I'm trying to kill the viciscamera heart in chp 4. My characters have NO alchemy skills. Highest INT is 10. I can't create the poison potion to kill it (won't even let me try). I've cleared the cavern of driders, but can't attack the heart! Even during combat w/driders I don't get the sword icon to let me try an attack. Magic spells won't work either. What am I missing here? Is there any way to attack this thing or is my game stalled forever?

You can try the following:

Replace one of your characters with a freshly created one with high alchemy skill, have this new character make the potion and replace him with the old character afterwards.