Pandora Unchained B1C20 - Rewards

“Did our father drop you one too many times, Stephan, or have you been overindulging in mad grass during your time in the forest?” A report folder struck Stephan in the head, and judging by Haley’s fuming expression, she wanted nothing more than to throttle him from across the table.

“Entering the depths of a rat nest with a potential rat king without calling for reinforcements?” said Haley. “Not seeing an obvious trap for what it was, and nearly getting trapped to death by hundreds of bloody rats? And then bringing said rat king into the outpost, thinking that it wouldn’t call on all the rats in the city to come and rescue it? I don’t even know where to begin.”

“With all due respect,” started Stephan, but Haley cut him off.

“Sixteen years of premium education were obviously completely wasted on your worthless brain,” said Haley. “Did you even think about the fact that I’d need to personally quell the panicked non-cultivators and explain the situation to the governor? Not to mention all the medical bills we’re going to have to pay to make sure plague doesn’t spread after those hundred guards got bitten?”

Stephan cleared his throat. “Haley, that was hardly a foreseeable consequence. For one, keeping a city clear of demonic rats is common sense. For another, the guards did nothing to stop us.”

“Right or wrong have nothing to do with this matter,” snapped Haley. “Those were foreseeable potential consequences to your actions. A bunch of people got hurt, and the governor can’t admit that it was his fault there was a rat infestation. So now, he’s going to push all the blame onto the Adventure’s Guild. And the Adventurers Guild is going to have to push all the blame on you.”

“That not fair,” Lawrence argued. “They have their responsibilities, and we have ours. My father brought tons of trouble back in his day and never got punished for it.”

“That’s because your father was smart,” said Haley, glaring at Lawrence. “He had enough dirt on everyone that they had no choice but to not punish him for anything he did.” She put her face in her hands. “First the Medical Association, and now this.”

“What’s this about the Medical Association?” asked Sorin.

“They’re just being pedantic and trying to extend their control over life mages again,” said Haley. “As if the Mages Guild would ever let them get away with it.”

“Did my situation have anything to do with this?” asked Sorin.

“Yes and no,” said Haley. “They’re using you as an excuse to flex their muscles a bit, but it’s an old argument. But the result is that we’ve got a bunch of adventurers going untreated. Our life mages can’t keep up. The clinics are saying they’re ‘overworked’ and can’t see them right away.”

“I could…”

“Absolutely not,” Haley said, cutting him off. “I will not have you practicing as an unlicensed physician within these walls. What you do out while adventuring is one thing, but if you start treating people openly, this place will be on lockdown because of audits and permitting issues, and we wont’ be able to get back to business for half a year.”

“Isn’t a beast tide coming up?” said Gareth. “They can’t just hobble the Adventurer’s Association when demon activity is at an all-time high.”

“Yes they can,” said Sorin. “They do it all the time. It’s family politics.”

“Sorin is right,” said Haley. “Which is why this rat trouble has come at a very unfortunate time.”

“But I have a proposal, if you’re willing to listen,” Sorin continued. “It just so happens that I deal in poisons. The application of poisons and the curing of poisons would fall under my domain, would it not? Its just like how life mages can cure however many bleeding wounds they want. Diagnosis and prescriptions are where liability comes in”

“Hm… so you’re saying you’ll treat poisoned adventurers?” asked Haley.

“And corruption as well,” added Sorin. “Because really, isn’t demonic corruption just a slow-acting poison, strangling the life out of adventurers as they risk their lives in the wilderness? In fact, I think I could probably get away with poisoning people to get rid of certain diseases.”

“Now you’re just pushing it,” said Haley. Her eyes looked to Daphne, who’d yet to speak. She was nodding off on Gareth’s shoulder. “Mana burn?”

“She launched a legitimate fireball that blasted 400 rats to bits,” said Stephan. “Even with the assistance of a mana crystal, that’s got to be tough.”

“There’s a reason I passed her despite her obliviousness,” said Haley. “Next time, you got out, you’re expanding your party.”

“Is that really necessary?” asked Stephan.

“It’s either that or I bundle you up and send you back home,” said Haley. “As for you, Sorin, I’ll speak to the guild master about your expertise. Given the situation and the obvious power moves the Medical Association is pulling, it might not be a bad excuse to escalate this matter. But absolutely none of that until you get the go-ahead. Understood?”

“Yes ma’am,” said Sorin.

“That aside, the report seems to be in order,” said Haley. “But due to the size of the nest, we’ll be sending a team out to investigate the nest and the aftermath of the battle and clear out the remnants. The cores you brought back are of course irrefutable proof. You never see three rat lords over just 500 rats without some sort of external interference.”

She tossed out five light bags at Stephan. “The cores have all been authenticated and stamped. You can do with them as you please. As for the bounty, there was some flexibility on the matter because of scope creep. We’re giving you 5 gold apiece for each of 487 rats, 125 gold apiece for the four rat lords, and 300 gold for taking care of this rat ‘king’ – a discounted of 750 gold because the only person on your team who should know this is a bad idea decided to keep it as a pet. For reference, its core is probably worth 250 gold.”

“Other bounties included 35 manasurge persimmons, a bonecrush demon python bounty, 14 miscellaneous 1-star demon cores, 45 stalks of manafuse grass, 17 crystal heart violets, and 52 units of bloodstaunch moss.” Those had been harvested while they travelled to the rat nest. “There’s also the matter of the steelfeather sparrow’s 2-star bounty and its feathers, whole and ruined.

“Your total earnings for this mission are 6,203 gold, excluding the cores, but the guild is deducting 1,000 gold as punishment for bringing that rat king into the city. Congratulations on a successful first mission. Very few walk out with so much on a mission with all their limbs and lives intact.”

She then took out 12 cards worth 500 gold apieces and a bag containing 203 gold coins. “Split these up however you wish. Its typical to do an equal split after group expenses, like healing and mana potions.” In total, they had spent nearly 400 gold on consumables. That meant that each of them would be receiving about 540 gold apiece, excluding whatever rewards they got from the Temple of Hope.

“Thanks for fighting for us on this, Haley,” said Stephan. “I’m sure it wasn’t as easy as you make it out to be.”

“It wasn’t,” said Haley. “But I’m happy you all came back in one piece, and I’m thrilled that those rats were taken care of before the demon tide. They would have been a nightmare if allowed to grow for much longer.”

Daphne chose this moment to wake up and yawn rather loudly. “Are we done then? Are we rich? Ah!” she wiped a trickle of slobber from the corner of her mouth. “Who drooled on me? Who’s the pervert who dared drool on me?”

They all burst out into laughter and pulled her out of the room before heading out to the Temple of Hope for the second half of their rewards.

***

The Temple of Hope was crowded as always. The usual line-up of the poor, lame, and dying was unchanged since the last time Sorin had been here, though some of the old faces were gone and had replaced by new ones.

Unlike last time, they did not beg as Sorin he passed them; the kindly physician had disappeared form this world and had been replaced by an adventurer. Moreover, adventurers weren’t the kind of people beggars begged to. They risked their lives for coin, and there was no telling what an outing had cost them.

“This way,” said Stephan, pulling them towards a side entrance. “Adventurers don’t line up with everyone else.”

“And why is that?” asked Sorin.

“Why else?” said Stephan. “It’s because we’re their biggest customers, and the source of pretty much all the demon cores that are offered up here.” A special attendant greeted them at a side altar and ushered them into their own personal offering room, complete with altar and kindling and white flame of hope.

“I know it’s Sorin’s first time – but what about everyone else?” asked Stephan.

“I tagged along with a friend before,” said Gareth. “It was quite the experience.”

“My dad took me along a few times,” said Lawrence. “It’s not as great as its cracked up to be.”

Daphne, like Sorin, had never made an adventurer’s offering, but she’d heard rumors and was rubbing her hands with anticipation. “Before we offer up anything, I just want to make things clear,” said Stephan to Sorin and Daphne. “This temple is a place for gamblers, and right now, what we’re doing is no different than gambling. If both of you like, you can take a split of the cores and sell them off for steady income. No one will blame you for doing this. Yes, Daphne?”

“Is the average statistical outcome better than trading them on the market?” asked Daphne.

“The average… oh, you’re asking if we’re probably better off by gambling?” said Stephan. “The answer is yes. By about 10%. The only problem is it’s random. If we’re lucky, we’ll get something useful. If we’re unlucky, everything we get will be useless and we’ll have to sell it at a discount.”

“Then I support this sort of gambling,” said Daphne. “I’ll view it as an investment.”

“And you, Sorin?” asked Stephan.

“May as well,” said Sorin. “It won’t make that much of a difference, and maybe we’ll get lucky.” In truth, he was gambling because he was poor. He’d yet to tame the rat king, but the impending purchase was weighing on his mind. If it went well, he’d barely have anything left over to fix his armor up with.

Having obtained their confirmation, Stephan upended each of the five bags of demon cores onto the altar in succession and passed a white flame torch to Daphne. “Why don’t you do the honors?”

Daphne’s eyes lit up. She grabbed the torch and cackled as she lit up the gems. “Fire! Pretty fire!”

The white flames consumed the black gems and summoned forth clouds of black dust. This cloud barely hovered for a few seconds before it was sucked up through the roof of the offering chamber.

There was a flash of light as a chest appeared inside the room, ornate and decorated with a golden fox with nine chain tails. The fox was wearing its usual mischievous grin.

Stephan heaved open the chest and reached inside it. “First up is a bow. Nice!” He tossed it to Gareth, who immediately appraised it.

“This is a blood oak bow made with a one-star demon tendon,” said Gareth admiringly. “Wonderful craftsmanship. Not too big, and not too small. Versatile. But… its much too expensive for little old me. Something like this would probably run for 1800 gold.”

Stephan rolled his eyes. “You know the unwritten rules, Gareth. Take the bow. The team is better off if you have it, and you’ll just owe the rest of us the difference next time. Unless one of you disagrees?” None of them did. Gareth’s lack of penetrating power had been extremely obvious during their outing.

“Then I won’t stand on ceremony,” said Gareth, accepting the bow.

“Since Gareth’s accepted, he can’t claim anything else from this chest,” said Stephan. “Next up… is a useless skill book. How wonderful.” He tossed it to Lawrence, who groaned.

“Seriously? Shadow steps? That’s not even mid-tier,” said Lawrence. “I’m not claiming it. We’re better off selling it since no one else here can use it. We can probably get 350 gold for it.”

They looked on in anticipation as Stephan pulled out another item from the chest. “Nice!” Stephan exclaimed. “A potion set. Three health and three mana.”

“Is that good?” Sorin asked Lawrence.

“You win out with potions,” answered Lawrence. “Everyone can use them, and you usually get good value for your demon cores. A set like that is good quality – easily worth 600 gold for the entire set.”

The next item was something that Daphne could use – a pointy hat. “It increases mana regeneration and intellect,” said Daphne. “That’s pretty good! Lucky me! I claim.”

“I’d peg it at about 800 gold,” said Stephan. “Now let’s look at this second skill book and see if it’s any good.”

Lawrence caught the book. “This one is useful. Tripple Stab Execution is easily worth 1500 gold. I’m claiming.”

“Thought so,” said Stephan, rolling his eyes. “Seems it’s me and Sorin who are unlucky this time. Oh well. At least we won out in the end. The total value is probably around 5,000 gold.”

“I think most of my gold is going to go into paying for this rat,” said Sorin. He pulled up a length of mithril string. The rat king had given up on life and was currently sleeping. With so much mithril wrapped around it, there was no way it would be escaping.

“Then that brings us to the last item on our list: the ceremonial chamber,” said Stephan. “We’ll pay for the rat taming before squaring everything up. Now let’s see how much these crooks are going to charge us.”