Chapter 204

Sha'li went to hold her hands to her ears but stopped herself. There was a bird on her shoulder. A parrot! She ended up standing with her hands held out halfway up to her ears. She let them drop to her sides as she tried not to move too much.

“Ow! That hurts!” Sha'li said but made no move to disturb the parrot.

“What hurts?” Norri asked in concern.

Sha'li used her head to nod sideways at the bird on her shoulder. “His little nails are like daggers!”

Jay shrugged, “How else is he supposed to stay upright? I guess the rest of us don't usually notice as we're all wearing leather armor.”

Sha'li rolled her eyes. “I'm not! Ow!” she said one more time. She raised one of her arms to move the bird and stopped herself again.

Sunny watched Sha'li move her arms back and forth before he decided that it looked like a much better spot to sit. He flapped his wings which made Sha'li squeak and lean her head away. Sunny used his wings to control his descent as he smoothly hopped off of her shoulder and on to her extended arm. He looked up at Sha'li and made a high pitched yet sad sounding chirp.

Sha'li tilted her head and watched as Sunny raised one wing and began to preen himself.

“Does he do this a lot?” Sha'li asked as she held her arm out in front of her so that she could get a better look at Sunny. Sunny clung to her sleeve and looked quite content. Sunny switched wings and began to preen the light-as-air downy fluff that lined his body beneath his feathers.

M'redith shook her head. “He usually visits briefly and then is gone. He seems to really like you though.”

Jay nodded, “I don't think he's ever just sat on my arm and hung out with me like he is right now with Sha'li. Whatever you're doing, he likes it.”

Sunny enjoyed the attention but refused to allow anyone to pet him or touch him. Sunny let them look, but not touch. Eventually the parrot grew tired of being ogled and decided to move things along. With a shrill chirp he took to the air and flew a wide circle around the room until he returned to his starting position and landed on the opened lid of the chest. He grasped the lid with his sharp nails as he extended both wings and fluttered them to get their attention.

If Sunny could talk he would be yelling LOOT. Not all parrots can talk though, so instead he fluttered his wings dramatically. A lot of parrot communication is body language it turns out.

“I think he's trying to tell us something,” Aiden said as he leaned towards the treasure chest.

Sunny's eyes pinned in to little black dots before he scrunched his body down in to a little fluffly ball and then launched himself in to the air. He flew up and out of the room to the surface above. The group lost track of him as he disappeared in to the distance.

“Well, go ahead. Let's see what is inside shall we?” Jay asked Sha'li who grinned and reached in to the small white chest. As she withdrew a flat package wrapped in brown paper a notification appeared for the group.

Congratulations! An item of yours has received an upgrade in rarity thanks to party member Jay! Your Starwrap is no longer common and has been upgraded to uncommon. Please check the item for additional information!

“I guess that takes a bit of the fun out of finding out what is in the package,” Aiden said in disappointment.

Norri sighed but smiled, “You know the name of it but nothing else. Shush.”

Aiden smiled and bumped up against Norri who grinned.

“Go ahead, open it!” M'redith said in encouragement.

Sha'li carefully untied the twine that was keeping the package wrapped. She pulled the twine away along with the wrapping paper and dropped them on to the ground. As they touched the ground they broke down in to motes of light until nothing was left of them.

Out of the package she had removed and unwrapped a length of soft wool. It ended up being a scarf but made out of the softest wool the group had ever encountered.

Starwrap – uncommon – This dark blue scarf is crafted out of lambswool and is roughly four feet by six inches in size. When worn around the neck an icy blue field of stars will form above the wearer's head. Any ranged non-magical attack which would strike the wearer is instead intercepted by the stars. The wearer may override this effect. This effect may occur once per twenty four hours. This item must be bound before use and will bind to the first user who equips it.

“Whoa. That's a nice one.” Aiden remarked. “Not a bad upgrade, huh?”

Sha'li nodded in excitement. “What now?”

“Well now we determine who can use it. I think everyone could use something that stops one non magical ranged attack per day.” M'redith said with a grin. “Anyone want to sit this one out?”

No one offered to give up their roll. A moment later the system responded and everyone read their new notification.

Item: Starwrap x 1

M'redith: Random(100) = 17

Jay: Random(100) = 07

Norri: Random(100) = 23

Aiden: Random(100) = 22

Sha'li: Random(100) = 66

Starwrap x 1 awarded to Sha'li!

“Congratulations Sha'li! I'm glad you won it,” M'redith said with a smile as she motioned to Sha'li to put it on.

Sha'li shook out the scarf and smoothed the creases out of it before she wrapped it around her neck and shoulders. She tugged at it and moved it around so that it wasn't wound too tightly. She rearranged it around her shoulders and finally smiled. She was presented with a new notification.

Would you like to bind Starwrap to you? This action may not be undone! Yes|No

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Sha'li chose Yes and felt something in her mind click in to place.

Starwrap is now bound to you.

A field of dark blue twinkling stars faded in to view around her head. The cloud of stars was transparent but the stars themselves were bright specks of blue and white and flickered as they moved.

“Should I try throwing something at you?” Aiden asked.

Sha'li laughed and shook her head while the others all teased Aiden for his idea. As Sha'li shook her head the stars moved with her as she did so. “If you do then I won't be able to use it for a whole day! I'd rather have the intercept ability available for an emergency.”

Aiden shrugged, "Ok. Well in that case, it looks really good on you. Congratulations on your first piece of magical equipment! And you helped earn it yourself!"

“Thank you everyone,” Sha'li said with a wide smile.

Jay nodded. “You're welcome. It wasn't all us – you helped a lot.” Jay pointed out as he glanced at the stain on the ground behind them.

Sha'li laughed. “Sure, but I'm well aware of how you all are babying me in here. I really appreciate you guys taking me out like this. It's been so much fun to be out of the city for a change. So what is next?”

M'redith traded an exasperated look with Norri before the two laughed. “The chest isn't even empty yet! You want to leave already?” M'redith said with a grin.

“Oh! Right! I got distracted by my scarf!” Sha'li said with a bright and happy look on her face.

“Well, go ahead!” Aiden said after a moment in which Sha'li still hadn't pulled out another item from the chest.

“Oh it's still my turn?” Sha'li asked.

Jay grinned. “We're all ok I think with you managing the treasure chest this time.”

Sha'li seemed to visibly brighten and leaned back over the chest. She pulled out another wrapped package.

She tugged the paper off of the bundle and shook it out. It unraveled in to a long silky black dress. The dress was covered in a teal floral pattern that covered the fabric in almost impossibly thin lines. The patterns were done in fine teal colored thread and the detail work was precise enough that Jay could make out the pistils in the flowers themselves.

Ancient Gaian Formal Dress – uncommon – This floor length dress has a slit on the left side from floor to knee, a high neckline and collar, and is both sleeveless and strapless. The dress itself is an inky silky black wheres the detail threading is a vibrant teal.

When worn the black material of the dress gives off ultraviolet light and causes any white or lighter colors within ten feet to fluoresce brightly – including the teal thread on the dress itself. While active the dress's teal stitching appears to glow brightly. The closer to the dress a white or light colored item is the brighter the fluorescence. The lighting effect may be turned on and off by the wearer at will.

This item must be bound before use and will bind to the first person to wear it.

“Well I'm in,” Aiden said before Norri pushed him and he corrected himself, “I'm kidding! I'm obviously out of the running for this one. That thing is going to look amazing on someone – just not me.”

M'redith nodded, “I'm in. I want that dress,” she said with an intensity she hadn't shown when they had rolled for the previous item.

Norri grinned, “It looks a bit big for me but I'm guessing that could be fixed for a price. I'm in! How about you Sha'li?”

The half-elf grinned and nodded, “It looks beautiful, but I already won an item.”

Norri shrugged, “No one said anything about only being able to win one item, did they?”

“Well...no, but,” Sha'li said and M'redith spoke up.

“You can roll Sha'li. The rule is if you can use it you can roll on it. You in?” M'redith said with a straight face.

Sha'li wasn't about to argue any further. “I'm in!” she stated with an excited and somewhat nervous look.

Nothing happened and the group waited another moment before M'redith finally pointed at Jay.

“You have to say it I think Jay,” M'redith explained with a raised eyebrow.

Jay nodded, “Right. I'm out, good luck ladies.”

Everyone received a new notification.

“Here we go!” Norri said excitedly.

Ancient Gaian Formal Dress x 1

M'redith: Random(100) = 73

Norri: Random(100) = 52

Sha'li: Random(100) = 66

Ancient Gaian Formal Dress x 1 awarded to M'redith!

“YES!” M'redith shouted and clapped once loudly.

“Awww. Oh well. It'll probably look better on you anyhow. Congratulations M'redith!” Norri said a bit dejectedly before cheering up towards the end.

Sha'li smiled, “I can't wait to see what it looks like when you put it on!”

M'redith laughed, “Well, I'm not putting it on now.”

“Awww! Come on!” Norri begged but M'redith was insistant.

“I'm not changing in to a dress in the middle of a ruins! We're still not out of the ruins either by the way!” M'redith pointed out with an exasperated smile aimed towards a grinning Norri.

“Fine. Later then?” Norri pleaded.

M'redith nodded. “Later,” she agreed.

Sha'li smiled shyly. “I'd enjoy seeing it as well once you decide to put it on.”

M'redith grinned widely. “After we get back to the portal house, ok? That will be the perfect time for it.”

The other two women nodded in agreement while Aiden and Jay looked on.

The white chest began to disintegrate in to motes of light that floated in the air until they disappeared entirely.

“Oh. I guess that was everything?” Sha'li wondered aloud.

“That was better than what we had expected from today's run, which was either nothing or just white items. We made out really well I think.” M'redith pointed out with a warm smile. “Now that loot is done let's see if we can get out of here,” she suggested.

“Everyone ready? Pushing the button in three, two, one,” Jay said as everyone lowered their center of gravity and held their hands out for balance. Jay reached behind the throne and felt for the two buttons with markings. He pressed the top one with the plus sign on it.

The round platform they were on shuddered and with a loud groan it began to rise once again. The foggy sky grew closer and closer.