The two suns rose high into the sky before the group met up the next day, Daylor was later than the rest of the group looking slightly dishevelled. He had already received a comment from Inarus when he had walked past him to get stuff from their room. The party had agreed to meet once again outside the academy gates.
By the time Daylor arrived, the party was starting to get impatient, their annoyed looks made him scratch the back of his head and give them all an apologetic look. Amber was sitting in a tree cleaning under her nails with a dagger, Umla was swinging her axes around as if fighting invisible foes with a slight insane look. Inarus was resting against the tree in his robes, Khurda was smoking from a pipe and Aiko was laying in the sunlight, all of them were dressed casually.
Amber was the first one to approach Daylor and take her share of the remaining gold, he handed a pouch full of nine thousand four hundred and thirty three gold pieces over to her before passing pouches of the same amount to each of the rest of the group. Khurda, Aiko and Amber all left to spend their coin by themselves while Inarus and Umla stayed with Daylor.
"So you guys feel like going shopping?" Daylor asked them with a smile while he started to walk towards the bustling city they both nodded and followed him into the city down the hill.
Newport was a bustling city built on the coast below a cliff, originally a castle was built atop the cliff to watch the growing city when the people had moved here to start a new kingdom in the first city. However when the Capital city was built the castle was abandoned, and centuries later it became the southern academy of hero's. Since that had been built the city had rapidly expanded, becoming one of the five largest cities on the continent, however due to it being on the seafront it was also one of the most diverse, having a mix of building styles from different lands and cultures. It was also full of trade goods from different lands making it possible to get a large variance of goods. Which also leads to a substantial amount of Appraisers to identify the magic in the goods sold in the city, and to ensure that no dealer tries to pawn off cursed goods. That mixed with the fact that the city had a larger abundance of adventurers due to the academy who would return from dungeons with magic items that needed identifying.
Daylor needed one of those appraisers himself to identify the egg he had found deep underground admst the horde of treasure. However he had a man in mind for this specific appraisal. He walked through the city, a hand on his right hilt and the other on his purse as the three walked past stalls and crowds. Umla constantly fell behind and had to jog back as she got distracted constantly by the various exotic wears on show.
The party had to stop and move to the side of the road as a large brachiosaurus walked through the streets, a lavish looking travel box resting upon its back. Where a set of what appeared to be noble tourists seemed to be relaxing, a moon elf waiter in tight clothes serving the men and ladies as he gave them his best service smile.
Daylor then escorted the party once more,only stopping when he approached a shop with golden arcs outside of it, hanging above was an overly lavish silver sign trimmed with gold, a magnifying glass carved into the sign.
He opened the door and Umla's nose wrinkled as the smell of strong lavender hit them from the burning incense on its golden plates. The shop's front room was overly decorated with golden skulls and burners on display. There were also many trinkets like raven skulls and random gems so that most people would believe this shop was overflowing with magic, Daylor however this was a trick used by most traders in the magic arts to fool the locals. Most locals wouldn't believe a witch or wizard had any skill with magic unless they looked the part, no matter how powerful they were.
The desk was empty and rustling and banging could be heard from the back office, Daylor placed his hand down on a metal bell on the desk letting out a clear ring that echoed around the store. A few moments later a man in his thirties came from the back, his hair was long and white. Daylor suspected that the white hair was a result of hair glamour instead of age or being naturally white. This was further supported by the walking staff and worn yet fancy clothing making him look more aged than he was. He gave the three adventurer's a soft smile as he waited for them to approach.
"Greetings Gadvuth, how are you doing?" Daylor asked the man as his hand vanished into the small bag as he felt around for the egg, as Umla unslung the axe and placed it on the counter. Gadvuth having originally bared from the eastern kingdoms did not share the prejudice to other races like many around here did, this made him a perfect merchant for the group.
"I am well, as I hope the three of you are. I take it, would you like some items inspected?" he said with a gleaming smile as he looked at the axe on his counter.
"If you would be so kind" Daylor replied as he finally pulled out the egg placing it next to the axe, the large egg seemed to have changed slightly from pitch black to a dark crimson. Gadvuth barely hid the excitement from his face as he looked down at the egg, he held himself back and picked the axe up first taking a glance at it.
"Two suns for me to identify both items" he told them, causing Daylor to wince slightly.
"That's more than the usual" Daylor protested as he took out the two gold.
"The more powerful the item the more it costs to identify" he stated, Daylor only gave an annoyed sigh in response as the man took the axe to an altar he had prepared on the side. It was obvious that the merchants' trained eyes could already see them as good items.
Both Daylor and Umla joined Inarus as they looked around the store, browsing through the magical goods. There were many items on the shelves, from basic tools that would plough fields for farmers, to wands that would make invisible servants to run a house. Daylors eyes fell to a self-serving tea set while Gadvuth placed the axe down and picked up the egg once again returning to his altar.
There was a squeal from Gadvuth as the three party members browsed his wares, Daylor looked to the man with an eyebrow raised as he walked towards him. "Is everything okay old man?"
"Where did you get this?" Gavuth said with a look of awe "I've never seen anything like it, and only heard of it"
"I just found out in a hidden part of a dungeon, why old man what is it?" Daylor asked his interest piqued.
"I will give you twenty thousand gold for it," Gadvuth said without responding to him.
"That's not what I asked," Daylor said with annoyance leaking into his tone as he responded to the man.
"Fine fine, I cannot tell exactly what it is but its an egg of a SSS rank creature" The man replied honestly "And one that seem to change the more its held onto"
Creatures and monsters were often ranked by power, from D rank all the way to tripled S. A rank creatures were incredibly rare; someone may see an S rank once in their life, but a triple S had not been spotted by anyone who had survived for a few generations, only rumours of a few ancient beasts and sailors drunken tales.
"Thanks old man I think I will keep hold of it" Daylor said as he picked the egg back up, Gavuth giving him a sad look but knowing full well he had nowhere near the gold to buy such a thing from anyone.
"My axe?" Ulma said butting in as she waited to see what it did.
"Ah yes, it's an interesting axe, it grants the clear minded buff when attuned to and is also vampiric" he stated to her than sighed and explained to her blank expression "Clear minded means when you rage you can still think clearly, and Vampiric means when you hurt things the axe will heal you a little"
"YAY!" Ulma yelled as she hugged the axe with the affection one shows a child or puppy, before strapping it to her back.
"Right then oldman we are off" he said as he placed five gold down for the magic tea set, putting it into his bag of warping then walking out of the store, His party members following after getting their own trinkets.
The three of them decided they wanted to spend a bit more of their gold, started to go through the other stores and merchants. The first merchant that grabbed the group's attention was a weapon store which was owned by a merchant with bronze skin with long hair which seemed to flicker like flames, behind a set of curved horns. They waited for a group of adventurers to finish trading first however, the main party member who stood out to Daylor was a figure whose armour resembled deep red scales and a large tower shield on their back that resembled a drakes head. They seemed to be inspecting one of the weapons as they spoke to the tradesmen. Daylor however decided not to pry on what they were saying. After a while they took a wrapped up package from the trader with a bow and an exchange of golden suns.
"Ahh how can I help you, I have many weapons from all over." The merchant said when the three of them stepped forward. The merchant spoke the Albuion tongue in a heavy tongue that Daylor could not pin down. His eyes looked around the weapons upon the store, his attention was pulled by a silver dagger with amber runes carved into it. However his gaze was turned away when he noticed the dagger cost over nine thousand suns, which would take most of his money. The issue with highly magical weapons is the fact they tended to cost more than outfitting an army, and even then this item was double the cost of most magical weapons.
"Ah I see you have noticed Grartart, I managed to find that beauty in the eastern desert lands of Doku Érimos. It was in the ruins of a long lost temple to a now forgotten deity, no matter who I take it to they cannot seem to identify the weapons. This suggests the weapon itself may be sentient, alas I cannot bind to it if I wish to sell it so I cannot say." The merchant said, seeing the look of sadness on Daylor's face he had most likely known he could not afford it, yet had chosen to tell him the tale anyway. "I have had it for many years now, if you find yourself with the funds please do return."
In the end Daylor ended up buying a enhancing sharpening stone from the trader for a couple of gold, and Umla brought the same, along with an elegant hunting knife. However Daylor's main interest was that he learnt that identification spells didn't work on something sentient, though he was unsure how the oldman was able to check the egg.
The group's attention, along with everyone else's, was pulled away when an overly ornate carriage, pulled by two of the most elegant horses he had ever seen. Was travelling from a street up ahead, escorted by a large group of kings guard, upon horseback, whispers travelling amongst the crowd as they asked who had come from the palace in the capital city.
Shortly after which Inarus dragged the party into an ally he noticed after he saw a painted sign on the ally, the sign was that of a ring with a skeletal hand within it. Halfway up the alley was a hooded figure who was covering his face, and upon his stall was a set of books that Umla looked at with confusion. Daylor however realised that the titles of them were written in the language of the dead, a language used by many intelligent undead and necromancers.
Inarus brought a few books which seemed to relate to the theory of necromancy and raising intelligent undead, along with a few other books about the subject. Then in the same tongue of the merchant he thanked him for the trade, the tongue itself sending shivers down the back of Daylor's neck.
When the group then moved towards the docks they noticed two directions leading to different auction areas, one of which completely filled Daylor with rage. One of the signposts which pointed towards the east of the docks pointed towards the slave auctions, Inarus knowingly put a hand on his friend's shoulder and instead guided him the other way, the firm grip showing Inarus' own anger at the situation. However as the calmer one out of the two of them his mind knew that if they caused a commotion they would be sent to the cells, and this time they may not get out. Especially seems they had nearly gotten caught freeing a large shipment of slaves a few months earlier, if it had not been for Daylors ability to hold his breath for longer than most people. The two would probably have been found by Daylors need to swim up for air, however they had managed to stay submerged long enough for the guards to leave, and then return to their dorm before they were questioned.
They had thankfully managed to beat the guards to their chambers but had not managed to dry their clothes in time, only not being blamed because the guard could not link it to them directly. Whenever something went wrong within the city they tended to be blamed.
The way Inarus led them instead led to the animal market, due to how much importation came from the other kingdoms it meant alot of animals were also sold here. And for that a large area, almost the size of a city district was allocated to sell and store the many animals.
There were small cages that contained creatures like cats, dogs to Gyalra. A Gyalra is a canine creature with a large front facing horn, sharp teeth which could rip through leather with ease, and a large stinger instead of a tail.
It then had larger cages which contained mounts such as horses and well trained raptors, they had a few carnotaurs and even a war trained elephant. They had many more animals than these of course as there were enough animals to fill all the stables.
The main attraction however was a titanosaur, a creature rarely seen in any land let alone these ones. It was only a young one but it was already towering over many of the other creatures in the cages, it seemed majestic as its long neck bent down to graze on grass that poked up through its cage. However the group once again could not justify spending their funds on any of the animals here and after a short time browsing went back to the academy.