by Taj McCoy El
“I think a few of them learned something,” John said as he turned to walk to the boxes of stilettos. “At least they’re not causing a ruckus anymore. Praise Atmos for that.”
“Well, we better get out of here and let you get back to work.”
“What and miss all of the fun?” John chuckled mirthfully through his scowl. That was something Mayah didn’t know a person could do.
“I’ll stay if you need me,” Grax said.
“No, you’ve got some work to do if I’m not mistaken.”
Grax hung his head. “I was hoping you were gonna save me from that fate.”
John shooed the cat.
“Thanks, John, you’re not half the man I thought you were.”
“And you’re not a man at all.”
Grax stuck out his tongue at him.
“Thanks John,” Mayah said shaking his hand. “Come on kitty, these stilettos aren’t going to engrave themselves.”
As they turned to walk away, Grax asked, “Where to now, boss?”
“I’m not your boss.”
“Sure, keep telling yourself that.”
Maybe he’s right. It has been like raising a crew.
“Fine, so you say I’m the boss?”
“Wait a minute, Fluff. I don’t like that look in your eye.”
“Too late for that now. First, we cash in the imps and our other creatures. Then we go SHOPPING!!!!” she said with a high-pitched squeal.
“If you didn’t say it that way I could totally get behind you,” he said, shaking his head.
“Climb aboard the ‘Shopping Spree Express,’ my faithful subordinate. To the impy pawn shop.”
…..
“Excuse me, sir I’d like to sell some creatures I killed.”
“Really now? Why would I want to buy them? You’ve probably left them in your bag and they’re probably spoiled and rotting.”
So, this is how he wants to play this game of haggle-me-down.
“If that’s all that bothers you, then you should be happier.” She smiled and laid one of the copper imp crystals on the counter.
The man looked disgustedly at the storage token. “What’s this?”
Mayah thought his face said, ‘Why are these stupid paladins wasting my time?’
“Take a look and see.”
The man picked up the crystal and held it up to the light between two fingers. His eyes went to her and then back to the crystal. “Copper imp? How did you come across this?”
“I’ll tell you the story for a better price.”
“Never mind, story’s not that important.”
“Suit yourself. How much for one of those?”
“2 silver”
“And what about this?” She handed him a silver imp crystal.
“This is more like it. 15 silver.”
“Sounds like you could use some of those. What do you use them for?”
“Making wallets, of course.”
“I should've known,” Grax sighed.
“Actually, it’s quite interesting.” The shopkeeper was all too happy to relate the information, now that it might garner a sale. “Avarice imp hide wallets actually pull towards money. Copper imp wallets only pull towards the largest amount of copper. Silvers pull towards the greatest amount of silver. If there’s no silver, it will point to the greatest amount of copper.”
“That sounds pretty interesting. And since you seem so interested, I can sell you a bunch of them and they’ll be as fresh as the day I killed them when you open them.”
“How do you,” he paused for effect, “open them?”
She pulled out one of her delivery parcel envelopes, took the token from the merchant and placed it inside. “Here, try this,” she said handing it back to him.
He stretched his arms to their full length in front of him and studied the envelope at the end of his arms. “Hmmmmmm…”
All of a sudden, the body of a copper imp materialized in the air, falling to the floor with a heavy thud. The shopkeeper leapt back and screamed like a soprano on fire. The scream was so shrill Mayah had to plug her ears. When he finally ran out of air and the shriek subsided into a breathless squeak, they found he was supporting himself against a counter with one hand. His other hand was over his chest trying to calm the slight hyperventilation he was now suffering. His eyes never left the copper imp whose foot was resting on the edge of the counter where Mayah could see it.
“Guess I should’ve warned you about that.”
“Is that what they look like?” He asked.
“Yep. I have 27 copper imps and 50 silver imps.”
“And you can store them like this?”
“They’re already stored like that.”
“Can you sell me that technology as well? The Messenger guild has something that stops decay, but does nothing for the size or weight. This would cut down on shipping charges dramatically.”
Mayah smelled money. “Maybe? I’ll come back tomorrow and let you know. But what about the imps?”
His eyes were still staring at the imp on his floor ...and counter. “I’ll take them all, as long as you make this one disappear.”
“Oh, sorry.” Mayah grabbed another sheet of paper, drew the runes shoving it under the imp and returned it to its token state.
She picked up the crystal and the runeagram. Don’t wanna go giving away good money for no good reason.
She thought of the shopkeepers scream and said, “Grax, doesn’t he remind you of somebody we know?”
“Yeah,” he said, with a grin.
“I also have one gold imp if you’d be interested.”
“Is two gold okay?” he asked. Mayah believed that the buying price had gone up so much because the shopkeeper wanted the runeagram tech.
“Sure is,” Mayah said, activating Skinflint
She sold him ten envelopes out of her stash of delivery parcels and promised to bring him more tomorrow, for 4 silver apiece, of course. He paid her in advance. She assumed he wanted the crypt storage that bad. Well, she could always talk to Cloutus. If there wasn’t any reason that she could share the tech, they might make a tidy sum off of it.
The shopkeeper parted with the 13 gold and 7 silver. As she poured it into her bag, it auto-sorted 4 gold and 22 silver to each member of the party. She received the left over 40 silver for her delivery parcels. That’s good to know. If we kill something as a party the loot automatically gets distributed between us. But it will keep my personal money separate. This was just a drop in the bucket compared to the all of the gold, silver, and platinum they received in the dungeon. But waste not, want not.
As they walked out of the door the shopkeeper said, “I look forward to hearing about this storage of yours. Tomorrow, yes, I shall see you upon the morrow.”
Mayah definitely smelled gold.
“Do you need anything that you can think of?” Mayah said to Grax.
“Not that I can think of. Maybe some quiet armor,” he chuckled.
“I’m going to get some leathers, and if my idea works, I’ll be much better off.”
“What idea?”
“Do you want me to ruin the surprise?”
“Yes…”
“Too bad. Come on, let’s get some leathers and then we’ll finish up the knives and bombs. Besides, we need some space to try out some new designs.”
“New designs?”
“I’m sure you’re gonna love it.”
“As long as I don’t explode.”
“You won’t,” she smiled innocently.
Grax slit his eyes and looked at her, “Or burn with acid…”
“Okay, that’s more likely,” she nodded.
“Or get frozen into a block of ice,” he scowled
“That might happen too…?” she winced.
When they got to the leather workers shop, the shopkeeper greeted them with open arms. “It’s good to see you back again so soon! What can we do for you today?”
“Hello sir, my friend and I would l
ike to order some sets of leather clothing. We’ll also be ordering another later on when our friend gets here.”
“Let us take a look at the style book.” He pulled a large binder from a shelf underneath, opening it on the counter. He made a flourish across the page as he spun the book to face them. Grax hopped up next to the book and sat down.
“Let’s see what they got,” Grax said, turning the first page.
After looking through the book for a few minutes, Mayah settled on a set of pocketless overalls and a jacket that was a combination of a double-breasted doublet but shortened to resemble a bolero jacket. If it was treated it would give her +19 to defense. Plus, she had plans to up that even more.
“I’d like these in black treated leather, but can you do the trim and stitching in red and yellow?”
“That shouldn’t be a problem. And you, sir, have you found anything to your liking?”
“I think I’d like this vest and these pants. But can I get them gusseted around the hips for more mobility on all fours? I don’t want then to be too puffy. I can’t have them catching on anything.”
“Might I suggest,” the shopkeeper said, taking the book and turning it towards himself. He turned through the pages and spun the book back to Grax, “a longer vest that comes to mid-thigh and leather hose with cloth darts at the tops for a better fit? The effect will be the same, but you will lessen your chances of getting caught on anything.”
“That sounds doable. I’d like mine treated in all black as before.”
“It will be as you wish, sir.” He bowed his head.
“Oh, and one last thing. Is there any way you can make it cover my tail? It can be thinner, more flexible leather, of course, but I happen to like my tail.”
Mayah snickered at Grax and he gave her a healthy dose of side eye.
“That shouldn’t be too hard.”
Mayah said, “Make those a double order if you can. It’ll be nice to have backups if we need them.”
“For you, ma’am, that will be 42 gold.” That was about a quarter of the money she had, but staying alive was important. Can’t take it with you when you die. She activated Skinflint and gave the man 39 gold and 1 silver.
“And for you, sir, 37 gold.”
Grax looked at Mayah abashed. “You’re not buying these for me?”
“Didn’t you just complete the same dungeon I did? Man up and buy yourself some protection.”
“Fine,” he growled for a second until his smile broke through and she scratched him behind the ear.
“Well, sir, I do believe that these items, while of fine quality, may be slightly over priced. You’ll use much less leather on me than anyone else. I think we should lower the price by half.”
Mayah realized he was trying to get Skinflint and laughed.
The head leatherworker came back with, “The price of materials, even if halved wouldn’t be fifty percent. More like two percent. And that’s being generous. The real bulk of the money goes to my trained professional staff of leatherworkers.”
“Won’t there be a lot less stitching to do as well? Look how small I am. And remember there aren’t even arms to make.”
Mayah walked outside of the store to wait for Grax and laughed about the situation. No arms, hah!!! He walked out a few moments later with a smile on his face.
“Did you get it?” She asked.
“Get what?”
“Skinflint, you insolent flea farmer?”
“Yep, I did.” He cheesed extra hard patting his bag. “My pockets likey.”
“Grax where did that bag come from? I knew you had one, but I’ve never seen it before.”
“Oh, my bag is camouflaged.”
“Camouflaged?”
“Yeah I think everyone got a special bag for logging on in the first week.” His bag suddenly disappeared from view. “It’s still there, you just can’t see it or feel it.” He drew a stiletto out of his bare waist. “But I can.”
“That is kind of awesome.”
“Yeah.... it is…” he agreed with her smugly. “What’s your bag do?”
“90% weight reduction.”
“Now that is awesome!!! I wondered how you got all of that stuff to your room without falling over.”
“Ready to go check in with Jensen?”
“Right behind you.”
They walked across the square. As Jensen’s stand came into view she saw a familiar hooded figure. She tried to dismiss it until the figure looked around. Laying eyes on her he hurriedly left.
Something is rotten in Majesta. And I plan to find out what.
…..
6.3 Something Rotten…
“And you say the cat beat her in a duel?”
“That he did. But she hasn’t assigned any of her stat or attribute points yet, so they’re going for a rematch. Besides, they’re a team already. Ye may not even have to pick between them. It could be a two for one. I really think we should just tell them,” Jensen said to the hooded figure in front of his stand.
“I’ve already told you no, Grand Sergeant. That is an order.” The man’s steely eyes burned into Jensen.
Jensen didn’t even flinch. “Aye, it’s an order, but a bad one.”
The hooded figure glared at him.
“Don’ ye worry, I’ll keep faith with the Column. I’m just sharing intel with ye.”
“Good, don’t forget it.” He pulled out a tiny shield identical to the one Jensen gave to Mayah.
“She’s close,” he swept his head around and saw her coming through the crowd. He couldn’t help himself from resting his eyes on her for a second. He turned back to Jensen. “We’ll continue this later.”
“Aye, I’m sure we will.”
The hooded figure turned and walked off.
“Hey there Fluff, Grax,” Jensen greeted them.
Mayah’s face looked intense. “Who was that man, Jensen?”
“Just a fellow asking about the best higher-level hunting grounds. How are ye two today?”
“I’m not buying it.” Mayah scoffed.
“Not buying what?” He looked taken aback.
“That man was here last time we came to the stand and he looked at me then as well.”
“Ye must be kidding? Do ye know how many people wear that cheap cloak around here?”
“Cloaks yes, but not the same shiny black boots. Spill it, Jensen, or we’re gonna have problems.” Mayah’s eyes were lasers and Jensen was beginning to buckle under the heat.
“Mayah, what are you talking about?” Grax asked tugging on her dress.
“Jensen is hiding something and I plan to know what.”
Jensen raised his hands palms towards Mayah. “Now slow down. Ye got this all wrong.”
“What is it Jensen? What am I wrong about? Are you telling people about my strengths and weaknesses?”
His hands slowly lowered to the counter, his eyes were now focused on his hands. “I can’t answer that question.”
“Why not, Jensen? You know almost everything about us, but we barely know anything about you. What have you been doing?”
“Look, Fluff, I can’t say anything or I’ll become an Oathbreaker.” He ran his fingers through his hair.
Grax sat open-mouthed, staring at him.
“I know how this looks and I need ye to trust me for just a bit longer. Give me till 8 o’clock. I’ll meet ye at the tavern for dinner.”
“With this turn of events, I’m gonna need more than that to trust you right now.” Her voice had steadily risen and was on the edge of becoming a shout.
“Okay, how about an oath then?” Jensen threw out quickly, fishing for any chance at all.
“What oath?” She slit her eyes at him.
“I, Jensen Clanmeister, swear to Princess Cuddle Fluff that my actions have in no way meant to, or even thought of harming her or her friends, may Ba'alquion take me if I’m lying.” A golden glow washed over him and faded.
“See, I’m no’ a threat to ye or yer friends. Jus
t give me till tonight and I hope that I can make everything clear. I just need one chance. Yer too important.”
“Important to who?”
“Aaaahhh… I can’t answer that. Just meet me for dinner, please.”
“Okay, Jensen… you have one chance at this. I’m the trusting sort until people get my prickles up. And my prickles are way… WAY… up. You understand?”
“Yes, lassie.” He responded gratefully.
“If all of this works out right we’ll resume pleasantries then. But as it stands, I’m only trusting you to show up for dinner tonight.”
“Understood.” He nodded his head.
“So now I need to know how Margaret did last night.”
She looked out across the square, crossed her arms, deigning to remain at the stand. She wanted to walk away as fast as she could, but she needed this information first.
“Well, the condensed version worked like a charm. Only took four hours. Surprised no one’s ever thought about that before.” He shook his head and got back on track. “She’s got Wellspring, Adamant, Marathoner and Dynamo, so she’s good to go. She should be waking up soon. Those debuffs stacked up pretty fast, though. Ye should go check on her to make sure she’s all right. I obviously have some answers to get for ye.”
“That you do,” Mayah spit.
Jensen felt the venom in those words. She turned and walked away. Grax looked torn, his ears drooped as he looked at his feet.
“Go with her, boy.” Jensen urged, “I need to do some things to make this right.” He tugged at his mustache.
“You better,” Grax reprimanded him and walked away without a second glance.
“Well, this be a fine grabble ye’ve gotten yerself into,” Jensen muttered to himself and began closing the stand.
Jensen pulled out another shield and flooded it with his mana. After a few seconds, it pulsed three times and he put it back into his pocket. “This is not gonna be fun.”
…..
Grax followed Mayah towards the dorms without a word. Mayah had her hood up and was throwing off a seriously nasty vibe. Grax didn’t even want to get her talking. He imagined her being mad at him like that. He shook his head free of the thought and took the lead. He turned into the dorms and found Margaret’s door on the fourth floor.
