Void Ghost Pendant
| Void Ghost Pendant | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | Collection |
| Location | Desert Trader; Monster drop in Skull Cavern & Quarry Mine |
| Sell Price | 4500g |
Among the shadow people a pendant like this is how one of them asks another to share a home as a friend, and in the valley it is the only way to move Krobus out of the sewer and into the farmhouse. Taking his friendship as far as it will go, buying the pendant from the Desert Trader and handing it to him makes him a roommate, which is the game's companionable alternative to marriage. The trader takes Void Essence rather than gold, so the pendant is paid for underground rather than at the shipping bin. Anyone who is already married or engaged cannot buy it at all, which turns the whole thing into a decision rather than a purchase.
Overview
Three conditions have to line up before the pendant appears on the trader's counter. Krobus has to be a full ten hearts of friend, which takes a long run of gifts since he keeps to his one room and is easy to forget. The farmhouse has to have been upgraded, because somebody has to have somewhere to sleep. And the farmer has to be single, with no bouquet accepted and no proposal made.
The Desert Trader deals only in barter, and the price is a large pile of Void Essence. That makes the pendant a reward for fighting rather than farming, since essence comes out of the valley's darker monsters. Once the conditions are met, the pendant stays in the trader's daily stock until it is bought, so the trip across the desert can wait.
Handing it over works exactly as the Mermaid's Pendant does for a proposal. It is given to Krobus like a present, he accepts, and he moves in. The important difference is that the Void Ghost Pendant is not a one-off object: more than one can be acquired, so losing one or wasting it on a mistimed gift is easily put right.
What follows is a quieter domestic arrangement than marriage. Krobus is a roommate rather than a spouse, so he keeps to himself in his own corner of the house, and the relationship has none of the romance and none of the obligations that come with a wedding. For a farmer who likes the valley's resident monster more than any of the bachelors or bachelorettes, which is a defensible position, it is the better ending.
Offering the pendant to anybody else in town is a mistake. Every villager hates it, which makes a certain amount of sense: it is a shadow person's token, handed to someone with no idea what it means.
Notes
There is a small reward for curiosity afterwards. The Old Mariner, who sells the Mermaid's Pendant on the beach in the rain, acknowledges the arrangement when spoken to later with a line about being glad the amulet worked out. It is a nice piece of continuity, since his own trade is in the other kind of pendant entirely.
The exclusivity is the thing to think about before committing. The pendant cannot be bought once a marriage is under way, so the choice between a spouse and a roommate has to be made while still single, and the friendship work with Krobus has to be done well in advance.
All Collections
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