Take your Meds - Skultone & Delilah

It took a while but Delilah huffed with relieve as the potion poured into the glass bottle safely. Experimenting with potions were always fun but that doesn’t mean there were no dangers. Last few already exploded into her face, some even destroyed her pot. And thanks to her knee-jerk reaction to screech at these events, her brother make her test her potions on someone else.

She hated that thought! Of course there was a chance for potion to backfire, but not all the time! She was not about to endanger other people for that, even if it’s in a game. Still her brother makes an excellent point that every time she screamed in game, it sends her sister into panic-fight mode, not good for her heart. So in the end Delilah reluctantly posted the advertisement, recruiting players to help with her potion making.

Still she tried keeping most of the detail as vague as possible to make sure people think it was a scam. Also putting the location in scary hard to reach locations, like in the basement of an abandoned run-down building on the edge of the town. It was a scary fall with no staircase but it turned out alright. How she gets back out was a question she has not really thought about until just now. She guessed she could just brew an ice creation potion and see if she can sculpt a staircase out.

With that in mind she set to work, even putting her favourite music in the back ground.

He really shouldn't have had to descend into a high level zone just to meet with a player looking to test out potions. And yet here he was, quietly skulking around the ground floor of an abandoned building that he knew housed rare mobs on certain days of the month. A quick glance at the in-game calendar confirmed that while they would be spawning in a few days, for now the empty building was just that. Empty.

"Hello?" He ducked under a cobweb before rounding a corner, the door no longer visible as he searched each room thoroughly.

"I've come here about the potions advertisement. Anyone around?" The scuffle and crunch of detritus at his feet was almost loud enough that he missed it at first. The sound of cheerful and fast-moving music. But then he stuck his head out into the foyer and heard it louder. Something in a language he didn't recognize.

He tried again, looking up towards the decaying staircase as he moved through the hall. "Hello- augh!" The floor gave way under his feet and he slipped down, grabbing wildly at rotten floorboards fruitlessly before tumbling down into the basement. Towards the cheerful sound of pop music.

Delilah squeaked at the sound of the crash. It was the loudest thing and the only thing that has cut through her music so far. She almost dropped the wrong ingredient into the pot. Quickly she got up and run towards the source of the sound. Instantly she met with a man. He looked rather dishevelled and it was clear why. Another hole has opened up above from the rotted wood. Really since it broke under her weight, it stands to reason that someone who was more well-built than her would also cause it to collapse.

She knelt down beside him. “Are you okay?” she asked. From her initial look, nothing seemed to be broken. The fall didn’t hurt her as much as well – despite been at least a story high up. “Hold on I have some health potion that would make you feel better.” She scrolled through her inventory, going for the one she made with her recently acquired recipe. She uncorked it and just pour it straight over the guy.

If everything work as its intended, the potion should do absolutely nothing to the guy’s clothe. It would sink through the fabric, get absorbed through the skin and restore any lost health. Might be slower than drinking the potion, but it would come in handy when she needs to throw it at someone that was too far for her.

Still vaguely dazed from the fall Skultone was still able to note the player rushing towards him. The only reason he didn't react suddenly was the fact she had nothing in her hands, instead simply looking extremely concerned over his sudden entrance to her... lab?

"What are you doing in here?" Was all he got out of his mouth before she dumped a potion all over him, citing the fact it was a healing potion for her reasons to soak him without his permission.

And then his skin felt itchy, a sensation that translated from the game into his senses in the real world and bothered him intensely. He gave a full body twitch much like an itchy dog before pushing himself to his feet, looking around at her strange location for a laboratory. "I'm sorry, are you the person who set this poster up? I've come to make sure...." He paused again, a strangely bright color on his person distracting him. He usually had on muted greens and blacks. But now-

Now his clothing was a bubblegum pink, specifically where the potion had hit him. His look of absolute disgust was hidden by his mask. The way his brows drew tightly together was not.

Delilah frowned at the result. The pink was definitely something she didn’t expect. It even sparkles a little. She pulled up the recipe again to double check if there was a part she made a mistake. Was it the ingredients? Or was it the potion temperature? It was so hard to control temperature without a proper thermometer.

She was pulled out of her thoughts, by his questions. “Yeah I put up the poster. My name is Delilah.” Delilah blinked, “I didn’t expect anyone to actually answer though, especially when they see the building.” Now she felt kind of bad for setting up the location here. There were some other abandoned houses in these areas that doesn’t cave in at the slightest weight.

He doesn’t look too happy as well. Even with most of his face covered, his eyes pretty much tell her that her was absolutely disgusted with the situation. If the potion caused the pink, it was probably safe to assume that it didn’t completely heal him either.

“I’m so sorry. Look like the side effect of this potion came out. I can try make something that could fix it for you... Still strange it shouldn’t have cause this side effect. Was it because...” she soon trailed into a long string of incomprehensible muttering as she paced around the area. She would have talked herself into her head and forget about the world around her, but there were debris from the rotted floor. It didn’t take long for a piece of wood to trip her and made her tumble right back to where she was making the potions, where the music were still blaring.

She patted herself off and immediately get to work. Emptying the content of the pot and immediately filling it with another base colourless solution. “Okay so I think I know how to revert the clothing colour. Would you mind waiting for a bit? I promise I can fix this.”

Skultone didn't even have time to break into the conversation before Delilah was off in her own world. She fluttered off and he had no choice but to follow, the excess potion drying and leaving his clothing exceptionally clean. But still pink.

"No, miss Delilah. Wait." He blew out a heavy breath and cleared his throat. "I'm not here as a test subject. I'm here as an administrator." He clicked on his official title so that she could see it before continuing, standing up and walking around the room she had set up as a lab. The space she was actually working in was clean at least.

"I'm here to make sure you're actually looking for subjects for potion testing, not anything that would violate the game's ToS." Usually this sort of thing wasn't reported unless it was a scam of some kind, but Skultone had just happened to be at the right place at the right time to come and investigate in person.

“Huh? Oh!” Delilah scratched the back of her head. “I didn’t realise how dodgy I made it sound.” It was her intention but she didn’t think someone would officially check her out to make sure she wasn’t running a scam. Even then, she kind of expected people who were running a scam not to be so blatant.

“Well yeah I am looking for subjects. I have put aside some money to compensate them if they do answer the call.” She shuffled on her feet. “Although honestly I kinda don’t want to as well. Because I can always test the potion on myself but it turns out my screams scares people so I was forced to put one up. Then I thought I could pick a place that seemed scary enough to chase people off and then got stuck down here.”

Now that she further think about it. Since neither of her cousins were in the game she could consider just not posting the advert and they would not know. Or to take away the monetary reward so people think it was someone trying to ask for a free job, or just even add ‘joking’ at the end of the advert to get people to not take it.

She sighed, next time she would need to think out her plan more clearly. For now there is a different problem. “Well now you know that the poster is legit... Are you going to leave now or?” She wasn’t quite sure if he wanted to have her fix his clothe. Not that pink look too bad on him.

For all she was obviously omitting some things in her story, Skultone found it hard to believe she was attempting to do harm to other players. For one thing... These seemed to be just alchemical potion attempts. It was fully within the Shaman's right and class skill set to make these, and to create new formulae if the game could support the combinations. He shook his head and brushed his hands over the pink stains on his shoulders and chest.

"No, I think that you have the right idea if not the best execution." He shrugged and smiled, though it could not be seen under his mask. Her mention of screams had him concerned however, and as she shuffled her feet and hinted that she wanted him to leave he continued his questioning.

"You know how to report bugs or issues with potion creation, right? We're always happy to help if you've come across something that isn't working as intended in the game." He searched his inventory and pulled out a contact card with the help desk's ID and e-mail address before offering it to her. "If your own works are causing you discomfort past what you've set your in-game stimuli to then you should report it, in case it is a bug of some kind."

Delilah was a little relieved that he doesn’t seem to be as upset as she imagined him to be. At the mention of game bugs, the young shaman tilted her head from side to side. “I am not sure what count as discomfort honestly. So I’m not even sure if it’s a bug. But accidental explosions should be part of the game right?”

Or else it would be no fun to have nothing funny happen when you fail a mixture. Bubbling over and having the potion smell are all fine conditions but nothing is more fun than having something completely go poof! Also less cleaning up to do when there is nothing left in the pot. Speaking of which, the pot started to bubble over dangerously next to them. By the time Delilah noticed it, the potion made a loud boom. Despite knowing it was coming, she still shrieked a little. The potion splattered everywhere, wherever it touched it made a sizzling sound. Thankfully none splattered on the man, Delilah already feel quite bad for staining his coat. Some did splatter on her, but she did not seem to notice the burn on her skin.  

She simply scratched her head at the mess, muttering to herself. “Oh no... Where did I go wrong here?”