21 Make Wagons Great... Initially

     Being fairly certain that Gilly would accept his offer and having a few hours of daylight left to look, Troy set out to find a cartwright with whom he could coordinate the building of his Alchemy Lab-wagon.

     After asking for directions and a few minutes of walking, he finally arrived at the cartwright's shop and approached the short burly brown haired man working on an unfinished wagon. The cartwright looked up at the sound of Troy's approach, with sweat dripping down his face.

     "Greetings, Cartwright."

     "Ahh, hello, there. Are you perhaps interested in buying one of my fine Wagons?" The cartwright responded eagerly.

     "Not exactly. My name is Troy. I'm a witcher and a sorcerer in training and I was wondering, how much would you charge for a consultation? I'm looking to craft my own wagon and could use the knowledgeable advice and guidance of an expert."

     The cartwright was confused by this request. "Ummm...so a witcher training to be a sorcerer wants to learn to be a cartwright, did I get that right?"

     "Ummm…no, you didn't. I don't have any plans to become a cartwright myself. I do, however, plan on creating my own personal wagon by utilizing various sorceries. What I'm looking for is simply your expert opinion on the best load bearing positions for certain parts and to pick your brain over the best way to integrate the suspension.

     "Things like that are all that I'm really after. I'm not looking for an apprenticeship or anything. I only plan to be in town until this wagon is built and then I'll be leaving."

     The cartwright then seemed to realize how silly his earlier question was and looked slightly embarrassed. He quickly recovered himself and said, "Hmmm...I see. Well, if it's just that, I suppose I could set aside some time tomorrow. I should be able to finish up this wagon here by midmorning tomorrow. How about you come over around noon and I'll see what I can do for you.

     "As for the price, it'll have to be, at least, a couple hundred ducats."

     Troy didn't particularly like that price but he wasn't really in a position to negotiate. The cartwright didn't sell educational consultations. He sold wagons. Just the fact that he was willing to take time out for this request was already a win. He didn't want to anger the cartwright by testing his patience.

     All three of the witchers had already pooled their remaining money together, in order to afford this opportunity. They all understood the importance of both the potions and Gilly's cooperation, so they set aside just enough money for another week's worth living expenses and then consolidated the rest.

     "Very well, Cartwright. If all goes well, you'll see me tomorrow around noon. Have a good day!"

     Troy promptly departed from the cartwright's workplace and returned to his room at the inn to continue his training.

[===== The Next Day =====]

     Knock! Knock! Knock!

     "Gilly, it's Troy. Are you home?" Troy probed, while standing outside Gilly's front door. 

     Of course, the witchers already knew she was home. They simply wanted her to know who was asking for her. They obviously heard Gilly shuffling about in the house before she finally opened the door. Whenever her face appeared the first thing they noticed was the distinct lack of tears or bloodshot eyes.

     "Master Witchers, I'm glad you've come. I've thought long and hard about how I should proceed but, ultimately, I really can't imagine myself surviving too long without some kind of protection and so I'll start packing my things and I'll leave with you whenever you've finished your preparations." Gilly informed them.

     "Straight to the point, I see! Very good! I'm glad that you've decided to join us. I can promise you that this will be greatly beneficial to you. You'll not only be able to keep making your potions but, together, we'll be able to expand this new field of study.

     "Now that you've decided to join us, Geralt, Jorgen, and myself will be living here, until we leave. If you need any assistance, just ask them.

     "However, you probably won't see much of me for the next few days. I'll be spending most of my time at the cartwright's working on our new Lab Wagon. As a matter of fact, I'm headed that way right now." Troy finished, as he abruptly turned around, hopped on his horse, and trotted away.

[===== Four Days Later =====]

     Troy had made every effort to ensure that this wagon was as sturdy, stable, and utilitarian as possible.

     Price obviously wasn't an object, since he had already paid the cartwright for his services. Because he was using his conjuration magic to acquire all of the available materials, he didn't need to bother with a blacksmith or woodworker at all. Having already planned most of the details out in his mind, he coordinated with the cartwright to ensure that every part was properly crafted and correctly installed.

     The wagon's wheels were made out of solid oak and were wrapped with spiked steel bands, for maximum traction. Four sturdy steel springs sat on each corner of the wagon's chassis. There were also four steel planks that were connected to the chassis and met in its exact center at the same height as the top of the springs. These planks formed an 'x' shape at their convergence and, together with the springs, provided ample suspension for the wooden shack-like structure that sat comfortably on top of it.

     The roof of the shack-like wagon was flat and had sixteen inch railings all around its perimeter, so that items could be stored on top of it if necessary. 

     On the backend was the main door and a set of drop down stairs. The front had a rather well designed and luxurious driver's bench and sturdy hitchings.

     All in all, it was a fairly impressive sight standing just over three meters tall, two and a half meters wide, and seven meters long. It wasn't the most beautiful wagon in the world and it wouldn't fit in any tight spaces but it was functional, spacious, and sturdy. Troy only needed to test one last thing before heading back to pick up the others.

     Being a sorcerer, Troy hadn't simply used his Chaos to get free materials, he had also enchanted several of the wagon's parts.

     The shack itself and the wheels were enchanted with the most time and Chaos consuming spell which caused it to be a bit lighter than it naturally would be.

     The enchantment on the supporting steel planks caused whatever was placed on them to have its weight dispersed evenly across its entire bottom regardless of how things on the inside were ordered.

     The enchantment on the springs and the chassis were designed to shift the center of gravity when and where necessary, in order to keep the wagon upright.

     The axles and spokes were all enchanted with strengthening spells and every wagon part was magically 'glued' together. The end result being something that probably wouldn't impress any fully fledged mages but was far more capable than anything a non mage would ever use. It was also something no one in Troy's current circle of associates could ever afford, if they had gone shopping for such a thing.

     The cartwright, while helpful with his insights, had been quite bewildered at the sight of Troy's magical handiwork. Witnessing materials simply appearing out of nowhere had been quite distracting for him. However, he had already agreed to let Troy use an empty stall in his workshop and he had already taken his payment, as well. Thus, he could only clear his head and try not to think about it.

     Troy, after finally completing his enchanted carriage, hopped up onto the driver's seat and flicked the reins. Troy's horse, Rage, had already been hitched up and began moving forward immediately.

     The poor cartwright, who was already quite stunned by the magical wagon the witcher had just finished, had no idea he was about to witness something even more fantastic.

     Using some materials borrowed from the confused cartwright, Troy had established a series of boards supported in such a way that they formed a sort of crude ramp. Only this ramp's incline didn't just increase width wise but also length wise.

     Troy began slowly moving the wagon forward with only one side traveling lengthwise across the ramp. As he did so, the ramp side of the wagon began to tilt further and further, due to the ramps increasing elevation.

     As the wagon approached the end of the ramp, the wagon had been tilted more than forty five degrees and yet showed not the slightest sign of instability.

     After having completely cleared the ramp, the wagon fell heavily to the ground and, while the ground beneath seemed to have been gouged out quite a bit, the wagon only showed a slight shiver before completely restabilizing.

With that final test confirming the wagon's reliability, Troy wished the Cartwright well and headed off towards Gilly's house.

     Less than three minutes later, he arrived in front of Gilly's house, parked the Lab Wagon, and walked inside.

     Troy had already informed them that the wagon would be ready before noon and so all three were sitting at Gilly's kitchen table awaiting his arrival.

     "Alright, guys, our wagon is officially completed. Let's get Gilly's stuff loaded up so we can get the hell out of here. We need to hunt down some more contracts, before our funds run completely dry."

     "Excuse me, Master Troy, but couldn't you sell at least one of my potions here? That would probably last us a good while and y'all wouldn't have to rely so heavily on those contracts." Gilly asked.

     "That would be a bad idea. We need to take as many precautions as possible not only to prevent your involvement in the potion's creation being discovered but also to prevent people from having a reliable way to find us.

     "We need to introduce these potions slowly and discreetly into the market through back channels and black markets. Us selling a potion here, after being involved in such a major incident and then disappearing with you, would eliminate most of the doubt in any inquisitive mind about who we are and our role in producing these potions.

     "Thus, our most cautious and prudent course of action would be to wait until we reach the next major city before even thinking about selling any of them." Troy explained the situation to Gilly.

     "I see. It seems that despite my age I still have much to learn about the ways of the world. Thank you for educating me, Master Troy!"

     Gilly had adopted a very respectful attitude towards her new witcher friends over the past few days. She had once seen them as nothing more than opportunists simply trying to take advantage of her. However, she had since come to realize that her perspective of the world was perhaps a bit too simplistic.

     Although, she could hardly be blamed for this, given her station in life. She had been, for most of her life, a very simple peasant woman but she was quickly realizing that she no longer had the luxury of having such a narrow perspective and that she needed to change the way she viewed the world. This wasn't something easy but, now that she would be traveling with her new protectors, she would try and glean as much wisdom from them as possible.

     Gilly and her new companions quickly loaded up the cart, hitched up all three horses, got on board, and headed straight towards the western gate.

     Once they were well past the outskirts of Ard Carraigh and fewer travelers were around, Troy opened up a small window that allowed access to the inside of the wagon from the driver's bench.

     "Here, Gilly!" Troy pushed a dark green hooded cloak through the window toward Gilly, who was concocting a few Apothecarial staples so as to maintain their ruse as a traveling Apothecary. "Put this on. It's enchanted to cast a minor illusion over your face. Anytime we're around other people you should be wearing it.

     "Be warned, however, my illusions and enchantments aren't really that potent at the moment, due to my inexperience. So, whenever you interact with people make sure not to get too close or let them touch your face. Try as best you can to hide yourself in the hood and don't get too close to candles or torches.

     "Now that people have seen you leaving with us, if anyone comes asking about the potion's origins they'll be left looking for an old lady and not an old man. Thus, making you seem, at the very least, expendable in our eyes. The hope is that people will view you simply as an assistant who tends to our wagon and handles the business side of things for us."

     Gilly used the mirror that Troy had placed inside the wagon to inspect herself, after donning the green cloak. She had taken on the appearance of a aged old man with very few teeth left, a bald head, and crooked nose.

     She didn't particularly like the idea of looking like a hideous old man but she could understand the reasoning and necessity behind it. It was just an illusion after all.

     She would normally be quite astonished by such a blatant use of magic but the recent loss of her son had left little within her heart, other than a cold and calculating vengeful anger.

     "Of course, Master Troy. I'll be careful around others."

     "Also, you don't have to keep calling me 'Master.' We're more or less business associates, at this point, so just call me Troy."

     "Already tried to tell her that but it's no good. She seems pretty stuck in her ways, in regards to that." Jorgen responded.

     Indeed, Gilly hadn't even bothered responding to that statement. She simply turned away and continued working on various tinctures and such, inside the abnormally stable wagon.

[===== One Week Later =====]

     Troy hadn't planned on going back to Ban Glean, until they were on their return trip from Vengeburg. However, he'd completely forgotten there was a big ass mountain range in between Keadwen and Redania and so getting to Oxenfurt and Novigrad would require following the Pontar.

     Thus, there was little reason not to stop at Ban Glean, especially considering that they were currently in need of buyers for their potions. Ban Glean would be the closest and first city on their journey that might have potential buyers.

     Gilly Gal and the Witchers arrived in Ban Glean late in the evening of their seventh day of travel. There were only a few villages between Ban Glean and Ard Carraigh and they had stopped at every one to pick up contracts.

     Luckily, each one had a contract available but, unluckily, only the first village had more than one. With a total of four contracts completed, they were no longer broke but they were still itching to reel in their first potions customer. 

      Troy parked the wagon in front of the inn they'd chosen and walked inside with Gilly and Jorgen. They had drawn straws to see who would have to watch the wagon for tonight and Geralt had drawn the short straw.

     Tomorrow they would need to sell some of their standard wares and also snoop around for some disreputable types with connections. Tonight, however, they were all quite tired from their journey and wanted nothing more than to sleep.