[SD:RtR] More Sand Than You Can Shake A Stick At - Chapter 10

Just out of sight of the others, Gem can see piles of gold coins. Though that is likely the more worthless of what is to be had. Behind the simple piles of base metal, are small stacks of more valuable coins and display stands containing various treasures. Even better, none of it seems to be aligned with undeath. Or rather, Gem can see a few empty stands and given the stylized engravings, anything useful to the undead has already been removed long ago.

And that’s the last Gem sees of the room. Because once it is confirmed that this is the treasure vault? Guild officials take over, cataloguing everything and preparing a report. In fact, with the fighting over and the treasure found, the Guild leader pushes everyone out of the underground ruins.

Gem and Emrys meet back up with June on the surface, though they can’t find Samuel or Inky’s team.

Gem laughs and slaps their knee, “Guess I really will be meeting them back in town!”

June shrugs, “Seems like the end there was actually even more of a bloodbath than the main fight. While being controlled, the undead focused on wearing people down over anything else.

“Once free to fight how they please? People really started dying and getting maimed. The healer camp was a bit overwhelmed there. Right now my Mana pool is completely dry.”

As they walk back towards town with the rest of the adventurers who don’t want to come through the surface ruins, Gem remembers something. “Oh right, Emrys talked a bit to me about how I felt about you being a SAI and I realized I didn’t really say to you in a firm enough way, how I felt.”

June raises an eyebrow and looks over at Emrys, “He did, did he?”

Emrys smirks, “Well, I am Evil.”

Gem snorts, “Whatever. Anyway, I just want to tell you directly that you matter to me and what you are matters not a bit compared to who you are. You deserve to live a happy life. Oh, and honestly? You’re more human than I am, when it comes down to it.”

June has a sappy smile on, though her face scrunches up a little at that last bit. “Thank you?”

Gem shrugs, “I’m sure someone will make a mess of things. Likely some church or another that pays only lip service to their actual scripture. But that’s in the future and even then, I’m with you guys.”

Emrys laughs, “Now we need to have this talk with Samuel! I swear, Gem, you are trying to ruin all the chances of misconstruing things. Who actually just comes out and talks about things!?”

Gem sticks their tongue out at him. “I do! Way too many stories would solve so much if the people involved simply talked and made time for each other.”

June frowns, “Speaking of which, I don’t like having to ask this, but given what you just said, I feel the need to. You don’t, uh, you know. Hmm. Us?”

Emrys starts to laugh, “Let me translate the stammers for you! She’s asking if you have feelings for her. Specifically of the romantic variety! I’m assuming because most people don’t feel quite as deeply as you do about the SAI topic.”

Gem nods, “Fair enough and the answer is no. Not hiding anything, but to be honest? That’s not really something I’ve felt? Like, I’m leaving the door open for a relationship in the future to happen, but right now? Demi to Ace on the romance axis of things.”

June looks relieved, “That’s good. Err, not that you aren’t romantic. Rather, I have someone I chat with. They’re playing the other game. I don’t think it will go anywhere, us playing the two games is basically a long-distance relationship, but yeah. It’s, you know, life? Just have to live it sometimes.”

Gem smiles, “That’s wonderful! I hope things work out for the best. Whether that means you work through the difficulties or move on and find someone else.”

The group falls into a comfortable silence and makes quick time getting back to town.

Next day, the three, along with a bunch of other people, gather at the city’s respawn anchor. The exact rules for how long it takes will vary depending on circumstance and how often you’ve recently availed yourself of the service. But this was an official Adventurers Guild raid and so the respawns were synchronized to the dawn after it was completed, abandoned, or a week had passed since passing. Which basically boiled down to the developers not wanting large player guilds to use human wave tactics to conquer raids.

Then, as Gem is about to ask June if it’s time yet, the respawns begin. A black plane of energy snaps up out of the ground, forming a wide rectangle that is seemingly made of smoke. No person or skill can see into it and from behind, you can’t even see the smoke, there being simply a grey surface akin to stone, if much too monotone.

And from the smoke steps out everyone who died on the raid, from the first deaths trickling out, to the steady flow of those who began dying in the last chamber, and finally a surge of those who died there at the end.

Just before the last surge, Inky’s crew all step out and are forced to keep walking until out of the way. Once back in control, they spot Gem’s group and walk over. All the while complaining about being killed by a stray blast from the skeletal titan.

Inky, “Where’s Samuel?”

June shrugs, “I guess he managed to survive longer than you. Actually, there he is! I think he just stepped out.”

And he did. Given that he came out at the tail end of the surge of bodies, it takes him a while to regain control of his body and make his way over to the group.

Once with them, Inky can’t stop herself from asking, “How did you survive? We all got skewered by a big ‘ruin our day’ bone smashing down on top of us.”

Samuel shrugs, “Everyone seems to forget that while I am mostly a tank, that doesn’t mean I’m lacking magic. A self-petrification reaction spell does wonders for surviving stuff like that. Though I will admit, if that had been an actual attack instead of just a bone the Guild leader had deflected, there would have been no way for me to survive.”

Bell frowns, “Wait a second. Didn’t you take a step away from the group right before it struck?”

Samuel’s face lit up with a shark-like smile, “Yes, I stepped away from Your group. I calculated my chance of survival was greatest if I got out of the way.”

Inky squints at him, and Bell exclaims, “You could have warned us!”

Samuel shrugs, “I warned everyone on my team.”

Inky sighs, “I see. You still died though.”

Samuel nods, “After continuing to kill numerous more undead and protect many fellow adventurers.”

Gem laughs, “And speaking of accomplishments, let's go check how we place! They’re going to reveal the treasure soon and I want to know how much of it will be mine.”

Inky nods, “Yeah, we’ll need to get our gear repaired after dying. Well, most of us.”

The combined group walks over to the Guild, where right outside there is a giant slab of stone with everyone’s name, where they placed, and their points from helping. The list seems quite long at first, though Inky notices right away and points out to the others that it is actually multiple lists.

Inky, “Yeah, that’s the overall list on top, and below that we have things like best healer, most damage done, best crowd control, and so on.”

Gem then finds out a convenience provided by the system. “Oh hey, it seems that if you ask what your rank is out loud, the system will highlight where you are for you. At least that’s what those people over there are saying. I bet we can even share it with each other.”

So they do. Though this reveals one thing about the lists. While you technically get a number where you place, ties were not only allowed, but heavily used. Each list had at most 100 places, with most of the middle heavily shared.

Gem, June, Emrys, and many others all placed at 23 on the overall list. This was still good, but only once you got to the top five were the places not shared. Then there was Samuel down at 37 and Inky placed at 44, with the rest of her team rocking out at 45.

The healing list was much shorter, only ten places and June ranked 4th. Along with most others. Besides that, lists like “most kills” ended up being about the same, except Gem and Emrys placed lower than Inky’s crew, having left the main fight early.

Though in a fun twist, Gem and Emrys both placed 12th on the protectors list, above Samuel at 33 and Bell at 41. Then of course Gem, Emrys, and the three people who helped them find the treasure room took up the top five places in the treasure hunt list. With the order going Gem, Emrys, the earth mage lady, the older trap master, and finally the younger trap master.

Which added all together resulted in Gem having 3,220 points, Emrys 3,002 points, June 2,880 points, Samuel 2,054 points, Inky claimed to have a little less than 2k points, and the rest all grumbling about being below 1,500 points.

Jeff sighs, “I wonder if there’s a penalty for dying? Anyway, what do the points translate to monetarily?”

June, “To your first question, there is actually a small bonus if you die in a way you couldn’t prevent, as well as options for even more points if it was heroic enough or mission critical. As for the value of the points?

“They represent your share of the treasure. Since this was an official raid, the system will value everything and the Guild itself will have the option of what will be offered. Though if they keep something from the raid, they must offer compensation at a premium. Oh, and of course anyone is allowed to buy the stuff from others who have claimed said stuff.”

Bell laughs, “Well then I guess we should go take a look at what got pulled out of that dungeon!”

No one has anything else to check at the guild itself, and so they walk around back to the training yard, which has been emptied of equipment and installed filled with displays of all sorts. All centered around a giant pile of cash right at the center. Cash, which someone had artistically stacked in the shape of a seven-sided pyramid, because of course they did.

Samuel points at the top, “Those aren’t gold coins! Like, not made of gold. I wonder how much they’re worth?”

Gem laughs, “Not as much as the stuff sitting around the pile. Money is money, while gear can be directly useful. We have an hour before they start handing out the shares, so we better take a good look at what is on offer.”

Samuel ignores that and goes and checks out the coin pile first, though is confused by what he discovers. “The points don’t have a direct coin value? Like, some of these are worth more than others. I can get a stack of regular gp for a single point, or I can get a single gp for that same point. What is up with that?”

A nearby guild official laughs, “Welcome to the wonders of Art and History. That gp worth an entire point? It’s a rare coin minted by a kingdom from thousands of years ago. The only reason it isn’t worth more points is because of how worn it is and the fact that we try to limit gold piece equivalents to a certain value. Even if a collector were willing to use a thousand points to claim it.

“Well, not that specific coin. Like I said, it is pretty worn so a single point is about the right value. You can think of this as letting you find your fortune. If you can spot something of value behind the points required, you can pick up a deal.”

Gem laughs and begins to look even harder at the various magical tools and equipment. There are numerous spears with wondrous effects. Wand after wand for every flavor of magic, the more niche, the more powerful. Armor, from wristbands that project a forcefield over your body, to proper full plate, all magical.

Though with only an hour, there was no chance for either group to fully explore the loot piles. Samuel in particular does end up exploring, mostly because his armor ended up quite scuffed after taking that bone and dying later on. The same is true for most of Inky’s team.

Once the hour is up, the Guild leader is floating over the coin pile. “We will allow people to pick out one lot at a time based on overall ranking. Those who share a ranking will go at the same time. If you still have points left over, you will have to wait for everyone else to go before you get another chance, though those who placed in the top five get a second draw right after the top ten, but only in the first round. There is a time limit to find what you want when called, though it is generous. If there is nothing you want left, you can convert your points into coins, even if there aren’t any coins left that you can afford as the Guild will provide.

“Any questions?”

And of course there are, but soon enough things settle down and people begin picking out their loot. The top ten all pick out a piece of gear each, though when the top five get their early second draw, two end up taking special coins. And from there it gets to about 13th place before things take a turn for the worse.

As numerous people are picking through the piles, an ominous black sound drifts off of five rods, one of which has been taken by 4th place.

The Guild leader frowns and casts a barrier around the rods, but it is too late. A projection of a bandage-wrapped undead emanates from the coin pile and declares in a language no one knows, though the system translates for everyone, “Grave goods! Oh, how you thirst after them. My legacy fallen to the outsider. My life and undeath ended early. May no one profit from this mess!”

And a stiff breeze begins to blow with a change starting at the top of the coin pile. Sand begins to blow off of the coins, except those with good eyesight or the appropriate skills easily notice that it is actually from said coins turning into sand. And this transformation speeds up as the various people try to protect the loot, especially those who have already picked out their own.

Nothing works.

Barriers, shoving them in magical bags, covering them, or simply running away. All proves useless as the wind keeps blowing until nothing of the treasure remains beyond a few gold and attuned coins that had been found topside.

Treasure In The Dunes - Chapter 9

What They Actually Get - Chapter 11