Serenity was still trying to come to terms with his new Path, a Path that didn’t seem obvious to use or directly rewarding to him even if it was very helpful to others, when Gabriel stuck his head inside Serenity’s tent flap. Serenity tried hard not to jump; he couldn’t see or hear anything outside the tent, so it was always a surprise when someone came in.
Gabriel still had his blindfold on and he was very careful not to let in any more light from outside than necessary. He also seemed to be holding up some sort of dark material to block the openings he couldn’t prevent. “Serenity? This is your tent, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, you found my tent. Did you expect - wait, have you walked into the wrong tent before?” Serenity didn’t think that would be a big problem with this group, but he could easily see other people making it an issue.
Gabriel flushed. “Naomi’s. While she was changing. I didn’t see anything! That’s why I keep the blindfold on. It’s not like it was deliberate! I was trying to find Daryl’s. His tent and yours are the two that block everything.”
Serenity smiled a little. “Must be frustrating. You can’t see where you’re going and get in trouble for trying the wrong tent.”
Gabriel sighed, clearly aggravated. “Yeah. I should have handed out the charms last night, but I didn’t think of it. We’re so used to doing this level without being able to see that I just didn’t think of it.”
Serenity frowned. He didn’t think anyone had mentioned charms. “What charms?”
Gabriel slipped the rest of the way into the tent, then dug in a pocket for a moment. When his hand came out, it held a four inch wide and half an inch thick disk of metal that looked almost like an oversized coin with a hole punched in the top of it. A thin strip of leather was threaded through the hole. “Naomi and I wear them around the neck; Daryl ties his charm around his arm. Something about not wanting handholds for enemies, but Naomi says hers is covered by her armor anyway. I just tuck mine under my shirt.”
Serenity accepted the charm. There was a moment where he wondered if that was too much trust, but he brushed it away; if the Silver Blades wanted to hurt him, there were far easier ways. “I can understand that, but what does it do?”
Gabriel flushed again. “I’m making a hash of this, aren’t I?”
Serenity didn’t respond to the opening. There wasn’t anything to say there that wouldn’t make it worse.
“It, ah, I, that is…” Gabriel paused and muttered to himself. “Start at the beginning.” He shook himself, then looked … about a foot to the left of where Serenity was and about a foot over his head. He was clearly assuming Serenity was standing. It made it clear that his blindfold really did block everything. If he was using his charm to see, it wasn’t very good.
“I got tired of always being surprised. You can’t see on this level, no matter what you do, but there are a bunch of other senses that can be used. So I had charms made, a half-dozen of them, that let you feel when something’s moving. Sort of the way a lot of insects do, only it’s adapted to humans. It feels a lot like touch, really. It takes some practice, but eventually it’ll let you know where monsters are and where we are, at least as long as we’re moving. It’s a lot easier to feel footsteps than someone breathing, and I can’t tell people apart yet, but it’s a start. I’m told that’s possible eventually but I don’t think I care enough to practice that much.” A frown crossed Gabriel’s face. “Daniel is blind, so I think I know why he can use them so well.”
Serenity blinked. That was a completely different sort of sense than the one he was planning to use. It would complement Eyeless Sight nicely, though it still wouldn’t compensate completely for not being able to see. He really should look into seeing if there was some way to get a similar charm after he got out of the dungeon. It would be even better if he could figure out a way to simply have the sense. Perhaps a modification to his feet? He’d have to work out the spell or runeset first, but it seemed distinctly interesting. “Maybe you should; it could be an early warning. You’d need to practice paying attention to it while using your eyes, since that’s your normal situation, but it’s a great idea.”
Serenity watched Gabriel for a moment. He seemed to hunch over a bit but didn’t otherwise respond. That probably wasn’t a positive response, but Serenity wasn’t sure what it meant. He was probably lecturing too much, wasn’t he? “You don’t have to if you don’t want to. I think I will, myself. Can I buy the charm from you or would you let me know who the mage is?”
Gabriel seemed to relax a little as he let out a sigh. “You can buy it. Right now, if you want, no need for you to run all over to get one. I can’t bring six people in here anyway, even if we had enough. Um, how does two Etherium sound? That’s what it cost me.”
Serenity blinked in surprise. “It sounds really cheap to me. Too cheap. Are you sure you didn’t get some kind of discount?” Serenity had a question, but he didn’t want to ask it until he’d paid for the charm, so he held the two Etherium out to Gabriel. Once Gabriel took them, he continued. “Is Daniel a relative of yours? At that price, or a bit higher since I’m not family, I’d be happy to buy more than just one.”
Two Etherium was expensive at Tier One, but it was essentially nothing to Serenity and little more than that to a Tier Nine like Gabriel. Serenity fully expected to get more than that from this dungeon as his own share, though he wasn’t yet certain if it would be in Etherium or simply the stuff he’d collected.
This dungeon, like most outside the Tutorial, didn’t have a direct reward at the end of each level. Instead, it had stuff you could gather. Even with that, many dungeons would also give out Etherium when you exited. The ones on Earth hadn’t when he went through them; they were still all using the drop method. Serenity was confident some would have changed in the time he was gone.
Gabriel nodded, but didn’t give the exact relationship. “I don’t think he gave me a discount; I don’t know why he would have. He’s saving up for healing; he’ll have to go off-planet for it, since there’s no one here that can heal what he’s got. No one’s even sure what it is, just that he can’t see. I tried, but it’s like there wasn’t anything to heal, he was completely healthy. I gave him a bit extra to help, but it’ll be a while before he can afford it. At least here he can get around and knows people; out there, he’ll be alone.”
Serenity’s thoughts flipped to Blaze. “I might know someone who can at least find out what the problem is. If nothing else, he’ll try. I doubt he’d ask more than a few of those charms, even if he can heal the issue.” Blaze was far more interested in money than Serenity usually was, but even with that Serenity had never seen him charge even a single Etherium for a healing. If it took a significant amount of time, maybe, but Serenity was sure he wouldn’t overcharge the blind man; it would certainly be cheaper than whatever he was saving up for.
Gabriel nodded. “Give me the directions when we’re done here; I don’t think Daniel’s figured out where to go yet, so having a destination will help.”
Serenity realized he’d been misunderstood; Gabriel must think he knew someone back home who could heal. “Blaze is in Takinat, he’s staying at the Library. He’s there most mornings and evenings; during the day, he’s doing stuff around the city. Probably healing people, that’s what he does most of the time.”
Serenity thought Blaze had caught up with most of the injuries from the initial attacks, since they hadn’t been repeated recently, but one person couldn’t heal an entire city and too many healers had left Takinat after the first round of attacks. There were always more things that could be healed.
“I’ll tell him.” Gabriel paused and nodded at the spot about a foot to Serenity’s left that he seemed to think was Serenity. “I’ll have him say you sent him. Are you ready? Oh, and don’t forget your blindfold; I can heal the damage from this level, but it hurts like anything and will delay us moving on while I heal it. Can’t do the next level without sight.”
It was probably better to just outright say it. “I don’t need the blindfold.”
Gabriel stopped, halfway through the tent flap, then stepped back inside. “Then how will you protect your eyes?”
Serenity shrugged, then realized Gabriel couldn’t see it. “A spell. It’s a continual mana drain, but not much of one, just enough to block the light without interfering with my other vision-type abilities. They don’t work when my eyes are covered.” Serenity frowned. “They probably should, even though they’re classed as sight; they don’t actually use my eyes. I’ve just never tried to look from anywhere else. I really should practice that, but inside a dungeon doesn’t seem like the place.”
Gabriel nodded. “Glad you know that. I’ve met people who didn’t. Are you used to working with your vision abilities without sight? If you aren’t, it may be better to just not use them.”
Serenity chuckled, remembering the time he’d spent on Tzintkra with no way to see other than Eyeless Sight. It was years if you counted the time in the various Tutorials. Long before that, he’d spent decades without normal vision; one of his undead forms hadn’t even had eyes, and several of them weren’t able to use the eyes they had to see. “Yeah, I’ve gone without normal vision before.”
Come to think of it, he should probably tell them what he could see. “I have MageSight, which is probably not all that useful here, but Eyeless Sight is almost the opposite of what that charm does. It shows where things are. Everything solid looks solid, I can’t even see through good glass. That’s the reason the blindfold doesn’t work; all I can see is the blindfold.”
Gabriel took a moment to respond. “That will be more useful than you think. We usually have Naomi and Daryl trade off leading the group, since they can handle it if they fall in a shallow pit or walk headfirst into a trapspell, even if it’s right before a fight; they’re all straightforward, so I can just heal them afterwards. I think we’ll have you lead; if you can see the traps, it’ll make things a lot easier. We can see the monsters with the charms; they’re also blind, so they have to walk into us to find us. This could be a really easy run of the level.”
Serenity nodded slowly. “Sounds good, I’ll be happy to lead. I’m not sure I’ll be any good with the charm, so if someone can tell me when there’s a monster? I should see it, but just in case?”
Gabriel chuckled. “It took hours on our first trip with the charms to not confuse monsters with each other. As long as you don’t stab Naomi too often, she’ll forgive you I’m sure. Daryl too, probably.”
Serenity grinned at that. He was really coming to like Gabriel and Naomi, even if they were friends with Daryl. “I’ll try not to stab anyone. No point in healing stuff you don’t have to.”
Lillene
Serenity really should sit down with them and have a good talk about all the information they left out of the discussion over dinner.
Serenity was still trying to come to terms with his new Path, a Path that didn’t seem obvious to use or directly rewarding to him even if it was very helpful to others, when Gabriel stuck his head inside Serenity’s tent flap. Serenity tried hard not to jump; he couldn’t see or hear anything outside the tent, so it was always a surprise when someone came in.
Gabriel still had his blindfold on and he was very careful not to let in any more light from outside than necessary. He also seemed to be holding up some sort of dark material to block the openings he couldn’t prevent. “Serenity? This is your tent, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, you found my tent. Did you expect - wait, have you walked into the wrong tent before?” Serenity didn’t think that would be a big problem with this group, but he could easily see other people making it an issue.
Gabriel flushed. “Naomi’s. While she was changing. I didn’t see anything! That’s why I keep the blindfold on. It’s not like it was deliberate! I was trying to find Daryl’s. His tent and yours are the two that block everything.”
Serenity smiled a little. “Must be frustrating. You can’t see where you’re going and get in trouble for trying the wrong tent.”
Gabriel sighed, clearly aggravated. “Yeah. I should have handed out the charms last night, but I didn’t think of it. We’re so used to doing this level without being able to see that I just didn’t think of it.”
Serenity frowned. He didn’t think anyone had mentioned charms. “What charms?”
Gabriel slipped the rest of the way into the tent, then dug in a pocket for a moment. When his hand came out, it held a four inch wide and half an inch thick disk of metal that looked almost like an oversized coin with a hole punched in the top of it. A thin strip of leather was threaded through the hole. “Naomi and I wear them around the neck; Daryl ties his charm around his arm. Something about not wanting handholds for enemies, but Naomi says hers is covered by her armor anyway. I just tuck mine under my shirt.”
Serenity accepted the charm. There was a moment where he wondered if that was too much trust, but he brushed it away; if the Silver Blades wanted to hurt him, there were far easier ways. “I can understand that, but what does it do?”
Gabriel flushed again. “I’m making a hash of this, aren’t I?”
Serenity didn’t respond to the opening. There wasn’t anything to say there that wouldn’t make it worse.
“It, ah, I, that is…” Gabriel paused and muttered to himself. “Start at the beginning.” He shook himself, then looked … about a foot to the left of where Serenity was and about a foot over his head. He was clearly assuming Serenity was standing. It made it clear that his blindfold really did block everything. If he was using his charm to see, it wasn’t very good.
“I got tired of always being surprised. You can’t see on this level, no matter what you do, but there are a bunch of other senses that can be used. So I had charms made, a half-dozen of them, that let you feel when something’s moving. Sort of the way a lot of insects do, only it’s adapted to humans. It feels a lot like touch, really. It takes some practice, but eventually it’ll let you know where monsters are and where we are, at least as long as we’re moving. It’s a lot easier to feel footsteps than someone breathing, and I can’t tell people apart yet, but it’s a start. I’m told that’s possible eventually but I don’t think I care enough to practice that much.” A frown crossed Gabriel’s face. “Daniel is blind, so I think I know why he can use them so well.”
Serenity blinked. That was a completely different sort of sense than the one he was planning to use. It would complement Eyeless Sight nicely, though it still wouldn’t compensate completely for not being able to see. He really should look into seeing if there was some way to get a similar charm after he got out of the dungeon. It would be even better if he could figure out a way to simply have the sense. Perhaps a modification to his feet? He’d have to work out the spell or runeset first, but it seemed distinctly interesting. “Maybe you should; it could be an early warning. You’d need to practice paying attention to it while using your eyes, since that’s your normal situation, but it’s a great idea.”
Serenity watched Gabriel for a moment. He seemed to hunch over a bit but didn’t otherwise respond. That probably wasn’t a positive response, but Serenity wasn’t sure what it meant. He was probably lecturing too much, wasn’t he? “You don’t have to if you don’t want to. I think I will, myself. Can I buy the charm from you or would you let me know who the mage is?”
Gabriel seemed to relax a little as he let out a sigh. “You can buy it. Right now, if you want, no need for you to run all over to get one. I can’t bring six people in here anyway, even if we had enough. Um, how does two Etherium sound? That’s what it cost me.”
Serenity blinked in surprise. “It sounds really cheap to me. Too cheap. Are you sure you didn’t get some kind of discount?” Serenity had a question, but he didn’t want to ask it until he’d paid for the charm, so he held the two Etherium out to Gabriel. Once Gabriel took them, he continued. “Is Daniel a relative of yours? At that price, or a bit higher since I’m not family, I’d be happy to buy more than just one.”
Two Etherium was expensive at Tier One, but it was essentially nothing to Serenity and little more than that to a Tier Nine like Gabriel. Serenity fully expected to get more than that from this dungeon as his own share, though he wasn’t yet certain if it would be in Etherium or simply the stuff he’d collected.
This dungeon, like most outside the Tutorial, didn’t have a direct reward at the end of each level. Instead, it had stuff you could gather. Even with that, many dungeons would also give out Etherium when you exited. The ones on Earth hadn’t when he went through them; they were still all using the drop method. Serenity was confident some would have changed in the time he was gone.
Gabriel nodded, but didn’t give the exact relationship. “I don’t think he gave me a discount; I don’t know why he would have. He’s saving up for healing; he’ll have to go off-planet for it, since there’s no one here that can heal what he’s got. No one’s even sure what it is, just that he can’t see. I tried, but it’s like there wasn’t anything to heal, he was completely healthy. I gave him a bit extra to help, but it’ll be a while before he can afford it. At least here he can get around and knows people; out there, he’ll be alone.”
Serenity’s thoughts flipped to Blaze. “I might know someone who can at least find out what the problem is. If nothing else, he’ll try. I doubt he’d ask more than a few of those charms, even if he can heal the issue.” Blaze was far more interested in money than Serenity usually was, but even with that Serenity had never seen him charge even a single Etherium for a healing. If it took a significant amount of time, maybe, but Serenity was sure he wouldn’t overcharge the blind man; it would certainly be cheaper than whatever he was saving up for.
Gabriel nodded. “Give me the directions when we’re done here; I don’t think Daniel’s figured out where to go yet, so having a destination will help.”
Serenity realized he’d been misunderstood; Gabriel must think he knew someone back home who could heal. “Blaze is in Takinat, he’s staying at the Library. He’s there most mornings and evenings; during the day, he’s doing stuff around the city. Probably healing people, that’s what he does most of the time.”
Serenity thought Blaze had caught up with most of the injuries from the initial attacks, since they hadn’t been repeated recently, but one person couldn’t heal an entire city and too many healers had left Takinat after the first round of attacks. There were always more things that could be healed.
“I’ll tell him.” Gabriel paused and nodded at the spot about a foot to Serenity’s left that he seemed to think was Serenity. “I’ll have him say you sent him. Are you ready? Oh, and don’t forget your blindfold; I can heal the damage from this level, but it hurts like anything and will delay us moving on while I heal it. Can’t do the next level without sight.”
It was probably better to just outright say it. “I don’t need the blindfold.”
Gabriel stopped, halfway through the tent flap, then stepped back inside. “Then how will you protect your eyes?”
Serenity shrugged, then realized Gabriel couldn’t see it. “A spell. It’s a continual mana drain, but not much of one, just enough to block the light without interfering with my other vision-type abilities. They don’t work when my eyes are covered.” Serenity frowned. “They probably should, even though they’re classed as sight; they don’t actually use my eyes. I’ve just never tried to look from anywhere else. I really should practice that, but inside a dungeon doesn’t seem like the place.”
Gabriel nodded. “Glad you know that. I’ve met people who didn’t. Are you used to working with your vision abilities without sight? If you aren’t, it may be better to just not use them.”
Serenity chuckled, remembering the time he’d spent on Tzintkra with no way to see other than Eyeless Sight. It was years if you counted the time in the various Tutorials. Long before that, he’d spent decades without normal vision; one of his undead forms hadn’t even had eyes, and several of them weren’t able to use the eyes they had to see. “Yeah, I’ve gone without normal vision before.”
Come to think of it, he should probably tell them what he could see. “I have MageSight, which is probably not all that useful here, but Eyeless Sight is almost the opposite of what that charm does. It shows where things are. Everything solid looks solid, I can’t even see through good glass. That’s the reason the blindfold doesn’t work; all I can see is the blindfold.”
Gabriel took a moment to respond. “That will be more useful than you think. We usually have Naomi and Daryl trade off leading the group, since they can handle it if they fall in a shallow pit or walk headfirst into a trapspell, even if it’s right before a fight; they’re all straightforward, so I can just heal them afterwards. I think we’ll have you lead; if you can see the traps, it’ll make things a lot easier. We can see the monsters with the charms; they’re also blind, so they have to walk into us to find us. This could be a really easy run of the level.”
Serenity nodded slowly. “Sounds good, I’ll be happy to lead. I’m not sure I’ll be any good with the charm, so if someone can tell me when there’s a monster? I should see it, but just in case?”
Gabriel chuckled. “It took hours on our first trip with the charms to not confuse monsters with each other. As long as you don’t stab Naomi too often, she’ll forgive you I’m sure. Daryl too, probably.”
Serenity grinned at that. He was really coming to like Gabriel and Naomi, even if they were friends with Daryl. “I’ll try not to stab anyone. No point in healing stuff you don’t have to.”
Lillene
Serenity really should sit down with them and have a good talk about all the information they left out of the discussion over dinner.
