Session 27
Date: 06 October 2020
Prev: Session 26
Next: Session 28
The party asks where the townspeople go shopping when the market isn't in session. Kenzie offers the names of a couple of other shops, but recommends the south market, if they've been to the north, as there will be different goods. The Lighthaus Inspektorz head out to browse while they wait for Dreli to arrive.
The first stall they arrive at is selling novelty lucky rabbit's feet trinkets. They are badly dyed, so much so that the gothiest black rabbit's foot that Nergil selects actually rubs off a little on his hands. Corrin stops by a weaponsmith who is sharpening weapons and discusses the feasibility of equipping Ro with some kind of gun and/or general projectile weapon. The weaponsmith takes the question quite seriously and concludes that while technically possible, it would likely come with severe tradeoffs in mobility, and it would require Corrin to reload the gun at the expense of his own combat effectiveness. Corrin is saddened, but accepts that this will take more time and research to pull off, if at all. The weaponsmith, feeling bad, offers Corrin a magical unbreakable arrow; he has no use for it, and this was the most interesting conversation about his craft that he's had in a while.
However, the party notices there aren't a lot of magical vendors. Nergil does come across a woman with badly-applied makeup selling cloaks a few of which contain a low level of magic that allows them to change their appearance (a cloak of many fashions). Nergil haggles the price down slightly, but it's an instant buy for him. Corrin finds a stall where an artist is selling novelty airbrushed t-shirts and also caricatures. His wares include shirts that say "I came to redford market and all I got was this lousy tshirt" (sic), a view of one of the Redford bridges, "I'm with stooped" (sic), and one that says "what about second breakfast" on the front with "well, what about it?" on the back. There is no three wolf moon shirt, but Corrin snaps up the second breakfast shirt.
The next section of the market is raw materials. While browsing a stand selling various unpolished rocks and geodes, they encounter Tressa haggling with a seller over geodes. Corrin and Raen help her crack open the geodes after she makes her purchase, revealing amethyst crystals. She introduces herself as a traveling merchant, who knows the market pretty well. Quill, intrigued, asks if she knows anyone selling spells or spell scrolls.
Tressa leads the group to a double-wide tent, with a strong fleamarket vibe and crammed with antique furniture and odds-and-ends. For example, there is an antique hoe in the corner, and hanging from it is a bridle with a bit, the leather cracked and the metal rusted, and in another corner is a pile of quilts needing repair. The stall's owner, a dragonborn named Peizhi, is familiar with Tressa, and the party browses while she begins digging through various piles. After a moment she reappears with an old spellbook, containing a number of spells Quill doesn't have.
Peizhi didn't even realize he had it, so he appraises its value at 70 gold. The party tries to bargain with Peizhi, suggesting that Quill will just copy the spells from it and return it so it can be sold again. Tressa, seeing that Quill wants it, uses this to successfully haggle it down to 60g, but he still can't quite afford it. Since some of the spells will benefit the rest of the party, they each chip in a little - 20g from Raen and Corrin (who will directly benefit from darkvision), 8g from Nergil, 2g from Mino, and Quill makes up the remaining 10 gold.
The Inspektors rely on Tressa's knowledge of the market to find a potion maker, although she actually leads them away from the market into town. Caeldrim, the argumentative owner of the shop, is less than thrilled to see Tressa, who has a history of successfully convincing him to part with his goods below market value. The party browses his wares, with Raen, Mino, and Corrin eventually purchasing healing potions. Tressa successfully argues for a discount on the basis that she has brought more custom by advertising his shop, and Caeldrim can't quite disagree. While haggling, the party discusses a potion of frost giant strength that Mino owns and would potentially like more of. Caeldrim explains that the potion contains a fragment of a fingernail, whence comes its potency. These types of ingredients - in other words, body parts from sapient creatures - were not technically legally traded goods. They were rarely given freely, but more often taken by force, which could cause diplomatic issues between communities depending on where that force originated. After this, the party parts ways with Tressa, who mentions she will be staying in the northwest ward through the end of the market if they need help finding any other goods.
After wandering a bit more, the group makes their way back to the comte's manor to meet the overdramatic Dreli. When they arrive, Astrid hasn't explained too much to Dreli, just that there's some planar instability, which Dreli strongly denies is possible. She avers that "nothing like that could happen here", because the standing stones were erected with elf magic, not just the human magic of the settlers, and that combination is meant to last. The more Quill listens to her, the more annoyed he gets; she's unlike any druid he's ever met, and that's not a compliment. She's still more than happy to visit the stones with the Inspektorz, inviting them along with her (Quill mutters that in fact, he invited her to visit the stones, adding to his dislike). She goes to leave immediately, but Astrid summons Mine to distract her, and they convince her to wait until morning.
Nergil asks politely if they can stay with Kenzie, because they now have no money. Mino also asks for odd jobs they could maybe undertake to earn some cash. Kenzie acquiesces, and Elaim also promises to have some work options for them the next day.
