own work, mediating arguments like a nanny while also trying to train the staff up to where they have to be would be a gross understatement.

I've discussed the problems with the company manager. The reaction was among the lines of that they will contact the sick folk to see if they can somehow expedite their return to work, but do not want to let go of the unqualified people to 'give them a chance'. My reaction to that was that if I have to spend a significant amount of time training them, I won't be able to work as much. While this was seemingly accepted, I am still required to meet the normal minimum quota's of cases to judge which is just really hard when training others and essentially an impossible demand.

As such, while this has been going on, whenever I get home I more or less just fall into my chair, watch a bit of youtube and fall asleep. I've had no time or energy to really get back into writing since this happened. My next move is more or less going to be to demand the production quota be lowered or walk away from it. Either way I hope to have some more time and energy again in the new future. I apologize for the wait.

Didn't respond yet but personally I am still very busy in real life with the partnership situation of the company I started working for some time ago. It's eating into my writing time quite a bit as I posted previously. I'd like to think my posting rate has been okay the last few weeks but if I am holding things up I'm fine with being botted.

"For what it's worth, I agree with you, Sandru. While it might be dishonorable to strike down a wounded foe, it's even more dishonorable to willingly endanger the ones you're sworn to protect. At least, that is how I see it. Its vow to come after us once healed does not sit well with me," Andochtuir states, a bit solemnly, perhaps still shaken from his near-death experience.

He doesn't partake in further speculation on what happened to the body, decicing he needed from fresh air and heading into the forest to forage and scout the immediate surroundings. As previously posted.

perception: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (8) + 20 = 28

Andochtuir sees the corpse and freezes, the reminder of his mortality only all too real. Though he helps the group search the wagon and bury the unfortunate individual later, he finds his hands shaking, the soup spilling from his cup and the sparse ingredients for his brewing slip from his grasp.

He withdraws that evening, wandering into the forest as he absently plucks what herbs and roots he could find in the snowy land. Away from the fire, he could at least pretend that was the cause rather than mortal fear. Visions of his brother's death as well as his own flash through his mind until he can't take it anymore and slams rather than sets the lantern down on a nearby stone, breathing heavily. He slowly turns to regards his bat-like, some would say demonic wing. That was what it had been based off, after all, his Vivisection of the flying horror fought beneath the castle.

"Are you watching, Ancuradh?" He says, trying to calm himself, staring into the dark of night. "I've tried to do the right thing for these people. My friends. But I'm not the fighter you were. And it feels like I'm not closer to the cure for the corruption. Perhaps I'm even starting to become like the beasts we once fought to destroy. Should I follow this path, disregarding my corruption if it keeps Ameiko safe? What would you do, if your strength was not enough?"

I'll respond later today, very busy couple of days for me atm.

Yeah, welcome back Atsuko!

On the currently offered 'deal', Andy doesn't hear it but he would reject it since the wolf is outright telling us he will come after us and the rest of the caravan after they are healed. That seems like an extremely bad deal for us; not only do we have to fight it anyway, but rather than face it now when injured and facing all of us as a group, it could come for anyone at any time, at the peak of its strength. It and its pack (?) could pick off the weaker members when we're not around.

In short, we directly endanger the caravan in multiple ways while getting nothing except putting off the fight a few days - which in itself doesn't seem worth anything. FWIW, Ameiko also directly ordered us to kill it.

High above the field, Andochtuir holds his fauchard at the ready, primed to swoop down and spear the wolf at a moment's notice!

Knowing he was very bad at moving silently, Andochtuir waits for any sort of signal from the scouts to take off into the air. There, he stays high in above ground, the frigid winds not bothering him through the magic of his boots.

Hopefully, he was too high up to be seen or sniffed.

Of course, that wouldn't work if they looked straight up, but with one of them being injured and these being predators, he gambled on them not used to get attacked from the air.

Andy will fly like 50 ft above ground when they get near the target. That seems to logically have a better chance of success at not being seen than hiding, though by Raw everyone always has 360 degree vision in all directions.

"Is it just me, or were we just publicly admonished for heading into unknown danger by Shalelu and Ameiko, only to be immediately sent into unknown danger - by Shalelu and Ameiko?" Andochtuir wonders as the group follows Torra, only to shrug. "Women." He sighs.

Andy would have healed himself and Ameiko and Shelelu at the end of the previous fight, but it's unclear from the narrative if they actually accepted the healing or refused it so we have more. If they refused, Andy has 4 uses of healing left. If they accepted, Andy has 2 uses of healing left. Yeah, we got smacked around on damage.

The alchemist glances between Ameiko and her elven friend and sighs. "All right. Next time, we will thoroughly scout out every potential danger before acting."

"Even though that will often not be feasible," he thinks. It was a dangerous world. Threats were everywhere and if Shalelu and Torra had already failed to glean anything in their previous run, could they have here? But it was the brush with death talking, not common sense. There was no point to be contrary, so he withdraws to the others searching the giants and instead takes a brief flight through the surrounding area, looking for what could have been hidden heere worth guarding.

perception, search area: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (13) + 20 = 33

If nothing is found, he returns to the caravan with the others afterwards.

After the fight, Andochtuir heals his new wounds, then tends to Ameiko and Shalelu afterwards should they wish. If the former accepts, the normally stoic warrior can't entirely hide being a bit nervous when channeling the energy to her injuries. "Thank you, again. I'm... glad you're safe." He softly says during the process.

He looks up sharply when Shalelu voices her displeasure rather harshly. "Are you all right?" He asks her, not unkindly. "I understand you might be upset; he struck me quite badly as well. But we decided on this as a group. There was no way of knowing it was an actual giant, what with the trickery involved. It was a risk, and while it might not have paid out, that does not make the decision faulty. The course of action was reasonable and we might very well have to repeat it in the future. You never know if down the line, foraging conditions might get even worse."

Yeah, that's fair. though with the smoke and mirrors i was expecting it to be someone posing as a giant rather than an actual giant. Ironically, had the giant actually come out into the open to talk with us I think Andy/I would have advocaten for some peaceful middle ground solution.

Small correction on my part, Andy's ac with those buffs is 27, not 28. Not that it really matters since he's kinda getting smacked around here. XD

Fortunately, Ritti to the rescue with the massive damage burst! (hopefully)

I'm not sure if that attack hits Yuto, his AC is listed at 30 in the spoiler. 3 is from his active Barkskin. Andy is at 28 with Barkskin and Mutagen, FWIW.

The alchemist takes a steadying breath as first his own, then Ameiko's healing energies rapidly knit together his flesh and bones. "Thank you. Now go! We'll handle him. We've been through worse," He promises the heiress before turning to aid Yuto.

Adjacent to the toppled giant, Andy scrambles up after him and tries to punch him in the heel with his spiked gauntlet as it rises, but his clumsy attempt deflects off of the Forcefield protecting it. Perhaps he shouldn't have tried to do it while also drawing his sword!

attack, spiked gauntlet, AoO, Mutagen +2, IC+2, PA -2, no prone bonus as both andy and giant are prone then: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (6) + 11 = 17
damage, mutagen, PA: 1d4 + 12 ⇒ (2) + 12 = 14

I'm not sure if you can draw a weapon as part of your move action if your move action is to stand up from prone (which btw provokes an AoO from the giant), but Raw that seems to be the case. If not use alternate damage roll below.

Standing and with his sword now out, he strikes into the giant's side again!

attack, Longsword, IC+2, mutagen, PA -2: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (15) + 12 = 27
damage if longsword can be drawn, Mutagen, PA, IC+2: 1d8 + 18 ⇒ (4) + 18 = 22
damage if spiked gauntlet, mutagen, PA: 1d4 + 12 ⇒ (3) + 12 = 15

Reeling from being suddenly flash-frozen and then almost shattered in a single hit by a thusfar invisible giant, Andochtuir doesn't have much, if any time to come to his bearings. But rather than his own impending death, what worried him much more was Ameiko's scream of pain.

"Fall back," He whispers, searching her eyes. "You need to live. If anything happened to you, I wouldn't forgive myself."

Gritting his teeth, he attempts to tap into the energies required to heal his grievous wounds...

Heal, incredible healer 2 of 7: 1d20 + 22 ⇒ (13) + 22 = 35

If he lives, as this attack would provoke from the giant if it has more than 1 AoO per turn, that would heal him for 44. Sadly, I don't think I can play around this in any realistic way. Whether inside or adjacent to his squares while prone, there is no way to get outside of his reach safely. So... I guess I'll try the healing and hope for no combat reflexes on the Giant. At 8 hp and prone the next hit is very likely to both land and kill him anyways. I could full defense and do nothing and hope the other can down the giant in one round, but then the next AoE attack would still likely kill him. So... I don't know. I guess I'll try the highest upside play.

Wow, ouch!

One question, is there something in the giant's abilities that allows him to end an overrun in an opponant's square? As that is usually not possible per the squeezing rules. He would need the movement speed to completely move through Andy's squares if not, and If he can't, i'm not sure he could perform that maneuver this way. If he needs to charge to get the required movement speed to move through Andy, he probably can't attack Ameiko afterwards as that would take his entire turn. It would also lower his Ac by 2 Fwiw.

Also, this might be random, but I might need someone to help make a knowledge local check vs this thing to see if it typically has combat reflexes, OR Yuto would have to move in front of Andy this turn... as Andy's treat deadly wounds provokes, and one more attack from the giant is likely to kill him.

So it is pretty critical to know exactly where Andy and the giant end up, if he can feasibly get behind Yuto, and if a knowledge check can determine whether it has combat reflexes.

That is a really cool use of a thunderstone, Ritti. Very creative!

Like his friend, Andochtuir closes ranks around the Kaijutsu Heiress, though he lingers slightly behind Yuti to heal him from behind.

Healer's hand with incredible healer feat on Yuto: 1d20 + 22 ⇒ (17) + 22 = 39

Fully heals Yuto.

"Everyone! This thing is striking at us from the mist, hoping we will try and move in to endanger ourselves. But the cloud will last mere minutes at most! We can just stay back, wait for it to dissipate and fight when it's forced to reveal itself!" He then calls out to his allies.

Perhaps a lame-ish strategy, but I see no downside to increasing our distance to this thing and waiting x minutes for the fog cloud to just vanish. We can easily spread out around it so that we'll know if it tries to move out.

Ok, cool. And we notice the axe striking Yuto from the cloud? As in that it is not invisible?

@Gm What I do here partially depends on the currently active buffs on Yuto and myself. Did Andochtuir have a chance to use his mutagen and the Barkskin extracts on himself and Yuto as he was planning to when they got off the path/near the voice site, described in is previous post? Are those spells active? I;m not sure how long we've been trying to forage before this ambush takes place.

Sorry, I made a post before realizing it wasn't my turn, thus I deleted it.

Andy will definitely accompany the foraging team. He will drink his mutagen the moment the group strays from the path and prepare Barkskin Extratcs for both Yuto and himself.

"Ventriloquism," Andochtuir nods, patting him on the 'head'. "I've been trying to teach him how to talk. Obviously, I had some success - he's surprisingly quick on the uptake. I named him Zhu Zi - supposedly a Minkaian plant famed for its resilience, endurance and strength. Which seemed to fit with our caravan journey as a whole. Obviously, he has a ways to go to grow into his namesake," He smiles.

"That aside, I think Ritti's right. Someone is trying to trick us, and if it is resorting to common acts of deception, it is obviously not who or what it claims to be. Perhaps we could talk to it and confront it with this. Or ask probing questions on the history of the Storm Giants to unmask it. Then see what to do when it revela sitself. If it doesn't, I would suggest we ignore it and continue foraging as normal."

Arcana (familiar): 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (13) + 11 = 24

aid another arcana, Andochtuir to familiar: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (4) + 7 = 11

Perched on his shoulder, Andochtuir's hedgehog-like familiar suddenly looks up and pokes his creator's chin with its prickly arm. "What is it, boy?"

The familiar remains silent, looking around at the assembly. "Go on." The alchemist encourages it.

Since both Torra and Ritti skipped their RP sessions, I don't want to hold up the story with diving too deep into mine this round. Let's say Andy follows up Sandru's advice to ask Koya instead and breaches it in roughly the same manner. In Andy's place, I would want to wait with knowing more of the situation before apologizing or trying again with Ameiko. So let's say three days with Sandru, one with riftun, one with Koya, and if Koya gives more information he'll spend the last two with Ameiko. If not the last two he will just hang out more with Riftun and Losk.

"I tried talking to Ameiko... she seemed very upset when I mentioned your brother and didn't wish to discuss it. I don't think I've ever seen her as such. Part of me worries, part of me wonders if pressing is just opening an old wound and best left alone. All I really got from it was that she touched a certain tatoo before dismissing me," Andochtuir mentions to Sandru over the coming days. He was, after all, probably one of his best friends next to Yuto and Losk. "What do you believe I should do? If this concerns your brother, surely you have some stake in this as well? What sort of person was he and how did he affect Ameiko?"

Andy will use his focused scrutiny extract before breaching a potentially painful topic such as this so that he has a +5 diplomacy and +10 sense motive with Sandru. It last an hour, which should be enough for a conversation. I'm not sure if Ameiko is currently socially approachable following the last scene. If she is, Andy will spend roughly a three days of time with Sandru, two with Ameiko and one with Losk. The remaining seventh day he will spend with Riftun, to try and make good on his promise to remove his scars. Now that he's a better healer and can make lesser restoration extracts, perhaps he has a chance at success?

"Trouble on the horizon," Andochtuir reports as he returns from his scouting with a brisk pace. "A really large human of sorts. Probably a giant. At present, lying in wait and watching the caravan," He catches some of the stares and feels the need to clarify. "Yes, I think it is bigger even than I am when I use all my potions. It could be a serious threat."

Glancing over his colleagues and the caravan's leadership, he asks the obvious question. "What should we do? Try and talk to them? Or take a wide berth of its location? Something else?"

Sandru coughs. "Ahem. Yes, well done, Andochtuir. But next time you're planning on doing something like that, could you let us know?! It's not good for my heart."

Gliding back down from the cliff, the enlarged alchemist looks down at Sandru with a wry grin. "Noted. However, it was clear to me that they were lying and that an honest deal was never in the cards. No matter where I go, no matter what manner of creature they are, a bully remains a bully. The only language they understand is that of strength and violence."

"S-sir A-Andochtuir, your strength is truly amazing! I-It's a relief that we didn't have to fight or give up our food."

"Ah, well, thank you, Yuto. But I'm sure you could have done something similar. Couldn't you just walk through the air to them with your katana? Chances are that would have awed them too," He reponds, a bit shy over all the attention. "Regardless, I'd best make use of these potions while they last. Maybe I can push the wagons along a bit? The faster we're out of this canyon, the better."

Andy will ride on one of the wagons, seeking to re-brew his mutagen for the day along with a new potion of Ant Haul. This would take 3 hours in total.

Added note: I forgot my currently active Heroism, which would add +2 more to intimidate for a 26.

I posted, if anyone really wants Andy to not try intimidating them into backing off, I can still change the post. As it does do a different take than Yuto's diplomacy.

Local vs dc 23: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (3) + 11 = 14

As the discussion went on, Andochtuir placed himself someone on top of the rockly ledge, keeping a sharp eye on each of the... hobgoblins? He wasn't sure. He was, however, quite sure of one thing.

They were lying through their teeth.

Repeatedly.

Assuming they're all speaking Skald and Andy can hear and talk to them directly, he drinks his potion of aunt haul, then one of focused scrutiny on the spokesperson, and finally an extract of enlarge person,

It was time for the 'extra' potions.

The first one grew him to double height. The second one even further enhanced his muscles.

"You say you are cold? We can help with that. Catch."

An adult pine tree If a tree is available, otherwise he will settle for similar giant rocks like they are using, but preferably a bigger one. is swiftly torn up from the roots and, in one fluent motion, flung in front of the spokesperson from up high.

"You want my advice? Reconsider and run. NOW ," He growls. "You think we haven't faced worse than you? I could kill each and every one of you by myself ! And there's twenty more of us. Find some easier prey before we tire of bartering for your lives out of pity."

intimidate, +5 focused scrutiny: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24

Hopefully, the giant, bat-winged flying elfthing able to throw trees and/or similar giant rocks at them from up in the air makes them more succeptible to running the hell away. As I don't think diplomacy will work out well, and anything they take is likely to be too much.

Sorry, ill get a post up later tonight. My day got a bit derailed when i was asked to take a leadership position at work. Fun, but a lot of unexpected negotiations and such.

Probably doesn't make much of a difference here but as stated in the Previous post, Andy's perception is +20 at baseline, not 15. The score doesn't seem to include his Eyes of the Eagle. Adding the missing +5 he should see all hidden enemies.

Earlier

Taken back by the intensity of Ameiko's reaction, the half-elf eventually nods. "Of course. I apologize for bringing this up." He says, quickly excusing himself and wondering what the connection was between the apparent death of Sandru's brother and Ameiko's Sepentine Tattoo.

Now...

"Then it sounds like it's time for an aerial view. Give me a moment," Andochtuir says, reaching for his extracts.

Unless someone stops him:

Electing to use his standard ones, he drinks his Mutagen, an Extract of Shield and tastes his potion of heroism before spitting it back out into a seperate flask Alchemical Allocation to gain effect without spending the potion . Then, he takes to the sky and attemps to get a closer look at the potential ambush site, looking at the potential predator(s)? From above.

AC 29, 28 FF, T12. Saves with heroism: F+13, ref+10, Will +9 or +11 vs charms/comp.

This takes 4 rounds to set up, assuming we have that time. If we do not, he would suggest to Sandru to momentarily halt the caravan to make that time. Which might give away that we've seen them, but better keep distance than drive straight into the ambush?

@GM Andy's perception in the macro should be +20, I think it doesn't take his eyes of the eagle into account.

Well, this is awkward. It seems the timing of our posts crossed. Does Andy still fail if he would have had the +5 from his Focused scrutiny extract?

Ah, I forgot to specify in my previous post, but Andy used an extract of focused scrutiny before talking to Ameiko. Just in case he has to make some sort of social check to discuss Sandru's information. It'd give him a +10 bonus to sense motive and a +5 bonus to diplomacy as it helps him read her better.

No problem, get well soon gm!

survival: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (18) + 7 = 25

"I'm sorry, little ones. But I fear we have to eat, and our mission is too important to fail." Andochtuir says on the first day, flying in the air as he takes sight of the unsuspecting deer, then swooping down to swiftly crush the skull of the mother first and calf second.

He grimaced as he collected the bodies and began the treck back to the caravan. He didn't like to kill this way, but his duties to the caravan came first. He would say an elven prayer to the animals later, and make sure Losk as the cook did their sacrifice justice.

Day 2

Realizing he'd put it off long enough, Andochtuir approaches the heiress at some point during the journey onward. He wasn't sure if the perfume he'd made on the way was necessary or appropriate but Riftun had advised he could never be too "extra" and he'd taken the bard's words to heart. "Ameiko, can I... ask you something?" Okay now to follow through? "I've... been told that there might be something bothering you; Sandru implied it had to do with a former adventuring group the two of you were a part of. Something relating to his younger brother? Is that true, and is it something you'd like to talk about? As our leader, I think we'd all benefit from you being at your best."

Was he sticking his nose somewhere it didn't belong? Maybe... but then again this seemed like the most natural way to breach whatever Sandru had vaguely implied, and according to Yuto - indirectly - it was supposedly important. He knew Ameiko much better than he and he'd noticed something was off about her, at least when interacting with Sandru, who considered her a sister. So... regret? Lingering feelings of loss? Melancholy? It was hard to imagine on the normally cheerful woman, but maybe it was true?

Day 3

For most of the third day, Andochtuir resumes his former duties as a physician and assists Koya in taking care of the odd injury, the vast majority of which were shaping up to be frostbite. It seemed like more of Losk's admittedly excellent vegetable soup was in order.

Well, that, or throwing them into the wagon magically warmed by Ritti's flag. That worked too.

I think most of us are in agreement not to take anything here? I'd say move on, we can manage without stealing anything. I hope. :')

"I agree. I wouldn't resort to stealing unless there was no other way to survive. And whoever lives here obviously has much less than we do. It's just dishonorable."

"Good question. Though that they lived here once doesn't mean they still do. Worst case, the monsters we were warned about took over the place," Andy adds as he joins Yuto right away. "Let's see what Ritti can uncover..." he adds as he begins drinking his Elixir, just in case.

Andy will use Alchemical allocation to drink his heroism potion without expending it. He also uses his Mutagen (str)

Having done all he can and with visibility near zero through both the night and ongoing blizzard, Andochtuir allows himself to relax and enjoy the company of those in the same wagon as him. Sure, things were absolutely crowded what with like ten people shoved into each of the wagons already holding supplies meant to last weeks for so many of them... but that made it all the more unforgettable, singing songs to their bards and sharing stories and laughs as the icy winds rages outside, and then the humorous awkwardness of figuring out how in the hells people were supposed to sleep under these conditions.

Still, as they made by with what they had, he had to admit that this ragged group of misfits was starting to feel like more and more like a group of friends - perhaps even family - rather than just another job to fund his hobby.

He smiled at the thought and took another sip of very cool water as people were starting to succesfully drift off, inzending to join them soon.

"If it's a true blizzard, it won't just be the cold that's an issue, but the wind too. And if we Rely on Ritti's flag to keep most of us warm, we'd better make sure it sticks. I'll see if I can cook up some adhesive, and some clay compound to keepp the other wagons warmer inside," Andochtuir says, as he begins the process of making some alchemical glue.

Alchemy: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (13) + 20 = 33

If not allowed for this:

Perception to scout instead: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (6) + 20 = 26

"Ulf, you mentioned the Erutaki... is there any chance any of their settlements are nearby somewhere? If so, we could perhaps barter for a day of shelter. Assuming this blizzard does indeed only last until the morrow." Andochtuir wonders, glancing at their guide. "If not, and if there is nowhere to take shelter on the way, then we either have to take this blizzard while we travel or we try to make a makeshift camp anyway with what we've got." He frowns. "The latter of which are obviously not pleasant prospects."

If there is no better plan, Andy will try scouting the area for a place to hide or tracks suggesting there is civilazation nearby. If neither can be found, he will default to helping the caravan prepare for the storm, whether they choose to travel during the storm or hunkering down somewhere.

"If we have an oppotunity to forage for more food, I say we should take it. If everyone is willing, the five of us who were in the frozen shadows' base can probably handle something showing up to disturb us," Andochtuir confidently states. The burlap sack used to hide his new wings from view made a slight twitch as he tested whether it was weak enough to tear apart on a moment's notice.

perception?: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (7) + 20 = 27

Honestly, I just assumed I must have missed something :P 'Her dad didn't like me' seemed to imply some sort of romantic interest. Since Andy doesn't know anyone from Sandpoint personally I figured he'd have no idea either and that he'd just offer condolances and would be correced soon enough if that wasn't the case, as happened. But I'm happy you like this head canon :)

""So, I see y've been experimenting."

The alchemist looks up, gaze curious. "I have. There was this... demon we encountered, back when Ameiko was still comatose. It was a flying monstrousity capable of vicious fire. I remember an explosion of sorts, then I got seperated from the others beneath the castle. Alone and injured in its lair, it swooped down on me. For all accounts, I should be dead." he looks away. "Sheer luck. Sheer luck and Torra. That's why I'm still alive. I was completely helpless. Most of us were."

" Never again . Maybe it was revenge or even spite. And perhaps I could have figured out a different way to achieve the same effect. But I went back that evening to its corpse to cut off its wings. Then I studied how they worked. Their alien anatomy, how such things could carry a being of its size. And then I went to work, gathering what knowledge of transfigurative alchemy I had with me, extrapolating it into a workable thesis."

He smiles faintly, though it doesn't reach his eyes. "So that the next time, *I* am the demon, and the monster is trapped with *me*."

Andochtuir spends the next few hours with Losk, following the other alchemist's lead in brewing a couldron full of presumably magical liquid to keep the others warm through the storm.

It looks, smells and tastes suspiciously like common vegetable soup. But given the other alchemist had supposedly spent dozens of gold on the recipe, he doesn't have the heart to tell him.