The lock-box, smaller than a typical loot chest, creaked open. Jordan and Liz bumped into Natalie as they all crowded together, peering over Sofia’s shoulder to see what was inside.
In pristine white gloves, Sofia held up their first spoils of war.
***
Potion of Itent Invisibility
Description
For three minutes, alterween invisibility and signifitly increased visibility. Effect ss every twenty seds.
***
The thin vial of clear liquid had bits of golden fkes suspended ihey glinted from the illumination offered by their nterns, flickering and disappearing as Sofia turhe vial left and right.
“Invisibility,” Sofia said. “That’s a stronger effect than I’d expect for our level.”
“Only twenty seds,” Jordan said. “Useless in a fight.”
While invisibility would, of course, be enormously useful in normal circumstances, it was rendered rather useless when the effect sed to the opposite: increased visibility. By the sounds of it, if a damage-dealer took the potion to fnk oppos easier, when they switched to the detrimental half of the potion, their movements would bee even easier to see—and maybe the effect implied it would draw a monster’s attention to them, making Natalie’s job that much harder.
“But great for utility,” Sofia said. “Making it through a hot zone, maybe. Sneaking a reward out. Something like that might be ing up.”
The dungeon had a tendency to provide able rewards like this when a challenge suited to it was nearby. Not always, but often enough that over the turies, a noticeable pattern had emerged.
And even if they didn’t want to use it, it’d sell well. Invisibility, even short and alternating, was a better drop than they could’ve hoped for, being level ohough the ‘increased visibility’ did make it far less valuable than if it’d been the real deal.
Sofia hahe vial to Liz. The healer would be the perso likely to be tumbling around, and therefore possibly damaging the potion. Not that dungeon potions shattered easily, but they were far from invulnerable, too. They wouldn’t block a on blow, say, or even nding the wrong way on it.
The item out barely fit ihe lock-box.
***
Phantom Quiver
Unon
Lv. 1
Effects
- Minor increase to Prowess.
- Phantom Arrows. Fabricate ghostly ammunition that deals minor additional magical damage and has a low ce to apply a disorientation effect.
Description
Crafted from shimmering blue-and-silver fabric with a long, sturdy strap for carrying.
***
It was their first unon.
The rarity of an item wasn’t the ultimate deg factor of how valuable or useful it would be, but it retty solid one, especially when bined with the level requirement. The gaps between rarities were fairly signifit. An unon, on average, sold for at least three times as much as a on, and likewise, a rare over an unon.
The higher rarities—epic, legendary, and divireasures—were essentially impossible to find at lower levels, and especially at the begiage of level oriply so the st two rarities. Maybe there were a few epic pieces of loot floating around at level one, but probably only a couple across the entire world. The upper rarities were more typical at higher levels.
As for the item itself. A quiver. It wasn’t the best piece of loot for their team. Jordan could handle herself with a bow, and was even quite skilled with it, but her css was a melee-focused poison one. She might receive med abilities as she leveled, but that was only a maybe—and once she leveled, the quiver would bee outdated. So, while a det item for her, not a perfee, or even especially great.
Sofia hahe item off to Jordan, probably making the same assumptions that it wasn’t amazing on her, but even so, it belonged on the rogue. It wasn’t like Sofia could use it, or anyone else. Maybe they would end up selling the item rather than using it on future delves, but for now, it would be wasteful for Jordan not to make use it ierim.
Jordan ied the quiver, running an eye over its design as she turhe item around. She removed her previous quiver, slung the new one over her shoulder, and shifted her shoulders side to side as if to test the weight. Finally, she reached bad activated the item, withdrawing a ghostly, silver-white arrow, the supernatural object materializing with her i. Most artifacts responded intuitively; Jordan didn’t have to spend much time puzzling out how to use it.
She he arrow, lined her shot up, and released. It thudded into a far tree.
“Pretty nice,” she said. “It’s a shame I’m not an archer.”
Which summed up everyohoughts.
They tinued looting. This being a mini-boss enter, there was more to pick through than just a potion and a single piece of equipment.
The out was a bag, one of the more typical rewards from the dungeon: raw currency. Somehow, the bundle of s ended up in Natalie’s hands as Sofia tio rummage.
Idly, she opehe bag, then picked out one of the silver s and tur bad forth. The front had a symbol of a scythe, and the back, a deer. Or … sort of. Some of the dungeon’s artwork could be breathtaking—as the mural from their first delve—but some of it could be rather shoddy, as now. She could tell what the depis were supposed to be, but they were crude, mis-proportioned and overall poorly made. The scythe was crooked in the shaft, and the deer’s legs didn’t seem quite right, even if she couldn’t pce why.
It hardly mattered, though. Silver was silver. Likely not all the way through, polluted by some lesser metal, and so the bag wasn’t quite as valuable as a hefty bag of silver and bronze s would normally be, but it would still fet impressive price.
Bags of currend gems, among other raw valuables, were a on drop. Though not the pinnacle of what a person could receive—rare equipment being that—raw valuables were still wele. They could be liquidated and traded for an item suited to your css. Especially when items could turn out as simply duds, her fitted to the party’s use or valuable to the market, raw s were never a bad drop. Silver and gold wasn’t going out of style any time soon.
She tossed the bato the bag, thehe string. She tucked it into a poud returned her attention to Sofia rummaging through the loot chest.
***
Nature's Branch
Unon
Lv. 1
Effects
- Moderate increase to magical Furor.
- Nature's Blessing. Siarget heals apply to friendly targets the spsh effect, [Minor Rejuvenation].
Description
A gnarled wooden wand covered in moss and leaves. It emanates a gentle, earthy aroma, and is rough to the touch.
***
Natalie’s eyebrows went up. There was an item suited to one of them.
“Oh,” Liz said. “.”
She sounded sheepish rather thaed. Natalie uood; it could be awkward having such a great, personally-tailored item dropping for you, because the standard way teams worked was that items someone ‘needed’ went straight to them, without ating for perfect distribution of delve earnings.
So, the fortune was almost entirely Liz’s, not the team’s.
Loot could be a tricky thing to navigate for some groups, but Natalie doubted anyone here cared overmuch about it. Jordan and Sofia just seemed intrigued by the item, and Ana—well, Ana was Ana. Maybe she was cared, maybe she didn’t. Her expression didn’t provide any hints.
Plus, gearing out the team’s healer was never a bad thing. That applied to every role, but especially tanks and healers. Those two kept the rest alive.
Liz pyed around with the wand, testing it out, and when Sofia closed and opehe lock box o time, it revealed ay interior. Dried up—no more loot. With two unons, it had been a good yield, though nothing crazy.
Natalie was a bit disappointed she hadn’t gotten anything herself, but that was the way of the dungeon. With a day and ge of delving ahead of them, there were plenty of opportunities left.