High gloom, p.28
High Gloom, page 28
part #6 of The Bad Guys Series
"Assbutt? It is your choice to go. As it is your choice to go through with this."
"I'll go," I said. "I just won't like it. The bloodcrystals?"
"Those grow within the Gloom. You may be able to find them there, and harvest them. Or, you may check with the local traders, see if any of them are willing to sell some to you."'
"How much do I need to get?"
"Half your body weight."
"Of bloodcrystals?"
"Yes."
"And the clay?"
"Twice your bodyweight at the very least. At least five hundred pounds, but a thousand would be better."
"A thousand pounds of clay?"
"Yes."
"Don't suppose you've got a strength potion I can borrow so I can carry that much."
"No. I am giving enough to this endeavor. The most difficult portion of the ritual will take place once you have everything."
"What's that? Learning to carve clay and make a perfect likeness of myself?"
"I must stop what I am doing and focus all my powers on preparing the ritual. Which means, for the length of time it takes me to work, there will be no magical protections for GloomGuard."
“Oh."
"Very likely, there will be many who attempt to cross over. Or to close the portal. Or to destroy Gloomguard. Or to destroy me. I will be vulnerable during that time, and I cannot help the fight without destroying the ritual. You must hold the portal and keep the city safe. Perhaps more difficult than getting either the clay or the crystal, you must convince all of Gloomguard to put their lives on the line defending the city so that you might be saved."
"I don't say this lightly," I said, "but shit."
"Indeed."
You have been offered a quest:
Seek and Destroy Part Two
Gather at least five hundred pounds of lifeclay, preferably more. Gather at least one hundred pounds of bloodcrystal, preferably more. Convince the lightbringers to hold GloomGuard without Girgeneth’s assistance while Girgeneth prepares the ritual.
Reward for success: Girgeneth will attempt the ritual
Penalty for failure (or refusal): Death. Loss of Self. Unknown
Yes/No
I stood there in the presence of that magical and magnificent beast, and I couldn't help but wonder what the hell I was going to do. Gloomguard wasn't exactly a selfish place, but there was also a very pointed message that Gloomguard and the portal to the Gloom were more important than any one person. How was I going to be able to convince them otherwise?
"Are you sure there'd be an attack?" I asked.
"There are few absolute sureties in this world," he said, his voice seeming to rumble deep in his body, "but it would be surprising if there was not some attempt on Gloomguard during that time. I know there are those placed to monitor me and what it is I am doing. The difficulties in getting to see me is but one safeguard in place to make it harder to know what's happening and when. But nonetheless, when my powers and attention are redirected, many will notice. Whether they are able to take advantage of the situation is a different question, and one that I cannot answer."
I heard a door opening, and soft chattering, and I quickly accepted the quest. There wasn’t exactly a question that I would.
"... yes, but where are we?" Nox asked. "This would be much easier if you would just speak to me."
"Mind striking a more imposing pose?” I whispered to the dragon.
"Hrm?" the dragon asked, a rumble.
"Just want to see his reaction."
"Ah."
Girgenerth stretched himself to his full height, spread his wings out full, and took in a huge breath, his ribcage swelling. He began to glow, brighter and brighter.
Nox came around the corner, muttering to himself.
He looked up. And up. And up.
All the color drained from his face, and his mouth hung open.
I smiled.
Girgenerth roared out, and, for bonus fun, belched an enormous gout of flame over the ceiling. The fire licked at each and every corner and blinded me, and everyone else with its immense brilliance. The heat was incredible — I felt like I definitely got an impromptu haircut — and the force of it all knocked me off my feet.
I slowly got up, then dusted myself off.
Insects and other small creature corpses started raining down, victims of the dragon's fire. It was both disgusting and impressive. After it ended, I dusted myself off again, noting that I was now covered in light gray ash.
I walked over to Nox.
Nox was laying on his back, just staring up at the ceiling, slack jawed.
I could feel the air swirl as the dragon moved so he could look down on Nox.
"Too much?" the dragon asked.
64
I got Nox introduced, and Girgenerth helped calmed down the researcher with a bracing dash of incredibly old, priceless liquor served in a teacup from a dynasty long since gone. Nox seemed beyond eager to learn about the history of the cup, and the dynasty, and Girgenerth was about as happy as I'd ever seen a dragon. I mean, I only had the one to gauge by, but he was laying on his hoard next to Nox, who was seated at a small golden table just to the side of his head. If it wasn't for the incredible size disparity, it would have been cute. They both chattered away excitedly.
I walked out by myself, looking over the whole new of quest I had to complete. Which was, you know, technically three quests, but whatever.
Seek and Destroy Part Two
Gather at least five hundred pounds of lifeclay, preferably more. Gather at least one hundred pounds of bloodcrystal, preferably more. Convince the lightbringers to hold GloomGuard without Girgeneth’s assistance while Girgeneth prepares the ritual.
Reward for success: Girgeneth will attempt the ritual
Penalty for failure (or refusal): Death. Loss of Self. Unknown
Always more quests. More things to do just to survive. Which was probably true for most everyone — I just wanted to complain about it.
Still in silence, the guards showed me a different exit, which could also serve as a way to return since I was now on the approved list. At least, that's how I took it. It was a simple door hidden in plain sight, just tacked onto a small corner of the Gloomguard wall. It made me curious as to how Girgenerth might leave his cavern if necessary.
I made it all the way to sitting at a table in the cantina before I realized I hadn't bothered to ask Girgenerth how exactly I would go about speaking to the Mad God and asking him for a favor. I wasn't looking forward to that nonsense. How mad was the Mad God? Was talking to him going to make me mad? It certainly seemed possible. But I remembered someone telling me about other people speaking to the Mad God, which meant it was probably something I could figure out without having to visit Girgenerth again. Girgenerth did not seem like a dragon who appreciated multiple requests. I remembered what Commander Rhal had said when I'd asked about titled trophies — that figuring out where to find them was part of the quest.
Food first, then find the way to the Mad God.
Mystery meat stew for breakfast. If I only learned one thing from my time in Gloomguard, it was how ridiculous the notion that certain foods are for certain times of day was. In fact, if you just give up on life a little, could can be fully satisfied eating nothing but meat stew for every meal at indiscriminate times!
Next up, I went to our room. No one was there, which didn't really surprise me. I imagined most everyone was still at The Defiant Spoon, drinking the night away. It was the perfect time to peek through our maze haul, and see exactly what we had to work with, vis-à-vis buying bloodcrystals. Or anything really. Maybe I already had a ton of lifeclay and I wouldn't have to deal with the Mad God at all. Anything was possible.
Spoiler alert: I did not have any lifeclay. Went perfectly with me not having a life. Ha.
I got to work identifying everything.
The Baleful Golok of Gathering
Item Type: Mythic
Item Class: One-handed Melee
Material: Orichalum
Damage: Variable (Slashing)
Durability: 10000/10000
Weight: 6.4 lbs
Requirements: none
Description: A heavier blade with an edgewise taper that flows away in a curve to a sharp point at the tip. The Baleful Golok of Gathering keeps a kill count. Each kill with the Golok increases the damage the Golok does against future opponents. The kill count restarts with each new wielder.
Bit grim. I already didn't like killing people. I didn't think having a constant reminder of my count would do much good for my mental wellbeing.
Ring of Fire Protection
Item Type: Rare
Item Class: jewelry
Material: Red Gold
Damage: 10-20 (Slashing)
Durability: n/a
Weight: 21 grams
Description: A thick red ring. Grants significant protection against fire and heat.
That had to go. I’d already had one, and it had really only led to bad things.
Ring of the Leap
Item Type: Epic
Item Class: Jewelry
Material: Jade and Gold
Durability: n/a
Weight: 12 grams
Description: A ring made of jade and gold woven together. Significant increases to jump distance and height.
Ring of Infinite Warmth
Item Type: Epic
Item Class: Jewelry
Material: White Dragon Horn and sapphires
Durability: n/a
Weight: 16 grams
Description: A ring made of white dragon horn and sapphires. Feel no cold, significant resistance to cold damage.
The Ring of the People
Item Type: Epic
Item Class: Jewelry
Material: Electrum
Durability: n/a
Weight: 10 grams
Description: A ring made of electrum with a mysterious royal crest inside the band. When in a group of four or more people, you simply appear as one of them, effectively disappearing.
SlowFall
Item Type: Rare
Item Class: Jewelry
Material: fossilized feathers
Durability: n/a
Weight: 1 gram
Description: A ring made of fossilized feathers, while wearing the ring, you fall at one foot/second.
Death’s Touch
Item Type: Rare
Item Class: Jewelry
Material: obsidian
Durability: n/a
Weight: 1 pound
Description: A heavy ring made of obsidian with a slight greenish glow. While wearing, halves damage from undead. Do double damage to the undead.
I was sorely tempted by two of the rings, Death's Touch seemed like it was sort of made for me. Or made to be used against me — hard to tell. And being that I was still de facto leader of a theoretical thieves' guild, it seemed ridiculous to pass up something like the Ring of the People. That would be a godsend getting away from guards in a crowded city. Especially one like Glaton. The others, though, seemed easy enough to part with.
Silas’ Bow
Item Type: Mythic
Item Class: Ranged
Material: green dragon horn
Damage: variable
Durability: n/a
Weight: 4.8 lbs
Requirements: Dex 12
Description: A long bow made of green dragon horn. Does double damage against giants. Triple damage against inanimate objects. Kill shots generate charges. Charges imbue arrows with lightning. Bow can hold charges equal to half your level.
That was too good to sell. Not like I'd seen any giants yet, but the lightning bit was crazy good. The extra damage against objects was also neat, but I couldn't see a great use for shooting arrows to break down doors. Although, shooting arrows at carriages would be more effective. Denitza would probably love it. I set it to the side as well.
The two quivers were essentially filled with species-focused arrows. Bonus damage to giants (again), trolls, goblinoids, marsh rats, glondons, and more. Potentially useful for a monster hunter, which might be a path Denitza was thinking of going down. So might as well keep them.
All the golden chains were just that: golden chains. Lots and lots of gold. Very heavy, and I'm sure would be worth a fortune anywhere gold wasn't quite as prevalent as Gloomguard. There were roughly five-thousand golden coins from all sorts of places I didn’t recognize. A few stacks of platinum coins, some coins that identified as electrum, some that were metals I never seen before. Indium, palladium, all those things. And then there was the small chest of jewels. I identified them, but I really just got a carat count and a mineral. Sapphire, diamond, emerald, that kind of thing.
I started in on the miscellaneous things. Two small pouches were actually expandable pouches. They looked to be about the right size to hold a rather average grapefruit, but could actually hold up to two hundred pounds of goods. Anything you could fit through the hole in the top, they would hold, up to two hundred pounds. I tied them both to my belt immediately. There was a belt of strength, giving a 10% boost to strength. It was an interesting item, but not exactly something I needed. I would have definitely given it to Mornax, but with him gone, I didn't have someone who needed more strength. At least, not yet. I wasn't ready to give up the belt though, so that went in the keep pile. There was a Smoke Jar, which was a jar filled with never-ending smoke. Potentially useful for hiding or escaping. A statue of a goat that summoned a magical goat. That went in the sell pile, though I admit to being curious as to what the goat would be like, or what use the magical goat might serve.
The most interesting thing I found, and at the same time the most frustrating, was a small metal chime. Once per day, you could ring the chime and all the locks within hearing would open, no matter how they had been locked. The only problem was volume. I rang the chime, and even tapping it lightly caused an ear splitting noise, and had people knocking on the door to know what in the hells I was doing. It was something useless for sneaking and stealing things, but I supposed there was a possibility in might be useful in unlocking something that had already been stolen. Still, I was pretty good getting around locks. Given the rarity of the item, legendary, I figured it would also sell for plenty of chits. And chits were more useful than unlocks for me. At least for now.
I left the keep stuff in the room, and took the rest with me, heading out to make sales and inquire about Gods. What a fun day I had planned.
65
The Wizard's Tower was, as usual, homey, welcoming, and empty.
A fire was going in the fireplace. The chairs had been changed out, hopefully no longer with scorching bottoms. The carpet was also new, and a monster's head hung over the fireplace. Something foul-looking, a mixture between a cat, a bat, and a naked mole rat. Disturbing even when dead and mounted on the wall. I really didn't want to encounter the thing in the wild.
"One minute!" came the usual cry from somewhere in the back.
A moment later, Phagoris hopped onto the counter.
"Ah, my favorite customer!" he said, opening his arms wide.
"Bah, you probably say that to all the girls," I said.
"Girls?"
“I’ve got a few things to sell — and hopefully a few things to buy."
"You've come to the right place. What are you selling and do I need to identify anything?"
"I actually picked that spell up, so no need."
"Oh? Good job, you."
"Thanks.”
I spread the various goods out across the counter, and he hopped up and down examining each one carefully.
"I heard about your trip into the Maze," he said after he looked over everything. "I am sorry for your losses."
"Thank you," I said again.
"Hopefully the venture was not in vain. I will say, and I hope you do not take offense, that you certainly achieved a fair amount of success from a monetary front, at least insofar as these things represent. You are willing to part with them all?"
"Yep. Selling the lot."
"Curiosity overcomes me — is this all?"
I smiled, and shook my head slightly.
"Ah!" he clapped his froggy little hands together, "fantastic! All this, hrm," he perused everything a second time. "Six thousand chits."
"Seven thousand five hundred," I countered.
He narrowed his wide eyes at me. "Seven thousand."
"Before I accept, I need to ask about two things."
"Yes?"
"I need some lifeclay and bloodcrystals.”
His eyebrows, or, rather, the places where his eyebrows would have been had he had hair, rose up considerably, and he blinked a few times.
"Lifeclay?" he repeated. "Bloodcrystal? You are planning something big, I take it."
"I mean, maybe? I don't quite know. Do you have any?"
"These are rather rare and high-priced items."
"I've got at least six thousand chits burning a hole in my pouch."
He scratched at his head. "I can't quite say what my stock is off-hand, but if you don't mind waiting a minute?"
"Are the seats safe to sit in?"
He laughed, and nodded. "Normal seats for the moment. I thought about reworking the heated seats, but that just seemed problematic. Just normal seats for now. The missus made sure of it. She got tired of burning her bottom!"
Phagoris jumped off the counter, and slipped into the back.
I sat down, and stretched my feet out to the fire.
It was nice. I couldn't really feel the heat through my boots, but it was more the thought of indulging in a moment of relaxation. Naturally interrupted by thoughts of Mornax, my friend who wouldn't be able to find nice moments like these anymore. And that sucked. I didn't want to think about that sort of stuff. Not there, not then, really, not ever. And yet, what choice did I have? Go through life like the Fayden, I suppose. Find a hole and live down there in perpetuity.
