"Woah," Justin said as you finally looked at him. He was lost in thoughts. "It's like a dance. Every ingredient has its own step and you have to follow the rhythm to get it right."
You scratched your chin at his comment. That was a beautiful analogy. You weren't sure if it fit that well, but sure. Why not.
"I see your point," Justin then said. "Okay," his voice filled with new determination. "I get it now. I'll make sure to pay more attention to the ingredients and their purposes before adding them to the potion. Thanks for explaining it to me, Jacob. I really appreciate it."
"Sure," you said with a smile.
Nice to see Potions treated as both an art and a science. You need to understand the purpose of each ingredient but there is sort of a pattern to it as well so that when it comes together it is more than the sum of it's parts.
"It's just that I've been looking at this one set of runes for a while now, and I can't seem to figure out how they fit into this." You pointed to the page in your notebook. "These are the ones we found inside Myrte's bathroom. I've compared them to everything we have, and they are without doubt of the 'outside defence' set."
Megan leaned over to get a better look at the runes, her brow furrowed in concentration. "Hmm, that is strange. They should be exclusive to the outsides of the castle." She reached for one of the books on the table and started flipping through the pages.
You watched as Megan searched through the book. But it seemed clear what the obvious solution had to be. They had to serve some purpose, if they were set in that specific place; not only shield enemies from the castle, but to also communicate to the defense mechanisms that starting here there was no Hogwarts anymore.
Megan has definitely has grown a lot which is good to see. I'm also glad that we managed to finish this plot thread too. A lot of things unlocked here. Besides learning how to Ward from studying Hogwart's own, Jacob managed to find the secret rooms of the other Founders. It will probably have to wait until next years start of term, but they all look interesting. Out of the three, the Gryffindor one looks the most difficult to do mainly because Jacob intends to warn the Headmaster he is coming ahead of time. Slytherin or Ravenclaw might be good ones to attempt first as such. A lot of possible lost knowledge in both those places too.
- 1 Vial of Antidote to Uncommon Poisons
+6 Vials of Acromantula Venom
+120 EXP
Blue Wideye Potion – Learning the Awakening Potion gave you an idea; it is clear that some of the ingredients act as a suppressant for tiredness and sleepiness. If you tweak the recipe and try to understand how the ingredients interact with each other… you may be able to make the potion more useful. If taken, it gives you one Personal Action more per potion. Can only safely consume one dose per month. Cost for ingredients: 5 Galleons per vial +1 Vial of Acromantula Venom.
[ ] Brew – Brew a set of Potions. Brewing a single kind of potion (up to 5 portions per brewing action) costs one action.
First of all, if we ever travel inside the Forest, we should probably try to carry more of the Antidotes of Uncommon Poison if we can, they probably just saved Jacob's life. Otherwise, this was a great find. Right now Jacob has enough funds to brew 3 vials of the Blue Wideye, but he can make 5 per a single batch if he has all the funds. So 25 Galleons could give Jacob 5 doses of Blue Wideye. Money is more of a priority now I suppose. Probably a good idea to build some up when we can find the actions. Speaking of money, I do wonder if the Room of Hidden things (which seems to be Ravenclaw's secret) has some money lying around). Just a thought.
[ ] A genius awakening - You can be surrounded, ambushed or stand against insurmountable odds. Your mind stays calm no matter the situation, because deep inside you there is the lingering feeling of superiority against any opponent. You know that your potential is limitless. If you lose today, you will be stronger tomorrow.
[ ] Blood strengthens me - You have felt the rush of excitement in battle many times before; inside your own body and in the memories of your ancestor. In the midst of a battle, you feel more like yourself than you do outside of it. It is as if you are getting stronger the more damage you take. No one and nothing can break your spirit.
Both of these sound decent to be honest. Even if some parts don't sound too great, traits can continue to evolve. I don't doubt that Dumbledore possessed the first one for quite some time in his youth. Either way, I'm sure that Jacobs's friends can help keep him grounded.
We've had multiple warnings from older characters that we are tap dancing towards the sort of mentality Voldemort had.
I don't necessarily believe Flitwick or Dumbledore think Jacob has a mentality like Voldemort, or that he is developing that way. They have been scoping Jacob out, that is true. But they have also asked him what his motivations were for some of the actions he has taken (for example Flitwick and his meeting with Jacob after the duel in the Trophy Room) and Jacob did explain why he took the actions he did. Did they necessarily agree with the reasoning? No, but they seemed to also understand and it made sense to them. It was neither an approval nor a disapproval (if they did he would have been punished).
