Riven took in what the dungeon avatar had said concerning his affinities and rubbed his forehead. “Have you found sothing obviously worth the full amount yet?”
“My treasurers are still looking.”
The only thing he could truly compare to with Athela gone was the basic system of one copper equals one dollar, give or take. Trying to gauge just how much each of these were worth without a baseline was guesswork, so he put out so feelers and tried a shot in the dark—calling Negrada out on potential bluff. The dungeon had said one item was worth all the money Riven had, but there’s no way he’d part with everything over one item. Not when the dungeon seed so eager to get the money back.
“Well, if you don’t find anything that is of obvious value beyond these items, I want both the staff and the amulet. I think that’d be a fair trade for both.”
Negrada scoffed. “Absolutely not. The Amulet of Many Faces or the staff, not both.”
“The staff and the claymore, then.”
“No.”
“The staff is what I primarily want here, but I feel like it might not be worth all the money I have. Sure, it’s good, but it’s not that good, and I’d be foolish to trust you outright.”
“What makes you think that, little vampire?”
“Because I found a low-quality claymore in the dungeon that dealt just slightly more damage than the staff and just a little bit less than the claymore you’re offering .”
“That claymore had a Strength requirent and wasn’t a spirit weapon, thus it could never better itself, eventually have sentience, or evolve. It also didn’t have any abilities associated with it or a mana-regeneration perk.”
Riven thought about it, then nodded in agreent. “Fair point. However, I’m at a distinct disadvantage here, not knowing what these items are really The attempted attack had been so sudden he hadn’t had ti to comprehend anything but a knee-jerk reaction, and the phantom began writhing around on the floor screaming while Gluttony’s jaws ripped at her soul structure from within his own.
“You see…she is untrustworthy,” Negrada coolly stated with a billow of flas. “Let take her off your hands… She just tried to kill you and escape, after all. I’ve been trying to catch this one for a very long ti, and she’s been rather pesky. She and her sister…”
“Riven, please!” Kajit shrieked between gasps, but after what he’d just seen her try to do, he wasn’t even going to try and hear her out.
Riven blinked, and his heart rate began to settle down.
Wait. Wasn’t he undead now? Why did he still have a heartbeat?
He scratched his head and looked at the floating eyeball. “What do I get?”
“What she stole from you,” Negrada stated simply. “The dagger the system provided, the one that allows you to gain access back to my dungeon.”
Riven glanced back over to the writhing, deep-blue spirit on the floor—and nodded. He certainly had no love for the phantom. “She tried to blackmail and stole my stuff. Then she tried to kill . So go right ahead—it’ll be good to get her out of my soul space.”
Kajit’s eyes went wide, and teal power surged out of them just before a pool of flas tore out of the floor underneath her. Arms of souls damned to the hells reached for her and began to drag her down, screaming and writhing, while she cursed both Negrada and Riven.
“THIS WILL NOT BE THE LAST TI YOU SEE , RIVEN THANE! I WILL REMBER THIS! KAJIT TAKE REVENGE!” The phantom swore, screaming in rage just before she was sucked under and the pool of fire died away.
Riven promptly felt her soul’s presence leave his own soul structure.
“No need to worry about that one,” Negrada stated rather happily, or as happily as a floating fiery eyeball could. “Now, let fetch your dagger. It’s located in an older acquaintance of mine, another dungeon holding that one’s sister, but shouldn’t be too hard to get ahold of. In the anti, as you complete your stay here in my very humble first level, I’d like to wish you luck when you get back to your world. Thanks for doing business with .”
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