Chance Encounter's page

Hnuh?
The man shakes his head, as if confused, then resumes his patrol, looking somewhat puzzled.

The crack of whips, the clank of chains, the areas of eerie silence where owners suppress the whimpers or whispers of their goods for various reasons - these are all some of the sounds (or lack thereof) which define the parts of the Bazaar into which Allura has now ventured.
The sights and smells in some of the main halls and pens are perhaps best left undescribed, but it is clear that in many cases it is as much the misery of sentient creatures which is being traded in here, as anything else.
A wiry market guard, in studded leather armour and with a bullwhip at his belt, arrests Allura's progress.
What's your business here, woman? You don't have the look of any of the regular traders or buyers. The last time we had anyone with your demeanour in these parts, there was an attack by half a dozen so called 'holy knights' a few days later. He sneers. Not that they weren't sent packing - or at least not the ones who weren't taken as 'compensation' for those owners who'd lost wares.

In his laboratory, Cardden secures the star in a circle marked with occult symbols, sets up a nearby apparatus, and activates it to begin to spew negative energy into the circle, confident that this will help 'grow' the star towards his desired end result.
To his horror he sees the star begin to wither and contract instead. He shuts down the negative energy apparatus, grabs a ring of wishes off a shelf, and has to use a wish to undo the damage he just did.
Tarnation, he mutters to himself. That *should* have worked. Evidently I am incorrect in my understanding, and will need to take a different approach. Clearly this is not the completely untyped primordial matter which I had hoped to find with which I am working.

The traders from Leng have done brisk business, and have emptied their stall of stars. They still have a few other trinkets to sell.
Going offline here for several hours - other computer user needs access, and CSI Las Vegas coming up here in the UK. At any rate now that they have no stars left it will likely take Arielle and company a while to trace the source back to the traders from Leng.

'Just add this to the font of holy water in the chapel in your village, and it will cure even the most devestating of plagues.', the trader from Leng promises a paladin of Sarenrae as a star exchanges hands. 'It is a relic of the goddess Lynora-Jill, who died fighting a host of undead, and it should be just the thing that you need to deal with that curse. And my thanks for taking care of that Thassilonian problem...'

A politician who once made a foolish pact with an arch-devil obtains another star, for the price of a unique dragon-claw wand; he hopes that such a star may be sufficient to buy his soul back from the fiends.

The Denizens of Leng sell one star to a grim-faced man who hosts gladiatoral contests, and who thinks that it will make a suitable prize for the winner(s) in his next series of arena clashes.
If anyone else wants to run with this one, there could be some fun here, with someone entering to have to fight through to the final to 'win' the star. Simple cash or valuables might not be of interest to bribe this man to part with the star - all he's interested in is putting on a big show, and he reckons that if someone is wealthy enough to offer a large bribe that they're wealthy enough to send a really good champion along to fight for their claim, too.

Sudden and mysterious, the swathed and turban-wearing traders from Leng arrive in the early hours of the morning whilst it is still dark, and set up stalls, which trade various trinkets and other more valuable items to anyone who happens to be on the streets. With them, they bring a handful of stars, from the Realms of Dream. They sell these latter only to the wealthiest of buyers, and often only for unique items or promises of difficult services.

The necromancer Cardden returns to his lair in a semi-ruined castle on a mountain-spur between two deep valleys. A trail winds away from the dilapidated gates, travelling down into one of the valleys and to a track some five miles distant which connects, a further dozen miles away, to the nearest settlement and monastery (which latter also has an omniportal).
He checks with the vampire commander of his garrison for reports of any visitors, then heads to his tower-top laboratory, clutching the star. He has several interesting theories he wishes to test out in his quest to improve the lot of the practitioners of necromancy.

The dragon circles and begins to descend. But Azuri'ith can tell that this is not Smagnavast.

Arielle can here the singing of stars from up above. Perhaps the dragon has them...

The necromancer bundles the star into his sack, clambers out of the excavation, makes some effort to fill the hole back in (more out of a sense of habit than any real need) then departs with his guardians for his mountain lair.
I will make this location apparent at some later point.

Shovelling around a patch of disturbed earth, with a shovel enchanted for speedy excavation, the necromancer Cardden digs down into the soil of the plains. Twelve feet down, where the soil gives way to the bedrock, the necromancer finds a star, knocked down into the earth of the plain during the collision. He retrieves it and is dropping it into a sack, when a sound comes from above him. He glances up.

At a great height in the skies above the Eyrie, a dragon can be seen circling, surveying the place.

Cardden the necromancer, accompanied by his two shield guardian golems arrives on the plains and begins to pick his way across the battlefield, amongst the other scavengers and looters now picking over the field for items of interest. Using a spell which enables him to detect magical auras and their strengths he scans the field, searching, and notices occasional signatures not quite like any which he has seen before, and which seem likely to be promising. He readies a shovel, and flanked by his guardians heads for the nearest one.

After a good night's rest, Cardden settles his bills and departs the Bazaar, taking the pair of shield-guardian golems he had left guarding his inn room with him as he goes.

A necromancer called Cardden, a practitioner of the twisted side of the arcane arts, browses the stalls at a more leisurely pace, seeking for one of the magical curiousities he has heard rumour of recently.

Eventually the necromancer concludes his search for the day, having drawn a complete blank. He has, however, gathered interesting information regarding a number of other seekers after the stars.

He leaves word with several of the most likely merchants as to where and how he can be contacted, should any further stars show up at the bazaar and retires for the night.

A necromancer called Cardden, a practitioner of the twisted side of the arcane arts, browses the stalls at a more leisurely pace, seeking for one of the magical curiousities he has heard rumour of recently.

A group of desert travellers stop by the oasis, water their camels, and move off across the sands...

Behind them, ignoring the smaller faster moving prey, the black dragon tears into the sharks with spells and claws...
Edit:
Sounds of the awful melee soon recede behind Nimora and the others...

There is a disturbance... something large and snakelike swimming up from the depths against the currents in the direction of the sharks and the others. A predator that causes other creatures to scatter in panic.
The sharks are currently too frenzied to notice.

Nearby, drawn by the taste/scent in the water of a potential light snack, a curious black dragon switches course, and begins with strong sinuous motions of its body to speed through the water to investigate.