Finn put down the book on his lap. He was horrified. Taking off his shirt he looked at the scar on his chest.
'What have they done to me?' Finn thought, prodding his chest and belly in search of something that shouldn't be there. It all felt fairly normal, at least he couldn't feel anything unusual.
Picking up the book again he checked the chest regions of the monsters to see if any organs had been circled. He saw that the werewolf, vampire and the troll had their hearts circled. Their lungs and kidneys had been crossed out as if deemed unsuitable.
For a while Finn sat there dazed at the thought that he might have a foreign heart in his body. How is he supposed to know what that might cause. What if he turned into a monster himself?
After panicking for a few minutes, Finn tried to think things through. He calmed down after remembering a few things.
First of all he hadn't noticed any negative side effects yet. He healed faster than before too, that was a big plus. Finally, there isn't much he can do about whatever was put in him, it's part of his body now.
He also realized he should keep it a secret for now. The guild had been really good to him so far, but they might not welcome a potential monster.
At this point Finn became curious. Which creature was the donor? What attributes of that creature might he have gained? And would he have any of its weaknesses?
Finn decided to do some research into the three possible donors later.
Packing away the book, Finn got into his leather armor and put all the random stuff he wanted to get rid of in his sack.
Heading out into the night, Finn realized another possible benefit of his transplant. His eyesight worked well in dim and dark places. At first he credited it to the long time spent underground in the factory, but now he remembered he was as blind as anyone else when the lights were put out.
Finn made his way through the city to the address he had received. He stopped at a stall on the way, it wasn't midnight yet and there were still a few around. Most of the stands were selling food, they barbecued skewers of meat and vegetables over glowing coals.
It looked delicious but what Finn needed was a cloak. The stand he stopped at sold them in different sizes and styles. Finn picked out a dark grey one with a hood that matched his leather armor. After paying the man a silver, he put on the cloak and continued on towards the address.
He bought it to avoid being recognized, it might also be easier to hide with it on.
The address ended up leading him to an old house. Finn was about to knock on the door when he noticed a small arrow drawn on the doormat in white chalk. When he looked at where it pointed he saw an narrow alley.
Intrigued, Finn went over to check it out. There was another small arrow pointing in, so he walked down the alley with his right hand resting in his dagger.
Eventually the alley opened up into a courtyard. It was an open space between the buildings that normally only had a couple benches and a well. What Finn saw tonight was completely different.
Cloaked figures bargained with each other in hushed voices, occasionally coming to an agreement and passing over the goods. There were representatives of most races here, Finn saw the thin tall figure of an elf selling plants he couldn't recognize, the short stout figure of a dwarf haggling with another over the price of some steel weapons. Occasionally he spotted some even smaller figures buying stuff, but he couldn't tell if they were halflings or gnomes. There was even a goblin in one corner, it had propped up a few planks and used it as a table to display strange and dangerous gadgets.
The feel of this midnight market was quite different from the ones during the day. There were even a couple lookouts posted in the surrounding houses in case the city guard came.
Finn decided to approach the goblin first. Goblins were known to be thrifty and could use whatever they had on hand to make something else. The goblin was interested and bought the whole lot, but only paid him 57 coppers. Finn had forgotten that the reason they were good at upcycling was that they were misers.
With an empty sack, Finn looked around for something interesting. Stopping in front of an elf selling potions, Finn was mad when he saw the price. 30 coppers each. If he had sold his mystery potions for that amount he would have doubled his profits.
The potions this elf was selling looked strangely familiar. When Finn noticed the elf was trying to hide its face nervously, he understood what was going on.
'Why Old Pete, fancy running into you here' Finn said casually in a low voice, before swiping the two potions that were for sale.
'So, do you know what kind of potion they are now?' Finn asked.
Petrosilinus whipped out another three potions before answering.
'It's a healing potion, a low quality one with a few unusual components. Whoever made seemed to prefer using a combination of magical blood and herbs as an alternative to holy water as its base. Still works fine, but not really worth as much as a standard health potion. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some potions to sell on behalf of my friend.'
Finn pocketed the potions, he wasn't interested in selling them any more. It was a nice surprise to meet Pete and get his potions back, next time he wanted to come here he knew who to ask.
Walking around some more Finn found something to buy. A dwarf selling knives had some throwing knives on display. After some haggling Finn got a set of three for 2 silver, it would probably cost more than double that from a licensed blacksmith.
Finn also spotted something else, someone was selling silver weapons. These weapons were especially effective against werewolves, wraiths and a few other incorporeal creatures. The coating of alchemical silver on a weapon allows it to work as a magic weapon and wound creatures normally immune to ordinary steel weapons. Wraiths and ghosts were rarely encountered in the city, but the city guard's silver swords would able to cut them down should they appear. Werewolves were a different matter, having an almost allergic reaction to anything silver, the wounds inflicted by silver weapons would not heal until the wound was washed and would inhibit their natural superior regeneration.
Out of curiosity, Finn purchased a set of three silver crossbow bolts for 25 coppers each. That was almost triple the price of a normal bolt, but Finn thought it was worth it.