Chapter 3.25

AUCTION HOUSE

 

Stuglegen World Dungeon Gate

5th Waterday of the Full Moon

Flea and Bob made their way back to the crossroads with the slightly broken signpost. Pausing to look north, Flea grew a bit sad at the thought of not being able to meet Than’ro’s people but then shrugged it down. He looked down at Bob before speaking.

 

“Alright, let’s head to Stuglegen and see what awaits us, buddy.”

 

The duo began their walk along the eastern path towards Stuglegen, and it wasn't long before the pair was attacked by two brightly colored yellow humanoid frogs. Bob killed them with two fast and well-placed shots from his metallic-red bow. 

 

Flea walked over to the corpses to study them and realized they were the same type of frogs that had killed the Dwarfs down in the mine’s cavern. The same cavern with the giant glowing yellow Crystal. Flea tossed the two spears away and began looting the corpses. He found what looked like different colored moss in their bags. The Gnome threw those to the side as well.

 

“Should we harvest them for their Cores? Seems kinda cruel to butcher humanoid creatures?” asked Flea.

 

“Yes. While unpleasant, we need every ounce of Energy we can get it,” replied the cat.

 

Not liking it, Flea still bent down to harvest the first body, but suddenly his hand began to burn right after coming in contact with the frog’s skin. Cursing to himself, he pulled out an antidote and splashed some on the affected area. Using his dagger, Flea cut a piece of the frog's clothing off and used it to handle the corpse as he began to cut open the corpse’s chest cavity and dug around for the Core. 

 

Flea found the Core close to the throat, above the creature’s heart. With the knowledge of the Core’s location, he cut into the second and retrieved that Core quickly. Flea placed the now clean Clouded Cores into his magic bag.

 

On their travels, they were attacked three more times by groups of the brightly colored frogs. On the third attack, Flea used his [Identify] on one of the frogs before Bob could dispatch it.

 

 

 

Now understanding why his hand burned on touching the corpse, he told Bob about the frog’s toxic skin. Finishing butchering the last of the frogs, they began to travel east again. The fairly flat forest area led to a series of rolling hills. While the open valleys provided splendid views, Flea wished the inclines were a bit more generous. On their sixth such climb to a hilltop, the duo found themselves staring down at a massive city in the distance. 

 

The city of Stuglegen was easily five to six times the size of Dustgrove. It had massive stone walls, and even from their distance, Flea could see the tops of large buildings peeking over the wall in various locations. Happy to finally move on in the game, Flea began jogging down the hill towards the city in the distance.

 

As the group grew closer to the city, they saw a long line of people outside the gates. When the duo got to the back of the line, Flea immediately noticed most of the people waiting seemed to be either angry or nervous. 

 

“Why such a long line to get in?” asked Flea to an older Elf in front of them.

 

“They have been doing checks on people both coming and going to Stuglegen. No one knows why, but it has been going on for a few cycles now,” responded the Elf.

 

“Alright, Thank you.”

 

The Elf nodded and went back to staring at the forest in the distance.

 

An hour and a half passed before they made it to the front of the line. Flea couldn’t help checking his magic bag just to make sure the damn book didn’t materialize out of anywhere. Stepping forward, when the guards waved them over, they were asked a few questions.

 

“What is your purpose for coming to Stuglegen? Has anyone asked you to deliver any messages to anyone inside the walls of Stuglegen? Have you seen any children outside the walls of Stuglegen?” asked the guard.

 

“New player exploring a new town. Haven’t seen anyone since leaving the World Dungeon Gate, and there are children in the game? I haven’t seen one on the starter island or in Dustgrove,” replied Flea.

 

The guards looked at one another, and the much older Dwarven guard spoke up.

 

“You’re a new player? Are you a Human or Zenterian?

 

“I’m a human, Sir. This is my companion, Bob.”

 

Seemingly satisfied with their answers, the Dwarven guard nodded and allowed them to pass through the gate. Flea thought the line of questions was a bit odd. Like, maybe the System was pointing him towards some type of story quest. 

 

As they walked through the second set of gates on the other side of the massive wall, Flea found himself in a large bustling area. More people were walking around than Flea had seen in all of Dustgrove.

 

The Gnome scanned the area and quickly found what he was looking for. About 100 yards away was one of the town’s tall-purple Crystals. Arriving at the large open square that held the Crystal, Flea walked over and placed his palm onto its surface.

 

 

Looking over his registered Crystal list, he found Noto still greyed out, and Dustgrove’s listed with a Teleport button to the right and the number 1348 next to it.  Flea assumed that was how much it would cost him to teleport back to Dustgrove.

 

“Alright, we’re now safe here. Let’s look for a decent inn and find out where the auction house or maybe a beast tamer are located,” said Flea.

 

Bob did a little shrug and began to sniff at the air, then started walking off towards whatever scent he had caught. Flea ran after the cat. A few moments later, the two came to a cafe. Bob looked up at Flea and gave him a look, then pointed to his stomach.

 

“Fine, we can eat first.”

 

Bob smiled as he pushed the door open and walked through, the Gnome right behind him.

 

“Please take a seat. I’ll be right with you,” said a lady behind the counter.

 

Flea and Bob sat at a table close to the front window and waited. Soon the Gnome was lost in thought as he watched the NPCs going about their lives outside the cafe.

 

“What can I get you two?” the elven lady asked as she handed them two menus.

 

“I’ll take a glass of any kind of juice you may have, and what would you recommend for food?” said Flea.

 

“I’ll take water, and whatever it is, I smell coming from your kitchen,” said Bob.

 

“Oh, good nose you have there. We just finished roasting an entire Snaggerpus. We serve it with gravy and today’s vegetables.”

 

“I’ll take that. It smells divine,” said Bob.

 

“I’ll try it as well,” said Flea.

 

A few minutes later, the Elven waitress returned with two plates and glasses. The Gnome and cat ate their meal with gusto.

 

“It tastes like fried chicken, and brisket had a baby. Shaun Sr. would absolutely love this,” said Flea.

 

As they paid the waitress, Flea asked her if she knew where the auction house was located. The waitress laughed and said It was one of the most prominent buildings in Stuglegen near the city’s center. She explained they just needed to find the symbol of a Dragon asleep on top of a pile of gold.

 

Leaving the cafe, Bob and Flea walked towards the center of the city. The auction house was indeed hard to miss. The building looked like it was plucked right out of 18th century London. Above the massive front doors was a stained glass window depicting a large red Dragon asleep atop of a horde of gold. 

 

Entering through the large doors, they found themselves in a massive open hall. To the room’s right were rows of doors with lines of people waiting in front of them. Flea watched as someone would leave a door, and the next in line would walk inside. 

 

Large glass domes peppered almost every part of the hall. Inside each was different displays. In front of all of them, right outside the domes, were podiums with what looked to be an open book sitting atop. Walking towards the closest podium, a movement inside the glass dome caught Flea’s attention. Coming up a ladder from a trap door beneath the dome, he spied what looked to be a Kobold. 

 

The reptilian looked down at a piece of paper in its paw, then up at a number next to the display. Seemingly having found the correct display, the Kobold picked the item up and then shuffled back down to the ladder and closed the trap door. Flea walked up to the podium in front of where the item had just been and read the open page.

 

 

As Flea was examining the page, it crumbled to dust. Looking up, he watched another Kobold place an azure blue marble on the display pedestal within the glass dome. A moment later, on the next page, another entry seemed to write itself in the book.

 

The entries below the ‘ID#’ and ‘Bidding Amount’ were all blank. Flea figured this was how they ran the auctions here. The items were on display under the dome so that only the auction house’s employees had access to them. Bob’s voice broke him out of his thoughts. 

 

“That sign says you can register items with the auction house over there,” said Bob.

 

Flea looked in the direction the cat was pointing. On the left side of the massive hall were a set of doors he hadn’t noticed when they entered. The two walked over and stood in the shortest of the five lines. 

 

After the last of the three in the line stepped out of the door, Flea moved forward to grab the handle before it closed. Walking into the room, the duo was surprised to find it very posh. The room held large, filled bookcases, and the walls had ornate paintings adorning them. At its center sat a black and grey Kobold behind an intricately carved desk, writing in a book.

 

“Please take a seat and tell me what it is you would like our establishment to auction off for you. Please remember, we take a ten percent cut of all sales,” the Kobold said without looking up from writing in his book.

 

Flea looked down at the shrugging cat, and then they each took one of the front two seats closest to the Kobold’s desk.

 

“I have a Golden Crystal and a Desmox egg I was looking to sell,” said Flea.

 

That got the Kobold’s attention, as he quickly looked up and placed his writing utensil down.

 

“What size is the Crystal?” asked the Kobold.

 

“Um, it doesn’t say anything about the size of it.”

 

“So a complete Crystal then. I’m afraid I can’t give you an estimate on its value, as it will depend on how fast word gets out that we have one for sale. The Desmox’s egg can go from a few gold to a couple of Royals per egg, depending on if it is fertile. We have a beast tamer on hand to verify such things.”

 

The Kobold got up and pulled the third cord from the left on the wall. Looking closely, Flea could see each cord had placards next to them. Giving the cord another tug, the Kobold then walked back to his desk and sat down.

 

“Are there any more items that you may wish to put up for auction?

 

“I also have a gem cluster I’ve found.”

 

“Take it to an enchanter. They will pay the most for such an item.”

 

The door behind the Kobold opened, and a short-round-furry creature came in. Flea was unsure if it was a Beastkin or some other race. He didn’t want to use [Identify] as he felt it might be bad manners.

 

“Ah, please take out the egg so our beast tamer may observe it.”

 

Flea removed the pink egg, and the furry creature let out an excited sounding noise. He took a few steps forward and raised his hands. Then a moment later, let out an even more exciting noise.

 

“It’s fertile and close to hatching, Veppo. I will notify the others. You do plan on putting this egg up for auction, correct?” the furry creature asked.

 

“Yes, I will place both the egg and Crystal up for auction.

 

“Most excellent!” the furry creature yelled as it ran out of the room.

 

“May I please see your tags?” the Kobold, Flea assumed he was Veepo, asked.

 

Flea handed over his tags, and a moment later, the Kobold handed them back with two slips of paper.

 

“Please confirm that these are the two items you wish to auction off over the next week,” said Veppo.

 

Flea looked down at the two slips of papers.

 

 

 

“Looks alright. The Crystal can really fetch that much?”

 

“Oh, that’s lowballing it. It’s to keep the number of pages used in the auction books from being wasted on low bids,” said Veppo.