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Taking One for the Team (MC 6)

“Okay, all we need to do is distribute the potions.”

With a creaking sound, Jared Knabenbauer opened the humble wooden chest before him, revealing rows of lightly dusted glass bottles. They chinked together as Jared carefully pulled them out of the darkness two at a time, and lifted them into his strong arms. Holding all nine of the bottles, he kicked the chest closed again.

Ignoring the strange way the liquids inside the bottles smelled, he carried them all down the creaky stairs of the house. He smiled slightly, as he came into view of his comrades, who simply loitered in the front hall.

Jared was proud of these drinks. He'd worked all through the previous day creating them- six gleaming fuschia drafts of Strength potions, and three lavender concoctions of Swiftness ones.

Carefully using the ingredients he'd had on hand, Jared had toiled away at the brewing stand in the attic- carefully calculating precise measurements with eye-droppers and glass measuring cups, watching to make sure the drink didn't boil over, disposing of his failed attempts. Finally, he could show the others what his patience and determination had brought them.

“Guys, I got the potions,” he announced, setting the glass bottles down on a small table. “I have three Strength potions that will work for three minutes, three enhanced Strength potions that will go for eight minutes, and three regular Swiftness potions.”

The others in the room nodded, looking a bit pleased with how the drafts had turned out. Smiling, Jared tossed two three-minute Strength potions and one Swiftness to Chad, the newest member of the group. He, in turn, caught them, grinning.

“Thanks,” he remarked.

Jared turned to Dean next, handing him one long-running Strength potion, and one Swiftness. The receiver smirked, and gave him a thumbs up.

But when Jared looked back at the potions to hand one to Jeff, he saw that there was only one Swiftness potion left. Jared had used the last of the group's sugar on these three drafts, and he realized that one person would have to go without the extra speed boost. But should Jeff have that disadvantage or should he?

It only took a second to decide.

‘Well,’ he thought to himself. 'I guess I'll just have to take the hard route.’ Without another thought, he passed the last brew to Jeff.

“Wait, Jared,” Jeff looked a bit nervous. “What about you?”

“I'll be fine,” the potion maker waved a dismissive hand. “I'm pretty fast anyway. That Wither won't be able to stop me.”

This, fortunately, seemed to reassure Jeff, but saying this to him somehow felt like a lie. Deep down inside his gut, Jared could feel an ominous sensation- as if maybe he wouldn't be fine after all. However, he ignored this feeling. He didn’t want to be selfish.

“Okay,” Chad was saying now. “I did a bit of research on this entity. Apparently other adventurers in the world have come across it, though they lived a long time ago, and in that book I read before leaving to join you guys, I found some useful information about this monster.

For one thing, we want to be far away from this guy, because once we place the soul sand and the skulls in the correct formation, it will just appear. We won't be able to hurt it for a few seconds either, so don't try.

Another thing is that he shoots explosive skulls, and that could ruin our fighting ground pretty fas-”

“Wait, he shoots explosives?!”, Jared interrupted suddenly. He didn't like explosions- in fact, he had a strong fear of them. A bead of sweat formed on his face at the thought of projectile skulls filled with gunpowder.