the shop owner waves. Marko is near a strange mediating man, and a sparkling stone is circling marko's head.
Patiently observes, but unless something catches his eye, he just waits for his companions to finish.
Growly follows the thing around his head, hopping from shoulder to shoulder.
"What is it?"
He asks, wide eyed.
He only weighs about 10 pounds in all.
"I'm not sure..." The mer manifests detect psionics again
the one floating around your head is a cheap trinket. Maybe worth a few gold peices, it serves no actual function, other then a very minor light scorce (candle).
he examines a few others trying to see what they do.
the ones in the box are all barely magical, each one seeming to be more of a toy then a tool.
Growly looks at the other ones on the table.
"What do the other ones do?"
the man continues to be generally useless. You get the feeling he probably would continue to be useless if you tried them out, so...
Marco puts the one he has to the side and tries a couple more.
you happen to put it on the paper that says "inquire". The word inquire is replaced with the words "5 gp". As you try ones from the box, they all seem to merely be novel effects. Likely either failures or practice. (You can make up just about any effect, but it has to be visual only. Some may shed light as a candle.)
"People are gonna steal this guy's stuff if we don't wake him up..."
He seems concerned about the man's business.
"I think he's more likely meditating, but either way, the hypothetical situation would be his fault, though if we're called on to stop the hypothetical criminals of course we will." Marco pulls out 15 gold pieces and takes three from the basket and sets both on the counter before lookin at the others set off by themselves, looking for some sort of label and if there wasn't any, simply placing it on the "inquire" paper
all of ones on the table are already labeled with price.
"But if it happens and I didn't wake him up, then it's my fault too."
Growly hops down from Marco's shoulder.
He sits in front of the person and places a paw on the man's knee.
"Scuse me, Mister."
He says gently.
Conner puts each of them around his head in turn with manifest psionics to see what they do.
the man doesn't seem to move.
He tries to jostle his knee a little bit.
"Are you ok?"
he resists the movement entirely. Like trying to push a steel wall.
with the 150gp one, you feel you understand the undead better. With the 400 gp one, you feel more aware. With the 200 gp one, your fingers tingle. With the 800 gp one, nothing seems to happen.
150
200
2000
1000
1000
800
400
1000
If he can't figure any of them out he places them down angerly and grabs the three special effects stones, leaves the payment for them on the counter and hands one to each of his companions.
as you turn to leave, the man sighs, stands up! moves the coins to the payment basket! and starts to sit back down.
With this frustrating final stop the merfolk is finished shopping, managing to hold onto what to a commoner would view as a smal fortune, but to an adventurer it amounted to what was won and lost on a rather frequent basis
Marco asks the other two if they were done shopping.
Growly jumps out of the way when the man in a trance state gets up and moves the coins.
"I guess you're alright, then..."
Growly drops five coins in the payment area and grabs an orange one before gliding back onto Marco's shoulder.
"Ya. I'm done."
Nods, and leaves the shop, waiting just outside for his companions.
"Was there anything else you wished to acquire?"
Marco shakes his head."I already purchased the needed tools earlier, and I'm soured against any pleasure shopping after the poor service in that tent"
The next day......
eventually everyone returns to the guild, and meets Eagun.
"Everyone ready?"
"We're good to go" Marco says nodding "are we to be mounted or shall we travel with our tails on the ground?"
"You might want mounts. It's a long way to the north."
Growly hops down and offers the orange cube shaped stone to Eagun with a smile.
"Would it be possible to book passage on a ship headed to that general area?, If not mounts would be fine, so long as one appropriate for myself could be found, that or a caravan of sorts would work"
"We will supply horses. The location in question is Landbound. I'm not used to having to cater to another mer for transport..."
"I have a little under a thousand gold pieces left after the shopping trip, I can buy a wagon, are the horses trained to handle themselves when under fire?"
"You could tie a big hammock between two horses."
Assuming Eagun accepts the orange crystal cube, he returns to Marco's shoulder.
Eagun takes the Iuon stone, and holds it passively.
"Does it matter that I do not know how to ride a horse?"
"Not if we get a wagon, I am rather too large to ride a conventional mount"
"The wagon would slow the horses considerably. Much slower travel. Almost better to walk..."
The mer raises one eyebrow "you were the one to suggest the mounts," he turns to his fellow psionic warrior "learning how to ride a horse or other beast should probably be considered a good idea once we return"
"Yes. But i forget you don't have something to ride, and I didn't know he didn't know how to ride."
Marco frowns as he glances over at the élan who would inevitably be how their pace would be set at we're they to go without mounts, and he asks his two companions "what do you guys say, do we buy a wagon or do we "hoof" it, if you two have differing opinions I'll break any tie"
"I'm fine with whatever you guys want to do. I already have a ride."
He says, perched on top of Marco's shoulder.
"If this matter is time-sensitive, I can learn as I go. But I see that won't help you..." he states, trying to figure out how a mer-person would ride a horse...