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A Foul Light Shines
44: What Best?

44: What Best?

The road to Archer's Market was becoming very familiar to Bait. He had taken it on his own now on multiple occasions. It was a nice little walk just him, Bahzugs, and a fistful of strange cheese ingredients. It was especially late when the pair arrived at Ben's cheesery. No matter, Bait just find open window like last time. This time, Bahzugs even help. Bait called the goblin dog over by a window too high off the ground for Bait to check. Bahzugs leaned against the wall, and Bait climbed on him, nearly losing his footing over the goblin dog's oily skin. He jimmied the window and, indeed, found it open. He ordered Bahzugs to lift him higher, and the Goblin dog did his best to stand up against the wall and push Bait into the unlocked window.

It was a surprisingly narrow window for Bait's large goblin head, but eventually, Bait squeezed through, tumbling into a store room with various ingredients in it. Bait fought his every impulse to sample them. He would need to know their tastes to invent the best cheeses for them, but not today. Today, find Ben learn how to set up own cheese forge. It took Bait several minutes to find him.

He sat in a particularly plush chair that make Bait think of a throne, only missing goblin dogs and rat-sticks to remind king he no god. A wooden table stood beside him, and a glass of wine and a tray of meats, cheeses, and crackers sat beside it. "Bait! How lovely to see you again. What brings you here in the tasting hour?"

"Bait find strange goop. Also, change name of team to Cheese Acolytes. All to honor you, Ben."

The halfling swirled the glass of wine and took a swig. "I presume you are here to learn what to do with the goop next?" Ben asked, smiling wide at the young goblin.

"Bait want know! Teach Bait?"

Ben nodded yes to him and began describing the complex process to Bait.

The goblin couldn't write well. Writing not Goblin way, so Bait use mostly pictures to make little diagrams of what to do, only using words when absolutely necessary, like earlier today writing out cheese acolytes. Very important, goblins forgive Bait for writing anything related to Cheese or Rats. With all of this knowledge imparted to him, Bait departed shortly and headed back to Sha-Laial to gather all of the components he would need to create his cheese forge, the first step in the founding of his cheese empire. Bait dream big.

His return to the tower was uneventful. He wanted to go shopping now, but no shop open in middle of night. Usually, no problem for Bait, but Bait live here sometimes now. Maybe best not to take from neighbors. Guards don't like that, especially wherever you live. They always look at you funny once you get caught a single time. Best to pay, dough Bait do what Illaria do, Bar-Grin. Get best price. Trade away as little gold coins as possible. Save for cheese. Maybe even sleight of hand, a few of them back into coin purse. Only against easily distracted people. If they notice, give coins as if mistake. People think goblins dumb; people believe goblin make mistake, even when it intentional.

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The following day, Bait left early, gathering the last items he needed to assemble his forge. He had little trouble getting the needed supplies and setting up his forge in the yard. Having tested three times that he had followed Ben's instructions, he placed in all of the ingredients to forge his first cheese. He knew he'd need to wait a while, but it was worth the wait.

"Is this open for business?" a voice asked from the entryway.

"See Inellia, she handle things," Bait said, ignoring the man.

"We would like to request a weapon be made for us, a magical spear, the most superior weapon."

Bait squinted at the man; he was wearing a generic brown trenchcoat and pants. Even dumb face and hair look boring.

"Bait, say you talk to Inellia; she taking your order."

"Are you saying that you can not make a spear? The greatest weapon?"

"Bait make guns; boom-booms are best weapons. Alvec do enchanting. Make dumb spear magic for you if you pay him big gold."

"So you can't make a spear? I will tell everyone that you cannot make spears, the greatest weapons."

"Bah, you no listen. Get out. Boom-Booms best weapon!"

The man walked away snickering. A few houses down from the complex, the human man in a trench coat stumbled into a tiefling with curly black hair and ram's horns, as well as a tall woman with long red hair.

"Do you know that they can not even make a spear? The best weapon?"

"We most certainly can," Alvec replied. "What sort of enchantments were you looking for? I can make it more accurate and damaging. We can add elemental damage; perhaps you'd like it to strike faster. Maybe you'd like it to strike for the heart more accurately? Once you select the style of enchantment you're looking for, we can start talking about price and timing. Enchanting, as I am sure you know, is a long and expensive process. The more complicated your demands, the more time and higher the cost."

"The spear is already the best weapon; any enchantment would be good,” The man replied, seeming a bit flustered.

"You'll need to pick one, sir. These items are artisanal and made to order. I need to know exactly what style of enchantments you want on it. The price ranges from a meager two thousand gold to upwards of one hundred thousand gold, and the wait time scales along with the cost. A day or two for a simple enchantments, many days for a larger item." Mavec had relayed to the group the dumb argument that Bait had gotten into with another goblin clan about weapons. While unsure if this was related, he couldn't help but feel it must have been. They wanted a spear and were being a bit cagey about it.

"There are just so many good options," They said, stepping back from Alvec and his line of questioning. Illaria meanwhile circled behind them. She'd heard enough to convince her. She gave the middle of the man's back a good hard slap. Very suddenly, the man's body seemed to collapse onto itself, and three goblins emerged from the trench coat..

"Yeah, that makes sense. You guys are the Boar Eaters, right? I wouldn't bother talking shit about our shop, not if you don't want to be kicked out of the city for slander. You won't even get to compete if that happens," Alvec said.

"And don't be thinking we'll take it lying down. You can either be sued or run out of town," Illaria said, patting her sword. The three goblins scurried out of the trenchcoat and jogged away, jeering as they ran. Alvec flashed her a smile and thumbs up as he proceeded towards their home. Illaria returned the smile and quickly overtook her companion taking the lead with a bit of zeal in her steps.