Jessie hitched his pack onto his shoulder, and made his way upstairs. The library was huge, it took up three floors in the tower. There were books of all sizes, scrolls, maps, and even curiosities and artifacts.

Instructions - I write some stuff, give you some options and you vote for it. First option to reach ten votes wins, the option in the lead will win after twenty-four hours. Suggestions will be taken into consideration. Ties may be resolved with branching.

He grabbed a few maps, and some travelling books. He was about to leave when he noticed a large crystal. It was a vibrant lavender and seemed to sing to him. He was about to touch it, but decided to wrap it in cloth at the last moment.

Who knows what kind of weird effects it could have, best to stay safe for now. It could always be tested later if he can't identify it. He stuck it deep in his bag.

There were other things of course, but he couldn't afford to get too greedy. Having a Mage for an enemy is never a good thing.

He left the tower and made his way to the business quarter. Eric Winfred L'etoile opened his shop a couple of years ago, it sold a variety of potions, trinkets, and artifacts.

He was a very skilled spagyrist and herbalist. Jessie knocked on the door. “Eric, you there buddy?” The door opened and Eric popped his head out. “Jessie? What's up man?”

Eric invited him in and started some tea. “I need your help.” Eric looked up from the stove he was fiddling with. “Eh?” Jessie took a deep breath. “I've decided to become an adventurer.” Eric rolled his eyes. “And you want me to help you 'escape' your miserable life as the heir to a wealthy and noble family.”

Jessie frowned. “Everything I have is my father's, I want something to call my own. This store here, it's yours. You made it happen, it's a testament to your life's work.” Eric shrugged his shoulders and poured the tea. “The craftsmen and labourers made this happen, and my old master is the reason I'm as skilled as I am. The only difference between me and you is that I'm happy with my life.”

Jessie frowned, and drank his tea. “But you'll help me right?” Eric nodded. “Of course.”

Eric looked through his inventory. “Well, you have some options.” He walked through the aisles of his store, collecting more and more potions and ingredients.

“Okay, you can either drink these.” He handed Jessie a basket filled with potions of all different sizes, there were at least thirty. “Over the course of eight hours, chugging one potion every fifteen minutes.”

He walked behind his work desk and dropped a selection of ingredients. “Or, you can drink this potion once and be done with it.”

Jessie folded his arms and huffed. “What do they do?” Eric smiled awkwardly. “Well, I don't have any disguise potions as such... But a lot of women come in here asking for things to make their hair longer, give them fairer skin, wider hips, fuller lips... So on and so forth. I have a lot of those kind of potions in stock.”

He gestured to the basket. “If you drink every single one you will be feminine enough that even your father wouldn't recognize you. However, it would make you just feminine enough that you could appear to be one gender or the other based on how you presented yourself.”

Jessie raised an eyebrow. “So it would make me a girlie man?” Eric nodded his head. “Pretty much.” Jessie sighed. “The other potion?” Eric grimaced. “It... will make you a woman.”

Jessie groaned. “Men don't have those kind of potions?” Eric scratched his chin.”Well, I could cure your baldness, give you a larger whatsit, bulk up your muscles, or change your hair colour. But only to blue and/or red. Not the natural hair colour either, I mean crimson.”

Jessie gave him a flat, annoyed, look. Eric shrugged his shoulders. “What? I get like five guys a month coming here for anything other than those, and they are usually willing to wait a few weeks for me to brew stuff from scratch.”

Jessie walked over. “But you can brew a woman potion? How is that easier than just making me a different looking man?”

Eric frowned. “Well, I have a whole bunch of potions based around making people more feminine. I can distill those with a few added ingredients to affect a gender reversal. That would take twenty minutes tops. It would take months to brew the incredibly specialized potions needed to give you a face different enough that someone wouldn't recognize you... And that's if I had the ingredients, which I don't.”

Jessie plopped himself on Eric's couch and thought about his options, he could:

A - Take the many potions needed to make him androgynous.

B - Chug the gender swap potion

C - Examine the crystal with Eric

D - Try to escape the city on his own

E - Explore the town

Jessie got up from the couch and walked over to Eric. “I... Need a little time to think about this.” He remembered the gem in his bag. “Oh, I found something for you to look at.”

Instructions - I write some stuff, give you some options and you vote for it. First option to reach ten votes wins, the option in the lead will win after twenty-four hours. Suggestions will be taken into consideration. Ties may be resolved with branching.

Jessie pulled out the gem covered in cloth, Eric grabbed it and brought it to his artificing work desk. He unwrapped it, and used clamps to place it on a stand. He hit it with a hammer and listened to the sound it made. “You said it 'sang' to you?” Jessie nodded.

Eric went to the back room and came back with a book, and what looked like a tuning fork connected to a horn. He connected the fork to the gem, then struck it again with the hammer. A haunting warble filled the room. The noise sent shivers down their spines.

Eric flipped through the book until he found the page he was looking for. “It's a soul gem, I'm sure of it. By the colour I'm guessing it was harvested from a nymph, and a powerful magic user based on the size and clarity.” Jessie looked at it closer. “A soul gem?”

Eric lifted up the book to show him, inside was the same gem except a deep red. “This one is from a drake, they are a very rare reagent. Highly valuable, and sought after by practitioners of many magical arts.” Jessie whistled appreciatively. “So how are they 'harvested,' and what can we do with it?”

Eric picked it up and handed it to him. “The book says that they are sometimes created when magic users, or people with strong spirits, are burnt to ash. They are typically found in funeral pyres. As for what we can do with it... They are very useful for bartering, as there's a high demand and low supply.”

Jessie nodded, then frowned. “What was that noise then?” Eric frowned as well. “That was the Nymph, probably screaming at us to release her.” Jessie poked it. “Is there anyway we could understand her? I don't speak Nymphic.”

Eric pointed at his distiller. “I can brew an elixir of tongues, and I'll even cook up that gender potion. Even if you don't use it, it'll still be worth a few bars.” The varied potions for feminization were poured into the distiller along with some other ingredients. The language potion was brewed in a simple cauldron.

When they were done, Eric bottled them and put a stopper in the gender change potion. The other he handed to his friend. Jessie drank the potion, and waited for it to work.

After a few minutes he pointed at Eric. “Say something in a language I don't know!” Eric scratched at his chin. “Uh, this is in to be saying Vera.” Jessie raised an eyebrow. “You speak Vera?” Eric shook his head. “Not very well, but enough.” Jessie nodded. “Then it's working.”

Eric set up the ausculater, and hooked the gem into it. “Can you understand me?” Jessie nodded, but the gem didn't say anything for a while. “You nodded didn't you? I can't see you, speak to me if you want to answer.” Jessie sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “Yes, I can understand you.”

The gem laughed, Eric couldn't understand but the sound made him happy. “Young one, if you free me I will teach you how to make more gems like this one. Ones of pure essence, untainted by souls such as mine.” Jessie relayed the information to his friend.

“I will release you, is there a proper way to do that?” The gem pulsed slightly before answering. “Just shatter the gem and I will be free, but first let me teach you those magicks.”

For the next hour Jessie was coached through a surprisingly simple spell, once the gem spirit seemed happy with his energy manipulations she requested a small animal. Eric brought them a chicken and Jessie captured it's essence.

It didn't make a gem, instead he got a pile of sparkling dust. “Store it in a jar, it's less concentrated than a gem but it has the same properties and is still extremely valuable to the right people. More powerful creatures and people will have either more dust, or varying sizes of gems depending on spiritual potency and magical reserves.”

Jessie was about to unplug the gem when it said one last thing to him. “The demon below awaits, bring him a full jar of spirit dust. He will grant you power should you seek it.” Jessie shattered the crystal, and the pieces dissolved into nothingness.

What should Jessie do now:

A - Go to the undercity and barter with the gatekeeper, after filling his jar of course

B - Chug the gender change potion and get an adventuring licence

C - Try to sneak out of town

D - Explore the town

Jessie looked at the potion for a bit, then popped the lid off it and drank it before he could change his mind.

Instructions - I write some stuff, give you some options and you vote for it. First option to reach ten votes wins, the option in the lead will win after twenty-four hours. Suggestions will be taken into consideration. Ties may be resolved with branching.

Jessie doubled over in pain, it was as if his insides were on fire. The changes happened quickly, and soon Jessie was a woman. She sat down, woozy from the change.

Eric said nothing, but walked up to his small flat upstairs. When he came back down he had some clothing. “Here, get dressed.” Jessie looked up, and gave him an odd look. “Why do you have women's clothes just lying around?” Eric was perturbed, but answered quickly. “They were my sister's... She left them here.”

She chose a chemise, a simple blouse, a workable gown, and some sensible leather shoes. They fit well enough, but were loose around her frame. That confused her, she had pretty much the same build as before. If differently curved. “How beefy was your sister?”

Eric grimaced. “The beefiest, she's a cow.” He laughed awkwardly then clapped his hands loudly. “So, adventurer's licence. Let's go get one!” Eric grabbed his bag, then pushed Jessie out of the door.

Jessie and Eric walked down the streets of Demonshire, the licencing bureau was nearly on the other side of the city so it took over an hour. Jessie looked back at Eric. “Why are you coming along?” Eric smirked. “Simple, neither of us could actually pass that test. However, if we do it together we could get it done.”

Jessie glared at him. “I could get the license!” Eric shrugged. “You have no combat training, no battle magic, no experience.” Jessie reluctantly nodded, and Eric crossed his arms. “So were you expecting to talk your way out of every situation?”

Jessie sighed and got into line, Eric was right behind her. “How do you expect to deal with combat? You're not any more trained than I am.” Eric shook his bag, potions and such were clinking about. “I have some tricks.”

Jessie looked back at him. “So, you're coming with me?” Eric frowned. “I don't know, maybe. I have my business to think about, but you're my friend. You are also a woman now, and one with little actual experience. There are things you'll have to worry about, and I don't think you quite understand that.”

They applied for licences as a pair, and were sent for testing. In Demonshire prospective adventurers are sent on tasks, if they complete their task they are granted licences. The examiner gave them some options, they could:

A - Retrieve an artifact from the middle of the maze of trials

B - Collect a bounty of at least five bars

C - Win a quarterfinal match in the local fighting tournament

D - Defeat a licenced adventurer in fair combat