Chapter 4: The Grand Bazaar
You leave the Hanged Man, a quick lunch and a pint was just what you needed. You had spent the better part of the morning purchasing supplies for your expedition and arranging for their delivery to Thaïs' safehouse. She had even sent word back that she had acquired a hand cart to move the supplies and an up to date map of the city to better plan your approach. The woman was proving to be a valuable asset indeed.
With the basics taken care of your afternoon is free and you decide to relax a bit and do some shopping. You turn your mind and your feet towards the Merchant district of the rebuilt city and passing through one of the inner gates you are met with the city of Muirthemne's Grand Bazaar in all of its glory. Whoever said that money could not buy happiness had never visited Muirthemne, anything and everything could be found at the Bazaar, for the right price of course.
Jugglers, dancers and musicians perform in the squares while throngs of shoppers mill about the stalls. Silks and canvass in every colour imaginable adorn your surroundings and the smell of spices, leather and sweat assail your nostrils. Entering the bazaar is almost as dangerous as a good dungeon crawl you think to yourself as you watch a couple from the farmlands being taken for all they are worth by an expert conman. It is a good thing that this is not your first time. You keep a careful hand on your purse as you push through the maze of bodies.
You know where you are going, you need a weapon and that means a trip to see "the Cleaver". An old friend of your master's, they adventured together in their younger days. His alias truly is ridiculous but it works; Cleaver once confided in you, over a few too many pints of ale, that his real name was Ian but he thought it lacked a little punch and showmanship is a fundamental part of the trade.
You come across his shop, set back from the main square, a very large and very fake cleaver hanging over top of the door. As you enter the big man himself greets you inquiring about your master. When you tell him the unfortunate news he expresses his sympathies and in an attempt to change the subject asks you how your knife is holding up.
"It works brilliantly, Ian." you respond with a smile; "actually that is why I am here, I need something a bit more "combat ready" for my next run."
The old weaponsmith expresses some reservations about you going out into a dungeon without Henry, instead he suggests you should find a nice guy, settle down and have a few kids.
You have to chuckle at that a little, give up the knowledge, the power, the adventure? You would rather die, some morbid little part of you chimes in that you just might get your wish.
You shake off the thought, you remind yourself to stay positive or you are beaten before you even begin. As Ian realizes you will not be discouraged he finally surrenders and instead insists on finding you something truly special.
"I will not let Henry's little girl go wandering off without the best that I have," he states with a lot of fondness and not a little concern. "Come into the back room and I will show you my best stock, don't worry we can negotiate the price."
Ian closes up the shop and leads you into the storeroom through his practice room.
In Ian's storeroom are some truly magnificent pieces, a staff with a retractable head that reveals a solid steel spear tip, a sword that Ian assures you could cut a man in half (Ian always had a slight problem with hyperbole), a light and well balanced axe, a nicely balanced mace... but none of these things really catch your attention... then you see it hanging on a hook on the far wall, the most magnificent whip you have ever seen.
Looking at it, it just feels right.
"Ian, what is the story with that whip?"
He arches an eyebrow; "That thing? Some traveler from the east brought it in here, said it was made from some sort of hopping rodent or something, I am afraid I just don't know much about whips, but that crook Azis two stalls over wanted it really bad when he saw it. Figured I would hold on to it just to screw with the man... if you want it though it is yours."
You pick up the whip and enter Ian's practice room, you begin trying to "throw" the whip, it handles beautifully, great range (you would estimate six to seven feet), good movement, the braiding is expertly done, it is damn near perfect... you know this in the core of your being but you are not sure how you know it...
Ian sells you the whip (and some of the lubricant he uses to keep it supple) for a fair price, well to be honest he is definitely cutting you a deal, you thank him and as you go to shake his hand he scoops you up in his great arms and practically squeezes the life out of you. Returning you to your feet, he wipes a tear from his eye and again warns you to be careful and tells you to come visit him more often.
Leaving Ian's shop you move to the part of the bazaar that specializes in the manufacture of armour, you are here to see old Rin. It has been years since you last saw her as neither yourself nor your master wore much in the way of armour but he always said that if you needed protection Rin was the person to ask.
You stand in the doorway looking into her shop and can hardly make out any details given the complete darkness that confronts you, you hesitate, maybe she is not in?
The voice of a woman assails you from the darkness; "Well don't just stand there in the doorway, if you are going to shop then come inside."
As you step into the darkness the door slams shut behind you and the lamps in the shop burst to light, you yelp and the voice giggles.
Thoughts rush through your head, is she a mage? Is this a trap? But you calm yourself and examine the surroundings, tiny yet strong treads run along the walls and floors. You can only just make them out due to your years of dungeon raiding, some run to the ignition devices on the lamps and some to the door. She is no mage just a squirrely old woman that likes to scare her clients, you sign in relief.
"Okay, Ren that was a great joke but come out now or I am leaving," you state in as calm a tone as you can muster
"Alright, alright; kids these days have no sense of humour. So what can I do for you?"
"I need a nice suit of armour." You examine the shelves filled with various varieties of protective wear... padded wool, plate, mail, scale, helmets, shields, gauntlets, greaves, she has it all and it is all expertly crafted. You will admit your respect for the old bat is growing.
You turn to Ren, you already know what you want, leather armour, heavy enough for protection but light enough to not limit your movements.
You tell Ren this, she nods and reaches behind the counter. She places a pair of knee high boots, gloves and a thong on the table and gives you a wide grin, "Here you are dearie, these will make you very popular I imagine."
That damn grin of hers would drive you into a rage if you were not completely aware that, that is what she wants. Instead you calm yourself and take out your purse, jingling it in front of the smith so that she can hear how full it is.
With the prospect of actual money on the table her mischievous grin instantly transforms to a polite and warm smile. "Well, why didn't you tell me you actually had money, wasting our time like that, kids are just so slow these days..."
She goes back into her store room and brings out an excellent suit of Tyrian leather, straight from the Province she promises. Ren leads you back into her fitting room and begins poking, prodding and measuring every inch of you, standard procedure for custom fitted armour but you still feel a bit violated. You figure it has something to do with the big grin she is wearing through it all.
As the two of you return to the front of the shop she is all business, she starts by quoting an exorbitant sum and you manage to haggle her down a bit but you still feel like you are being ripped off. Oh well at least the armour really is of good quality.
You arrange to have the armour delivered to Thaïs' safehouse tomorrow morning when the alterations are done. You open the door to leave but as you turn to leave the shop, Ren whistles to get you attention; "Sure you don't want the boots and smallclothes dearie?" and that damned grin reappears.
You choke down telling her off and turn to leave when the lights cut out and she whistles at you again, you turn just in time to duck a small wooden buckler that is winging its way towards your head. You pick it up off the ground and admire the quality of its craftmanship for just a moment, then Ren chimes in from the darkness, "I like you kid but you really have to work on your people skills; take the buckler, it is on the house..."
Shaking your head you step back into the light, not completely certain that it all was not a bad dream...
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It took a few more hours of weaving between customers and carts to get to the tiny alley in which the magical shops are located. Since mages prefer privacy and don't really want each other knowing what they are buying the alleyway is enshrouded in powerful illusion magics, it looks empty but you know that it is filled with mages coming and going, magic hiding the sight and the sound of them. You enter the alley and queue up to the right of a large yellow line drawn down its length, a light overhead turns green giving you the go ahead to proceed.
Your master explained the system to you once. Due to the powerful illusions in the ally you will not be able to see or hear anything living. The line flashes at points where a mage is next to it so you just have to watch the line and walk down the length of the alley till you get to your destination., since you can not see or hear the other customers you all have to follow the rules and move in the same direction. A delicious piece of irony that your own mutual mistrust leads to a system that completely hinges on trust but such are the workings of mages. As you contemplate the situation you bump into something in front of you, oops, you were not paying close enough attention to the line. You almost apologise but stop yourself, whatever it is it can't hear you anyway...
You make your way around to your stop, a large shop with two separate doors; as you approach the "in" door it is locked. Right, only one customer at a time, you wait about five minutes until the "out" door opens, for a brief second you think you can see the other customer, all tentacles and horror, but the illusions kick in and it disappears. You step into the shop and see the Old Crone herself perched behind the counter.
"Oh it is you..." she says in a neutral if strained tone, her features flat.
You match her tone and manners as best you can; "Just come to make a purchase."
She comes out from behind the counter; "Good cause I don't care for window shoppers..."
You grin just a little; "Well not like you could do anything about it..."
Now she has the smallest trace of a smile on her face; "Kid I have forgotten more about magic than you or Henry ever knew," with the mention of your master's name she drops the charade and gives you a large hug which you promptly return; "How are you kid, and where is Henry?"
You tell her about Henry's demise and she invites you into the back of the shop; "It must have been terrible child..."
"Oh Madb it was, one moment he was there and the next gone." You reply, still wounded from his passing.
You ask her about the shop and what she has been up to and Madb asks you what you have been up to and you tell her the basics, that you are on another run and that you are excited to actually be organizing this one but you leave out the bit about the stone.
If Henry was like a father to you then Madb has been like a mother but the very first thing she ever taught you was to never trust another mage without a very good reason, especially one as powerful as she is. So you lie a little and she lies a lot and you both know it and it changes nothing, you are family.
After an hour or so in conversation the "in" door shakes a little, it does not emit any sound but a line must be forming out there. Madb laughs at the thought of it and as much as she would love leaving a half-dozen archmages and eldritch monstrosities piled up outside her door she does have to return to work so you place your order. A handful of Energon cubes (you count 6), a scroll of firebolt, and 3 Mandrake roots, she also throws in a ball of regular, mundane twine for when you get lost she says with a wink.
You exchange the money for the goods and she plants a single kiss on your forehead telling you to be careful and to come back anytime you like. And with that you are back out in the silence of the alley and something bumps into you and you hurry along back out into the bazaar proper.
Your little shopping trip ate up most of the day, but you still have the evening ahead of you and you wonder what to do with it. This could be your last night above ground for a while, how do you want to spend it?
A) Gareth and Tyrvard will probably be at the bar by now, you should go drink with them, it will pass the time, keep out the cold and the dark and you may come to understand the two men better.
B) Serpent knows of a little tea house nearby that he highly recommends, you could go there and get a proper drink and something to eat, maybe the physician will also be there
C) Thaïs should be at the safehouse by now, organizing all the supplies that you sent over. You really should help her and it will give the two of you time to talk.
D) The night is yours, you go for a walk through the inhabited section of the city, if this will be your last night above ground for some time then you want to watch the stars.
E) Voter's Choice, got an idea just let me know
