After putting up our dishes we all grabbed our bags and headed out into the streets of Talazen. Lo’Kryn’s memories of the town were limited. He honestly hadn’t explored beyond the Rise all that much. But Cambrin and Ceylas both seemed to have a better sense of places of interest.
“So what’s most urgent? We don’t really have a lot of coin,” I said, tucking my coin pouch into the pocket inside the breast of my robe.
“Cambrin needs a pearl and an owl feather,” Ceylas said, still remembering that she wanted him to identify the magical items we’d found yesterday. “Plus we could sell some of these gems.”
“And it would be sensible to find potions of healing since our abilities to administer healing is limited,” Cambrin added.
“And we’d find potions, pearls, and gem merchants?” I looked around at the rising buildings around us. The large towers of the Palladium Rise were on the western coast of an island. Talazan was build across three segments of land split by rivers. From the road we could see the rising stone walls of the Keep to the south west and beyond that the blinking light of a lighthouse on the far island.
“Mistress Merideth is sure to have some healing potions. Cambrin is aquainted with her,” Cambrin said.
“Oh, she’s great. I know her too. I’ve even sold her stuff for her potion crafting.” Ceylas’s brow furrowed as her train of thought changed. “She probably can’t help with the other stuff though.” She turned to Cambrin. “Do you think we can get pearls from the general store?”
He shook his head. “Actually, it’s possible Mistress Merideth does have pearls and feathers as components for potions.”
“What about Wheels and Deals?” I asked, not exactly sure where the name came from except that it was one of the few places Lo’Kryn was familiar with in the city.
Cambrin and Ceylas both gave me an odd look. Cambrin’s gaze narrowed. “What do you know of them?”
I lifted a shoulder. “Lo’Kryn knows them.”
Ceylas’s brow lifted and she released a soft whistle. “Wow, well your guy moves in interesting circles.”
“What do you mean?”
“Only those aligned with the Wheelers Guild know the location of Wheels and Deals.”
“I guess Lo’Kryn is aligned with them then?”
Cambrin nodded.
“Do you think it’s safe to go there? Are they something shady?” I asked, still not sure why the name had drawn so much speculation from the other two. It seemed like something that was warm and familiar, almost like home, to Lo’Kryn.
“They would not be my first choice. Let us begin at the Herbararium, if Mistress Merideth cannot help us we will venture further west into the city proper.”
I nodded, trusting to their better knowledge of the city. Honestly, I wondered if there might be a jeweler who would be interested in the stones but neither Ceylas nor Cambrin suggested one so perhaps there wasn’t one in the city. I remembered that in the game at home diamonds were common spell components, particularly for healing and resurrection spells so I wasn’t keen to sell those but the lesser gems were probably worth more as coin than stones for us.
Ceylas tended to skip as she moved up the road between what appeared to be mostly residential properties. About three blocks up we passed a larger building carved with even columns of brownstone. In common print the words Book Barron were scrawled across the front and sides. Lanterns hung, unlit in the daylight hours, and the windows were smokey. Heavy wood double doors sat slightly ajar.
Ceylas paid no mind to the building but I could see the way Cambrin inched toward it.
“Not today!” Ceylas shouted back as if she’d seen the almost imperceptable deviation in her brother’s path. “We don’t have time for you to get lost in the books, brother. We’re on a quest.”
I chuckled as he sighed and lifted his chin. “Book Baron?” I asked as Cambrin gave it once last glance before it fell behind us.
“It is a book shop tavern,” Cambrin explained. “Jovial Jennings has owned the place for as long as Ceylas and I have been here and as he tells it thirteen decades prior that. But he’s a Goliath and despite being in his later years he could not possibly be that old.”
I nodded. “If we survive the alligator you could introduce us,” I said, clapping Cambrin on the shoulder. We passed a further two blocks before following Ceylas down a street on the right.
I could smell the Herbararium even before it came into view. The sent of a dozen flowers competing for attention mixed with the sharp tang of unmixed alcohol, scented oils, and a soft steam of some strange fungus hung over the street. It was an odd combination that made me feel a little heady until a sharp tang of lemon and mint spiced the air.
The front of the shop was an equally diverse hodgepodge of strange sights and smells. Vines grew up over the whole building. Rows of garden boxes, clay pots, and wooden buckets filled with all manner of plantlife bloomed and overflowed their boundaries edging into the street. It was an array of colors and a mixture of wild and weedy plants and mushrooms as well as insects. Birds roosted in many of the nooks and crannies of the building.
A large sign out front declared the business, “The Herbararium! For all your herbal remedy needs - Potions, Powders, Ointments, and Salves.” The door was closed but there was a welcoming warm light inside and a simple, “Open” sign in the front window.
Ceylas nudged open the door and held it as Cambrin and I followed her inside.
Rows of shelves and tables arrayed in a warmly aethetic way with clear lines of sight to all corners of the shop greeted us. The displays were filled with bottles and boxes of all kinds. Some seemed like fragile glass or crystal, others metal or stone or clay. Some appeared to be decorative snuff-style boxes with tiny latches. There were even some amulets, bracelets, and earrings wreathed in plants or pouches or tiny potion vials.
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Behind a counter near the rear of the storefront stood a young human woman with long dark hair piled up and streaming down past her shoulder to her hip. Her ice-blue eyes were kholed in darkness, creating a startling contrast to the soft pale, freckled skin, petite nose, and rose-blushed lips. Those lips curved in a mysterious but welcoming smile. “Ceylas, Cambrin, welcome.” She tilted her head as she met my gaze, sizing me up in the same way I’d been doing to her. “You’ve brought a friend?”
Ceylas pranced across and pulled herself up onto a stool that sat on this side of the counter. The counter itself was completely covered in an array of potion craft, bottles, leaves, plants, parchment, and small piles.
“This is Lo’Kryn,” Ceylas said, waiving a hand. “We’re actually getting to do cool stuff now he’s here.”
“Adventure?” the shopkeeper asked. Ceylas nodded. The woman returned her attention to me. She dipped her chin in greeting. “Welcome Lo’Kryn of the Palladium Rise. I am Mistress Merideth Obrigan of the Herbararium. How can I aid you three this day?”
Cambrin approached more slowly. I couldn’t resist turning my attention to browse the shelves. There were perfumes and snuff and all manner of salves from those for softer skin to smoother aging. Some marked as ointments to remove fungal conditions or nail rot. And sippers of male enhancements or feminine wiles. I wondered if any of it really did what it said. Most of what the beauty industry promoted in these veins back home were chemical monstrocities that if they worked at all did so purely due to placebo effect.
“Mistress Merideth,” Cambrin said. “We were hoping you could help supply us for some dangers ahead. We’ve come into a little coin but do have some specific needs.”
“Do not leave me in suspense Cambrin,” she said, her voice just a little huskier. I glanced at her wondering if she was actually flirting with him. (Insight: 11+2=13)
She looked coy, charming really, and honestly keen to help although I couldn’t be sure how accurate my read of her was. I was watching the way her hands twinned together a length of herb strands just inches above the counter so when I lifted my gaze to her face and saw the curl of fingers flickering a wave at Cambrin from her shoulder I startled.
“What the hell?” I muttered, then bit my tongue as I realised I’d spoken my surprise out loud. The other three all looked in my direction. Merideth lifted her chin.
“What is it?” she asked, tilting her chin. Despite appearing human I realised the delicacy of her features were almost elven in their petite lines. Perhaps half-elven then, rather than full-human.
I looked more carefully at the strange fingers that lifted on her shoulder. They’d seemed almost humanoid but as I saw the way they curled and then the peeking small body and beady eyes I swallowed uncomfortably. “I’m sorry,” I said, feeling an utter fool. “You’re, uh, companion, took me by surprise.”
She lifted her left arm to her left shoulder and skritched the furless limbs of the large spider that roosted in the curve of her neck. “Not at all. I am the one who must offer my apologies. Normally I’m not reticent to introduce Zecirrais. He is nothing to fear.”
I swallowed. I wasn’t a fan of spiders, even less a fan of this strange naked spider that was the same pale peach color of her skin and looked almost like a third hand resting on her shoulder.
“Greetings, Zecirrais,” I said, giving the creature a nod. It flickered its legs in a strange wave in my direction and blinked one of its many eyes. I shuddered and instead of approaching circled another shelf to continue browsing the wares.
Cambrin and Ceylas turned back to Merideth. “Actually,” Ceylas said, “we were hoping you had a pearl, an owl feather, and some potions of healing.”
Merideth lifted a curious eyebrow. “Those are specific needs indeed. I can imagine why you might be in the need of healing but what on Essaedris do you intend to do with a pearl and a feather?”
“Actually,” Cambrin said, “those are for me. There is a spell I would practice. It requires these as material components. Odd as they are we wondered if you might keep such things for your potion making.”
“Ahh, I see. Well, you’re in luck to some degree. I do keep pearls for some of the skin ointments I make.”
“Would you have one of high value? It need be valued at least one-hundred gold to have the integrity required for spell crafting.”
“Harder, but not impossible. It just so happens that I put aside a remarkable pearl from a collection recently because I was certain it held value beyond those I usually use to produce my balms. I’ll allow you to test it before committing to the purchase. Does that seem fair?”
“Beyond fair, it is kindness itself. I thank you. What of the owl feather?”
“Actually, perhaps Ceylas would aid in that endevour. I don’t use feathers of an owl in any of my wares but I do happen to know one roosts in a tree behind my home.”
“A quest!” Ceylas crowed, jumping up from the stool and rushing for the front door.
“The spruce pine, lovely. And be careful, it’s quite high up.”
“Ceylas,” Cambrin and I both called out. I turned to Cambrin to defer to him so he continued, “Take Lo’Kryn with you. He’s taller and most likely more dexterous.” He raised a suggestive eyebrow and Ceylas took his meaning.
“Fine, come help me get a feather then.”
I followed her outside and around the side of the building to a large spruce tree that rose easily two stories higher than the already two stories tall building. I gazed up, tracing the trunk with my eyes as I sought out the nest of the owl. (Perception: 8+2=10) About twenty feet up I could just make out a darker patch that might be a nook.
“Where is it?” Ceylas muttered, shading her eyes from the sunlight as she gazed up into the needles of the tree.
“I think it’s there.” I pointed to the shadow but she shook her head.
“We won’t know unless we can get up there.”
“How do you want to do this?” I asked, pulling my rope from my haversack.
Ceylas eyed the rope. She picked up one end, circled the tree, then tied off the end around herself. “I’m going first. If I can’t get up there then I guess you can try.”
Despite the method she’d chosen clearly requiring all her strength, Ceylas inched her way up the tree (Athletics: 17-2=15). As she got higher and higher up I grew more and more worried about the precarious dependancy she had on her small arms.
“You okay?” I called up. She swallowed, grunting slightly as she shimmied the rope up another length and evened out at the height of the shadow I’d pointed out.
“It is a nest,” she half whispered, half shouted down to me. I could hear a soft screech. “Shhhh, girl,” Ceylas muttered to the bird she’d clearly disturbed inside. (Animal Handling: 1+1=2 Crit Fail!) Much louder, the owl screeched, squarked, and as I gazed up I saw Ceylas lean back as sharp talons lashed out at her. (Talons: 5+3=8) Ceylas wobbled, gripping hard onto the rope and pulling herself close to the tree aside from the hole.
“Careful,” I cried up to her as the owls talons lashed out again. She cried out in pain as the sharp claws of the owl slashed into her arm (Talons: 20+3=23 Crit Success!) (Damage = 1x2=2)
“You little shit!” she cried, slapping at the bird. It obviously hadn’t done much harm but she was getting riled up. “Don’t make me eldritch blast you. I just want a damn feather.”
She edged around, peering into the hole as the owl screeched again. I couldn’t understand why it didn’t just fly off.
“Stupid bird, I’m not trying to steel your egg. I just want a feather.” She reached into the owl’s roost then hissed, scrambling again as the owl took another swipe at her.
She reached out, grabbing at the bird (Unarmed: 18+0=18) and wrenched a handful of feathers. She lifted them up victorious. Then, positioning her boots carefully she let the rope lax slightly and slid with an agile grace (Acrobatics: 20!) down the trunk of the tree back to the ground.
“That stupid bird scratched me,” she snarled, lifting her hand to show me the already drying blood on the small gash that trailed her skin. I couldn’t help chuckling as I untied the rope from her waist, wound it back up and tucked it back into my haversack.
“Well, you succeeded in another quest. We can tell your brother you didn’t need me at all.”
“Of course I didn’t need you. It’s an owl, not an alligator.”
I swallowed, suddenly sobering. Because she was right. This had been precarious, but it was nothing to what we were planning to do, heading back into that sewer to face the monstrosous giant alligator we’d seen yesterday.