Silver Ranked Nightream

Item Cannot be Appraised

Chapter 3

Merchant Level 999.

Barter Level 963.

Inventory Management Level 999.

Merchant’s Coax, Reason, Bluff, Pitch, and Incentive were all above level 973. Merchant’s Bribe and Threat were right above level 400, my Intimidation skill was at level 541, and my Appraisal skill was at level 902.

High-fives had gotten me most of the way there and I owed a great amount of that progress to Boggo.

So while Slime-tooth and Barnacle-eyes rejoiced in each other’s company, I excused myself and delved into the cellar. A few minutes later, Boggo came scurrying out of a tunnel. It was dark, but I could still see quite well. His paws clattered against the compact earth of the cellar.

“Psst,” Boggo said. “Is that you, Thrush?”

“Yes,” I said.

“Yay! How’s it going?”

Boggo scurried up to me and pulled tufts of blue fur from his coat. He placed them in a pile, patted the pile down into a nice round cushion, then hopped on and wiggled himself in place until he looked comfortable.

“Fine,” I said.

“Wanna shoot some dice?”

I put some human clothing and a handful of dreambons in the first pot. Boggo put in: a couple of small gems and some warm-warm roots.

“Haven’t seen warm-warm roots since last winter,” I said.

“We’re collecting them early this year. You and Hawkin nearly wiped us out last year. Kept a lot of us busy, that’s for sure. We thought we’d be more prepared this time.”

Boggo chatted about life in his tunnels. About his experience on the ethereal plane. How awesome it had been for him. Meanwhile, we shot dice. I lost the first pot, but earned the next two. From those pots, I received a bunch of waterskins, carrots, and a tin cup. The same tin cup I’d lost to him many months ago.

After a few rounds, Boggo helped me level some Merchant skills. Mostly the weaker ones: Bribe, Threat, and Intimidation. It was fun for Boggo and he almost couldn’t make it through each interaction without laughing.

That’s how the hours passed between us. And when hunger struck, I pulled out some thick, smoked moose meat. Boggo’s eyes got huge. He took the massive chunk that I offered and then scampered away into a tunnel. He returned a few moments later with a small piece.

“Thanks for waiting,” he said. “I wanted to share some with the siblings.”

“Of course,” I said, and poured us each a fill of mana beer.

“A nice blue beer with some… moose, did you say?”

“Moose,” I said.

“Moose,” Boggo drawled. “It’s so good. Better than your fish!”

“I quite like it.”

“You know the bark you get from the smoke? It’s so much thicker on the moose.”

“Took thirteen hours to cook.”

“No wonder it falls apart. Even my triple great, great, great, grand bestie could eat it and he doesn’t have any teeth!”

The rest of our meal was so delicious that we couldn’t talk. I was preoccupied with the melt-in-your-mouth flavor of slow cooked moose. The only complaint I had was that the meat was a bit dry. Something fattier would’ve smoked better.

“You’re a master,” Boggo managed after a final bite of his meal.

“Thanks for sharing a meal with me,” I said.

“Pshh, are you kidding me? Thank you!”

We returned to shooting dice some more and Boggo was happy to win most of the pots. Then we switched to leveling up my Merchant skills again. But I thought to try something new for a change.

“Here,” I said. “Take all this.”

I dumped 700 silver coins, 511 gold coins, and what little copper I had at Boggo’s feet.

“What-what’s all this for?” he said.

“Use it to buy a single item from me. I’ll try and negotiate the price as high as I can go—but you have to try and make it hard for me.”

Boggo shot to his feet, pointed at me with a hard finger and said, “Alright mister! Let’s see what you got!”

I took a moment to set up my Merchant’s tent, made myself comfortable on my cushion, and then gestured to empty air.

“Take a look around,” I said.

Boggo pondered his decision for sometime. I was glad he took it seriously. He navigated my full menu. Nothing was locked, hidden away. Before long, he came to a decision and cleared his throat.

“I’d like a Planes Cutter beer,” he said.

“Really?”

“That’s what I’ll take. How much?”

[Merchant Options:]

[Cost above Appraisal.]

[Cost at Appraisal.]

[Cost below Appraisal.]

I chose to cost the beer above Appraisal.

[Item cannot be Appraised.]

[No market information.]

This made things quite easy for me, and I reported the discovery to Boggo who seemed genuinely disappointed.

“So what does this mean?” he said.

“It means that it’s beyond what anyone can pay for it,” I said. Then I activated my Merchant’s Bluff skill. “Guess I can’t sell it. Sorry about that. Let’s try something else.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Boggo said. “I actually, kind of, sort of really want that. Can’t I just give you all the money you gave me?”

“Boggo. You have to make it hard for me. Remember?”

Boggo face-palmed. “Right,” he drawled. “Sorry, I got too into it. Alright well let’s see. How about one gold coin.”

“This is a joke to you,” I said. “If you're thirsty, I’ve got other beers available for one gold.” Then, following my Merchant Options— “they may not be as good. May not be able to bring you to a magical place. A safe haven between worlds where you could relax and take an entire day to simply exist without worry. And they might not be as thirst quenching, or as life changing… but they’ll be ok. I guess.”

“Oh come on, Thrush! Now I’ve gotta have it! I’m not playing anymore. I really want it!”

Boggo climbed my fur. Grabbed onto two fangs and hoisted himself up so that we were eye level.

“I have to see the world above again,” he whispered.

After he scampered back down, I made a show of thinking things through.

At last I said, “maybe. Maybe I could bear to part with it.”

“Really?”

“But for the right price.”

“I’ll give you anything,” Boggo started. He stopped himself and cleared his throat. “How about ten gold?”

I denied the offer one more time, drank some more mana beer and followed my Merchant Options. Boggo offered me 100 gold the next time around, and then started increasing the amount every round of bartering. We circled like this for some time.

At the end of it, Boggo offered up his entire sum of coin, plus a few sparkling gems by sliding the whole pile over. But still, I made a show of thinking hard.

“What more can I do,” he wailed.

“One more thing, then I’ll sell it to you,” I said.

“Oh come on, Thrush. I’m starting to lose interest now. This is just getting annoying.”

Boggo crossed his arms over his chest. He pouted.

“Add a high-five and it’s yours.”

As soon as we high-fived, a system prompt came up.

[Congratulations! You have reached Silver rank!]