Fool me once; shame on you. Fool me twice, and I'll trap you inside a pocket world that's actually way better than what we have going on out here. Bring on the pranks!
-Basen Koh on having fun at work
Few people walked the streets in front of Basen's shop. The rare person came and went from the cobbler next door, but Reid found the bakery on the other side closed today. He'd arrived back at the shop before Basen, and the man hadn't given him a key yet, so he decided to spend the time learning the neighborhood.
He walked past the shop, past the bakery, and farther from the grand market. He passed some small businesses that specialized in services—a tailor that did fittings and custom suits and a law office whose window proclaimed its representatives were the most well liked by all the city magistrates.
A window display caught his attention, and he walked into a small shop full of magic items. It wasn't the hodgepodge of varied and unique items Basen stocked. Instead, the shop was meticulously organized with uniform varieties of items. Reid recognized them as the same kind of factory made items that he'd seen at one of the merchant stalls in the grand market.
"Good afternoon," the shopkeeper said. He was older, but not elderly, with greying hair and creases around his eyes. He had simple clothes and walked with a slight limp. "Is there something you're looking for?"
"Not exactly," Reid said. "I actually just started working at the Immaculate Collection down the road. I was just exploring the area."
"Really? What's it like working with Basen?"
"I just started yesterday, so I'm not really sure yet. I'm excited, but there's a lot of work to do."
The man nodded and pulled out a chair from under his counter. He sat down and offered Reid a stool in the corner, but he shook his head. He was still tired from accidentally using his fortitude again and thought he might pass out if he sat down.
"When he opened his shop, I stopped by. Of course, I'd heard of him, and someone at the district historical society mentioned he was moving in and setting up a magic item shop, so I had to see for myself. I could see he was in a little over his head and offered to help him out a little. We're not exactly competitors, so I just wanted to be a good neighbor."
"What did he say? I had to convince him to give me a chance."
The man shook his head and chuckled. "I think I said something like, 'Let me know if I can help you get on your feet,' and he said, 'Thank you, Terrance. If I find myself on the floor with no idea how to correct my dilemma, I will be sure to call upon you.' He's something else."
Reid shook his head. "That sounds familiar. He could have used your help. I think he's a little underwater on things right now. I'm going to try to help him out, but I'm pretty new at this, too. I'm Reid, by the way."
They shook hands across the counter. "Nice to meet you, Reid. I'm Terrance, as you might have guessed. I'm happy to help if you have any questions, but it will be hard if he's already behind."
"Why's that?"
Terrance adjusted himself on his chair and glanced at the door. He leaned in slightly, and Reid guessed it was an unconscious action. Something about what he was going to say made him nervous.
"I'm pretty sure Basen rents his building from the Greymoon Shadows. I heard he borrowed money from them as well."
"Who are they?"
"Organization out of Greymoon. They're known criminals in Greymoon and technically wanted by their king, but in Avennia, they're just another organization like the guilds. They might not do anything illegal here, but they'll be hard to work with. If he's behind, they'll charge interest at not-quite-criminal rates, add on ridiculous fees, and that sort of thing. I bet they want him to get far enough behind that they can petition the courts to step in."
"I'm sorry, this is really interesting, but I don't understand where the courts or laws come in. I'm pretty new to this or any other city. We just had a mayor who basically decided everything."
Terrance nodded in understanding.
"Small towns are self-sufficient like that. Here in the capital, any agreement about debts or rents is going to be a legal document filed with the city magistrates. The contract spells out the details, but usually, there's a clause about settling debts amicably. The two parties will work together to figure out something that works and might not align with the original contract. They say they do that to avoid court fees and the possibility of losing in court.
"But, for the Shadows, their idea of amicable is sending out a four star thug to threaten folks. Obviously, that won't work with Basen. He's not much of a merchant, but he's a powerful mage, no question. That means they can't force him to pay with threats. Instead, they'll let his debt build until they think the courts will let them take his inventory as a direct payment."
"I think I understand. But if their goal is getting his magic items, wouldn't it be easier to just buy them?"
"You might think that. Basen is selling them, after all. But Basen gets to pick and choose how he sells his possessions. I've heard rumors that he won't sell directly to any big organizations."
That matched the picture of the man Reid was beginning to build. He would sell to members, but he seemed distrustful of organizations.
"Huh. How long does he have?"
"That, I have no idea. I don't know any of the details. Everything I've said is speculation. No one is going to take moving against a True Mage lightly."
Now that Reid thought about it, he wasn't even sure if Basen would listen to a court order. He had been pretty nonchalant about stealing some of the items in his collection.
"Wow. I had no idea. Thanks for all the information."
"Sure, sure. Always nice to see another friendly face, and Basen's not really my competition, so I don't mind helping. Nothing unique in here."
"Yeah. I saw a stall in the market with goods like these. What exactly are factory made items?"
"Oh, it's nothing complicated. Some factories in the city have developed special presses to push magic into items. There are downsides. Two stars is the limit. I've heard beyond that the base items break during the process. There are craftsmen who make more powerful items, like the kind of things Basen sells, but they couldn't keep up with the demand for simple tools if they wanted to, and no one wants to pay their prices for things that could be made at a tenth of the cost."
"Where are these factories? Can I visit?"
"Ha! I never thought about it. I get my goods from a factory rep. I'll ask him when I see him next. Come back in a week, and I'll let you know."
"Thanks, Terrance. I appreciate that, and all the other information. I should get back to the shop."
"Sure, don't let me keep you. Don't be a stranger, Reid. Always nice to hear from my neighbors."
When he returned, Reid found the Immaculate Collection's door propped open once more. Basen wasn't around, but a short, muscular man dragged a crate across the floor, toward the window display.
"Hello?" Reid called.
"Ah!" the man jumped. He spun around with fists raised but relaxed when he saw Reid's nonthreatening form. The man wore a leather vest over a bare chest and the shortest pants Reid had ever seen. "Sorry there, guy. Scared me, is all. Shop's not open right now. Not sure if it will today. Basen's usually in the market on Sunday, but I didn't see him on my way through."
"You must be Kris?"
The man brightened. "That I am!"
"Basen told me about you. I'm Reid. Basen just hired me to help manage the shop."
Kris looked surprised at the news and looked Reid up and down again.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
"Did he really? Good for him. Gotta be honest, guy. You don't look like you have a lot of experience. Young. What are you, nineteen?"
"Eighteen, actually," he winced. He didn't think his age mattered much, but it did highlight his probable and actual lack of experience. "I don't have much experience, but I think I can really help out Basen here."
"Sure, sure. Didn't mean anything by it. If Basen brought you on, that's a good enough reason for me. Welcome."
"Thanks. What do you have going on here?"
Reid turned his attention to the wooden crate Kris had dragged across the floor. It was half his own height and filled with several shields stacked side by side and separated by straw. The shields were made from various materials and glowed an assortment of colors with different sizes, shapes, and adornments.
"Oh, I was just putting together some things. Have you looked in the back room yet?"
Reid shook his head.
"Basen calls it his 'Archive,' but it's really a room full of random stuff piled up and tossed into random boxes with no organization. I come twice a week, usually, and sort through items, looking for similar stuff and boxing them up. Then I bring them out here for Basen to unpack. He won't let me do it. Says I'll mess up his system. I think we're about out of room, though."
Reid agreed. The number of unpacked boxes in the room was already untenable. "Were you going to hang these up?"
"Yeah. I figured I should do something. Basen wanted to put new items on display up front, so I figured it's all new, so I can just put some things up there."
"That's a good idea, Kris."
"Thanks. I'd help unpack the rest if I knew what anything was."
Basen hadn't seemed concerned about Reid using his mark on anything in the shop, so he touched one of the shields in the crate that he couldn't sense.
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Greater Aegis
* 5 Star Shield
* Bindable
* Automatically conjures a protective shield to block all mundane and lesser magical damage directed at the binder.
* Grants the binder the ability to conjure a temporary protective shield that can block all mundane, lesser magical, and standard magical damage and effects, as well as provide a substantial degree of resistance to greater magic effects.
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"Wow. Powerful shield."
"You can identify?"
"I can. Do you have your potential unlocked?"
"I do. Just a one star, though. Why do you ask?"
"Touch the shield."
Kris did so, and his eyes widened.
"Oh wow. No wonder Basen hired you. I didn't know this shield was so powerful. To think I was tossing around a five star item."
"That's Greater Mage level, right? Do you want help putting these up? Basen's paying me, so I might as well make myself useful."
"Yep, Greater Magic. And, sure."
They took the shields out and lined them up next to the display. It was a flat wood panel with numerous holes and small metal hooks that could be rearranged. Kris showed Reid where they kept more hooks behind the counter, and they got to work arranging the shields.
"So, how'd you meet Basen?" Kris asked, holding the large Greater Aegis while Reid moved the hooks again.
"I just ran into him in the market. I was helping a tree person, Mr. Foursprout, and Basen came by to see what he was selling."
"Aww, I missed Mr. Foursprout? Damn."
"Do you know him? Basen seemed to know him really well."
"Oh yeah. I've worked for Basen for ten years. Not in the shop, obviously, but doing other odd jobs. Anyway, Basen travels to the tree folk cities—the Torals—pretty frequently, and I've tagged along a few times. I guess something like twenty-five years ago, he saved the Torals from destruction. He's something of a folk hero to them now. I think he's more well known there than in Avennia, honestly. What I heard was that Mr. Foursprout was rooted when all this went down. I don't know why they do that, but you can guess at what it means. Well, he and his wife couldn't leave to flee whatever was happening. Basen protected them personally, and Mr. Foursprout has put up with his nonsense ever since."
Kris hung the shield, and they moved on to another one. Reid idly marked it for his ledger.
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Lesser Magic Shield of the Wolf
* 2 Star Shield
* Bindable
* Grants the ability to growl threateningly, making those who can hear the growl focus on you as a potential threat.
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The ability was interesting, but Reid was more fascinated with the wolf's head affixed to the front of the shield. It looked real. Reid refocused on his conversation with Kris.
"It's hard to believe Basen has saved so many people. Not that I don't think he can't. It just seems like he'd go off and do something else before managing it."
Kris nodded and accepted the shield from Reid.
"Basen has a switch. He shows the world fun and carefree Basen, but when things are bad, there's another side to him. I've only seen it a few times, and it's honestly chilling."
Reid thought he'd seen a few different facets of Basen in quick glimpses. None had made him feel what Kris described, so he assumed it was something else.
They got the next few shields up quickly. Reid tried to step back and look at their handiwork. There wasn't much room in the front of the store, but it looked alright to Reid. He would check from outside later.
"Thanks!" Kris said. "I guess since you're here, what should we do next? I would have probably just tried to get some more boxes together."
"Why don't we unpack some things? I can identify them so they don't end up in the wrong spot. Would you mind writing tags?"
"I can do that."
Fortunately for Reid's fortitude, Kris knew where a ton of supplies were. He dug out actual tags with strings and a pencil.
"Basen gave me a stone to conjure scribe's supplies instead of grabbing some real tags?"
"He probably didn't know they were in here. I got these right before we moved in. I thought we'd tackle the whole thing together, but he's been dragging his feet for some reason."
Reid didn't want to speculate on that yet. His opinion of Basen was still in flux but leaned generally positive. Leah's moment with the man had played a big part in that, plus the fact that he'd hired Reid.
They moved to the first stack of crates just behind the counter.
"Did you pack all of these?"
"Most of them. There were a few that Basen packed himself. I'm guessing that's most of the items in his display cases behind the counter."
Reid glanced at the cases and the variety of colorful items inside. Those were the ones he wanted to identify the most.
The first crate wasn't particularly interesting. Kris had packed them by physical type, and the first crate was filled with a variety of cups and dishware that served predictable purposes, like Reid's goblet.
Reid marked them all, and then they divided writing tags between them and put the items in their rough homes. Most of these were one star items with passive abilities.
When the first hour stretched into the second with no sign of Basen, they took a short break.
"So you can see every item you've identified?"
"Yep! It's pretty neat. It even says when and where I identified them."
"Wow. That's quite the ability. I've never heard of one like it."
Reid had thought about that. It was one of the things he needed to ask Basen about. He'd just finished identifying a few dozen one and two star items, and nothing came remotely close to the amount of power and utility provided by his mark.
"Yeah, I'm really happy with it," he said, deflecting the implied question.
"What's the weirdest item you've identified?"
"Hmm. Probably the dragon statuette from yesterday. The binder will believe they can fly."
Kris laughed. "That's an odd one. I think there's one in the back that's even weirder. Basen said we can't sell it, but you could probably mark it?"
Reid didn't see an issue with it. "Sure."
"Nice! Be right back!"
Kris ran into the back room. Reid wanted to follow, but the hour of work had exhausted him again. He would not be using the scribe's stone for a long time.
Kris emerged with...a head.
The head was small and wrinkled. It was set onto a small wooden platform and surrounded by a metal cage similar to one Reid had seen used to house a pet bird. Kris put the cage on the counter and grinned.
"Here you are. Go ahead!"
Reid wasn't sure what to expect. He touched the cage and jumped.
The head moved. It turned toward him and cracked open an eye. It sniffed the air. Reid didn't know how it was sniffing without a body, but it was.
"Kris! Put me back!" the head shrieked with a woman's voice.
"It's alright," Kris said. "This is Reid. Basen hired him."
"Hmmm. Truth."
The head opened both eyes and looked Reid up and down.
"What are you looking at!?" it scolded him.
"Uhh."
"Just mark the cage, Reid," Kris said. "You can ignore her."
"Hmph," the head said, closing her eyes and going still again.
Reid wasn't sure about interacting with the strange head. Still, his curiosity wouldn't be satisfied until he knew what he was looking at.
He marked the cage.
"Hey!"
He jumped before he could read the description. The head was glowering at him.
"That's uncomfortable! Why did you do that?"
"Uh. It lets me identify...you? I guess."
"Hmm. Truth."
The head closed its eyes again, and Reid reached out. When he made contact with the cage, the head cracked an eye but didn't say anything.
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Bad Advice
* 5 Star Spirit Prison
* Unbindable
* Contains the spirit: Bad Advice
* Once per day the spirit contained within the prison can be compelled to answer a question related to their domain by touching the prison and asking the question, beginning with the spirit's name.
* Bad Advice
* An ancient spirit of advice
* Answers questions asking for advice
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"That is weird," Reid said.
"I'm weird? You're the one prodding people who would rather be left alone!" the head said.
Kris reached out and touched the cage.
"Hmm. Yeah. That's about how Basen explained it, but he put a lot more emphasis on the spirit being named Bad Advice, not Good Advice."
"So the head is some kind of spirit?"
The spirit cracked an eye at him again. "Not the sharpest tool in the shop, this one."
Reid didn't like the idea of something being trapped inside a prison and compelled to answer questions. It just didn't seem right. "Why is she in there? Can we take her out?"
The head cackled. "Nevermind, I like this one."
"Basen can probably tell you more, I don't really know much about spirits."
"Who needs that ridiculous man? I can speak for myself!"
Reid wanted to question the spirit, but the sound of steps in the doorway interrupted their conversation. Basen walked inside. He wore his strange lizard robes and carried a mug from Veris's tea shop.
"Kris! I didn't expect to see you today. Sorry, I'm late, Reid. I had to stop by Veris's to pay my dues. I see one of you put some shields up on display. Great work, they look very nice."
He slowed when he neared them, spotting the cage on the counter. "Ahh...I see you brought out Bad Advice. Did she tell you to do that?"
"No, but I told you to stop wearing that hideous robe. You look like an idiot," the head in the cage said.
"Always a delight to talk to you, Bad Advice."
"She's got a point," Kris said. "Where did you even get those?"
Basen glanced down at himself as though just realizing he was wearing something unusual. The lizards looked as unfinished as ever. "You know the old orphanage near the south gate?"
"The one that burned down?"
Basen pointed at him.
"That's the one! The children there made this for me."
"Oh. That's nice. I'm surprised you're wearing it, though. It doesn't exactly seem comfortable."
"Well, it's the least I could do after burning down their orphanage."
Three pairs of eyes moved from the robes to Basen's face.
"Believe me, it had nothing to do with the robes."