Gerda caught his eye, and Julian knew what she was thinking.
The reminder was a stab in his heart, but he also knew she was determined to cross her bridge after the dungeon was complete.
He could understand… but he wasn’t happy about it.
“No.” He told the party. “Guild Mistress Alice is an international criminal who should be detained at all costs. Leaving her when she is here waiting for us and potentially at lessened strength from fighting the dungeon boss would be foolish. As foolish as walking into an ambush we were already expecting and could prepare for.”
“So then how are we going to break through the void bubble, or prepare for the ambush?? Jeffry asked, concerned.
He knew their inventory better than everyone, and didn’t seem keen on continuing to the next level with their current resources.
“I can help with that!” Gerda lifted her hand. “Ah, let’s see. Tully, you should take this.”
She handed over equipment, explaining each.
For Tully, Gerda summoned an epic tier warhammer called Dawn of the Last Dragon Hammer, granting a +3 Strength buff. It also lit its opponent on fire on a crit success, dealing burn damage. Sir Tully’s hands were shaking when he examined it, looking like he was going to cry happy tears when he read the stats for himself.
For Jeffry, she pulled out the legendary blade told about in ballad and song, Badgerclaw Best Blade. It had a +5 Strength buff, and a 50% chance to crit against dragons. For once, he didn't make a snarky comment, just whispered, "By the gods, it's real..."
For Visha, she pulled out epic twin blades, one that dealt paralyzing electric damage on a crit and the other that shot out water blades when infused with mana. Visha had one epic tier blade already, an heirloom in her family that had been passed down for generations… she held her new weapons in outright awe.
When Gerda reached Pram… something unexpected happened. She pulled out the King Kraken’s Heart.
“Here Pram, you should have this.”
Pram hit the floor on his knees.
She hesitated by his sudden action, but placed the pendant around the selkie’s neck.
She’d handed over Telv Kingdom’s greatest treasure, the lost king’s pendant… and the reason for Pram’s family being exiled twenty years ago.
Pram’s parent’s were the diplomatic emissaries to Sumbria when the civil war broke out.
The war started on the Elven Queen’s coronation day. Her family had been cruel and unjust to the citizen’s of Sumbria, but the new queen had decided it wasn’t enough, on the day that she stepped up, Terra Glade had issued a new rule; elves were no longer allowed to marry non-elves, and all previous unions were dissolved.
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All half-breeds, who were already second class citizens, were to be stripped of their rights and demoted to third class citizens with the rest of the non-elf cast.
The Telv queen's consort was wearing the King Kraken’s Heart at the coronation dinner that evening… and he did not survive the attacks.
Not only that, but his regalia and items were lost forever.
Worse, Pram’s family ended up joining the rebellion’s side. They were labelled traitors to the Underdark and exiled forever. If they returned to Telv they would be executed on sight. The only way to re-enter the Underdark is to find and retrieve King Kraken’s Heart, and return it to its rightful place.
Pram was crying.
Whatever bonus the pendant gave was nothing to it’s meaning.
Gerda stepped back, looking obviously confused. Knowing Pram wasn’t able to, Julian placed a hand on her shoulder and asked, “You just had that lying around?”
“It was one of the treasures that Henrietta found in one of her timelines– since she was busy with King Keith I was able to go around collecting all of the artifacts and legendary items she wouldn’t be needing anymore.” Gerda explained. “They were world quest items, like the scepter in your locket.”
“And, uh, where did you find King Kraken’s Heart?” He asked.
“I stole it off Crown Prince Deryl Glade,” she said, casually bringing about the destruction of Sumbria's ocean trade. “using these.”
She pulled out a pair of gloves that looked like cat paws while Julian helped Pram to his feet, patting the selkies shoulder.
The rogue caught the gloves. When he saw what they did, his eyes went wide. “Interesting.”
It was surprisingly funny, seeing the otherwise solemn and quite human wearing cute cat gloves. John flexed his hands once, and then a wide grin spread across his face.
Gerda joked, “Don’t make me regret giving you that.”
John looked up at the troll, made to say something and stopped. His eyes went even wider.
“And you aren’t allowed to steal my ring!” She said, covering her hand.
“It’s actually saying your most valuable item is the Trickster’s Scarf.” He said, amused.
“Really? I didn’t realize it changed the most valuable to suit the wearer’s needs.” Gerda smiled. “Oh, did you need another Veralyn’s Enchanted Restraint Manacles?”
“I’m fine.” John said.
Then Gerda dropped about thirty specialty potions for each of the party members to carry.
“Isn’t this a bit much?” Jeffry asked, holding up an advance high level [Health Potion] that would heal 1000 Hit Points instantly.
“No.” Gerda said, reminding him, “This is the woman who has prepared specifically to fight us. We only just discovered she's here.”
“This is also a reminder that no one is to directly face Alice,” Julian ordered. “Leave her to me.”
“Or me,” Gerda said, and there was suddenly an ax in her hands. She walked up to the void bubble and poked it with the ax. The bubble popped easily.
Julian assumed the barrier wasn’t actually blocking passage – dungeons respond to blocked gates poorly. The mana inside builds up quickly and explodes everything in the area to re-open the path.
Gerda turned to face them. “One last thing.”
Julian raised an eyebrow.
“Activate these before we go.” Gerda summoned spell scrolls. Seven. She handed them out, one each and two for Tully.
[Spell Scroll: Mental Resistance].
Ah.
