The hall breathes easier with the two troublemakers gone, but the relief is thin. The Auctioneer lifts a fresh lot, a pair of brown adventurer's boots with folded cuffs and swollen, creased toes.
A ripple runs through the crowd. Heads turn, hands rise, and the first bids crack out from three different sides of the room.
The Auctioneer
A sturdy pair, fit for road and ruin. Who opens at ten?
Jax stands at the block with his heavy coin bag, watching the price climb as common bidders test their luck against one another.
The Lantern-Skirted Man
Twelve.
The Auctioneer
Fourteen, do I hear fourteen?
The line of bidders tightens. A few of them glance at Jax, not the boots, measuring whether he will crush the room again.
Jax
They are watching the bag, not the lot.
✓ Quest Accepted
Win the brown adventurer's boots
“Here is 200 coins for that pair*I pay 200 coins up front and I grab the boots the brown adventurers boots*”
SUCCESS (Great Strength, rolled +0)
Jax slides two hundred coins from the endless bag and lays them on the block. The brown boots come down into his hands at once, their creased toes warm from the room and the crowd's stare.
The Auctioneer lets the silence sit for a beat, then gives a small, exact nod. No flourish. No relief. Just the sale sealed in the air.
The Lantern-Skirted Man
Two hundred, upfront... for those?
The Ringed Woman
He buys the lot before the room finishes breathing.
The Soot-Coat Man
He is not counting like a fool. He is making a warning.
The clerk draws the verification tray back another handspan, coins still glinting where they were scattered, while the front benches go very still around Jax.
A few bidders lower their eyes. Others keep watching, but now it is not the boots they measure. It is how far the hall will bend before Jax stops paying.
Quest Complete
Win the brown adventurer's boots
+ New Item Acquired
Brown adventurer's boots