You are Summoned

Meara walked me to another part of the store where there were more display stands as well as some tables where various bits of gear were laid out. I was also interested to see that they had a small collection of summoning figurines. These were single use items and as such, weren’t overly expensive. With my class giving me a boost of one rank to anything I summoned from a figurine, as well as my mana cost for such items being set at one, they might be good purchases, especially to have back home.

While my regular summoning figurines were bound to my core and could travel between worlds, if I could stash a few consumables, that would give me some additional protection back home. It may make me less effective during a summoning session if they weren’t there, but overall, it was the smart choice. From my experience with the gnomes, having a good rating at the end of a summoning could be very lucrative, but I’d sacrifice a few coins to preserve my life.

I also inquired about more of the notice of cessation consumables. There was one already in my loadout, but once it was gone, I wouldn’t have another chance to purchase one until I hit tier one, rank five. Meara had several in stock and reminded me they were good only for tier one summonings. After that, they would be useless items in my loadout as they were not returnable. I could maybe find someone to purchase them inside the city, but I could only expect a few coppers for one.

They were fifteen summoning points each, which was steep, but a price I was willing to pay to prevent being forced to do something horrible. Thirty summoning points lighter, I purchased two more, which I hoped would get me through rank five of this tier. Into my pack they went as I took a look at the other offerings on hand.

Making my way back to the figurines, I could see they were mainly priced based on their tier and rank. For the five tier zero summoning figurines, the prices ranged from one summoning point each for a pair of rat figurines, up to three points for the most expensive one, which was a snake with wings. I could only purchase the rank zero versions of tier one figurines, but as I’d seen with my ghoul, they could be a nice bump in power over the previous tier.

For the tier one, rank zero figurines, I had a choice between three items. There was one figurine that appeared to be a two for one type of deal. It depicted a pair of small goblins that each held a crude spear in their hands. Another figurine was a large dog or wolf of some type. The most expensive figurine in the mix was a skeleton holding a greatsword. He was priced at seven summoning points, while the other tier one figurines were five.

I wanted the whole lot, that would give me a good spread of creatures to bring home, as well as a few to keep on hand for my loadout when being summoned. With summoning point total drained down after paying for the figurines, the system populated a bit of information on each.

You have acquired the following summoning figurines. These are single use, consumable items.

Tier 0, rank 0.

Dire rat. Gear cost 1.

Dire rat. Gear cost 1.

Angry housecat. Gear cost 1.

Tier 0, rank 5.

Dwarven militia. Gear cost 2.

Tier 0, rank 9.

Air Serpent, venom spitter. Gear cost 5.

Tier 1, rank 0.

Goblin raiding pair. Gear cost 5.

Forest razor wolf. Gear cost 5.

Skeletal blademaster (veteran). Gear cost 5.

You have acquired your first veteran figurine. These figurines represent a more powerful version of the creature that will perform at a level much higher than its tier and rank would suggest. Typically, the mana cost to activate such a figurine would be double the normal cost, but your class reduces the mana cost of all figurines to 1.

The veteran was a great find, and explained why he was more expensive than the other figurines that were the same rank and tier. With the advantage my class gave, I’d have to keep an eye out for advanced figurines in the future. No matter how much mana they would normally require to summon, the cost of summoning these figurines would always be one for me. My purchases had put a dent in my summoning point total, but I felt good about the purchases I’d made so far.

Meara led me to the next display where some weapons and armor were laid out on a table. Several of the weapons were things I didn’t have the skills for yet. Out of the armor selections, I found some leather armor pieces that I could wear, but they weren’t enough of an upgrade over the armor I currently had to justify the cost.

Meara assured me that other light armor was available inside the city, but they liked to have at least a small offering available to the summoned beings so they could purchase using their summoning points rather than cash. After passing on the armor, and not finding any weapons for my tier and rank that even came close to my magic war hammer, we moved on toward the next table.

“I believe this would be a good fit for your class. It only functions on summoned creatures up to tier one, but I believe that is the current limit of what you can summon. As you progress further in your class, it will become obsolete, but they have a strong resale value here in the summoned market and also inside the city itself if you prefer coin instead of summoning points,” Meara said as she handed me a silver headband. The system populated information about it as I held the item.

Headband of the apprentice summoner. This headband boosts the power of any creature that is summoned when this item is equipped, increasing their rank by 1. It functions on all types of summons, up to tier 1. The gear cost for equipping this item is 10, and the price is 25 summoning points.

It was something I definitely wanted, but I had to ask Meara something first to make sure I wasn’t wasting points on it.

“Meara, my class also grants me a rank increase of one for anything I summon. Will this add to that, or just mirror the same boost, making it useless?” I asked.

“Since you shared your class information with me, I wouldn’t offer you something that would be of no benefit. I can confirm that the bonus rank this item confers will stack with your class ability,” Meara confirmed. With the headband, everything, even the expendable figurines, would be bumped by a total of two ranks, a huge boost at my current rank and tier.

Without hesitation, I purchased the headband and stashed it in my pack. It was too bad that I couldn’t go back to the armory and adjust my loadout, but I was glad to have the item for future use. Some hard decisions on what to cut to make room for the headband would have to be made, but it was too good to leave off my loadout.

“What’s next?” I asked, getting into a consumer frenzy as I shopped in the bizarre store.

“Might I suggest we revisit the skills and ability offerings? I don’t know your current budget, but I’d hate to sell you items that completely deplete your summoning points and then leave you without a chance to gather new abilities. Remember, abilities and skills are some of the most important things you can purchase here. They will follow you forever, while the consumables and other items will lose some, or all, of their usefulness as you ascend to the higher tiers,” Meara suggested.

She was right, I had spent 80 of my 131 summoning points, and I wanted to get at least a couple of skills or spells before I ran out of funds. Back to our first stop we went, but I did cast a few longing glances at the tables and racks of gear that we hadn’t made it to yet. I had a feeling that Meara was doing her best to find me good fits for my class, and if there was something out there that was a must-have, she would have shown it to me earlier.

We had the same scrolls to consider that I had reviewed before. No matter how much I pestered Meara, she couldn’t give me any greater detail on the offerings. It was going to be something of a mystery with each choice, but the scrolls typically offered multiple options to choose from, mitigating the potential downside. Now, it was time to make a decision.

Basic unarmed combat skills (10).

Basic rogue skills (10).

Tier 1 mana conservation abilities (25).

Tier 1 gear efficiency upgrades (25).

Tier 1 summoner spells (25).

Tier 1 protection spells (25).