Har continued to evade her questions about whatever it was that he was obviously planning, frustrating her with her mentor even more than she had already been. She didn't see why he was excited about the concoction, the suspension of mending wasn't really even something new, by all accounts it was actually worse than her ointment which could restore up to one hundred health in the same timeframe. Especially since it used practically the same ingredients, though significantly less of the fresh moss and more of the tincture.

She suspected that it would improve a bit if she used properly fresh moss rather than the stuff Imelda had, the other suspensions only used the tincture which seemed less effected by the aged moss, as they'd only managed to produce a common version of it, and that was after the first batch that came out inferior. Kori hoped that she could raise the quality to uncommon and suspected that it would bring the duration into line with the other suspensions she had made, but didn't know if it would change the rate of health recovery any.

Even with all of the merchant's somewhat suspicious behaviour, it wasn't enough to tamp Kori's elation. In just a single day she'd discovered not one, or even two, but eight new recipes. Her only complaint was that only a single one of her Skills had benefited from what should have otherwise been explosive growth at her discoveries.

<<Skill proficiency improved. Basic Mana Control level 2 -> 3>>

And it wasn't even a crafting Skill, so she didn't get to flex it nearly as much as she had her others. Still, it felt good to raise the Skill and it had made it slightly easier to manage the flow of mana as she imbued her creations, hopefully it would even make crafting a larger batch, like those when she'd first discovered the fortitude suspensions, a little less taxing.

Even if the system wouldn't recognize her achievements now, Imelda assured her that she was paving the way for her first class to progress quickly and that once she was able to take Jobs her Skills would readily catch up to her knowledge, since learning was the hardest part of raising Skills, the rest was just proving what you'd learned.

Dinner that evening turned out to be an overly large gathering at Gnomish Delights. Imelda, Ulteran, Albott, and several others, some she had seen in passing and others she had not, all packed into the café until they were practically spilling out onto the street, let alone room for any other patrons to get a table. Even Zln and a few of the other kobolds had come along, though many sat at other tables away from the more boisterous merchants.

The humans present found themselves on the other end of the size disparity for once, feeling overly large surrounded by all the smaller sized décor and similarly sized folk in attendance. The café could certainly accommodate them, but like Kori in Imelda's workspace, they were clearly not the patrons that the eatery catered to.

They ate, chatted, and all around had themselves an interesting, and boisterous, evening. The food was something that Kori hadn't had before, long noodles covered in a rich and meaty crimson sauce that she had mistaken for blood momentarily, stood as the centerpiece, but other dishes littered the tables liberally. Each plate offered delights of flavour that Kori was going to miss.

Throughout the night, Kori kept catching Har having hushed conversations that ceased the moment he spotted her trying to listen in, even going so far as to speak a language she wasn't familiar with when talking to a few of his merchant friends.

She knew that he had said he enjoyed learning new languages, but when she counted the fifth, not including creation, that she heard him speaking that evening, she had to admit that she was beyond impressed. She knew one was Vozhith and assumed another was a dwarven language, since he'd spoken it to a dwarf, but of the other two the only one she could even guess at was possibly high vorisian, mostly because it sounded just close enough to what she had learned while still being completely unintelligible to her. Why the man knew a language only generally spoken between elves, she had no idea. The remaining unknown language was fully a mystery to her.

It got to the point that she thought that he was just doing it on purpose to confuse her. She'd heard him speaking with Albott in at least three languages throughout the evening and he even winked at her when he saw her trying to listen the last time.

She was half tempted to expose him to one of what she had decided to call her 'successful failures'. Nothing that she made was really what she had been hoping for, but these few items, like the cleansing solution, strayed a bit further afield than the others.

It turns out that stinging nettles, which were useful to treat inflammation and joint pain, had a few less than beneficial properties that her brand of herbalism seemed to latch onto rather than the medicinal ones they were targeting.

The nettles were one of the ingredients that they had failed to find any means of combining with the tincture, however they didn't let that stop them and had in many such cases tried other suspending agents, like water, alcohol, or in this particular case, oils. They'd tried with olive oil first and created an inferior quality product, easily figuring out by the nature of the concoction that one of the substances less useful properties had held back the result. It's flammability.

While neither herself nor Imelda saw a lot of use in the concoction, they still toyed with it between batches of their more medicinal trials simply as something different to do.

Since the product itself wasn't something to be ingested, it opened up several alternatives to use in place of the oil. And it just so turned out that one of the primary exports of the town, aside from their thriving honey production thanks to the kobold's love of the sweet liquid, and the mead it was used to make, was rapeseed oil. The plants were a prime food source for the many bees. Which was significantly more flammable in comparison and instantly raised the results to a common grade.

From there they found several additives that enhanced the outcome and even eventually raised it to an uncommon product through several iterations. The final recipe they came up with was a mixture of nettles, rapeseed oil, a touch of finely powdered sulfur, and something added at Kori's suggestion despite her rather negative associations with the stuff, that had finally pushed it over the edge. Fraxinella extract.

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The result was gloopy paste that was highly flammable, though not in the same manner that the flame flasks were, though they were used in a similar manner. The paste would self-immolate after being smashed upon a hard surface, this effect was due to the fraxinella extract as the earlier versions required a source of ignition like a fuse.

Unlike her prior creation, the risks of this particular concoction were significantly lower. Its contents would combust in an abrupt and obnoxious flash, burning away in a near instant and leaving behind a cloud of smoke, horrible, itchy, stingy, smoke. She'd also suggested adding a pinch of the heavenly deathshroom to the mix in the hopes of creating her first ever rare concoction, but Imelda thought that was going too far for something that was intended to be used as a prank.

Basic Stinging Cloud Flask Tier 1, Uncommon

A mixture of oils, herbs, and minerals that when shattered will ignite and erupt in a cloud of stinging fumes, causing skin irritation and temporarily blinding those exposed. This is considered to be a poisonous effect.

This concoction may self ignite if heated or exposed to air.

As they'd intended its eventual use to be as a prank, which Imelda advised happen well outside the towns gates to avoid causing another incident, she hadn't shared that particular concoction with Har as of yet.

She had several small clay pots that they'd sealed with wax, just in case, packed away carefully back in her temporary den, and just a single tucked into the side of her satchel in case she found an opportunity to make use of it.

After catching him cut off mid conversation and yet again switch to another language, with Imelda of all people, she thought that this just might have been that time. At least it would have been if they weren't in Maribel's café, she couldn't do that to her friend.

The night ended exactly as she'd expected it to. Har slumped over her shoulder as she practically dragged him home, Ulteran curled up in a corner with a large bowl to one side and a pitcher of water to the other, even Imelda was looking less than steady on her feet as she wobbled away from the others arm in arm with Albott who was apparently going the same direction. All the while, Maribel just laughed and cleaned up after the departing guests with a smile, one she had good reason for as Kori had seen just how many silver coins had changed hands that evening.

The following morning, she finally asked the other question that she had forgotten about over the past few days when she saw Har blearily stumbling out of his chamber, her voice only a little bit louder than necessary. "Good morning, Har!" she intoned, watching him cringe in response, "I've been meaning to ask, how is it your clothes don't look like mine did after I slept in them the other night?"

It took the Elder a few moments to process what he'd been asked, the volume used and the obvious discomfort that he was already in having delayed his comprehension. "Huh? Good morning, Kori." He replied, wincing as even his own voice sounded overly loud in his present state before continuing in a hushed tone. "It's an Ability. [Always Presentable], helps with morning breath too." Emphasizing his point by breathing out heavily in the youngling's direction.

He was right too, his breath smelled much better than her own. This was probably the first time she was envious of one of the merchant's Abilities, sure the others that she knew of were useful, but that one sounded incredibly convenient. She of course couldn't leave it at that, so in the same overly loud voice she responded with a quick, "Neat!"

Har winced again before shooing the obnoxious youngling on her way, it was going to be a busy morning loading the carts and neither his current state, nor her antics, were helping matters.

While Har did whatever it was that he had to do to get ready to depart, Kori made her escape. She'd managed to scrounge a few coin from her mentor over the weeks above ground and intended to make use of her little stash before they left. There was nothing that she needed of course, taking care of her needs was the reason they'd made the trip after all, but there was definitely something she wanted before she left.

Returning to the caverns means returning to clan food… blegh.

If she was going to be eating steamed fish, beetles, and moss day in day out again, she was going to make sure she enjoyed her last meal here in Whatzakt before she left. That and procure her own supply of the chili oil she'd tried at the festival, something she'd taken care of weeks ago with Maribel's aid.

Her much-neglected Skill for sneaking made the barest efforts, it was still just level two after all, in guiding her path and quieting her steps as she made for the gate of the enclave. She thought she did a pretty good job of going unnoticed, though she also couldn't hear the half dozen laughing warriors and traders trying not to call attention to her departure. In fact, just about the only one who hadn't noticed her leaving had been Har.

She'd never made the trip to Maribel's on her own before, though she'd returned from there practically alone most evenings with Har in the state he'd been in, but the familiar route was easy enough to follow. She watched her gnomish friend look around for a few moments, expecting to find Har walking in behind Kori, and transition to a surprised grin when she realized that she was alone. Though not nearly as surprised as she was when Kori pulled a dozen or more silver out of her bag and said, "Can I get the best food that I can with this much?"

With a laugh and a wink, Maribel picked out just a single one of the coins before telling her, "Put that away! We're friends so I'm not going to rip you off, but most places would just take it all when just one silver is enough for a feast."

In what could be called her signature response, Kori's head tilted and she uttered that singular word she was becoming known for, "Why?"

"Put that away first and take a seat," The gnome answered, pointing her towards a table a little further back than where she usually sat with Har and refusing to expound on her statement until Kori had done as asked, "Because people are greedy, if someone tries to hand them coin, earned or otherwise, of course they're going to take it."

The meal that followed was full of joy and regret. Joy at the flakey pastries, floral tea, thick slices of cured meats, and all the butter, jam, and sweet spreads that she could slather onto it all, including the meats much to Maribel's shock. She'd known the youngling had a sweet tooth, but apparently whipped honey on ham was a step too far.

It seemed odd, but one of the things she was going to miss about surface food wasn't actually the food itself. It was the cutlery. Sure, some of it, like the spoons, were a bit awkward and not really meant for the shape of a kobold's mouth, but the fork was a wonderous thing that kept the scales of her hands clean and the knives kept her from having to tear at her meat with her claws.

She went so far as to ask if she could buy a few sets of the silverware, though since it wasn't silver Kori was still a bit confused by the term. The request was something her friend readily agreed to and for a pair of silver coins she loaded her up with the cutlery as well as several sets of porcelain plates, bowls, teacups, and drinking glasses to go with them, plus a little jar of the dark syrup she'd tried on the pancakes, all packed into a basket with a handle and separated by thin pieces of cloth to keep them safe. "If you need more, just ask Har to come pick them up, same with the chili oil and anything else, I'll send along a care package with him if you can't come with him on the next trip." Maribel said, before hugging her and repeating goodbyes that had already been shared the night before.

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