Rajir took Izzy into the front chamber where a few people greeted him with handshakes and claps on the back. He noticed that the dwarves were no longer there; Rajir had mentioned that they typically kept to themselves even when they traveled for business. Despite that, they had contributed to a gift for Izzy in thanks for healing one of their number. When Rajir handed over the small pouch, Izzy’s mind went to just about every role playing game he had ever played.
“Reward: 100 Gold,” he thought to himself.
He took the pouch, surprised at the lack of coin jingling or weight. It felt like an empty, little sporran which he found funny because he wasn’t wearing his make-shift kilt anymore. Izzy wrapped the clasp of the pouch around the belt of his pants and did his best to be gracious and thankful, not knowing just how appreciative to be. Rajir caught his eye and nodded slightly, seeming to approve of the amount of reaction from Izzy.
The others told him that the rest of the gift was inside the pouch and that Elana had found and put the rest of his spell coins in there as well. He caught some of them smirking at each other and he grumbled something along the lines of “that was thoughtful” and “I’ll have to thank her when I get the chance”.
Rajir extricated Izzy from the small group of cat-people and humans saying they were going to see Yelric about some business and that he didn’t have a lot of time before he set off for his night shift. The mostly black cat person who had greeted Rajir the night Izzy had come to stay with them handed Rajir a small sack like a lunch bag. He took it, opened a pouch on his belt similar to the one that had just been given to Izzy, and slipped the entire lunch bag into it like it was nothing. Izzy checked his face so as to not give too much of a reaction, but his brain was short circuiting.
“Mini bag of holding!” he screamed in his head. “I have a little bag of holding. Holy shit. It’s bigger on the inside!”
He gave a casual glance around to make sure nobody was watching him flip out inside his head, but Rajir was making a big deal about moving to the door and all eyes were on him. Izzy moved to catch up and soon they were both outside.
Izzy couldn’t help himself, he grinned impishly as he opened the pouch on his belt and stuck his arm down to the elbow. He retracted his hand and stared at it with a stupid smile on his face.
“Oh yeah,” he thought, “maybe I can get a handle on this magic thing after all.”
He stuck his hand in again and thought “one gold coin… please?”
When nothing happened, he frowned and looked at Rajir’s back.
“So,” Izzy said, dragging the word out and trying to sound nonchalant. “How does one go about getting something out of here.”
“Out of your dimensional pouch?” Rajir asked, casting a quick glance behind him. “You just kinda think of what you want and it should pop out. Is it not working?”
“I just…” Izzy started, pausing for the right words without being too obvious. “I just haven’t run into these before where I’m from. Trying to figure it out.”
Rajir seemed to accept this answer in stride and kept walking.
Izzy tried again but for something different that he knew should be in there.
“One spell coin,” he thought.
Something struck his palm softly, and he pulled his hand out. It was clutching a small, silvery coin. On one side was a stylized character which he instinctively knew meant “Inferior Spell Coin”. The other side was an embossed emblem of an upside down “V” with three evenly spaced lines through it. The top and bottom read “Created by the Coinmaker Guild” and “Value makes all equal”, respectively.
“Umm… So, Inferior Spell Coins are currency, yeah?” Izzy said, trying to think of something less stupid to ask. “I didn’t have any before. A bit of something from the folks I saved?”
“Yup, ISC can get you most things you need; food, supplies, a warm bed and roof. It also powers most everyday things. Ovens, lanterns, stuff like that. Real deals and purchases, the ones that really matter, happen with graded spell coins, particularly the infused ones. Those other ones you have will get you pretty far.” Rajir explained, turning towards the next building over. “Despite that, those dwarves were uncharacteristically generous. Paid for the pouch and tossed in 300 ISC. There’s about 450 after all the others pitched in, and I think Elana also went out and got some healer’s potions to toss in there. That’s quite the haul! Though, it isn’t even close to what that Grade 4 infused spell coin you used. That was worth something like 5000ISC.”
“Hmmm…” Izzy grunted, trying not to lament the loss of wealth too much and putting the coin back into the pouch. It disappeared almost as soon as it broke the seal of the pouch. “Quest completed,” he whispered to himself.
His mind worked over what Rajir had just said. From the description, the currency system made a lot more sense to him than the one back home. Here, the currency you got was actually directly usable, not just some piece of paper or a number on a computer that was a stand-in for something with real value. He was curious about how the spell coins were made, but decided to not push the topic as it seemed pretty fundamental to how the world here worked.
Rajir had walked up to the door of the next building over and reached down to grab the handle of the door and pushed it open. He gestured for Izzy to go first and Izzy obliged. Izzy started grinning again after taking a few steps inside.
The room was like something out of the fictional world that followed a boy with a scar on his forehead. It had been a hot day and as he walked in the temperature switched immediately to cool and inviting. This seemed to clash with the warm golden glow that emanated from the beautiful, honey-colored wood with which nearly the entire place was made.
A large U-shaped counter stretched along the back wall and up both of the outer walls. There were glass cases built right into it with shining works of jewelry and weaponry and numerous shelves cascaded down the walls above and behind the counter. Izzy looked up and saw some joists and ornate wood working high above his head. He was pretty confident that the height of the ceiling didn’t match with the height of the building outside.
In addition to the ambient glow of the space, several candles floated about the space appearing to congregate around particularly beautiful pieces of work, their orange light dancing across the wares. Ornate swords and jewelry reflected the light from the candles invitingly, drawing Izzy’s eyes to them reflexively.
The blues, reds, and greens of gems seemed to pop in exaggeration and Izzy had a feeling that the proprietor was a marketing genius. Everything was laid out to either draw you further into the building, make you see beautiful things no matter where you looked, or long to just stand there and take it all in. As soon as you walked in, you would be wishing you could have just one of these wonderful works of art.
With a giant smile plastered on his face, Izzy unabashedly strode deeper into the room right up to the counter along the back wall. He looked back at the door and noticed that there hadn’t been a bell on the door to alert the owner of customers.
“That’s brave,” Izzy thought. “Somebody quiet enough could time it to come in and sneak something out.”
The moment he had the thought, the hairs raised on the back of his neck. There was suddenly a feeling of danger and dread at the thought of stealing anything from this beautiful place. As he worked to put the idea of theft as far away from his thoughts as possible, the feeling eased and he relaxed again against the counter. He looked at Rajir, and raised his eyebrows at the knowing expression on the cat’s face.
“Couldn’t have warned me?” Izzy said, beginning to scowl at Rajir.
Rajir shook his head, “No, my friend. Because then it would have literally been the very first thing you thought of when you came in and it would have ruined the experience of everything else in here.” He looked around the room and said, “This place is truly wonderful, I wanted you to get a feeling of that before you encountered his anti-theft magic. Don’t worry, he doesn’t hold it against anybody; if he did he wouldn’t be able to have any return customers. Just sit still and breathe if it kicks up again, it reads your intentions and Yelric trusts it completely. I’m not entirely sure how it works, but if you’re still in here it means you don’t really intend to steal anything.”
Izzy gave a wary glance around, “That’s… reassuring. And creepy.”
“Oh no…” A deep, slow voice said from behind Izzy, making him whip around. “Creepy? That just won’t do. Not in Yelric Mooni’s Emporium of Fine Goods and Enchantments. Tell me friend, how can I help you such that you don’t go around spreading such slander about my wonderful establishment?”
Izzy took in the large figure standing in the doorway leading deeper into the building. It was about two and a half meters tall with vaguely purple skin and curly, deep red hair on its head. It was wearing stately green robes that were trimmed in gold and brass and he had an open brass doublet that covered most of its torso.
Other than on its head and face, its red fur was straight, thick and well groomed. If it wasn’t so wide and dressed so nicely, Izzy would have thought it was somebody cosplaying a wookie. Something else that made it stand apart from wookies, was its human-looking face with an egregiously soft, dim expression on its face.
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“Not a wookie,” Izzy thought, “more like a bear crossed with that DMV sloth from Zootopia.”
“Yelric Mooni's Emporium of Fine Goods and Enchantments welcomes you to Xhansarim and to our patronage, humbly,” Yelric droned.
Izzy’s eyebrows rose a bit. Izzy had always talked slowly, choosing his words carefully for meaning and impact. It was part of his job and people seemed to always respond well; turns out people like it when they can understand you.
This guy took it to a whole new level making Izzy reflexively lean in, not in interest, but expecting and hoping the next word to come out just a little faster than the previous one. It was an interesting tactic if it was intentional; you can learn a lot about somebody by how they react to such a communication style. Izzy was a pretty patient person, but this was pushing even his limits.
“Praytell,” Yelric went on, “what exactly is a woo-key. I don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure of meeting such a creature.”
Izzy’s eyes went wide.
“Oh fuck no…” He said, turning to Rajir. “No fucking way. He can read minds? Again, a heads up would be nice?” Izzy started towards the door and complained beneath his breath. “Nope! Not a fucking chance.”
“Rich and can read minds?” Izzy thought. “That’s just what I need right now.”
Izzy was not having it. So far, what he’d heard about people, regardless of their philanthropy, was that he would get beset with questions and inquiries about his origins. What was clear so far, was that being weird and standing out was not going to be a good thing.
He reached the door and put his hand on the doorknob, pausing to finally actually think. “Why did I react so poorly? Okay, well. It is very off putting to have somebody -literally- read your mind. But actually,” he gripped the doorknob harder, “that might actually be what I need right now. Somebody who can understand what I’m going through without too much context. And Rajir trusts him…”
Izzy let go of the doorknob and straightened his shirt. He reached up and retied his man-bun with the little strip of cloth that was in it. It matched the shirt that Elana had been wearing and he rolled his eyes. Finishing the recomposition of his character, he turned back to Yelric with a smile.
Being in the entertainment and scientific communication fields, Izzy had learned a lot about how to read a room and how to communicate with people. Certain things about people or his environment would stick out to him and help guide his communication. He had already been doing it with Rajir and his guests. Izzy did his best to put them at ease with a stranger in their midst by reading the energy and how people react to what he says and how he says it and adjusting accordingly.
As he turned around, the dim expression on Yelric’s face hadn’t changed at all. Between the controlled expression despite how rude Izzy had been, the lavish interior, and a power that appeared to be on the order of mind-reading, Izzy was starting to piece something together. Not only was there more to this guy than meets the eye, Izzy had a suspicion that it may even be a front or facade to cover even more power than Yelric was perceived to have. In most stories he could think of, the wizened old man would put up a guise of idiosyncrasies to put people on the back foot from the first interaction.
Izzy recognized that the mind reading and the slow speech, and how they were used, were surgical in their application. He had reacted strongly because he had been so thrown, and that could tell a lot to a person smart enough to do something with that information. His reaction could make it obvious that he had some pretty big secrets he was holding close to his chest.
Izzy’s outburst was beyond flustered indignation at a violation of his privacy, he had reacted as though he was threatened.
Getting back into a firm position of disposition and negotiation was key after such a faux pax.
All Izzy could do was switch tactics and become brutally honest and clear in his communication. Either Yelric was actually dim but sorta powerful and would laugh it off, or he was doing all of this on purpose and Izzy could get on his good side by opening up.
Izzy took a quick look at Rajir, the cat-person looking a little confused and hurt. He clearly thought that Izzy overreacted and should have just trusted Yelric implicitly.
Izzy made up his mind and charged right back in.
“Terribly sorry, sir,” he said in his best ‘let’s just start over and be friends’ voice, “how rude of me! You asked me a question and I never even acknowledged it before we got a proper chance to speak. You see, I’m not from around here and this is all new to me so I’ll thank you to pardon any lack of decorum.”
He started walking back over to the main counter.
“A wookie is a vaguely sapient species of warriors and wisemen from Kashyyyk, as told in some stories of long, long ago in a place far away. Your visage reminded me slightly of their build and look, so that is where my mind went. It appears you can read minds, so let me clear up some other stuff. Zootopia is a bardic classic where all the characters are animals and an unlikely pair, a fox and a rabbit, team up to save the city Zootopia from a corrupted government. Speaking of government, a DMV is a governmental and administrative building from my homeland known for being overtly and overly bureaucratic and working so extremely slowly that it seems intentional; hence the image of a sloth.
“As you should expect or already know, I’d been thinking about how slowly you talk. I have to say that I have an appreciation for it since I, too, tend to talk relatively slowly. Doing so lets your mind move faster than your words meaning everything that comes out is precisely as you intended. My hasty reaction before being a fitting example of the opposite.
“My name is Izaak Bertchwild Schiller, my friends call me Izzy. From what Rajir has told me about you, you may call me Izzy. Nice to meet you, Yelric.”
He ended up right in front of Yelric with an outstretched hand.
Yelric looked at Izzy’s hand and then to Rajir who was just standing with his mouth slightly ajar. Yelric looked back at Izzy and engulfed Izzy’s hand to give it a shake. Izzy willed himself to give no sign of discomfort with the size difference. Yelric’s eyebrows rose as if he had noticed.
“The pleasure is all mine,” Yelric said, slowly. “I think, you and I could have some very interesting conversations. Thank you for bringing him over Raj, I can take it from here. I see you already have one foot out the door in your mind. And yes… you can take one of the biscuits. Enjoy, and stay safe my little friend.”
Rajir beamed at the large creature, grabbed a cookie off a platter near the corner of the counter where it turned to go along the right wall, and made his way to the door.
“Play nice you two,” he called over his shoulder. “I’ll see you in the morning, Izzy.”
“Yes yes,” Yelric said, waving his hand dismissively as the door closed. Yelric waited for a few moments after the door closed. When he finally spoke again, it was in a much faster pace and no longer sounding like he was bored or stupid.
“You’ve seen through a great many things in my facade in mere moments that many people haven’t caught onto in years. Tell me what you see and know. Yes, this is most certainly a test.”
Izzy hadn’t been surprised at the shift of tone. When he shook Yelric’s hand, he got a better look into his eyes. Beyond the dim look on his face, the man’s eyes shone with intelligence and energy. Between Rajir’s trust and dealing with this man and Yelric dropping his facade, Izzy had a feeling he was going to want to work with Yelric.
“Okay, let me take a shot,” Izzy said, drawing in a few breaths. “You are much more powerful than you let on to people. Like, way more powerful. You don’t have a bell on the door for two reasons; one, you probably have some magic thing in the door hardwired to your brain so you know when it opens even a crack and, two, your magic probably oozes throughout this place. I’m not sure how it works, but it is a mix of mind reading and body language that triggers a response in the perpetrator if they try to, or even think of trying to, steal something.”
The first bit he was kind of shooting in the dark because he wasn’t sure the actual mechanisms of the magic at play. But the mind reading and security system seemed a little novel from some of the things Rajir had said, so Izzy felt like it was a safe bet. This next bit, he was fairly confident in because of his prior experiences with extremely intelligent people.
He took another breath and started again.
“You talk very slowly. Most people try to sound smart by talking fast but fail miserably. They fill in the time with dumb sounds and filler words or repeat inane phrases a lot. Smart people can talk really fast, but they are just showing off when they do it and it is just vanity instead of true communication. Wise people talk slowly so they are understood, and adjust according to their audience. They are patient and intelligent, usually a powerful combination. You…” Izzy paused, looking at the grin breaking out on Yelric’s face and knowing he was striking a chord, “talk too slowly.
“You are acting the fool, to see which people are actually patient and intelligent enough to shut up and listen. You wait and watch for people to be wise enough to see that you are doing it all on purpose in the first place. It is all very meta, and I have to think you’re actually up to something either really important or super sinister. Or you just like fucking with people to get better prices or to seem eccentric so people don’t look too closely. Which one it is ends up being harder to pin down.”
Izzy trailed off for a second to tap his chin, considering the little information Rajir had given him, the lavishness and power that clung to everything in the room, and all the expensive pieces of equipment.
“Not wanting people to look too closely would bring us back to something important or sinister,” Izzy continued. “However, you give Rajir and his friends a good deal on rent and you have been seen giving bad deals for your business in favor of good deals for good people who need it. I’m going to say you’re doing something important. But, if you were doing something sinister, I would probably never know because you could just melt my brain and kick me back out onto the street and tell Rajir that I insulted your mother and to never bring me back and he wouldn’t even think to ask twice.
“That being said, I think I’d still suspect that you are here because you knew something was going to happen and while you’re powerful, you’re not powerful enough to stop it all on your own. So you’re here to do your part and help out. You probably even have a history of showing up in other super important places and helping guide people to the right choices and reward them with great gear because they couldn’t possibly afford it outright.
“You make people think you’re a money-grubbing merchant, while actually getting them to do exactly the thing needed to help as many people as possible. You’ll make your name as an entrepreneur, not an adventurer. For as much as you could do with your own power, it is cleverer and even more impactful to make other people do the right thing for the wrong reasons. Same result, and the spotlight is never on you.” Izzy paused, and grinned right back at Yelric. “Win-win every time. You’re an NPC Quest giver with the best rewards in the world.”
Remembering that Yelric could read minds at least a little, Izzy took a moment to forcibly think of some of the greatest of quest givers in fiction and fantasy: Gandalf, Dumbledore, Yoda, Catherine Halsey, Professor Xavier.
Yelric’s eyes lit up with the flood of information pouring from Izzy’s mind. After a moment, his eyes focused back onto the strange young man standing in front of him, grinning like he had gotten away with stealing some candy.
“Well done…” Yelric said, nodding slowly. “Only, you were wrong on one account.”
“Oh?” Izzy said, still grinning but starting to tense.
“I wouldn’t melt your brain,” Yelric said, sneering. He leaned in and growled, “I’d turn you into a chicken and keep you as a pet.”
