Chapter 60
Everyone returned to their seats and settled in. The adult visitors whispered with each other quietly and occasionally motioned over at one student or another.
“Ok everyone, lets go over a few things from that last run. A few things stood out to me, anyone care to take a crack at it?” T'lly asked the class. Carly immediately raised her hand.
“Jay told us this entire story about the squares on the floor and how we would have to run to a square for safety – that never even happened.” Carly said almost as if Jay had been lying.
“Jay, care to take that one?” T'lly said as she motioned over towards Jay.
“Sure,” Jay said a little nervously, “I was guessing based off of my training and experience. The fact that my idea turned out not to be part of that fight does not mean that the mechanic doesn't exist for that boss.”
Warren tilted his head in thought, “How so? A boss fight doesn't usually change between runs.”
Jay sighed, “Well, who knows what would have happened if the boss had enraged. The mechanic I mentioned with the squares on the floor could have come in to play then. Or the mechanic could be part of a separate fight mode – one that only turns up as part of a quest or as part of a hard mode fight. Or, and I can not stress this enough, I could have been wrong. It was my best guess.” Jay shrugged.
Carly spoke up and looked like she had a lot to say, “You're a Traveler, what kind of training and experience could you possibly have had?”
Jay laughed, “You wouldn't believe me if I told you the truth. You aren't the only world with dungeon simulators, even if the ones back on my world differed from yours greatly. For you running Dungeon Room is something you get to experience occasionally, back where I come from a person could own their own simulator and run a fake dungeon whenever they felt like with people from all over the world. Multiple times a day if they chose to.”
The class muttered at that before Warren waved them to quiet down.
T'lly wasn't sure what to say to that but felt like the class was getting away from her a little bit. “Ok Jay, and about the other options you mentioned? Quest? Hard mode? I don't supposed you have ever seen those yourself?”
Jay sighed knowing how this would end, “I have. Just last week actually. It was Peril House. The last fight turned out to be a real mess, nothing like what it was supposed to be. I can give you the names of my group mates and benefactor if you find it too hard to believe me.”
T'lly shook her head, she should have known better when it came to Jay, things had gotten far enough off track already. She said, “I don't think that will be necessary.” just as Carly said, “Who were they?”
T'lly glared at Carly who realized she had spoken out of turn and went quiet under T'lly's gaze.
“Ok, so the point there is that when you ask someone for a guess don't get angry at them if they're wrong. They guessed. They did exactly what you asked them to do. So don't act like you weren't part of the decision making process if they guessed wrong.” T'lly said while staring at Carly who finally looked down and away from the instructor.
“What else? Anyone?” Warren asked the class. Chenowith raised his hand. “Yes, Chen?”
“Traps. Jay checked the first door for traps but then gave up after that.” he said with a smile.
T'lly laughed, “He did, didn't he?” She waited while the rest of the class took turns teasing Jay.
“So lets see.. Jay checked for traps once and everyone else checked for traps ZERO times so can anyone please explain to me why you aren't all teasing the four group members who failed completely at looking for traps?” T'lly said with exasperation. “Anyone?” she asked as the students quieted down. “That's what I thought.”
Warren spoke up, “Jay was the only one who even looked for a trap. Some of you said the others didn't look for traps because they're not good at it. Ok, let's talk about that. When it came time to look for treasure everyone joined in. Every member of the group searched a room for treasure even though they aren't good at finding treasure. Yet the group left the traps to Jay without even talking about it.”
The class mentally chewed on that for a bit. Someone should be looking for traps in every room, every time.
“The real problem here is that the group never assigned anyone to the role of trap finder. The group just assumed someone would do it – which Jay did at first – but when that person stopped looking no one else took on the job. It just.. didn't get done.” T'lly said as she glared at the students. “Even after a week of trap lessons not a single group member stepped up.”
The class was now dead silent.
“Not so funny now, is it?” T'lly said.
Warren waited a moment for the heavy silence to settle across the classroom as the students all thought about what T'lly had said. Finally he broke the silence, “Mistakes were made. Change so they aren't made twice. Don't dwell on it. What else did anyone notice?”
The class looked at each other but wasn't sure what else had been done wrong. Things had gone fairly smooth actually for the most part.
“Loot.” T'lly said. “How would you feel if I told you that you missed a treasure chest? A good one?”
The class groaned and she continued, “You went through that entire dungeon run and only found 2/3 the treasure. Can anyone guess where?”
Jay rested his head in his hands before raising his hand. He knew what he had done wrong.
T'lly smiled sadly, “It looks like he figured it out first. Ok, Jay, where'd you go wrong?”
The entire class turned towards him as Jay put his hands on his desk and leaned back, “I forgot to search the second room. It would have been a nightmare trying to search while dodging those spokes of burning light. I can't imagine digging while dodging light beams. I'm guessing that is where the chest is though, in that second room.”
Warren clapped once, “Excellent. Good job Jay. The lesson there is again always be looking. Always be looking for traps, always be looking for treasure. The moment you stop looking is the moment you miss something. Everyone understand?”
The class all mumbled various forms of the word yes.
“Ok, so just to sum up, in a dungeon with only three rooms the party managed to argue over someone guessing incorrectly – a guess that had zero effect on the final fight. The party forgot to assign someone to look for traps. And the party failed to search every room for treasure.” T'lly said with a grin.
“Those are all rather major failings, class.” Warren said kindly but with a concerned expression. “Either you aren't paying close enough attention or you just aren't focusing enough of class. Whatever the reason is you all need to start really concentrating on class. Those were all rookie mistakes, and after being here for a few weeks you should be past that.”
The class looked at each other, most with guilty expressions, a few with dismissive ones instead.
T'lly threw up her hands, “The whole point is to come back alive with treasure. If you don't look for traps you don't come back alive. If you don't look for treasure you come back empty handed. These are the absolute basics people.” T'lly said sounding a little angry.
Warren sighed. “Ok. Again, fix the mistake, lets not dwell on it, and move on.”
T'lly nodded and smiled. “Lets talk loot!” she said as she fiddled for a moment with the table and it displayed the two chests Jay had found. The table now only displayed one room with two glimmering chests on the ground surrounded by the group's Figurines. On the display on the wall behind the table the first chest was shown. It began to open and T'lly paused the table.
The class groaned. “Aw, come on!” said one student.
T'lly laughed. “Loot rule number 1! Don't open the chests until you've establish the loot rules! Before you start looking at loot and opening chests, preferably before you even leave for the dungeon in the first place, you should as a group decide how loot is going to be handed out.”
Warren nodded, “Can anyone tell me some of the more common loot methods?”
Norri raised her hand, “Need before greed?”
“Yes!” T'lly said, “Need before greed is a popular loot method. An item drops, say a sword for example.”
The class nodded, not everyone knew this material.
“With need before greed the item is then rolled on – the system rolls a random number between 1 and 100 for each person rolling for that item. Only people who can use swords and can use that specific sword as an upgrade to the sword they are already using can roll for that item.” T'lly explained patiently.
“The group member who rolls the highest number wins the item.” Warren finished.
“What about greed rolls?” another student asked.
“Sure,” T'lly answered, “Greed rolls are used when everyone wants an item but it isn't a direct upgrade for anyone. Everyone rolls a random number between 1 and 100 and the highest roll gets the item.”
“What else?” asked Warren, “Anyone know of another loot type?”
“Round robin,” said Carly without raising her hand. T'lly sighed but agreed, “That is another one. Round robin is just a fancy way of saying taking turns. Everyone is given a number between 1 and 5. 1 loots first, 2 loots second and so on. After number 5 it goes back to 1. They take turns looting and whatever you loot you keep – there is no sharing.”
The class didn't seem too keen on that loot type.
“Any others?” T'lly asked.
“Master Looter.” Jay said after he had raised his hand and Warren called on him.
T'lly looked at him oddly, “That's right. Master Looter is where one person loots everything and then the group leader hands out items as they see fit. If you are running your own group and are using strangers for group members sometimes Master Looter is the best option.”
“There are other lesser known types, like One and none where a person gets one specific item automatically without having to roll for it but receives none of the other loot for example. The lesser known loot types are usually reserved for special circumstances and you'll learn about them as the need arises.” Warren said in a calming voice as some of the students, Jay included, wrote the material down.
“What about coin?” T'lly asked.
The class muttered to each other.
“Well, usually we split coin evenly across the group. That can change however, especially if one member of the group was forced to pay for more than their fair share of expenses to start with. Usually though we Guild Members split coin 5 ways.” Warren said with a smile.
“So!” T'lly said, “How should we divide the loot?”
The class all spoke up at once. The two treasure chests on the Dungeon Room board were pretend treasure chests. There was no real loot there. The class had been taking part in an exercise. The class all spoke though as if the loot were real and some arguments were beginning to break out.
“Quiet!” yelled T'lly. The class immediately settled down. “You have three choices. Need before greed, greed, and master looter. Pick one.” she said as she called on the first student.
Nine students after that and they had the tally in. Six votes for need before greed, three votes for greed, and one vote for master looter – that one had been Carly.
Warren smiled, “Need before greed it is.” He pointed over at one of the students who had chosen need before greed, “Norri could you tell us a little about why you chose that?”
Norri nodded. She didn't seem nervous at all but had a youthful excitement that made Jay smile. “Need before greed seems the fairest. Only the people who really need an item have a chance at getting it.”
Warren smiled, “Great point. Ok, how about you Jay? You voted for greed instead, why?”
Jay shrugged, “This is a pretend loot roll. There's no real loot. Need before greed is fairer but I chose greed instead because one, this is pretend and we don't keep the items so need doesn't really enter in to it and two, because this way everyone gets a chance at every item.”
T'lly grunted. “True. So you just chose the one that seemed the most fun for the most people?”
Jay nodded and grinned, “Pretty much.”
Warren laughed. “Ok, and what about master looter – Carly you chose that. Can you tell us why?”
Carly looked angry at being called out but tried to hide it, “I felt that it would be faster to just have someone hand items out.”
T'lly smiled sardonically, “As long as that someone was you? Ok. Not a great look but sure.”
Warren smoothed things over by unpausing the table. “Ok, on to the loot – which will be distributed using the need before greed system.”
The first treasure chest opened and the contents were listed next to it:
Oaken Chest: Horn of Sharpness x 2, Glamordust x 1, Blackthorn Shillelagh x 1
“Ok, so let's see what we have. The horns of sharpness are basically unfinished daggers. They just need some cord wound about the base to form a handle. The tips do damage just as the bull's horns did. They're both uncommon rarity.” T'lly explained.
“Everyone here can use a dagger. None of you use a dagger as your primary weapon so these daggers are not a direct upgrade for anyone in the group. That means no one qualifies for a need before greed roll. So what do we do class?”
Norri grinned, “We roll for greed?”
Warren nodded, “That's right! So let's see what happens.”
Item: Horn of Sharpness x 2:
Jay: Random(100) = 67
Aiden: Random(100) = 42
M'redith: Random(100) = 61
Carly: Random(100) = 38
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Norri: Random(100) = 91
Horn of Sharpness x 1 awarded to Norri!
Horn of Sharpness x 1 awarded to Jay!
“Congratulations to Norri and Jay! Great roll too Norri, really nice.” Warren said with a smile.
Even though the items were fake and the rolls meaningless the class still congratulated Norri and Jay on their win.
“Next up,” said T'lly loudly to cut through the class chatter, “is Glamordust. This is a small vial of dust with four uses remaining. When applied to skin it causes the flesh to glow a pale blue. Completely useless in combat this item is used mainly for makeup by women at formal functions. Worth probably tens of silver if not a full gold to the right buyer. It should be mentioned that blue is one of the rarer shades of Glamordust available.”
Warren chuckled, “No one needs glamordust so there can be no need before greed roll. This one is all greed. Jay may have been on to something originally when he picked greed!”
T'lly checked to make sure all five group members wanted to roll on the item. They did. “Just so you know you don't HAVE to roll on a greed item. If you really don't want the item you don't have to roll.”
Item: Glamordust x 1:
Jay: Random(100) = 73
Aiden: Random(100) = 96
M'redith: Random(100) = 25
Carly: Random(100) = 54
Norri: Random(100) = 52
Glamordust x 1 awarded to Aiden!
“Congratulations Aiden! Are you planning on selling it or gifting it?” Warren asked jokingly. There was no item to sell or gift.
Aiden grinned slyly, “I have someone in mind.” he said cheerfully.
The class laughed and congratulated him.
“Next item! Ooo this is a good one. This is a shillelagh made out of blackthorn. A shillelagh is a fighting stick often preferred by certain Mages – Druids. It has a cudgel on one end and is of uncommon rarity. It has a special ability, Late Strikes, where every strike is immediately followed by a second ethereal strike. This item is worth multiple gold.” T'lly said as the class made appreciative noises.
“So, who will roll on this?” Warren asked with a playful glint in his eye.
The entire group volunteered to roll but T'lly stopped them. “Only one of you may roll on this item.”
Four of the five group members groaned, “Why can't I roll on this?” Carly complained.
“Because you're not a Druid!” T'lly exclaimed. “Haven't you been listening this entire time?”
Warren motioned over to Norri, “Norri is the only Druid in the room as far as I know. She needs that item as it is designed for her class. No one else may roll for it.”
The class groaned but Warren was having none of it. “There is nothing to groan about! Fair is fair!”
Item: Blackthorn Shillelagh x 1:
Norri: Random(100) = 02
Blackthorn Shillelagh x 1 awarded to Norri!
Norri grinned, “I wish this were real, I'd love to have a weapon like that!”
T'lly laughed, “With a roll of 2 you're lucky no one else was rolling against you!”
The class congratulated her and were whispering with each other when a sudden shrill cry pierced through the noise in the room and everyone looked up at the table.
On the shoulder of Jay's Figurine the entire class could see a bright yellow and green parrot let out a scream. The screen on the wall changed to show the parrot as it launched itself in to flight and flew circles about the Dungeon Room board.
“What the hell is that?” asked one of the students.
T'lly looked puzzled as well. Warren looked over at Jay with a raised eyebrow to which Jay responded with a semi embarrassed smile.
Aiden chuckled, “That's Sunny! Congratulations again Norri!”
Norri looked puzzled, “Uh, thanks?”
The parrot finally landed on Norri's Figurine's head and did a little bird dance as he sat there before he craned his little parrot neck to its full extension, parted his beak, and screamed “UPGRADE!” as his wings spread to their full extension and fluttered.
Sunny folded his wings back close to his body and continued to strut about while seated on Norri's head and a new notification was displayed.
Congratulations Norri! An item of yours has received an upgrade in rarity thanks to party member Jay! Your Blackthorn Shillelagh is no longer uncommon and has been upgraded to rare. Please check the item for additional information!
Norri grinned and clapped, “Yay!”
The class responded in various ways, most of them confused over what had just happened.
T'lly read something off of a portion of the Dungeon Room table only she could see. “Well, you'll be happy to know that the Shillelagh is now rare and has an additional ability: +10% to creature control duration per rarity level. Wow, so that weapon now gives you +30% creature control duration as is. That is one hell of an upgrade. Anyone care to tell me how this happened? Jay perhaps?”
The class laughed.
Jay sheepishly explained, “It's my level 1 ability, Lucky Mascot. Sunny can sometimes appear and upgrade the rarity of a looted item as long as I receive a fair share of the loot. I'm not sure what happens to the loot if my share turns out to not be fair but I wouldn't want to risk that.”
The adults at the side table had all begun to mutter at that. Some of them appeared quite surprised whereas others looked as if they had been expecting the upgrade. It seems word about Jay had gotten around already.
“Gaia Jay you've got a lot going on it seems. Ok, well congrats to Norri on a completely overpowered item!”
Norri grinned. It was all pretend but it was still fun.
Warren waved the class back to silence, “Ok class, one more chest to go then we can go to dinner. Sound good?”
The class calmed down and muttered in the affirmative.
The display screen at the front of the room again changed and showed the next chest. As it opened the contents were listed.
Subdued Chest: Upgrade Stone x 3, Thermal Pocket Blanket x 1, Tip Cartridge x 1
“Ok, so there are five of you and three upgrade stones. How do you fairly distribute them?” T'lly asked.
The class all put forth various ways of handling it but T'lly finally stopped them. “No, no, NO.” she said and her volume alone got the class' attention. “We already decided how loot is handed out! Loot rule number 2! Once you decide on a loot method STICK WITH IT. You do not make up new loot rules halfway through the process. If you agreed to need before greed then you stick with need before greed – you don't make up a new way of handing things out.”
The class considered that and took a few moments to talk about it. T'lly surprisingly allowed them to do so, wanting to make sure they thought it through before she continued. “There are three upgrade stones and everyone needs upgrade stones so everyone rolls. The highest three rolls win a stone. The system will not roll off each of the same item separately. The system will roll once and if there are three items then the three highest rolls win an item.”
“Questions?” Warren asked. When no one answered he spoke up, “Ok, let's see who got what.”
Item: Upgrade Stone x 3:
Jay: Random(100) = 35
Aiden: Random(100) = 73
M'redith: Random(100) = 68
Carly: Random(100) = 95
Norri: Random(100) = 26
Upgrade Stone x 1 awarded to Carly!
Upgrade Stone x 1 awarded to Aiden!
Upgrade Stone x 1 awarded to M'redith!
“Many times there will be only one upgrade stone at the end of a dungeon run. You guys were lucky to find a chest with three. Congratulations to those that won.” Warren said with a warm smile.
Moving on to the next to last item T'lly read something and then spoke. “So the Thermal Pocket Blanket is a thin rectangle that folds in to the size of the palm of your hand and fits in to this neat carrying case. The Blanket unfolds to be large enough to completely cover two adult humans.”
A picture of the device appeared on the screen as T'lly continued to describe it. “Tapping the Blanket with the carrying case causes it to fold itself up neatly without user aid. The Blanket itself when unfolded is as warm as if you were sitting in front of a fire. This is a really neat piece of kit – I wouldn't mind getting one of these myself.”
The class made appreciative sounds and Warren smiled, “No one can need roll this item because it is something everyone can use – it isn't designed for one specific class. So long as everyone wants a chance at it?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.
The five group members all nodded.
“Ok, here we go then.” said T'lly with a grin.
Item: Thermal Pocket Blanket x 1:
Jay: Random(100) = 06
Aiden: Random(100) = 73
M'redith: Random(100) = 65
Carly: Random(100) = 95
Norri: Random(100) = 99
Thermal Pocket Blanket x 1 awarded to Norri!
The entire class congratulated Norri. Even Warren gave her a congratulatory nod.
“Last up, something some of you may not have seen before. This is an item of vast worth that on first glance may appear to be just a trinket. The Tip Cartridge is a small device designed to fit over the tip of a charged wand. Charged wands are any wand with a limited number of charges. So long as the Cartridge remains in place for 8 hours the wand will replenish one charge.” T'lly told the class.
The class was not impressed. “So what?” asked one student.
Warren nodded. “Sure, most charged wands are easily replaced. A wand of fireballs is expensive but not entirely difficult to purchase. What good would one charge do?”
T'lly spoke up, “There are ancient wands out there with incredible power that lack the ability to recharge. Imagine having an artifact, an ancient powerful wand so powerful that the world has lost the ability to create them. Then imagine being able to give that wand an extra charge.”
“The Cartridge is designed to be sold to the very wealthy and is itself a very expensive item. To most people it is a useless bauble – to others a priceless addition to a powerful item they already own.” T'lly said as she looked out at the class.
“This brings up a great point – just because something looks useless to you doesn't mean everyone else will see the same thing. This tiny cartridge is worth at least a couple of gold to the right buyer.” Warren said with a sad smile. The class still had so much to learn.
“Ok – everyone gets to roll as no one here used wands during the run.” T'lly stated.
Item: Tip Cartridge x 1:
Jay: Random(100) = 64
Aiden: Random(100) = 16
M'redith: Random(100) = 96
Carly: Random(100) = 92
Norri: Random(100) = 88
Tip Cartridge x 1 awarded to M'redith!
Jay congratulated M'redith and she beamed happily. Then she remembered that it was all pretend and seemed to sober up a bit.
“Don't worry,” Jay whispered to her, “we'll be running dungeons together before you know it and you'll be swimming in loot.” he said with a grin.
She laughed and winked at him.
“Great work everyone. Mistakes were made but that is ok so long as you learn from them.” Warren said happily.
T'lly didn't entirely agree but didn't correct him. “Ok so loot has been passed out. Let's talk now about fairness. Was loot passed out fairly?”
The class talked among themselves before they agreed that it had been passed out fairly.
Warren nodded, “Just to recap, Jay got a Horn of Sharpness. Aiden got an Upgrade Stone and Glamordust. M'redith got an Upgrade Stone and a Tip Cartridge. Carly got an Upgrade stone. Norri got a Horn of Sharpness, a Blackthorn Shillelagh, and a Thermal Pocket Blanket.”
“Does that seem fair? Jay found both chests but only got a Horn of Sharpness. Norri got three items while everyone else got one or two. Is that fair?” T'lly asked.
Some of the class seemed to have changed their minds and now weren't sure.
“Often while handing out loot people will confuse equality with fairness. The loot was handed out fairly. Everyone had an equal chance at items they could use. The loot was not however handed out equally. Norri was given items worth multiple gold total while Jay only got an unfinished Horn.” Warren told the class.
The class now seemed completely uncertain about how the loot was handed out.
“This is the way we do things. We roll for loot. Some people win more than others. The fairness lies in the chance everyone is given to roll on loot – not the comparisons between everyone's final hauls. Get used to this format because unless you are in a static group you will see it a lot.” T'lly said as she shut down the Dungeon Room table and handed people back their Figurines.
“I hope everyone learned something today – there was plenty to choose from. That's enough for today and I hope you all have a good dinner and a good night. We'll see everyone tomorrow morning for weapons practice. Show up ready to fight, not practice.” Warren said kindly as he dismissed the students.
He walked off of the stage and went up to various students with words of encouragement or constructive criticism. T'lly went over to the table off to the side of the adult observers and appeared to keep one of the men wearing adventurer chic busy in conversation. It was obvious he was trying to walk over to the students but T'lly was having none of it and kept him there as the students exited the building.
M'redith saw something she didn't like and grabbed Jay's hand and dragged him out of the building. He followed behind her confused until they had arrived outside.
“Keep walking.” she said as Aiden caught up with them.
“What's going on?” Jay asked as they walked off in the wrong direction for dinner. They appeared to be walking towards the rear entrance of the Guild.
“My guess? That was a dog and pony show to give certain people a showcase of your.. talents.” M'redith said as she led the small group over behind a set of three buildings that appeared to house offices. The rear of the buildings had a grassy square with a few park benches strewn about. Picking the cleanest one she sat down and her two friends joined her.
“So, what. We're hiding now?” Aiden asked.
“Do you honestly want to spend dinner talking with one of them?” she asked, talking about the row of adults that had watched over the class that evening.
“Oh.” Aiden remarked. “I'd rather not.” He put one leg up on the bench across from him. “How about you Jay? Care to go back and say hi?”
The sun was setting and the sky had thrown up massive streaks of reds, yellow, and violets as far as the eye could see. It was still warm though, the brisker fall weather was a ways off still.
Jay shook his head, “I'm kind of swamped with things right now. I've started a mental list of things I need to do. I already have thought of eight or nine unfinished tasks I've got to work on. If I keep meeting people that want me to do things for them I don't know how I'm ever supposed to finish anything.”
M'redith looked up at Jay and smiled. “We're not hiding. Merely choosing the time and place where we will interact with whoever those people were in class. I don't think they even represent one faction. I didn't mind the lady from the Watch. The younger man with the standing staff looked interesting. I would absolutely steer clear of the men wearing adventurer chic though.”
Jay nodded. “We used to call people like that tacticool. Instead of tactical?”
Aiden and M'redith laughed.
“Exactly.” said Aiden with a wide grin.
“Some people like saying they are a Guild Member but hate running dungeons. They're weird and I try to stay away from them. They're unreliable in a dungeon and usually outside of one too. Real dungeon runners wear useful armor, not decorative.” remarked M'redith.
“Well I can't avoid them for long. They know where I live for starters. Plus I'm in class most of the day and night so they can easily find me there. I suppose as long as they don't mess with my free time I'm happy to talk to them.” Jay said with a chuckle. That didn't leave a lot of time for conversations unless they pulled him out of class.
“Well lets head out for dinner, I'm starving.” whined Aiden, “Can we stop and buy some meat on a stick on the way to the restaurant? I'm hungry now and I don't want to wait for our food to cook!”
M'redith laughed, “Sure. Whatever you want little guy.”
That cracked up Jay and the three walked out of the rear entrance to the Guild grounds and in to the city proper to catch a cart.
Aiden even got his meat on a stick. Teriyaki flavor this time.