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Bodo admires the fancy baubles and whispers to Drizz'n.
"I'm not the sharpest weapon in the armory, but this doesn't look like a sewer."
Bodo turns to the group and says in a harsh undertone, "Do you think it's possible to conduct our business here, whatever it may be, without embarrassing ourselves or the Society? Please?
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Ignoring the chitterings of Bodo and Kevin, Idgethun greets the shopkeeper politely. "Good day, good sir. We have traveled far in search of... let us say, particular wares." She makes a perfunctory glance around the shop. "Though I do not see anything we seek on your shelves. However, if you could kindly point us to where such unusual commerce is conducted, we might be willing to part with a curio of our own."
As various Pathfinders whinge and gripe, assisting by pointing out the obvious, Idgethun drops a series of broad hints that leave the merchant more than a little perplexed. After a few winks, and perhaps a nudge or two, someone says the word ‘Undermarket’ and Sheng nods slowly in understanding before saying, “The sun doesn’t set without a price. What does it take from you?”
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Rakshara bows to Sheng and greets him warmly, "This is a lovely shop you have! I will be certain to stop by the next time I am in Goka. Now, I and my staff, pardon me, my associates have heard that you know where to acquire certain...ah...commodities that are hard to get through fully legal means. Now, we are both businessmen, constrained by the shackles of government upon the free market, so as one professional to another I would request that you give us a bit of insight as to where we might find the wares that we are searching for."
Sheng nods thoughtfully as Rakshara speaks, then replies with an oily grin, ”We have much in common, my friend, and you will be glad to find that the government’s grasping hand does not reach into the Undermarket. My hope is that your visit there is a profitable one, and that you and your staff will share the wealth here in my shop on your return.” He looks around a moment to be sure he’s unobserved by any passers-by, then nods toward a silken tapestry hanging on the wall behind him.
Pulling the cloth back, he reveals a door that is flush with the wall. Beyond the door, a fifty-foot-tall metal spiral staircase descends into darkness. ”The stair ends at a single doorway, with an iron door. You must knock five times on the door before entering, to signal to the guard that you have descended with my permission.” He steps out of the way and waves the Pathfinders through the door, but offers a brief history lesson before anyone begins the descent, addressing his remarks to Rakshara, ”I believe you will find it interesting to know some of the history of the place you are heading, if you do not already. The original purpose of the caverns of Undermarket was twofold. The area was a place for farmers to store their excess crops and a haven for the populace to take shelter from natural disasters. As Goka grew, the tunnels grew larger and deeper to house the expanding population. Eventually, many of the city’s trade unions moved to Undermarket, opening an underground harbor to move their goods without government oversight and interference, knowing these grottoes rarely saw use. Of course, this freedom attracted a slew of other groups - which provide all manner of opportunity to those bold enough to seize it. The city’s parliament doesn’t fully grasp the extent of what activity takes place beneath their feet – and, fortunately, they have avoided investigating too closely, lest it be forced to crack down on a thriving segment of Goka’s economy. A win-win for all, I would say.”
Properly edified, the party descends the staircase, reaching the door at the bottom and giving the requisite five knocks. The door opens onto a dimly lit, musty cavern, where a silent guards nods and tips his head as if to say, Go on, keep moving. A few steps further on, the warming light of the sun has been replaced with a flickering orange glow that emanates from torches stationed throughout the entirety of this cavern. Buildings made of various types of wood and stone line the walls of this immense grotto, while other ramshackle shops snake their way through the causeway. A large canal in the middle of the cave moves ocean water deeper into the chamber. Multiple slapdash docks with accompanying dinghies bob slowly on the canal. A large building stretches across the canal, its exterior caked in barnacles and algae. The smell of salt water lingers in the air.
After much asking around, the Pathfinders still have not found a local who’s willing to help them find the particular path they seek. Zirt, however, does manage to meet someone who’s less tight-lipped than many of the residents. She’s heard that Omeck Amani is an exotic reagent merchant who sells ingredients with a variety of magical and alchemical uses. When the party tracks him down, he turns out to be exceedingly tall and thin, with short black hair and beady brown eyes. He speaks so quickly that his words trip over themselves, ”Heyhihello! I’m Omeck! I got the beststuff you could need! Snipssnailsdragons’ tails, you name it, I got it! Whatdoyouneed, if I don’t have it here I ca find it inatrice!”
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Drizz’n steps up to Omeck, his eyes sparkling with interests as Omeck flashes his reagents.
Omeck's squints in confusion as Drizz'n talks to him, muttering, "What the...what are you?" Once the question is repeated in a language he speaks, Omeck breathes out a dismissive puff of air and says, "You got that kind of gold on you? Cytillesh will run you near a thousand gold a dose. Thassalotta gold." He doesn't quite seem to buy Drizz'n's tale.
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Zirt smiles widely at the man. "We also have a few questions that we're hoping you can answer! For example, who decided to call it 'Deepmarket'? They should really name it something more creative, don't you think? I had an uncle once whose sister's dog was called 'Dog'; it's exactly the same sort of thing, you know?"
Leaning in conspiratorially, she drops her voice to a near-whisper. "We're also trying to find out about some... activity by a certain... Consortium of people, if you know what I mean."
Omeck's oily smile returns to his face as Gavin and Idgethun chat him up, and he says to Idgethun, "Oh, no need, no need, you know, one businessman to another. I'll tell you, Deepmarket isn’t a friendly place and I wouldn’t want to be actively trying to go there. Rumor has it that the Aspis set up a base down there a few years back; they’ve set up checkpoints and everything. It had been quiet until just recently. Something about an attack and a traitor from that Lodge building has caused their numbers to rise.”
With a shudder, he adds, ”And you should really watch out for Tseka. She’s the one in charge of Aspis business down here. Not that I’ve ever seen her. Few people have. They say she keeps to the shadows, and anyone who crosses her winds up dead before they can even blink!”
Calming down a bit and warming to his subject, Omeck continues, ”You might already know that most of the goods found in the streets and alleys of Goka come from Undermarket, though some of the rarer products come from Deepmarket or even the Darklands. The rarer the item, the farther you have to go underground to find it. You can find anything your heart desires somewhere in the trade guilds, for a price. But the Aspis have eyes on everything that goes in and out of the tunnels here, and Tseka is always watching.” At Rakshara’s words, the reagent vendor says, ”You’d better be, you never know who might be working for her. Recently, she has been sending her lackeys to do all her dirty work, especially that one that used to wear that silly compass around his neck.”
Scratching his chin, on which a beard appears to have given up the struggle to grow beyond a few sparse hairs, he thinks a long moment before his beady eyes light up and he says, ”Waitaminnit, waitaminnit! I’ve heard of someone, name of Odemi, who guides people to the Deepmarket. She’s a little wayang, you might find her at a pub near here called the Darklands Den - if you really want to go that way.”
The party makes their way to the Darklands Den, their progress made surprisingly rapid by the fact that Drizz’n is walking much faster than his usual disaffected gait allows. After a few brief inquiries in the pub, a slender wayang appears as if out of nowhere, saying quietly, ”I am Odemi. How can I help you?” She is small like all of her kind, with an intricate webwork tattoo over much of her face and covering her long, pointed ears. Her nose is pierced with several silver studs and she wears elaborate earrings and bracelets, all in silver. ”I know every tunnel and back way in Undermarket, I expect you seek a guide. Where do you wish to go?”
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Although walking quickly towards the Darklands Den, in his mind Drizz’n was walking in slow motion, stepping purposefully, eyes narrowed, exciting chamber music playing in the background as his cloak fluttered dramatically in the wind.
To Odemi:
As is becoming a pattern, Odemi can’t make heads or tails of Drizz’n’s Undercommon, but her face splits into an almost predatory grin when he repeats the request in Common. ”The Deepmarket, is it? I can take you there, for a price. Anything or anyone in particular you’re hoping to find there? I know several shortcuts, but I’d want to be taking you to the right place. If I just take you to the Deepmarket and leave you there, without something more specific, you’ll still probably not find whatever you’re after.”
"I have heard of this entrance to the lands below," Odemi replies, "but I have never been fool enough to seek it out. Of the other, I can tell you much, however. The Aspis Consortium in the Deepmarket is led by Tseka, and she is tricksy indeed. She keeps her base cleverly hidden, though I of course know where it is. As I say, I can take you there, for a price. What of interest do you have to offer?"
"Well, let's talk about payment then," Odemi replies, her skin growing pale in a wayang blush for a moment as Rakshara calls her out, then regaining her composure. "What've you got?" She eyes the small chest given to the party by Amara Li, before she was chased out of the Taldor Room by a herd of not-very-wild animals.
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”Sure, let me see what we’ve got. I mean, we have all the best contraband, obviously.” He opens the crate and digs past the dose of blue whinnis poison, pulls out the pistol from Alkenstar, filters through all the jade unholy symbols, and the engraved darkwood box of finger bones, shaking his head in disapproval.
”Oh, we’re in Goka, right? How about this?” He hands Odemi the piece of bawdy artwork depicting a Gokan celebrity. ”Surely this is of interest to you.”
As Idgethun looks around, the eyes of every other patron of the Darklands Den shift elsewhere, studying the mud on their shoes or a particularly interesting pattern of woodgrain on the bar. Odemi grins uncertainly, not especially happy with where this discussion has gone, then shrugs and says, "Your loss. I'm the guide who works out of this place, I say you look elsewhere." She turns away, then says over her shoulder, "Remember, murderous thieves lurk in the shadows in the Deepmarket. Without my help, you are sure to wander into places that only a madman would dare enter...Good day."
Judging themselves better off without Odemi, the Pathfinders leave the Den and set out to seek another guide, though with little notion of where to look. After wandering a bit, the party find themselves in a narrow allow, one wall of which is made up of an ancient-looking stone wall, pockmarked with head-sized holes and huge cracks, as if an army had attempted to destroy it with massive siege engines long ago, before deciding it simply wasn’t worth it and packing it in. As they pass this wall, a quiet voice says from the shadows, ”Do you know where your are going? You seem lost?” Whoever has spoken is remarkably good at staying hidden, but Gavin spots something in the shadows. For a moment he thinks his eyes must be playing tricks on him, as what he thinks he sees is a minute serpentine creature with smoky gray fur and large eyes that reflect an amber light, hiding shyly in a crack in the wall and studying the Pathfinders with wide-eyed interest.
The little creature stays in the shadows as Gavin speaks, but when he mentions the Deepmarket, he can see its little ears perk up. ”The Deepmarket?” it says, its tone cautious yet curious at the same time. As it speaks, it moves into the dim light of the alley, and reveals itself to be a foot-long, furry, snake with the head of a fox. ”What do you seek to learn there?” Her large, amber eyes scan the party, and a clever little fox-like grin crosses her face when she sees that the Pathfinders travel with so very many animals. ”I have been watching for you some time, as not many like you come to the Undermarket, so you interested me. You didn’t like the smelly bar, did you? No one interesting goes in there, so I only went in once, and stayed about as long as you did.”
With a small start, the creature adds, ”Oh! I forgot to say, I’m Yrishi. And I’m sorry for spying on you, but I can’t trust many people here in the Undermarket, so I usually just hide and see what I can see – but you all seem interesting. Are you? Can you tell me something, or do interesting things?”
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Zirt's eyes widen in wonder as she spots Yrishi, and she quickly squeezes in front of the others and approaches the creature, her mouth opening in a little 'O' of surprise. "Oh, hello there Yrishi!" she replies, fairly quivering with excitement. "You're beautiful! I know once I heard a story about people like you, but I... I just can't quite remember it at the moment! How did you come to be here? Why do you stay? Do you like it here? I suppose you must like it here or else you probably wouldn't stay, unless of course someone is making you stay, like the story I heard one time of the mean old crow who kept a giant around by pecking at his toe whenever he talked about leaving! Giants aren't very smart, you know."
The gnome pauses for a breath.
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Zirt racks her brain for something that the creature finds interesting. Finally, she remembers and relates a fanciful tale someone once told her about a cave-dwelling roper whose mother knitted caps for passing adventurers out of her discarded ropey bits. The tale winds and turns, and along the way explores open questions like "why are corners pointy" and "is exposure to underground bioluminescent fungal growths actually harmful to your health".