Chapter 42
Jay briefly explained that their masks were a quest reward but it was a long story. Jay was ready for bed but perked up when Walter nodded and motioned to the various chests on the table. “Who wants to open one first?” They could discuss the masks later.
M'tthew took the small pink chest and checked it over for traps. Finding nothing he opened the locking mechanism and the lid slowly opened before coming to a stop with a satisfying click. The interior was padded in soft dark velvet and contained a single delicately wrought ring. It appeared to be gold and had an almost impossibly thin band and a red ruby that caught the light and sparkled constantly as it was moved about.
Jay couldn't figure out how such a thin band could support a ruby the size of a fingernail without it falling off. Whenever Jay couldn't figure something out on Eden he just assumed it was due to magic. That seemed like a safe bet in this case as well.
Jay cast Identify at the ring and a dialog box popped up in front of him.
Ring of Barriers – Rare
While worn this ring will protect the wearer from attacks by throwing up a protective magical barrier to intercept any melee attack which the user fails to block. Each time the ring does so a single charge will be used up. Strength of the barrier will increase with each rarity level. The ring holds one charge per level of rarity and will regenerate one charge every 24 hours. The ring must be bound in order to be used. Current Charges: 0/3
The group all made appreciative sounds as Jay read out the ring's description. Everyone wanted the ring but C'nthia as the tank would be getting hit the most often. Everyone turned to C'nthia.
She was sitting with her head propped up in her hands with her elbows on the table. Without moving from her position she said, “I'm sort of built for getting hit so while that looks nice it isn't something that I'd rely on. Still..” she sat and thought about it for a bit before finally appearing to come to a decision. “Let's roll for it.”
The rest of the group grinned and everyone waited to see who would get the ring. The world itself appeared to hear her statement and the system automatically began rolling for the group. As the notification appeared the small pink chest disappeared in to motes of light.
Item: Ring of Barriers x 1
C'nthia: Random(100) = 79
Jay: Random(100) = 05
M'tthew: Random(100) = 76
Jon: Random(100) = 31
Ring of Barriers x 1 awarded to C'nthia
Jon and M'tthew groaned but everyone laughed at Jay's roll. He had rolled a 5.
“If you didn't want it you could have just said so.” Jon said with a grin.
“I DID want it! Its not my fault my rolls are so low.” Jay said but with a smile.
C'nthia was given the ring and put it on. She received a dialog box asking if she wanted to bind the item to herself and she chose yes.
“What is that bit about binding?” Jay asked. He thought he knew the answer but wanted to be sure.
“Some magical items only work for one person. That one person is determined by a process called binding. Equipping an item that requires binding will result in you getting a dialog box asking if you want to bind the item to you.” Jon paused to pull at the collar of his armor that was chafing a bit.
“If you say no then the item doesn't work but you can gift it or sell it. If you say yes well then that item is yours forever. No one else will ever be able to use that item so long as you live.” Jon replied.
“What if the item is bound to someone else when you equip it or try to use it?” Jay asked.
“You'll get a message saying the item is already bound to another and won't work for you.” M'tthew finished for Jon as he appeared to be busy adjusting his armor.
“So how valuable was that ring really?” Jay asked.
“Gold.” responded Walter, “As much gold as a person who really wanted that item would be willing to pay. It depends on how good you are at finding interested buyers, but if I had to guess I'd say at least 10 gold if not more. Plus, the rarity is rare – having three charges makes the ring quite valuable.”
Jay's mind boggled at the amount. 10 gold wasn't an amount of money Jay could grasp – he had nothing to compare it to really. On Earth items were mass produced and a loaf of bread was roughly the same price across the state he lived in. He knew what a car would cost roughly and understood what $100 could buy vs $10,000.
On Eden however Jay was just lost. Everything was unique for the most part – there were no mass produced items. A writing kit made in C'hosen would be priced drastically different than the same kit sold in K'tharkle. The prices weren't even close. You couldn't easily compare prices or shop around. If you found a Ring of Barriers and you wanted that ring then you had to buy that ring – because there was little chance you would ever see one quite like it again.
Jay liked the ring and really had hoped he'd win it. It would have made running higher level dungeons a bit less scary. The House of Peril had been quite high leveled for Jay and he had on numerous occasions been terrified while running that dungeon.
Walter looked like he was waiting for something and paused for a moment before frowning and motioning M'tthew to proceed to the next chest.
M'tthew examined the small brown chest. He stopped as his fingers appeared to snag on one side of the chest. Poking and prodding the chest finally gave a click as a portion of the side of the chest slid out an inch. “Trapped. Poison. It is safe now.”
He handed the chest to C'nthia figuring she might enjoy it. She grinned, it was hard not to get excited opening a chest full of loot. Opening the brown chest she looked inside and smiled before her face fell in confusion “Huh.” she said.
“What is it!” Jon asked, “Don't keep us waiting, that's just mean!”
M'tthew chuckled but motioned to C'nthia to share as well.
She reached in and took out a six inch long snake with a hooded head. It was green with a repeating red chevron pattern across its back. She placed it on the table and it sat there without moving. Jay was impressed by how lifelike that statue looked. He could count each individual scale and the hooded head was curled back as if ready to strike.
“Anyone else getting a creepy vibe from this thing?” Jay asked. He wanted to poke at it but something held him back, some ancient deep seated knowledge in his mind that insisted he fear snakes.
“I don't know, I think its kind of cute!” Jon said with a grin.
“What IS it though?” C'nthia asked.
Jay cast Identify and read out the description, not quite sure how he felt about what he read.
Pygmy Serpent – Pet – Rare
This pet will remain in hibernation until bound. Once bound this item will become a living pet. At common rarity this item will follow the user wherever they go, for life. At Uncommon rarity the pet will obey basic commands but will not participate in combat. At Rare rarity the pet will be capable of transmitting basic emotions to the user as a way of simple communication. Further rarity upgrades will result in new abilities. This item must be bound to be used.
“Goddess Gaia,” swore Walter. “I've never seen anything like it. A pet?”
Everyone was familiar with normal pets. Dogs, cats, hamsters, pets were a fairly common thing for humans to have. They were just animals though – they had no abilities or rarities – normal pets were just animals that stuck around with a human.
What Jay's group had found was something else entirely. The Pygmy Serpent would act almost like a companion and had a number of abilities, not to mention the ones it would gain once it was upgraded. The user would even be able to communicate with it on a basic level.
Before Jay could even ask Walter spoke, “It's unique. I couldn't attach a price to an item like this, it's a true treasure though. If you sold it you would make enough money to live off of for a few years.”
Angelica spoke up for the first time in a while. She had been silent since they had arrived at the Portal House. “Who would sell this instead of using it though?”
Jay shivered, “Someone afraid of snakes.”
The rest of the group chuckled. “No one can need an item like this. Let's do a greed roll.” C'nthia said and the rest of the group agreed. Once again the notification for a random roll popped up for everyone.
Item: Pygmy Serpent x 1
C'nthia: Random(100) = 18
Jay: Random(100) = 39
M'tthew: Random(100) = 39
Jon: Random(100) = 22
Tie detected! ROLLOFF!
M'tthew: Random(100) = 98
Jay: Random(100) = 02
Pygmy Serpent x 1 awarded to M'tthew
“Really killing it with those rolls Jay.” C'nthia said in jest. His last two rolls had been in the single digits.
Jay sighed but wasn't too upset about it. He wasn't thrilled with the idea of having a pet snake hanging around him all the time. The very idea almost gave him an anxiety attack. Everyone congratulated M'tthew who immediately bound the item to himself.
The little statue came to life and Jay wanted to push back away from the table as he saw it start moving but instead kept himself seated.
The tiny snake slithered up to M'tthew and gave him a cute hiss before slithering up one arm and had trouble finding a good spot. M'tthew offered it a small pouch he had hanging on his belt and the snake happily slid in to the pouch, moved about a bit, and popped its little head out of the top so it could look around and see everything that was going on. It gave out a tiny hiss.
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M'tthew laughed as the little snake looked him in the eyes. “He just talked! Well he didn't talk but he sent this feeling of happiness and contentment. I think he likes the little leather pouch!” M'tthew appeared to be incredibly happy with his new pet.
The group all asked him questions about his new pet snake and Jay found himself feeling a little sad that he didn't have a tiny snake pet himself. Oh well, he thought, there was plenty more treasure out there to go find, this wouldn't be his last dungeon run.
C'nthia grinned, “Next!” she said loudly to get everyone's attention and pulled a second item out of the chest. It was a small bottle with a bright red cap that appeared to unscrew from the top. It had purple streaks throughout the glass. She set it on the table. Jay cast Identify and read out the text.
Oil of Savagery – Very Rare
This oil must be worked in to the blade of a weapon in order to be used. Once a blade has been polished with this oil it will provide a beneficial effect for five minutes. Increases the chance for an attack to do critical damage by 25% [5+(rarity lvl*5)]
4/4 doses left.
Jay whistled. 25% extra chance for a critical attack was a lot. Every time an attack was made there was a tiny chance that the attack would be brutal and do extra damage – critical damage. The extra damage was usually double the original amount. If this oil was used on a weapon and that weapon was used as part of an attack ability the resulting damage could be insanely high.
Jay smiled, “I'm out. I can barely attack as it is. I think a damage dealer would make better use of this than I could.”
C'nthia agreed, “Me too. This is more along the line of a need item than a greed item. Jon and M'tthew would both really benefit from this.”
No one argued with that and the system displayed the final rolls.
Item: Oil of Savagery x 1
M'tthew: Random(100) = 82
Jon: Random(100) = 16
Oil of Savagery x 1 awarded to M'tthew
Everyone congratulated M'tthew on his good luck. He'd scored two items from the treasure chests so far and was scratching his new pet on its chin as its tongue flicked out happily. The other group members would have been happy to get loot but weren't overly jealous of M'tthew's good luck. It all evened out in the end.
“Last item everyone! Who wants to open it!” C'nthia said cheerfully.
M'tthew took the chest and searched it for any traps but found none. He handed it to Jay.
Jay opened the chest and found a number of items inside. He sprinkled the coins on to the table and Walter swept them in to piles and stacked them up. “4 gold,” Walter said. That was a number Jay could understand. 4 gold, 4 party members in the loot pool since Angelica chose to get the final item instead of being in the loot pool.
It would end up with 1 gold per person. 1 gold was 100 silver. Jay had a loose handle on what 100 silver could buy. It was a good amount.
Jay took out the next item and carefully handed it to Angelica.
Rod of Wounds – Rare
Allows the user to cast healing spells with increased effectiveness. At rare rarity healing spells will heal extra hit points per heal: 25% (5% per rarity level). This rod must be bound before use.
Angelica let out a squeal of delight before catching herself but happily took the rod and was given the option to bind it to herself which she did. As she did so a cry was heard and a brightly colored yellow and green parrot appeared on Jay's shoulder.
“Sunny!” said M'tthew as the bird took to the air and flew circles around the group. Sunny hovered over the table for a moment and finally landed on Angelica's shoulder.
“Quick! Cover your ears!” Jon said to Angelica who clapped her hands over her ears just before Sunny, who was perched on her shoulder, screamed “UPGRADE” a few times while preening itself. A prompt appeared in front of Angelica.
Congratulations! An item of yours has received an upgrade in rarity thanks to party member Jay! Your Rod of Wounds is no longer rare and has been upgraded to very rare. Please check the item for additional information!
Sunny hopped down off her shoulder on to the table and waddled over to Jay. Using his beak and talons he climbed up on to Jay's shoulder before disappearing.
“What'd you get!” asked Walter, clearly excited.
Angelica read out her new item's description in shock as Walter took notes.
Rod of Wounds – Very Rare
Allows the user to cast healing spells with increased effectiveness. At rare rarity healing spells will heal extra hit points per heal: 30% (5% per rarity level). At very rare rarity moderate wounds that would normally require an infirmary to heal will instead be stabilized for: 30 hours (5 hours per rarity level) and will not further reduce a patient's hit points during that time. This rod must be bound before use.
Angelica marveled at her new item. It was far stronger than she had even hoped for. She had hoped to acquire the rare version of the item and had been prepared to begin the long process of purchasing upgrade stones to upgrade it – going from rare to very rare would have taken 40 upgrade stones.
At a few gold each it would have cost no less than 80 gold to upgrade the item from rare. The upgrade cost alone represented a huge fortune and didn't even take in to account the value of the magical item itself. At very rare however she wouldn't need to spend anything. The rod was incredibly strong as it was and was worth a massive amount financially.
Walter spoke up. “30% extra healing is just.. it's just crazy. That's a huge amount.”
Angelica shook her head, “The moderate wound stabilization is the best part. That is something most healers can't do. You all just made me a very popular healer once others learn I have this.”
“Thank you everyone. Thank you Jay!” she said while looking at each in turn with a pleased expression.
“Ooo.” said Jay as he took out the next treasure from the opened chest. Setting them on the table he showed the group five patches.
Each patch's outer edge was ringed in heavy golden thread. The patch showed Peril in the center. Her eyes weren't sewn on but were tiny rubies that sparkled in the light. The bottom rocker showed yesterday's date. The top rocker read 'The Masked One.' The entire patch appeared to have been sewn by a master and was intricately detailed.
Everyone took a patch and Angelica appeared absolutely enchanted by hers. “What IS this?” she asked as she turned it about in her hands. She knew it was a patch but the golden thread, precious gem eyes, and incredibly detailed stitching turned it from a simple patch in to a true treasure. The fact that each one was personalized with the date of their battle in remembrance of their hard mode kill of Peril made it even more valuable to the group members.
“Its a patch obviously but to be more specific it seems that if you beat a dungeon with Jay you are given a patch to remember the occasion.” Walter said with a wry grin.
“I love it!” Angelica cooed happily as she clutched it to her chest.
The group all marveled at the patches and everyone seemed happy with them. Jay took his and placed it on his vest. It stuck fast to the material but came free when Jay tugged hard on it. “Don't even need to sew them on – they just magically stick!” Jay said with a smile.
The group all took the opportunity to play with their patches for a moment before they turned back to Jay to see what was next.
Jay reached in and pulled out a pile of upgrade stones. He placed them on the table and everyone got quiet. “Don't they usually only give you one or two of these stones at the end of a dungeon?” Jay asked.
Walter nodded, “Usually. Its not unheard of to find five of them at once, but it is rare.”
Jay smiled, “I bet it's because we beat the final boss on hard mode. Much tougher fight, better rewards.”
The group all nodded seriously. “We each get one. What do we do with the 5th stone since Angelica isn't in the loot pool?”
Jay spoke up, “I'd say give it to her. We each get one, that way there's nothing to complain about.”
Jay still didn't quite understand how dungeon groups worked or even how the group he was in worked. Did they get a base pay? Did Angelica have to pay for the group to get her the rod? Did the group have to pay Angelica to join them as a healer? What was the protocol for a 5th item when one member had chosen to not be in the loot pool?
Jay didn't know, so it shouldn't have been a surprise when the other group members all looked at each other slightly embarrassed as if Jay had said something inappropriate but in the nicest way possible. No one seemed like they wanted to explain Jay's social misstep to him and finally Walter nodded.
“If there are no objections then each of you receive one upgrade stone.” Walter said as he handed them each a stone.
The chest Jay had been taking things out of turned in to motes of light after the stones were passed out and Walter motioned to Jay. “Ok, next item on our list. Jay, care to fill us in with the Mask details?”
Jay explained how they finished a dungeon quest and were rewarded with a quest starter item. They had obviously all chosen to keep the masks. Jay went over the various quests it had required them to complete and realized he hadn't yet finished the quest! Jay brought up the notification but chose not to apply his experience points yet. He was too tired to level and really wanted to be around M'redith when he did.
You have completed a Legends quest! Give Baby a Bath: mask bathed 1/1! You have been awarded 100xp!
Congratulations! You have completed the final quest in the Midnight series and will receive the following:
1000xp
Midnight Mask
Title: The Masked One – You no longer fear the darkness! +1 DEX. This title does not need to be visible for the bonus to take effect and is always active.
Angelica laughed as she read her notification and turned on her title. “Look at me!” The rest of the group grinned at her. They had been just as giddy the first time they had gotten a fancy title.
Jay took off his mask and put it in his backpack. The entire group set their titles to visible and smiled. Jay inspected his mask before putting it in his pack.
Midnight Mask – rare
This item when worn adheres to the user without use of straps or glue. The mask molds itself to the wearer covering the entire face while concealing the user's eyes. The mask will allow the user to see the outlines of all objects and beings in view even in total darkness. The outlines will be drawn in green with details being shown in a lighter green color. Further rarity upgrades will unlock additional abilities. This item must be bound before use.
“I could get used to this.” Jon said with a grin. “Its like loot just has a way of finding you Jay.”
“I have to say this is some of the most fun I've had in a dungeon run.” Angelica agreed with a grin.
“We aim to please.” Walter replied dryly as he finished up his notes and leaned back in his chair. He pinched the bridge of his nose with one hand, “It's too late to do anything more. You're all free to go. Oh,” he said as he tossed a pouch to Jay, “this is for you. You did well today Jay.”
Jay caught the pouch but did not open it. If he was right he already knew what it contained anyway. He thanked Walter as well as the rest of his group and bid everyone goodnight.
A woman wearing a blue robe and a strange hat escorted Jay to an awaiting cart in the pitch black of the early morning. Jay began to shake during the ride back as he thought about some of the fights from yesterday and Jay just rode it out until the shaking went away. Even though he had survived he still felt like he was still in the dungeon and he had to make a concerted effort to calm himself. He finally arrived at The Guild and got off the cart and walked to his room like a zombie, barely seeing where he was going.
Taped to his front door was a folded note. Opening it Jay read the two sentences it contained and smiled.
Jay, hope everything went well and you're still alive! - Aiden
Come back safe! See you at breakfast! - M'redith
M'redith had drawn a happy face next to her sentence.
Jay took the note and closed his front door behind him. He went to his bedroom and put the note on his bedside table before getting undressed. Finally he collapsed in to bed and fell instantly asleep.
He dreamed of running from Peril in the last fight with no lights on only Jay had no mask this time and ran blindly. Sometimes he would trip over a chandelier. Other times he would lose track of Peril only to be attacked from a different direction. Peril got him over and over and the dream would repeat.
At one point he woke up covered in sweat. The bed was damp as well. He had sweat through the sheets. His body seemed to think his nightmares were real. He got up and dried off and put a towel down on the bed. Getting back in he fell asleep once again. This time he dreamed of stargazing with M'redith. Finally feeling safe he slept soundly.