Chapter 168: The Broker (One) (1/2)
Turning in his requests to the Adventurer's Guild was easier than he anticipated. With as big of a scene as he'd made during the request itself, he'd expected to have at least a few people waiting for him to show up. However, the paperwork was processed normally, and he was ready to go within minutes.
Mike walked out of the Guild while idly playing with the handful of silver that was his reward. Once, this would have seemed like a large amount of money, but now it felt like pocket change.
So it didn't cause him any discomfort to spend some of it at various street vendors, providing lunch for himself and his hungry familiar, who was roused by the smell of the cooked food. After devouring several skewers of grilled meat, she returned to his pocket.
This behavior concerned him slightly, and he wondered if she needed a larger dose of mana. Taking a moment to examine his mana supply, he noticed that the amount Red was receiving had reduced about 30%. He figured the conjured dragon must be getting closer to become a creature in fact, and therefore required less energy from him. He redirected his new surplus to his familiar, noticing that she was once again acting like a mana sponge.
[Why is she needing so much? Is it normal? I really should have looked for a book on dragon biology while I was at the library.]
Resolving himself to get to the bottom of this at his next opportunity, Mike left the area in front of the guild and headed into the commerce district. He debated stopping by to see Gail, but he hadn't even touched any of the alchemical supplies she'd given him, and he felt slightly guilty about showing up with nothing.
For now, he was on a mission to find The Nook. His advisor has given him a letter of introduction after the unsurprising revelation that the old mage was one of the secretive store's best customers. According to the directions he'd gotten, the place was located at the back of a dead end alley.
After some wandering, he eventually found himself in the dirty, semi-abandoned street he was told to look for. Garbage was heap into piles throughout it the, and a handful of beggars seemed to be making their home amongst it. He could feel a low grade hostility from them as he made his way up to the rusty metal door, which nearly abutted against the back wall.
Not seeing any clear way of opening the door, he shrugged and tried knocking. After a few minutes, a deep, masculine voice called from the other side. ”We're not open.”
Recognizing the start of the passcode, Mike answered in the manner his advisor told him to. ”That's a shame, I have a wealth of coin to spend on rare finds.”
As soon as he spoke the words the hostile intent he'd been feeling from the nearby beggars vanished, causing the hairs of his neck to stand on end.
The door opened and a massive man dressed in leather armor motioned for him to come in. He was led through a number of twisting hallways until he arrived in an elaborate sitting room. Under the urging of the man, he sat on one of the comfortable couches, and was, surprisingly, left to his own devices.
Looking around, he didn't see anything that resembled a bookstore, but he supposed that this kind of enterprise was likely operating outside of the law. The standard procedure would be to keep the inventory separate from the storefront to avoid compromising both in the event of discovery.
That said, considering the kind of clientele this kind of place used, he was surprised that they had to worry about laws at all. Surely, some of their customers could lend a hand in having the guard look the other way. So, maybe it was just an added level of anti-theft protection?
After a few minutes, a gaunt, elderly man dressed in fine noble garb walked in and sat down across from him. His face appeared to be carved from stone, for all the emotion he displayed. In fact, with his high, sunken cheekbones, prominent hooked nose, and steel gray hair, the man reminded him bit of a gargoyle.
A quick Appraise yielded interesting results.
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(Hidden)
Age: (Hidden)
Race: Human
Class: (Hidden)
Title: Lorekeeper
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[So it looks like there are some methods of hiding from Appraise. Ones that are probably available to individuals with the right connections and resources.]