Jax steps out of the auction house and into the Gilded Purse Market. Narrow alleys press close on both sides, crowded with shutters, awnings, and hanging signs. Hide, beeswax, and street smoke mingle in the air.
Ahead, Master Weaver Elara works behind a stall piled high with pouches and satchels. Her hands move fast over a strip of leather, while customers drift past with quick glances and quicker coins.
Jax carries his new riding boots carefully, the fresh purchase tucked against his side as he approaches the stall.
Master Weaver Elara
Fine timing, traveler. If you have a mind for leather, you have come to the right stall.
Master Weaver Elara
I can mend, stiffen, or sweeten a hide with wax and charm. Best of all, I can do it before the market bells change.
She lays the strip down and looks Jax over, then the boots, with a craftsman's interest. The market noise rolls on around them, but her stall feels momentarily still.
✓ Quest Accepted
Find a store that sells magical coin bags of never-ending things
+ New Item Acquired
Riding boots
“I want a magical bag that can hold more coins”
SUCCESS (Good Diplomacy, rolled -1)
Jax
I am looking for a magical coin bag, one that holds more than it should.
Master Weaver Elara
Then you are not asking for leather, exactly. You are asking for rumor, and rumor costs less than silk, but more than patience.
Master Weaver Elara
I have seen such bags only twice. One was carried by a taxman who never let it leave his hand. The other vanished with a river trader before I could ask where he bought it.
Elara sets the awl aside and reaches under her stall. She brings up a small pouch, plain brown and neatly stitched, then turns it in her fingers as if weighing memory itself.
Master Weaver Elara
There is a stall beyond the spice lane, marked by a blue thread tied to the post. The woman there deals in odd wards and practical lies. If anyone in this market has such a thing, it is her.
Master Weaver Elara
If she has none, she will still tell you who asked for one last week.
She sets the pouch down beside Jax's boots and taps the worn wax seal on a folded receipt, then looks back up with a knowing half-smile.
“I'm going to the trader right now the River trader”
SUCCESS (Fair Agility, rolled -1)