Black Market Auction House
The Black Market Auction House (BAH) is a live, network-wide bidding war. Roughly once an hour, a single rare item goes up for auction and every player on Ancients — whether you're in the prison, the Forgotten Polis, or the Ancient Roads — can fight over it in real time. One item, one winner, sixty seconds.
The BAH is one of the features unlocked through the Community Fund — its final tier — so early in a season it may not be open yet.
How an auction works
When an auction begins, an announcement goes out across the whole network. Open it with /bah (alias /blackmarket) to see:
- The item up for grabs, with the current bid and the leading bidder.
- A timer — each auction lasts 60 seconds.
- The Place Bid button, which always prints exactly what the next bid will cost.
Bidding starts at $10,000 and climbs in preset steps — the next amount is never a mystery, it's printed right on the button. Despite the black-market "energy sink" framing, bids are paid in Money, not Ancient Energy. Your bid is deducted the moment you place it.
A few things to know while bidding:
- When someone outbids you, your money is refunded instantly and you're notified.
- You can't raise your own bid while you're already the top bidder.
- No sniping: a bid placed in the final moments pushes the clock back a few seconds, giving everyone a fair chance to respond.
- If you have the auction menu open or have placed a bid, you'll get countdown warnings at 1 minute, 30 seconds, and 15 seconds remaining.
When the timer hits zero, the highest bidder wins — the amount they put up is the final price (it was taken when they bid, and would only have returned if they were outbid). If nobody bids, the item simply vanishes — there's no second chance on that one.
Collecting your winnings
Won items don't drop straight into your inventory. Run /bah collect to open your BAH collection bin and claim them — you'll be reminded on login if something is waiting. Claim within 7 days, or it's cleared out.
What goes up for auction
Each auction's item is drawn from a curated black-market pool, refreshed for Season 2. The rotation leans on premium chases you can't easily buy outright — things like boss keys, high-end loot and gear boxes, enchanting consumables, and the occasional Seasonal Rank Box. Some lots are routine, others are the kind you'll want to clear your wallet for. Part of the fun is not knowing which shows up next.
These sit alongside the server's other premium chases — see Lootboxes & Crates, Boosters, and the Obol Store for what each reward does.
Keeping track
- The Recently Sold book in the
/bahmenu lists past winners, items, and final prices — handy for judging what a lot is worth. /eventsshows a countdown to the next auction, so you can be online when it starts.
The BAH is separate from the standard Auction House, where players list their own items at fixed prices — see Currencies for how everything fits together.
Version history
v2.0.0
- Refreshed the BAH prize pool for Season 2 — the Mystery Contraband Box and Enchant Eraser are gone; the rotation now puts up G-Kit Level-Up & Beacon boxes, Armour/Weapon Expanders, Mystery Boss Keys, a 6–12h value-Mote, Fortune's Dice, Quantum Entanglers, Enchant Dust, a Mystery Godly Orb, a 100% Abyssal Black Scroll, and a Seasonal Rank Box.
- Item icons across the pool now use their proper custom textures.