Return to Normality

[Jalim Mandren]

Jalim hoped that the shop, Underwood Weapons and Effects, would be able to help him - since arriving in the Northern Continent, his strength had waned considerably. An enchantment could well restore the strength the Warder once had.

The walls of the shop were lined with swords and halberds and axes, daggers and spears and a whole host of other weapons; both familiar and foreign to Jalim. The Warder found his way to the counter through a small maze of barrels and stalls full of unfinished blades and an assortment of hilts, guards, scabbards and other miscellanea. At least weapon shops were the same in this land.

A small bell was left on the unvarnished oak counter, so Jalim rang it and waited for the shopkeeper to come out. "This had better work." He grumbled to himself, not the least bit happy with the predicament that Mathwain had put him in.

That and he hated spending gold.

[Taskmienster]

The shopkeeper, recently having sold a bow and upgraded someone daggers, was sitting in the back. His feet were up on a box, his fingers laced behind his head, and his mind wandering with possibilities for the gold. When the bell on his workbench (which doubled as a bartering table) rang he lingered. Best to try and make the next customer thing he was busy with something.

Finally he got up, patted a bit of dust and dirt on his shirt for good measure, and came around the corner. One of his hands wiped across his brow, smearing the dirt on his sweaty forehead. Counting so much gold was a workout. "How do you do, I'm Reginald. What can I do for you today?"

[Jalim Mandren]

Jalim looked at Reginald as he walked out from the back. It looked as though the man was rather busy. The Warder judged this as a good sign; a busy shopkeeper meant a fair amount of custom. That in turn meant he was probably good at what he did.

Jalim unsheathed his slightly curved steel sword smoothly and placed it on the table. "I need you to do something with this. I can't explain why, but since I came here, I've been weakened. Make it restore my strength. I was about twice as strong as the average man in my own land. And could run twice as far."

A draft flew through from the back of the shop and made Jalim's nose twitch. The sweaty man had quite a foul odour. "How much?"

The Warder's hand moved reluctantly to the pouch of money at his waist. He didn't want to spend more than absolutely necessary; everything cost so much on this side of the ocean and it wouldn't do for him to run out. This was a necessary purchase though as he couldn't protect Mathwain in his current state.

[Taskmienster]

Reginald the Magnificentulousness (yeah, he made that up, but it was better than "Reginald, the guy with the Abacus" or "Reginald, the guy who smelt funny after he counted money") smiled at his customer and nodded in understanding while he was talking. It was fairly common that someone would come in asking for some sort of enchantment, and even more common that he would more than likely draw a complete blank as to what they were saying. However, after dealing with a dark elf who was more civil than expected, he was all sorts of ready for the next challenge.

"An enchantment on the sword to increase your strength or endurance would be about 200 gold, each. Granted, it'd also be a permanent enchantment that would allow you to keep that skill. However, I'm not sure I could give you what you had back from wherever it may be that you're from... At most, I'd be able to increase your strength or endurance by about 1.5 times average for that much."

[Jalim Mandren]

Jalim's eye flickered wide for a moment. Such an expensive price. He'd not really expected that - sure, he knew it would not be cheap, but the prices Reginald were quoting would leave no money at all. Maybe, after buying this enchantment, Jalim could find some work.

The Warder shifted his feet a little on the dusty wood-lined floor and moved his hand away from the pouch. Even Mathwain would complain if he spent all the money and that woman could complain until his ears were ready to bleed.

"That's more than I was wanting to pay." Simple truth never hurt when dealing with people, and sometimes the sword was no good. Killing or maiming the sweaty shopkeeper wouldn't get Jalim's strength back. "Tell me, Reginald," the Warder twisted the name, to make it sound almost an insult, "what if you made the enchantments temporary? What difference in price?"

Jalim surmised that his strength would return in time - after all, he was more able to attain the dangerous grace of a Warder when he was healed by the elves - so a permanent magic would be worthless. Waiting for a response, Jalim began calculating other essential costs; when he had figured those out, he would know exactly the price he wanted to pay.

[Taskmienster]

"Temporary enchantments, huh? Well. I could give you a 2 times average enchantment on the weapon, and so long as you are using it the enchantment would work. That would be 200 gold each, still. If you wanted something more low-key, like 1.5 times average, that'd be 175 gold each. But that's the best I could do. You would have to pick which one you'd like, and from there we could go ahead with the process. That is, if you're willing to part with that much gold. My only other suggestion is to go out and do some work for some money and come back when you have more in your purse." The merchant shrugged and pursed his lips tightly, as if to say 'thats the best I can do bub'.