Episode 58

The party makes their way back to Velden City. As the days progress, the weather gets colder and colder. The skies are cloudless and the party is met with a bit of a headwind, but it doesn’t affect their travel time. On the second day, Ingred attempts a loop-de-loop on her solar sail but is hit by a flock of geese. That same afternoon they witness two wyverns circling each other in the skies, assumedly in a mating dance. The party does not disturb them, and the next two days go by smoothly. On the 4th day they see 4 hill giants scouting the lands below. The hill giants are stalked by two stone giants, who are wielding slings. One hurls a boulder and kills a hill giant. A fight soon breaks out between the two groups, but the party flies past before they can see the end of it.

Around 4:00 they arrive back at Velden. As they drop off the solar sails they are not greeted by the captain. The party exits the halos and after a short elevator ride they follow Lily over to the front desk to request a courier. The attendant announces that they have a letter for Lily, from Jared. It reads to meet him at a diner in town called The Spicy Badger in the Indigo Cut District. It is an outdoor eatery, not far from the bazaar, with a mascot of a badger wearing a spice bottle. They get a large table and order food as they wait for Jared to arrive. He shows up after some time wearing casual, clean clothes and a skin toned cloth covering the damaged side of his jawline. Lily gives him a big hug and he follows her back to the table, where he is introduced to the new party members. (Jared is a 17-18 year old man who apparently saved the party’s ass during a sketchy mission in the Sunken Valley. He is blonde with a wide chest and round shoulders and holds himself with good posture. He is a bit sheepish as he converses with them all).

He greets everyone and talks a bit to Ingred and Lily about where to get a new blow gun made. He recognizes that the bone and skull is of a Behir, and asks them about it. The store Brimstone in the Green Cut District apparently does custom weaponry. Jared looks a bit rough but does his best to hide it. K gives him some Unka meat. He mentions that Velden is once again open for adventuring assessments. There is also an auction occurring at Hibiscus theater in the Dream Pavilion. Today is the last day to see it. It can be found in the Violet Cut District.

Jared leads them around town as they go shopping for items. The street barkers can be heard yelling about the auction, the assessments, Ironclad having a discount in the following week, and the Hypnotic Bazaar. It will open its booths for sellers for three days beginning on the 20th of High Cold. Sellers do not need a permit.

They stop at Brimstone first. The forge master is a 6’6” red scaled dragonborn named Mulwell. He is commissioned to make a new blow gun for ingred from the Behir bone she harvested.

Jared leads them to O’Malley’s, where Anthos collects his new items!

As they walk to Ironclad, Jared is caught taking sips from a little flask. Seipora stays outside with the others and has an intimate conversation with him as Lily and Ingred get armor upgrades. Lily tells him not to run off. K convinces Kova about the importance of wearing armor. She is not excited for it.

After they finish their purchases, the party is led to the Hibiscus Theater. Other adventuring parties can be seen wandering about the park. It is a cylindrical theater. There are 5 pink seating areas that are designed to look like flower petals. A stage rests in the center with a large curtain covering it. The party enters the theater after saying goodbye to Jared, who’s demeanor becomes more obviously drunk once he’s no longer in their direct company.

They approach one of the two semi-circular front desks. A receptionist asks them if they will be buying as a group or individually, to which most of the party answers individually. Except K and Lily, who decide to team up. They are all given a small white clam-shaped token which lights up red after being pressed. It is used to bid on an item, she says. She asks if they want to be on the floor level or in a private balcony. K is quick to pay for a balcony and everyone follows him up to their box seating. Many people can be heard in the audience. There are all sorts of languages, but no Goblin or Solheimian. A waiter pops by before the auction starts with champagne and sparkling water for K (upon request).

The curtains fall lazily to the floor, revealing nothing but an empty stage. As the murmurs die down, a well dressed man enters the stage while twirling a wand in between his fingers. He wears a velvet suit, and is bald with a well-kept beard. He bends down and taps the stage with the wand, making a podium rise from the floor. After tapping the podium, a 10 foot disc raises and swirls around the entirety of the theater. It settles back at his side as he welcomes them all to the auction. All the items sold here are rare and unique, collected and held by the famous auctioneer Hank Asprig.

As Hank is introduced, a handsome human man with slicked black hair walks up onto the stage walking arm in arm with a strikingly beautiful blonde woman. She is introduced as Miss Adah. Hank gives a wave to the audience. It is announced that the minimum bid is 100 gold. There will be food service at the halfway mark. Miss Adah puts her hand on the podium and pulls out a large, 3-4 carat trilliant cut ruby ring with a gold coral band. It is from the Tivia Region. The starting bid is 6000 gold. The betting stretches on until it’s sold for around 93,000 gold pieces. Many pieces of jewelry are sold within the first half of the auction.

During the halfway mark, attendants step into the party’s private balcony to deliver some criminally delicious garlic bread balls and more champagne. They convince K to try a bite as Ingred shoves some balls into her bag. K steps away to use the restroom and comes back absolutely baffled over the bathroom attendants. “Are they slaves!? Why would they offer you towels??” None of them seem to be familiar with the concept except for Ingred. She mentions that they sometimes hand out mints.

The auction continues. The second batch of merchandise is composed of collectors items and magical intrigue. The starting item is from a newer adventuring party in Gaoli! It unfurls, revealing the first edition banner of Lilith Brightfall. The party loses their shit. The initial bid is 10,000 and it is quickly sold for a whopping 650,000 gold. However, this isn’t the only banner being sold tonight. The second is a banner of Seipora Pashar, the second-most beloved member of Iridescent Soulfire. The banner of Seipora in her courtroom attire starts at 8,000 gold and is sold for 470,000. Lily leans over the side of the balcony and offers to sign them. As a light shines on the party, many in the audience murmur excitedly. The offer is put aside however, and the auction goes on as scheduled.

The next item is a pelt with Red Dragon scales, enough to make a set of armor from. Lily sets a starting bid of 2,000 gold, and K follows with 2,400. K has a betting war with a gentlemen in the audience and the price quickly rises to 5,000 gold. It is only after a series of unrecognizable curses and some intimidating from K that he wins the sale. The audience gasps as he purchases the scales for 6,000 gp.

The following item is something considered to be unique and quite dangerous. It is a box of Weal or Woe. The sale starts at 1,000 gold and sells for 2,000. None of the party dares to bid for it.

Afterwards, an interesting gem is brought to the stage. A faux Phoenix Tear, capable of removing ailments, strong curses, and illness from its user. The starting bid is 2,000 gold and Seipora clicks in. A woman fights for the gem, stating that it would look good on a choker necklace, but stops bidding after the price reaches 2,500. Seipora almost purchases the tear but another voice shouts out “3,000 gold!” as the auctioneer delays the final purchase. Seipora soon runs out of money, but Ingred pitches in for it and the gorgeous gem is sold to Seipora for 4,000 gold.

The final item being sold is an enchanted Sabre, elven crafted with a gold hilt. The bidding starts at 1,000 gold. Ingred clicks in and is joined by a cowardly rich man. She slowly keeps outbidding him, and his whimpers become more and more quiet as it progresses. Ingred eventually tells him that he should probably stop bidding, and she purchases the Sabre for 3,200 gold.

As the auction closes, the party is given their respective items. K tells Ingred he’s proud of her after she purchased her first magical item. She gets mushy over it. They leave to collect their armor and weapons that were purchased earlier in the day and discuss options to stay in Velden for the night. It’s brought up that they could crash at Jared’s place, but the party decides to rent rooms at a hotel instead.