94. The Umbral Market III: Getting Rich

* The party continue living their lives in the weird and wild Umbral Market. But even as they turn their attentions to making more money (in the form of the souls of the damned, minted into large, hellish iron coins) and upgrading their arsenals, the days inch ever closer to their arrival at the Cocytian Docks, a route up to the Third Hell, the self-imposed deadline by which they intend to have figured out the solution to Aerendyl's contractual conundrum: to tell Dispater where the market will be so the Lord of the Fourth might strike a decisive blow against it -- as agreed in the contract Aerendyl made with the Archdevil that spared the elf's life -- while also not violating the many nondisclosure contracts the cautious Ringleader Ibrahim makes all market visitors sign.
* Having finished a busy four nights' with the market stationary and full of lively patrons, the party see to some errands.
	+ Pyt mysteriously buys four kittens from the For Pot or Pet lady and disappears to his room in the Rhapsody in the Shadows.
	+ Wilfred, having just purchased two mistreated, malnourished, sickly pseudodragons from Champ the mean goblin, enlists the help of Aerendyl to rid the little dragons of their diseases.
		- The first of the pseudodragons, a female, has been driven to ferocity by her captivity. It takes 3 castings of Lesser Restoration for Aerendyl to rid her of all her ailments, and each time he touches her too-thin body, she stings him and projects hateful images in his mind with the limited telepathy that all pseudodragons possess. The elf weathers the attacks and heals her anyway.
		- The second pseudodragon, a male, has become a terrified, pitiable thing from its treatment. When Aerendyl reaches for it, the little dragon covers its head with its wings and shivers uncontrollably, offering pleading, placating images in his mind. Aerendyl quickly cures it of its diseases and leaves the poor thing be.
	+ Wilfred goes to the front desk and arranges for half the space in his room to be converted into an enclosure for the dragons. He also orders insects and meats, of the sort that pseudodragons like, to be regularly delivered to the rooms for the remainder of his stay. Ibrahim is happy to oblige and puts the additional costs on the party's bill, at a rate of 1 soul coin per week of feed.
	+ The party encourage Clwyd to have a go at using Speak with Dead on the lucky dip skulls they'd picked up from the Meat N Bones shop. Messing around with the pieces of flesh and complimentary meat glue provided, she's able to get mouths and tongues working appropriately on three of the skulls:
		- The first was a man known as Lucius Johnson, a person who died as a teenager from an arrow to the neck, the arrow having been shot by a bannerman of the Red Baron (whoever that is). He left a childhood sweetheart behind when he died, having never told her how he felt.
		- The second skull, of thicker bone than the first, was one Yurgum Luntgehr. He apparently died to 'the pox' after devoting much of his time to combatting it. He hailed from Harrowstone (wherever that is), a place where the local delicacy was/is fried goat in stone-cooked flatbread. When asked if he had left unfinished business, the skull declined to answer.
		- The third skull, thinner of bone and more angular, was one Cerric, apparently an elf, since they said they died of the Longing. They hailed from Mythenmalar, the great Autumn City -- the same place Aerendyl comes from, though when asked, Cerric said he had not heard of Aerendyl or anyone else ever suffering the Longing in the city, despite the fact that Aerendyl spent hundreds of years there doing just that.
* The next day the group spend some time considering Aerendyl's contractual conundrum:
	+ Aerendyl uses some Locate Object spells to target the contracts they'd signed about the market. He learns that they aren't inside the iron golem's chest any more, but rather are now located in the upper levels of Rhapsody in the Shadows.
	+ Since there had never been any indication of moving documents from the golem to the hotel at any time, Wilfred concludes that there are probably some dimensional shenanigans going on when the golem files things in its chest.
	+ The group covertly confirm that both the Dimension Door spell and the Misty Step spell work within the hotel.
	+ Further, following a theory from Pyt that Ringleader Ibrahim might simply be an identity that a large group of changelings share between themselves (since he's always on hand whenever a changeling hotel worker goes to fetch him, and the two rarely return together), Aerendyl uses Locate Creature: Ibrahim. The spell tells him that the ringleader is by the front of the hotel presently, but as the group are heading that way, Aerendyl spots someone in the guise of Ibrahim going into one of his spontaneously conjured sitting nooks with some clients to discuss a contract.
	+ With the Locate Creature spell still up, the group walk past reception, and Ibrahim gives Aerendyl a knowing smile.
* The group settle into life in the market once more.
	+ Aerendyl proposes that they might consider trying to get some nightmares from the Yee Haw! Infernal Ranch instead of buying an infernal war machine from the hobgoblin chop shop that showed up recently. They all go to the ranch to look into the possibility, speak to a skeletal Southern Belle type -- a mean skeleton in a floral bonnet and matching dress named Nelly -- and learn that typical prices for one such beast would set them back 111 souls. Additionally, they'd need to learn to ride the fierce, carnivorous horses, which is a process that takes *at* *least* a month of effort. Further, if they aren't buying the nightmares up front, they'd need to pay a fee of 1 soul coin per person per day to rent one of the horses while they learned to ride.
	+ The group decide to pay Ibrahim another 5 soul coins to see the market's itinerary up to their arrival in the Cocytian Docks. This involves another simple contract, which Pyt signs while being careful not to touch it. This reveals that among the 59 nights remaining until they arrive at the docks, there are to be four periods when the market stops. None of the stops last longer than 4 nights.
* Equipped with the knowledge of how long they have between stops, the party get to work on their own projects.
	+ Aerendyl pays a soul coin each day and gets to work learning to ride a nightmare. He insists on riding the same beast each day too, hoping to work towards bonding with the intelligent creature as he learns to ride. Thus, he spends his days with the skeletal ranch hands, battling with a nightmare that seems fully intent on bucking him to the ground the moment he even thinks about sitting in the saddle.
	+ Meanwhile, the other three decide to try their luck Playing the Market, in the inscrutable amnizu-filled stock exchange. On this first pass, Wilfred invests 25 soul coins, Clwyd invests 20 soul coins, and Pyt invests 23 soul coins. After a week living an unhealthy, destructive, stress-fuelled lifestyle deep in Infernal finance, Pyt and Clwyd break even on their investments and Wilfred manages to double his money.
	+ With another week until the market makes its next stop, Pyt and Clwyd decide to relax and enjoy themselves, Aerendyl spends 7 more days learning to ride, and Wilfred goes to Play the Market again -- this time only managing to break even on a 20-soul investment.
	+ The market then stops for three nights.
		- Pyt runs his inspiration stall, making a total of 50 souls across the three days.
		- Clwyd runs her small meeting space shop, making 25 souls across the three days.
		- Wilfred works for Molly the candlestick maker, earning himself 7 soul coins and growing a little closer to the affable gnomish gal.
	+ At the end of the trading period, Meat N Bones and the Mask Carver depart the market.
	+ Three new artistic vendors set up shop in the market as it pushes off and continues to hop from shadow to shadow across the cityscape of Dis:
		- **A New You**: a sculpting studio ran by an eccentric human man called Renée. He will carve icy simulacra of his clients for a fee of '66 and 1/3 souls,' though the process takes a week and he can only manage the one per person at any one time. He can also make icy imp constructs that can serve as familiars. These are faster to make, cost '33 and 2/3 souls', and, again, it's a one per person thing.
		- **Grace and Ink**: A tattoo studio ran by a punk rock tiefling named Grace. She offers Spellwrought Tattoos, whereby she can store spell effects in the design, to be released at a time of the client's choosing, at which time it's as if they had cast the spell themselves. These go for the reasonable price of 1 soul coin per spell level, though canvas space can become an issue if one person wants quite a few of them. Further, she has a number of very potent magical tattoo effects, each of which takes roughly a week to finish, requires the whole of the back and the upper arms for canvas space, uses up an attunement slot (almost) indefinitely, and costs 100 soul coins:
			* Attribute Tattoo: a +2 to an ability score of the client's choice, possibly going over 20.
			* Barrier Tattoo: a permanent +2 AC
			* Absorbing Tattoo: resistance to an elemental damage type of the client's choice, with a 1/dawn ability to use a reaction when hit with the element to gain immunity and absorb half the damage they would have taken, gaining that as hp.
		- **The House of Flowing Words**: A calligraphy shop ran by a very friendly tiefling woman named Tao who serves green tea to her visitors. Tao sells wooden tags with beautiful calligraphy on them which, when attuned, grant proficiency in skills, tools, or languages. She makes them bespoke and can fit up to three proficiencies on one tag, though the prices increase massively for each additional proficiency (10 souls for 1 prof, 50 souls for 2 profs, and 150 souls for 3 profs). Further, she has a number of magical brushes for sale, each of which offers some writing-based magical effect.
	+ The party conclude that they really like each of the new arrivals. Clwyd buys a Skywrite Brush from Tao in the House of Flowing Words and Pyt buys an Illusory Script brush from her, both costing 10 soul coins each.
	+ The next day, the are sucked into Ibrahim's Deal of the Day: for 2 soul coins each, they can enjoy unlimited use of the mundane facilities of the spa, as well as 1 luxury treatment. Clwyd says she'll pay for everyone to get in on this, but, in classic Ibrahim fashion, the 8 soul coins for the four of them merely goes on the group's bill. All the same, they go and enjoy an extensive spa day, with Aerendyl and Clwyd both also undergoing some intense age reduction therapy. Aerendyl takes 6 years off and looks exactly the same. Clwyd takes 10 years off and it makes a massive difference.
* With the market on its way to its next stop, and with 42 nights still remaining until their arrival at the Cocytian Docks, the group continue to busy themselves:
	+ Aerendyl, Pyt, and Wilfred go to Grace and Ink to get some Spellwrought Tattoos. Each of the designs is beautiful in construction, elegantly reflecting the nature of the spell being stored on their flesh. With the designs all being quite substantial, they each take a day.
		- The gnome gets a 5th-level Cure Wounds spell tattooed onto his forearms and a Mass Cure Wounds spell tattooed onto his chest -- saving space for the Intelligence-boosting tattoo that he covets badly now.
		- Pyt gets a Reincarnate tattoo on his chest.
		- Aerendyl gets a Dimension Door tattoo on his upper back and an Invisibility tattoo on his upper arm (the latter only taking half a day).
	+ With the rest of his time that week, Wilfred works for Molly. They tend to the hives on Molly's little piece of Faerie's Golden Hills and in their chatting Wilfred learns that Molly was born in Hell and has effectively been trapped here her whole life. It's not the sort of place an ordinary person can just walk out of. He offers her the opportunity to come with the party, should she be so inclined, and she gets a bit flustered, says she wouldn't even know what she'd do with herself if she left, plus there's the bees to think about! But still, she promises him that she'll think about it and thanks him for the offer.
	+ After his tattoos, Aerendyl spends the rest of his week back on the ranch, continuing with his riding lessons.
	+ Meanwhile, Clwyd went back to Play the Market again, this time upping the stakes. She invested 100 soul coins, got sucked into the seedy world of corporate soul finance in full force, *tripled* her initial investment in a single week, but then just couldn't bring herself to pull away from it all. She reinvested it all! And locked herself in for another week of Playing the Market, this time with even higher stakes!
	+ The market stops for two nights:
		- Clwyd is billed 10 soul coins for not running her business.
		- Pyt makes 15 souls over the two-day period.
		- Wilfred works for Molly and they do very well. He earns 18 soul coins for his hard work plus a 9 soul coin bonus.
		- Aerendyl keeps on keeping on with his riding lessons.
	+ As the market gets moving again, the group (minus Clwyd, who's too busy being a corporate scumbag with greasy amnizu and sycophantic imps) note that there was no change of vendors at this stop.
	+ Aerendyl puts in another five days on the ranch, and Pyt decides to join him for the period -- since the party would need at least two nightmare riders if they intent to go this route in the end.
	+ At the end of this period, Clwyd manages to break even on her 300-soul reinvestment, and, in what was a huge relief for everyone, successfully walks out of the stock market with the money in pocket.
* As she's leaving, Clwyd sees Pyt buying 4 more kittens from For Pot or Pet. They return to their rooms in Rhapsody in the Shadows and Pyt makes to disappear into his private room with the mewling kittens. Wilfred asks him what the little creatures are for and so Pyt lets the gnome come see. In his room, Pyt is feeding the kittens to his little ring mimic, encouraging the eldritch creature to hunt and kill them, and then trying to get it to turn into a gold coin.
* 27 nights remain until the market arrives at the Cocytian Docks.