Stuck in quest. Sage asked for Tomes I collected. He took them then walked away. I couldn't follow him. Magic barrier still up. NOW the quest prompt says "Find an Arcane Tome". I already did that! He asked for the number of tomes i found. 1, 2, or 3. I may have answered wrong. Is that the problem?
yea, well I wish I had known this before I bought a Mortar with 1/3rd of my cash on hand. The game should indicate somewhere that the tools are not helpful at all for the beginning alchemist, just like an Axe or a Belt that is too high-level for me.