Books:Agents and Reagents: The Bounty of Mundus Characters and Summary

This is the summary of and list of characters from Agents and Reagents: The Bounty of Mundus

Characters

Gargrell Sorick — A Breton man, second apprentice to Defessus Lector

Defessus Lector, frequently referred to as "the Master" — An experienced alchemist, and Gargrell's mentor

Bardus — The Master's inept apprentice

Evangeline Beanique — The recently-deceased first apprentice to Defessus Lector

Longinus Attius — A Hall Steward, for whom Bardus prepared ingredients, but disastrously mislabeled them

Mandaillonan the Marked — A Reachman. One of Gargrell's ancestors, and an herbalist

Gurles Ernele — An alchemist who owned the Northpoint Apothecary, which was destroyed by a fire

Uwafa — A Redguard man, who appeared in The Improved Emperor's Guide to Tamriel as a known Worm Cultist

Summary

The book begins with an introduction by Gargrell. He explains his heritage: he was the son of a Reachwoman (thus the Reachman name, Gargrell) and an unknown Lion Guard. In his youth, he was an assassin, but now he enjoys his life at the Wayrest Apothecary, despite his Master's and Bardus' frequent comments on his lineage. After the death of the Master's first apprentice, Evangeline Beanique, Gargrell's role at the apothecary has improved: he now runs the shop, and the Master has asked him to write a book cataloging all of the alchemy and enchanting ingredients used by them. He hopes it will help Bardus, the assistant at the apothecary, who frequently makes errors (for example, mixing up vampire dust and frost salts for Hall Steward Longinus Attius). Gargrell expresses enthusiasm for the book and the knowledge that it will contain, and considers it his one last chance to make his Master proud.

Much of the book classifies the ingredients into various categories, and includes a description of the category (with specific notes, occasionally, on proper harvesting techniques), and an illustration and list of alchemical/enchanting uses of each ingredient.

Rodent Parts: Gargrell explains that his ancestor Mandaillonan the Marked was one of the first herbalists to successfully put rodent parts to beneficial use in alchemy. He advises avoiding being bitten when killing a rodent, and explains the proper way to remove the different parts so that they retain the most potency.

Ingredients featured: Rodent Ears, Rodent Whiskers, Rodent Toes

Wild Fungus: It is emphasized that fungus can be extremely dangerous, that there are poisonous varieties that look similar to safe ones, and that one should not eat one without being certain that it is the correct variety. He describes the parts of a mushroom, and mentions that out of the many types of mushrooms (for example, edible ones), the following are the ones beneficial to alchemy.

Ingredients featured: Blue Entoloma Cap, Emetic Russula, Imp Stool, Violet Coprinus, Luminous Russula, Namira's Rot, White Cap

Wildflowers: Gargrell describes techniques to harvest plant parts, and also on how to transplant wild flowers to one's home for easier harvesting.

Ingredients featured: Mountain Flower, Dragonthorn, Viper's Bugloss, Columbine, Nirnroot

Unpolished Gems: While many minerals have a variety of uses, there are two that alchemists use: chalcedony and porphyry. One should take care, however, when searching for them, to ensure that the cave or mine is unoccupied by creatures or bandits before trying to harvest any. It is preferable that the stones are not polished or refined, but, rather, taken as whole as possible from the vein and brought directly to the alchemist.

Ingredients featured: Chalcedony, Porphyry

Unrefined Ore: Similarly to gems, there are specific ores that alchemists in particular are interested in. Also, like the gems, alchemists require the unrefined ore, rather than ingots.

Ingredients featured: Lazurite, Jasper

Amorphous Extrusions: These are the gelatinous membranes of certain creatures. Gargrell says that sometimes it may refer to the membranes from emperor crabs, near Vvardenfell, but that due to their near-extinction, it more commonly refers to netch jelly. The enchantment strength from these materials is relatively weak and therefore many apothecaries no longer purchase them.

Ingredients featured: Clotted Membrane, Flesh Sacs, Fresh Membrane

Beast Parts: The pelts and claws of creatures can be used for alchemy, as long as the hide is not tanned. He advises caution that one does not scratch oneself with the claws, however, because the death of the first apprentice, Evangeline, was caused by an infection resulting from such a scratch.

Ingredients featured: Sharp Claws, Ragged Skin, Ragged Pelt

Chitinous Plates: Gargrell mentions how chitin plates are often used for armor by the Ashlanders of Vvardenfell. While there are legends of Snow Elves raising huge fattened insects underground for chitin, nowadays the only source of chitin is mudcrabs. The carapace must have the meat and organs extracted carefully; they will buy battered ones, but at a poor price.

Ingredients featured: Cracked Carapace, Flimsy Carapace, Sturdy Carapace

Daedric Husks: These are the remains of animal Daedra when they are killed and their souls flee back to Oblivion. The Master theorizes that the husk is part of a Daedra's soul—the part that prevents it from being drained by mages. Prices have fallen since Daedra have become more plentiful, but only slightly, as the need for the ingredients has increased as well.

Ingredients featured: Chthtonic Husk, Eldritch Husk, Noisome Husk

Dwemer Elements: Gargrell admits that though he is fascinated by the Dwemer's inventions, he has never ventured into a ruin. He hopes to one day travel to Morrowind and learn more about the Dwemer.

Ingredients featured: Dwarven Oil, Shiny Cog, Shiny Gear

Fire Elements: These are a variety of materials such as a blacksmith's waste, embers from flame atronachs, and molten rocks from the Red Mountain. One must be careful when storing these items, though, because the Northpoint Apothecary, owned by Gurles Ernele, burned to the ground after a fire caused by hot ash.

Ingredients featured: Cooling Slag, Hot Embers, Warm Ashes

Frost Elements: In addition to frost salts, there are two types of ice used in alchemy: white and blue. Unsurprisingly, it is Nords that most frequently come to sell these ingredients. White ice is flaky and delicate and comes from ice wraiths and other icy creatures, while blue ice is dense and blue and comes from either Daedra or from frozen lakes.

Ingredients featured: Frost Salts, White Ice, Blue Ice

Ghostly Remains: Ectoplasm comes from actual ghosts, while glow dust comes from wisps and wispmothers. It is known as vital glow dust when the creature is first slain, but fades into faint glow dust after a few days or weeks, depending on the ferocity of the creature and the manner in which it was killed.

Ingredients featured: Vital Glow Dust, Faint Glow Dust, Ectoplasm

Giant Parts: Giant parts are most potent within two days of slaying the creature. Gargrell points out that they can tell whether it's actually a giant's part or not, and that the only appendages they need are the molars (giants have sixteen), thumbs, and big toes—not the eyeballs, ears, or "anything else a giant has dangling."

Ingredients featured: Giant's Molar, Giant's Thumb, Giant's Toe

Insect Parts: Gargrell explains that the larger a specimen is, the better value it has for potion-making (specifically, it would take thousands of regular-size wasp parts to equal what the giant-size version of the same part could do). He also describes the best way to harvest and store the different parts.

Ingredients featured: Ovipositor, Mandibles, Compound Eye

Lizard Parts: They take the parts of kagouti, guar, scuttlers, and so forth, though not Argonians (despite rumors started by a rival apothecary in Riften). The fresher, the better, although he knows that bringing a large lizard from Morrowind isn't easy.

Ingredients featured: Lizard Fangs, Lizard Scales, Lizard Tail

Intelligent Plant Cuttings: These are plants with somewhat different properties. The creep cluster is common and easy to harvest, while taproots and especially briar hearts are more difficult. They have seen some rotten taproots recently, and they hope that it doesn't take hold like the Knahaten Flu.

Ingredients featured: Taproot, Creep Cluster, Briar Heart

Skeletal Remains: Ancient, brittle bones are preferred over fresh ones, and they actually turn away fresh ones. Bretons prefer to use remains of their own kind, but they like Orc vertebrae because of all the races they have the most sections of spine.

Ingredients featured: Bone Meal, Vertebrae, Skull

Storm Elements: These can be harvested from storm atronachs and from places where lightning has struck. Gargrell mentions the best way to store them due to their instability.

Ingredients featured: Glint Splinter, Shock Ball, Skybolt

Undead Parts & Residue: Gargrell explains how to harvest each of the ingredients from a vampire.

Ingredients featured: Blood Salts, Vampire Dust, Vampire Fang

Mort Flesh: Ingredients harvested from zombies are no longer needed, as they're far too common. Gargrell notes that they must be handled carefully and away from other ingredients, as they often carry diseases—which he's caught before and as a result is glad that remedies are easily accessible to him.

Ingredients featured: Mort Finger, Mort Heart, Mort Tongue

Daedric Deposits: The method of harvesting certain ingredients from Daedra are explained.

Ingredients featured: Void Salts, Fire Salts, Daedra Heart

Critter Parts: The parts of small creatures, aside from those specifically needed for other alchemical uses, such as rats and skeevers. Children of the town sometimes will capture these creatures and sell them to the apothecary, and Bardus seems to be competent at catching them too.

Ingredients featured: Guts, Cold Blood, Small Heart

Snake Parts: Similar to insect parts, a giant specimen is more valuable than a regular-sized one. Gargrell describes the best way to harvest the different parts. He states that they can tell when someone's trying to pass off Argonian parts as snake parts, so one should not try this unless they want to go to jail.

Ingredients featured: Snake Tail, Snake Tongue, Snake Eyes

After listing everything, Gargrell notes that he still has around fifteen pages left in his book and wonders how he will fill them. He is tired, though, and doesn't think he'll rest well: a Redguard merchant named Uwafa had scratched him on the cheek—by accident, Gargrell believes—and though he applied some ointment on it, the scratch has begun to bother him.

The next several pages are a series of self-portraits and notes on the scratch. Over the first few days it begins to become more and more irritated, becoming bigger, more painful, and sprouting pustules, and even cracking and discoloring worse. Around the two-week point, he is hiding from the customers, and is barely able to eat or sleep. Bardus takes over the shop and tries to care for Gargrell as well. Days later, his face is unrecognizable, and he has begun having dreams of worms. He fears that he has corprus disease, but none of the potions for it are helping. He appears to lose more of his mind, speaking of worms and of voices in his dreams, and his face becomes less human.

Bardus writes an entry—Gargrell is chained in a secret room. He is unhappy at what Gargrell had written about him in the book. He's unsure what to do, since it's still a week before the Master returns. Two days later, he says that he ran Gargrell (who he refers to as a corprus husk) through with a spear, but that it did nothing; in fact, Gargrell scratched him when he hit him again. Bardus says he has closed the shop, and that he is considering burning everything, and then he writes farewell.