Marty,

I had a small team go through your logs for your dungeon dive, and I think we found the problem. As we discussed, you will have an experience debt applied, so you won’t gain any experience until you have earned two and a half levels worth of experience. You will still remain at level 34.

Thanks,

Mike

Well, that was going to be annoying. Expected, but still annoying. Instead of heading straight to the Bone Citadel, I did some grinding. I got enough materials to make 200 acid potions and 200 pyrophoria potions, even if they didn’t grant me any extra experience at this point. I also took a few turns through the champion dungeon, sacrificing the final boss to Thanatos to fill out my third required champion level sacrifice. All the monsters in the dungeon were my level or higher by two, so I managed to refill my weekly kill quota and reach the required favor to increase my standing in the church. My fourth run finally had me gaining experience again, as at the end of it I managed to hit level 35. The five days it took to complete all of that had given Dharkiss enough time to work through two of my new commissions, and Djarleen to set up another trade meeting with the alchemists guild.

Phoebe was also a lot easier to deal with, as Derrick was right about the new moon altar. She just had to find the one with a sphere of obsidian. Jon had managed to meet back up with her, and their raid on the Sons of Ullr was being talked about all over the message boards. Nobody had seen Jon, due to his stealth and how far he had to stay away from Phoebe to not get attacked. Instead people were losing their minds at how a mid level clan stronghold got razed to the ground by a vicious creature that had a cursed aura. Part of their success was their fantastic plan, as the compound had four longhouses. Phoebe first sealed the exits, then jumped up and sealed the chimneys with wet sacks. On the fourth one the alert was raised by sentries changing shifts, but by then a good 2/3 of the players had succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning. The rest were disoriented and out of armor when they came tumbling from the longhouses, and she went through them like a hot knife through butter.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

“Good morning Dharkiss, how are those commissions coming?”

“Had them done yesterday, the apprentice spent a bit of the night polishing them right up. Care to take a look?”

“Why, I would love to!” I said, heading over to the counter where he had two lumpy shapes hidden under covers.

“So here’s the first one, and it can be used with your armor as it counts as an off hand weapon.” Dharkiss was talking as he walked over as well, and uncovered a beautiful masterpiece. Polished steel, it was a wonderful replica of the spiked gauntlet from one of the armored suits in the Catacumba Daemonica dungeon. The spikes were only an inch long, but that would be perfect for wearing down a bones durability.

“Fantastic work as always Dharkiss. This’ll provide a lovely surprise at the Bone Citadel.”

“No doubt about that, but I don’t know why you gotta go to a place with such an ominous name.”

“Ha! Because people who break taboos don’t create strongholds with names like ‘Fields of comforting, cuddly animals.’ Not everything can be rainbows and unicorns.”

“What? Who would have thought unicorns would be fluffy, cuddly beasties? That horn is there for one reason, and that’s spearing enemies.”

“I believe that, but a lot of travelers like me have forgotten that a lot of stories like that were meant as warnings.”

“That’s a shame. Well, at least here they are relatively immortal.”

“True enough. Now, let’s see what’s under that other tarp, shall we?”

“Heh, always about the weapons aren’t you?”

“You would be excited too, if you were upgrading from your original crossbow to one suitable for a level 35.” I said, rubbing my hands together in glee. Shaking his head at my antics, he flipped the tarp off to reveal my new crossbow. The string was made with the leg tendons of the thunderram toad, and the stock was carved from ironwood that Dharkiss had gotten smuggled in somehow. The dark grey of the ironwood was broken by some patches of light brown paint, making it easier to keep concealed with it equipped.

“My god, it’s a beauty.” I breathed softly as I read the description. “That damage seems a little inflated though, isn’t it?”

“Normally I would say yes, but that leg tendon you gave me can take an incredible amount of pressure without deforming. That’s why it can shoot so far, the draw strength is incredible. Give it a pull and you’ll see, I would have it loaded before battle any time you can.”

Believing Dharkiss, I had to really strain to get it pulled back enough to load. “Gah, you weren’t kidding about that pull. Dharkiss, once again you’ve outdone yourself. I can’t thank you enough for these.”

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“Well, ya could just hand over the five platinum for the weapons you still owe and we could call it even.” He said with a smile, and I chuckled too as I handed over the coins. “Now come on back whenever you need things repaired, and I’ll be happy to help you out.”

“Thanks Dharkiss, now I get to go deal with some alchemists before finding my way over to raid a citadel.”

Walking out of the blacksmith’s shop, I decided to head over to the temple to upgrade my standing.

“Welcome back, brother. I see you are ready to advance, yes?”

“Indeed I am brother, but how could you tell?”

“All followers of Thanatos have an aura of death surrounding them. As we reach the pinnacle of the tier we are in, the aura grows, and once it eclipses the limit then it starts to grow ragged around the edges. You put this off for a day or two, didn’t you?”

“Indeed, brother, and thank you for explaining that. Do I just need to place my hands upon the altar again?” At his smiling nod, I figured I would get a bit of pain again. Sure enough, placing my hands on the altar sent a shock through my arms, and a cold burn on my chest.

I pulled my armor to the side, and saw my tattoo had evolved to having robes now, though they looked rather flat compared to the fine detail in the bones that were still visible. “So I need to kill five more creatures per week, and to advance I need five champions sacrificed?”

“Yes, and there is another stipulation brother. Your sacrificed champions can’t be from the same type of creature.”

“Just so I know, what do you classify as types of creatures?”

“A good question. Sacrificing a resurrected skeleton from an elf and a dwarf would be the same type, humanoid resurrected skeleton. However, you could sacrifice a resurrected bear skeleton and gain a sacrifice for animal resurrected skeleton.”

“Thank you brother, that makes it much easier. Is there anything else I need to be aware of before I head out for another meeting?”

“Yes. Don’t dally with your upgrading within the church again. You were very close to the point where your excess favor would start to decay.” Nodding, I headed out, happy to know that you couldn’t hoard favor for too long. Two stops down, one to go.

“Yo, Djarleen. How’s life treatin’ ya?” I asked as I entered.

“Same as the other day Angus. You ready to talk to the guildmaster?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be.” I said, following her to the transportation circle.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

We came out, and headed straight to the guildmaster’s office. We did nod at Montgomery on the way, and for once he didn’t have any snide remarks for Djarleen, for which we were both thankful.

“Come in!” The headmaster called after we knocked on his door.

“Greetings, guildmaster Willow.” We both said, as we entered and sat in his chairs.

“Ah, Angus and Djarleen, so good to see you again. Can I offer you some tea?”

“No thanks.” I said, and I guess Djarleen was content to let me lead the discussion.

“So, what brings you here for a visit?”

“Well, I have a new reagent that I was wondering if the guild had any possible recipes for them. I have some shards of warped spectral bark, as well as some vials of corrupted sap.”

“Interesting, very interesting. Now where did you come across those?”

“A heroic dungeon. Catacumba Daemonica.” I replied, and watched as the guildmaster’s face grew pale.

“You broke the seal and ventured inside?”

“Not only that, I cleared the dungeon. How do you know of that?”

“Not many know this, as I haven’t had to use it for a long while, but I am a spirit caller. I know who dwelled in that dungeon, Angus, and you have done those who work with the spirit world a massive favor. Can you tell me of her demise?”

“Sure. I was given a task by Thanatos to kill four people who are defying death and breaking taboos. Devin.”

“DON’T SAY HER NAME!” He shouted, standing up. “Sorry.” He said, visibly shaking as he collected himself. “Her name, it is. . . almost a taboo in itself around us spirit callers. Call her the Lost.”

“My apologies. The Lost was to be my first target. I made my way through two levels of enslaved demonic spirits. The bottom level was D, I mean the Lost, her spirit tiger, and a corrupted world tree.”

“Did she have no shame at the end!” He snarled, and I was terrified of him in that moment. An aura of power billowed out, and both Djarleen and I sunk into our chairs, unable to move. After a few seconds he noticed, and stopped his rage. The ability to go from calm, to rage, and back again within a few seconds was somehow far scarier than the power his rage had released.

“A. ..anyway.” I stuttered. “I could tell from his demeanor that Acongua was fighting every order she gave him. Back where I come from, we call it malicious compliance.”

“Oh?”

“You carry out the order to the last letter, knowing full well that your boss wanted something different and was just sloppy with their words. Anyway, I shot the latch of the complete submission collar with an acid potion, and she ordered Acongua to investigate. So he came out into the mists to investigate, and we managed to have a small conversation. While talking, I was able to finish breaking the latch for the collar. We then circled around and attacked the Lost. My job was to take out the tree, as she was using it as a reservoir of souls for her power. Acongua would distract her, and if possible I would strike the final blow.”

“And Acongua, what of him?” Willow was at the edge of his seat during my recounting, obviously concerned about the spirit beast.

“He took a strong blow to the jewel in his chest, but it gave me the opening to strike the final blow. He told me that he would need about a month to recover in the spirit world, and that was almost a week ago.”

“Thank the gods.” He said with a sigh of relief. “So, these shards and sap are from a corrupted world tree?”

“Yes sir.”

“Hmmm, we have several recipes that call for world tree sap, but the corruption would negate any of them. I will have to have several of the masters search through the restricted section to see what we can figure out. Now, go ahead and show me what else you have, I know you have something else up your sleeve.”

“I’m not sure if this is for alchemists or enchanters, but I have a pristine spectral warped branch from the tree as well.” I said, while pulling out the ash grey branch from my inventory. It was slightly twisted, the bark had fallen off leaving it smooth to the touch. At the tip, several strands of wood left an empty space for a large crystal.

“Can you feel it?” Willow asked reverently. “This, this has been attuned to the spirit world. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything so perfect. May I hold it, for a second?”

Not seeing any downside, I handed it to him and watched as he ran his hands lovingly over every inch. Certain spots he would bring to his ears, as if he were listening to something the rest of us were oblivious to. “Oh, this will make a grand staff. What are you looking to do with it?”

“Well, I don’t use staves, so it won’t do me any good. I guess I would have to trade it. Oh, I almost forgot, I also have a heart of the seas and a heart of ghostly flame. What can those be used for?”

“Hmm, those are used as evolution materials mostly, though some may work with a staff if properly affixed.” He said, thoughtful look on his face. “You should try and get all four.”

“Four? What am I missing? Air and earth?”

“Yep. The air should be the hardest for you to come across, how close are you to reaching your evolution level?”

“Five levels away. Shouldn’t be too much longer.”

“Tell ya what. You’ve done well for the guild, I don’t mind loaning you this.” He said, reaching into a safe in the wall behind him. “Here, if you do end up using it to evolve, you can pay me back somehow. If you don’t, for the loan all I ask is that you tell me what the evolutionary options it unlocks is. Does that work for you?”

“Of course!” I said excitedly, as I took the blue and white orb from his hands. Identify called it the heart of clear skies, and I quickly put it in my inventory.

“Ok, back to the staff. This is going to be a very niche item, as the spirit caller community that would benefit from it the most isn’t very large. I’ll put some feelers out for you, if you allow me 30% commission on it.”

“Twenty.”

“Thirty.”

“Twenty five. It’s going to be a large sale, do you really need the extra five percent?”

“I suppose not. Very well, 25% commission. Payable in coin or equivalent item value. Deal?”

“Deal.” I said, leaning forward to shake his hand.

“Ok, so what kind of items are you looking for? I assume since you don’t have access to the markets that you don’t really care too much about money?”

“True enough. I could use another good ring or a necklace. I just upgraded my crossbow, but it is still only a rare item. Anything more powerful would be fine with me. As for potions, Any of the resistances would be good, or something of that caliber.”

“Angus, you are underestimating how powerful this staff could become. You could get several potions for what this could become.”

“Wow. Yeah, that’s, that’s a lot.” I said, kinda shocked that something from a level 30 dungeon would be worth that much. “Ok, go ahead and see what offers you can get for it. Send a message when you need me, ok?”

“Sure, and thank you for trusting me with this Angus.” With that set up, Djarleen and I headed back to the kobold city and I decided to log out for the night.