The party, sans Anz, departs for Freefort.
No trouble at all. Maybe word is out among the minor monsters and marauders that Aragnak is your patron...
The folk at the fort have waited eagerly for the days you were gone.
Not much has happened since you left. Two new cemeteries have been dug: one with three graves. The other, one big 'un.
Some of the freedfolk, with good food and proper rest, look healthier than last you saw them. A sense of well-being permeates the camp. Nobody seems to mind that some of y'all's eyebrows have gotten dark and slanty since they saw you last.
Sylvia, the woodswoman, has emerged as an informal leader, combining as she does knowledge of the island, courage, and a general good nature. She approaches you and announces that the people are ready to move. All practical and valuable goods not dragon-snagged are packed.
You may head upriver to Zelkor's Ferry on the Red Dragon , the blockade-running sloop having emptied its hold for speed and agility. Or you may proceed overland.
Bedlam looks around to see if He really means First one here....
"We should take the Red Dragon to Zelkor's Ferry. Then once we have folks settled, it will be there to take us to Magnimar."
Captain Kolvio explains that he can sail you up the river, but it'll take a couple days. He wants to move slowly with so many people on board. He breaks out a supply of river poles, hands them around, and soon the Red Dragon is scudding up the river like a water beetle. Like a very slow water beetle.
Septimus 19th
A trio of river-beings lift their heads out of the water--but just as swiftly, they duck beneath the surface. A glimpse of your heavily laden ship bristling with crossbowmen has encouraged them to give you a wide berth.
Septimus 20th
On the second day, you pull into the dock at Zelkor's Ferry.
It seems like an eternity since you last left Zelkor's. The hamlet-turned-boomtown has finally settled into a routine, even into neighborhoods. Nearest the river stands Old Town with its single street and architecture featuring ancient cyclopean rocks. It is protected by high walls seemingly made of solid stone--you recognize the place with a happy familiarity. Beyond, the new neighborhood, Palisades, is surrounded by a wooden wall. You see the town guardsmen waving from the palisade wall as they catch sight of you. Several rush towards the river, weapons drawn, but on recognizing the party, they relax their guard. Slightly. Talathel has taught them well.
On docking, Odo Bristleback, mayor-proprietor of the Ferry, emerges from his inn and tavern. His jaw drops as fifty more people swarm down the gangplank. Looks like a new neighborhood will be necessary. "Used to be so nice and quiet here..."
The refugee community embraces Sylvia with joy and happiness. The fact that she was only captured when the party sent her out on a scouting mission with two low-level fighters as her only escort has been forgotten and/or forgiven. The refugees look nervously, but kindly upon the freedfolk. Plenty of trauma to work through in this town, but plenty of goodwill, too. The refugees club together to throw a welcome feast for the freedfolk at the Boar's Board.
All the other NPCs you've grown to know and love are present and happily accounted for. Sawen and her baby bump are impressive. Brand is jovial. Gelver is totally nuts. Tam is feeling super awkward to be around so many of the freedfolk, who definitely haven't forgiven her. She sticks close to Lolly. Nico pilfers sausages in the rafters of the Boar's.
However, one PC you expected to see is absent (mercifully?). Talathel is leading a scouting expedition in the forest. Nobody knows when he'll be back--but it'll be after you're gone, I think.
Time to figure out who the 45 surviving freedfolk actually are!
If you're just chilling with the avians this morning and running some random generators, I'd love to see what I could glean from Gnakky's library, if you're still up to have offered that.
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1. Sylvia the Woodswoman. A young, brave, and kindly lumberjane refugee.
2-11: Magnimarian POWs. Each is a low-level soldier.
11-21: Rivenrakers from Southward or Northgate, the two destroyed coastal settlements.
22-30: People from Golarion-Europe.
30-50: People from all over Golarion.
Sylvia stays unless she rolls a 1.
The Magnimarians want to go home, unless maybe someone’s fallen in love with someone who doesn’t want to move? Are ashamed they’ve been captured? Stay on a 1.
The Rivenrakers want to stay with the refugee community, but a few might want to leave the scene of their trauma behind. Leave on a 1.
The people from Golarion’s shadow-Europe (Taldor, Varisia, Cheliax, etc etc etc) share a baseline culture with Zelkor’s Ferry. Some want desperately to go home. Others have no home… stay on a 2.
The true foreigners, gathered because of unique skills and to foster disunity in the colony, are mostly shocked by Terapin’s offer to repatriate them. Some, though, have formed strong bonds of love and friendship in the last months. They may want to stay. Stay on a 1 out of 4.
After deliberation:
Sylvia stays (of course).
Surprisingly, three of the Magnimarian soldiers opt to stay at the Ferry. One is a conscripted criminal, a cutpurse hauled out of jail. The other, a kid from the slums looking for adventure, deserted. The last was a lieutenant, an educated woman--fire, blood, and capture have led her to believe that there are better ways to live than making war in the name of the City of Magnimar.
The Rivenrakers mostly want to stay on their island. Some are brought back into shattered families. They are all able-bodied adults and come from a range of professional backgrounds that I'll roll up later. One, a young man with fire in his eyes, clings to the woman he loves: a woman from impossibly distant Minata. She wants to go home, and he's going with her.
Six of the various shadow-Europeans throw in their lot with the Ferry. These skilled craftsfolk come from communities that were broken, burned, and sold. They will stand their ground in the Forest of Hope. The others still hope to return to their homes on the continent and prepare to depart, thanking Terapin with true gratitude in their eyes.
The far-flung foreigners, each an artist in their chosen field, have a weighty decision to make. Most don't hesitate--they want to go home. Five decide to stay.
An architect experienced in magnificent timber framing from the Mwangi Expanse (Sub-Saharan Africa).
A hydrologist who wants to install a sewer system from Taqesuyu (Inca).
A mining engineer intrigued by rumors of the trade in onyx from the Monache States (Pueblo)
A master boatmaker and shipwright from Tian Xia (China)
A botanist obsessed with the magnificent foreign flora from Vudra (India).
Going clockwise around the Golarion globe starting at Tian Xia at NPC number . Added my assumptions about their our-world analogy in parentheses. I don't know much about Golarion lore, so I might botch something there.
Probably a bunch of the freedfolk are nonhuman or part-human. Will randomize that later, but this is a preliminary sketch of the people who choose to stay in the Ferry!
Everyone settles in for yet another night of carousing. Odo and Sawen ask after Anzath: "Where is she? D'mitri has doubled in size since she left, and some of your new friends are full of crazy talk about her riding a red dragon and smiting her foes..."
Big plans are made to extend the wooden wall and build a second new neighborhood. The population of Zelkor's Ferry has, I think, quintupled since you started meddling in the hamlet's affairs. It is quickly becoming a bustling town, financed by the Bedlam First National. Dealing locally produced goods to the upriver onyx miners and packing up their rocks for smuggler's export has proven to be a solid basis for the town, as Odo explains. Not to mention dungeon tourism.
If you don't have any business to transact in Zelkor's, you'll be on your way to Magnimar in the morning.
Perhaps hearing him commenting on flora as they head up river, Tragershen will introduce himself to the Vudran botanist. When they arrive at Zelkor's Ferry, Trag will take him over and introduce him to the Darks. "Ullman has been using some of the local plant life in some of his concoctions, and can share some of their properties with you. Kanndra is a seasoned scout and ranger, well familiar with the wilderness surrounding the town." He'll try to weave the start of a relationship there, if they all seem compatible. If the botanist wants to stay and maybe start an herbalism business, Tragershen will see about seeding him some starting money.
The grateful botanist accepts an introduction to the Darks... and whatever sum that Tragershen sees fit to advance. "I'll pay you back, you'll see! There are all sorts of useful species around."
Trag will walk him over to the bank, and ask them to let him draw up to 500 gp as needed from Trag's stake for living expenses and getting established.
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Bedlam is found inside the vault; rolling around naked in the gold coins!
Excuse me; but me be busy in 'ere!
The pragmatic dwarf then counts out 500gp, placing the coins in a barely used bag, and tosses it at the Attendant.
Close da durn door!
Having had limited herself in the earlier courses of tbe feast, and having engaged in heated nuptials, Anzath eats.of the stew heartedly. She has a pretty good idea of the meat's origins, and encourages her comrades to also partake.
As the party leaves the island to return to Zelkar's Ferry with the freed peoples, she stays behind. She does ask aurora to return with D'mitri, if she can, to return him to his rightful mother. Anzath will soon have a legitimate child of her own.
In the mean time, her pale skin has darkened and roughened, until she is covered in deep red scales of her own. She can be seen exploring the grounds, and instructing the orcs and hobgoblins in its repair and fortification.
The bank official slams the vault shut and says, "No need to pick up all that gold today, Mr. Botanist. Here's a letter of credit and fifty gold to get you started. We'd appreciate it if you kept what you saw today to yourself."
If Aurora proposes taking D'mitri back to the hobgoblins, Sawen immediately vetoes the plan. "I've been doing my darndest to raise that boy to be Good, and I think it's working! Which is to say, he'd be eaten alive if we threw him back to the hobgoblins. Anzath must be feeling kinda strange to even suggest it..."
Sure enough, a little orange toddler (they grow fast) trips by as part of the small swarm of children. There are still very few kids in the Ferry, but maybe that will change in the coming years.
Aragnak looks deeply displeased as Anzath (somewhat unsteadily, already feeling the oversized ovum) climbs the gangplank onto the Red Dragon. “Keep her safe! Don’t let her near any cultists or paladins! I’ll be watching you, but unless there’s an emergency, I will stay here and finish the nest and fortress… if you get into any trouble, I’ll be there in a flash!”
And he really ought to go back and work on the fort, but the keener of you wonder if that’s him circling far, far overhead as you make your way down the island chain to Magnimar. Tragershen, Kolvio, a Magnimarian freedwoman, and/or someone else with a good Knowledge Local point out the ragged ruins of the ancient megabridge that once connected Magnimar with Rappan Athuk in ancient days. Even the ancients had legends that the bridge was older than they were… that it had something to do with something locked away in the deepest depths.
As night falls, the red speck turns back. The next morning, it does not return. Instead, the brooding presence in the distance is the continent.
The city itself is dominated by the enormous onramps of the bridge. The measly humanoids of your day cling to it like barnacles—little shanties sprout along the course of the bridge and cling to its sides, bristling especially towards the foot of the structure. A long wall connects the foot of the ancient bridge with the river. The city balances between the long-dead megalithic bridge and the bustling trade of the relatively tiny bridges and ferries over the river.
The Magnimarian Navy (or so it calls itself: clearly, it’s more of a fleet of privateers and ex-pirates out for an easy buck) swarms the Red Dragon on sight—but Kolvio and the rescued soldiers talk your way past the harbor patrols. The disappointment on the avaricious faces of the Navy do little to calm your nerves. Once the ship is docked safely, the same scene repeats with the shore patrol. A huffy customs officer grudgingly admits that your task--delivering POWs--entitles you to free docking and a three day visa without paying import duties. Magnimar probably pays its armed forces on commission.
Those of you with a speck of Goodness left in your hearts will find them warmed by the scenes of reunion of the Magnimarian soldiery and their families. These folk were mostly grunt soldiers, but they assure you that you’ll always have a place in the ragged districts of the city where the soldiers spread their tents and build their shanties when they aren’t on active duty. The other freedfolk disperse along with their companions, or, if they were the less-social type, disperse to hotels in ethnic or more tolerant neighborhoods. Some just hang around the ship.
All that’s to say that Terapin’s network is in place, although some of it will soon depart to distant lands. Each agrees to make arrangements for their own repatriation the next day. They will return the next evening to discuss expenses with Pin.
Otherwise, the city is yours.
Tragershen marvels at the size of the city, and wonders at the sight of the bridge. "I've read about it and heard tell of it, but it truly is remarkable!"
"We should find a place to stay. I suggest Lowcleft. It is the most artistic area of the city, and as such likely has more affordable places to stay and a good variety of food and drink. I heard it has little theaters, inns, tap houses and such for as far as the eye can see! It borders Keystone on the northwest. Keystone is where the legendary wizardry school The Stone of Seers resides, as well as many of the major temples. That is where we are most likely to find buyers and sellers of the sort we need. I'd recommend staying away from the shadow of the bridge; the Underbridge quarter is particularly seedy."
Tragershen, Kolvio, a Magnimarian freedwoman, and/or someone else with a good Knowledge Local point out the ragged ruins of the ancient megabridge that once connected Magnimar with Rappan Athuk in ancient days. Even the ancients had legends that the bridge was older than they were… that it had something to do with something locked away in the deepest depths.
Bedlam looks at Parrot.
Be seem'n ta be un bit ov juicy foreshadowing dere.
The dwarf hangs out with the Elf.
You be da fun un 'round 'ere! Where we be drink'n!
For the pozole, Aurora is a cautious indulger — certainly it is not often one gets to sample such fare, and certainly not at the castle of a great dragon. And it does provide an answer for a question oft asked...
A filet mignon with more of those samphire greens might have gone over better, but Aurora polishes off the bowl of stew without complaint or sign of displeasure.
-----
Anzath's request for Dmitri is passed along to Sawen, but, "Yes, I agree. She's been feeling awful strange lately. The stress is immense."
A pause.
"Do you think Nico and Dmitri would like a playdate?"
-----
From the side of the ship the cleric watches the approaching figure of Magnimar, seeming some vast monolith from the distance until the tides and the wind have brought them close enough to make out the details of the city's district. She wisely keeps her mouth closed as the naval and customs officials are dealt with, and nods along to Tragershen's words about the city.
"Lowcleft should be a fine location, then, though I do not think coin is an issue at present." Her voice is low. No need to go flaunting any wealth now. "But somewhere quaint, near a theatre with good listings, would be a fine reprieve."
Terapin blinks up at at Tragershen, eyes wide.
"There's a wizardry school?!"
"Lowcleft should be a fine location, then, though I do not think coin is an issue at present." Her voice is low. No need to go flaunting any wealth now. "But somewhere quaint, near a theatre with good listings, would be a fine reprieve."
Tragershen smiles at her observation. "Yes, no need to flaunt our wealth indeed. Its not like were Abadarans or anything." He chuckles at his own joke.
Terapin blinks up at at Tragershen, eyes wide. "There's a wizardry school?!"
"Indeed, my friend. Magnimar is actual home to two of the most renown wizard schools in the region. Over there," he gestures to the north, further along the docks and closer to the massive bridge fragment that is unmistakable from anywhere in the city, "Is the Golem Works. They specialize in transmutation and animation of in inanimate. It is said there is something special about the golems they make, for they use stone from the Irespan Bridge itself in its construction. However, their reputation is that they are more focused on selling their own goods to the wealthy and eccentric; that's why I didn't suggest we start there." Though properly respectful in his tone, something about Trag’s manner lacks any enthusiasm towards their work and efforts. That changes completely when he starts his next part of his lecture. His eyes positively light up as he starts to discuss…
”The Stone of the Seers, on the other hand, is much more focused on knowledge in general, for it goes to the very founding of their establishment. It was founded by one Master Leis Nivlandis, an accomplished half-elf who was inspired by the Seerspring Garden, which is next to the school.” He shakes his head. ”We should see that too, but our time is limited. He nods at the slightly waddling Anzath to emphasize his point. ”But the Stone may be a good place to find contacts to sell what we have uncovered, and find sources for some of the items we seek.”
”The Seerspring Garden is where an oracular water spirit dwells. Most say that it is gone now, but I have suspicions that it may yet linger there, staying silent for reasons of its own. The gardens surrounding the spring are the largest in the city, and the water from the spring is the purest in the land.”
Realizing he’s drifting off topic, Tragershen catches himself. ”But the Stone of the Seers is a relative small but elite school of wizardry. They focus on revealing mysteries and defending life, so we may find sympathetic ears to our quest there. I’m hoping they may grant us access in exchange for some of the information we bear. For example, the true fate of the mysterious historical figure Saracek, whose shield and story we carry with us.”
Back on the boat, Anzath carries herself as a queen would, looking down her nose upon the sailors and other passengers, although she still treats her comrades as equals. Back in her battle worn armors, she's less regal, but still fearsome, especially now with glistening deep red scales covering her flesh. However, from time to time she grows nauseous upon the waves.
In dealing with the customs officers, though, she hides her face under her hood and stays out of sight. She continues this behavior when they are roaming the city streets, not wanting to draw any particular attention to the pregnant consort of a red dragon.
She's passed this way before in her travels and thinks back on her previous contacts in the city.
Lolygert looked down at the pozole then over at Tam, who was furiously shaking her head. With a shrug, he raised his flagon and poured out a tribute to the fallen soldier, then dug in. Surprised by the flavourfulness of the dish, he pondered a suitable drink. The nodding he filled his flagon with a fruity mead and finished the dragon's dish.
Later, he enjoyed his reunion in da'Ferry with friends and paramours, but was excited to set off to the new-to-him city of Magnimar!
On the voyage, he proves annoyingly solicitous towards the mother-to-be, mostly offering her sips of ginger beer for her nausea, and even awkwardly offering to build her a nest, before beating a hasty retreat when faced with her terrible glare!
As Magnimar came into view, he marveled aloud, "It's so big!"
Anzath takes a swig of the ginger beer, but when Lolly offers to build a nest, she hands back the flask, "Pleaze do not insult me."
Terapin beams at the thought of a brand new monster. "I never seen an oracular water spirit before!"
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The party scouts out the local magic item scene. The market's been hot lately, but here's what they've got.
The magic shops use the standard Pathfinder exchange rate--you sell objects at half value/cost of crafting. They sell at full price. You may haggle or seek quests to reduce prices or get better sale values, but be careful, there's an egg in one of you.
Minor Items
[8,400 gp] +1 cunning composite longbow [no light or external clues]
[8,375 gp] +1 distance longbow [clue indicates function]
[8,309 gp] +2 guisarme [no light or external clues]
[8,300 gp] +1 spell storing club [sheds light]
[8,335 gp] +1 frost light crossbow [no light or external clues]
[8,310 gp] +2 shortsword [no light or external clues]
[8,375 gp] +1 shock longbow [sheds light]
[8,300 gp] +2 sling [no light or external clues]
[8,320 gp] +2 greataxe [sheds light]
[8,315 gp] +1 flaming trident [no light or external clues]
Medium Items
[12,000 gp] poisoner's jacket (lesser) [no external clues]
[24,000 gp] elemental earth belt [no external clues]
[18,320 gp] +3 rapier [sheds light]
[12,000 gp] rod of the wayang [no external clues]
[10,500 gp] rod of metal and mineral detection [no external clues]
[18,000 gp] ring of inner fortitude (minor) [clue indicates function]
[20,000 gp] dragonfoe amulet [no external clues]
Major Items
[36,000 gp] page of spell knowledge (6th) [no external clues]
[34,500 gp] gauntlet of rust (greater) [no external clues]
[29,600 gp] staff of healing [no external clues]
[75,000 gp] robe of the archmagi [no external clues]
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Some players need to be given quests. Some find their own. Go ahead and rob the magic store, if you can!
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Anzath appreciates Terapin's attention. She has a hard tine considering him as 'son', but it sure does feel good being attended to. Plus, she didnt realize just how strange being impregnated would make her feel, and sometimes the care is necessary, especially when she has uncanny cravings for rare steak.
When on their outings she spots the gnome window gazing at an impeccably fine cloak, she encourages him "A real dragon vould take vhat he wantz."
"A real dragon would take what he wants," Terapin repeats to himself. Scrunching his face into a very tough-looking scowl, he twists his ring and turns invisible, and then strides nonchalantly across the street and into the shop.
Other than being magically invisible, he makes no effort to move stealthily and just stands in the middle of the store looking around at the items on display; at this point, he just wants to see if the shopkeep notices him.
Bedlam spends his time purchasing supplies to Craft more alchemical goodies!
Anzath follows the invisible Terapin into the shop and engages in with the clerk as a distraction. "Hello sir or madame, I am looking for fine gift for my husband. Ve are expekting, you see. He enjoyz much artifaktz of magikal nature and iz very vealthy. I am not interested in goodz you have on display, but rader, vhat do you keep in your back storage?"
The shopkeeper, a gnome perched upon a stack of leather-bound tomes behind the counter, assesses Anzath quickly--his quick and professional gaze offers no encouragement at first, but after assessing her person and visible magic items, he smiles politely and says, "Welcome, madam, to the Thin Veil, Magnimar's preeminent magical emporium. We keep many objects of arcane might, ancient and modern--I'm hopeful that we may well have something to please your husband. What manner of objects would most intrigue the happy father-to-be? It would help me to know what would be likely to please him, madam."
A cat hops onto the counter. It growls softly and stares towards the center of the room. A huge guard dog thumps her tail, uncoiling from a deep sleep by the wood stove. She stretches and yawns.
"What's gotten into you, Bellifer?" The shopkeeper asks the cat.
"Doez your kat speak to you?" asks Anzath with a slight chuckle. She lowers her hood, revealing her scaled skin. "Perhapz it iz my appearance vhich frightenz her."
She pulls out a piece of rat jerky from her pouch, "Do you mind if I feed doggo?"
"My husband haz finest taste. Anyding imperial in nature vould suit him. Perhapz someding once owned by reknowned king, or hero. Yez, ancient artifaktz, not modern toyz. Aldough, do you have anyding for children?"
While this is going on, Terapin’s going to cast detect magic and look for any enchantments in and around the display case other than the items’ known enchantments themselves. He also waves to the kitty.
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"Doez your kat speak to you?"
The shop assistant raises an eyebrow as he strokes Bellifer. "Madam hasn't spent much time with gnomes. Most of us can speak with animals."
He uses his gnome racial trait to Speak With Animals, something he can do as an SLA 1/day. He and Bellifer begin to meow back and forth.
Terapin's softly chanted casting (and Bellifer's warning) allow the shopkeep to ascertain that there's an invisible presence in their midst. Before Terapin can complete the second round of Detect Magic (obviously there are magic auras about), the shopkeep politely hollers "Guards, please, to the shop! To the shop, guards! Pardon me, madam, but we have an interloper." There's a sound of footsteps in the rear of the shop.
Anzath gasps in shock.
Terapin leaves as casually as he entered, with a shrug and a mutter about bad customer service.
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(He’s definitely going to watch to make sure Anzath’s okay though.)
Bedlam whistles as he works.....
Anzath manages to look unconnected with Terapin's probe of the magic store's security system. A trio of warriors emerges from the rear of the shop wielding very, very nice equipment: an armored dwarf, a mage, and a shifty character in black leather.
The gnome says, "Bellifer spotted someone in the shop while invisible. So rude. She says they are gone now, but would you kindly check for him in the street so he can be questioned?"
The mage starts chanting a spell. Her eyes turn an eerie blue. She gives Anzath a once-over on her way out the door, saying "Nice kit! Lady's locked and loaded. Ok, let's go, c'mon boy!" The security detachment heads into the street with the guard dog close behind. The gnome shopkeep eyes Anz with a newfound respect.
Meanwhile, Terapin is not-hustling down the street away from the shop. He looks ahead and, lo and behold, the rest of his party is hanging out at a streetside cafe, happily sipping coffee, tea, and/or hard liquor (Lolly and Bedlam are present).
Then, Terapin hears a loud woman's voice hollering in his direction, "Hey you there! Hold it! We can see your auras (you've got some nice stuff, don't ya?). The dog's got your scent. And we've got a few questions for you."
Anzath steps out of the way of the security trio and smiles at the gnome shopkeep, "Vhat do I say? I have... very nice konnektionz."
As the commotion moves out into the street, she does a quick glance around the store, for anything small and easily swiped should the gnome's (and cat's) attention be distracted momentarily.
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Terapin's going to continue to nonchalantly wander down the street without quickening his pace, but it the trio approaches beyond non-shouting distance, he'll address them. "Oh, you mean me?"
He'll ask who they are, and if they say anything suggesting city authority, will keep talking to them.
If not: he'll tell them he has no interest in talking, as they might have guessed from his not having spoken to them, and to be about their day, then, as he'll be about his.
If they do and he talks to them: Having done nothing wrong (yet), Terapin denies nothing; he's passing unseen because he doesn't know the people of the town yet and isn't sure how well they'd get on, and doesn't want to be drawn into any uncomfortable conversations or asked for help with any local intrigues, which seems to happen to him whenever he goes most anywhere. He was casting detect magic in the magic shop to see what was and wasn't possibly worth inquiring into, as he often does when window shopping (it's a free cantrip, after all), but the shopkeeper seemed offended by his presence, so he left to go continue window shopping elsewhere instead. That this was somehow also deemed offensive has him wondering what exactly he could do with his time that wouldn't attract somebody's ire.
This is, he notes, the first non-goblin town he's been to where simply shrouding oneself while walking down the street in an attempt not to be bothered has resulted in being accosted by armed men. It's not a wonderful first impression, and he might not be sticking around for long.
Bedlam (sipping a cup of tea; picky raised) glances up at the commotion in the street outside the Magic Shop.
The dwarf turns to Lolly.
We be hav'n sum friends day be shoppin' over dere? Where be dat gnome?
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The guards don't have badges, but a constable shows up immediately and gives Terapin a reason to talk a little. But soon, they put away their weapons. The mage, disarmed by Terapin's charming manner and many powerful magical auras, offers a halfpology: "Stranger, you wouldn't believe how many people try to rob our shop with nothing but an invisibility spell on 'em. We have to investigate or we'd go out of business. I hope you'll give our shop another chance if you ever want to sell any of that kit of yours... but announce yourself if you're traveling un-cognito. And, while I don't like to speak ill of home, you're the first person to wander into our shop under invisibility who wasn't trying to rob us blind, so to speak."
"It's not always the cat and dog that catches 'em, but it's better when they do. Other times, well, there's this thing..."
Anzath sees that the displayed items are most definitely magic-trapped, and not even very carefully trapped--it's as if they want to warn you off without having to clean up any mess.
That said, there's a magic ring and an amulet that both look finesseable if you're feeling lucky. The gnome is moderately distracted.
We be hav'n sum friends day be shoppin' over dere? Where be dat gnome?
Bedlam takes his eyeglasses off his nose; wipes them with the table cloth, replaces them; squinting at the strange trio talking to the sidewalk.
The dwarf looks keenly at his cup of tea.
Dere be sumting in 'ere tea.