Dark Moon (Liminal)

[Jackson LaCroix]

Trained limbs gestured slowly to see the merchandise. If agreed upon it’s buyer took the ring between two fingers, putting the instrument to his left eyeball then scanned the bottles on the shelf above a nearby alembic. He put the device into the folds of the right palm, staring at the old man through a hole LaCroix bored into his head. “This doesn’t work and I’ll be back to make certain the rest of you follows the same way out.”

He counted the weight of one hundred thirty mizas while listening to the vendor's tale end. Dropping his money onto the table below it was his time to talk while the man added.

“You want anything more, I’ll take directions to this wasteland. Then any knowledge to what treasures your markets or syndicates may have smoked out before selling the pack. Syndicate weapons, magical deterrents, urban legends, victor’s trophies.” His words fell like hail, but Cross sharpened his speech just hard enough to make a point. Fear was better used then force in this event, yet to a veteran like the merchant it was likely all pure causality.

[Liminal]

The man shrugged, seemingly unfazed by anything Jackson said. "I haven't tested all my supplies, but I know the pendant works well enough." True to his word, Jackson might notice that one of the bottles he glanced at took on an odd blue tint when viewed through the circle.

"Lisnar ain't hard to find," he said. "Take the road going to Zeltiva, but instead of going over the Zatoskas, skirt round them, and follow the road southeast. Maybe twenty miles before it hits the sea, there's Lisnar. Ain't no other place that road goes, but it's well enough traveled, and there's even Knights guarding the bit from Zeltiva onward, though it's up to you whether that's a good thing or not."

He shrugged one shoulder. "Treasure hunting's a young man's game, and I gave it up a long time ago to specialize in distribution. But the man I got the pendant from said it was in a box of charms he'd pulled out of a cave southwest of town. Some of 'em weren't enchanted no more, if'n they ever were, and I passed on buying those. Most of the rest of the lot was romance amulets, to be honest, and those always sell well, so they've long since passed through my hands. Frankly, I think the one you bought was the last thing I had left from that bunch."

"A lot of what's in Lisnar is actually west of town. Caves, ruins, pools, gods only know what else. Treasures of Alahea, maybe all of 'em, but the place is full of monsters, and worse than monsters. If'n you want to live, or at least have a shot at it, the man to see is Jor Stonawick. Smart man, Jor -- cornered the market on adventuring supplies, bodyguards, guides, that sort of thing. Don't even need to deal with the treasure itself, or any artifacts, and he's still the most powerful man in Lisnar.