The auctioneer sweeps aside the cloth, revealing three matching pairs of heavy French boots, all bulbous-toed, creased, and work-worn. The hall tightens around them at once.
The Auctioneer
Starting price, two thousand coins per pair.
The Soot-Coat Man drifts left of Jax. The Lantern-Skirted Man eases right. Both keep their eyes on Jax’s coin bag more than the boots.
The Soot-Coat Man
He cannot buy forever. Not three lots at once.
The Lantern-Skirted Man
Split him. Force him to spend hard or miss a pair.
Bids snap up fast, each man trying to corner the next pair before the others can blink. The crowd watches Jax like he is the true prize on the block.
The Auctioneer
Two thousand on the first pair. Do I hear more?
✓ Quest Accepted
Win the first pair of heavy French boots
“I offered $299,000 coins right now I'll pay for that first pair”
SUCCESS (Great Strength, rolled +0)
Jax raises two fingers from the block, then settles them back by the coin bag. The bid lands cleanly: three hundred, minus a whisper, for the first pair.
The Auctioneer
Three hundred thousand. For the first pair, sold.
The hammer cracks down. The tray bearer flinches as the clerk slides the stamped chit away, and a few coins spill from the edge of the block.
The Soot-Coat Man
He keeps buying, and still his hand stays steady.
The Lantern-Skirted Man
Then we stop circling. What does he carry in that bag?
The Ringed Woman
Enough to make fools of us, if we let him.
The pair of heavy French boots is lifted from the block and angled toward Jax. Around him, the flanking men tighten their ring instead of backing off.
Jax
The sale goes through.
Quest Complete
Win the first pair of heavy French boots
+ New Item Acquired
First pair of heavy French boots