Potent Potion of Dredge Slaying

The Potent Potion of Dredge Slaying sits on a rough oak counter, its glass vial catching lamplight like a storm-blue teardrop. The liquid inside is a deep, oil-slick blue, flecked with coppery motes that drift when the bottle is tilted, as if stirred by a minute cyclone trapped within. The stopper is wrapped in a faded leather strip, stamped with a jagged dredge-tooth sigil; the label bears brittle script that speaks of ore veins, whispering tunnels, and alchemy born in damp mines. A faint mineral tang clings to the air around it—a scent of iron filings and rain-heavy tunnels. Whispers say the brew is as old as the first tunnels dredge carved into the earth, born from a pact between surface scouts and stubborn dwarven clans who refused to yield ground to their quarrying kin. The bottle feels heavier when held, as though the earth itself weighs in on the decision to drink. If you tilt it just so, the motes drift into a clockwise orbit, and the flavor that blooms on the tongue is metallic and brisk, with a far-off heat that crawls up the throat and settles in the chest as quiet resolve. Practically, it’s a tool for a very specific purpose: a fleeting edge against the dredge. When applied, the potion scours away a portion of their hardened plating and adds a clean, iron-tinged bite to the wielder’s weapon. For a short window, blades seem to sing with extra authority against the tunneling foes, and the creature’s steadier footfalls lose some of the tremor that comes from their earthbound charge. It doesn’t turn the tide alone, but it stitches a decisive seam in engagements where a guard shuttles a caravan through fractured corridors or a scavenger crosses into an ore-bearing tomb. Soldiers, scouts, and seasoned miners keep a vial or two tucked in coat pockets, ready to cap a failed escape with one decisive swing, or to help punch through a dredge barricade during a raid. Market whispers turn the tale into a street-level epic. In the winding lanes behind the Bishop’s Market, Saddlebag Exchange is where traders barter in person and rumors travel faster than coins. A vial can drift between two and three silver coins, depending on demand, supply, and the color of the dredge threat that week. A lucky buyer might snag a discount in exchange for a tall tale of a successful dig or a field-tested recommendation. The potion isn’t a miracle, but in the right hand it threads a line through a sunrise raid and helps turn a chase into a clean win, a reminder that small tools pressed into the palm can tilt the long game beneath our boots.