Tell me if you've heard this one before. One of the tree folk, an elephant bonded corva, and a human man walk into a bar. The bartender takes one look at the group and pours them three identical shots. The tree folk extends a branch into the drink and starts soaking it up. The corva reaches over with his trunk and sucks up the spirit in a single gulp. The human jumps onto a bar stool and...
It just occurred to me that this joke might not be appropriate for my audience.
- Basen Koh, asked to provide some entertainment at a child's birthday party
Basen leaned back on his stool and shook his head, smiling at the memory of his encounter with the God Emperor of Urish. Reid and Ebre sat across the counter from him, waiting for the story to continue.
"Good times," Basen said.
"Is that it?" Reid asked.
"Is that it? I meet a man an entire nation of people revere as a god, and you ask if anything else interesting happened?"
"Well, yeah. Did he let you go?"
Basen smiled, showing off his teeth. They were clean, but stained with age. Reid expected the man's many visits to Veris's shop to be one cause.
"As you can see," Basen said. "I still have all my teeth. I don't expect that would be true had I returned to my cell. I'm surprised I didn't break any of them during my stay."
Ebre finally shook off the incredulous expression that she'd managed to hold for nearly the entire story.
"Tensions with the Empire are as high as ever," she said. "I don't know of any direct trade agreement between Avennia and Urish either."
Basen shook his head sadly. "My goodwill did ease some tensions at the time, and Infinium was good to his word. Still, it was only a temporary reprieve. This was decades ago, and our king has yet to come to a permanent accommodation with our neighbors. I don't find this to be a great failing. We still forestalled an immediate return to war, and there hasn't been open conflict in decades."
"Well, thank you for the story and your assistance with my neighbors," Ebre said.
"Think nothing of it!"
"What happened to Hav?" Reid asked. He had a bunch of questions about the story.
"I have no idea. While Infinium let me leave, he was quite adamant that I leave immediately. I assume some of the inn's staff eventually sought him out."
"What was the trowel for?"
"Gardening, mostly."
Reid rolled his eyes at Basen.
"Do you still have the teleportation token?" Ebre asked.
"I do! It's part of my personal collection, however. Not for sale."
"I would have thought you'd have a more powerful teleportation item by now," Reid said.
"Teleportation magic is rare enough that I do not. Besides, as I mentioned in my story, using multiple high ranking items at once is difficult. Even I only have so much potential to go around. The token is more than enough for my purposes."
Reid glanced outside and could tell it was late and well past dark. He hadn't heard any bells while Basen was in the middle of his story, so he didn't know the exact time, but he did know he had a busy day tomorrow.
While Basen had been telling his story, Reid had recovered his stamina sufficiently to create more certifications a couple of times. He'd worked his way down his inventory list and made substantial progress. The problem was he still hadn't even started identifying the items in the archives. Kris had put in the work, so it wouldn't take long to mark the items, and he could alternate between expending essence marking items and fortitude creating certification documents.
"I need to mark everything still in the archives and finish making the certification paperwork," he slapped his hand on the significantly taller pile of magically created papers. "After I pick up my stamp tomorrow, we should be able to wrap everything up. I'll probably go to the Greymoon Shadows tomorrow if I can finish early. Sunday morning if I can't."
"If you don't mind," Basen said, rubbing his beard in consideration. "I'd like to accompany you when you settle our outstanding lease debt."
Reid frowned. "You think there might be trouble?"
"Not at all. I think there might be entertainment."
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Reid's first stop on Saturday morning was the Mage's Society castle in the northern guild district. Despite rising early, he wasn't close to the first person wandering around the building. Most of them had the customary blue robes that marked them as society functionaries, but there were some other people as well.
One group that caught his attention was three people looking over a board posted just inside the main hall. They wore quality equipment, and each person had the glow of at least one magic item. Reid walked up behind them to check out the board. He'd been too impatient to view it during his last visit, but he had a couple of hours before the safety inspector would arrive at the Immaculate Collection. The group discussed a contract one of the men pulled off the board.
"Four star beasties, Gill. Not often the adventuring guilds leave something like this to the Mage's Society. We'll need a full company to clear them out."
The man who'd spoken was lean and dressed in dark leather. He sported a magic wand made from white wood and a small bow across his back. The bow glowed, but the wand didn't. The man he'd spoken to, Gill, wore blue armor in the color of the royal family with intricate gold filigree. He had a plain looking but massive wooden cudgel slung across his back, and he wore a large glowing ring around one gauntleted finger. The third member of their group was a woman in dark red, almost purple robes. She had no visible weapons but wore a circlet that glowed the same color as her robes.
"Aye," Gill said, narrowing his eyes at the notice. "Elemental spirits aren't going to be something the Dusk Guild can just cut through. We'll need some firepower. You alright with this, Sari? We'll take it as primary and look for a few extra people."
The woman nodded. She glanced at Reid, noticing he was alone and not wearing blue robes.
"You looking for something to do tomorrow?" she asked Reid.
He hadn't expected to be noticed, let alone invited on a contract.
"Ah, no. I'm not much of a fighter."
Gill nodded to him. "Sorry about her. Haven't seen you 'roud here before. New member?"
"Yeah. I'm an identifier. Only two stars, but I got special permission to join early."
The group shared looks Reid didn't understand.
"Identifier? A certified identifier?"
"Yep. I work at a magic item shop just west of the Grand Market. The Immaculate Collection."
"Think I heard about that one," the first man said. "Owned by Basen Koh, isn't it?"
"It is! He's my boss. Kind of. Basen doesn't really do hierarchies."
Gill chuckled. "I guess when you're at the top, you don't have to worry about taking orders."
Gill extended his hand. "Gill Hill, leader of Storm Water."
Reid shook the huge metal gauntlet. "A pleasure to meet you. I'm Reid Aveno, shop manager at the Immaculate Collection. Storm Water? Is that your...group? Team?"
"Team, yeah. That's the three of us. We're one of the few teams of dedicated notice takers in the Royal Avennish Mage's Society. Lots of research types and nominal members around here, but we've found a niche. This is Sari, our elemental power specialist."
Reid shook her offered hand.
"And I'm Garv," the first man said. "I'm our scout, information man, and general all-arounder. Gill didn't mention it because it's bloody obvious, but he's our frontman. Gives it and takes it in equal measure—if the rumors are true anyway."
Garv laughed to himself, and Gill shook his head.
"You can ignore Garv, mostly. He's a good scout but not as funny as he thinks."
"This is my first time checking out the board here," Reid said. "Does your team usually take on monster hunting notices?"
"I wish..." Garv lamented, slumping a little.
"Rarely," Sari said. "Usually, people come to the Mage's Society looking for magical help. They go elsewhere with monster notices, so we spend a lot of time helping restore places damaged by monsters, not dealing with the monsters themselves."
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"Right," Gill said. "This group on this notice just happens to be hard to deal with unless you have a lot of elemental magic."
"Which you do?"
"We do," Sari said. "Gill said I'm the specialist, but I've only got fire, lightning, and some small wind magic. Gill has the water effects, and Garv, as you could probably guess, is the one full of hot air."
Garv laughed louder. "That was good!"
Reid liked the group. They seemed to have perked up when he mentioned he was an identifier, so he wanted to remind them and give himself a chance to forge a new connection.
"Sounds like a nice team. Well, if you ever need identification services or a place to sell any interesting magic you come across, keep me in mind!"
Gill smiled. "Nice of you to say, Reid. We come across things from time to time, but we're not much for selling. You buy items, you say?"
Reid nodded. "I'm always on the lookout for new items. Low star items are great, too. If you need something identified, just stop in the shop!"
"We'll do that!"
They exchanged some contact information. Reid still didn't understand all the messaging services within the city, but he was sure he'd figure it out. He wished the team good luck, and they left to register their notice.
Reid scanned the board and found various notice types that he hadn't seen in the Merchant's Guild. He'd yet to check out the public boards in the Dusk Guild, but he assumed those would all require combat skills. As he hadn't picked up anything combat related, and the closest he'd come to real combat was trying and failing to cower in fear before a giant snake under ancient swamp ruins, he wasn't in a hurry to check out the Dusk Guild boards. The Mage's Society, on the other hand, had some interesting jobs.
Most of the jobs required a specific kind of magic or crafting ability. When Reid expanded his power to encompass more than just identifying things and having a glorified notebook in his head, he'd have to keep an eye on the board. For now, one notice jumped out at him as within his power.
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Help wanted: Identifier, scavenging
Reward: 100 Society Points
Pay: 8 Silver per day, plus meals
A family needs help sorting through a deceased relative's estate. The identifier will scan items to determine if they are magical and inform the family. Meals will be provided, and travel to the estate can be arranged.
Limit: Must be able to identify at least fifty times per day, four day limit.
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Reid's ability to identify was from a one star ability, so it was incredibly efficient in terms of essence. He could easily mark fifty items in a day, probably double that without too much strain. The pay wasn't great. It was probably meant for someone who could identify at a non-certified identifier level. Between that and requiring a few days away from the city, Reid guessed it wouldn't be a popular notice. The notice might be the kind assigned to people like Arvind, who'd made a week long journey out to Glarrus. But despite all those downsides, it sounded interesting to Reid.
He grabbed the notice and headed up to the desk. Team Storm Water was wrapping up and waved at him as they departed.
"Found something interesting?" the attendant asked. She took the notice and looked up in surprise. "I thought for sure this was going to be assigned to someone in another week. It's been up here for a week and a half already."
"Wow. I guess the pay isn't great for the time away, but I'm always interested in seeing new things. I'm Reid Aveno, by the way. I'm picking up my certification stamp. I wasn't sure if I could actually take that notice. I joined the society under some special circumstances."
The attendant's eyebrows rose higher. "A certified identifier is certainly qualified. Give me one moment, and I'll see about your stamp."
She left and returned shortly, carrying a small box and followed by a man in blue robes. Wesley Threp had been with Niles during the negotiation when Reid sold the binding potential unlocking amulet to the Mage's Society.
"Mr. Threp, it's good to see you again."
"Likewise, Mr. Aveno. We're both society members now; please, call me Wesley."
Reid smiled and nodded, shaking his hand again. The attendant set out the small box and opened it. It contained an ink pad with some trace magic and a magical stamp. Reid could clearly sense the stamp and frowned when he noticed it was bindable.
"Here is your certification stamp," the attendant said. "The stamp is unique, and Wesley used a special symbol in its crafting."
Reid picked it up. Sure enough, the symbol of his merchant's mark was mirrored on the stamp's bottom, so the stamp it left behind would look correct. Reid was impressed with the turnaround.
"That's a nice touch. Thank you. I can't believe this was made for me already. That's a quick turnaround."
"Worked on it myself. I thought you'd appreciate using your mark," Wesley said.
"I do! I notice that it's bindable. Does it need to be bound? My potential is full, and while I could remove a one star, switching would be a pain. I won't be able to reuse that potential for a while after changing my binding, right?"
Wesley was nodding along patiently.
"Our assessor was so delighted by the quick turnaround on your assessment that he neglected this necessity. The stamp is a one star crafted item and needs to be bound. Not only does it need to be bound to use, but we can't release it to you unless it's bound."
Reid frowned. That could be a problem.
"But," Wesley interrupted his consternation. "You might surprise yourself. Why don't you mark it and then try to bind it? Your potential may have pushed itself enough to gain another star when you try to bind the stamp."
Reid perked up. Basen had never explained how that would work, and Reid had just assumed he'd need to wait for his Merchant's Mark to rank up.
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Lesser Magic Notary Stamp
* 1 Star Scribe Equipment
* Bindable
* This stamp can be used by the binder to magically notarize documents. The binder cannot willingly notarize incorrect or false documents.
* This stamp will deteriorate if unbound.
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"Oh," Reid said.
Wesley nodded. "If you unbind the stamp, you might be able to bind it again before it breaks. If another soul tries to bind it, it will break immediately. If you break your stamp, you can order a replacement from the society for five gold. They're tricky to make, so we discourage using them as disposable items."
"I guess I didn't read the fine print on what it meant to be a certified identifier. Does this let me notarize other documents?"
"It does," Wesley said. "Within all of Avennia, you can serve as a trusted notary. That allows you to witness the signing of documents, however, not to create or approve any agreements on behalf of the Kingdom."
"Got it. I can't notarize deals I'm a part of."
But I might be able to seal deals, in a manner of speaking.
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Merchant's Mark Growth Conditions
* Seal deals between three or more parties
* 2/20 Deals completed
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Reid was looking forward to seeing what his services could do for him. First, he had to know if he had another problem to deal with.
"Alright. Let's see if I can bind this."
Reid reached out. The power of the one star was easy to sense, and he tried to pull the magic emanating from the item into himself.
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You are trying to bind Lesser Magic Notary Stamp, but your potential is full.
Magic Level: Lesser Mage (2 Star), 3/3 Stars used
Bindings:
* Merchant's Mark - 2 Stars
* Scribe's Orrery Stone (Cracked) - 1 Star
You can attempt to bind Lesser Magic Notary Stamp and expand your current potential.
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Reid pushed past the notification that he assumed came from his mark and the Coin of Potential that had originally produced it.
The magic flowed into him in a familiar way, but then it slid back out of him in an uncomfortable rush. It was like the magic hadn't found a place to flow into. He shook his head in resignation.
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You cannot bind Lesser Magic Notary Stamp without naturally expanding or freeing up some of your existing potential.
Lesser Magic Notary Stamp has resonated with Scribe's Orrery Stone.
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Reid paused. He wasn't sure what to make of that last message.
"Didn't take?" Wesley asked.
"No, but my other magic, the source of my identification, just told me that the stamp 'resonated' with another item I have bound. Does that mean anything to you?"
Wesley looked contemplative. "I've heard of something like that before. It can happen with crafted items. It usually means a crafter can combine them in some way. Is your other item crafted?"
"I have no idea, honestly. Basen loaned it to me. Are you saying you might be able to combine the items if they're both crafted?"
Wesley shook his head. "No. Not me. I can make these stamps, but I'm not much of a crafter outside of them. A master might be able to."
Reid would need to see if Ramsey could help him out. If he could somehow combine the items, then maybe he could still use the scribe's stone with his stamp. Assuming Basen didn't mind.
"Well, I guess that's something I can deal with later. For now, I can't take the stamp unless I bind it?"
"Correct. If you still need to turn in certifications, you can return them here unstamped, and someone else can notarize them on your behalf. You'll still pay a filing fee and a nominal notarization fee. The stamp allows you to skip that part and even deliver certifications by courier instead of in person."
Reid nodded. He'd been worried he wouldn't be able to certify the items.
"Alright. I guess I'll be back for the stamp. Can I still take that notice?"
The attendant had been listening with interest, and she nodded.
"You're still able to identify, even if you can't certify items on site, so this notice shouldn't be an issue. Would you like to set up a time to meet with the contractee? They've provided availability with a twenty-four hour notice period."
Reid did so. Basen would get along without him for a few days next week.
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The shop was closed when Reid walked up. Basen was nowhere to be found, and Kris had mentioned he wouldn't be in, so Reid got to work by himself.
He propped the door open to let in some fresh air, flipped the store sign, and started tidying up. Broom in hand, he worked his way down one side of the store and back up the other, sweeping the dust and dirt out the door. He went to work outside, sweeping the stone walkway clear of dust. He threw a few small pieces of paper and a length of rope from the street into a bin inside the shop, leaving the shop's exterior neat and tidy.
Reid liked starting the day with a little organization. Thanks to the purification marble he'd bought from Leah, he woke up feeling almost fully clean and wanted to carry that feeling through his day.
After putting away the cleaning supplies, Reid concentrated on creating more certifications for the items he'd already identified. Given the template of the blank forms and his ledger's description of the items, he could create the documents already filled out. The stamina drain was pretty minor, and he'd made it through a few dozen by the time Basen strolled in.
"Good morning, Reid!"
Basen was wearing a bright teal bathrobe, holding a book under one arm, and had just returned a pipe between his teeth. He grinned at Reid, noting his shop manager's confused expression.
"Good morning. That's...a new look."
Basen shook his head. He spoke around his pipe this time, slightly hard to understand.
"You haven't known me long, Reid. I wear this bathrobe much more frequently than my other ones. It's a classic!"
"Alright. Why are you wearing a bathrobe?" Reid had never seen anyone just wear one around, out and about. He'd been to a few bathhouses, visiting various small towns in his youth, and had seen a few similar robes, but they were always worn inside the bathhouse, not on the street.
"Why not?"
"Well. Modesty, I guess."
"That's never been one of my strong suits."
"Fair enough. Are you going to change before the safety inspector gets here?"
"That depends. Have you found any pants here?"
Note to self: have Basen leave some clothes at the shop. In the Archives, preferably.
"Where do you live, Basen? Did you just walk out of the house like that?"
"I have a lovely cottage just a few miles south of the city, on the banks of the Liandre river."
"And you walked here wearing that?"
"I'm not sure."
"Have you ever considered just having a normal day?"
"Not in a great many years, my boy! Now, if you'll excuse me, I drank a lot this morning, and nature is calling."
Basen left his book and pipe on the counter and walked toward the Archives. The bathroom was tucked away in the corner of the back room. It was small but serviceable, with the same running water and plumbing that served the rest of the city. Reid needed to look up Urvi again. Not at work, though. That was the problem with coming to a new city; he'd made too many new friends in a short time. He was still settling and didn't know which relationships would stabilize into long lasting, deep connections.
Reid picked up Basen's book.
Making Bacon - Hog Rearing and Pig Farming Quarterly
The cover had a picture of a pig that seemed to be eating piles of money. It was one of the more ridiculous things Reid had seen, but that list was growing increasingly erratic. A quick flip through the pages told him it was a genuine book about pig farming.
Reid didn't think there should be enough demand for a quarterly book about pig farming, but it was right in front of him. He narrowed his eyes and flipped just to the title page.
Editor in Chief - Basen Koh