Dawn’s light shines through the windows and open door down onto the shop floor. Bottles and glass jars shimmer as the light passes them where they stand stacked upon their shelves. The shelves are packed with artefacts, ordered in such an unlikely fashion that unless one had ordered them, it would be impossible to find what one was looking for in time.

Thankfully, the two owners of the shop are more than used to finding what they need from the jumble.

By the door stands one long desk sporting a single abacus and a safe. Beneath it sits a variety of intricately beautiful weapons behind a glass screen, made more attractive with an array of jewels and silver chains. Upon the desk sits a perch made from a twisted oak branch, where a creature no larger than a bald eagle snaps up breakfast from a plate of fresh meat. The creature is slate blue in colour, with wings tucked close to its body as it enjoyed its meal. The joints of its wings hold two talon-like fingers, each with a sharp claw which are hooked onto the branch to keep it steady. Its tail curls around behind it, covered in spines that run up its back and end in a flurry of feathers that the creature wears as decoration. Its mouth is similar to that of a dragon, teeth sharp within and scaled lips smacking at the meat juices running over them. Its eyes, black as obsidian and large in its head flick across to another desk sitting at the back of the room where the shop owner lounges, toying with a set of balms.

The shop owner is a tall man. His skin is dark and the colour of chestnuts. His hair falls down to the tip of his spine and it too is decorated with feathers, gold chains and rings. His clothing is simple; a beige tunic held close to his waist with a red and brown woven sash that is embroidered with gold and purple designs. His trousers are dark and the leather boots that cover his thighs to his knees are worn, but well-cared for. On his long fingers, he wears many rings and runes are etched into his fingers with a faded black ink. His nails are the trademark black of a warlock and his wrists are decorated with many bands, bracelets and charms. His dark eyes flick from the balms he is turning over in his hands to the creature sitting on the oak branch.

“Are you ready for our first day, my dear friend?”

The creature looks at him and nods its scaled head, “Wonder who will be our first customer…”

"This is the place?" V stopped at the end of the path leading up to the building. It was overrun with plants and it looked like it hadn't be used in years. Two other buildings stood to either side of it.

That's how you will recognize it. The lady in the village said. It looks like the world around it moved on while it stayed the same. From what I hear they are still looking for people to hire... The lady had looked the young she-elf up and down. Her dress was too short, it showed too much bosom, and the girls long raven hair was down instead of pinned up in the a lady-like manner. Of course... if you're looking for a certain type of work you would be better talking to Madam Glee. Her shop is- V scowled at the woman thnn wondered in the direction the lady had pointed.

It didn't seem to be guarded by spells or booby-traps. In fact, there didn't seem to be any type of protection at all. Olivia cautiously stepped through the open the door and peeked inside. It was full of amazing artifacts and glass bottles. It looked like a jumbled mess, but she assumed it was what the owners were used to. The girl reached into her bosom and pulled out a piece of parchment with her neat hand writing on it. She was so memorized by the shop she didn't notice the creature by the door, or the man sitting near the back of the room.

"Hello? Is there anyone here? I found this application in town... I could really use a job..." She didn't speak in any particular direction, just into the room, her blue eyes continuing to find something new to look with every turn of her head.

The creature looked up from his meal, hearing footsteps on the path outside. The spines on his head bristled curiously and he raised his head to watch through the window. "Master Kale.. we may need a potion or two..." he mumbled, his black eyes following the young lady walking towards them. His nose twitched as he caught her scent and his eyes narrowed in interest.

The man, Kale, lifted his head and stood. He glanced across at the creature with a casual smile, "True, my dear friend, you must learn not to judge so quickly.." He sent a knowing look to the creature when the young girl stepped through the door and asked them for a job.

Kale stepped out from behind the counter and strode calmly out towards the girl. He offered her a smile and stretched out his hand towards her. "What a pleasure to meet you. I am Kale, the owner of this small shop and my associate by the door scowling quite impressively at you is True," he glanced over accordingly before his dark eyes settled back onto the girl, "do you have an application form?"

The girl jumped at the approach of the man, but quickly regained her composure when the man introduced himself. "My apologies. I didn't see you there." She flashed the man called Kale a charming smile, noting the black nails of a warlock. "My name is Olivia, but I prefer to be called V." She curtsied to the creature named True then gently placed her hand inside of Kale's own. "You have a lovely shop Mr. Kale. Here is my application, I would love to be considered for a position here." She handed the man her copy of the application, slid her hand from his, and continued to wonder around the shop.

V crossed over the desk and inspected the balm Kale had been holding when she walked in. It rested on the desk and Olivia, having little sense of courtesy, picked up the balm and opened it. She took a whiff and winced. "Have you considered mint? Mint would make this smell less pungent and add a soothing feel when applied." Olivia looked over at the man and smiled again.

Kale took the girl's hand and shook it firmly. "A pleasure to meet you, V. I will read through your application here." He watched her wander curiously, then unfolded the parchment and read through the application. True wandered along the desk, before leaping into the air and gliding across to Kale's shoulder, where he perched on a strong arm that Kale lifted for him. He sniffed at the page and attempted to make sense of the words, before jumping back across to his perch, where he resumed his occupation of keeping an eye on V.

Kale folded the letter back up and looked across at V, about to speak, when he raised an eyebrow instead. "I hadn't considered it," he stepped across to her side and looked from the balm to her, "why don't you show me these skills passed from your parents and create your own version for me here? It will be a test... almost an extended interview."

True snorted from his perch, "Her real test will be finding the ingredients in this mess."

The door opens with a creak, to reveal a giant of a man on the other end, so tall he must duck under the door, and so wide he can only barely enter by turning on his side. Eventually, though, the man squeezes through its limited frame. "Ey!" he shouts, with little care of how small and how strangely acoustic the shop is. "I am alchemist, buying . . . uhh . . . strong herb and potion ingredient. Having any?" His skill with the common language was loose at best. Without awaiting any answer of sorts, he begins rummaging around the bottle shelves, occasionally muttering something in his native language and stroking his massive beard. "Telling me of this 'dark void'. Is good medicine?"

"Sure." Olivia didn't hesitate when Kale asked her to show him her skills. V ignored the comment True made and tipped the jar onto her finger. The balm was a little too runny to stick to skin and heal anything. If applied, the the balm would slide straight off any wound without seeping into the skin to help.

She flowed around the shop, sniffing one bottle then the next finding the ingredients she needed. She pulled some herbs that were hung around the shop and used a pestle and mortar to mash them. She poured one ingredient and the next into a large bowl, added the mashed herbs, and finally a decent amount of mint. She kneaded the balm until it was the consistency of paste. When she was finished she lifted her eyes to meet Kale's darker ones with a slight satisfied smile. "Done." She pulled a pin from her dress and offered it up the Kale. "Do you mind? The only way to see if I have passed the test is to test the balm itself."

The girl was waiting for Kale's answer when a large man entered the shop. V didn't move, unsure if she had gotten the job or not, she decided she would let Kale handle the man.

Her "Missing!!!" posters had been hung in every establishment in town, it seemed. She had spent the entire day roaming from shop to shop, asking for leads on her beloved mentor's whereabouts to no avail. Defeated and tired, the young half-elf began to wander back to the inn she was staying at when she noticed a giant of a man struggle to fit into the door of a curious little shop she hadn't seen before. "Strange...I swear I've been up this road plenty of times today already. I do have one more poster...Perhaps I'll stop there." She mumbled as she crossed the street and headed to the front door.

Cerys quietly entered the shop and glanced around. Her eyes lingered a bit too long on the strange creature that perched itself in the back, as she couldn't quite tell if it was real. She noticed that a man and woman were talking and concocting something a bit ahead of her, and the large man she had seen earlier was examining the various items placed seemingly haphazardly on the shelves. She set about examining the shop's wares, patiently waiting for a chance to speak with an employee.

Kale leant back against the desk in the shop and watched V carefully. He smiled softly, watching her working with each bottle, sniffing each in turn and working like an expert with the herbs and pastes already available in the shop. He sent impressed looks across to True and studied her actions, taking notes for the future. When she finished, he'd already made up his mind. That was when True squawked suddenly and bristled on his perch.

A giant of a man (@bloonewb) squeezed himself in through the door and his booming voice filled the room. Kale greeted the man with a warm smile and stepped up before him. He reached out a hand and hovered it over the new customer's huge hand, worried for the bottles and glassware on the shelves. "Might I help you find what you are looking for, good sir? Do I hear you correctly? Are you looking for medicine?"

Still bristling from the sight of the huge man, True lowered his head and gripped his branch. He had never seen such a huge creature before and certainly never in the shop. He took up so much space, it was almost hard to see Kale and V. Movement caught his eye and True whipped his head across to see a new customer sneak in through the doorway (@MiraChan). He caught her eye with his own black ones and blinked slowly, watching her. Sensing a slightly different reason behind this girl's visit, he allowed his bristles to fall flat against his back and addressed her. "Can I help you?"

"Yah. Herb and potion. I am Sergei, traveling alchemist," he grunted, rummaging again through the shelves. "Ah! Torsken Slukten! Good for hurting in arm and core! I knowing this! I buy!" He snatched up the little bottle, contained within crushed bits of leaf, strangely purple. On it read "Herb of Saint Elwin". He went for his pockets, but his hands, large and clumsy, accidentally struck another vial, which fell from its perch and shattered across the floor. Yellow smoke billowed out of its remains. "I . . . uh . . . I pay, yah?" Sergei muttered, between coughs.

The young girl took his impressed looks and satisfied smile as his approval. She had passed his test. Olivia replaced the pin in her dress and watched as Kale approached the rather large, almost giant, man. She figured Kale could best help him, while she helped the woman that had entered. She glided over to the woman and smiled. "Hello Miss. My name is Olivia, but you can call me V if you would like. What can I help you with?" At the sound of glass shattering, Olivia jumped and looked behind her. The poor man had knocked over some potion. V returned her attention to the lady. "Please excuse me for a moment. I'm just going to go clean up that mess before it stains the floor and I will with you shortly." She tucked her hair behind her long pointed ears and searched for a rag.

She quickly cleaned up the mess and looked up at the man with a sweet smile. "No need to pay for that sir. It was an accident, and I'm sure my boss won't mind docking it from my pay if it was truly that important." She glanced at the bottle he held in his hand. "Ah. Herb of Saint Elwin. A fine choice to be sure. Might I offer a recommendation of Fisher Vein?" Her blue eyes scanned the shop before it landed on a small bottle containing some of the orange leaf. She brought it over to the man and lifted it up to his eye for inspection. "It enhances the effects of this particular herb." She gestured to the bottle already in his hand and flashed him another smile.

"Oh!" Cerys gasped, startled when True spoke to her. She had turned her back to him as she wandered about the store and had forgotten he was even there. Now reminded of his existence, she began to walk over to him and examine the strange creature that apparently could speak. She had never seen anything like him where she was from, and her curiosity got the better of her. Before she could speak to him, however, the woman that had been mixing ingredients when she walked in strode up to her and offered her assistance.

"Oh, yes. I just wanted to know if..." Before she could finish, the sound of broken glass filled the store. Her eyes widened in surprise as she looked behind V to see that the large man had accidentally knocked over a bottle, spilling its golden contents that upon contact with the floor's surface began to smoke. She nodded at V when she excused herself to clean up the mess. Cerys stood there awkwardly for a moment, brushing away loose strands of silver hair. "She seems busy...I should ask the bird." Cerys thought to herself, and spun around to the back where the blue dragon...bird....thing...sat patiently.

"I was wondering if I could hang this poster somewhere in your store. I'm looking for my mentor, he's been missing for about three weeks now. This town is the last location I know he's visited, and I'm worried." Her voice wavers a bit as she explains her reason for entering. The poster shows a cute but not very well done hand-drawn image of a man with a rugged appearance. Below it is the text "Missing!! Alexander Lacelle, age 27. Half-elf, known to be a bit of a drunkard. Acts tough but is actually very sweet. If you know anything, please come find Cerys Evans, currently staying at the Crescent Inn."

"Yah, is Torsken Nakatik," Sergei muttered, being extra careful to take the bottle from V's hand. He inspected the inner contents closely. "If is Torsken Nakatik, then if I shake . . ." He gave the bottle an experimental swish. When he did so, the leaf bits inside began to glow a brilliant greenish-blue. "Ah!" he exclaimed. "Good, good, yes! I buy!" He took out his little coin purse, then meandered down to the counter and began counting out the coins. "Two . . . three . . . this south land, yes? Use little yellow one?" coins from all corners of the world clattered on the countertop, and he sorted them slowly. Occasionally, some of them would slip off the counter, and he would mutter a little "hask clata!" or a "ernge ulsed!" as he bent down to pick them back up.

"This is the place?"

"This is the place?"

If the young woman had two working eyes she'd be blinking them wildly. It was beautiful! To some this place may have seemed run down and overrun with vines and an overshadow of the "unknown" but to Zaray this was paradise. In her home town of Cryptea they had mysterious oceans and mounds of smelly trash.

Working as a garbage collector had it's connotations but it put food in her belly and change in her pocket. The girl's father had been a garbage collector, and his father before him, so you could say the Lor family didn't have much going for them. Eventually she had gotten in cahoots with a group of fellow collectors who took to stealing the garbage and making a profit from it, scrapping metals and re-purposing items. They really meant it when they said one man's trash is another man's treasure.

Eventually this wasn't enough for motley crew, and they pooled all their money to buy a shitty ship, to take to the other worlds and systems to steal other people's "trash". How exciting! Life became a bit more chaotic for Zaray as she constantly was on the run, not having anytime to settle down or create real relationships with anyone besides the enemies she created here and there.

As different strings pulled the original crew apart, they took a huge leap deciding to scrap their ship they had worked so hard to buy, and just split the money and go their own ways. Zaray found herself a bit lost until she found this shop. It had been a rumor for awhile that this shop held a key to a treasure far beyond normal trash piles.

Walking in, Zaray tried not to make herself too noticeable as she looked at the items around the shop.

Kale leaned back against the desk to watch his new little apprentice at work. She was a natural. Charming, confident and very knowledgeable. He watched her flit about the shop with the giant man struggling to navigate the small dimensions of the shop; he was tall even for Kale's standards! He pushed himself up and slipped out of the shop floor and through an archway behind the desk. The archway was concealed by a thick deep purple curtain that was fraying and dusty. He ran his finger along a series of books and folders, looking for one cover in particular.

True bristled again at the sound of the glass breaking sharply on the floor. He hissed lowly and rolled his eyes, watching the giant man to see what more damage he could possibly do. He kept his black eyes on V too, watching her work. He was suspicious about her, she was almost too good at what she was doing. She must have been part-elf, because her ears were pointed and as far as True was aware the elves were nice enough people. Perhaps it was her dress, perhaps it was his lack of enthusiasm for anyone new, but he just couldn't put trust in her.

He felt eyes on him again and turned to face the girl (@MiraChan) that had walked in earlier. He blinked slowly at her, listening carefully. He squinted at the page she held out and looked over the picture. He couldn't read the words, and the picture on the poster wasn't very useful, it looked like the girl had drawn it herself. She must have been quite young. True sighed, "How long has he been missing?" he asked, looking back up to the girl, "have you considered attempting to track him? Kale has an old spellbook somewhere with tracking spells and powders..."

Kale slipped back out of the room with a scroll of parchment in his hand, to see Sergei (@bloonewb) counting money on the desk. "We are in the south, my friend, but we accept any currency you have to hand. Not everyone that visits expects to buy something, so we take pride in accepting whatever payment is available." he glanced at V with an eyebrow that told her to take note. He saw movement in the corner of his eye and looked across at another woman that had entered the shop (@MissCapnCrunch). She looked as though she was quite happy just looking for now, so he left her to approach him.

The girl beamed at the man's excitement, almost let out a small laugh when he said he would purchase the item. V turned her head to smile at Kale, but he had turned his back to disappear behind an old curtain. Her smile faded a bit, but she figured he had seen the exchange and that was enough for her. She turned her attentions back to the man. Before she could answer, Kale's voice answered from behind her. Her blue eyes peeked over her shoulder to see him giving her a look. She made a mental note of the information, stepped behind the counter, and waited for the man to pay.

As she waited, she overheard a bit of the woman's conversation with True. She wanted to ask what her mentor's name was and what he looked like, but figured she wouldn't have much information has she had only recently come to the village. When the other woman answered, Olivia offered up a greeting of "Hello, welcome! Let me know if I can assist you with anything", before returning her attentions back to the man in front of her.

"I've never been that far away from the citadel, or from the city in general." Slowly the red-hooded man approached the doorstep. "At least nobody knows me here, right?" His eyes wandered, observing the streets behind him, making sure he still was being watched. "You two can wait outside. Trust me it's better that way." He couldn't see his companions, but he was sure that they where still following him. "Not my first choice of shops, but I'm doing this for the people."

Qickly he opened the door and and stepped inside. As he was doing so the hood of his tattered red cape was blown back, revealing his face. A blue eye glared from underneath his wild medium-long blonde hair. The other eye was covered by a dragon-head shaped silver eyepatch that had no straps and seemed to be directly embedded within the eyehole. A burn-scar stretched from his left cheeck across the missing eye to his forehead. The thin mouth beneath his blonde mustache and above his chin beard didn't show any sign of a smile, nor a frown. He was wearing a black sleeveless leather vest with a white fur-collar. He wore a necklace with counless teeth on them, too pointy to be human, but too small for animal teeth and on his chest was something that looked like a crest or a medal showing a silver rose. His belt was covered with stakes made out of a shiny metal, probably silver.

But if someone would look at him they wouldn't see any of this on first sight. There was something on him that pulled attention on it, and it wasn't the tattoo of a wyrm on his right shoulder. No, it was his whole left arm. At first glance it looked like he was wearing armor, but it wouldn't take too long to see that his arm and hand where entirely mechanical. A complex construct of silver clockwork could be seen beneath the plates that held the arm together. On both wrists, mechanical or not, the stranger was wearing two little crossbows, while the right one was strapped on, the left one was carefully crafted into the mechanical hand.

The stranger took a look through the shop and had to shrug as his sight fell on some knives and swords. He shook his head to get the bad thoughts out of it. Then he placed one fist on his heart and did a short wave with the other without even looking to whom. "Sanguniem erit..." His voice was mature, the voice of a soldier or even a general. -You stupid moron- he thought to himself. -This is not the citadel, nobody will understand your gibberish, let's try that again- "Hello, do you sell quicksilver by any chance?"

Sergei finished counting out the little coins, giving his best approximation of the value of his purchase. He was not very experienced with the concept of centralized trading, and he didn't know which denominations of which coins were worth the equivalent of one sheep. "Is five sheep?" he mused quietly, trying and failing to wrap his head around the little gold triangles, silver pentagons, and transparent octagons. He carefully turned to inspect the other items in the shop. Already, it was getting a little crowded, and he knew that sooner or later he will knock more merchandise, or worse, a person, to the ground if he didn't constantly keep vigilance of his arms and legs. "Tell me about scrolls," he said. At least he could navigate those traditional runes fluently enough.

Kale watched Sergei counting his coins and smiled, listening to him mumble. He leaned across the desk and pushed two of the coins back towards Sergei, "That is more than enough, sir. You have only purchased a small amount." He took the vials and deposited the contents into a small leather pouch to make it easier for storage when travelling, then wrapped the top of the pouch tightly in string. He handed these across to Sergei. "Scrolls? We have many in a variety of languages, are you looking for anything in particular?" (@bloonewb)

True looked up as a man entered the shop. His eyes narrowed and fixed on the man's arm. He could hear it clicking and whirring as the clockwork pieces inside moved his arm. At first glance, he had assumed that it was armour and that this man was some kind of soldier. Now he wasn't so sure. He noticed that the arms held two small crossbows and it made him more uneasy. He heard the man's request and called across to him, "We have some quicksilver supplies, sir. After I have helped this young lady I will assist you." @J Silversmith

The stranger's tall but slim body moved as he stepped back a few inches and scratched the back of his head and smiled "Sorry, I'm sorry... I'll just wait here. He crossed his arms and looked up while tapping his foot. As he realized that he was looking directly at the knives he quickly turned his head in shock. "By the way, I-Im the Inquisitor, N-not that this title would mean a-anything here... But you can call me that if you want, my real name is hard to pronounce. No, n-not that you think I demand you to call me that, you're not an Eye, that's, you wouldn't understand... um... I'll just shut up now." He was saying with an accent that sounded a bit noble.

-Stupid! How should I lead a city If I can't even talk in public.- He thougt.
"Sorry again!"