"I thought I'd come and have a look what I can buy from such an esteemed dwarf, but I see that he's busy taking a rest. I'll be off then," I've practiced this phrase on Rine, except in his case it was 'working' instead of 'taking a rest'. As usual, the phrase worked like a charm: Lish immediately jumped to his feet.
"What do you mean 'I'm busy'? All I do is wait around for people to come and start buying my wares. But they only come to sell the ore - they don't even look at the goods."
"Why look at them if all the dwarves have the same wares? Whether it's back in my mine or here or anywhere else. I didn't see anything of interest on the first day - nothing I've not seen with Rine, who sells things in my mine - although he'd probably have more goods than you. Quite a lot more."
"What? You didn't even look at my stuff properly and are trying to talk it down already? I've got at least ten different picks. And what about boots and jackets? Have a proper look, will you?" Lish got all worked up, taking out his wares from a large bag and laying them out right there on the ground. I couldn't get a reaction like that out of Rine. My skills must be growing, by and by.
Jackets, trousers, boots, picks, beginner recipes in a separate stack: in general, all the standard stuff, as with Rine. There wasn’t a single item with stat bonuses, the only difference being in the level of armor (in clothes), durability and strength of damage (in picks). I shook my head and looked at Lish. Ehh... a pity, I thought he might have had something of interest. But this...
Seeing my disappointed face, Lish seemed to lose heart. Now it was his turn to give his wares a joyless glance-over, though he was praising them as the best in the world just a minute ago; he was looking more downcast every second. Well, sorry - if you don't have anything, you don't have anything.
"No, Lish," I decided to speak only the truth, harsh as it might be for the dwarf. "You have the same stuff as everyone else - the same clothes, the same picks and the same recipes. But to Rine I even went for Precious Stones, which I needed for my Jewelcraft. Now there's someone that can get hold of anything," I decided to finish off the dwarf, embellishing things somewhat. Just a little. I decided not to say that Rine told me to get lost with these requests. But that doesn't matter.
I turned and was about to head off only to be stopped by Lish's happy shout:
"Mahan, hold on! Why didn't you say right away that you do Jewelcraft? I have something here that I rarely bring out, since I hardly ever come across Jewelers. Have a look," Lish rummaged around his bag and I read a message that appeared in front of me:
Attention! You used special properties of the Trade profession: you are being offered non-standard goods.
Skill increase:
+1 to Trade. Total: 6
Lish took out a scroll of some kind.
"Here I bought a couple of Jewelcraft recipes a while back, but haven't managed to sell them to anyone. I'm sorry, but I can't let them go for less than 20 gold a piece - that's how much I bought them for. And I'm not going to sell at a loss."
"Agreed. No-one's in the business of losing money. But let me have a look at what recipes you have first, or I may already have them and won’t be able to get my money back."
"Look, by all means. It's not like you can activate them while they're still mine," said Lish and handed me the scrolls.
So, what did we have here...
Greater Copper Ring.
Description: Greater Copper Ring. Durability: 80. +2 random Stats from the main list (Stamina, Strength, Agility, Intellect and Rage). Minimum level: 8.
Crafting requirements: minimum Jewelcraft level 8.
Ingredients: 2 Copper Ingots.
Instruments: Jeweler's Tools.
Bronze Wire.
Description: used in the crafting of bronze rings and neck-chains.
Crafting requirements: minimum Jewelcraft level 10.
Ingredients: 1 Bronze Ingot.
Instruments: Jeweler's Tools.
Bronze Ring of Strength.
Description: Bronze Ring. Durability: 100. +2 Strength. Minimum level: 10.
Crafting requirements: minimum Jewelcraft level 10.
Ingredients: 2 Bronze Wires.
Instruments: Jeweler's Tools.
Aside from the Bronze Ring of Strength, there were also Bronze Rings of Stamina, Intellect, Agility and Rage. So, if Copper Rings gave random stats, starting with Bronze they were pre-set for each ring. Great, but how is it implemented? Will I have to learn through trial and error again? Doesn’t matter. Seven Jewelcraft recipes for 20 gold each... These dwarves have it made.
"I'll take them. Here's the money."
New Jewelcraft recipe learned. Greater Copper Ring. Total recipes: 8
After learning the other recipes and losing 140 gold, I went to sleep. Having suppressed my greed-toad, my inner hoarding hamster was happily examining the new recipes, while the toad was left to weep over the spent gold. Never mind, oh green one: we still have about two thousand gold left, so things aren't that bad. Recipes are always useful. Now I just had to figure out where to get hold of Bronze Ingots and whether to go for that boss or not. If that boss was even there. Why would there be one in a mine for prisoners? Our task was to gather ore, not hunt down bosses. But then again, those Rats must be here for a reason. So it remained an open question. Tomorrow we'll be finished with the Malachite and then see.
We mined the 13 pieces of Malachite ourselves and had no need of the pieces we were owed for Rat clearing. This made all the groups very happy, but at the same time very downcast. They still had four to five days to go before they were done, so although the extra Malachite was good, they saw that this could also mean the end of my guarding duties and the Rats would be gnawing at them now.
At the end of the working day, we cleared the Rats on our way out of the Mine and headed to the lop-sided and worn administration building. That's it, the quest was completed and we could take a rest for the remaining seven days. Wonderful.
"I told you that the next time I wanted to see you was when you hand in your quota!" the ogre's roar shook the office. Unlike the Pryke office, there were no paintings, curtains or a big table with a throne-like chair here. The furnishings were quite Spartan, nothing extravagant: a simple table and chair. That was it.
"There's a reason we're here," I replied for the others as the raid-leader. "The assignment has been completed - Eric bring it over."
Eric took out the pieces of Malachite and put them on the table before the ogre. And why not? He told us to hand it in to him, so that's what we're doing. With each piece that Eric laid on the table, the ogre's jaw dropped lower and lower. By the last piece he turned into something altogether unrecognizable. Eh, if I could only take a screen-shot of this - I'd win more than one contest with this picture: a shocked ogre. Such a sight was worth seven days' work.
"Here are the hundred pieces, including Karachun's share - he's gone for a rest just now. So, is the quest completed?"
The ogre nodded, still standing and quietly staring at the pile of Malachite.
Quest "Bloody Malachite" competed. Reward: Respect of the Pryke Mine Guards, Respect of the Pryke Mine Governor.
There was a melodious chiming and a glow appeared above our heads. Hello main gameworld, I'll be seeing you soon. But first I had to settle the matter with the boss. Some thought also had to be given to the other groups - it wasn't right to ditch them just like that.
"'You have become the fifth fastest team to meet the Malachite quota in the entire history of the mine," the ogre finally recovered himself, stepped away from the table and headed towards the exit. "Wait here."
A few minutes later he was back, carrying some objects in his hands. Wow, does this mean that we'll be getting some rewards now? Great! It's nice to join the ranks of the fastest miners. But my greed-toad started to fidget again - if not for Karachun's quota, which we were working off today, we would have completed the quest yesterday and taken an even higher place. Damn, why didn't they tell us this was a competition? We'd ha
ve worked even faster or asked for two pieces of Malachite from the other groups for protection.
"According to an old decree of the Emperor, if a group of Malachite miners becomes one of the fastest five, they are to be given a reward for their work. Karachun will receive his in his mine - I'll send it today. Now, to deal with you lot."
The ogre started to give out the rewards. Eric received some kind of a shield, at which he stared like the ogre at the Malachite before. Impressive - when he equipped it his Hit Points immediately increased by 130. So, this little shield gave at least +13 to Stamina. Not a bad bonus for a beginner tank. And if you take into account that it should provide a fair amount of armor, it was really priceless.
Clutzer got two daggers. They had no Stamina bonus, but his face soon resembled Eric's. What did they all get, really? My hands were itching to take it all and have a look.
Leite received a sword. He was good and restrained himself, only his eyes widened a little, but immediately returned to normal. The sword didn't have any Stamina on it either, since the Hit Points didn't increase, so it probably came with a Strength bonus.
When the ogre came round to me, my inner hamster stood on its hind legs, lifted and folded its front paws and, drooling and wagging its tail, watched the approaching ogre expectantly with love-filled eyes. Such a sell-out!
The ogre handed me something resembling a Tambourine and a stick with a knob on the end. And that's it? A shadow of disappointment even crossed my face: I already had a Tambourine, although I had to use my hand to hit it since it came without such a stick. I don't remember what it's called, I should have a look in the properties. Ehh, the others got a shield, daggers and a sword, and all I got was this shoddy Tambourine. I took it from the ogre and checked out the properties.
Shaman's Tambourine Trala with a Mallet. Double-handed item. Durability: unbreakable. Description: Using a Shaman's Tambourine Trala during kamlanie decreases Spirit summoning time by 50%. The penalty for summoning all Spirits is decreased by 50%. When the Tambourine is in Shaman's hands: + (Character level) Intellect. The Mallet can be used as a blunt weapon: Damage: (Strength * 2). Tambourine and Mallet can be combined with other items. Item class: Scaling. Level restrictions: None.
The inner hamster fell on its back in complete rapture and its legs waving in the air. Scaling items were incredibly expensive, costing up to several hundred thousand gold. Only a handful of NPCs sold them in the whole of Barliona and they could not be sold to other players or NPC-traders. You could only throw them away. But what nutter would dump an item with stats that increase with each new level? Or an item that could be combined with others? If I wasn't mistaken, 'combination' meant adding drawings to the Tambourine to increase its stat bonuses, inserting some crafted Jewelry, adding enchantments to it or making something from the stick with the knob - I forgot what it's called again. There is a lot you can do with an item that could be combined with other items. I understood my hamster, whose legs were still ecstatically treading air, very well. Players would do anything to obtain such an item, and here it practically dropped into my lap. Though, truth be told, if not for the 25 pieces of Malachite for our guarding duties, we'd have never made it into the top five.
When we left the ogre, Eric immediately turned around and said to everyone:
"Guys, don't even ask me what I just got, as I won't tell you anyway. Sorry, but if the rumor spreads through Barliona that I have such a thing," he glanced at the shield, which he was still holding, "I'll never be able to level up my character in peace. Every PK-er (Player Killer) will see it as his duty to send me for a respawn, stripping me of part of the experience. I don't need this, so please just forget I was given anything. I advise you to do the same - the fewer people know what you've been given, the easier it'll be for you."
I was in complete agreement with Eric: although I was extremely curious what the others had got, I didn't really want to tell them about my Tambourine. It was just as well if no-one knew anything. No-one could look at the properties of my items without access, which I had no intention of granting anyone. But still, what on earth did they get?
The next morning we had another visit from representatives of five remaining groups. If you removed all the congratulations and other idle chatter, the actual essence of their request, and it was a request, sounded like this: please help with the Rats until the groups finish their mining. Each of us will get a Malachite piece daily and I, as the main Rat-hunting manpower, would even get two.
We all agreed and continued to work in the mine for the next five days. Each group smashed twelve veins daily, providing everyone with 3 pieces of malachite and me with level 12 in mining. The Rats did help me, after all, to reach level 12 and I spent 3 stat points on Stamina and 2 on Intellect; I also reached level 4 in the in the Bane of the Animal World. To top it off I was given two pieces of Malachite a day for my guard duty. So these five days were well-spent and I even managed to make a good profit. The only disappointment was that the Rats didn't drop anything other than meat and pelts. No alchemical goodies dropped either for me or any of the group. At least that's what they told me.
At last on the fifth day all the groups of prisoners completed the quest, leaving us two days for the trip to the cave and back. If the length of the mine was two kilometers and Rats were located at forty-meter intervals, we had to get through about fifty Rats. That was quite a lot, even for our currently strong group. In the end we did decide in favor of going after the boss.
"Well, have you decided?" asked Eric two days after we had received our rewards from the ogre. "We have to make our minds up faster: there's only five days left and I wouldn't want to go on the last day if we decide to do it after all. Otherwise we might get locked up here with the Rats and die for certain. With the little presents from the ogre we'd run there and back barely noticing the boss. We'll just knock him over as we're passing through."
"Well, that’s quite a snazzy getup they gave is, for sure" said Clutzer. "If there's more like it in the cave, we'd get totally decked out."
"Mahan, we can't go without your Spirits. You with us? Come, you've got nothing to lose anyway. So, we'll die, and you'll level up to 12 in a week. But this way we have a chance to gain something, possibly something really valuable."
"Eh, Eric. Do I have to tell you that I wouldn’t swap my Crafting for any potential bonuses from a level 15 boss? What other level would be there, if all the Rats are level 14? The boss would have to be 1-2 levels higher. Or even 3 levels; this means that the cave has a level 17 mega-Rat, just sitting there and waiting for us to show up, all dapper and smart, and take away all its goodies."
But maybe I should stop thinking logically? If we don't go to the cave, what is the probability that I would really regret it? It's substantial, quite substantial, even. Well then, maybe I should just tell logic to get lost? It's not making life any easier. Do I want to go? Yes, I do. Then what's the problem?
"I agree. It would be good to go and have a look at what's there. Maybe there isn't even any cave and you were just seeing things," I said. "We'll go as soon as we finish helping the others get the Malachite."
Come what may, I decided then and there the time for our expedition had come. When they heard about the Boss and that there was a chance of dying none of the other prisoners agreed to come with us. We were fine with that - all the more loot for us.
I stocked up on Fried Rat, in case I needed it to restore my health - what if my mana ran out and my Hit Points were close to zero? Anything can happen. No such luck with water - we didn't have any canteens or any other large vessels. Even Lish didn't have any for sale. However, from what I understood of the local rules, even if we had some, they could only be used by their owner and no-one else. Never mind, we'll just have to hope that my mana restores quickly enough.
And so, on the morning of the sixth day, after selling all the remaining meat, skins and ore to Lish to free up bag space for potential loot, we headed for the mining section. Our objective could be
spotted on the horizon, but first we had to try out the items we received from the ogre in the field. I didn't summon the Lightning Spirits on the first three Rats and was essentially watching from the sidelines how the group quickly dispatched the poor animals. While they were at it, the Dolma mine saw the emergence of three more fearsome Rat vanquishers. Eric, holding the pick in one hand and the shield in the other, took hardly any damage and the Rat's Hit Points started to fall very quickly when Clutzer and Leite went at it from the sides. Judging by their pleased faces, everyone in the group liked this method of attack and so we split into two parts - they dealt with one Rat, while I went ahead and pulled the next one that stood in our path. In just an hour we arrived at the spot and were faced with the standard shimmering veil of a Dungeon entrance/exit. Eric was right - our section did have a boss and we were standing before the entrance to its lair.
"Right, let's agree on the way we’ll go about things from the start," said Eric. "Since no-one except for Mahan has ever played in Barliona, I'll go through the main rules of fighting a boss. We come in together, then I immediately go a couple of meters ahead and you stay put and see what's going on. Mahan, you're in charge of immediate support: summon the Spirits as soon as we come in. Who knows what's on the other side, so it's best to play it safe. Next. Clutzer and Leite - attack only on Mahan's command and only targets which I'm already hitting or those called out by Mahan. No attacking things at random and don't even bother with the other mobs that'll be swarming around - it's my job to pull them all to me and keep them there. And remember: I don't have taunt yet (tank ability to take the mob's attention on himself), so if someone suddenly goes for you, crouch, cover your head and take the hits. You can scream something if you like, but on no account hit back. Or I won't manage to get it off you. Mahan, you stand a short distance away from me. Healers often generate aggro, so be prepared to call a Lightning Spirit and command the others to hit your mob. That's the first part. Any questions on this?"
Survival Quest (The Way of the Shaman: Book #1) Page 22
