All in Charisma (A LitRPG/Isekai Adventure)

Kargan re-formed his aegis. "Glamshara, we've figured it out. Lay down your weapons; you're under arrest."

Grashuk snarled, clutching his scimitar as he turned to Glamshara. "I told you this was a bad idea."

"Hush, my love," Glamshara cooed, caressing the warlord's face. Grashuk's eyes grew hooded, as though under a spell.

Justin knew Zogmar had warned him to act fast, but he had to try reasoning first. They needed the Heart of the Moonflower, if any remained, and only Glamshara would know where it was. "Glamshara, it's not too late. If you have any of the Moonflower left, Nyrissa's life can still be saved. Your punishment will be lighter."

Glamshara's expression remained stony. "It's too late for that. Grashuk and I stepped away earlier when I thought constructs were coming. But I won't comply as long as I'm being falsely maligned."

"Oh, give it up," Bohemond scoffed. "All the evidence points to you, Glamshara."

"I didn't poison her!" Glamshara snapped back.

"Then who did?" Bohemond challenged.

"I don't know! Isn't that your job to figure out?"

"You could have saved Nyrissa," Kargan said, nodding toward the book Justin had placed on the table. "Instead, you wasted the Moonflower on this Everlasting Draught business."

Glamshara's gaze flicked toward the book, and for the first time, guilt flashed across her face. "I don't deny that. I can't undo that mistake, but I swear I didn't try to murder Nyrissa."

Justin frowned, picking up the Dwarven tome. "Glamshara, how did you come by this book?"

Her eyes narrowed. "I found it right here on this table. Why?"

"When?" Justin pressed.

"As we were leaving the excavation, I thought it looked interesting."

Justin glanced at Borgruk. "You weren't the first to find it; Borgruk was."

Glamshara's brow furrowed in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Borgruk found it when your team first arrived at the excavation. Zogmar took it from him and placed it in his satchel. And yet, it somehow ended up here, in your possession."

Glamshara's expression hardened. "Why wouldn't Zogmar mention that?"

"Why indeed?" Justin asked. "Could it be because he knew you wouldn't be able to resist using the Moonflower to create the Everlasting Draught?"

"What are you implying?" Bohemond asked.

Justin's eyes flicked toward the book. "There are certain patterns here. Zogmar may have known what your ambitions were, Glamshara. Perhaps he even counted on them."

"Explain," Glamshara said.

Justin watched her closely. "Think about it. Zogmar has been involved in all of this from the beginning. But there's more. This might be hard to hear, but Grashuk's feelings for you—they aren't real. He's under the influence of a love potion. Zogmar made sure of that."

Glamshara's face fell, her anger crumbling. "He… he what?"

"Yes, and we can prove it. Zogmar gave us an antidote that should cure the effects of the potion. That would confirm the truth."

"Any common antidote would do," Glamshara said. "You don't need anything special."

Justin noted that detail and reached into his satchel for an antidote, handing it to Glamshara. "If you want to know the truth, tell Grashuk to drink this."

He observed her closely; her reaction would reveal much.

Glamshara inspected the antidote for a moment, as if assessing its properties, before sighing and passing it to Grashuk. Moments after drinking it, the haze in his eyes cleared, his expression shifting from shock to disgust.

"What… what is this? What have I done?" The warlord's voice dripped with revulsion.

Glamshara's voice trembled. "Grashuk… do you love me?"

Grashuk sneered. "By Nyriss, I'd rather stick a spear in my gut than stick mine anywhere near you!"

Glamshara let out a pained sob, and despite everything, Justin felt a twinge of pity for her.

"I still don't get it," Kargan said, unaffected by the emotional display. "Why would Grashuk offer a reward for Glamshara if he were under the love potion?"

Justin turned to Glamshara. "You must have told him to do that. Why?"

She sniffled, her composure faltering. "I was afraid of Zogmar. He… caught us. I worried he'd tell others about Grashuk and me. So, I told Grashuk to make that offer, hoping it would distract people from suspecting our… relationship. Grashuk didn't like it, but he did it for me."

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Justin turned to Grashuk. "And the prayer at the shrine? Was that your idea? Can you even remember it?"

"What prayer at the shrine?" Glamshara asked.

Grashuk shifted. "Yeah, I remember. It was my idea. I thought it would take the pressure off Glamshara and make it look like we weren't involved. I asked Ralthog to mention Ryn to Justin. He's loyal to me. It makes me sick to think about it now, though."

Bohemond narrowed his gaze. "So you would rather have your wife blamed than play into Zogmar's lies?"

Grashuk sighed. "I wasn't in my right mind. I guess that potion twisted everything. All I could think about was Glamshara; nothing else."

"And you accepted his sudden change of heart?" Kargan asked Glamshara. "Didn't that make you suspicious?"

"Grashuk came to me after the expedition and said he loved me," Glamshara replied, her voice soft. "I wanted to believe it. I thought I had buried my old feelings, but they flared up again. Hope... hope has a way of dimming suspicions."

Justin kept his expression neutral, though the pieces were coming together in his mind. "Zogmar's been manipulating this situation from the start. The mess he caused was a perfect way to cover his tracks. And he had the means to deliver the love potion, didn't he?"

Glamshara nodded. "He did. All he needed was a hair from my head. He had ample opportunities for that. Some of those other missing ingredients could have helped him create a particularly powerful love potion."

Justin turned to Grashuk. "Do you remember anything about the night Zogmar might have acted?"

Grashuk frowned. "After we got back from the expedition, I went to the tavern. On the way back, I was exhausted and passed out. When I woke up, all I could think about was Glamshara."

"Sounds like he laced it with a sedative, too," Justin said.

Bohemond spoke up. "Wait a second… Glamshara, how do we know it wasn't you who shot Grashuk with the love potion? You already mentioned being in love with him, so it stands to reason you might be the one to do it. Where were you on the night after the expedition?"

Glamshara's eyes narrowed in thought before she answered. "I wasn't anywhere near Grashuk. I was in the lab, going through some of the more immediately beneficial ingredients from the expedition. I wouldn't have had time to ambush Grashuk."

"I can back that up," Borgruk said. "I was on watch that night and passed by her lab a few times. The light was always on, and I could see her busy at work."

"Could she have left at any point?" Justin asked.

Borgruk shrugged. "I suppose it's possible, but I passed by every half hour or so. When I finally went to bed, it was late, and she was still in there."

"How late?"

"Can't say for sure, but the tavern had mostly quieted down by then."

"Did you see Grashuk?"

He shook his head. "No."

It wasn't definitive, but it supported Glamshara's case.

Glamshara's gaze fell on the blowgun at Kargan's side. "That's Zogmar's, isn't it?"

Justin nodded. "He wanted us to use it on Grashuk, claiming it contained an antidote to the love potion."

"Any common antidote could do that," Glamshara replied. "But if I had to guess, there's something more deadly in there. If Zogmar laced him, he wouldn't want to undo the spell he created. He'd want to leave no witnesses."

Justin sighed. "He was pushing us too hard to fight, wasn't he? Almost as if he wanted things to end a certain way."

Glamshara stepped forward. "Let me test the poison."

This required some trust on Justin's part, but there was no one else in the tribe with the expertise to conduct the test.

Justin nodded at Kargan, who handed Glamshara the blowgun. She cracked open a dart and dipped it into a clear solution. The liquid turned a murky purple.

"Poison of Slowing," Glamshara confirmed. "Duskbell and the venom of the blue-spotted tree frog. Common ingredients for immobilizing targets."

Justin remembered Eldrin using the same brew for his dart during the fight at Raven's Rock. "Zogmar was setting Grashuk up for a fall."

Grashuk's fists clenched in rage. "That traitor will pay!"

"There's still the matter of the Moonflower," Justin said. "You said you used it all?"

Glamshara nodded, regret flashing across her face. "I did."

"Why did you choose to make the Everlasting Draught instead of saving your niece?" Justin asked.

Glamshara's face fell. "The Everlasting Draught is a legend among Alchemists. It's the ultimate achievement, said to grant eternal life. Zogmar and I discussed it before, back when we were on better terms. I always joked about making it, but of course, it was impossible. The ingredients are so rare, nearly impossible to acquire."

Justin's eyes narrowed. "But then you saw the tome and realized the ingredients were here in this lab."

Glamshara hesitated before nodding. "Yes. I saw it as a sign, an opportunity. I started working on it almost immediately. But the process was much harder than I expected. Then the Feast of Fates happened. When I saw that Nyrissa was poisoned, I rushed back here to work on the antidote."

"And?" Justin pressed.

"I was still making the Everlasting Draught when that happened," Glamshara said. "I thought I could finish the Draught and then make the antidote. I didn't want to waste all my work. But the Moonflower... I miscalculated. I thought there would be enough for both, but after you questioned me yesterday, I discovered I was off on my original measurements by the smallest amount. A terrible shame, because that's all that's needed to create the antidote. I had no choice but to finish the Draught."

Justin studied her. "So you prioritized the Draught over Nyrissa's life."

Glamshara's shoulders sagged. "Yes, because I would lose all my work if I didn't finish it. I was greedy, thinking I could have both. I didn't want it to happen that way. It was a mistake, but by the time I realized it, there was nothing I could do. And worse, the potion I created wasn't even the Everlasting Draught."

"Really?" Justin asked. "What was it, then? Can I see it?"

Glamshara hesitated, then reached into her satchel, pulling out a vial. The liquid inside glowed with a soft, iridescent light, shifting colors like a small rainbow trapped inside.

"This is it," she said. "It's not what I hoped for. I mistranslated the recipe. The text was unclear, but I think it's actually called the All-Encompassing Draught. The words 'Everlasting' and 'All-Encompassing' in Dwarven look very similar. It will still provide powerful benefits to anyone with a class, but I don't know what those would be. And it's possible that, given the stress of the situation, I've bungled it."

"Assuming it works, it could be quite valuable," Justin said.

"And for now, it's evidence," Bohemond added sternly. "We'll need to bring it back to the Queen, along with the tome. You'll come with us, Glamshara."

Glamshara sighed. "I understand."

Grashuk, his face still contorted with disgust, stepped forward. "You're lucky we're not dealing with this here and now."

"Grashuk, Borgruk, bind her for now," Justin commanded.

Glamshara didn't resist as Grashuk and Borgruk moved to secure her wrists. Her blowgun and remaining potions were confiscated, leaving her with little more than her dignity.

As they began the trek back, Kargan walked up beside Justin. "So, what's your take on all this?"

Justin's thoughts were already racing ahead. "Everyone we spoke to—Zildur, Glamshara, and Zogmar—had both motive and the means. It's a downright mess. But there was a small detail in what she said. If we can confirm that detail, we can unmask the true poisoner."