The Only Way Out Is Through (5/4) - Jaezred
Apr 19, 2022 7:25:23 GMT
Delilah Daybreaker, Velania Kalugina, and 1 more like this
Post by Jaezred Vandree on Apr 19, 2022 7:25:23 GMT
Flaming Dragonblood Cocktail
By Lord Jaezred Vandree
INGREDIENTS:
• 2 ounces of dragonfruit-flavoured rum
• 2 ounces of raspberry liqueur
• 1 ounce of raspberry syrup
• Juice from half a lemon
• A dash of highly-alcoholic rum
• A dash of cinnamon
• Ice
DIRECTIONS:
1. Mix all ingredients (except for highly-alcoholic rum and cinnamon) together and shake.
2. Pour the mix into a glass and drizzle the highly-alcoholic rum on top.
3. Light the drink on fire. Toss cinnamon into the fire to get a sparkling flame.
AUTHOR’S NOTES:
Have you ever heard of dragonblood ooze? It is what happens when over-enthusiastic alchemists get their hands on some dragon blood and are a bit too carefree with their experiments on it. The blood congeals and gains a measure of sentience, thus becoming an ooze that longs to be a dragon again.
This recipe is inspired by an encounter with such a creature — the raspberry syrup and liqueur imitates the colour of dragonblood oozes fairly closely, and not to mention delicious with dragonfruit rum. It’s a simple, remarkably easy-to-make cocktail that is sure to impress a party.
One very particular copy of this recipe found its way, curiously, into a stack of reports meant for Queen Nicnevin. Under the Witch-Queen’s gaze, the true message written underneath the innocuous recipe with illusory script is revealed to her:
Inspired by this flaming dragon’s blood cocktail recipe.
By Lord Jaezred Vandree
INGREDIENTS:
• 2 ounces of dragonfruit-flavoured rum
• 2 ounces of raspberry liqueur
• 1 ounce of raspberry syrup
• Juice from half a lemon
• A dash of highly-alcoholic rum
• A dash of cinnamon
• Ice
DIRECTIONS:
1. Mix all ingredients (except for highly-alcoholic rum and cinnamon) together and shake.
2. Pour the mix into a glass and drizzle the highly-alcoholic rum on top.
3. Light the drink on fire. Toss cinnamon into the fire to get a sparkling flame.
AUTHOR’S NOTES:
Have you ever heard of dragonblood ooze? It is what happens when over-enthusiastic alchemists get their hands on some dragon blood and are a bit too carefree with their experiments on it. The blood congeals and gains a measure of sentience, thus becoming an ooze that longs to be a dragon again.
This recipe is inspired by an encounter with such a creature — the raspberry syrup and liqueur imitates the colour of dragonblood oozes fairly closely, and not to mention delicious with dragonfruit rum. It’s a simple, remarkably easy-to-make cocktail that is sure to impress a party.
One very particular copy of this recipe found its way, curiously, into a stack of reports meant for Queen Nicnevin. Under the Witch-Queen’s gaze, the true message written underneath the innocuous recipe with illusory script is revealed to her:
6 Tarsahk 1499
3 days prior to the writing of this report, Menace, Varga, an anonymous fairy, and myself gathered at the Olem-Murnelvar Trading Company (OMTC) headquarters in Daring Heights to answer an advertisement by Heret Velnnarul on behalf of the Amnian import-export company, of which he is a partner.
Back in mid-Uktar of 1498, Velnnarul and I were members of a party that discovered a connection between the Feydark and the Material Underdark during a mission given by Lord Emmantiensien of the Summer Court to investigate missing Perihelion denizens. (The missing fey were psychically lured into the Feydark by a fungi-infected elder brain to be grotesquely experimented on by its small, likewise fungi-infected colony; they were summarily dispatched and the survivors subsequently rescued.) This connection led to a much larger illithid colony in the Deepdark layer of the Material Underdark. Nevertheless, Velnnarul saw the profitable potential in this connection as a trade route.
Menace, himself an enterprising merchant of Port Ffirst (though with more criminal inclinations than Velnnarul and the OMTC), signed on for the job presumably to look for ways to exploit this connection as well; Varga joined simply because she wanted to raid and loot, as usual; the nameless fairy is a rather mysterious and eccentric character, refusing to sign any papers — including the contract for the job, which excluded her from receiving any pay — and never spoke a word to the rest of us, despite clearly understanding the Common tongue and also having the means of telepathic communication.
We made the perilous journey into the Feydark and the Underdark, enduring various dangers and skirting around the aforementioned illithid colony, which appears to be rather sophisticated from an outside glance. Velnnarul provided us with potions that shielded us from detection by the mind flayers, and we proceeded with relative safety until we happened upon a tunnel that Velnnarul deemed promising, if only it wasn’t almost entirely covered in dragonblood ooze.
Eight mind flayers, led by an ulitharid, then came out of an adjacent passage to investigate the ooze, taking notes, deliberating telepathically, and seeming concerned. Some of them had a distinctive reddish-brown skin colour. They were completely unaware of being watched thanks to the invisibility spell I casted on most of the party just before their arrival, though they later heard a faint jingling of metal from Varga. Menace used his passable acting skills to pretend to be the ooze, as if it had gained sapience, backed up by Varga and me. Amazingly, our collective efforts managed to fool the mind flayers.
From a brief conversation, we learned that the ooze was a product of illithid experimentation gone awry but they weren’t able to kill it themselves due to it being immune to psychic onslaughts. It seems even the self-described most intelligent beings are capable of making stupid mistakes. The ulitharid mused about hiring Dawnlands adventurers (a group of whom apparently recently robbed one of their trains) to do the job or, failing that, collapse the tunnel, before going away with its posse.
As we discussed our options, the ulitharid’s projected image suddenly appeared in the passage from which they left, with the elder brain of the colony sometimes speaking through it. They were impressed by our ruse and, figuring out that Velnnarul was there to seek trade opportunities, offered him a deal: destroy the ooze and he would be allowed to negotiate a protected trade route around the colony.
As the deal-making neared its end, the dragonblood ooze formed the gargantuan shape of a dragon and attacked us. The illithid watched us fight it from a distance (they were especially impressed by my transformation into an adult shadow dragon) and were intrigued to learn of our capabilities. I fear we may have shown them too much of our hand…
Once the ooze was dead, the elder brain, who calls itself Infernum, reappeared with its own image. It floats in a pool of lava instead of brine and its surface has a rough texture and the same reddish-brown colour as some of the mind flayers from earlier. Infernum is more pragmatic and passionate than the average of its kind. When I enquired about the breakaway colony who crossed into the Feywild, it said it was a sensitive topic and did not elaborate further.
Infernum pointed us to a safe route to the Upperdark, leading to an Aeschiran drow outpost a mile or two away. There was a drow merchant there who was interested in entering business with the OMTC and informed us that we were somewhere under the continent of Joran. Returning to Infernum afterwards, Velnnarul conferred with it in private and, through my familiar, I gathered that the two of them has come to an agreement. The OMTC will bring surface goods to the colony from its factory in K’ul Goran, and in exchange, the company hirelings can travel safely around the colony to and from Aeschira.
We returned to Daring Heights on the day this report was written. The mute fairy wandered away on the way from Portal Plaza to the OMTC, having left each of us with a valuable pearl with no explanation. Menace approached me afterwards to enlist my aid for some job in Port Ffirst. Whispers on the wind have been saying that he aspires to usurp the Lenoir Brothers, the kingpins of Port Ffirst, ever since he stepped foot in Kantas, and now they are proven right. I shall be attending his dinner party next week.
3 days prior to the writing of this report, Menace, Varga, an anonymous fairy, and myself gathered at the Olem-Murnelvar Trading Company (OMTC) headquarters in Daring Heights to answer an advertisement by Heret Velnnarul on behalf of the Amnian import-export company, of which he is a partner.
Back in mid-Uktar of 1498, Velnnarul and I were members of a party that discovered a connection between the Feydark and the Material Underdark during a mission given by Lord Emmantiensien of the Summer Court to investigate missing Perihelion denizens. (The missing fey were psychically lured into the Feydark by a fungi-infected elder brain to be grotesquely experimented on by its small, likewise fungi-infected colony; they were summarily dispatched and the survivors subsequently rescued.) This connection led to a much larger illithid colony in the Deepdark layer of the Material Underdark. Nevertheless, Velnnarul saw the profitable potential in this connection as a trade route.
Menace, himself an enterprising merchant of Port Ffirst (though with more criminal inclinations than Velnnarul and the OMTC), signed on for the job presumably to look for ways to exploit this connection as well; Varga joined simply because she wanted to raid and loot, as usual; the nameless fairy is a rather mysterious and eccentric character, refusing to sign any papers — including the contract for the job, which excluded her from receiving any pay — and never spoke a word to the rest of us, despite clearly understanding the Common tongue and also having the means of telepathic communication.
We made the perilous journey into the Feydark and the Underdark, enduring various dangers and skirting around the aforementioned illithid colony, which appears to be rather sophisticated from an outside glance. Velnnarul provided us with potions that shielded us from detection by the mind flayers, and we proceeded with relative safety until we happened upon a tunnel that Velnnarul deemed promising, if only it wasn’t almost entirely covered in dragonblood ooze.
Eight mind flayers, led by an ulitharid, then came out of an adjacent passage to investigate the ooze, taking notes, deliberating telepathically, and seeming concerned. Some of them had a distinctive reddish-brown skin colour. They were completely unaware of being watched thanks to the invisibility spell I casted on most of the party just before their arrival, though they later heard a faint jingling of metal from Varga. Menace used his passable acting skills to pretend to be the ooze, as if it had gained sapience, backed up by Varga and me. Amazingly, our collective efforts managed to fool the mind flayers.
From a brief conversation, we learned that the ooze was a product of illithid experimentation gone awry but they weren’t able to kill it themselves due to it being immune to psychic onslaughts. It seems even the self-described most intelligent beings are capable of making stupid mistakes. The ulitharid mused about hiring Dawnlands adventurers (a group of whom apparently recently robbed one of their trains) to do the job or, failing that, collapse the tunnel, before going away with its posse.
As we discussed our options, the ulitharid’s projected image suddenly appeared in the passage from which they left, with the elder brain of the colony sometimes speaking through it. They were impressed by our ruse and, figuring out that Velnnarul was there to seek trade opportunities, offered him a deal: destroy the ooze and he would be allowed to negotiate a protected trade route around the colony.
As the deal-making neared its end, the dragonblood ooze formed the gargantuan shape of a dragon and attacked us. The illithid watched us fight it from a distance (they were especially impressed by my transformation into an adult shadow dragon) and were intrigued to learn of our capabilities. I fear we may have shown them too much of our hand…
Once the ooze was dead, the elder brain, who calls itself Infernum, reappeared with its own image. It floats in a pool of lava instead of brine and its surface has a rough texture and the same reddish-brown colour as some of the mind flayers from earlier. Infernum is more pragmatic and passionate than the average of its kind. When I enquired about the breakaway colony who crossed into the Feywild, it said it was a sensitive topic and did not elaborate further.
Infernum pointed us to a safe route to the Upperdark, leading to an Aeschiran drow outpost a mile or two away. There was a drow merchant there who was interested in entering business with the OMTC and informed us that we were somewhere under the continent of Joran. Returning to Infernum afterwards, Velnnarul conferred with it in private and, through my familiar, I gathered that the two of them has come to an agreement. The OMTC will bring surface goods to the colony from its factory in K’ul Goran, and in exchange, the company hirelings can travel safely around the colony to and from Aeschira.
We returned to Daring Heights on the day this report was written. The mute fairy wandered away on the way from Portal Plaza to the OMTC, having left each of us with a valuable pearl with no explanation. Menace approached me afterwards to enlist my aid for some job in Port Ffirst. Whispers on the wind have been saying that he aspires to usurp the Lenoir Brothers, the kingpins of Port Ffirst, ever since he stepped foot in Kantas, and now they are proven right. I shall be attending his dinner party next week.
Inspired by this flaming dragon’s blood cocktail recipe.