#Brewing with Krakonos

[hriobzagelthewanderer]

There is a frenzy to an oddly red-looking Shaman as he reappears in his Halls, in one of his more brewing-optimized workshops.

Taking a moment to wipe his face, and try and get his somewhat burnt skin cool again, he let loose a small, oddly manic chuckle, before surrounding himself with bales of sugar cane, different spices, and a number of other pieces of distilling equipment.

It was time to being experimenting.

[hriobzagelthewanderer]

💭

[A good part of how I wrote Hriob, at least when he was still new as both a character to me and as a RP Blog on Tumblr, was just throwing stuff until it stuck. Not in the manner of a monkey throwing darts at a bingo card, but in the manner of a kid with way too much time in front of a soda machine at a restaurant trying to see what combinations 'worked'.

You got Skyrim (remember this was when it was still brand new) on the brain and can't help yourself with the design? Let Hriob use the Dragon Priest Masks as a template for when he needs armor- both as a mask straight-up and to inform the design of what other extra plates and whatnot he'd add on to his already rugged cloak. Hell, as soon as you can work out a decent connection, try and fit in the Draconic Language, aka "Thu'um", into his magic if you can, Inadvertently sparking a whole new backstory plotline with an adoptive dragoness who may have inadvertently lead to Hriob's initial reincarnation from Krakonos in the first place once you run into a blog who allows for that sort of interaction. And suddenly a Video game inadvertently not only changed the look and feel of your character, but somehow turned around and reshaped whole SWATHS of his backstory, albeit by proxy, once things got snowballing.

That's... oddly enough a lot of how things went down with his development, since so much of his current 'design' is the echoes and reinterpretations of past decisions for past interactions. His love of baking and brewing is not only a hallmark of the stories of Krakonos teaching people how to use fermentation for both baking and brewing, but ties to both his Surrogate-Dragon-Mom raising him in a humble little Bakery, and to a few drunken benders with a Crow-Tengu leading to a vested interest in getting better booze for himself that turned into a side-business and an excuse to delve into Alchemy. His spiritual awareness and talents at soul-based magics are not only connections to the core ideas of Shamanism and its definitions, but part of two now retroactively redacted/de-canonized plots for two different women in his life - a potential love-interest and said Dragon-Mom once again - having issues with broken/shattered souls for wildly different reasons. Even if something seems like 'a good idea at the time' with him in his development, it usually ends up being entangled with other ideas and events to become something different, new, compared to its origins. Hriob's secret is that everything in and about him comes from something, usually more than one something, that gives it nuance and meaning.]

[hriobzagelthewanderer]

[INTERMISSION:] If Hriob had a Cooking Show

[hriobzagelthewanderer]

Drinking headcanon for- Who am I kidding! What's the best thing that Hriob has brewed yet so far?

[It depends on what you qualify as ‘best’… He’s made experimental craft brews of a few interesting varieties using hops-alternatives, he’s recreated sake and vodka independently, he’s used alchemy to boost texture, aroma, flavor, and ludicrous alcohol content to incredible extremes on all counts simultaneously even if he’s yet to crack the ‘Oni-grade’ marker, and he’s even made the coffee equivalent, a.k.a. ‘The Midnight Oil’ and is looking into herbal teas…

…however, his best is still his original classic: alchemically enhanced mead made using hand-grown wheat and other grains, yeast carefully cultivated for the blend, a subtle blend of spices, and honey produced under the supervision of a powerful and agriculturally-minded insect youkai. The recipe itself has only changed so much, but the quality and potency since his first batch has improved more than tenfold, according to local critics.]

[hriobzagelthewanderer]

HC -- Unique recipes to alcohol ?

[Hriob is an innovative, though not exceptionally imaginative, brewer. He knows how to make most any kind of alcohol, and most any kind of mixed drinks, but he doesn’t necessarily know how or have the inclination to experiment to invent totally new types of alcohol or completely new recipies without outside suggestions. This carries over to his encyclopedic-yet-simplistic skill of making mixed drinks, unless directed by another to make something more unique in detail.

His prowess in alcohol-sales, his market niche, is making simple alcoholic beverages using incredibly potent, high-grade, and rare ingredients, and refining it to heights of potency and quality only alchemy could provide. He has no ‘secret recipies’, only ‘secret treatment methods’.]

[hriobzagelthewanderer]

"...huh... Winter is coming..."

"...Which means one thing in particular should be introduced to Gensokyo..."

"...E͎̱͙͉̫̠͎͕̮͈̭͜͢͠͠G̵̨̟̳͍̼̪̘̭͓͜G̵̗̤̼̼̖̗̝̻̯͙̹͜͠͠ͅN̸̥̝͚̠̬̤̫͕̮̼͎̼͞ͅƠ҉̷̶̯̺̫̟̥͎̤͉̥̖̯̼̗̳̣̞͉̹́G̵͈̰̱̥͙͕̲̹͎͠ͅ"

[hriobzagelthewanderer]

[By this point, it's getting nigh impossible for Hriob to actually get drunk, no matter how much he drinks, because his powers are increasing and by proxy that means he's too efficient at naturally using natural energies to negate poisons and toxins in his body. The irony being that as a 'former' drunkard who got on people's nerves, he's now having to deal with people getting to become annoying (relatively speaking) drunks in his presence off of his own brews.]

[hriobzagelthewanderer]

"Honored Zagel! I have need of your expertise!" Land! Bow! Time! .32 seconds. IT'S A NEW RECORD! "I owe a Daitengu a favor. Can you brew a sake worthy of a legendary Tengu for a gift? We could get your name into the ear of one of the most powerful men on the Mountain. Think about it!"

The man was taken aback by how suddenly the Tengu landed, but upon hearing him out the man set down the piles of notes he was working on, and turns to Daichi with a smile.

"Well, I’d hope you can tell me more about how he likes his sake, and k now that I’m still more accomplished with more European Recipies, but… I’ll do it."

The smile turns to a mischevious grin. “However, I’ll sincerely hope you decide to foot the bill for the both of us next time we go out for a few dozen rounds.”

Knowing their combined appetite for alcohol, that was a dangerous, yer fairly equal value to the ordered Sake.

[hriobzagelthewanderer]

"Mr Zagel? What made you get into the fine art of brewing in the first place?"

The large man stops and thinks on the question, a small, slightly bittersweet smile infecting is features as vines might crawl over a man’s face.

"Hmmm… I think it started as a couple of guys bored and tired of the sup-bar beer in a bar, and lead to brewing beer out of the barley at the Moyria shrine since nothing else seemed to live up to expectations. From there… well, I gather you’ve been following my progress, friend."

He sighs a little wistfully, looking away. “…A shame that friend is dead now, or at least gone from this place.”

[hriobzagelthewanderer]

"Mr Hriob! Have something for your beer experiments." Daichi landed and put down a massive barrel in front of the German. "Spring water from the Mountain. You'll find no cleaner water in all the realm."

Cue a bone-rattlingly enthusiastic hug from the German Giant. “DANKE SCHONE MEIN FREUND!!!”

He’ll probably name a type of brew after Daichi at this rate, its in the stars.

[hriobzagelthewanderer]

"We're going to need a few casks in a little while. Is there any particular compensation that you're going to need?"

The man smiles and nods, then stops to think.

"…hmm… well, I don’t know. If you find any information on Yukari or her alternate iterations that is news, I’d like unfettered access… same goes to trade secrets for other brewers, just to be safe… Other than that, the usual coin is fine, though I’ll understandably be giving you a friend/advertising discount." The closing statement was said with a chuckle and a knowing, if perfectly friendly smile.

[hriobzagelthewanderer]

Oh hey, it's been a month, hasn't it? Here comes the delivery beetle swarm with the basket of honey for Hriob!

Already time for the second shipment? Cool, he barely finished off the last of his mead just in time!

"Thanks, little guys, Tell her I’d be willing to try making flower ale if she gets me the materials for it too, I’m sure I can make it even better…"

Business is booming, after all. He’s already begun selling to Youkai Mountain thanks to Mamizou, at two incarnations of Mystia’s Lamprey Stand, and even donations to the cause for one version of the Bunbunmaru Shimbun… It’s only a matter of time before he butts heads with another brewing company though, given how widespread booze is among the youkai…

[hriobzagelthewanderer]

“Are you still up?”

"…Yes, yes I am… I’m busy…"

Busy making scientifically impossible beer to sell to Oni, for what it’s worth. It’s tougher than it sounds.

[hriobzagelthewanderer]

"How long has it been since you slept, Honored Zagel?"

The man only stops to answer his question after much eye-rubbing… the bags under his eyes told the answer well enough…

"…too long, friend, but I just can’t seem to get this mixture right! The hops are fine, the other ingredients seem perfect, yet… it doesn’t turn out right."

With an angry sigh, he turns from the open cask of what would become a new batch of beer. “I can’t tell if it’s the water, or if the fermenting agents have gone bad somehow, but the last few batches have been… dare I say… Piss-poor. I can’t sell this stuff, it’s ruined!”

Driven to insomnia with frustration and confusion, he sighs bitterly as he tastes the mixture, and bitterly empties the bitter fluids out of the cask with a furious toss.

"…I need to find a different spring source… somewhere more pure… and maybe then I can get the alchemists’ help with the other materials… but I’m only burning through supplies as it is, wasting perfectly good barley and hops…”

[hriobzagelthewanderer]

[Open Starter] Reparations and Practicing an Artform

The Cloaked Man of the Forest of Magic is beginning a rather large batch of beer, beginning from scratch with a fresh set of barley grain for malting, somewhere under the Forest in a hidden location of his own build and design...

...after all, making beer takes care, diligence, and focus, which means solitude  and no distractions...

...sadly, it seems he forgot to close the hatch behind him in his hangover, so where normally one might expect a simple small clearing between the trees of the Forest with absolutely nothing there, an otherwise cleverly hid trapdoor and ladder underground can be found...

[hriobzagelthewanderer]

"Are you sober now? Great! Now you can start paying off your 500,000 yen tab."

"…NnnnnnnnnOPE! Need mehr bitte!"

Great, his liver is still not giving in to the as-of-yet supposedly lethal amount of alcohol… though at the very least, he appears to have run out of places to loot obtain liquor from…

However, he seems a touch more sober for a moment… “…eh… well, actually… I am trying to work out how to start a brewery here… I’ve been making beer with the support and encouragement of a few locals… like Daichi, if you know him… if I were to restock you and then some, would that cover it…?”

He sighs, and then rests his face in one of his massive hands. “…if nothing else, I know how to cook, though mostly European Dishes… unless you need lumber or carpentry to fix up something in your shop…  I don’t think I have any actual money to offer.”