"What are ya buyin', stranger?", the slightly graveled voice spoke. "All kinds of trinkets and oddities at the right price!", it said again; this time the owner of the voice showing an assortment of valuable objects. Unfortunately, not a single customer seemed to care about the Naga's wares. He was beginning to grow impatient. This unfortunate merchant was Tarkus, a male Naga that was too stubborn for his own good. Becoming annoyed with the lack of gold moving from someone else's pockets to his, the lizard decided to close up shop and at least see the festival from another perspective that isn't behind a stall.
After wrapping his merchandise in a sack and clipping his folding seat to his back, Tarkus began to explore the other shops. He began to notice many similar faces. "Damn rich humans," Tarkus grumbled. However, his luck was starting to turn around. An extremely expensive-looking wallet was peeking out the side of a tourist's pouch. Just out of reach, at the critical moment Tarkus's arm was firmly grasped. "Tarkus, my friend! I see you've gotten used to how we treat guests in Delteria," spoke the man that still held the attempted thief's arm. The man was Alex Straiver, member of the guild Veracity; a group of traders that don't quite trust Tarkus for reasons that cannot be determined. Grumbling again, the lizard let his target carry on without even noticing. "Ya really know when to ruin the perfect moment." "I can't let an old friend turn to crime, not again at least. Besides, they won't let you back in if you get caught another time." "Don't remind me."
The two wandered to a small shop in upper Bethany. The Sacred Mind it was called. A woman was behind the counter, not short though not as tall as Alex or Tarkus. Stepping inside, the Naga immediately covered his nose. "What in the world is that smell?!" yelled the lizard. "Can't handle your herb, Tarkus? I thought you of all people could," laughed his companion. Standing a bit away from the stronger smells while the two humans talked, Tarkus stole glances at the various spices and ingredients between coughs. He couldn't catch most of their conversation but could tell the two were at least friends. "-Oh, and there’ll be plenty of rich folk there," Alex said to Tarkus with a wink. Alex grabbed his order off the counter, replacing the empty space with a small bag of gold, and motioned for Tarkus to leave with him.
“You can come visit me Veracity’s guild hall sometime. The place is a wonder of architecture up in Barion Square. I'll give you a tour. That is, if this next Nebula doesn't come crashing down on the place.” Tarkus nodded, not quite paying attention to the man. The two parted ways as Tarkus pondered where to go next. He decided on the lower part of Bethany; not quite as savory as the upper city but one can find a nice deal on rare items there.
"This place is a bit of a dump," Tarkus thought aloud. Garbage in a few gutters and a vagrant sprinkled here and there. "Psst. Hey scalehead." Tarkus stopped in his tracks and turned towards the voice. "You wanna buy some stuff? I got clothes, blades, bags, I got everything." Pondering for a moment the lizard simply said a single word. "Shoes." "What?" "Ya got shoes?"
Wearing his new "shoes", which in reality were just scraps of leather decently wrapped around his feet, Tarkus made his way to the main event of the festival at the Church of Midway. Waiting in line to enter, Tarkus shook the hand of Vulcure. Not quite a golem, Vulcure was something else entirely. A sight that Tarkus had never seen before. Inside, the show had commenced. Tarkus took a seat in the second row between a somewhat familiar smelling human and an ogre. He was never really interested these kinds of performances. The dancing and flying Fae bored him to no end. However, shortly after that several magii took the stage to show off their skills. They created fire from nothing to throw at a one another like children threw snow in the cold part of the year. Magick was never something Tarkus had the aptitude for, so he was interested when another could perform it well. Then a human dressed as Coyote and another dressed as Cynthia showed their face on stage. The wolf defeated the tyrant Cynthia as two other mages revealed themselves and ran through the beast with their blades. It was all for show of course but it reminded the Naga of when his sister would take him to the acting troupes to watch whatever show they had on that month as a youngling. Tarkus however, was taken out of his thoughts by a bright explosion of dust in the cathedral. Though part of the play, another event coincidentally began to take place at that moment.
A bright light, lighting up the sky as if it were day, slowly grew in size. "That isn't getting bigger, its getting closer!" Tarkus thought aloud, to the chagrin of his seating neighbors. As the glass shattered, Vulcure with his golems were already at the stage. Tarkus vaulted the seat and its inhabitant ahead of him out of instinct; a feeling of caution and an itch of curiosity coursed through him...
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