Downtown Druid

Dantes choked down whey infused milk as he walked along the border of midtown and the docks. It tasted vile, even after mixing in all of the things Orebus had suggested to improve the taste, but he needed it. He’d started climbing again, now adding running across rooftops and shifting forms in the midst of all of it. He wasn’t sure why he hadn’t realized, but any exercise he did in his animal forms had a physical cost on him as well. In some ways that made exercise easier, but as always, Dantes preferred for things to be easy, no matter how much his choices seemed to indicate otherwise.

He kept watch on himself from overhead using a few pigeons, and kept an eye on all of the nearby alleys at the same time with rats and roaches to make sure no one was lurking there to attack him. It was risky to travel this way through Mondego’s territory, but his goons were occupied elsewhere. Nearly a third were busy defending him in his home, and the rest were trying to make good on all of the smuggling deals he’d put in place that were turned upside down by Dantes himself as well as the efforts of Pacha. Somehow though, Mondego persevered. His smuggling operations were still profitable, his men hadn’t yet deserted him, and the fingers still entertained the idea of letting him join them. The only explanation Dantes could think of was that it was the benefit from his deal with Godfrey, and the god of Greed. As long as he managed to keep that favor flowing, luck seemed to be on his side.

Dantes flexed his hands. That was fine. It wouldn’t last forever, and the fact that he was so intent on defending himself likely meant that the gold on his finger was slipping. Dantes had always had a bit of luck himself, but tried not to rely on it too much, hence his trip into one of the worst parts of midtown.

He pivoted to walk down a dark alley, scratching between the ears of a feral cat absentmindedly as he stopped in front of an unmarked door. Jacopo sent a bit of displeasure for that, but he ignored it. He knocked on the door once, paused for three seconds, knocked twice, paused five seconds, then knocked one last time at the bottom of the door.

A hole appeared in the center of the door, through which a single bloodshot blue eye peered.

“Who referred you?” asked a scratchy voiced woman on the other side.

“Dario, and Felix.”

The eye-hole vanished and the door creaked slowly open. Dantes walked through, feeling his fingers begin to tingle violently as he entered, as if all of the magic in the building had been sealed until he passed through the threshold of the doorway. The door slammed behind him, and he found himself standing in a pitch black hallway. Torches blazed to life on either side of him, lighting the way down into what looked like a more open room.

As he entered it, more torches lit, showing a room lined with shelves on every single wall, each filled with glittering objects that gave off powerful waves of magic. At the far end of the room was a counter, behind which sat a woman wrapped in linen cloth and wearing a robe. She had only a single eye visible, the same blue and bloodshot one he’d seen a moment ago, and the skin around that was red and irritated from what little he could see.

“Welcome to Lovely Lydia’s Illegal Black Market Magic Item Emporium,” she said, holding out her hand like a lady greeting a suitor.

He took the linen wrapped hand and kissed it gingerly, smelling burnt flesh as he did so, but not flinching from the smell or the hand. He’d had vivid dreams of cockroaches crawling down his throat, this wasn’t nearly so bad.

“Oh, a gentleman.”

“I wouldn’t go that far.”

“And can I have this gentleman’s name?”

“Dantes,” he replied, smirking a bit.

He could sense a smile from the woman, but it disappeared quickly. “A two-name no-name, how unusual.”

“Almost as unusual as a human woman trying to take someone’s name like a fey.”

“Anyone can learn the ways of the fey. They just have to be willing to pay a price. They’re very fair like that.” She slipped her linen wrapped hand into her robe. “Now that we’re through with the obvious backstab, what can I do for you? You know, I’m surprised Felilx remembered me, but I’m even more surprised that Dario told you of me. He seemed very ashamed of our time together.”

Dantes shrugged, “Neither of them were eager to tell me where I could find an illegal magical arms dealer, but Dario seemed to think you were the only one that could be discreet, and Felix said you were the only one that would have anything I’d consider worthwhile.”

She shook her head. “All of my boys are so regretful. I have them spin me up a few baubles, I take care of their money troubles in return, and they never see any trouble for it. There’s no one else who could be so kind to them,” she wiped a small tear from her eye.

From the way they’d both spoken of her they were terrified of her. Illegal magic sales were dangerous, but illegal magical weapons sales were an instant trip to the Pit or the Convent. Magical weapons were heavily regulated, and only ever purchased by the Adventurer’s Guild or certain nobles. Wands were traded a bit more freely, but even they were supposed to be highly monitored. This woman, whose name he doubted was actually Lydia, had apparently been in business for decades. He’d heard of her before he’d gone down into the pit, but he’d never known enough mages to learn that she was real until he’d asked about it over the last several weeks. He’d tried asking Felix and Dario to just make a few items for him, but Dario said it was outside his capabilities, and wouldn’t do it due to personal honor reasons, and Felix had difficulty enchanting things with offensive magic of any kind.

“Looking for anything in particular?” she asked, flickering her eyelash.

“Heat. Powerful weapons that can help me tear down a foe with quite a few of his own.”

“Ooooh, that’s exciting.” She raised a hand and a dozen different items began to fly toward her desk. Dantes ducked under a jewelry box filled with rings, then turned back around to see the counter in front of her filled.

The first thing he noticed was a massive longsword in the center of everything.

She reached out a linen hand and the sword began floating between them, spinning. “I see you noticed the Beheading Blade. One knick from this, and a man’s head will instantly be removed from its shoulders,” a little more quietly she said. “One in one hundred times.”

“So, one percent of the time it killed someone instantly?”

She shrugged. “It seems low, but you have the vibe of a gambler. It only needs to work once after all.”

He smiled. “I’d like something a bit easier to conceal.”

She nodded, and the sword flew back to a shelf on the far wall. Two daggers, one sleek black, and the other bright red floated in front him. “These are prime, and ignition. You strike with one and it makes the target flammable, the second one will make them explode.”

Dantes flicked the handle of one where it floated, making it spin rapidly in the air. “Seems like you’d want something longer ranged if you're going to make your foe explode.”

She rubbed the bandages on her chin. “You know, I’d never really thought of that before.” The daggers flew back to the shelf.

Dantes’s eyes drifted to a pair of small marbles on the counter. One was gold, and the other a dull gray.

She noticed him looking, and raised them into the air in front of him. “These are Sunrise and Twilight. You raise them up and send your will through them. Sunrise shoots out a bright light to blind anyone nearby, and Twilight blows a concentrated smoke that weakens people. They are only one use a day and can only recharge by feeding on someone’s life force though, and need to be connected physically to that person to do so… A bit of a difficult prospect for most.”

Dantes flexed his wooden arm, feeling the lifeforce flowing into him from his gardens. “Set those to the side for me if you wouldn’t mind.”

She shrugged and then hung them in the air a few feet further to the left.

Dantes saw a small wooden box filled with what looked like discarded wands. “What’re those?” he asked.

“Ah, those are wands with only a single charge left. I buy them for a heavy discount and sell them to any kid that wants to pretend he’s got real heat when he needs to. It’s a tidy little venture.”

Dantes looked at his wooden arm, and began thinking. He’d only been considering its usefulness as a way of becoming a weapon, tangling his enemies, or as a tool. He’d been forgetting an obvious option though, to use it as storage.

“I think I’ll take ten of those, and the marbles as well.”

“Oh? I wasn’t expecting such a spendthrift.”

“It’s not being cheap if what you need happens to be cheap.”

“Well, I wouldn’t call them cheap sweetie.”

Dantes smiled. “Did I mention what a lovely eye you have?”

…

Dantes walked out of Lydia’s and found himself in a different alley deep in the docks. He lifted his left arm and had it open at the palm and forearm. He slipped each of the marbles into it, feeling them feed on the lifeforce he was gathering even as he did so, then he slipped each of the wands into the arm as well, memorizing which was which as he did so. When he was done he looked at his arm. He could feel each of the items inside of it, but they weren't visible at all. He wasn’t sure it would be enough to face Mondego, but it certainly couldn’t hurt.