Furjar the Flippant

Armed with the names of several possibilities Vaslin Luc and Dorn left with the items they had to sell. Had it just been a day in the city with a chance to go shopping Vaslin would have been rather excited about it all. However with the information they had leaned last night, it had become a less exciting prospect.

"You know that we could sell this Dwarven funeral itemss at a much better price to the dwarven shops, however are we prepared to tell them from where we got it. Not that we qw stole it, We did tell the Dwarves at the Citadel that we found some things. They never asked--we never told. So do we risk telling these dwarves where this stuff came from?"

"Dorn, what do you think--you being a dwarf?"

Saying their thanks to the Concierge, the three step out onto the street, seeing it for the first time in the light of day. Many of the buildings that had seemed cold and closed up as they had passed in the night were now fronted by colourful awnings and the street was fairly busy with people about their business.

Following the instructions, the group start to retrace their route a little, heading back towards the circle. As Vaslin addresses Dorn, he tugs at his beard and doesn't answer for a moment. He had been somewhat withdrawn since the death of his cousin, and not at all his usual self.

When Vaslin repeats the question, he looks up. "Er, well I suspect most of it is fairly generic stuff" he says after a moment, speaking as they continue to stroll up the street. "What I mean is, its not obvious it has come from an ancient dwarven tomb." He glances around for a moment, to make sure he wasn't being overheard. "I suspect Harius probably would have asked us about it - but we did leave rather abruptly and maybe they never got the chance..." He shrugs somewhat fatalistically. "I suspect we'd get better prices in the Undercity, but on the other hand we'll find it harder to get there."

He gestures ahead of them. A short distance away, they can see the shop that the Concierge had referred to. Furjar's Flying Carpet. Steel shutters had been pulled back from the door and windows of the shop, and a carpet, seemingly floating on nothing, floated above the door, its end curled up and with the word 'Furjar' written on it.

"Let's just see what we can get here eh?" says Dorn.

Luc's face brightens up as he smiles at his own brilliance... "hey guys, why don't we ask for a price then go to the dwarven section of town and ask for a price there. We can then sell to the highest bidder!"

He pats Dorn on the back as he continues, "with you along master dwarf we should have no trouble getting into that part of town!"

The further Vaslin walks out in the bright sunshine the better she feels. The flow of people moving about on their daily business and everyday affairs lent a degree of normalcy to the day.

"That makes good sense, Luc. A fine upstanding dwarf, like our good Master Dorn, selling some dwaven items would probably raise fewer questions, than one of us doing the selling. Glad you with us Dorn I like having to strong men to protect me."

Reaching the shop, the three marvel for a moment over the obviously magical floating carpet above the shop door. A street urchin passing by grins at them. "It's only an illusion!" he says in passing, chuckling at the gawking tourists as he continues on his way.

Dorn grunts in annoyance and pushes his way through the door into the shop, with the others following. A small bell jangles as the door is opened.

Inside, the shop is filled with curios and strange looking things - a lot of them covered in dust. Closest to the door is a huge stuffed black bear, standing up on its rear feet in a mastery of taxidermy and presumably hidden metal supports, its front paws raised up as if about to attack. Other stuffed animals litter the place here and there - some simply heads on plaques - bringing back memories of the Whistling Stag inn in Quaervarr - some, like the bear, the full animal, usually in a suitable pose.

Glancing around, the three spot several Neverwinter made water clocks clustered on a table to one side, the shelves beyond laden with cubes of different colours, their use unknown. Ornate vases ranging in size from just big enough to hold a single flower up to a mammoth urn over three feet tall and a foot wide are arranged on shelves on the right hand wall. Picture frames, some empty and some with works of art - of dubious quality it has to be said - are both hung on the wall in places and stacked several deep below.

Racks of kitchen related tools can be seen - strange devices for cracking bones, strange knives, devices for extracting and inserting corks into wine bottles and lots of various glass and pottery ware fill free-standing shelves in the middle of the shop.

Nearer the back, several glass topped counters can be seen and a beaded curtain beyond covers a passage leading to the back of the shop. Of a shopkeeper, there is no immediate sign.

Luc steps up to the counter, and slams his palm down a couple of times to makes noise and calls out, "hey! Anyone in?"

Lucretia can see that the counter is glass topped, and has various pieces of gold and silverware laid out below it, jewellery, small ornate boxes, tiny statuettes etc.

Almost as if his mind were read, just before his hand touches the glass, the bead curtains part and a figure appears. "Ah, a customer!" says the man, adjusting his turban. He is a strange looking fellow dressed in red robes with a matching red turban, a striking black bushy beard and slightly wild looking eyes. His accent is clipped, certainly not local and reminds Lucretia a tiny bit of his adopted father Winston - who had originated in Waterdeep, though it is clear from the skin of this fellow that he probably originated from further south than that.

The man looks over Lucretia, grinning almost inanely, then leans to get a good look at Vaslin and Dorn. "Muscle, Beauty and Wisdom eh?" he quips, a twinkle in his eye. "But who is who!" He chuckles to himself for a moment.

"What can I do you for?" he asks.

Luc can't resist snickering as he says, "Our dwarven friend here is the muscle... the little lady be the wisdom... and obviously I'm the beauty!"

He then turns serious as he ask, "now, you the owner here?"

And when the man replies that he is , he swings his arm in a small, courteous circle ending with his palm up, gesturing Vaslin to resume.

Vaslin smiles widens at Lucretia's words. She laughs lightly while she gives Luc a thorough once over admiring his beauty. "Yes, he is a beauty as much as some of the fine things we are looking to sell, if the price is right. If not we will move on and will find a a discerning buyer who truly will value their worth.."

Vaslin take a long look about the shop as if evaluating what she saw and making a judgment. Nodding her head at some objects and shaking her head at others. Mostly for effect, but also because there were some interesting items and others she couldn't figure out why he kept them. The shop was full of was a real mixed lot of items.

The man's face falls a little as he hears that the three in front of him are here to sell rather than buy. He puffs out his cheeks for a moment, then shrugs. "So, er what have you got then?" he asks, sounding just a little disinterested.

Vaslin notices the change in the merchant's demeanor. Of course he would not present an eager face to someone who wanted to sell something to him rather than buy. However they needed to at least offer the goods to him and see what he would give for them.

"What say you, Shall we see what he will offer us?"

Dorn nods. "Aye, get the stuff out of the bag and show him" he says.

At Dorn's words, Vaslin starts pulling out the stuff from Yvandel's bag. There was no real rhyme or reason to what came out of the bag. First was the a string of small pink pearls, then the black opal pendant on a fine gold chain, then brass knuckles, made of wrought silver and gold. She laid them out carefully allowing each to be seen clearly not dumping them out in a pile--personal jewelry she grouped together in one grouping.art objects in another grouping ,and decorative household items in another.

As Vaslin laid out each piece she carefully watched the merchant for any signs of reaction and for which pieces. It would be good information to know when they got around to negotiating. She could push the price a bit more if she knew which pieces he was really interested in.

When she had finished laying them all out she gestured to the array she had laid out. As you can see these are all very fine pieces nothing is ordinary about them. Vaslin picked up the strand of pink pearls.

"I want you to look closely at this particularly fine strand of pearls. Notice there luster and shine and that they are all perfectly matched." Vaslin begins her spiel presenting their treasures in their best light.

Furjar looks on intently as Vaslin starts pulling things out of the enchanted bag, occasionally picking an item up to study it more closely. A large magnifying glass appears from somewhere and he starts to appraise the items, even as Cleo pulls more out of the bag, pulling out a notepad and making some notes in a pretty much illegible scrawl.

"Phew! This is probably more than I can afford to take on!" he says after a few minutes work, still scribbling.

Eventually, he sits up straight and looks at his pad. "Well, ok - I could just about do it... Let me make you an offer for the lot" He looks between the three of them. "Twelve and a half thousand crowns" he says after a brief pause. "My best price."

Luc raises his eyebrows in shock as the man gives his price, which apparently is half of what Vaslin had appraised the items to fetch. There could have been a margin of error in appraisal sometimes, but he didn't think Vaslin could be that wrong!

He looks at Vaslin and shakes his head at her as if to say "no!".

The trader chuckles as he sees Lucretia's look, and then slaps his thigh, laughing outright. "Alright, Alright" he says cheerfully. "You can't blame me for trying!" He gestures at the various items laid out in front of him. "A more serious offer to you. Twenty five thousand gold." He shrugs. "Though I confess I will not be able to pay you in just crowns!"

A smile cracks on Luc's lips at the mention of the revised amount...

"We could accept gems as well as gold... but do you have any arms and armor, or magical trinkets for sale?" he asks...

At Lucretia's speaking glance to her when the merchant named a price at half the valus she had assessed. Vaslin was in complete accordance SHer smile remained but at an effort. Before she could day no deal, The merchant revized his offer to something closer to fair.

"No, you can't ne blame for trying, however I know well the worth of these items. Your new offer is at least \ reasonable, and yes gold, gems, and if you have magical items, armor, and weapons to trade we can make up the difference in that manner. However, there are more of us that have a share in this and will have to come in to see if they can find what they want."

"You'd have to go elsewhere to purchase weapons or armour..." replies Furjar. "As you can see, I tend to specialise in the more obscure..." He cocks a head on one side. "That isn't to say I might not sell something you might be interested in..."

He pulls out a small book from an inside pocket of his robes, and consults it.

"What sort of magic might you or your companions be interested in?" he asks. "I have access to a variety of items - and, given a couple of days notice, can potentially get hold of a much wider variety..."

"If you are in a hurry, then this is all I could possible sell you..." He starts to read out from a list, including prices. (OOC: follow links for the prices and what the stuff does)

Cube of Frost Resistance
Dust of Dryness
Efficient Quiver
Eyes of the Eagle
A Figurine of Wondrous Power - Silver Raven
Feather token - Swan boat
Bird
Glove of Storing
Gloves of Swimming and Climbing
Helm of Comprehend Languages and Read Magic
Portable Hole
Stone of Alarm
Sustaining Spoon
Universal Solvent

"Plus a number of technically non-magical, but stuff you may find useful..."

Sunrod
Tanglefoot Bag
Tindertwig

"How much can you give us in coin right now and how long will it take you to get the rest?" Vaslin gets down to the nitty-gritty of this negotiation.

Luc holds Vaslin's arm and asks her, "Can I ask you something? With Herod and Larz gone, and considering Blondung did not join us... I believe there should be a 8 way split. Am I wrong?"

He continues, "If that is the case then it should be somthing like 3125 coins per person..."

"I think we should go and have a talk with the others first before we sell off the stuff. As I have a favour to ask..."

"Okay, That is a good idea. Let's gather up the stuff for now and consult with the others before finalizing this deal. I do feel that his offer is fair enough.bbAfter all he has to make a profit when he sells them." Vaslin tells Luc.

Furjar looks between Vaslin and Lucretia, then shrugs. "Obviously, if you wish to purchase items at the same time as selling things, then I am sure we can come to a suitable exchange rather than having to deal in lots of heavy gold pieces and so on!" he says cheerfully. "Are there particular things you are interested in getting? Weapons? Armour?" he inquires. "I may be able to recommend other vendors in the city if it is something I can't supply myself."

Luc sighs and asks, "well... ı am particularlay interested in a specific ioun stone... deep red it was I believe, and spherical. Can you tell me how much it will cost?"

He turns to Vaslin and whispers, "that is what I wanted to ask the group, I need to borrow 500 gold from each person."

Furjar raises an eyebrow. "Ioun stones eh? You sound quite knowledgeable about them! Quite rare these days" he says, though it isn't clear if he means the knowledge or the stones themselves. He cocks his head to one side with a sly grin on his face. "Of course, they are not so fashionable any more. Though mebbe that means they can be bought for a bargain!" adds in an optimistic tone. He shrugs. "I'll make enquiries and see what I can find for you..."

"I am interested is a mitril chain shirt that is magical." responds Vaslin.

At the mention of discount Luc's face brightens up, "when can you have a price for me?"

"I could probably arrange something by tomorrow afternoon..." he replies to Lucretia.

Turning to Cleo, he frowns in thought for a moment. "There aren't that many mages within the city, or at least not that many who are prepared to cast spells to enchant items, but I've heard the dwarves below do have the ability to craft magical enchantments within their forges - mostly through the power of their gods." He shrugs, his frown disappearing, then looks to Lucretia again.

"If you place your order now for ioun stone, I give you discount of 100 gold!" he says with a glint in his eye.

"Hmmmm..." responds Dorn. "We'll have to see if we can go visit the dwarves of Sundbarr" he says, using the name of the dwarven city buried some way beneath their feet.

The party reunited

Meanwhile, Merrell and Cleo retrace their route, making their way towards Furjar the Flippant's shop - having remembered passing it on the way. Coincidentally, Milo, Ceely and Yvandel are also walking back from the Hall of Everlasting Justice towards Baldiver's - and spot in the distance Merrell and Cleo. Meeting up, the join up just outside Furjar the Flippant - his shop marked by a flying carpet floating in the air outside the door, the word Furjar woven into the underside of the rug, curled up at each end to be readable to those approaching.

As they greet each other, Yvandel peers through the window. "Hey, Lucretia and the others are in here!" he says, tapping on the window to get their attention.

Merrell looked at Yv and smiled. "Don't bother tapping on the window Yv. I'll get their attention when I go inside. I need to see if this fellow has any magical items that would be useful for our trip. Perhaps that would be useful for you too puppetmaster." he said addressing Yv as he pushed his way into the shop.

The mage made his way to the others in the group once inside. "What are you up to Luc?" he asked the burly warrior as he came to a stop beside his friend. He leaned closer, "I think we have a guide. He'll be by later to meet us all and get aquainted."

Inside, Milo and the others can see that the shop is filled with curios and strange looking things - a lot of them covered in dust. Closest to the door is a huge stuffed black bear, standing up on its rear feet in a mastery of taxidermy and presumably hidden metal supports, its front paws raised up as if about to attack. Other stuffed animals litter the place here and there - some simply heads on plaques - bringing back memories of the Whistling Stag inn in Quaervarr - some, like the bear, the full animal, usually in a suitable pose.

Glancing around, the newcomers spot several Neverwinter made water clocks clustered on a table to one side, the shelves beyond laden with cubes of different colours, their use unknown. Ornate vases ranging in size from just big enough to hold a single flower up to a mammoth urn over three feet tall and a foot wide are arranged on shelves on the right hand wall. Picture frames, some empty and some with works of art - of dubious quality it has to be said - are both hung on the wall in places and stacked several deep below.

Lucretia, Dorn and Vaslin are standing near the rear of the shop next to several glass topped counters, beyond which a beaded curtain can be seen covering a passage to the back of the shop.

"Ah, more customers!" says the shopkeeper, standing on the opposite side of one of the glass counters. He is a strange looking fellow dressed in red robes with a matching red turban, a striking black bushy beard and slightly wild looking eyes. His accent is clipped, certainly not local. He glances between Lucretia and the newcomers, putting two and two together as he sees that the two groups obviously recognise each other. "This is most fortuitous!" he says, clapping his hands together. "Now you can ask your companions straight away to see if they will loan you some money!" he says, grinning almost inanely at Lucretia.

Turning, he steps towards a nearby shelf and plucks up an orb made of black stone with white stripes. Holding it in his hands, he twists it slightly, so that the black and white strips become off-set, showing the stone to be actually made of two halves cunningly fitted together. As he does so, the sound of the street suddenly disappears and his voice seems slightly louder as he continues. "This is a privacy stone, if you wish to confer with your companions in private, then please feel free to do so - I will stand outside its area of effect" He bows once, his turban wobbling a bit, places the stone onto the glass counter top, and steps towards the entrance of the shop, where he stands close to the door, beaming at the prospect of having so many adventurers in his humble shop.

A little bit of experimentation proves the privacy stone seems to do what Furjar claims - allowing no sound in or out of a circle of about 10 feet radius - and the group re-unite, clustered around the glass counter, the various valuable items from the dwarven tomb still laid out where Furjar had been valuing them.

Vaslin turns around to see some Merrell, and Cleo and Milo entering the shop. "By Tymora this is fortunate. Good to see you, we have a fair offer for the goods, but were coming back to check with all of you first, before we finalized the idea. Since you are here you can check out what he might have for trade or sale."

Once he is sure that it works, Milo quickly steps forward. "May Ilmater ease the suffering with what I am about to say!", he says, understanding the double meaning, and hoping someone else notices as well, and then continues, "I have been to the temple, to ask aid of the Defender there, to identify whether Luc's dream was true, and that there is a Maiden of Pain in residence within the castle. I am still a bit sceptical about what has been said, so having an independant view seemed like a good idea. Yet I can't quite shrug off a bit of caution since I came back from my walk last night."

Turning to Luc he says quickly, "Oh, by the way Luc, your friend got the name wrong. It is apparently Naipian."

He then gets back on track, "I would suggest that as I have put myself in deliberate danger by showing my Holy Symbol within the temple, where I would put spies if I was a Maiden, then I would suggest we might not want to stay too long alone in any dark alleys! I doubt my paranoia is warranted, but I would feel greatly aggrieved if I lost one of you because I showed no caution at all!"

Looking over the group he considered very good friend, and which he loved, Milo held up his hands and added, "But there is also something I have forgotten to mention. To anyone, actually," and he looks over at Ceely sheepishly at this point, "but it concerns my time in Silverymoon. You'll remember I disappeared for two days back then, and simple said I was praying at a shrine to Ilmater. Well that bit was true, but I was also helping a young man recover from poison dealt near here. He had been given a map, which he gave to me, of a Temple of Loviatar in the hills west of here. I had honestly forgotten about it, as it was pushed to the bottom of my gear as we travelled, but Luc's dream brought it back to me. I would like to ask you help in discovering whether the Temple is real, and whether by destroying it, we can help this city. I now have the awkward task of asking a favour of you all in joining me on a little side trek from our intended march eastward."

Vaslin just stood there taking in all Milo had said, and then stood there longer afterward. Finally she responds

"Well," Vaslin said with a calmness she did not feel, "Whether here in the city or there such a place should not be allowed to continue on unchecked."

Dorn looks up at Milo as the Painbearer tells of the map he had been given back in Silverymoon, and his idea of a side-trip to deal with the Lovitians. "Let the buggers be and let someone else sort it out!" he grumbles. "I'm more interested in gettin' rid o' these" he says, pulling back his sleeve for a moment to expose his sigils. "Though how far is it anyway?" he asks, too curious to completely dismiss the subject.

Milo smiles as Dorn asks about the distance. He could almost always count on Dorn's curiosity to get the better of him. "About a half days walk from here to the west." He was tempted to say something like 'just a simple amble in the park for us', but knew it might not be the case. They'd thought that before, and lost Larz.

Merrell listened to what Milo had to say. When the preist was finished the skinny mage placed a hand on the larger man's shoulder. "If it's important to you my friend, I stand behind you. You can count me in."

"Besides being the right thing to do," he said looking around at the group, "if we leave an evil stronghold behind us, we have to keep watching our backs."

Milo had thought Merrell would have more sense, but was glad to have his backing. He smiled a little and nodded his head in appreciation of the gesture. Perhaps he could get the others to help after all.

Looking at Ceely, he thought he saw something that made the smile slip from his face a little, but wasn't sure what it was. The last two days had been a great strain on their relationship, and Milo knew he had to change. He was set in his ways, but knew he loved her with all his heart, which meant he had to open up to her, and tell her everything. He had planned for a quieter time, but perhaps he needed to tell her sooner rather than later. Considering some of the other pieces of paper in his gear, tonight wouldn't be soon enough.

As Merrell casts his lot with Milo Cleo adds. "As Merrell said, it must be taken out. I dislike the name of one which reads pain backwards and forwards."

"I agreed to meet the Defender in the temple at 7 bells, so I would ask Luc and everyone else to be back at the Baldivar's at 6 bells. A little chat on what has been found, and then hopefully an offer of help. I would ask again that no-one asks any leading questions until after we have heard from the Defender." Milo says, taking control a little as it is his reason they are going to be doing this.

Lucretia's Stones

Luc hangs his head down as he says "I have a favor to ask of you all. There is an item I'd like to buy, but even if I put in all that I have I am a bit short."

He then squints his eyes and calculates out loud, "with some of our friends gone, and considering Blondung did not bother to come down to the halls with us, the money we get from these items, plus the weapons and armor we sold, should end up in an 8 way split! So I need to borrow something like 500 gold from each of you..."

He then looks down at his feet, his guilt at asking for money showing in his face.

"Well don't leave us wondering. What do you want to buy?" asks Vaslin

"If I am going to part with my money, I would like to know how it might benefit you and hopefully us all"

Luc's head pops up and he smiles as he says, "an Ioun stone!"

Yvandel raises an eyebrow. "Ioun stones? I've heard of them! They wiz round your head don't they?" he asks, before chuckling and starting to tick off his fingers. "First we were sent half-way across the north carrying mysterious 'magical' blue stones for seemingly no reason at all that then turned out to be completely non-magical, then you managed to get your hands on some Chardaly, another non magical stone, but one that has the ability to store spells within it. And NOW, you want to buy another stone - this one properly magical." He chuckles. "Well no one can say Lucretia doesn't have stones!"

He frowns for a moment. "So what exactly does this ioun stone do? I've heard rumours about all sorts of things they can do, but I've never seen any..." He peers around the shop as if hoping to spot it.

Luc's eyes glaze over as he describes the stone... "it is supposed to make me more agile, so that I can dodge attacks and it will make me harder to hit!"

Dorn snorts. "Pah! If yer gonna use magic t' enhance yerself, then use summat to make yerself stronger!"

Merrell listened to the conversation a while before interjected. "Luc's problem brings to the fore something I have been meaning to discuss with the group. We all rely on each other for survival do we not?" he said pausing.

"We all take the same risk every day, laying our lives on the line for one another?" Merrell said nodding yes. "Shouldn't we then make sure each of us is armed with the tools we need for survival?"

"I believe that as long as we're forced to travel on this life and death path we are on that the money and proceedes we obtain should be used to that end. All of the funds should be put in the pot and we should be able to come to some agreement on how it is spent to all our benefit."

"Then when things like Luc's shortage occurs, we all vote on how the money is best spent. This is just something I have been pondering. We make plans of attack, shouldn't thos plans include the group as a whole being fitter with the tools we need to aid in each others survival?" The skinny mage paused to see what the others thought of his plan.

Luc' face brightens up... "thank you all... so can I place my order with this fellow then?" he asks nodding towards Furjar.

And he adds, "can we also wait until I get what I order before we go to the place Milo mentioned?"

Yvandel glances around at the shopkeeper, who is doing his best to appear patient whilst standing near the entrance of the shop. "Look - we've got more money now than we've ever had before - we shouldn't rush into spending it right this second - why don't we discuss it at our leisure this evening."

He looks around the group, frowning slightly at Milo as he does so. "Milo's news is pretty important and everybody should have their say on whether or not we're going to do this side-trek that he seems to be volunteering us for."

At that moment, Furjar the Flippant, seeming to sense from the body language that the group were coming to the end of their discussion, steps back towards them, re-entering the sphere of privacy and coughing politely to get their attention. "I am most full of hope that you have had a productive discussion" he says rubbing his hands together. "Perhaps we can now get on and conclude some business?" he inquires, a hopeful expression on his face. He moves to the counter and picks up the privacy stone, twisting it and slipping it back into his pocket as he moves to the other side. The sounds of the city outside return, almost as if everyone's ears had been unplugged. Pulling a note book from a pocket, he plucks a small pencil from a fold of his turban and holds it poised ready to write.

"So, what orders can I take?" he asks. He looks to Lucretia. "Apart from the ioun stone." he asks

"Well, I'm thinking that the Spoon might be a good idea if we are gonna be traveling a lot, but then Vaslin has a point about waiting for a bit. Ya never know when an Everful Mug might pop-up, that is a wonder of magical creation that is." says Dorn as they start to finalize purchases here. The warrior dwarf was obviously getting antsy, ready to head down to the Dwarven Undercity to see what marvels of dwarven workmanship he could find.

"So, you may purchase the spoon later, when you return to pick up the Ioun stone perhaps!" says Furjar, happy to be doing business. "And I will add the dust of dryness as well!" he says, nodding to Milo. Stepping away, be bustles around the shop, gathering together the odds and ends that the group have ordered that he can supply immediately.

"And you are happy for me to take these" he gestures at the valuables they were intending on selling, "as payment?" he asks. "Obviously, I will give you change!" he grins.

Merrell watched and waited his turn to talk to the odd store keeper. When everyone else had decided what they wanted and had ordered all their stuff the mage waited for the area to clear then he approached Furjar.

Merrell bowed his head slightly, "I have some things in mind I would like to purchase as well, but I also have something to trade." The skinny mage reached into his pack and produced a metal bottle with a cork stuffed in the top to stop it up. <Blue>"This master Furjar is an item known as an eversmoking bottle. I picked up in my travels. It should fetch a fair price." (OOC worth about 5,400gp)

"I would like to trade this and whatever gold it takes, (OOC: should come to @ 200 gold) for a necklace of fireballs, type V (4,500 5,850gp) and an elixer of fire breath (1,100gp) ." The mage paused to see if the merchant had anything to say. "Do we have a deal?"

Furjar peers forward, touching his pencil to his tongue as Merrell steps forward, producing the unremarkable looking flask. "Interesting! Interesting!" Furjar says, looking at the bottle intently as if it would suddenly start smoking. "I'll take your word for it for now - since filling the shop with smoke is not good for stock control!" He chuckles for a moment, more to himself than to anyone else. "Though I have my own anti-shop-lifting mechanisms!" he adds.

Furjar frowns in thought for a moment, then nods. "I think I can get hold of those." He bends over his notepad again. "Probably cost you just shy of 7,000gp - though I'd knock 2,950 off it for the flask here. Make it a round 4000gp"

Having taken all the orders, Furjar bustles around for a few moments, gathering the various things that were ordered, until there is a tidy pile of sunrods, tanglefoot bags and other things on the counter. Spending a few more minutes poring over his book doing calculations, he summarises the transactions:

* SOLD - Various trinkets (25,000 gp) +
- Eversmoking flask (2,950 gp) +
* For Lucretia - Ioun Stone ( 8,000 gp) - (ordered)
* For Ceely - Efficient Quiver (1,800 gp) -
10 Sunrods (20 gp) -
* For Cleo - 5 sunrods (10 gp) -
3 tanglefoot bags (150 gp) -
10 tinder twigs. (10 gp) -
* For Milo - Dust of Dryness (850 gp) -
* For Yvandel - Headband of intellect (4,000 gp) -
* For Merrell - Necklace of Fireballs (V) (5,850 gp) -
elixer of fire breath (1,100 gp) -

TOTAL: (6,160 gp) +

"By my calculations, I owe you about six thousand, one hundred and sixty gold pieces" he summarises, looking a little glum. "Usually I prefer to end my transactions with my customer's owing me money" he says.

He reaches into a pocket, stretching down as his arm disappears up to his elbow, and pulls out a heavy looking cloth bag, which he puts onto the counter. Opening it, he counts out thirty two platinum pieces. He then reaches into his pocket again, and when he pulls his hand free, he has six large diamonds in his hand. "Each one has been valued at about 1000 gold" he says. "Will this do? If not, I can provide you platinum bars - though you might find them heavier to carry" he chuckles.

He shrugs. "Alternatively, I could give you an IOU, available to use against further purchases. Such as the spoon" he adds with a grin.

As the group collect their purchases and leave, Furjar thanks them and walks them to the shop door. "Thanking you for your business!" he says, bobbing his head several times, making his turban wobble. "See you in a couple of days."

The group step outside, joining Milo who had been standing waiting, casually observing the street and the passers by. [Private to Milo: You don't spot anything out of the ordinary, though then again, being a stranger, you do get a few suspicious looks and you remember what Redmane said about the locals being a suspicious bunch.]

Agreeing to meet up else where, the group split up. Dorn, Vaslin and Lucretia and Ceely head off to the south, searching out the strangely named 'Gavin the dwarf'.

Milo and Yvandel head off towards the market place, the puppetteer somehow looking older and more mature, with his two-faced puppet no longer in its habitual place around his neck (the highly recognisable wooden toy left in his room at Baldiver's).

Cleo and Merrell glance at each other, not quite sure where to go as the others head off, leaving them alone on the corner of the street.