[Farrol has burned you for 93 damage. Remaining HP 243/675]
The mage’s flambéing would have quickly finished Dakkon off were it not for the booming thuds of Merri’s feet as he barreled toward the fire mage from behind. The mage spun to face his new challenger, roasting the incoming giant of a man with impunity.
Two steps into the column of flame, Merri’s makeshift armor fashioned from bark, leather cords, and sheets of layered ice melted rapidly, but his charge was unabated. The mage attempted to step back but was unable to move his legs, as he found the puddle at his feet frozen solid. Panicking, the mage threw everything he had into incinerating the man who bull-rushed him.
Dakkon, after freezing the ground, poured the rest of his mana into shielding Merri and gushed fourth water from his wraps with the intent to douse his large ally and their target alike.
As the water reached the fire mage, so did Merri’s charge. With a great maul from his shoulder, he swung to deliver the full force of his run, powerful arms, and considerable mass in one titanic payload. The maul connected like a batter at tee, with a volcanic *thunk* as the fire and water erupted, filling the room with steam.
[Killing players does not award experience points.]
As though lobbed to him, through the mist, an item bounced over the stone ground and landed at Dakkon’s feet. It appeared to be some sort of obsidian-black bowl. On its side, the bowl poured out, and up, wispy tendrils of a deep red which licked over the upturned side of the bowl.
After a quick prod to ensure he wouldn’t scald himself, Dakkon lifted the bowl, righting it. As he turned the bowl, its crimson, tendril tips unbent but remained pointing toward the cieling, and continued to do so no matter how he oriented the item.
A prompt appeared:
|The unique class: Edgemaster cannot be overridden.
|You may consume the Crucible of the First Flame, unique class change relic for the Tyrant of Fire class, for a permanent buff.
|Class-change relics which have been destroyed will be elsewhere re-introduced into the world.
|Would you like to consume the Crucible of the First Flame?
|Yes No
Dakkon selected ‘No.’ So, he could consume class change relics. Was this some hidden ability of the edgemaster class?
The dropping of that relic meant that their goal had been completed. As the fog screen dissipated, Merri could be seen sitting on the floor near the center of the room. He was badly burnt, no doubt, but he was breathing.
Lina beelined it straight to the corpse of the fire mage, looking around frantically. When Dakkon walked up to her, holding the precious relic, Lina’s eyes nearly bulged out of her head. She snatched the item away, greedily.
“Why…” she started, but then stopped herself. She appeared confused by Dakkon’s choice not to betray her for an easy boost in power. Perhaps that would have been her move.
“I like my class better,” Dakkon said with nonchalance.
Lina hugged the artifact defensively against her bosom while she accepted the prompt it gave her. The relic’s faux flame spread to her chest and arms that held it in place, the tendrils dancing wildly as though introduced to dry kindling before the fire faded away.
Merri was the MVP in the confrontation, and he sat rewarded with burns all over his body. Lina produced a salve from her bag and lathered it liberally onto Merri’s face, shoulders, and chest.
Dakkon was pleased that the trick he’d picked up from the wolf spirit boss, freezing someone’s feet to the floor, could be practically applied. Sure, he didn’t have a cloud of low-hanging magic mist, but he could rapidly freeze a puddle from a distance. The effect was similar. It was clear that Chronicle was the sort of environment where one’s listed skills would only be a fraction of what they were truly capable of. A clever player would always be able to adapt and create.
The justice meted out by Merri had been swift. Their task there had finished. Now they simply needed to wait awhile for the giant man to recover enough to head back.
After Lina had finished the generous application of salve to her satisfaction, she turned to Dakkon and paused to consider the situation as it had played out. Then, with no great ceremony she held out a pouch to Dakkon.
“What’s this?” Dakkon asked dubiously, though he accepted the pouch without hesitation.
“Payment for your part in the hunt,” Lina said levelly. “We don’t accept many into our fold, but the way things played out here…” she trailed off.
Dakkon listened expectantly. He felt he deserved a few nice words from the cynic before him.
Lina re-gathered her thoughts. “I’m willing to vouch for you. In our organization that means a lot,” she said. “I’ll ask you once again—without the snark. Would you like to join us as a relic hunter?”
Dakkon was tempted to refuse given the last conversation on the matter. He weighed the satisfaction and the pride he’d feel to turn down her offer against the sack in his hand. It was a heavy little pouch—and in a world where coin weight was negligible.
“I’ll be a relic hunter,” Dakkon answered as though it were unshakable fact. To him it was, regardless of her endorsement.
“Good enough for me,” Lina said with a grin which could just about pass for friendly. “Welcome to the Full-Purse Antiquarians.”
C
HAPTER 28:
P
ROPHECY
Dakkon’s journey back to Tian was less helpful than he would have hoped. While he was provided cursory information on the faction he had just joined, the Full-Purse Antiquarians were more of an enigma for him to look into later, on his own time.
What was divulged to Dakkon was that the Antiquarians were not a guild, a clan, nor any formal in-game organization. They were a collection of like-minded individuals who supported one another only in their pursuit of magic items and fortune hunting. The group worked through posts on an out-of-game forum where vetted users posted information which was expanded upon and ultimately completed by other members. When a user found a relic which they were led to by a post on the forums, they would split the rewards of sale for that item or pay a bounty to each member involved if they wanted to keep it for themselves. Within the Antiquarians, one could make a tidy profit from a life of research, or profit from the research of others depending on their own tastes.
Lina made it abundantly clear that the roles of every member pursuing relics were equivalent. In fact, this may have been a concession of the original founder who preferred research. In Lina’s mind, picking up on the traces of rare items was far more valuable than the ability to slog through a quest chain. Many of the most respected Antiquarians dedicated their efforts to speech-craft and poring over books.
Aside from Lina’s endorsement, the next most useful thing she gave to Dakkon was a link to the faction’s forums. After a moment’s pause, Dakkon created a favorited link to the website from his media console. Lina explained that it would be no use for him to go now, as updating information did not happen instantly. The system was old-fashioned and he would not be granted access until her request was reviewed and accepted. Before she submitted her request, Lina gave Dakkon the one-time opportunity to choose a different alias on the forums. Dakkon decided that a simple shortening of his own name, to Dak, would suffice.
Before they had made it all the way back to Tian, Dakkon had also managed to inspect the purse handed to him by Lina after they defeated the fire mage, who had first been a server at an inn in Turlin where he slipped a fast-acting poison into Lina’s and Merri’s drinks. The purse’s perceived heft was the result of 50 platinum coins—the equivalent of 5,000 gold or 5,000 real-world credits. That sum alone would be enough for four months’ living expenses on the other side. The allure of money trickling to him more easily than any he’d ever known was more than enough to buy his loyalty to the Antiquarians—for now, at any rate.