by Sean Oswald
Passive Effects: Health +225
Poison Resistance: +30
Disease Resistance: +20
And
Ring of Primordial Force
Quality: Epic
Weight: 0.1
Passive Effects: Defense: +5
Stamina: +5
Bravery: +5
Fury: +5
Active Effect: 1/sunrise
Creates an aura around the wearer for 10 minutes granting significant physical increases but disallowing any spell casting. Primal Aura: +50 Strength, +300 temporary health, +20 Fury, Double Strike Skill: +50, Dual Wield Skill +50
“The belt will go to Daichi as his fighting style will most benefit from it, and he certainly earned it doing the job of pulling for the raid.”
Runebranded Girdle
Quality: Epic
Weight: 1.0
Passive Effect: Attack Speed +22%
Passive Effect: Movement Speed +27%
Passive Effects: Health +45, Mana: +45, Defense: +8
Dave would have loved to keep that item for himself. Sometimes being a fair ruler was no fun at all. He jokingly thought that someday, maybe, he could be a despotic ruler and keep all the good stuff for himself.
The esteemed royal mage shall receive the item most appropriate to him. Dave then handed out a star covered hood with shoulder length cloak attached to it. The mage took it without a word and only a narrow bowing of his head.
Cloak of Gates
Quality: Epic
Weight: 1.5
Active Effect: May set a total of 7 sites as gate bind spots.
Increase Range of Gate by 300 miles.
“I trust that this cloak will serve you well as you serve the nation of Albia,” Dave said before looking away from the royal mage. It was hard to like the man, so he just wanted to move on.
“I may be showing some favoritism to my children, but keep in mind the great power of some of the other items I have passed out. Jackson will get the Air Core and Axe of the Wind that he has been using. They have proven to be very complimentary to his fighting style, especially until he develops his unarmed combat skill more.
Axe of the Wind
Quality: Epic
Base Dmg: 20
Attack Speed: 3
Weight: 1.0
Wind Dmg: 6
Passive Effect: Attack Speed +15%
Passive Effect: Armor Penetration +20
* * *
Air Core
Quality: Excellent
Weight: 0.1
Passive Effect: Increase bearer’s movement rate by 20%
Active Effect: 3/sunrise Create a swirling wind shield 3’ in diameter which can deflect mundane projectiles with 50% chance or magical projectiles with 25% chance. Can take 200 points damage before being dissipated
Mira will get an Epic Ring of Health. She may not want to use it, but I want to make sure that she has one available in case she is going to take too much damage. Then, the item that she will want is:
Earring of Mystic Confluence
Quality: Epic
Weight: 0.2
Passive Effect: +25% mana regeneration
Passive Effect: +200 mana
Passive Effect: -2 seconds casting time on all spells.
Dave knew that she would get the most value out of this ring’s effects. She was the one who was most often casting spells.
“I will keep one of the health rings and the sword. I have found that my fire sword isn’t useful against every type of creature, so it will be good to have more than one magic weapon.”
Astral Black Blade
Quality: Epic
Weight: 2.0
Base Damage: 15
Attack Sp: 4.0
Necrotic Damage: 10
Active Effect: May phase the blade briefly allowing it to slip through any physical surface. Requires 20 mana/second to activate this ability.
Passive Effect: Cause Strength Drain of 1-2 points per hit to target unless target resists.
“My wife will keep the blended ring and the wolf earring.”
Epic Ring of Blended Resources
Quality: Epic
Weight: 0.1
Passive Effect: Health +200
Passive Effect: Mana +200
Wolf Fang Earring
Quality: Excellent
Weight: 0.2
Passive Effect: Run Speed +30%
Active Effect: 1/sunrise Gain sense of smell equivalent to a wolf for 30 minutes
Active Effect: 1/moonrise Shape change into a dire wolf instantly for 6 seconds, Self-heal by 200 health. Gain abilities of a dire wolf of level equal to the wearer. Gain bite attack of 50-150 dmg + 6/level.
“The final health ring will be gifted to Eris’ Rise and used for helping to level up the townsfolk.” Dave waited. He had now distributed all of the loot and, except for some frowns, it had gone off without a hitch. He could have only wished that guild raids back on earth had gone off this smoothly. There might really be some good parts to being a nobleman. Now though, he had to be a father.
Emily was struggling to speak. Actually, the way she felt, she was struggling to put one foot in front of the other or even to breathe. She wanted to hug Sara tight even as they walked into the house but was also so furious that she wanted to give her the spanking of a lifetime.
Worse yet, Emily knew that she wasn’t in a good place to punish or even lecture her child right now. Everything Dr. Lipschitz ever wrote stressed that you can’t punish out of your own fear or anxiety. Interactions with children need to be driven by positive emotions and a rational mind. Easier said than done though. Right now, she was furious and terrified all in one and didn’t know how she was going to move past that feeling. So, she did what many a parent has done over years. “Sara, go sit on my bed and wait for your father to get home. I want you to sit there and think about what you have done and how scared you have made everyone who loves you.”
She saw the look in Sara’s eyes. Sara was upset too. Maybe it was that she didn’t understand or maybe it was how Rak’kar was holding Krinnk and not letting him go with her. “This isn’t fair. I was just making friends. I didn’t mean to do anything wrong.”
“I said go sit on my bed. We will talk about this after your father gets here.” Something about her tone must have convinced Sara that there was no point in arguing. So, her youngest simply made some sort of reassuring gesture at Krinnk and then walked back into the room.
“Krinnk be here. Krinnk waits for Sara. No fear Sara,” the goblin cried out.
As soon as Sara was out of sight, Emily turned towards the goblin. His words had set her off. “This is your fault.” She punctuated her words by poking her finger into the goblin’s chest, not painfully but pointedly.
“Krinnk no hurt Sara. Krinnk loves Sara. Krinnk Sara’s friend,” the goblin protested back.
“Yes, yes. I know all about how you are friends, but would a friend let Sara go into a dangerous place? Did you think that you could protect her from that dragon thing?”
Krinnk’s intelligence had vastly improved through his friendship bond with Sara, but abstract thought was still beyond him. He remembered how fearful he had been when Sara had climbed down the stairs and how he had felt paralyzed with the drake’s gaze had settled upon him. He didn’t know what he could have done differently, and a portion of him felt ashamed for failing to protect his friend, yet another portion reasoned that Sara was okay. Sara was his world, and as long as she didn’t get hurt or leave him, then anything she did was right. “Sara be safe. Sara is smartest. Sara is Krinnk’s friend.”
Shaking her head more in disgust at herself than at Krinnk, Emily said to Rak’kar, “Please take him outside the house and set him down, but if he tries to get back into the house until either my husband or I say it’s okay, then you have my permission to tie him up or do whatever is necessary to restrain him.”
Rak’kar snorted, “As you wish, Lady Emiri,” before walking out of the room with Krin
nk under his arm like a baguette.
Emily spent the next twenty minutes pacing the living room and saying silent prayers. She didn’t know how to handle this unique ability of her daughter and was afraid that someday it was going to get her killed. An odd thought crossed her mind. This was her home, but she had spent almost no time here except for sleeping. It was certainly the most time that she had ever spent in the living room alone. The question that popped up in her mind was whether this really was her home.
She had the Tabernacle and could have used that to live and sleep in. It was certainly tempting, what with the luxuries that it contained, like ice cream, but it also separated her from the people of Eris’ Rise. For the past weeks, she had been working hard to get the people to stop bowing and scraping before her. Yes, she was the leader, but she didn’t want to be seen as above them. This was part of adjusting to her new life here.
Then it hit her. If she was having to make changes to adjust to a new life in Eloria, then would she have to accept a new life for her kids? Many a parent has much brighter dreams for their children than for themselves, and Emily Nelson was no exception. She had always worked, hoped, and prayed for the best for each of her kids. In her mind, they were all budding leaders for social change, doctors who would cure cancer or other equally lofty goals. She was struggling to come to grips with what her responsibilities meant here, with the idea that she would have to fight monsters in order to be a proper leader. It was all alien to her, but there was no denying that Eloria followed different rules.
The trap was that if she had to accept new things as radical as fighting monsters as a new part of her life, then how could she expect something different for her children? Would she be crippling her children if she didn’t allow them, too? Mira had certainly proven herself to be capable even if she was still a bit rash. Just thinking about what it would mean for Jackson if he wasn’t allowed to gain strength made tears well up in her eyes. Maybe it was even harder with Sara though, as she was a child. She couldn’t gain XP from fighting monsters, and the idea that she would make pets of the monsters was horrifying to Emily.
She sighed, no not pets, friends. She couldn’t deny the deep connection that Sara seemed to have with Krinnk and even though it had not caused as much trouble for her daughter in Eris’ Rise as it might have somewhere else, Emily knew that she wouldn’t always be able to protect Sara. Someday Sara would have to go out into the world, and if she went with friends such as goblins, giant rabbits, and drakes, then she was sure to be laughed at or, worse, feared. It was an old adage that what people fear, they hate and what they hate they try to destroy.
That was part of the crux of the matter. Emily had felt the nubs on Sara’s back. She knew about the wings or at least the beginnings of wings that Sara had now. On the one hand, she was an elf now, so it was hard to find fault in differences, but there wasn’t exactly anyone around here with wings. Wouldn’t this mark her as more monster and less person? It tormented Emily to think of her little girl being slowly transformed into some kind of half person half monster. Maybe it would work. This was Eloria after all. Rak’kar definitely looked more like a monster than a man, at least to her eyes, but was that just her needing to further adapt?
Could she really allow her children, any of them, to face a life like that? Or was she thinking about this the wrong way? Could she possibly keep them from experiencing real life in Eloria?
At that moment, Dave finally arrived. Emily wanted to be frustrated with him. No, that wasn’t fair. It hadn’t been more than twenty minutes, and she knew that he was as concerned for Sara as she was. It was just that he seemed to have an easier time taking in stride the new normal that was Eloria. “Did everything go okay?”
“Yes, I have items for you and the kids, but that can wait till later. Everything in town seems to be okay, although Talvenicus was a bit worried about the rapid growth of the sacred ash and its sproutlings. Oh, and Ozakai and Morganthal let me know that some goblins scouts have been found and killed but only at the edge of the Murkwood in the north. Apparently, they have also made a breakthrough on the walls, and I have to go see it tomorrow. But right now, I’m 100% focused on our family issue,” Dave said, rambling on as he thought about extra things he needed to mention.
“So, I don’t really know what to think now. I have really been praying and trying to seek wisdom but not getting any insight,” Emily said with a sigh.
Dave came up and put his arms around her. “Is that really any different? Whether Shanelle is the same God that we followed on Earth, or whether we had a faulty understanding before or even now, if they are anything alike, then it seems to be the nature of God to make people strive for wisdom rather than doling it out.”
Emily felt nervous with that statement and looked up at Dave’s face to make sure he wasn’t making light of this, but the solemn look in his eyes put her at ease. “The thing is that I think I have had sort of an epiphany.”
Dave released her and walked over to the bench with some cushions on it that passed for a couch here. He signaled asking her to join him, and it made her smile to once again realize that she had a partner in all of this. These questions were not hers alone to struggle with.
She sat down next to him, and they both turned partially so they were looking at one another. She said, “What I’m struggling with is if my reaction to what Sara did and, for that matter, what has happened with the monsters she is calling friends is more of a failure on my part to adapt to Eloria.”
Dave scoffed. “Um, she walked down some strange stairs without telling anyone where she was going and then ended up walking right into a room with a monster that is practically a dragon. If she got into the car of a stranger back home, even if it turned out to be some friend of yours that she didn’t know and everything worked out okay, wouldn’t you still be upset with her?”
Emily thought about what he said but simply nodded yes. He was probably right about that much at least. Dave continued, “She did something stupid, and if it was just childishness, then I could forgive it with a simple reprimand, but it isn’t that simple. She also did something disobedient. We have stressed the dangers of Eloria to her. We both told her to stay in sight of the guards at all times. Heck, we brought her there because we thought she would be safer being close to us.”
“Yes, but are we reacting the right way?” Emily felt weird, like their roles had changed in this argument.
“I’m not reacting out of my fear. I know for a fact that Eloria is a dangerous place, and there will come a time that Sara has to be exposed to that danger. Now isn’t that time though. She can’t even gain XP from monsters yet. If she could, then I would argue that we should power level her like I did Jackson.”
“So, we are just being protective, not restrictive?” Emily asked.
Dave laughed when she turned one of his favorite parenting lines back on him. He too must have caught how their roles had flip-flopped in this discussion. Dave said, “Of course, I am angry that she disobeyed, but I’m not going to spank her. First off, violence is too much a part of life here, so while I didn’t have a problem with spanking the kids back home, it doesn’t seem right here. And she is getting a bit old for that anyway, she is almost nine. Yet, there have to be consequences for her actions, but I get the sense that there is more to this for you.”
“Well, she is growing wings now, and says she can breathe acid,” Emily said back hesitantly.
Dave smiled at her, and she beyond all reason felt reassured by that smile. He said, “Well I can grow into a giant. You have pointy ears. Your bodyguard has fur and horns and our other daughter can fly, hurl the elements, and control monster’s minds. I think our old idea of normal has to go out the window.”
“When you say it like that, I feel silly. I’m not worried about her being able to do crazy things. I guess, I just worry that she is too young and that she will be transformed by these friends of hers in ways that she can’t control. I don’t want her to turn into someone that
we can’t recognize on either the outside or the inside. It isn’t a question of prejudice. It is just concern for Sara.”
“I know. I’ve seen how you accept all the people here, and honestly, you’ve rolled with the punches better than I expected …” Dave started.
Emily interrupted to ask, “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Hands raised up in a surrender posture, Dave said, “Whoa, I’m complimenting you. Besides, don't think that I am not worried about Sara. Of course I am. I think this bond that she formed with the dungeon core was different because it was so much stronger than Sara. I think it imposed more of itself upon her. Of course, now she is strong enough to make lots of gym rats back home feel jealous. I can almost understand what Jonathon and Martha Kent must have felt.”
Emily was confused for a moment, not getting his reference, and then it dawned on her. Dave always thought that comic books were a parallel for everything in the real world. “Okay, I think I get your point, but it’s still our job to protect her.”
His face suddenly grew very solemn. “And I can never forget that, but there will have to be consequences for her disobedience.”
“What do you have in mind?”
“Well, what else? She needs to be grounded. I’m thinking maybe two weeks in the house here with no one but family and tutors. She can use the time to start learning about the history of Eloria and such. Two weeks away from her monster friends won’t hurt either. I’m still not sure how much she influences them and how much they influence her.”
“That’s a good point. I have been worried that Krinnk would suddenly turn on her, but you are probably right. From what she said, he got some of her attributes, and Steffen sure seems to think Krinnk isn’t like any goblin he had seen before. You could be right though, the monsters might be affecting her personality just as much as she is affecting theirs.”
Dave smiled at her and leaned in to kiss her forehead. “I don’t think that you have to worry about any of her monster friends hurting her. Even the newest one, that dungeon core thingy, Altracia, didn’t actually hurt Sara but only used her as bait. She is convinced that it never meant any harm to her. I worry more about what may happen someday when she is in another city and not under our protection. People may fear her monsters and want to hurt her for that reason.”
