[SD:DD] Smashing Pots - Chapter 6

The others all form a chain behind Gem, wind less able to blow Gem around with their high resistance. Which turns out to be a prescient move as the storm gets worse with winds whipping past them and shifting around. As they reach the forth wall, Samuel stops the others and raises a good point.

Though of course with the wind, Samuel needs to yell at this point, just to be heard. “WHAT IF THIS IS BECAUSE WE’RE GOING DEEPER INTO THE RUINS?”

A good point and the others all nod. Though Gem raises their own point. “I’M GOOD HEADING BACK FOR A TEST, BUT IF IT IS THE CASE? WE NEED NEED NEED TO KEEP GOING! JUST THINK OF THE LOOT!”

To which the others might take a second to think it over, but they all eventually nod again. If not with the same energy.

Though it seems they might have a choice. While they do trudge back a couple of walls, the sandstorm grows fiercer once again, only returning to a manageable degree after they begin heading into the ruins again. At the fourth wall again, the others all glance at Gem, who flashes a smirk and shrugs. “GUESS THE ONLY WAY OUT, IS THROUGH!”

Of course, that wasn’t entirely true. The wind never got so bad that they were stopped. Still, they were adventurers and what good was searching for an adventure if you turned around when you found it?

So from wall to wall, the four struggle on through the sandstorm. Though forced to rest often for June, Emrys, and Samuel to recover from the sand blasting. Not just the damage slowed them down, as even breathing was difficult.

Then they came upon the first mostly complete building. A small four-walled hut that lacked only the roof. And sure, that meant it was filling up with sand, but it provided the most cover they had gotten since the storm started. And while not quiet, they could at least talk without yelling.

Which leads to Emrys pointing to a corner of the room, “That is one beat up jar.”

And it was. If there was ever any markings on it or paint, even the remnants had long ago vanished. Though miraculously, the lid still teetered on the mouth.

Samuel sighs, “Well, it doesn’t look to have any value.”

Gem smiled and pulled their spear out from behind their back.

Samuel looks over, “Which doesn’t mean there isn’t anything of value IN it.”

Gem swings their spear and the jar shatters. In fact, not only does it shatter, but moments later those shards crumble into powder. “Huh, must be quite old.”

Samuel closes his eyes and rubs his temple, “And we could have found that out by simply lifting the lid. What if there was something in it, but you damaged it?”

Gem shrugs, “Oh, there was something in the pot. It’s right there on the ground.” And they point.

Emrys bends over and grabs what was left behind. Though Samuel makes some aborted noises and seemed worried about how ruffly the item was being handled.

Emrys shrugs, “If being whacked with a spear didn’t destroy the item after the container literally turned to dust, my grabbing it won’t be enough to hurt it.” And he holds the item up for the others to see.

In his hand is a single gold coin with a face on one side and a scythe crossed with a sheath of grain.

June frowns, “Well, you don’t exactly get grain like that in the middle of the desert.”

Emrys nods, “So either it's a foreign coin, there was enough water to actually grow fields of grain, or whoever this guy was did a lot of work to gather water from all the oases around.”

Gem sheaths their spear, “Or the system is screwing with us! Hey June, is it common knowledge whether the system can put down set pieces for events? Like, oh say, an undead incursion? Oh, and you missed the possibility of magic, too!”

June shrugs, “Just because I’m an SAI doesn’t mean I know all the secrets. Though some of my friends have been debating over if that can happen. The dev team is looser with mechanics that players are supposed to personally explore and use. Whether the game spawns entire ruins from nothing? Not really something you want players to have confirmed.”

Emrys scoffs, “I personally think they must be. There’s only so much ancient history to discover. Even if the system is preserving things like I assume it preserved that pot and this coin.”

Gem shrugs, “Like, what is the difference between the system spawning in a ruin and a magical phenomenon dropping in a ruin from some other place? Though I think the wheat there is distracting us from the important detail. Take a closer look at that scythe!”

So do the others, and they all frown. There doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with the scythe. They’ve all seen more than enough of them, given that they were all here playing a fantasy game to begin with.

Gem shakes their head and sighs, “Look at how kraggly the edge is, how ornate the back of the blade looks, and consider that there aren’t any handholds and the handle is straight. This isn’t a tool. I won’t declare it is specificity a weapon, but the pictured scythe is at least ornamental.”

Samuel raises an eyebrow, “So?”

Gem gestures around them, “We ‘happen’ to find four walls to shelter us and the only thing within ‘happens’ to be a jar with a coin? The wind also ‘happens’ to not swirl in here allowing us to talk normally?

“Whether this is a set piece or not, the system made damn well sure we found this coin as long as we had even a modicum of curiosity. This coin is a clue, and that scythe? It represents death. Or rather, the undead.

“I give it fifty-fifty odds that either the wheat sheath represents the cutting of life short, right when it is ripe, or with them crossed like that? They might have used the undead to tend their fields. Fifty fifty.”

June sighs, “Now that? While also something that will never be confirmed, the normal forums are awash with such speculation if you even dip your toe into the places devoted to quests or events.”

Gem smiles, “Well, it sounds like they’ve thrown down the gauntlet! Let’s go solve ourselves a puzzle! Quest? Riddle? Well, whatever this is, let’s solve it!”

Samuel shrugs, “Well, hopefully they begin to throw more loot at us than a single normal gold coin.”

Emrys laughs, “We haven’t even seen any undead and you want a reward already?”

Samuel nods, “Yes, yes I do. That sandstorm must have taken five layers of skin off and I want something for it.”

Emrys flips the coin at him, “Well, here goes!”

Samuel easily catches the coin and slides it into his pocket. “Now let’s go look for more.”

Gem wags their tail, “And smash more things! That was satisfying.”

Samuel sighs, “If you can help it, please don’t?”

Gem flicks their ear as if to say, what’s that? Did I just hear something? And they grab June’s hand and exits the small hut. Which forces the others to join up so they don’t get lost.

Though their chain becomes less necessary as after a few more corners and walls, the sandstorm has died down quite a bit. And did so quite a bit unnaturally. As if this was a hurricane and the group had reached the eye, beyond them the sandstorm still raged, but the area in front of them was calm. Well, calmer.

There was still a hideous amount of sand in the air, making visibility questionable at best. Except the wind wasn’t anywhere near fast enough to justify said sand.

Gem frowned, “Who magic’d the sand?”

Emrys shrugs, “Could be an illusion.”

Gem shakes their head, “I bet an illusion of this size would cost about the same. Better to just use actual sand as an illusion can be seen through. And of note, last time I checked, a classic ability for the undead is to sense the living.”

Samuel waves the warning away, “We’d be fighting the undead one way or another. Let’s ignore that for now and search through these houses. I mean, they even have roofs! There must be some better loot.”

The others can’t exactly refute that, so the four walk up to the nearest house. A simple one-room affair, but bigger than the roofless hut. Inside was also simple.

There was a fire pit in the center, identifiable only by the scorch marks. Any artifice or stones that might have at one point been are long gone. There are, however, a couple clay jugs and a clay pot.

Gem pierces through the jugs with their spear, then rips said spear out through the side of them and whacks it into the pot. The jugs fall to dust, but the pot shards remain, if more broken up than would be expected. “Huh, no coins.”

Samuel walks out of the house.

The others are confused about this and follow in time to see him nip into the next building. Which leads to them getting into said building as he goes to open a jug.

Said jug falls into dust as he touches it, leaving no loot behind.

Gem nods, “Yep, not much in these worn-out pots.”

Samuel frowns, “This isn’t how it should work. There’s too much wind for the posts to have survived long enough to get this way.”

Emrys shrugs, “System nonsense. It is more exciting than finding an empty room.”

Gem nods, “That or something about the undead in the area preserves stuff and we’ll find more as we go deeper.”

June shakes her head, “The undead don’t preserve things. Oh sure, things die around them and that can seem to preserve them. And yes, if necromantic Mana is infused into something, it will maintain function. Except any such affected objects will begin to look ‘undead’.”

Gem, “You mean like some of the further-in houses?”

Samuel frowns, “I didn’t see anything like that?”

Gem grabs his arm and pulls him out of the house. “See, over there about four buildings back.” And they point to the left of the place they just came out of.

Samuel squints as the others come out and are pointed in the right direction as well.

June shakes her head, “I don’t think any of us are seeing it. At most, I can see a couple houses deep.”

Samuel nods, “I’m seeing three deep myself.”

Emrys shrugs, “Two here as well.”

Gem crosses their arms, “Well, this can’t be my resistance as well! After all, it’s sand preventing us from seeing further. If anything, Samuel should see the furthest, given his lawful stick in-the-mud nature.”

Samuel laughs, “Just because I don’t want you to break the posts before we check them out, doesn’t make me a stick in the mud.”

Gem shrugs, “But the elemental comparison works. Mud, Earth. Sand, Earth. Get it?”

Emrys rolls his eyes, “Yes, yes. Anyway, it might still be your resistance. While sand is blocking the view, it is likely wind magic keeping the sand there. Besides, Samuel can see further despite not having Earth resistance. Speaking of which , we might want to work on that. I know it is supposed to come later, but you’re proof enough that it doesn’t have to and I would have an easier time playing with fire.”

June laughs, “If you’re trying to not get burned, I think you’re going to be disappointed. Resistance is gained by resisting.”

Emrys blows a raspberry at that.

June ignored him and continued, “Anyway, we should probably head towards the signs of undead. If only because that is likely the place we’ll find treasure.”

Gem smiles, “And a good fight!”

June nods, “And that.”

Gem starts walking, “This way, then! Should we check in on the other houses?”

Samuel shrugs, “If there isn’t going to be any gains, I don’t see a purpose.”

Gem’s smile widens, “Well, then I guess they’re open season!” And they rush into the next house, followed by the sounds of clay shattering.

Samuel sighs while Emrys laughs and can’t help but comment, “What did you expect? You’re fighting a losing battle.”

June nods, “I suspect there isn’t a single piece of bubble wrap in their vicinity that isn’t popped.”

Samuel, “I don’t care about the pots. We clearly can’t loot them. However, as the coin proves, there Could be stuff in them that will survive.”

All the while they continue walking further in as Gem goes from house to house, smashing whatever they find. Though in the second house, it sounds like they found something wooden.

Emrys pats Samuel on the shoulder, “I know it’s been said, but if it doesn’t survive their roughhousing, it wouldn’t survive the coming fights.”

Into The Storm - Chapter 5

Negative Or Necromancy? - Chapter 7