The trip to the adventurer’s guild was taken at a leisurely pace with me stopping to look for anything interesting in the shop windows that I passed on the way. So far, the pickings in town have been slim as far as gear that was on par with what I already had equipped. It reminded me that I should have Clancy put the word out that I was looking for more powerful gear.
I made a detour to find Clancy at the spot he’d picked out for this time of the evening. He’d gone over his schedule with me earlier and had fine-tuned his cart locations based on the time of day and the array of potential clients that were out during those times. Right now, he should be somewhere near a cluster of taverns that catered to adventurers and several of the town guards that were off duty. The location wasn’t too far from my eventual destination at the guild.
It was only a few minutes later that I spotted his cart near a fountain in an intersection. He was across from two competing inns and had a pair of people in adventuring gear looking at his wares. Clancy waved as I approached but kept his focus on the customers in front of him. As I neared Clancy, I was a bit surprised to see the same type of system information regarding his actions that I could see when my other minions were in combat.
Normally, I suppressed the minutia of what my minions were doing, but Clancy’s actions were a bit unusual. It wasn’t as simple as watching the effects to see what spell Elida was casting, or as obvious as the plasma beam firing from the drone. Here, Clancy was using some class skills I’d never heard of, but when I focused on him, the system gave me a bit more of an explanation.
Clancy has activated Steps to the Sale. This ability grants him a 5% persuasion bonus, and a 5% price increase.
The customer has resisted Steps to the Sale. All interactions with this customer will now be made at a 5% penalty to the chance of closing the deal, and a similar reduction to the overall price of the goods or services the customer purchases.
It seemed there was a battle going on here, one that was as intricate as a physical battle, if not quite as deadly. Clancy was fighting to get me the most profit he could, and the customers, whether they knew it or not, were counterattacking his efforts. The negotiations went on for a bit, and eventually Clancy was able to sell two small potions to the duo of young adventurers.
Potion of Inebriation Cleansing. This potion must be taken prior to the imbibing of any intoxicant. It will allow greater resistance to any negative effects of the intoxicant and reduce any post inebriation debuffs by 50%.
“Thank you for your business. Make sure you take those potions before you two begin your drinking tonight. If you wait too long, the effects will be diminished,” Clancy warned as the adventurers left. Each popped the cork off the potion and imbibed them before entering the nearest tavern.
“Hey Clancy, how’s business going?” I asked once he was done restocking the potions he had just sold. A drawer at the bottom of the cart seemed to be nearly filled with them. This close to the taverns, it was probably a big seller.
“Hello, sir, I’m not doing bad at all. Did you want to collect your earnings? I’m afraid I don’t have much other than a little bit of coin for you at the moment,” Clancy said handing over a small bag of coins that I put into inventory. The system sorted what I’d received.
You have acquired the following:
- Gold coins, 2.
- Silver coins, 29.
- copper coins, 8.
“Thanks, Clancy. I did want the cash, but I also wanted to see if you have any contacts that might be able to source some better gear for me. You know the basics of my class, and I’m looking for things that are at, or slightly above my current tier and rank,” I asked.
“I can do that, but it may take some time, and a few deposits to have things brought in. What type of gear are you specifically looking for?” Clancy asked.
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“Weapons, armor, and anything to boost a summoners power. Also, any equipment that would be compatible with the equipment beads for my minions. The drone and Elida already have their first equipment beads, so I’m primarily looking for things that fit the goblin trio. That’s in addition to the usual consumables I have you keeping an eye out for,” I explained.
“It shouldn’t be too hard. Just so you know, it may take some time to find something and arrange delivery. You should also be prepared for the transportation expense, and I’ll need money for deposits, unless you want me to dig into the restocking funds,” Clancy said.
“No, let’s not hamper the business we’re building, how much gold do you think you’ll need to get started?” I asked.
“Fifty should do it, that would be enough of a deposit for at least a couple of items,” Clancy said.
“Great, here’s fifty gold, and if you need more, feel free to take anything extra from my cut of the shop profits to pay for it,” I said.
“Will do, sir,” anything else you need?” Clancy asked. I could see him eyeballing the people walking by, several of which were giving a quick glance at his wares.
“That’s it, I’ll get out of your hair now,” I said, leaving Clancy and the cart so he could focus on doing business. It might be a bit of a longshot, and perhaps more expensive than it should be with shipping costs involved, but it could be a time saver for me if I didn’t have to scour the local shops looking for upgrades that were few and far between.
After leaving Clancy, I cut through the growing crowd enjoying the town’s nightlife and found my way to the adventurer’s guild. It was as busy as ever, and at least now I knew my way around the place well enough for me to get into the correct queue. The line for faculty of the academy was shorter and moved faster than the general adventurer’s queue, which I was thankful for, but which also garnered me a few hostile looks from the regular adventurers waiting their turn.
“Sir, how may I assist you?” The middle-aged halfling at the counter asked when I finally reached the front of the queue.
“Hi, I’d like to get on the schedule for a dungeon run. I also wanted to see if I could qualify for something with a bit higher tier and rank now. I’ve grown a bit since I became a guild member,” I said.
“Let me check your options,” the halfling said, flipping through the huge tome in front of him.
“Based on your previous delves, and with an approval stamp from the headmaster himself, I can unlock dungeons up to tier two, rank nine for a solo run. Would you like me to check on the availability?” the halfling asked.
“That would be great, thanks,” I replied. The headmaster hadn’t said anything about bumping up my access, but apparently, he’d vouched for me handling harder tasks. I had to wonder if it was due to my placement in the faculty tournament. The halfling spun the tome around after a few seconds, and when I began to read it, the system populated my new options.
In addition to the previously unlocked dungeons, you now have access to join the queue for the following dungeons.
- The Savage Plains. Tier 2, Rank 6.
- Mysterious Crash Site. Tier 2, Rank 8.
- Longhouse of the Jarl. Tier 2, Rank 9.
From the dungeon names alone, it seemed like an interesting mix. I wasn’t sure how much better the rewards might be, or how the difficulty would ramp from the previous highest rank dungeon I was allowed to enter. I was only going to be going up by a maximum of nine ranks compared to my previous cap of tier two, rank zero, but I figured it would be best to start at the bottom and see how things went.
“Can I get in the queue for the Savage Plains?” I asked.
“Certainly, and it’s been long enough since your last delve, so you qualify for a faculty fast pass,” the clerk said.
“Thanks, where is this dungeon, and how long is queue with the pass I have available?” I asked.
“It shouldn’t be more than an hour wait once you get there, but the dungeon is a bit further out than the other ones you’ve completed. Here, I’ll get you a map,” the clerk replied. He ducked down and I could hear things being shuffled around behind the counter. When he reappeared, he passed over a scroll highlighting the location of all three new dungeons that I now qualified for.
“Thanks, I appreciate your help,” I replied.
“No problem, stay safe, Professor Kline,” the clerk replied.
A quick look at the map showed I had about a three mile walk to the dungeon entrance. At least it was just off one of the main roads leading to town, which would make the journey a bit easier. I didn’t know how often the roads were patrolled, but I figured the academy, and growing town would want to make sure that the roads supporting their livelihood were safe and well-maintained.
Double checking that I had everything with me, I headed toward the town gate. Elida was still with me from when I summoned her inside Somhagen Exports for her equipment bead. I summoned the drone, and my small team was complete. We probably made for an odd sight, but far from the strangest party to be seen traipsing around the town. The lights and sounds of the town receded as the road toward the dungeon led into the wilderness.
It was time to see what the Savage Plains dungeon had to offer me.