Chapter 93: The Secret Alchemy Room

Jess followed the ridge toward the mine. When he reached the mining settlement, he spent a while observing it from higher ground.

They called this place a mining town, but it was hardly any bigger than the fishing village. It had only a few buildings and one main road leading to the mine.

After making sure there was nothing alive in the settlement, he went in and searched the rooms one by one, looking for anything useful.

"Stop following me everywhere," he told the imp at his feet. "Look around on your own. If you see anything unusual—metal, money, paper, anything we can use—bring it to me."

The imp shouted that he understood and darted away. In the sunlight, the little creature barely stood out among the weeds covering the ground.

After saying that, Jess felt like a scavenger. But what else could he do? If he couldn't find Mageroyal, he might as well take home anything useful he could sell, then use the money to buy ingredients for mana potions.

Since Ursula was willing to make the potions for free, buying just the ingredients shouldn't cost quite so much.

They searched all afternoon. The most valuable thing Jess and Saeno found was a battered pocket watch. Its hands no longer moved, and the glass face was cracked.

Jess didn't know what pocket watches cost in Stormwind. The people he'd seen carrying them were nobles, merchants, or scholars. They seemed like expensive things. Maybe this one could be repaired. He wiped off the dust and put it in his bag.

As the sky slowly darkened, Jess looked toward the lonely cave nearby.

"Should we go in and have a look?" he asked Saeno.

"Should we go in and have a look?" the imp repeated.

"I'm asking you!"

"I await my master's orders!"

Jess sighed. "All right. Turn invisible and scout the cave. If you find anything suspicious, useful, or dangerous, come back and tell me."

"Understood!"

The imp raced toward the cave mouth. Halfway there, he turned into a flash of arcane light and vanished.

Jess sat on the steps of a nearby doorway, watching the entrance while he waited. His mind drifted back to last night's fight.

That spell the naga had cast at the start... he still remembered it.

Anuniji, Durzala, Kana.

He hadn't memorized it the first time, but the second time had left a deep impression.

He remembered its effect, too. His whole body had become so weak he could barely stand. Even the simplest movements had been difficult.

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Was it a weakening spell? It hadn't sounded like Demonic. It sounded more like an elven language.

Had the naga developed their own version of the magic? It had definitely been shadow magic, since the Shadow Protection Potion had reduced its lingering effects.

Jess whispered the words again. "Anuniji, Durzala, Kana."

Nothing happened. Of course, he had no target, and he hadn't made any casting gestures.

He could copy the naga's pronunciation, but not the gestures. Naga had four arms, and she'd moved every hand while casting.

Jess repeated the spell silently. He had no paper or pen with him, so he'd have to keep it in his head.

Whatever the case, it was too important to forget. If he mastered the original incantation, he might have a way to deal with powerful fighters who could resist Fear.

As he kept rehearsing the words, the sky grew dark.

Why hadn't the imp returned? Had he died in there?

Jess hadn't memorized the summoning incantation for the imp. It was simply too long. He dug through his bag, found the slip of paper where he'd written down the summoning and strangling spells, and glanced back at the cave.

He took the stick off his back and gripped it firmly, preparing to try another summoning. He had no intention of going deep into that cave himself. He couldn't phase out. If something trapped him inside, he was dead.

Just as he was about to begin the incantation, he noticed a spark in the darkness of the cave.

The spark grew brighter.

It was Saeno!

The imp came bouncing out, dragging a ragged burlap sack behind him.

"Master! Master! Help!"

"Help?!"

Jess ran over, grabbed the imp, and took the torn sack. Then he heard frantic howling from inside the cave.

He knew those voices all too well.

Gnolls!

He stuffed the imp into his warlock bag and ran. A moment later, flames flickered inside the cave, and a gnoll burst out with its whole body on fire.

"Don't run... little thing!"

The gnoll shouted in heavily accented Common. Jess sprinted away as fast as he could.

Those gnolls' short legs couldn't match a laborer who'd spent so much time practicing long-distance running in Stormwind. Even carrying several bags, he was faster than they were, and soon he opened a lead.

The gnolls weren't good runners, but they were stubborn. They chased him for more than ten minutes. By the time he finally lost them, Jess was almost doubled over with a stitch in his side.

He had no idea where he'd ended up. He found a rock, lay down, and set his bags beside him. Only then did the imp poke his head out.

"What... did you take?" Jess asked.

"See for yourself!" The imp jumped excitedly out of the bag. "Master will be very pleased!"

Jess opened the torn sack.

Inside was a huge bundle of dried herbs!

Some were plants he didn't recognize. Beneath them lay several bunches of Mageroyal, almost identical to the potted plant Furlbrow's wife had been growing.

No wonder everyone said there were herbs all around here, yet he couldn't find a single one. The gnolls hiding in the mine had gathered them all.

But if gnolls were living in that mine, why had Furlbrow said he'd never seen any around here?

"How many gnolls were inside?" Jess asked the imp. "Did you search carefully?"

"At least a dozen! They're all hiding deep inside. They have an alchemy room in there, Master!" Saeno added. "A very crude alchemy room! The gnolls keep boiling potions. And there are lots and lots of dead murlocs!"

Dead murlocs?

Before Jess could think it over, the excited imp continued.

"Several gnolls are cooking with several pots! It looked like they could hardly breathe in there! I sneaked into the room where they store the herbs, grabbed a light bag, and ran! You have no idea how much they have! It's all piled together... it smells like it's gone rotten!"

The ragged sack really did have a faint smell like urine. It was disgusting. Once Jess opened it, the stink inside was much worse than the smell outside.

But it wasn't the gnolls' filth. The smell came from one of the herbs.

Jess had a vague feeling the gnolls were secretly making something in that cave. That would explain why they never went out or troubled the nearby farms. They didn't want to attract attention from Sentinel Hill or even Westbrook Garrison.

And those bodies... were they testing some kind of poison? Were the gnolls at war with the murlocs, or did they have another plan?

Jess certainly couldn't destroy the nest by himself. He needed to find someone to identify the herbs in this sack as soon as possible and figure out what potions they could be used to make.