Nightmare Realm Summoner

An echoing thrum rolled through the Bleak Night Auction House. Alex and the others all turned toward the window in their room, looking down at the elevated auctioneer’s platform below. Sofia stood upon it, her arms crossed behind her back and a faint smile painted across her features.

“Thank you all for your patience,” the auctioneer said. “We have completed all appraisals of submitted items. I don’t want to spoil anything for you all… but this auction is going to be an interesting one. There are quite a few items that I myself would be eager to get my hands on if I didn’t have professional standards to abide by.”

Sofia laughed. That probably meant she was joking. Either that or she planned on jumping whoever got the item she was talking about when the auction was done. Alex wasn’t going to put that past anyone. Even though it would have been ludicrously stupid for an auction to attack their own people, he wouldn’t put anything past an Outworlder.

“We will now be starting the official sales portion of the auction,” Sofia continued, letting her laughter fade away. “As a reminder, if there is anything you wish to place a bid for, simply pick up the bidding paddle and speak as you wish to. If you miss an opportunity, the only one that can be blamed is yourself.”

“Do you think we could go harass the other rooms so they miss the fact that something useful is up for auction?” Aaron mused.

“You’re already thinking on how you can cheat?” Mite asked in amusement. “You really live up to your class.”

“Good shit,” Wess said. “Do more of that. But I figure nobody is going to speak with us if we send out random requests to talk and then start being a nuisance. Never burn your reputation for a minor advantage. It doesn’t work.”

“It can,” Claire said absently, her eyes affixed on Sofia and features creased with deep thought. “You just have to make sure you don’t leave any witnesses.”

Mite shuddered. “I ever mention that I’m glad we’re on the same side?”

A shimmer of light filled the air. Strands of green energy wove into being all around Sofia. They twisted up her feet and gathered before her palms. She stretched her hands out. The power flowed like a river. It poured to form into a swirling portal in the air at her side.

“Let us begin!” Sofia announced. She reached into the portal and pulled out a small glass vial full of shimmering blue liquid. “Our first item will be a Saltwater potion. It is sourced by Bleak Night, with an efficacy level that places it at Epic Tier. Bids will start at 10 Credits.”

Alex’s back slumped ever so slightly in relief as a small amount of tension departed him. A part of him had been expecting the prices in the auction to be absolutely ludicrous from the very start. It looked like that wouldn’t be the case. They were starting around 10 Credits. That was expensive, but at least it was reasonable. It certainly made their twenty thousand feel a hell of a lot more significant.

“What does a Saltwater potion do?” Aaron asked. “That sounds completely useless.”

“So you can make an exotic fish habitat?” Mite guessed, reaching under his cloak and shuffling around to try and grab something on his back. The tip of his tongue poked out of his mouth in concentration. “Maybe they really like fish.”

“It’s to poison a water supply. You can’t drink salt water,” Wess said. “I bet that would be pretty useful if you’re planning on going up against a town.”

Everyone stared at him for a second.

“Except you can just buy water from the system,” Alex said. “So long as you’ve got a merchant, at least.”

“Oh.” Wess blinked. “Oh, yeah. Forgot about that.”

“10 Credits,” a woman called from a room somewhere off to their left.

There were several moments of silence. It didn’t seem like many people in the auction were all that interested about this particular item.

“Come on, now,” Sofia said, sounding mildly peeved. “This is a steal. Do you have any idea how many items are effective against river monsters and some demons alike? This is a rare item.”

Nobody else spoke up. It didn’t seem like anyone was convinced. Or, more likely, people were saving up their money to make sure they had enough to bid for the more powerful items toward the end of the auction.

Sofia sighed. Then she raised into the air. She waited for a moment longer as if to coax someone to speak. Then, shrugging, she clapped her hands. The sound echoed through the room.

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“Sold! To Room 6!” Sofia called. “And up next, a weapon! I’m sure this will get you all a little bit more excited.”

She dropped the glass vial containing the Saltwater potion. But, instead of shattering against the floor, a tiny disk of green energy spun to life beneath it. The vial vanished within the magic. Once it was gone, the portal disappeared with a faint pop.

Sofia paid it no mind at all. She was busy reaching into the large portal at her side. From within it, she pulled a plain silver sword with a faint curve to it. Alex was fairly certain the weapon was called a cutlass. It would have fit perfectly in the hands of a pirate cosplayer.

“This is an Epic rarity item,” Sofia continued. “Found in a dungeon, with no known smith. It is called Liferipper Fang, and bears the ability to heal its wielder for a small portion of the damage they inflict. In the hands of a master swordsman, this weapon is incredibly powerful. I look forward to seeing who will best be able to put it to use. Bidding will start at 20 Credits.”

“20 credits?” Aaron asked, his eyes going wide. He reached for the paddle. “That’s insane! I’ll pay it myself! A healing weapon is—”

“100 Credits,” came the call from a room not too far to their side. Aaron froze.

“110,” The woman from Room 6, who had won the Saltwater potion, joined in as well.

Aaron’s shoulders slumped. “Oh. Damn. Well, screw that. What the hell is that jump in price? Who kicks it up so quickly?”

“Someone trying to keep others from bidding,” Claire replied. Her lips pressed together. Several other people had bid already, and the price was already up to 190 Credits. “But it doesn’t look like they were successful. A weapon that can heal its wielder is always going to be useful. This is unfortunately what I was expecting.”

“What is?” Wess asked. “People will bid on what they like?”

“Obviously,” Claire said. “What I mean is that there are really only two likely reasons why someone would spend over 100 Credits so early on. Either they don’t think they’re going to have enough Credits to compete for the best items no matter what they do… or they have enough that they don’t even think about the cost of anything anymore.”

Everyone fell silent as they considered Claire’s words. The price of the sword was already up past 200 Credits. It had risen sharply, but new calls weren’t coming in anymore. The man who had first bid 100 Credits had the current winning offer of 210, and it didn’t look like anyone was stupid enough to try and push him any farther. He’d made his stance clear.

Well, that’s fine. Spending 210 Credits on a sword so early on is crazy. Sure, it sounds pretty damn good, but there’s definitely so much more you can buy for that much money. I’d never spend—

“300 Credits,” Claire called.

Everyone’s gaze snapped toward her.

She was holding the paddle.

“What?” Aaron asked, his eyes bulging.

“Holy shit. The lady wants a sword,” Wess said. “Well. You know how it goes. It’s a good thing we have a big pocketbook, eh?”

A huge grin split Sofia’s lips.

“300 Credits! What a jump! In that case—”

“350.” The first man’s voice echoed through the room with a very clear note of displeasure in it. “Don’t push me any farther, Room 3. Don’t think you can just jump in at the end and try to steal this away from me.”

“Why shouldn’t I?” Claire replied. “400.”

Alex sent her a slightly concerned look, but he held his words. If Claire wanted the sword, then there was a damn good reason for it.

“500,” the man snapped. “I’m serious about this. You want to play? I’ll play. But you won’t enjoy the results.”

“I’m willing to spend double this,” Claire said, spinning the paddle between her fingers idly. “Are you?”

There was a second of silence.

“You’re bluffing,” the man said.

“Maybe,” Claire said. “I’m going to send someone to your room. You will accept — and then you will pay them 50 Credits for annoying me with your fangless, uninspired threat. In turn, I will let you have the sword. It really isn’t worth anything past 600.”

The man let out a bark of disbelieving laughter. “You think you can blackmail me? In front of—”

“550,” Claire called.

There was another moment of silence.

“600,” he said. “I—”

“650,” Claire called, lilting amusement in her voice. “What were you saying? You’d have saved 50 Credits at this point if you’d just agreed. And I should warn you, the next words out of your mouth are going to have to be ‘deal’ or everything is off. I do quite like the look of the sword.”

“You…” the man’s voice cut off. He’d definitely set his paddle off to avoid cursing Claire out. Then his voice returned. “You’re an idiot. Who wastes money like this? Fine. 50 credits. You’re damn right that this isn’t worth anywhere near this much. But I’m not backing down now. Send your person. 651.”

“Well, that’s a disappointment,” Claire said. “1000.”

Sofia’s eyes widened. Even despite her best attempts to keep her features calm, it was clear she hadn’t expected Claire to nearly double the price of the sword in a single bid.

“What?” the man exclaimed, not even trying to hide his anger this time. “What is wrong with you? You said—”

“I said that the next word out of your mouth would be agreeing to my deal,” Claire said flatly. “It was not. I do not deal with petulant children. Do you think I give a shit about 1000 Credits? I’ll be taking this, and you can think of it as a lesson to have a little respect, boy.”

There were several long seconds of silence.

Sofia practically vibrating in excitement. Something told Alex she got commission. She waited for a little longer to see if the man would say anything else.

Alex still wasn’t entirely sure what the point of spending 1000 Credits on an item like this was. It felt like a complete and utter waste of money. But he trusted Claire. She wouldn’t have done this for no reason.

“Who do you think you are?” the man from the other room called. “You think we can be talked down to like children? 1100 Credits. This is nothing to us. Let’s see you beat that… if you really do have the funds that you’re pretending to.”

Claire looked down at her paddle. Then she let out a snicker.

“Why would I do that? Enjoy your 1100 Credit sword.”

Then she put the paddle down.