Dice Goddess's Prank

Liu Xing glanced at the untouched Stargazy Pie in front of him, wondering whether he should finish it for the 1-point Willpower reward...

Liu Xing fell silent for a while before finally shaking his head and sighing.

Still couldn't do it...

As for Wang Qi and the others, like Liu Xing, they chose to give up after a bout of mental struggle. Willpower was precious, but SAN Value was worth even more. If one had to eat Stargazy Pie, both could be cast aside...

After lunch, Liu Xing and the others returned to the large guest room. Everyone looked at Bai He Cheng with admiration, because only a true warrior dared to finish a Stargazy Pie.

Bai He Cheng, however, said somewhat regretfully, "Hey, why didn't any of you eat the Stargazy Pie? I thought it tasted pretty good, and it could raise your Willpower attribute too."

Everyone shook their heads in unison.

After resting for a while, Old Wayne, who had finished clearing the dishes, entered the room and said, "Everyone, I'm going back to my room to rest now. You may choose to rest or explore the castle on your own, but the second floor contains Lord and his family's bedrooms, so it isn't open to visitors. Please understand."

As he said this, Old Wayne deliberately glanced at Bai He Cheng. After all, Bai He Cheng had a record.

Chen Ling, who was sitting by the door, immediately replied, "Understood. We definitely won't go to the second floor. As for our overly curious friend, we'll keep a close eye on him and absolutely won't let him run around!"

Wang Qi, beside him, silently nodded as well, looking at Bai He Cheng with an unfriendly gaze.

After receiving Chen Ling's assurance, Old Wayne smiled and nodded before leaving.

After waiting for a moment, Chen Ling deliberately went out for a stroll. Once he confirmed that Old Wayne really was no longer in the Main Building, he returned and informed everyone. The group began exploring according to their original plan.

First, Liu Xing and the others went to the Locked Room on the first floor and discovered that it actually had an iron door. Every other door in the Castle Main Building was wooden.

Something unusual was definitely afoot.

The troublesome part was that only Chen Ling had 30 points in Lockpicking because his character setting was that of a retired scout. None of the others had invested points in Lockpicking, so their Lockpicking skill was only at its base value of 1...

So, it was time to gamble on luck again.

"KP, all of us want to make a Lockpicking Check."

Liu Xing, 1/1, Critical Success.

Bai He Cheng, 88/1, Failure.

Chen Ling, 47/30, Failure.

Wang Si Yi, 14/1, Failure.

Wang Qi, 65/1, Failure.

What Liu Xing had not expected was that he had actually received the Dice Goddess's blessing and rolled a Critical Success.

"You casually poked the keyhole a few times with your fingernail, and the door actually opened just like that. Moreover, the Alarm Mechanism connected to the door had fallen into disrepair over the years and did not sound an alarm." KP004 spoke in a helpless tone. It was clear that KP004 had not expected Liu Xing's luck to be so good that he would roll a Critical Success.

Whenever a 1 was rolled during any kind of check, it meant the result was a Critical Success. Besides receiving the rewards due for a successful check, one would also gain certain Extra Rewards. For example, Liu Xing not only opened the lock, but also avoided triggering the Alarm Mechanism behind it. Normally, the Alarm Mechanism would have required the Player attempting Lockpicking to make a Hard Luck Check—meaning the Player checked against half their relevant value. There were also Extreme Checks, where only one-fifth of that value could be used. Only success would prevent the alarm from going off. If they failed, Old Wayne would hear the alarm and come to investigate.

Furthermore, because Liu Xing had used the base value of his Lockpicking skill for this check, he gained a Skill Growth Mark. After this Cthulhu Mythos RPG ended, Liu Xing would roll 1d100. As long as the result was greater than 1, he could roll 1d20 again. Normally, growth in the Rulebook should have been 1d10, but it had been changed to 1d20 for plot reasons, and other similar changes followed the same logic. The result of that roll would be added to Liu Xing's Lockpicking skill.

For the first time, Liu Xing realized that he was a Lucky Player.

"Liu Xing, your luck is ridiculously good." Chen Ling looked at Liu Xing enviously. In other games, luck was merely part of one's strength, but in Cthulhu Mythos tabletop RPG, luck could be said to be all of one's strength.

Liu Xing chuckled and shook his head. "Just luck. Let's go in."

The Locked Room was filled with miscellaneous clutter and covered in thick dust. It looked as though it had not been cleaned for a very long time.

There was so much dust that even a single step would leave a clear footprint. Liu Xing and the others did not dare enter the room carelessly and could only observe it from the doorway, finding nothing.

But now, it was time for a check.

"KP, I want to make an Investigation check," Liu Xing said to KP004.

Investigation, 83/60, Failure.

Sure enough, the law of conserved luck was no joke. Failure came that quickly.

"You carefully examined the room and found nothing." KP004 said this with undisguised glee.

Chen Ling and the others also began making their own Scouting Checks.

Bai He Cheng, Investigation, 55/40, Failure.

Chen Ling, Investigation, 84/75, Failure.

Wang Si Yi, Investigation, 91/79, Failure.

Wang Qi, Investigation, 68/65, Failure.

Everyone had failed.

Even KP004 did not know what to say for a moment. This should have been an extremely easy check, since the Players' Investigation values were all fairly high, yet every one of them had failed...

"Uh, all of you think there is nothing unusual about this room. It's just an ordinary storage room." KP004 hurriedly finished speaking, then fell silent. Liu Xing felt that KP004 was considering how the plot should proceed.

Clearly, the Locked Room could not possibly have been an ordinary storage room. Why would a storage room have an alarm installed? Moreover, if nothing unexpected happened, there was likely a secret room inside, one connected to the development of the Main Storyline.

But now that every Player had failed their Scouting Check, they had no reason to continue searching inside. This plot thread had effectively been cut off...

Liu Xing had to admit that this was probably the Dice Goddess's prank.

Liu Xing shook his head and led everyone away from the room, preparing to search the first-floor hall again.

When Liu Xing and the others arrived in the hall, they casually looked around and found nothing worth searching. Liu Xing then went to a place where a Jump check could be made. In the setting of Cthulhu Mythos tabletop RPG, humans had a maximum jumping height. Liu Xing vaguely remembered it being around 2.4 meters, so if the height exceeded 2.4 meters, a Jump check could not be attempted.

PS: There were quite a few new bookmarks yesterday. Thank you all for your support!