"How is your arm doing?"
I asked as we sat unpacking supplies from the vehicle. Selene, Jax, Kaelen, and I had dropped the others off at the gate to save a spot in line for us as we found a spot to put the car.
"Honestly, it still feels numb, like that feeling when you sleep on it weird."
Kaelen said moving his now regrown arm up and down at the elbow. Selene looked over the arm for the 400th time, clearly still worried. The process itself had been rather strange. Selene had concentrated her Mutation as if to mutate her fingers, and infused the energy into Kaelen's stump. It had taken a few hours, and afterwards Selene was tapped out of energy completely, even consuming the last of the energy potions I had prepped for our trip for her treatments, but Kaelens arm was back. Afimaril had insisted that the numbness was normal and that someone who just lost a limb and got it back often takes time to be able to use it well again. This however did not Sooth Selene. We weren't fully unloading, just unloading what we were bringing into town. I locked up our vehicle and turned to the others.
"Wonder if that quest we were planning to do is still available?"
"Well to be fair it took us a few days to get here, they may have had someone handle it already."
Jax said as we approached the line for the gate. Coalhill was a bit different from what I had expected, but at the same time, everything I expected. A city situated in what seemed to be a hollowed out hill, the city sat in what seemed to be a spiral shape going down, the edges surrounded by a simple steel wall.
The line itself was much longer than the one at Hopestone, spanning almost 300 people long, however there was a bit of fortune in the fact that unlike Hopestone where you stood and waited in boredom, there were stalls and all kind of attractions around us. Heading to the line, we saw the others. Walking over I couldn't help but notice the uptick in temperature compared to yesterday. The temperature was getting warmer the closer we got to the walls. While for the most part the rest of us were ok, Afimaril and Jax both seemed to be eyeing the walls.
"What's with the heat, I know were in the sun, but this seems a bit much."
Straun said wiping his forehead in a way that had a lady in a group over start drooling.
"From what I read, Coalhill is said to have one of the defenses their town uses against monsters being the fact that their walls are connected to the forges, so they are heated. If you touch them you can get a rather nasty burn."
Said the guy ahead of us in line, a human woman who looked to be in her 30's she wore a work apron and was covered in spots of grease.
"Well that's just peachy."
Afimaril said in what seemed to be a rather sour mood, Jax nodding with her. Straun turned to the two of them.
"What has you two so hostile today?"
"Well in case you haven't noticed we are basically walking around in fur coats 24/7, so overheating is something most beastkin don't enjoy."
As I watched their argument Will made a whistling noise to get my attention before he said.
"Hey body, check our 4 o'clock, there was a shop that looked interesting."
Turning around I saw what looked to be an elderly elf, something you don't normally see. Before him in his tent were a set of various items ranging from a staff leaned against one of the walls, to a green gemstone the size of my fist. I turned to the others and asked.
"Do you all plan to do any shopping?"
The others turned to me as Sena nodded
"I would like to go shopping, is there anyone else?"
After a moment of silence, it was just Sena and I. I would have expected Jax to want to join us but he said that the less movement the less body heat, so he was contempt to lay on the cool ground and pant.
I had never been around Sena much, she had always been by either Afimaril or Straun's side when I had been near her, so she was a bit of a mystery to me. A part of me wanted to try to start small talk, but as we stepped away from the group she turned to me.
"There was a shop I saw selling arrowheads; I'll check them out first. I think I saw one with potions that way."
She pointed in almost the opposite direction of her shop, and I nodded as she started to wander through the tents. I was both a bit miffed that I had been blown off like that and glad I didn't have to start talking about the weather. I made my way over to the older elven man who now sat with an at least foot long pipe, that he quietly puffed from.
"I know elves know when old age will arrive, but I'm pretty sure Smoking is not the best way to bring some uncertainty into your life."
I said sitting down on the small pillow like seat in front of the elf's tent. He glanced up at me with a gentle expression as he gave me a small smile. Slightly yellowed teeth peeked through his mouth as he set his pipe down on a rather ornate stand.
"What can I say, it's a habit I just can't seem to drop. Tell me lad, what brings you to my shop?"
It felt like a weird question to ask when Will said.
"He's the only one without any signage or marketing attempts, which means his items speak for themselves, or he has some other way to stay in business."
I repeated this as the old man let out a chuckle as he laid back into a small pile of pillows as he made a gesturing sweep with his hand.
"Then you seem to know what you are doing my friend, feel free to look and select what you would like to buy."
I looked over the old man's items that sat for sale, and while his tent had many items within, his stall seemed to have only 5 items for sale. The first is one I recognized. It was an elemental gem looking to be made of emerald, it was the size of my fist. The interior of the gem seemed to show a swirling storm like pattern. The one I had used to summon Misty had been a gem barely the size of my pinky nail, and while compatibility had an impact, an item like that could summon a greater tier wind spirit at minimum.
The next item appeared to be a folded-up cloak. It was simple in design being a darker gray color with a slightly threadbare look to it, but aside from poking out threads here and there it was intact and whole.
Moving to the next item it seemed to be a book, in some ways it resembled the skill book we had obtained at the dungeon, and yet it seemed to lack the ornateness of the book from the dungeon and had an almost handmade appearance.
Beyond that a simple black slate sat, around it a set of 5 crystals sat in an open bag. A pen was attached to the slate by a simple thread string, a detail that served to differentiate the slate from a simple stone grabbed from the side of the road in travels.
The last item was the staff I had seen before, made of a beautiful polished wood, its head coiled into the shape of a serpent of some kind. It seemed to resemble an ornate walking stick, but as I looked closer a set of gemstone eyes on the snake told me otherwise.
Looking the items over the older elf took another drag on his pipe as he said.
"Your eyes are curious, but your brain doesn't know what to ask, no?"
I looked at him as Will said.
"Uh, I think he's asking if you want to know what everything is."
I nodded, both to Will and the old man as he pulled a boney hand out from his clothes and gestured to the first item.
"This here is an elemental conduit stone, allowing for even those without an innate connection to spirits to call fourth an elemental spirit, this one would call fourth a wind spirit."
He moved his hand to the next item. Lifting the cloak, he reached his other hand out and placed his pipe behind the fabric, however to my surprise, as he retracted his hand the pipe was gone, smoke and all. As he spoke, he pulled his pipe back out and took a drag.
"This here is a basic spacial cloak, while its storage is limited to the size of a closet or so, it is still very useful for storing everything from rations to weapons."
He moved his hand but seemed to skip over the book in the middle. A part of me wanted to believe this was simply a sales tactic, another part had the corner of my eye watching the book as he moved onto the slate.
"This is a telegraph slate, anything written on its surface will leave the slate after a few seconds and be sent to the connected crystals."
He wrote the word interested in a very neat cursive font as after a few seconds the chalk he had used vanished as the 5 crystals glowed from within the bag. Taking the crystals out he placed one on the ground where in glowing lettering almost like it was made out of the strings Thalia made. The crystal danced lie the old elves chalk as it wrote. The exact message appeared written on the rug, vanishing a few seconds later. While communication would be vital for later, atm we could do without, so it would depend on the price. The man's hand drifted to the last item, grasping the staff to my surprise its gemstone eyes blinked at me as the once rich dark wood shifted into flesh and scales as the snake slithered to circle around me before returning to the old's hand and returning to its wooden form.
"This is a serpent staff, when infused with energy it can take the form of a serpent, however the breed will differ from user to user. You can even share vision with the serpent to use it for recognizance."
I nodded along, before my eyes drifted back to the book in the middle, the old man followed my gaze and grabbed the book.
"I see you have a good eye customer, this is a training book, one that contains a very special skill, one that grants tremendous power in moments of stress, but comes at the cost of one's body becoming so strong it starts to rip itself apart."
I looked at the book before me with a chill running through me. While I wasn't sure what a training book was in comparison to a Skill book, both held a skill I could gain, and better yet, this one was a combat skill. However a skill that ripped one's body apart sounded more detrimental than helpful, especially if I tried to explain why I bought it. The old man must have seen my glances as he chuckled and said.
"Tell you what, each of these items is 1,500 gold, if you pay an extra 500 I will toss in the book with whatever other item you buy."
"That seems a bit too good to be true."
Will said, crossing his arms in my head. I agreed as I asked.
"Why would you be willing to make such a deal?"
The Old man chuckled and turned as if to look off into the sky where the sun was slowly approaching the horizon, a cloud painted red by its descent as he said.
"My life is almost up, and I have lived it to the fullest, only thing I have left to do is make sure the youngins like yourself have what you need to survive to do the same for the next generation."
I blinked at the old man, his words resonating in a strange profound way that made almost no sense. However, If it was legit, I would not give the old man time to change his mind. Looking at the other Item I wanted to pick, I pointed and pulled out my gold pouch.