-Previous Chapter---Encyclopaedia----Character Builder----Next Chapter----

I already announced this over on the discord server, but D. Winchester (Author of 'Death after Death', 'Tenebroum', and many other fantastic stories) and I have this halloween event we do every year, and this year is no different.

We're giving away a total of $250 split across the top 5 highest voted shorts at the end of the event, as chosen by the readers, and I reckon some of you reading this might have an interest in writing, so, if you fancy writing horror, please consider joining the event. The theme for this year is 'Eldritch Horror', so it should be a lot of fun.

Rules and submission guidelines can be found here: https://forms.gle/Go619dxp8sH8wYnE8

-----------------------------

Chapter Two-Hundred-and-Sixty-Seven

Adam heavily considered scrapping the relics at Assassin’s stall, or using his hammer pendant on the epics and rares to get scrap that, according to Parvillo, wasn’t tied to a specific equipment category. However, the only things he really desired at the moment were legendaries like the mirror mask, and it wasn’t possible for him to break down the legendaries he had collected to obtain it, so he figured his best bet was simply to sell them.

Plus, with all these extra points, I can actually buy the alchemy laboratory building and invest into Luvicidix’s luck upgrade, and I could even buy a fusion stone to combine some of my relics, like the cloudstrider and slothling spring boots.

One thing he had discovered, after attaching Sven’s two bear traps to his belt, was that he could carry a maximum of five trinkets, which meant he only had room for one fetish of sloth. Given that he didn’t really imagine using the fetish that much, this led him to selling the rest.

Since he also couldn’t use more than one goblin tooth, he sold the other, along with the porcelain mask, nightwing cloak, and the emperor’s crown that Sven had worn.

He did however keep one pair of slothling spring boots, the two traps from Sven, and the first strike earring that Ilya had worn. Additionally, despite having no immediate use for it, he held on to the queen’s pendant, since its unique effect to avoid damage by sacrificing the nearest ‘subordinate ally’ could potentially come in handy for him later.

All in all, it was an astounding number of points he got out of it.

< < Relics Sold > >

< Aristocrat’s Porcelain Mask (Legendary) >

< Goblin King’s Golden Tooth (Legendary) >

< Nightwing Cloak (Legendary) >

< Slime Emperor’s Crown (Legendary) >

< Blood Mage Choker (Epic) x2 >

< Forlorn Cuirass (Epic) x2 >

< Pugilist’s Belt (Epic) >

< Tainted Helmet (Epic) >

< True Flame’s Icon (Epic) x3 >

< Blood Fist Ring (Rare) >

< Blue Trophy (Rare) x2 >

< Boomerang Pendant (Rare) >

< Captain’s Cape (Rare) x4 >

< Duellist’s Glove (Rare) x2 >

< Fetish of Sloth (Rare) x4 >

< Rapid-Fire Bracer (Rare) >

< Sanctuary Defender’s Robes (Rare) x2 >

< Skittish Skaters (Rare) >

< Slothling Spring Boots (Rare) >

< Vigilant Fighter’s Vambrace (Rare) >

< Yellow Trophy (Rare) >

< Committed Attack Ring (Uncommon) >

< Stone Mask (Uncommon) >

< 32,400 Points Remaining >

After I buy the twenty-five upgrades I’m allowed, I’ll still have 25,650 points remaining. Spending 12,000 on the lab for Sprite leaves me with 13,650. I should at least invest enough into Luvicidix’s luck upgrade to get the first tier, so I’ll have 8,650 points to spend on legendaries from Lucca, like the conjuring and wishing stones, which, because of my relic renewal stone, I can sell back to her for 2,500 points.

Adam grinned to himself.

The haul from stage five had truly been spectacular. The only shame was that he wasn’t able to upgrade weapons to really take advantage of the massive point lead.

“Please tell me you will buy something,” Lucca said.

“Show me what you’ve got.”

< < Relics For Sale > >

< Fated Wishing Stone (Legendary) — Wish for any Relic of Epic rarity or lower. 1 use >

< Conjuring Stone (Legendary) — Combine 2 Relics of Epic rarity or lower to produce a new unique Fusion Relic. 1 use >

< Chaos Stone (Legendary) — One of your equipped Relics of Epic rarity or lower is randomly changed into something one rarity level higher. 1 use >

< Choice Ring (Epic) — Allows you to pick two options from a Stage reward. 1-Stage cooldown >

< Cracked Conjuring Stone (Epic) — Combine 2 Relics of Rare rarity or lower to produce a new unique Cracked Fusion Relic. 1 use >

Perfect. The ring I wanted and the legendary conjuring stone appeared.

“I’ll buy the conjuring stone and choice ring,” Adam said, while looking at the chaos stone, which was something new.

It has the potential to do some interesting things, since it can turn an epic into a legendary, but randomness means it could just transform a useful epic relic into a fated wishing stone, or one of the other legendaries I already have and can’t use more than one of.

When the pool of available legendaries goes up, it could definitely have a lot more utility though.

“Excellent,” Lucca chittered.

< < Relics Purchased > >

< Conjuring Stone (Legendary) >

< Choice Ring (Epic) >

< 27,000 Points Remaining >

Yenna had left her fountain to come over and watch, leaning against Lucca’s stall.

Lev still just stood behind Adam, which was slightly unnerving.

“I think I’ll use the conjuring stone to combine my boots,” Adam said.

“Maybe they will become nicer to look at,” Yenna remarked.

Lev looked down at Adam’s fish boots at her words, apparently seeing them for the first time, based on his expression. Then he made a hand gesture in front of his chest.

“Sign language?” Adam asked, surprised.

[He says that he agrees with the wasp,] Parvillo translated.

“Well, maybe you two will be right,” Adam said.

Lucca leaned out from within her stall, chittering to herself as Adam triggered the conjuring stone.

The air started to vibrate and a slight wind circled around Adam’s hands. It felt less tumultuous than when he’d used the cracked conjuring stone in the past. The difference was likely due to the fact that this one wouldn’t add a weakness to the fusion relic.

[You have activated a Conjuring Stone. To fuse two eligible Relics, you must hold one in each hand and bring them together.]

Adam took off his cloudstrider boots and held them in his left hand, the slothling spring boots in his right.

The wind grew stronger, ruffling Adam’s cloak and the red overhang of Lucca’s stall. Then the two relics were pulled together, and the wind released its energy with a sigh, leaving behind a single pair of tall boots that, unlike Yenna and Lev’s hopes, were even more fishy than before. They sported tail fins at the top, which would be just below Adam’s knee joint, and the fins on the sides of the boots had grown bigger.

< < Fusion Relic > >

< Cloudstrider Spring Boots (Epic) — Enables Cloudwalking | Conjure a cloud beneath your feet that lasts 30 seconds. 2-minute cooldown | Leaping from a cloud accelerates the wearer to 3x Movement Speed >

It shortened the cooldown of the cloud conjuring and made the leap effect passive, plus it raised the rarity level. That’s a massive boost, not just a basic fusion. Of course, any weaknesses or shortfalls they may have had should still persist, but I’m pretty sure both relics didn’t have anything like that.

“Unfortunate,” Yenna said.

Adam shook his feet, making the fins swish around. “It does really look like I just shoved my feet into two fish, doesn’t it?”

Lev nodded gravely. Then he signed something.

[He assumed that was how you came to wear them,] Parvillo translated.

“I’m not a psycho,” Adam replied.

The conjuring stone had returned to Adam’s hand, since his relic renewal stone kept it from getting destroyed.

He placed it back on Lucca’s counter. “I’d like to sell this.”

She chittered in annoyance. “You should be glad I cannot leave this stall.”

“I’m just working within the limits of the Trials,” he replied.

< < Relic Sold > >

< Conjuring Stone (Legendary) >

< 29,500 Points Remaining >

“You had better purchase many more relics from me soon,” she said, tapping the counter with one of her long legs.

“You won’t have to worry about that,” he told her. “I’m envisioning having quite a fortune of points after the next stage.”

Lucca didn’t seem so convinced, and she watched him closely as he went over to Karie’s stall and purchased twenty-five upgrades.

< < General Upgrades Purchased > >

< Bleed (Legendary) x2 >

< Crush (Legendary) x2 >

< Force (Legendary) >

< Damage (Legendary) x12 >

< Stamina (Legendary) >

< Movement (Legendary) x7 >

< 22,750 Points Remaining >

Adam tried to buy a twenty-sixth upgrade, but Parvillo told him it wouldn’t be possible. Unlike before the altar, he was taking his enforcement of the rules a lot more seriously.

After the upgrades, his status was even crazier than before.

< < Player Status > >

< Adam >

< Euphoric Tinkerer >

< Level 159 >

< Stats >

< Health — 2,580 (+710) {+860} [+860] >

< Stamina — 705 (+25) {+235} [+235] >

< Mana — 75 ( ) {+25} [+25] >

< Damage — 11,481% (+3,527%) {+3,827%} [+3,827%] >

< Affliction — 300% ( ) {+100%} [+100%] >

< Defence — 1,500% (+425%) {+500%} [+500%] >

< Dodge — 351% (+117%) {+117%} [+117%] >

< Speed — 2,961% (+887%) {+987%} [+987%] >

< Luck — 127 (+60) [+42] >

[ Modifiers ]

< Lonesome Spire >

< Glass Tree +50% >

< < Upgrades > >

< Bleed 1,800% (+600%) {+600%} [+600%] >

< Crush 2,175% (+725%) {+725%} [+725%] >

< Force 600% (+200%) {+200%} [+200%] >

< Venom 525% (+175%) {+175%} [+175%] >

With Spear Dancer giving 1% damage for every 2% speed I’m moving at, that means that at maximum speed, I would have 16,194% damage. The pugilist’s belt doubles that, and then Frankie triples it, giving me 97,164% damage.

Adam laughed at the realisation, which made Karie, Yenna, and Lev look at him oddly.

[Perhaps the meeting with the Chaotic Convergence has left permanent damage,] Parvillo remarked.

“Don’t you understand, I can hit 100,000% damage!” he exclaimed, probably sounding as mad as he looked. And he looked quite mad indeed, what with one eye covered by a layer of beige slime, the other pure black, a mask with a smile on top, a crown on his head, a fuzzy sloth demon’s torso covering his chest, a cape from a giant bat hanging down his back, shoes like living flying fish, a left hand made of stone, and a goddamn balloon glove on his right hand.

[Ah.]

“You and I are going to have a fun time practising together,” Adam told Lev, who simply nodded, a stoic expression on his face.

He still had some things to do though, so he went back over to Builder’s stall.

“I’m buying the laboratory.”

“That’ll be 12,000 points,” she replied.

This has better be worth it.

“Deal,” he said.

< < Construction Purchased > >

< Alchemy Lab >

< 10,750 Points Remaining >

“It shouldn’t take me more than an hour to finish,” the termite told him, before going into the back of her stall and vanishing.

< < Quest Complete > >

< Poor Alchemist Seeks Housing >

< Built a laboratory for Sprite >

“Where is she going to build it?” Adam asked Parvillo.

[Near the southern edge.]

“So, behind the garden?”

[Yes.]

Instead of heading straight there, Adam went to the island’s centre first, with Yenna and Lev trailing behind him.

Time froze as Luvicidix descended from above and landed in front of him.

“You returned quickly,” she remarked.

“I’ve got a new upgrade unlocked, right?”

“Indeed you have!” she said excitedly.

With a wave of her hand, the new upgrade appeared.

< < Meta Upgrade For Sale > >

< Permanent Quests — Start every loop with previously completed Quests already completed — 5000 Points >

It’s a bit more expensive than I’d hoped, but probably the most useful upgrade I could get right now.

I think, given my insane stats now, I should be able to blow away all the other players in the next stage, but in the unlikely event that I do die in Alepheria’s tower, then I want to have my completed quests permanently completed, especially since Sprite’s fetch quest is such a massive pain in the ass.

“I’ll buy it.”

“Excellent!”

< < Meta Upgrade Unlocked > >

< Permanent Quests — Start every loop with previously completed Quests already completed >

With the purchase, Adam was down to 5,750 points, which would be enough to buy the first tier of the luck upgrade, but he wanted to see what Sprite would be able to make for him with his new lab before he spent the last of his points, since it would likely not be free.

“I might be back again in a little bit,” he told Luvicidix.

“You know where to find me,” she replied cheerfully and flew off.

Instead of time resuming as normal however, Lev, Yenna, and even Parvillo, remained stuck in time.

Then a door appeared right where Luvicidix had stood. It was a sturdy iron door with a narrow gap at the top that was sealed with a sliding metal panel, and on the front in black square writing was the numbers ‘09’.

The panel was pulled aside and two beady eyes stared at Adam through the gap, before it slammed shut and the door pulled up into an invisible sealing, revealing a dark portal that an impish goblin emerged from. He wore a jingling black-and-white jester’s costume and his body was an uncomfortable shade of bruised purple. He had bristly hairs above his eyes, on the tip of his large floppy nose and long droopy ears, as well as around his mouth like a poorly-shaven stubble. His eyes were quite small and recessed deeply into his face, giving him an almost pig-like appearance, if not for the extreme size of his ears, nose, and big-lipped mouth.

He split his lips apart, revealing jagged teeth like broken glass and with the unfortunate colour of oxidised copper slathered in sewage, accompanied by a stench of highly-concentrated tonsil stones that made Adam’s eyes water even from three metres away.

“‘Allo, boss,” he said in a Cockney accent tainted by decades of heavy smoking.

Even this creature is affected by my goblin tooth…

“Did Chaos send you?”

“I donut werk precisely for the big boss.”

Adam realised that he didn’t actually have nostrils that should be able to smell the goblin jester’s breath, and yet he was struggling to maintain his composure against the onslaught of the creature’s stench.

Wait, how are my eyes even watering??

“Can you just get it over with?” he asked, coughing as he breathed in the smell, again something his slime body should be incapable of. The goblin jester’s rank breath was so foul that it somehow transcended the sensory limitations of Adam’s transformed body.

“Rite, rite, I was toll to gift yiz a letter.”

He pulled out a sweat-stained and greasy scroll, which Adam immediately grabbed with his stone hand.

“It has been received. You can go now.”

The jester looked around, intrigued by the surroundings.

“Sure is a nice place.”

Before the goblin could say much more, a hooked black-and-white cane emerged from the dark portal, wrapped around his waist, and pulled him into the doorway, which immediately closed behind him, before the whole thing vanished.

Then time finally resumed. Yenna and Lev looked around in confusion, and Parvillo focused on the scroll in Adam’s hands, his main eye narrowed slightly.

Adam let out the breath he’d been holding.

God, that was foul.

He unfurled the nasty letter.

“Kill Phoebe Woods?” Adam read the message out loud in confusion.

-----------------------------

-Previous Chapter---Encyclopaedia----Character Builder----Next Chapter----