The velvet-lined box lands on the block, and torchlight skates over silver thread. The boots gleam like a challenge.
The Auctioneer
Our next lot, a rare pair indeed. I open bidding at five hundred.
The Ringed Woman leans forward at once, one hand lifting a fraction. The Soot-Coat Man does not move, but his stare fixes on Jax, hard and measuring.
Jax
Two hundred thousand.
A sharp hush rolls through the hall. The Clerk swallows and checks the stamped chit again, while nearby bidders turn to look at Jax instead of the block.
The Ringed Woman
He means to swallow every pair in the room.
The Soot-Coat Man
Then we learn how deep his bag truly runs.
The Auctioneer lifts the gavel, tense but steady, and the next bid hangs over the hall like a drawn blade.
“900,000 coins here they are I'm giving you the coins now”
SUCCESS (Great Strength, rolled +1)
Jax swings the bulging coin bag up and lets it pour. Gold floods the verification tray, then spills in a bright heap across the block.
The Clerk
Nine hundred thousand, counted and real.
The Clerk’s hands shake, but the stamp comes down hard. The tray rattles under the weight of the last coins.
The Auctioneer
Sold. The lot is yours, on full payment.
The velvet box slides toward Jax. The silver-threaded boots are his now, and the hall feels the cost land all at once.
The Ringed Woman
He is buying the room out from under us.
The Soot-Coat Man
Then we stop treating him like a bidder.
✓ Quest Accepted
Claim the silver-threaded boots
“These Boots are now mine plus the other pair I bought so I have two pairs now”
SUCCESS (Good Willpower, rolled -1)
Jax gathers the velvet box and the old pair together, holding both against his chest as if weighing a trophy and a promise. The seal on the chit glints on the tray, final and official.
The Clerk
There. Both lots are recorded to you now.
The Clerk swallows, then eases the tray back from the coin mound with careful hands. Their shoulders drop a little, like the worst of the room has passed.
The Auctioneer
A clean sale, at last. Let us all admire the miracle of it.
The Ringed Woman
Miracle, or menace. He pays like a baron and takes like a raider.
The Soot-Coat Man
Either way, he leaves with the boots.
A beat of silence follows that, not hostile now, just measuring. Coins lie scattered across the block, and the verification tray sits between Jax and the hall like a finished bargain.
The Clerk
If you are done with the block, sir, I should like to clear what is mine before someone trips over your fortune.
Quest Complete
Claim the silver-threaded boots
+ New Item Acquired
Silver-threaded boots