[edit]---[ Party ]------------------------------------------------------
Hp:
17/17 |
[Front] |
Shade (Shade) |
Hp:
30/43 |
[Front] |
Sir Oinkley (Ditto) |
Hp:
16/16 |
[Cover] |
Stul'p (Octagon) |
Hp:
43/45 |
[Front] |
Gaunt (NPC) |
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Zorkmids: 57
Location: Checkered Hall - BF24[/edit]
Before moving on, Gaunt decides to open the wooden strongbox, which, aside from launching a handful of poisonous needles at his stainless steel faceplace, turned out to be completely harmless.
It contains a bunch of trap parts and metal chunks, and an entire host of other fiendishly useful items:
Strongbox:
8 Zorkmids
3 Casino Chips
1 Lockpick (2 Wt)
1 Fancy Lockpick (2 Wt | +10 Hit | Won't break until it failed 2 more attempts)
1 Bag of Caltrops (10 Wt | Covers the ground in nasty spikes)
4 Darts (2 Wt | 1-3 Atk, 80 Hit, 10 Crt)
2 Smoke Bombs (2 Wt | Creates a screen of smoke for 3 turns)
1 Sealed Can of Grease (12 Wt | Covers the ground in slippery flammable grease)
Under all of these goodies, you discover a neatly tucked pile of papers and a pair of small, frail looking stones with odd markings on them.
(3 Wt)
The document under these stones says this:
"My research into the runes I stole from Harry revealed little. He wouldn't tell me what they do, and the only thing I can discern about them is that they can affect my emotions negatively. Maybe it's just the frustration of not being able to figure out what they really do, but I always end up sad or angry after fiddling with them for too long.
Harry only told me one thing about them: To never, ever crush them. I don't know if he was genuinely worried about me or if he's trying to make me crush them on purpose (the bastard knows me all too well), but I'll refrain from doing that. I'll just get someone else to crush one at some point and see what happens.
Gaunt snacks on some of the metal scraps and bits as you continue reading through.
Another document has this to say:
"I finally managed to get my hands on a legit scroll of Identify. I cast it on the "Satan Rig" scroll I found, and it turns out it's not nearly as ominous as it sounds, but it's pretty useful nonetheless: The scroll is called "Lore", it waits until you call an object as the target for the spell, and then it sends out all these pretty light sparks everywhere, and when they return, the scroll rewrites itself and fills up with information about the target. I used it on a zorkmid, and it taught me a bunch of stuff I already knew, though. I should have used it on one of these runes I stole from Harry instead..."
And this must be the scroll mentioned:
"Zorkmid, n.
Ex: How many Zorkmids for that Dire Pretzel?
Zorkmids are the currency of the underworld. They are small, violet, shiny, glow-in-the-dark crystals that feel simultaneously cold and warm to the touch.
Zorkmids were introduced as a replacement for the archaic gold coins by Overlord Manystab Killgrim, after he expressed concern with his treasuries not looking evil or dark enough and employed all of his mages to create an alternative currency.
Zorkmids were named so after the peculiar "meed! meed! meed!" sound that Killgrim's pet wyvern, Zork, emitted around them. (The sounds were later discovered to be induced by the poor demented thing's trauma-induced madness, but the name had already stuck by then.)
Zorkmids were very well received by dungeon lords all over the world. This is due to their light weight, high, diamond-like durability and the ominous fact that they are composed of a mixture of the tears of orphaned children, crystallized dark mana and fossilized souls, which is just delightfully evil. >:)"
You grab whatever you decide to grab and return to the checkered hallway again, where you stop once more at the same spot. The skinny figure is still there, flailing asininely in the dark, just barely out of clear sight.