Dye-ing To Get To Know You
| Dye-ing To Get To Know You | |
|---|---|
| Creator | Alypia |
| Information | |
| Quest Giver | Serena |
| Requirements | Reached Khor'minos |
| Level Range | 6+ |
| Quest Type | Sidequest |
| Reward | Cloak of the Deeps or 500 EC |
| Location | Khor'minos and the Undermountain |
| Timed? | No |
| Can Fail? | No |
Brienne sighs and nods. "Whoever they were, they were risking a lot, but for good money; this is worth a noble's ransom in Khor'minos, if it really is the right dye. Didn't that sweetheart from Signia mention it? Maybe we should check with her and see if it's the real deal!"
Writer Credit
Quest States
| State | Acquisition | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Speak to Serena about Fishing | Serena, the cowgirl refugee, has mentioned a particular kind of expensive purple pigment that comes from the sea snails near her village. It's the stuff of kings and queens, and would help make a lovely garment… if you had any. You might be able to find some out in the Undermountain somewhere; while the overturned carts and refugee caravans have been very well picked over, perhaps one of the various marauding groups looted some that you can use. |
| 1 | Loot Purple Dye from imps in the Undermountain | While fighting in the Undermountain, you found something that could be the expensive purple dye Serena mentioned. She can probably tell you whether it's the right stuff. |
| 2 | Speak to Serena about Dye? | The dye you found in the Undermountain was indeed the right stuff: murex, as pungent as it is expensive. Serena told you to hold onto it for now, but it sounds like she's going to talk to her fellow villagers and try to hook you up with something nice. Getting to know her and her students well ought to make that easier. Alternatively, you could sell the dye to someone with expertise in making clothes; it's undoubtedly worth a great deal of coin. |
| 3 | Complete Serena's Class Visit Event Speak to Serena about Use Dye? |
Serena's asked you to let her students try to make a gift for you with the murex dye: a beautiful enchanted purple cloak in the style of a high-ranking military commander or Minoan noble(wo)man. You've accepted, but it'll take about three days for them to finish. |
| 4 | Allow three days to pass after speaking to Serena about Use Dye? | It's been three days since Serena and her students started their little class project for you. Visit her at Ember's Taphouse and see if she's got the goods. |
| 5 (complete) | Speak to Serena after allowing three days to pass following the Use Dye? conversation | Serena presented you with a lovely gift: a gorgeous purple cloak, made as a class project with the dye you recovered from the Undermountain. You've picked up a sweet outfit and a sweet friend to boot! |
| 6 (alternate complete) | Agree to sell the Purple Dye to Nelia | You decided to sell the murex dye to Nelia for something close to its street value. Thanks to that, you've pocketed a hefty amount of electrum for your trouble. |
Acquisition
Talk to Serena and discuss Fishing when asking about her village.
Progress
When Serena talks about fishing in her home village of Signia, she mentions that one of the village's most well-known products, besides the garum fish-sauce that minotaurs love to apply to their food, is murex dye, milked from a particular sea snail that lives near there. Murex makes a unique shade of highly-sought-after purple dye, which sells for wildly high prices in Khor'minos and is used only in small quantities for garments only worn by the wealthy and powerful. She also regretfully says that there won't be any more dye for a while because the Signians have all fled their village, but she suggests looking out for some while traveling in the area.
Visiting the Undermountain following that conversation can lead to a special fight with imps hauling a large amount of loot. The encounter remains in the table if Champ loses, but victory over the imps will lead to a brief outro where the party rifles through the treasures the little monsters were carrying. In addition to the usual yields from defeating imps, Champ receives a key item called Purple Dye, a tin container full of something very stinky. After that, they are free to indulge in the usual post-combat choices regarding imps if they so desire. The special loot imps mob will disappear from the Undermountain encounter table once they are defeated.
Returning to Serena and discussing the Dye? will allow her to confirm that it is indeed murex. She offers to talk to her fellow villagers and see if she can set up a way for Champ to use the dye properly. If Champ has already visited Serena's class, this is relatively straightforward: the parents immediately offer their help and Serena tells Champ she can take the dye right now (the dialogue option Use Dye?). Otherwise, progressing the quest in this manner requires a visit to the school before Serena will confirm that she can have her friends turn the dye into a proper garment. Once Champ selects Use Dye?, Serena will take the container for three days, after which she will present them with the Cloak of the Deeps, a unique purple cloak in the Minoan style with a few personalized touches from her students. This completes the quest.
Alternatively, at any point after receiving the dye but before giving it to Serena to be made into the cloak, Champ can simply visit Nelia in Hawkethorne and sell the dye directly to her for street value (less than the value of the Cloak of the Deeps, but a valid option for those who don't enjoy talking to teenagers). This also completes the quest.
Reward
You receive either the Cloak of the Deeps unique shoulder wear or 500 EC.
Trivia
- The collection of murex snails and their pigment was a major industry in the classical Mediterranean, and yielded the fabulously expensive Tyrian purple dye. The high profit margin came at a price: murex dye smelled awful before it was used in garments, which also repeatedly comes up during the course of the quest. Fortunately, the finished product does not keep the nasty smell.
- Roman military officers wore a purple cloak called the paludamentum, much flashier than the ordinary (and undoubtedly smelly) cloaks of greasy wool worn by most common soldiers. The Cloak of the Deeps description explicitly references this in silly mode.
- Serena's students personalize the cloak for the Champion. If the Champion has made a deal with a god or goddess and become soulbound, that deity's symbol appears on the brooch that holds the cloak together: Keros' blossom, Lumia's sun, or Nareva's ouroboros. Otherwise, the brooch is a hawk, for Hawkethorne, the Champion's home base. In addition, they stitch a message of support into the folded-over hem.
- The brooch description will retroactively change if the Champion becomes soulbound after receiving the Cloak. This is not a bug, but rather a casual (or capricious, depending on one's point of view) reality-bending exercise of divine power.
- As with most other Minoan content, Brint and Brienne have the most to say when they're along for the ride.