Rings

**Rings** are the currency used throughout the world of This Used to be About Dungeons.

## Description & Usage

Rings come in literal metal[*citation needed*] rings, which are often carried on strings, and/or in bags, with different denominations sometimes stored on seperate loops of string.

Ring-knock is a simple gambling game played with rings. You each set up your rings on their end and take turns to roll rings at them, trying to knock them down.

## Known Prices

* "Only" 5 rings: a big bowl of alga tümchi salad from a Tümchi cart in Dondrian
* 5-6 rings: what you can actually get for a book of gibberish, to be bleached and repurposed or similar. (Includes 20-30% cut.)
* 10 rings: price the Settlers charge to teleport to an adjoining Hex with their wardrobe
* 15-16 rings: 2 venison loins, 2.5lbs total
* 30 rings: Bethany's cut when the Pedder boys and her did the Pucklechurch dungeon
* "a few dozen" rings: value of a mundane weapon, which are abundant in dungeons
* 50 rings: (very) high estimate of what you could get for a book of gibberish
* 95-100 rings: amulet that gives you a mini-map of everything you've been within 10' of in the last 2 days
* Approximately 100 rings: value of a well-balanced sword that can adjust it's blade or handle length, but nothing else
* 100 rings a week: "quite good" cut for Bethany to watch the wardrobe
* 150 rings: Mizuki's pay for storing a shipment of frink fruit in time
* 200 rings: Mizuki's "absurd" budget for street food. The payment from the wizard Arturo for interviewng Mizuki for an hour; more than she had ever made directly using her powers. Price per seat at one of Verity's concerts.
* 200 rings a week: nearly enough for Mizuki to live off
* 300 rings: a dungeon book with usable contents. (Includes 20-30% cut.)
* 400 rings: reasonable lower-end haul for a 2nd-Elevation Dungeon
* 500 rings: far too much for the Anyspoon, even to Mizuki
* "probably hundreds": 100 feet of goat ribs
* 1,000 rings a week/100+ a day: profit of letting people teleport through the wardobe at 10 rings a pop
* 1,000 rings a dungeon: Alfric's estimate of how much a normal party would have made as of Ch 126 (8 dungeons in)
* 1,000+ rings: potential sale price per herb dragon as pets.
* 1,000-2,000 rings: set of near-indestructible (but blunt) entad arrows that return to the user, up to 4 arrows at a time
* 1,700 rings: jade dagger that lets you teleport to it after being cut by it, 1/day
* 3,000 rings: everyone's share of the first dungeon. More money than Mizuki's previous total savings, too much for her to feel comfortable carrying it around.
* "Many thousands" of rings: a suit of full plate armor
* 10,000 rings: a large but not life-changing sum for Mizuki. A generous estimate of each of the Settler's total profits as of Ch 66. Verity's pay for an all-day performace at a wedding. Bastlekeeper Perrin's offer for the full set of herb dragons to breed.
* 14,000 rings: a large enough sum that it would be transferred through the banks in Dondrian, though transferred physically in Tarchwood.
* 20,000 rings each (60,000 total): amount ultimately paid by Cate for the herb dragons, transferred via the Bank of Plenarch
* 45,000 rings: each Settler's share of the Ellusifé seat deal. Large enough that most of them had it put in newly-set-up bank accounts, but Isra was able to take hers in high-denomination rings and walk away with it.
* "tens of thousands" of rings: rapid transport from Inter to Tarbin (weeks of travel normally)
* 80,000 rings: more than some people make in a year
* 400,000 rings: gross earnings of one of Verity's concerts
* 400,000-450,000 rings: all the seats in the Ellusifé
* 1,000,000+ rings: estmated total earnings of the Settlers as of Ch 126, including unsold items.

## History

Rings replaced coins throughout the world "ages" ago.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 “Did you want those venison loins now?” [...] She reached into her bag and pulled out a thick string, which had dozens of rings on it. She undid the knot without even looking at it, and began quickly counting out rings. “Two loins, two and a half pounds total, does sixteen sound good?”

“For you, fifteen,” replied the shopkeeper. - Chapter 3: Venison and Honey
2. ↑ She went behind the counter and pulled

out a sack of rings, with rings of different denominations on separate loops. - Chapter 11: Agates Among the Stones
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Hannah went to the bag of rings and began dividing them up, which didn’t

take all that much time, since the denominations were fairly large. It was

more money than Mizuki had ever seen in one place, but she did her best to

swallow her shock at it. [...] When Mizuki slipped the rings onto her string, she felt awkward about the

weight, and it really wasn’t the kind of money that she wanted to be

carrying around with her. She was going to have to find a place in the house

to keep it, but with another person living with her — well, she didn’t think

that Verity was the type to steal, but it did pay to be a little bit worried about

security. It was a lot of money, especially for Mizuki, who had almost

nothing in the way of expenses. - Chapter 15: Good Next Steps, I Suppose
4. ↑ “I play games very efficiently,” said Alfric, giving her a smile. He rapped

his knuckles against the table. “Seems flat enough, which means we can set

up for ring-knock.”

“Never played,” said Mizuki. “It’s with rings?”

Alfric nodded. “We won’t play for keeps though. You set up rings, on their

end, then take turns rolling toward the other person’s rings, trying to knock

them down.”

[...]

He seemed to be the

only one to have played it before, but it was simple enough. When someone

was going, everyone set their hands on the table so that they could stop the

rolling ring from going off the table. It was fun enough, Isra supposed, but

mostly because of the exclamations of the others, rather than the actual

game itself. She found herself smiling at Alfric’s groan of defeat as she sent

one of her rings careening into two of his. Chapter 21: Sitting in a Song
5. ↑ “Ooo, what’s this?” asked Mizuki as she stepped up to a cart of street food.

“Alga tümchi,” a woman in a loose wrap replied. “Only five rings. There’s

a bench to eat at.” [...] Mizuki regretted asking

for two as the process went on. She’d thought that it was a salad, and that

she’d need two for a proper lunch, but there was a surprising amount of

food for five rings each, and the bowls were somewhat overfilled, piled

high. - Chapter 118: That Sort of Thing
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Chapter 11 - Agates Among the Stones
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 We made out well in terms of

rings, but the things we sold will almost immediately turn into profit for the

people we sold them to, to the tune of twenty to thirty percent. - Chapter 13: The Nature of Travel
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Chapter 68: Undone I
9. ↑ “And how’d you make out?” asked Hannah.

“Horribly,” Bethany laughed. “We cleared it, but we were pretty bloodied

up, or at least the boys were. We stumbled our way back to Pucklechurch.”

She reached up and touched her earrings, which were jet black in the center

with silver swirls around the outside. “I got thirty rings and these, along

with a scar on my leg.”

“Entad earrings,” said Mizuki. They had a very faint trace of magic about

them, a minor disruption to the aether. “What do they do?”

“They let me hear better,” said Bethany, shrugging. “Only a little bit. It’s

like ... well, like I’ve got ears all over my head, I guess. I can pick up soft

noises a bit better, and don’t need to be turned towards people. Not worth

risking my life over.” - Chapter 17: The Blacksmith's Apprentice
10. ↑ The mundane weapons were probably not worth that much, but at a few

dozen rings each, they were well worth taking. Many shops were inundated

with weapons, and weapons existed in abundance in dungeons at far greater

rates than they could be found in the world, largely for unclear reasons.

Perhaps war had made repeated marks on the world, or perhaps there were

sites of mass battles hidden all across the continents. Whatever the case,

many of the weapons they were taking, and perhaps the armor too, would

be either melted down for the metal or hammered into some new shape, the

original workmanship completely obliterated. - Chapter 105: The Summer Dungeon
11. ↑ “No, the value in this room is in

the other books. You can just look at the spines and see they’re in no

language you’ll have heard of. There are translation entads, or a wortier,

who could translate them though, usually. Depending on what we have

here, we might be looking at maybe fifty rings apiece.”

“You’re serious?” asked Mizuki, looking at the wall of books with wide

eyes. “There have to be a thousand books here. That’s fifty thousand rings!”

Her amazement at that seemed to wash away a bit of the fear. - Chapter 5: This One is Actually About a Dungeon
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 “Ten thousand rings for the books alone,” said Mizuki. “Perhaps you have a warped sense of what being rich is, but ten thousand rings is a lot. Not life- changing, but a lot.”

“I think it’s going to end up less than that,” said Verity. “The books would fetch a better price in Dondrian, where there are more buyers for that kind of thing. It’s likely that they’ll get sent to Dondrian anyhow, which means that a few people will be taking their cut along the way.”

“Well, even if it was less,” said Mizuki. “This meal was, altogether, maybe ... ten for the both of us? That means, uh, some math, which I’ve never

been too good at. But surely the sum takes care of my food for a year, maybe more. And that’s for a half day’s work! I don’t think you or I were

ever in much danger, to be honest.” - Chapter 8 Late Meals in a Quiet Kitchen
13. ↑ After not too long, the man came back, holding a copper amulet in his hand,

encrusted with verdigris. He handed this to Hannah, smiling.

“It creates a dynamic map,” he said. “Anything it’s been within ten feet of

will show up, though only for two days, and from what Qymmos says, if

you’re in a dungeon, it will show only the dungeon. A mental push will call

the map up. Visible to you and you alone.”

Hannah handled it, turning it over and looking at it, then gave the mental

push and looked at the map.

She could see the flaws right away, but felt like she was uncovering more

with every passing moment. Ten feet was too short a range, and left the

‘map’ with gaping holes all over the place. The map didn’t distinguish

between walls, people, or things, meaning that it was all one singular color,

seemingly melded together given the low fidelity. And it didn’t show where

it was, nor did it update quickly enough that you could tell just by moving

your hands, you had to try to find where in the map you were by finding the

shape of a person who was standing still and looking at an amulet.

Still though, it was useful, and the flaws seemed like they might be helpful

insofar as they might lower the price.

“How much?” asked Hannah.

“One hundred rings,” he replied.

“How flexible are you on price?” asked Hannah.

“Not terribly,” he replied. “Though for a cleric of Garos, I do occasionally

offer a better deal.”

“Ninety-five?” asked Hannah.

“I could do that,” he nodded.

They shook on it, and Hannah took out her rings. It was, she thought, a

fairly good deal, though she was sure that Isra would have haggled for

longer, and that Alfric would have told her it was better to wait until they

found something of their own that could fulfill the same function.

- Chapter 65: Lonesome
14. ↑ The blade was gently curved and quite thin, though he thought it probably had some strength to it. When he’d held it, it had been light too, which was important, and balanced well, which was another mark in its favor. If it could only extend the blade or handle, it was probably worth only a hundred rings or so, but given that it had taken some effort to pick up, he was hoping for more. - Chapter 128: Dungeon Dreams III
15. ↑ “Now, as for payment,” said Gurt, turning to her. “Fifty rings, then another

hundred when we have delivery.”

Mizuki frowned. “I ... guess that’s fine.”

“Margins are slim,” said Gurt. “And it’s speculative, more for me than you.

The whole shipment might be lost, and I still have to gather it up.”

“I said it was fine,” said Mizuki. Her cheeks were growing hot though. He

took some rings off a heavy string, then handed them to her, which she

pocketed without counting. Her sense of embarrassment was palpable. It

was the thing she always hated about doing work for people. - Chapter 72: Frink Fruit
16. ↑ “I’m going to find some street food,” said Mizuki. “I’ve got two hundred rings budgeted for food.”

“That’s absurd,” said Hannah. - Chapter 56: The Family Vault
17. ↑ Mizuki picked up the rings, adding them to her pouch. It was two hundred rings, all

told, for an hour of talking about herself, which was more than she’d ever made from sorcery itself. - Chapter 97: Flight of Fancy
18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 “The quoted offer, the reason we flew out here, was four hundred

thousand,” said Alfric. “That’s from a truly exceptional dungeon. But that’s

also how much Verity is going to make from a single concert.”

“The gross,” said Hannah. “Her actual cut of that will be quite a bit

smaller.”

“Four hundred thousand?” asked Isra. “To hear her songs?”

“Two hundred rings times two thousand seats,” said Hannah. - Chapter 98: Deals
19. ↑ “How much will we make?” she asked.

“It’s hard to say,” said Alfric. “As a reasonable bottom end, four hundred rings, divided five ways, but that’s after everything has been sold, which could take some time.” - Chapter 3: Venison and Honey
20. ↑ “That’s stupid,” said Verity. “No offense. With the books, we might get as

much as fifty thousand rings, by Alfric’s evaluation, which ... I’m skeptical

of. Your share would be ten thousand. A twentieth of that is five hundred

rings. You think a spoon that changes size is worth that?”

Mizuki turned the spoon into a ladle and frowned at it. “I suppose not.” - Chapter 6: Henlings
21. ↑ A hundred feet of goat ribs is probably worth hundreds of rings - Chapter 47: Down the Dungeon
22. ↑ The problem was that the wardrobe was making them a good hundred rings a day on average, sometimes even more, and if Mizuki took it, there was a good chance they’d get none of that. Paying a hundred rings every day seemed like far too much. - Chapter 135: The Last Days III
23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Other dungeoneering teams came out of a dungeon with a thousand rings to show for it, and once everything was said and done, it was

likely that the Settlers had pulled over a million rings worth of entads, ectads, henlings, and bastles. It might even have been more. For eight

completed dungeons, that was fantastic. - Chapter 126: Dungeon Dreams
24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Perrin thinks ten thousand rings for the set, if we don’t want to keep them ourselves, but it would almost certainly be to someone who wanted to breed them. As pets, maybe as little as a thousand each.

“I don’t know whether that seems high or low,” said Mizuki. “Low, I guess?” - Chapter 125: Putting Up
25. ↑ “Here,” she said, handing a dagger to

Alfric. It was a small one, slightly dull, with a handle of jade. “It’s a part of

what you need, and the best I can part with for what I know you have. Once

a day, you can go to where the dagger is. It works for the last person the

dagger cut, but the weight limit is high, and it’s only weight. You could take

another with you, if she were light enough and standing on your feet. Any

more than that, you’d need floatstones.”

Alfric nodded, feeling the dagger. “How’d it do on the scratch test?” he

asked.

“Somewhat poor,” she said. “You could probably get away with stabbing

someone with it, or using it for cooking, but I wouldn’t go into battle with it

or use it against armor. Seventeen hundred for it.” - Chapter 11: Agates Among the Stones
26. ↑ Mizuki debated how much money to

take. She had a small crock that she kept some spare rings in, but this was

three thousand rings, high denominations that would only be used for larger

purchases.

“I don’t like having this much money,” said Mizuki. “I feel like there’s a

target on my back.” - Chapter 17: The Blacksmith's
Apprentice
27. ↑ A full suit of armor sat on a

mannequin, and would surely cost many thousands of rings before even

considering its magical property, which was apparently the ability to make

anyone who struck it see through the eyes of the wearer for a full minute. - Chapter 33: Possibilities
28. ↑ “How much have you made to date?”

“It’s a rude thing to ask,” said Verity.

“It’s a necessary piece of information when speaking of your future,” said

her mother.

Verity didn’t want to answer. Even including all of the future money they

were expecting from the ectad materials and a few unsold entads, it was

unlikely to be more than ten thousand rings, and she suspected that was

being generous. Her mother would rightly point out that ten thousand rings

was what Verity had been paid for a day-long performance at a wedding the

summer before. - Chapter 66: Private Affairs
29. ↑ It took some time to settle up with Mergan, in part because while he had

fourteen thousand rings on hand, they were locked away in an entad that

took some time and effort to open. It was a large sum of money, and Alfric

was mildly surprised to see so many high-value rings in one place. In

Dondrian, most purchases like this would go through banks, with nothing

actually changing hands except a signature or seal. Here in Tarchwood, it

was done differently, perhaps owing to the lack of banks, or possibly the

fact that people were a bit less trusting of each other, or had fewer methods

of enforcing trust. - Chapter 11: Agates Among the Stones
30. ↑ “Twenty thousand rings each,” Isra said. Verity desperately hoped that this wasn’t the start of their conversation.

“Done,” said Cate. “I’m to understand that Alfric has an account at a bank in Plenarch, and will transfer the money there. We can wait for me to take possession until you have some confirmation, which will take quite some time, or we can have me take possession now, with my assurance. Obviously I would prefer the latter.”

[...]

“The money, sixty thousand rings, through the banks,” said Isra. - Chapter 131: A Herd of Children
31. ↑ Chapter 99: Moving Mountains
32. ↑ When Tarbin had been far away, weeks of travel or tens of thousands of rings, she had felt comfortable putting the past in the past and simply moving on. - Chapter 134: The Last Days II
33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 “Four hundred thousand rings,” said Alfric.

There was some stunned silence around the room. That was well in excess

of what they’d been expecting, and even split five ways, that was as much

as some people made in a year.

“It’s not final,” said Alfric, holding up a hand. “And she hasn’t even seen

what we have. But it is a pretty decent offer.”

“Pretty decent?” asked Mizuki. “It’s amazing.”

“It’s the first offer,” said Alfric. “It’s also from someone looking to resell,

and in practical terms it’s local. We could get more by cutting out the

middle man, or going further afield. I sent a letter to the Ellusifé but haven’t

gotten word back from them yet, and might not get more than a brief reply

stating that they’re not interested.” - Chapter 94: Bridges
34. ↑ <The sale is done,> said Isra. <Four hundred and fifty thousand rings.

Alfric has proposed that we put half toward the group fund, then split the

other half evenly.> - Chapter 98: Deals
35. ↑ Hannah went and picked up the coin,

which had been hidden under the bed in the stonework room. It was big,

almost as big across as her hand, and it was a bit funny to see a coin, given

that the world had switched over to rings ages ago. She flipped it in the air,

felt something change, but she wasn’t able to figure out what it was before

the coin came back down and she caught it in her hand. - Chapter 25: A Post-Dungeon Pickle