Infinitium

(Day 176) Aprilis 21st, 12th year of the Dragon, Age of Enlightenment

Adam left the Castle and headed towards the Merchant District. As he was passing a building his nanites picked up a null spot directly behind him that appeared out of nowhere. Doing a backflip, he cast powerless at the location, and then activated Investigate to see a dagger passing through where he’d been. He landed directly behind the Assassin and knocked him out. Next, he stripped everything off his body and placed it all in his belt of holding. Then he snapped the assassin’s neck and casually tossed him high enough to clear the city wall and land in the ocean.

Adam wouldn’t know this, but the assassin landed just over 3 miles away. The fishermen that had taken their boats out that far were surprised when an almighty splash sounded and then something from the depths reached up and pulled the body of the naked assassin down into the depths. Instead of investigating, the fishermen cleared that area and then started heading toward the coast.

Adam looked around to see two guards looking at him, then looking away quickly. A child ran up to Adam. “Hey mister, where did you throw that man to?”

“Well, that man was an assassin. Say it with me ass ass in. I threw him to the fishes, They like ass ass ins” he said smiling as he gave a copper to the child and then made his way to the Merchant District.

Adam had noticed a group of five people walking toward him. After he’d tossed the Assassin’s body away though they’d turned to a side street and seemed to be heading off in another direction. What Adam didn’t know was that they had been a group of five members of the Adventures guild sent to deal with the new Dungeon Master. They’d seen the casual display of power utilized against an assassin they hadn’t even seen until Adamantadine had knocked him out, stripped him, and then thrown him out to sea. They’d lost sight of the assassin as he was still rising into the sky. After that display, none of the five wanted anything to do with someone that powerful.

Adam ignored everyone that was looking at him and before he knew it he was at the store entrance to “Melanie’s Magical Nick Nacks.”

Adam looked at the shop and realized that it looked quite quaint. Not too big not too small and the area appeared to be well-kept and clean on the outside. Adam hoped that Melanie would have enough money for him to trade in all of the items he had in his Ring of Holding.

Adam walked up to the door and stepped through and stopped, completely immobilized by shock. If an Assassin had attacked right then they might have been successful. This was one of those structures that were definitely bigger on the inside than it was on the outside. In fact, if he didn’t know better he could be inside a mall back on Earth, a rather large mall.

As he stepped forward a young woman came forward to greet him. “Hello and welcome to Melanie’s Magical Nick Nacks. How can I help you?”

“Hello, I am looking to sell or trade items I have for gems or soulstones. Do you sell soulstones?” Adam asked.

“All items for sale are appraised to your right over there.” She said pointing to a huge counter with very little traffic that had a gnome sitting on a highchair behind the counter.

Gems and soulstones are down the hallway behind me about 50 feet on your left. You can’t miss it.”

“Thank you, I think I’m going to go talk with your coworker over there,” Adam said as he turned and strode toward the gnome behind the counter. The greeter had never given her name and he had never asked. He’d make sure to do so the next time they talked. Adam put that thought to the back of his mind as he walked over to the gnome’s counter.

“Good day sir, my name is Adamantadine. I’m looking to sell some items I found while adventuring. Do you think you can help me out?” Adam asked.

“Good day to you Adamantadine. My name is Darci. You wouldn’t happen to be the same Adamantadine that was recently our King, is also our new Dungeon Master and threw my brother Perci up into the sky so high he swears he passed through a cloud.” Darci said with a scowl

"That would be me, is that going to be a problem?’ Adam asked.

Darci scowled for a couple more seconds then a shit-eating grin appeared on his face. “First, thank you for stopping the assassins. Second, thank you for killing that evil bastard Belarious. Everyone knew he was evil, but no one could stand up to him. Third, and most importantly, thank you for scaring the literal shit out of my brother. My mom was so angry that he soiled the pants that she’d made for him” he said laughing.” That tongue-lashing was worth any pain or anguish you caused me brother, plus I know the pompous ass, he deserved it.” He said laughing the whole time.

“You’re welcome, I think,” Adam said as Darci’s laughter became infectious and they both laughed until tears were falling from their eyes.

They laughed for a little while longer until Darci finally brought himself under control. “Seriously though, what can I do for you?” he asked.

“I’m looking to purchase some soulstones, all types, the more the better. Also, the gems to make the soulstones if they have them here. To do that I need to sell some of my magic items.” Adam said.

“Let me see what you have, just place each item on the counter,” Darci said.

Adam pulled out the Longbow of Deadly Accuracy +3, three sets of Chain Mail +3, a Cloak of Fire Resistance 50%, Shortsword of Quickstrikes +5, Longsword of Fire +5, Dagger of Backstabbing +5, Bo Staff +5, and the Assassins Dagger +10.

The haggling started and eventually, Adam walked away with 36,400 gold.

Congratulations you have learned the Merchant Skill to level 1. Receive a +1% discount when buying or a 1% markup for selling. Merchants pit their skills against each other as they try to out-purchase or sell their competition. Do you have what it takes to be a Legendary Merchant? Note, the most any item can be sold for is +100%+1% per skill level. So someone who does not have the merchant skill would be able to at most sell their items for 200% of its value. A person with a merchant skill of 100 would be able to sell their product for 300% of its value. Charisma and the other merchant's merchant skills can counteract your efforts. Note a Merchant will never sell an item they have for less than 50% of its value. This is the absolute minimum you can buy an item for from someone with the merchant skill.

Congratulations, you have shown that you have what it takes to be a merchant…, without the merchant skill, you were able to sell all of your items here for 200% of their value. Your charisma bonus completely negated the merchant’s charisma and merchant skill bonus.

You have gained the ability: Silver Tongued Devil. This ability grants you a +25% bonus whenever using a skill that Charisma is a primary attribute for, like the Merchant Skill. This bonus cannot be added to any skill challenge if the target has taken damage from you within the last week. This ability does not work with the skill of Intimidation.

When Adam had picked up all his money he said. “Thank you, Darci. I’m gonna head to the next shop, you have a great day.”

“You to Adam, you too. Also, if you could keep from scaring Perci too bad, Ma would appreciate it” Darci said.

“Understood and let your Ma know I won’t scare him unless he earns it.” Adam turned away and walked down the hall. As he did he increased his merchant skill to 500. Adam arrived at the Soulstone shop and realized it would be more appropriate to call it a Jewelers hut. As Adam walked in he noticed glass cases with all kinds of gems in them all around the store. He recognized everything in the cases that were on the floor but couldn’t identify the gems in the cases on the wall behind the counter where a high elf was standing. She had light brown hair, green eyes, and smiled at him as he walked to the counter.

“Welcome to Silvara’s Stone Services. I am Silvara, owner and operator of this little establishment. How can I help you today?” she asked.

“Hello, Silvara. It is very nice to meet you. Recently I learned about soulstones and acquired the spells to make them. I am looking for soulstones of all types to purchase and any Advanced, Epic, Mythical, and Legendary gems so I can enchant them. Also, if you know how to find or make higher-tier gemstones I’d pay you for that knowledge.” Adam answered.

“Well, I can certainly sell you any soulstones I have, so let’s discuss that first” she responded then continued. You do know how soulstones work? She asked.

“Yes, I have to cast a soul trap spell and if a creature is killed the creature’s soul will be absorbed into the stone,” Adam said.

“True, but I was asking more specifically, do you know how soulstones work if you are carrying different types of empty soulstone?”

“I don’t believe I’ve come across that information before,” Adam answered.

“Well, it’s not that complicated. If you kill something that has a common soul, and you have one of each type of soulstone. It will go into the common soulstone. If you don’t have a common soulstone it will go into the advanced, then the epic, the mythical, and finally the Legendary or Divine Soulstone. Weaker souls can always be absorbed by higher-level soulstone. The reverse is not true though. If you killed a target with a legendary soul it could not go into an empty Mythical Soulstone.” Silvara explained.

“So always make sure to have more lower-tier soul stones on you?” Adam asked.

“Exactly?” she said.

“How many do you have for sale of each type?” Adam asked.

“How many can you afford?” she asked with a smile.

They haggled for the next hour but eventually, Adam spent 22,250 gold on 50 empty common soulstones, 30 empty advanced soulstones, 20 empty epic soulstones, 15 empty mythical soulstones, 10 Legendary Soul stones, and 2 Divine Soulstones Once the deal for the soulstones was done. His merchant skill had reduced the price to 50% of the marked-up price which was 110% cost. Merchants did have to make a profit after all. He also paid the 10% tax which was another 2,250 gold.

“Now that we are done with the soulstones you asked about advanced, epic, mythical, and legendary gems?” Silvana asked.

“Yes, first do you have any for sale, and second how do I find them?”

“Well, the first thing you should know is that higher-tier gems are simply gems that have been infused with a certain type of magic. For instance, these five neon blue gems on the wall. Each of these is a different tier. Syleon here is an Advanced Gem. Neotite is Epic. This Geonde is Mythical and this Sapheon is Legendary she said as she pointed to each in turn. So, what makes them higher tier?” she asked and paused. When no answer came she answered. “The Syleon was originally Sylvite. Over time it was exposed to a place of power or ley line of air magic which saturated the gem until it changed. How long this process took, no one has been able to figure out though I would bet the gods know. The Neotite was once Kynite. The Geonde was once a Geode and Sapheron was once sapphire. “

“That seems easy enough. So, watch for rare gems around Places of Power and Ley Lines, I can do that.” He said.

“Also, dungeons and The Labyrinth, the Labyrinth is actually a better place to get any high-tier gems. Both are entirely saturated with magic, and both can produce such gems as treasure. You should know that I only carry the gems that are infused with the eight prime elements for sale. Sometimes I will have gems infused with higher power energy but those are few and far between and I will not sell those items for gold. Though a fair trade could be negotiated.”

“Do you have any higher-tier gems for sale?” he asked.

“Unfortunately, no. The gems I just showed you are all fakes, made for display and to show the difference. As I said, the best place to get gems is a dungeon or the Labyrinth. Is there anything else I can help you with?” she asked.

Adam shook his head and said, “Nope, you’ve done enough. I think I need to get going. Thank you for your time and the information.“ Adam said as he placed a gold coin on the table as he turned to leave the store, then paused. He turned back and asked, “Is there a store around here that sells something that can be used to contain a beast or monster like a bag or ring of holding that also keeps the animal alive?”

“There sure is. You want to see the Dwarf Bert down in Bertharious’s Exotic Animals out the door, turn left and follow to the end of the corridor. It’ll be on your left.“ She said.

“Thank you again,” he said as he headed out the door and down the corridor. As he neared the end there was a door on the left with a sign over it with “Bertharious’s Exotic Animals.” Adam stepped inside and was immediately assaulted by noises and smells that he couldn’t see or smell from the outside.

There were windows into areas that housed animals. At first, it was kind of disorienting as some of the windows looked into rooms that should have included space to both the left and the right of the window, yet there were windows there as well, opening into other open spaces. Near the door, Adam saw small rooms with normal cats and dogs in them. Including some rare breeds. As he continued forward toward the counter though he saw a window that didn’t open into a room. Instead, there was a mirror set at 45 degrees that reflected the image of a lizard that would be just a little bigger than a man as the goat met its gaze and turned to stone. The lizard rushed forward and bit off the head and started breaking apart the rock and swallowing it.

“That is our basilisk”, a bald man said as he came from behind the counter. “I am Bertharious, owner and proprietor. How can I help you today?” he asked.

Pointing to the mirror Adam said “Horrifying, but interesting” before he turned back to Bertharious. “Hello, I am Adamantadine.” I’m looking for a storage device I could use to capture a creature, as yet unknown of an exotic nature that would allow me to transport it back to the city or to the Dungeon to be added to it.?”

“You’re here for traps and cages then?” he asked.

“What exactly do these traps and cages do? I have an image in my mind concerning traps and cages and I don’t see them capturing and holding a beast or monster of a magical nature.” Adam said.

“Certainly sir. A common misunderstanding. The traps I speak of act much like the spell Soul Trap. When a specific set of conditions are met the creature, or creatures, the trap is touching are immediately teleported into the cages that are synchronized to them. Cages are extradimensional spaces that have been modified to allow for normal time to pass with whatever environment is necessary to keep the creature alive and healthy until it can be released into its permanent home or freed back into the wild. Some cages can be large enough that flying creatures can fly around in them or so small that they would only hold some bugs”

“I see. So how does one synchronize a trap to a cage?” Adam asked.

“That is simplicity itself, sir. Each trap and cage has an associate ring. If you are wearing the trap ring and the cage ring when the trap is triggered, the target, or targets are immediately whisked away to your cage. A word of caution though. If the creature has magic resistance it may be able to resist the trap. Most hunters keep the cage ring on their hand and place the trap ring on when they get close to their target. This way they can change trap types quickly without having to worry about putting two different rings on.”

“That sounds impressive, how much?”

“For a standard tag dart trap that would be 1 gold per rank, each rank represents 10 cubic feet. For a dart trap that shoots out a web to touch multiple targets that would be 10 gold per rank. For a touch, voice, or timer-activated area of effect trap that would be 10 gold per 10 cubic feet. For a touch, voice, or timer activate the area of effect trap that would be 20 gold per 10 cubic feet.”

Cages ranged in price but the rule of thumb is 1 gold per rank for a basic cage that will keep the beast or monster alive and 2 gold per rank for an aquatic cage. We do sell cages with a suppression field in them to keep the monsters asleep. There is a flat 100 gold piece cost that scales every 10 levels. So, ranks 1-10 would be an additional 100 gold. Levels 11-20 would be 200 gold and so on.

“One question, why are cages so expensive?” Adam asked.

“Cages are so expensive because they are not truly dimensional spaces but rings that teleport creatures to specific locations. Those locations may exist on this plane or another, it doesn’t matter as the ring is permanently tied to their location. Because of the accuracy and maintenance required on the cages, it would be better to think of the cage rings as leases instead of purchases. Every year, the upkeep will need to be paid to maintain the facility.” He said.

“Last question, if I were to supply the extra-dimensional space to put cages in what would it cost to create rings tied to the cages I created?

“That is a good question. The cost would depend on location, time away from the shop, and materials cost. Without knowing exactly what you’re asking for I do not have an accurate estimate I can give.”

“Fine, Fine,” Adam said absently as he thought about the possibilities. Then the haggling started.

In the end, Adam purchased ten normal darts, one of each rank 1-10, and ten web darts one each of ranks 11-20. One huge rank 500 trap and another huge rank 500 web trap. Adam also purchased ten cages all with suppression, one of each rank 1-10 and one rank 1000 cage. When it was all said and done Adam spent 8,794 gold. He was now ready to watch out for monsters that might make his dungeon stronger.

Adam thanked Bertharious, promised he’d visit again soon then left the store. It was time to head back to his Place of Power. Adam walked over to a side ally and teleported back to his Place of Power.