Puella Ludio Homura Magica (PMMM/Roguelike-Inspired)

[Quantumboost]

I'm not sure whether you intend to use the aspect of [CRAFT (POTIONS)] that allows you to get automatic critical successes in this brewing; as far as Homura knows, at least, using that aspect has never gained her a single [BLESSED] potion before. (You also don't show any intent to improve the potions' taste, though these may be for Homura's own use and not Mami's.)

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At least in the post he's basing that off, that's an experimentation step rather than a 'manufacturing' step. It's an attempt to check whether Homura can intentionally add both the automatic critical and the BLESSED condition by doubling up on things (first one is applying the time doubling and also the MP cost, second is applying the time doubling twice). As mentioned here.

If it works, great. If not... well, that's a result too, and we'd know for certain that we need the roll or some other approach to make them BLESSED.

The additional potions and distilling is to verify that we can use whatever result is to try and make a potion that gives MP EFFICIENCY totals that reduce MP costs by 4, for more MP-efficient training and fights.


@Random Tale: I'm not sure what would be a good thing to distill in, but we might be able to alter the flavor of the potions by distilling them with FOOD items. The best I can think of is mixing in some baked good, but maybe others have ideas there.

Alternatively, some sort of reflavoring wand.

 

[Random Tale]

Just a few notes!

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Listening and responding.

If there are specific enchantments you're hoping for (e.g. [IMPROVED RANGE], [IMPROVED EFFECT], etc.), it may be a good idea for you to note them down here. Also, I'm curious about what you mean by "passively magical", as in: are you expecting the item to constantly exert a magical effect (e.g. attracting bugs) without consuming MP beyond the initial summoning cost?

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Passively Magical: Constantly exerting a magical effect without consuming MP beyond the initial summoning cost. I don't want us to have to keep spending MP to maintain certain effects while we're out and far away from the location it is supposed to guard over. If at all possible, I'd like the fan and bug zapper to use electricity instead of mana in order to fulfill their functions.

I am tempted to try to add on another enchantment beyond the PASSIVELY MAGICAL enchantment on the fan, but A) the closest I can come up with is OF PURIFICATION, but I'm not sure how that would work, and ANTI-MAGIC, which would destroy the mana fumes, but risk problems with us, and B) too many enchantments ups the cost too much.

You may want to decide on whether you are going to summon, build, or buy this.

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Hmmm... that's what I get for just taking an overall suggestion and making a few modifications. I'll probably have to drop the Condenser completely, unless someone can figure out how it works for me.

I'm not sure whether you intend to use the aspect of [CRAFT (POTIONS)] that allows you to get automatic critical successes in this brewing; as far as Homura knows, at least, using that aspect has never gained her a single [BLESSED] potion before. (You also don't show any intent to improve the potions' taste, though these may be for Homura's own use and not Mami's.)

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Experimentation! As Quantumboost says:

At least in the post he's basing that off, that's an experimentation step rather than a 'manufacturing' step. It's an attempt to check whether Homura can intentionally add both the automatic critical and the BLESSED condition by doubling up on things (first one is applying the time doubling and also the MP cost, second is applying the time doubling twice). As mentioned here.

If it works, great. If not... well, that's a result too, and we'd know for certain that we need the roll or some other approach to make them BLESSED.

The additional potions and distilling is to verify that we can use whatever result is to try and make a potion that gives MP EFFICIENCY totals that reduce MP costs by 4, for more MP-efficient training and fights.

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Eh, don't usually construct planning votes, but I might as well give it a shot. Or at least get a basic framework up. I'll probably end up forgetting something, so feel free to bash this into better shape, or pinch anything you might like for inclusion in a better plan.

[] Pop a few windows open to air the place out before eating, showering, etc.
[] Price check for large volumes of sugar and cooking oil, start with 10kg/liter containers and work from there.

Unfortunately, I've forgotten the price scaling for mundane items, but as discussed we should be able to get large quantities of what we need for fairly cheap; the only issue is, perhaps summoning too much at once as dealing with large containers can be a pain.

[] Once your mundane material needs are taken care of; turn on the news, equip your usual crafting gear, and get to work making mana potions.
-[] Instead of the normal process, however, you will initially make two small alterations; the first is that you will not place the cauldron over heat, and the second is that you will not grind up the [SILVER DRAGON SCALE]. Hopefully this will correct that pesky issue with the blue smoke.
--[] If skipping those two steps causes the crafting action to somehow fail, return to your normal process.

[] Once you've brewed -and drank- enough potions to clear off your corruption, try summoning "an item that will allow you to change the flavor of a target item to a different flavor of your choice". If you get something that doesn't have a prohibitive cost attached, and works the way you want it to after checking it with an [IDENTIFY], confirm the summon and try it out after making another mana potion.
-[] Afterwards, get to work on the potions you promised Mami.

[] If lunchtime rolls around, take a break and grab something to eat.
While on break
-[] Try summoning "Zorkmid Shop menu"
-[] Look out a window and use [IDENTIFY] on a bird to see if it has the [FLY] skill, and [IDENTIFY] it to see the pre-reqs if present. Failing that, pull out your compass and use it to locate another GOTZ and pick it up from there.
-[] Check in with your friends, assuming they're on lunch break as well. Progress report, small talk, whatever they feel like talking about.
-[] Watch some TV and get some [EXUDE MANA] practice in.
-[] Get back to work after an hour or so from the start of the break

[] Don't forget to clean up afterwards.

Optional
[] Try summoning a "potion to fully restore mana", just to see if it exists. Alternately -or additionally- "A potion that restores considerably more mana than a regular mana potion"; you might just get offered a regular mana potion with a bunch of added effects, but it could be worth a try.

[] Consider trying a [POTION OF FULL HEALING] to see if it will fix your [WEAK HEART] and [WEAK EYES] conditions, though check to see if summoning potions to fix those directly offer that potion, or an alternative with fewer drawbacks first.

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A couple of good ideas, here. The break section is much more useful than I had prepared myself, but I would be wary of forcing Homura to do too much during her break; she has been working Gamer-style all morning, and needs some instance of human normalcy to prevent gaining a witch-like mentality while still a human.

But the potion to restore body defeciencies could be really useful, allowing Homura to be more effective. I'll add some potential potions to try to fix those problems without bad side effects to the list.

@Random Tale: I'm not sure what would be a good thing to distill in, but we might be able to alter the flavor of the potions by distilling them with FOOD items. The best I can think of is mixing in some baked good, but maybe others have ideas there.

Alternatively, some sort of reflavoring wand.

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*Head-slap* I knew I was forgetting something.

Today, I'm having Homura focus on restocking on Mana Potions, since we ran out last night. It doesn't matter what they taste, as long as we have them.

However, working on the taste of the potions is an admirable goal. Yet, we don't have anything to improve the taste with. All I can see in our inventory that might be useful in that regard is a pear and sake (which would produce problems of its own). A run to the store may be necessary.

I'll try to produce a more comprehensive plan shortly.

 

[Quantumboost]

The MP costs for summoning food items shouldn't be too prohibitive, if it comes to that. It's mostly just a matter of choosing what to try IMO.

A simple vapor condenser shouldn't be too large, so I don't thiiiink it'd cost near as much as the FUME HOOD?

@pantherasapiens, how much would something like that run Homura in terms of MP to summon?

 

[Rask]

I think price-checking for a [POTION OF FULL MANA] should be done before most of the brewing. It takes only a few seconds and could render all of the complicated brewing stuff superfluous if it is affordable (and exists).

 

[pantherasapiens]

@pantherasapiens, how much would something like that run Homura in terms of MP to summon?

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Googling for air-to-liquid condensers keeps bringing me images for industrial condensers, air-conditioners, and/or home distillery sites. The smallest/ cheapest unit I'm seeing of those (i.e. home air-conditioners) aren't too big, though also aren't particularly energy-efficient (not that Homura really cares about Aunt Gina's electricity bill!), so I'm pegging one of those at about 6 MP. Of course, those also don't have the filtration/ purification systems you would want for something you'd like to actually consume later. In this case, I'd appreciate details on what you're thinking of linking up to the fume hood, as size/ complexity are also factors in cost.

Passively Magical: Constantly exerting a magical effect without consuming MP beyond the initial summoning cost.

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You have some of that kind of thing already - i.e. your gear of, for example, [SOOTHING] or [CRAFT (POTIONS)]. That's the kind of thing you might expect from an item that costs no MP beyond summoning, but it may not be as effective as you'd like it to be - e.g. a, say, [BUG ZAPPER OF INSECT ATTRACTION], if you didn't want to give it a flow of MP, would most likely have a simple +1 or +2 to attract insects (+2 to +4 with an [IMPROVED EFFECT]?), rather than actively pulling those insects towards it within its range of effect. (Which also depends on the kind of zapper it is - I know the ones using UV lights are most common, but others also use pads that smell of salted fish &c.)

(A side note that bug zappers, at least as far as I've seen, tend to attract a fairly specific range of things rather than all insects - primarily small ones like mosquitoes, flies, or young geckos, rather than - say - cockroaches, mutant rats, or ROACHZOR KING OF EWGROS. Though of course this is anecdotal and bug zappers in other countries - Australia? - may be a lot different.)

 

[Random Tale]

[X] Monday, March 22, Loop 3: Random's Plan (Version 2)

Start of day:
[] Get up and open a window, before going for a shower.
[] Eat breakfast.
[] Start cleaning the apartment. Scrub floors, counters, cabnets, even the ceiling if need-be. Dispose of trash. Focus mainly on the brewing area.

Mana Recovery:
[] Brew potions to get back up to near full MP.
-[] Equip/prepare all items OF CRAFT (POTIONS) OF IMPROVED EFFECT and set 20 EMPTY BOTTLE within easy reach.
-[] Turn on a fan to make sure the air circulates to get outside the apartment.
-[] Brew 36 POTION OF MANA OF IMPROVED EFFECT, drinking each as soon as it's ready. Summon dragon scales as you go.
--[] Clean work area once done.

Dragon Scales cost 4 MP per scale. Each POTION OF MANA restores 10 MP. OF IMPROVED EFFECT doubles effects, so a POTION OF MANA OF IMPROVED EFFECT restores 20 MP. This results in a net gain of 16 MP per potion. Current Corruption is 238, and max Mana is 350. Combined, the number to reach for is 588. 588 divided by 14 is 36.75, so we need 36 Potions of Mana in order to reach near full.

Summon Tools:
[] Summon a Fume Hood.
[] Summon a [JAR OF ENDLESS SUGAR].
[] Summon a [DECANTER OF ENDLESS COOKING OIL].

I removed the bug zapper and fan for now; the Fume Hood, the Jar, and the Decanter will put us into corruption debt, and I want us to be in the positive MP ratings before we try to summon the other two items.

New Potion Setup:
[] Set up the fume hood in your kitchen.
-[] Sustain MAGICAL STRENGTH x3 when needed to position and lift the heavy equipment.
[] Clean your work area and equipment and set up to brew potions.
-[] Place empty bottles on one side of the work area in neat rows.
-[] Equip all CRAFT (POTIONS) equipment and put away non-potionmaking-related items.
-[] Make sure your new [JAR OF ENDLESS SUGAR] and [DECANTER OF ENDLESS COOKING OIL] are within easy reach; when you run out of Sugar and Cooking Oil from your inventory, start using the Jar and Decanter to summon what you need.
-[] From now on, when doing extended potioncrafting sessions at home, do so in the fume hood with this setup unless specified otherwise or in a hurry.

Mana Potion Spree!:
[] Set timer on phone: 3 hours.
[] Spend the next 3 hours brewing POTION OF MANA OF IMPROVED EFFECT under the fume hood.
-[] Summon SILVER DRAGON SCALE 10 at a time.
-[] For every 5 potions made, distill them into a DISTILLED MANA and put it in your inventory.
-[] If MP drops into Corruption, drink a DISTILLED MANA.
[] After the timer goes off, clean your work area and break for lunch. DO NOT put your equipment away yet.
-[] Look out a window and use [IDENTIFY] on a bird to see if it has the [FLY] skill, and [IDENTIFY] it to see the pre-reqs if present. Failing that, pull out your compass and use it to locate another GOTZ and pick it up from there.
-[] Use your compass to check the status and locations of the Nishigawa Happy Fairies. If any show up to be nearby, talking about your friends or Masuko Sachi or you, or planning anything about them, immediately go to vote.
-[] Check in with your friends, assuming they're on lunch break as well. Progress report, small talk, whatever they feel like talking about.
[] Browse websites for local news. Headlines, and whatever catches your eye. Spend no more than an hour on this.
[] Plan to give Mami the 11x DISTILLED MANA you owe her the next time you see her.

Give her a break in the brewing for a bite to eat and relax a little. By this point, it should be sometime after noon.

I've also added a line to check the Nishigawa Happy Fairies, just to be on the safe side. If they turn out to be plotting against us, well, then we can act.

Resume Potion Brewing:
[] Set timer on phone: 1 hour.
[] Spend the next hour brewing POTION OF MANA OF IMPROVED EFFECT under the fume hood.
-[] Summon SILVER DRAGON SCALE 10 at a time.
-[] For every 5 potions made, distill them into a DISTILLED MANA and put it in your inventory.
-[] If MP drops into Corruption, drink a DISTILLED MANA.
[] After the timer goes off, drink DISTILLED MANA and POTION OF MANA OF IMPROVED EFFECT to bring your MP close to full (but do NOT drink more than your MP in potions (don't waste Potions)).

Four hours suggested, so four hours of brewing potions we go. It's just split up with a break in the middle. Then, we fill our MP as much as we can without wasting any potions.

Now... curiousity...

[] IDENTIFY the contents of the punch bowl.
-[] If it's equivalent to POTION OF MANA, distill as much as you can without incurring additonal MP cost.
-[] If it's not, pause here and hold further experiments or practice in abeyance.

And now... what we've all been waiting for... SCIENCE!!!

[] Summon 12 SILVER DRAGON SCALE and test how you can make BLESSED POTION OF MANA
-[] Try to spend 1 minute and 5 MP making a BLESSED POTION OF MANA OF IMPROVED EFFECT
-[] If that fails, try to spend 2 minutes making a BLESSED POTION OF MANA OF IMPROVED EFFECT.
-[] If either worked, use the leftover scales to create BLESSED POTION OF MANA OF IMPROVED EFFECT. Otherwise, use them to craft POTION OF MANA; keep track of which ones are BLESSED and which have a critical effect. Distill them together in batches of 4, ensuring at least one IMPROVED EFFECT potion is present in each distillation batch. Put leftover potions in the Inventory.
--[] Nickname any potion that has an MP EFFICIENCY reduction of 4 MP "PUELLA'S EFFICIENCY".

[] Summon a POTION OF FULL HEALING and put it in a recipe slot.

[] Write "Zorkmids Shop" on your Blank Scroll. If it succeeds, record the MP cost in the DIARY.
[] Write "Zorkmid Shop Menu". If it succeeds, record the MP cost in the DIARY.
[] Write "Ritual to access the Zorkmids Shop". If it succeeds, record the MP cost in the DIARY.
[] Write "Item to access the Zorkmids Shop". If it succeeds, record the MP cost in the DIARY.

[] Summon various types of dragon scale and attempt to substitute them into the POTION OF MANA recipe. IDENTIFY the scale and any successful potions, and make note of the MP costs to summon if they differ from SILVER DRAGON SCALE.
-[] GOLD DRAGON SCALE
-[] YELLOW DRAGON SCALE
-[] GRAY DRAGON SCALE
-[] BLUE DRAGON SCALE
-[] BLACK DRAGON SCALE
-[] GREEN DRAGON SCALE

[] Try to summon a full MP restoration potion, and IDENTIFY it (either the item or its popup). If it succeeds and doesn't dip into Corruption, put it in a potion slot to get the recipe; otherwise record the summoning cost.
[] Summon a SILVER DRAGON SCALE GAUNTLET if the cost is <60 MP and harvest scales from it. Summon the reagents for a RITUAL OF MAGICAL MENDING and attempt to cast it on the damaged gauntlet.
[] Attempt to summon a magnet that attracts 'black things'. Attempt to use it on your soul gem's Grief if successful.

There's likely going to be a heavy cost of the Full MP potion, and its likely more expensive than we're willing to pay. If such a potion exists, getting it or even drinking it may inflict some significant harm on the drinker, since MP and Corruption are tied together, and completely wiping corruption while restoring MP without other side effects would be a game-breaker for Puella Magi. No more Grief Seeds needed.

And now, more summoning. I've clearified the Bug Zapper, and tossed in a few more items that might be interesting or useful, and make some amount of in-character sense. Still no idea of what to put for the fan.

[] Summon a [BUG ZAPPER OF INSECT ATTRACTION] and plug it in near the kitchen, if feasible (if it isn't, note the cost and make plans to summon it later).
[] Summon a passively magical fan to purify the air and plug it in near the kitchen, if feasible (if it isn't, note the cost and make plans to summon it later).
[] Summon a [GOURD OF ENDLESS SAKE], if feasible (if it isn't, note the cost and make plans to summon it later). If you're carrying around a bottle of Sake for whatever reason, might as well have an infinite supply of it. You'll probably find some use for it eventually, even if you currently have no idea what that might be right now (and you certainly have no plans to drink it yourself).
[] Summon a [BOTTLE OF ENDLESS SPORTS DRINK], if feasible (if it isn't, note the cost and make plans to summon it later). You tend to go through a lot of this, so you might as well try to have an infinite supply of it.
[] Summon a [DECANTER OF ENDLESS WATER], if feasible. Might as well have the basics.
[] Summon a simple vapor condenser. It will probably be useful in future potion brewing.
[] Summon a [MITAKIHARA MIDDLE SCHOOL GIRL'S UNIFORM OF STEALTH]. You'll be going to school in the next couple days, and it would not do well for you to attract attention for whatever reason, let alone not having any uniform. You're a potionmistress, not a fighter!
[] Try to summon a potion that restores a weak heart to perfect condition, and try to summon another potion that restores weak eyes to perfect condition. Make sure that you identify the potions so that you know exactly what they are before you consider drinking them.
[] Summon a book on gun care. One of your weapons is jammed, and it may be a good idea to fix it before you go hunting for familiars.

And... shopping!

[] Clean your workplace, putting away all tools and equipment into your inventory.
[] Drink necessary mana potions to make sure your MP is high and your corruption is empty.
[] Summon a stack of Japanese Yen. Best have it on hand before you head out, since you don't want to have to summon it in public.
[] Go to the grocery store. Buy the following:
-[] 10 Instances of Strawberries.
-[] 10 Instances of Blueberries.
-[] 10 Instances of Bananas.
-[] 10 Instances of Apples.
-[] 9 Instances of Pears.
--[] You're planning on making a few fruit salads, if anyone asks. In reality, you're planning on experimenting with the fruits in potions in the future.
-[] A big bag of sugar (hopefully containing a lot of units of sugar, perhaps 50?).
--[] If someone asks, you tried baking cookies, but wasted too much surgar trying to get the recipie right; you're planning on trying simple next time. In reality, this saves you some mana in negating the need to summon sugar for a bit.
-[] A couple bottles of cooking oil (hopefully containing a lot of units of cooking oil, perhaps 50?).
--[] If someone asks, you accidentally spilled your last bottle yesterday, and need to replace it. In reality, this also saves you some mana in negating the need to summon oil for a bit.
-[] 20 empty plastic bottles.
--[] If someone asks, refuge in audacity: as a potionmistress-in-training, you can never have enough empty bottles, and plastic is much more sturdy (less likely to break in stressful situations) than glass.
---[] If someone requests a potion for some reason (whether in jest or serious), listen to their request and see if you can get a quest to get them that potion.
-[] Whatever food catches your eye, since you've got to eat as well.

[] Go home with your purchases.
[] Put away food in fridge that you are planning to eat in coming days. If there's nothing to eat in the house, someone's going to shoot you some odd looks.
[] Head to the park, offering to meet Mami there with the promised potions if she is free.
[] In an isolated corner of the park, peform Rituals of Mending on [BURNING ASSAULT RIFLE OF INFINITE AMMO], [MAGICAL PISTOL], and [MAGICAL SCISSORS]. Take care of your equipment, and it will take care of you.
[] If Mami arrives, give her the potions you owe her, and inquire about a safe space in the city for you to work on potions away from home.

 

[LostDeviljho]

-[] YELLOW DRAGON SCALE
-[] GRAY DRAGON SCALE

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Are these dragon colors in nethack? 'Cause I've never heard of them elsewhere.

 

[Rask]

Start of day:
[] Get up and open a window, before going for a shower.
[] Eat breakfast.
[] Start cleaning the apartment. Scrub floors, counters, cabnets, even the ceiling if need-be. Dispose of trash. Focus mainly on the brewing area.

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Fairly uncontroversial. Maybe RING OF NOT GROSS instead of shower?

Mana Recovery:

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[] Try to summon a full MP restoration potion, and IDENTIFY it (either the item or its popup). If it succeeds and doesn't dip into Corruption, put it in a potion slot to get the recipe; otherwise record the summoning cost.
[] - if summoning it would leave Homura with a safe margin of 50+ MP1 or MP2, do so. Otherwise, proceed with normal brewing.
[] --if summoned, identify, put into recipe slot, drink

Doing this here would save time.
Chances are that a potion of full mana will cost more mana to summon than both of Homura's pools combined. After all, summoning normal mana potions creates a net loss of mana.

[] Summon a [JAR OF ENDLESS SUGAR].
[] Summon a [DECANTER OF ENDLESS COOKING OIL].

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Before doing that, price check bulk containers of sugar and oil. 50lb bags, gallon bottles, that kind of thing. Chances are that 50lb of sugar for 6MP is way more efficient than 1MP per dose from the endless jar.

New Potion Setup:
[] Set up the fume hood in your kitchen.

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It's too big to fit into any other room than the living room, according to the GM.

And now... what we've all been waiting for... SCIENCE!!!

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At this point, summon half or a quarter dose of [POTION OF FULL MANA] if we couldn't afford a full one before. We still want the recipe.
Also, write [GRIEF SEED SUBSTITUTE] on the scroll to see if anything happens.

 

[Godwinson]

I was planning on summoning a [BOTTLE OF FLAVORING] or somesuch, to have the container change the flavor of the potion, since adding random ingredients to it sounds like a good way to find ourselves exploding.

Furthermore, awareness of time is a big issue. A lot of plans wind up running over on time allowed. We've got 0800 to 1430 to work with, people, and part of that needs to be spending an hour or so brewing enough potion of mana for Mami. Furthermore, we also need to make sure we're not going to run out of potion of mana in the near future ourselves. We keep running out at the worst possible times.

All of the experimentation can wait. Today ought to be spent on better establishing ourselves for that later. We should summon the things to make it so we don't need to go shopping for ingredients, and then just power along making potions. Specifically, brew sets of eight potions of mana without auto-criticals going, so that way they'll be [BLESSED], then [DISTILL] them all into a single potion, so that way we can reduce the cost of the mana-powered auto-critical to one point. We'll need to take about 4-5 minutes to brew the [BLESSED POTION OF MANA], which lasts for an hour. In that hour, we'll be able to brew one auto-crit potion of mana every 30 seconds with a total cost of 7 mana and a total profit of 13 mana. The bits of downtime ought to be spend on improving skills that we know act as gating mechanism for useful skills.

[X] Go through normal morning routine. Open up a couple of windows to let the apartment air out.
[X] While eating breakfast, use your [SMARTPHONE OF TELEPATHY] to check what the weather was in Mitakihara since the 16th, writing the results in your [DIARY]. Last night came frightfully close to causing another reset, and you keep forgetting what the weather was like on a given day. While you hope you won't need it, you should still plan for the worst.
[X] The apartment still is a bit of a mess. Set an alarm for 9:55 AM, and clean it up until your alarm goes off.
[X] Check to see the price and effectiveness of a [POTION OF FULL MANA]. If it would somehow allow recovery of more magic than was expended to summon it, and the cost to summon wouln't deplete your magic, then end the vote here.
[X] Afterwards, summon a pair of simple box-fans that would fit snugly in the two windows best placed to air out the kitchen, with one facing to draw air into the apartment and another facing to draw air out of the apartment.
[X] Once that's done, bring out your potion brewing gear. Look to summon a [JAR OF INFINITE SUGAR] and a [BOTTLE OF INFINITE COOKING OIL]. If they're too expensive to safely summon with your current Corruption levels, then brew enough potions to offset that, then summon them.
[X] Set an alarm for half an hour before school lets out, then begin brewing.
[X] A brewing cycle is defined as brewing eight [POTION OF MANA] without auto-success or auto-critical, so that they will be [BLESSED POTION OF MANA], [DISTILLING] them into a single potion that's then consumed, to gain [MP EFFICIENCY x8]. Following that, brew [POTION OF MANA] spending 1 MP to ensure an automatic critical success, drinking the produced potions as-needed to keep Corruption at zero. [DISTILLING] every five potions into a [DISTILLED MAGIC]. After the [MP EFFICIENCY] expires, take a couple minutes to stretch out, get some water, go to the bathroom, whatever.
[X] Each brewing cycle is thus approximately 70 minutes. Therefore, we ought to have time for three complete brewing cycles, with each cycle producing at least 90 [POTION OF MANA OF IMPROVED EFFECT], though not more than 120. 35% of the potions brewed will need to be consumed in order to pay for the summoning costs involved, with a total productivity of between 174 to 234 [POTION OF MANA OF IMPROVED EFFECT] for the total brewing period. Of these, 50 are earmarked for Mami, while another ~28 are earmarked for immediate consumption to bring Homura's MP up to approaching maximum.
[X] For the potions intended for Mami, [DISTILL] them again into [TWICE-DISTILLED MAGIC], so that she would only have to drink two potions. Look to summon 2x [BOTTLE OF FLAVORING], to alter the flavor of the contents, for them to be stored in.
[X] Clean up the kitchen and put your potioneering gear away. Spend any remaining time between finishing that and needing to leave to meet up with the others practicing your [EXUDE MANA].
[X] When it's time to go meet up with the others, turn off the fans, put them on the floor, and close the windows, then leave to go meet up with the others.

 

[Rask]

All of the experimentation can wait. Today ought to be spent on better establishing ourselves for that later.

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I disagree on this point. Price-checking on a [POTION OF FULL MANA] would only cost a few seconds in case of failure and save hours of brewing in case of a favorable result.

 

[........]

Like I said earlier, I'd honestly just drop the fume hood entirely for the time being; we're not going into chemistry yet, and it's a rather large investment just to deal with the smoke when there are other, far less costly ways of doing so. There's also the issue that you'd either have to unpack and reinstall it every time you wanted to use it or risk losing out on that 400 MP if something forces a reset if you just leave it up.

It also occurs to me that we could totally pinch the [SAFE] prefix for the full healing potion to do away with the CON loss, though that would increase the price of an already expensive potion substantially.


Also: It would only take a few seconds to check if summoning massive amounts of sugar/oil are more economically efficient than summoning the infinite-use items, and trying the alternate brewing method would only take 30 seconds at most.

I'm also not sure we can turn the auto-successes off unless we raise the DC high enough so that it doesn't happen, but that's easily done by swapping out a couple pieces of [CRAFT]-suffix equipment with [GUIDANCE]-suffix equipment, which we already have on hand. Getting skill-ups again is nice, at least.

 

[Godwinson]

I disagree on this point. Price-checking on a [POTION OF FULL MANA] would only cost a few seconds in case of failure and save hours of brewing in case of a favorable result.

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It's irrelevant, as pantherasapiens made it clear before that summoning sources of magic will always cost more than what would be gained from it. But fine, thrown in.

 

[Stahor]

Random idea: can we try distilling basic Potion of mana with Caffeine potion?

 

[Rask]

It's irrelevant, as pantherasapiens made it clear before that summoning sources of magic will always cost more than what would be gained from it. But fine, thrown in.

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Going by that logic, it's not possible to put a price on summoning the full mana potion, since the amount restored varies based on who drinks it. Mami would get much more out of it than Homura, for example. What I expect is that it either doesn't exist or produces a potion that restores [Homura's max mana pool] amount of magic. The latter possibility would still result in much less total brewing time, provided we can get the recipe. Regardless of the outcome, the cost of the attempt (a few seconds of writing) is negligible when compared to the potential usefulness of such a potion.

Random idea: can we try distilling basic Potion of mana with Caffeine potion?

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I see no reason why it wouldn't work, but I also see no good reason to combine those two effects in one potion.

SAFE keyword + caffeine potion may be worth investigating, though.

 

[pantherasapiens]

A brewing cycle is defined as brewing eight [POTION OF MANA] without auto-success or auto-critical, so that they will be [BLESSED POTION OF MANA], [DISTILLING] them into a single potion that's then consumed, to gain [MP EFFICIENCY x8].

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[DISTILL] them again into [TWICE-DISTILLED MAGIC]

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Distilling 8 items at once or distilling already-distilled items incurs an MP cost, just for reminders.

If it would somehow allow recovery of more magic than was expended to summon it

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AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA one moment I'm malevolent beyond all measure and the next I get asked for this just wow XD

[BOTTLE OF FLAVORING]

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You may want to clarify if there's a specific flavour you'd like, or if you're going for a kind of Every Flavoured Bean Potion effect here.

 

[Rask]

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA one moment I'm malevolent beyond all measure and the next I get asked for this just wow XD.

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To be fair, that's exactly what summoning a silver dragon scale does. Sure, there's a process involved, but when stripped to the bare essentials it boils down to "spend mana + time, get more mana".

This process also produces long cooking recipes, disguised as votes, as its waste product

 

[Godwinson]

Distilling 8 items at once or distilling already-distilled items incurs an MP cost, just for reminders.

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA one moment I'm malevolent beyond all measure and the next I get asked for this just wow XD

You may want to clarify if there's a specific flavour you'd like, or if you're going for a kind of Every Flavoured Bean Potion effect here.

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I was aware of the MP cost for the distillation, and it's a rounding error for the amount that's going to be distilled.

Yes, I'm well aware that what they're asking is silly as fuck, I was pointing that out.

The idea was that the user could specify what they wanted it to taste like, but if that would be too annoying, then "water" would work -- make it flavorless.

 

[Godwinson]

To be fair, that's exactly what summoning a silver dragon scale does. Sure, there's a process involved, but when stripped to the bare essentials it boils down to "spend mana + time, get more mana".

This process also produces long cooking recipes, disguised as votes, as its waste product

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Yes, it also requires all of the gear we've got, and the skill we've got. You're looking at the end product of most of the effort of the quest thus far, as opposed to requiring nothing more than the [BLANK SCROLL AND MAGIC MARKER] and a few seconds.

 

[pantherasapiens]

The idea was that the user could specify what they wanted it to taste like, but if that would be too annoying, then "water" would work -- make it flavorless.

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Right, gotcha. Personally, I'm leaning towards the interpretation that doesn't make every use of that item into a:

[ ] Put 40x [POTION] into [BOTTLE OF FLAVOURING].
- [ ] 5x chocolate.
- [ ] 5x vanilla.
- [ ] 5x grass.
- [ ] 5x earthworm...

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kind of horrible unwieldy thing. So either random flavours or a fixed flavour.

To be fair, that's exactly what summoning a silver dragon scale does. Sure, there's a process involved, but when stripped to the bare essentials it boils down to "spend mana + time, get more mana".

This process also produces long cooking recipes, disguised as votes, as its waste product

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As well as the other byproducts, which Homura doesn't know yet. ;D H̸̷͚̖͛̅̉ͣ̔͂̚͟A̢̮̖̎ͣͅI̜̩̪͈̠͂̔̆̏̈́L̛͐͑̃̌́͐̋̔̍͏̝͇̪̖ ͖̦̥̭̟̼̖̤̻̃̋̚͘R͙̟̼̓̄͗ͤ̽͟͠Ö̲̼̲̗̱́ͭͧͭ̈́̈̿ͨ͂͜A̗͕̳͍͙͇ͩͤ͑̔ͦ̏͑̀̚͟͞Ċ̨̪̺ͭ̿̍H̡̭̼ͬ͂̂͘G̡̮̟ͩ̌ͨͤ͊̿̎ͅƠ̪̤̩̍̌ͣ͐̇ͫ̀̚R̻ͦ̎ͪ̎

 

[Godwinson]

Right, gotcha. Personally, I'm leaning towards the interpretation that doesn't make every use of that item into a:

kind of horrible unwieldy thing. So either random flavours or a fixed flavour.


As well as the other byproducts, which Homura doesn't know yet. ;D H̸̷͚̖͛̅̉ͣ̔͂̚͟A̢̮̖̎ͣͅI̜̩̪͈̠͂̔̆̏̈́L̛͐͑̃̌́͐̋̔̍͏̝͇̪̖ ͖̦̥̭̟̼̖̤̻̃̋̚͘R͙̟̼̓̄͗ͤ̽͟͠Ö̲̼̲̗̱́ͭͧͭ̈́̈̿ͨ͂͜A̗͕̳͍͙͇ͩͤ͑̔ͦ̏͑̀̚͟͞Ċ̨̪̺ͭ̿̍H̡̭̼ͬ͂̂͘G̡̮̟ͩ̌ͨͤ͊̿̎ͅƠ̪̤̩̍̌ͣ͐̇ͫ̀̚R̻ͦ̎ͪ̎

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Then yeah, if it's a static flavor, make them set to "Water". It's the most inoffensive flavor we have -- none.

 

[boonerunner]

Passively Magical: Constantly exerting a magical effect without consuming MP beyond the initial summoning cost. I don't want us to have to keep spending MP to maintain certain effects while we're out and far away from the location it is supposed to guard over. If at all possible, I'd like the fan and bug zapper to use electricity instead of mana in order to fulfill their functions.

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Agreed. But it could be useful if the zapper could be activated (for a small MP cost) in order to summon all of the bugs in the area for a short time.

Flavor: perhaps there's something like a taste-deadening potion that we can add a drop of to our other potions so they feel completely flavorless to the drinker. Doesn't improve the taste, technically, but gets around the problem of the potions tasting unpleasant.

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The mana potions do have an unusual flavor, but I don't think they're actively unpleasant, are they? They are the distilled liquid essence of magic, so of course they're not going to taste like anything else that people are used to drinking. Personally, I don't think there's any particular need to mess with the flavor.

[X] godwinson
[X] Check for the possibility of shopping online to buy sugar/oil/bottles/etc in bulk.
[X] Summon a [BUG ZAPPER OF INSECT ATTRACTION] and plug it in near the kitchen, if feasible (if it isn't, note the cost and make plans to summon it later). Also (if feasible) summon a [ROACH TRAP OF INSECT ATTRACTION] and place it under the sink.
-[X] Look out a window and use [IDENTIFY] on a bird to see if it has the [FLY] skill, and [IDENTIFY] it to see the pre-reqs if present. Failing that, pull out your compass and use it to locate another GOTZ and pick it up from there.

 

[........]

I was angling for something more like a wand; point at the potion in question, say a flavor, and boom. A ring that does the same thing for a held potion might be better though, as the wand might be constrained by charges.

And while Full Mana probably isn't going to work, poking around to try and find a higher class than the default potion would be worthwhile at some point.



...and now I'm imagining coming home one day to find ROACHGOR perched on the kitchen counter, blowing a raspberry at us while making itself a ham sandwich.

Like I said, a quick 30 second check and we may be able to nip that in the bud.

 

[ArcadianPhoenix]

[x] Godwinson

 

[Godwinson]

The mana potions do have an unusual flavor, but I don't think they're actively unpleasant, are they? They are the distilled liquid essence of magic, so of course they're not going to taste like anything else that people are used to drinking. Personally, I don't think there's any particular need to mess with the flavor.

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Did you actually read the relevant updates? The taste is unpleasant enough to the others for them to avoid taking them, unless it's absolutely necessary. There were complaints about the flavor.

 

[Rask]

Yeah, the potions tasting unpleasant to others is probably an indication of some deeper problem. A magical girl's magic is usually stuck inside her soul gem, and Homura is doing strange and unnatural things to her magic to get it into potion format. If you stretch the definition of soul to include the things that it contains, then you could say that Homura is feeding bits of her soul to Madoka and Tomoe. Seen in that light, it's no wonder that they don't care for the taste of the potions. Witches, however, might gobble them right up.

... and now I want to experimentally verify this.


Also, potential potion-brewing side effects. Leaving aside roach-related trouble, creating magic is supposed to create an equal amount of grief in this universe. So that might be an invisible byproduct, floating around and causing trouble or collecting into familiars. When considered from that angle, the creation of a full mana potion might automatically create a witch or wraith as side effect? In any case, Kyubey tends to dispose of grief-contaminated objects, such as full grief seeds, so he should potentially be able to dispose of Homura's byproducts too.

"Kyubey, you are some kind of cat! Do you your job and kill small animals!" *points at Roachgor*