Kedryn and the others appeared inside a room that resembled more of a dungeon than a vault. It was octagonal in shape, with eight stone walls, each with soft glowing stones set in brackets along the walls which illuminated the room. There were other items of note, but it was the big, glowing crystal in the center of the room that drew everyone’s attention.
“By the Mother,” Bragden whispered in awe. Krazzik simply stared openly at the sight, his jaw hanging open in shock.
“Is that what I think it is?” Kedryn asked, his eyes wide as he tried to take everything in.
The settlement core resembled a three-pointed star that hovered above a smooth, circular pedestal made of occluded quartz shot through with gold. Each segment of crystal was easily 6 inches in length and radiated a power so great it looked as if the very air warped around its edges.
You have discovered a Tri-Pointed Settlement Core bound to the named settlement of Storms’ Rest. Settlement cores are tied directly to the land they are bound to and are capable of directly influencing that which is found within its area of affect.
Type: Legendary Item
Size: Tri-Pointed
Purity: Absolute
Mana: 58/3000
Active Links: 1/3
Slotted Cores: 2/3
“You can see the Guardian Core embedded into the pedestal,” Glade commented as he approached the crystal. “There’s another one as well, but my Aura Sense can’t identify it. Was there a description of it on the settlement interface?”
“Not that I could find,” Kedryn said, barely making out the smooth blue lapis stone that was the Aged Stone Guardian Core embedded partway into the pedestal’s surface. There was another spherical shaped core next to the guardian’s, but where the previous core was blue this one was completely transparent. Kedryn tried using his natural lore skill.
You have discovered an unknown Mana Core. Increase your Natural Lore skill to learn more.
“My natural lore skill isn’t picking up anything either,” he said, stepping closer as if proximity could unlock the secrets the core was hiding. “What about you Krazzik? Bragden? Any luck?”
“My identify skill is about as useful as a straw pickaxe for something like that,” Krazzik said, still mesmerized by the floating crystal.
“I… might be able to figure it out,” Bragden replied hesitantly. “It will take a few minutes though.”
“We’ll look around while you work on that,” Glade replied, turning his attention to the rest of the room.
Tearing his gaze from the settlement core, Kedryn quickly took in their surroundings, anxious to see what other treasures they would find.
Various tapestries and maps hung sporadically around the room, each in pristine condition like they had just been hung yesterday. A massive, ornately carved armoire covered an entire section of the wall, easily standing 8 feet in height with several doors and compartments. There was even a small bed next to it. A cot really, but after sleeping on stone floors for the past week Kedryn couldn’t help but think it looked like something straight out of a presidential.
A desk, chair, and a bookshelf completed the décor. And in the chair sat a small skeleton in tattered clothing, hunched over the desk.
“Ye don’t see that every day,” Krazzik whistled, approaching the skeleton.
Kedryn again glanced around the pristine room, taking in the surroundings. “Is it just me or is something off?” he asked the others.
“What do you mean?” Glade replied, glancing over the maps.
“For starters, this doesn’t look like a vault to me. It’s more like…” he trailed off, trying to think of how best to describe what he was seeing.
“Like someone’s private quarters?” Glade finished the statement. “Yeah, that’s the vibe I’m getting as well. But whose?”
“I’d be guessing it were the last Master o’ Storms. If’n I were angling to make a wager, I’d put me bet on this poor sod be him. Looks like a gnome to me,” Krazzik said as he poked the small skeleton with his finger.
There was a clatter of bones as the skeleton fell apart, whatever tattered clothing it had left disintegrating to dust.
“For cryin out loud, would ye stop touchin things?” Braden growled. “I swear, yer worse than Dabbin! Always pokin dead things. Now hush up and stop touchin things! Figuring out what this here core be is harder than it looks!”
“Sorry ‘bout that,” the dwarven chief said with a roll of his eyes, already rifling through the organized papers on the desk. “I’ll be a bit more quiet like so’s I don’t disturb… hold on, what’s this?”
Kedryn turned his head in time to see Krazzik hold up a well-worn silvery rod about the length of his forearm. Without hesitation, he used his natural lore skill.
You have found an Unknown Wand.
“It’s a wand!” Kedryn said, his excitement rising within his chest. They had found an actual wand!
“O’ course it’s a wand,” Krazzik replied with an exaggerated eye roll. “The real question be what kind o’ wand?”
“I can’t identify it either,” Glade said. “My aura sense is still too low. Bragden?”
“Do ye want me to identify the slagging core or do ye want me look at every little piece o’ sparklin trash ye find?” Bragden snapped, looking over his shoulder.
After a brief moment the surly dwarf turned back to the mysterious core. “It be a gnomish wand o’ shock bolts with an integrated mana gem. A tier or three higher than the usual garbage we see from gnomes. Requires someone with an air attunement to use right and proper though. Now, leave me be. This be far more difficult that I first thought.”
“Right, then,” Krazzik said cheerfully. “We’ll leave ye be for now and will pile up everything for ye to identify later.”
“May the Mother keep me from lay-abouts and morons,” Bragden grumbled before glaring at them. “If’n ye had half a brain between you three, ye’d remember that each and every one o’ ye have access to the slagging settlement’s identify spell, or did ye already forget? Now, LEAVE…ME… BE!”
With that, Bragden faced the center of the room again.
“You know, I’m beginning to think that Krazzik is right. I’ve only seen him happy when he’s torturing others or when he’s winning a fight,” Kedryn laughed.
“Ye can’t blame him really,” Krazzik chuckled. “It be a long standing tradition in the Grimheart line to be as cranky as a bog troll with dysentery.”
“I heard that!” Bragden called.
“I weren’t tryin to hide it, ye good for nothin bearded goblin lover!” Krazzik called back.
Kedryn smiled at the two’s obvious friendship. Only true friends could insult each other with the ease and grace that these two put on display. For a moment, he looked at Glade, wondering if they would ever have that kind of friendship.
After a moment’s thought, Kedryn decided that possibility was unlikely at best. First, Glade was his commanding officer. That is something that is simply not done in the Army. And second, Glade would have to learn how to smile.
Joining Krazzik at the desk, he began rifling through the drawers one at a time. There were several ledgers and loose documents with elegant, handwritten script in a dialect of elvish that neither of them could make out. Glade couldn’t even read elvish, his will ability only helping him learn the spoken word.
“How many will points would it cost to learn how to read this?” Kedryn asked Glade.
“Couldn’t even calculate the cost,” Glade said with a shrug. “It appears my ability only allows me to learn something I’ve been exposed to. The more exposure the better. While I know how to speak the elvish plains dialect, I don’t know the first thing about their alphabet. I can see if Riya can teach me, but that will need to be later. Hopefully, she can read the documents.”
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“That be some ability,” Krazzik whistled before opening another drawer. “But I’m a bit disappointed to tell ye the truth. I thought there would be mounds o’ gold and gems in here. Aside from the settlement core and the wand, I’m not seein all that much that warrants a vault.”
No sooner had he spoken than Kedryn found a large leather purse filled with shiny, metallic coins in one of the drawers, some of its contents strewn about.
“Jack pot!” Kedryn cried, scooping out a handful of gold and dumping it onto the desk.
Another whistle, deep and low, came from the dwarven chief as he watched Kedryn lift the money pouch out of the drawer.
“While I’d love to roll around in mounds o’ gold, this here be more coin than I’ve ever seen in one place,” Krazzik said, picking up one of the coins. “It be elvish gold, just like what we found on the dead shadow elves. Still not quite sure which o’ the Ri’s likeness be on the coin though.”
Kedryn couldn’t keep a smile from his face as he dumped the rest of the money out. He had always dreamed of finding hidden treasure!
It took a few minutes for the three of them to count their findings.
“61 gold, 103 silver, and 40 copper,” Glade counted before holding up a rather large platinum coin. “How much is this worth?”
“No idea,” Krazzik said with a shrug, eyeing the pile of gold. “Platinum coins aren’t used for currency and that doesn’t have the look o’ somethin as mundane as money. Though, the platinum itself most definitely be worth more than a few o’ these gold, I can tell ye that.”
“Just one more mystery to add to the pile,” Glade sighed, setting the coin aside. “The real question is how much money is this? Are we rich or is this someone’s pocket change?”
“Depends on how ye look at it,” Krazzik said, flipping a piece of gold in the air. “This here be good elvish coin, which means it be mostly pure and weighted right. Dwarvish coin be a tad bit better, but both be worth about the same. 10 copper per silver, 10 silver per gold. Those be the standard trade coins used most places. But to answer yer question, I’d say this here be what a noble might be carrying around seein as an average worker earns ‘bout 2 silvers a month.”
“Fair enough,” Glade said. “Is this enough to pay off your taxes?”
Kedryn’s mood soured at Glade’s reference to paying off the clan’s debts to their dwarven king. Their supposed friend, Krazzik, had conned them into accepting a quest that made both Glade and himself, along with the elvish royal house, liable in paying their clan’s taxes.
“Aye,” Krazzik replied with a huge grin. “The king’s tax be 50 gold a year for a clan o’ our size. This here should help out nicely if’n I do say so meself.”
“Well, let’s hope that we find some more, because I don’t think what’s left is going to fund our little operation here.”
Kedryn moved to the other drawers on his side of the desk and only found more papers, which seemed rather odd to him for more than one reason. Why keep gold in one of the drawers and files in all the others? If he was playing a game, the gold would be the distraction to keep curious minds moving along in the hopes they wouldn’t dig deeper. There had to be something more. At least, that’s what his gut was telling him.
As he went in for a more thorough look, Kedryn voiced his other concern.
“Has anyone noticed how strange this place is? I mean, with the papers and all,” Kedryn commented, running his fingers along the inside edges of the drawer.
“Not particularly,” Glade said, looking over the maps again. “If this was used as more of a personal office it would make sense to store important paperwork here.”
“That’s not what concerns me,” Kedryn replied, tapping lightly on the bottom of the drawer. It sounded solid enough, which meant there wasn’t likely to be a false bottom. “Everything in the vault looks so pristine, yet the skeleton Krazzik touched practically disintegrated. If this place really is over a thousand years old, wouldn’t the pages have long since deteriorated?”
“Now that ye mention it,” Krazzik said, looking over the room with a critical eye. “Where be the dust and cobwebs? Granted, everythin in here be safe from the elements, but even wood rots and paper crumbles over time.”
“Exactly!” Kedryn said, now checking the underside of the drawer. His slender fingers were just long enough to fit between a narrow gap at the back. “Yet here we are, standing in a room that looks like someone was just here. Doesn’t that strike you as odd?”
There was a small metal catch just in reach of his fingers. As soon as he pushed against it an audible click echoed from behind one of the tapestries beside the desk.
“Gotcha!” Kedryn smiled, leaping to his feet and pulling back the tapestry. A vibrant orange glow outlined one of the stones in the wall that was obviously a false front. Grabbing the now exposed lip of the stone door, he opened the cupboard size panel to reveal three shelves filled with all sorts of goodies.
Congratulations, you have increased your Perception skill to levels 5. +10% increase to natural perception. Continue to enhance your skill to increase your chances of locating that which others keep hidden.
Kedryn’s smiled doubled in size. Treasure and a skill increase? Why thank you very much universe!
“Ha! Now that be how to find some treasure!” Krazzik laughed, both he and Glade coming up from behind to look over his shoulder.
The bottom shelf held a half dozen sealed scrolls and a finely bound leather book with a pristine bronze latch. The second shelf held three jade boxes with carved runes etched into the pale green stone while the top shelf was filled with several bulging pouches.
In short order, they emptied the cupboard onto the desk and started using the settlement’s identify spell.
You have found a Trainee Skill Scroll of Archery (Bows) x 4. Grants the reader of this scroll up to skill level 9 in the handling of any bow.
Durability: 75/75
Grade: Well Made
Rarity: Uncommon
Weight: .3 lbs
Value: Unknown
You have found a Trainee Skill Scroll of Spear Handling x 2. Grants the reader of this scroll up to skill level 9 in the handling of spears.
Durability: 75/75
Grade: Well Made
Rarity: Uncommon
Weight: .3 lbs
Value: Unknown
You have found a Trainee Skill Scroll of Field Medicine. Grants the reader of this scroll up to skill level 9 in field medicine.
Durability: 75/75
Grade: Well Made
Rarity: Uncommon
Weight: .3 lbs
Value: Unknown
“I can't believe it!” Krazzik laughed, slapping Kedryn on the back in his excitement. "Real skill scrolls! Ye have the luck o' royals running through yer blood boy!"
“Do these really grant the skills as advertised?” Glade asked skeptically, holding one of the scrolls in his hands. “Bragden was skeptical about skill scrolls when we chatted last.”
“Oh, I have no doubt he would be leery o’ skill scrolls, seein as most aren’t worth the paper they be written on. But these here are trainee scrolls, meanin they will grant someone the ability to skip the amateur ranks entirely! Any o’ these would be valuable for mercenary troops or lords wantin to get their people trained up quick and in a hurry.”
“How do they work?” Kedryn asked, picking up one of the archery scrolls. A weapon skill in the trainee ranks would come handy.
“Just crack open the seal and start readin,” Krazzik replied with a shrug.
Both Keedryn and Glade grabbed an archery scroll each and opened them. Before he could even read a word a flash of light filled Kedryn’s eyes as information poured into his brain. He learned the basic stance, breathing technique, proper way to grip the bow, aim, and follow through for everything from short to long bows, recurves, and composites in a matter of moments.
Congratulations, you have learned the skill Archery! Now you can attack your enemies at a distance with nothing more than a string and a stick! You have reached skill levels 1, 2… 8, and 9 in Archery! +18% effectiveness when using a bow. -18% stamina burn when using a bow.
Congratulations! You have risen in rank from Amateur to Trainee in bows!
“That… was… AWESOME!” Kedryn cried, looking at the other scrolls with wild hunger.
“I don’t think I’m ever going to get used to that,” Glade said with a shiver. “What else did we find?”
You have found a Spell Book of Air Gust: Casts a gust of air at a designated target. Synergistic with other spells, skills, and specializations. Spell Level: 1. Cost: 5 mana. Cool down: 1 minute. Damage done is determined by casters skill and attunement levels. Prerequisites: Must have an air attunement at the sympathetic level or greater.
You have found an unknown potion.
You have found an unknown mana stone x 2.
You have found a pouch of unknown mana gems x 9.
“We’re slagging rich!” Krazzik cried, grabbing hold of Glade’s shoulder and shaking him violently. “Do you have any idea what this here treasure be worth!?”
“But we don’t even know what the potion, mana stones or gems are,” Glade ground out before shoving Krazzik away. They had found the potion and two mana stones in the jade boxes. The mana gems were in one of the many pouches on the top shelf.
“Doesn’t matter!” Krazzik replied doing a little jig. “The fact that the settlement spell didn't work just means these here be treasures worth a prince's ransom, I just know it!”
“And these other bags are filled with gold, silver and copper,” Kedryn relayed, estimating each pouch held 50 coins or so, totaling roughly another 150 gold or more.
Krazzik looked like he was about to burst out in song while he danced, causing Kedryn to laugh and Captain Glade to actually crack a smile.
Of course, that was when Bragden joined the conversation.
“We’re all going to die,” the surly dwarf growled, interrupting their celebration. “And I blame each and every one o’ ye!”