Chapter 11

Shopping

I hate shopping. I try my best to hunt and search for food in the wild and shopped in stores only when necessary.

The first place we went to was Purdy's Provisions. We entered the store, and all around us the wall was covered in provisions. I looked for maps, and saw none.

"Hello!" A voice called. I looked in the direction the voice came from and saw a small man who was standing on a stool at the counter. I looked closer and realized he was not a human, nor a dwarf. So that left two other possibilities, a Gnome, or a Halfling. I decided he was a Halfling. "I'm Purdy! Welcome to Purdy's Provisions. We have rations, leather, back packs, bags, sacks, cloaks, boots, torches, paper, lead sticks, staffs, walking sticks and a few other things which I really can't remember. Point is we have a lot!"

"Do you have any maps?" I asked.

"No. You'd have to see the cartographer for that." He shook his head.

I was interested in the back pack. For years all I had carried around was a sack which I put everything I owned except for the few things I had hidden across the world into it. Now I could put it all into a leather pack which could go on my back. While the other's shopped, I explored the shop. Finding another rope, I was interested in the rope, but was unsure if I wanted.

Purdy said, "You have been rather quiet Mr. Elf."

"That is because I simply exploring. But I would like a back pack."

"Wonderful! One back pack is worth two gold coins."

I followed him to the back packs, and saw they were okay. I opened one, and compared it to my sack. It would hold my things better than the sack, and there might even be more room.

"I'll take it." I said. We exchanged the goods, and then I was satisfied. I went back over to my group. Apparently Thoros and Cynwyd had agreed to buy Adamis a shield from the Black Smith.

We left the shop, and went into the Black Smiths. The Black Smith was a small dwarf with a long black beard, and a unibrow. He said, "Hi, yes. What can I get you? You, elf, how about a sword?"

"I have one." I told the dwarf.

"Where? Or is it hidden with magic?"

"Not magic." I twisted the handle of my staff, and out came the hilt. I pulled out the sword and showed the dwarf. "The craftsmanship is pretty good, but not as good as mine. Perhaps you could come back in some time and we can discuss the possibility of making you a better hidden sword. So, why are you all here?"

Thoros explained, "Our friend here is a paladin and he needs a shield."

"Ah yes; a very tall man, a giant among men. Yes, hmm. A small shield won't do for one of your stature. Perhaps you'd like a medium size, or perhaps a large? What exactly are you looking for?"

"Just a nice, sturdy shield," Adamis explained.

"Ahh yes." The dwarf got a shield which was three feet tall, and two feet wide, rectangular and on it was an oak tree, which was just a place holder for his family symbol. The shield was thin and metal. The dwarf took out a hammer, and banged the shield. "This is a sturdy one. Really nicely made too, it is thirty gold coins."

"May I test it?" Adamis asked.

"Absolutely."

Adamis took out his two handed sword, the dwarf held the shield nice and sturdy. Adamis struck the shield with a great amount of force. I thought the dwarf would go flying into the wall and the shield would end up a dented mess. But the dwarf did not even budge and the shield was left intact, there wasn't even a dent.

"I'll take it." Adamis said.

Cynwyd and Thoros paid fifteen gold coins each. I decided not to pay for it.

Thoros noticed some iron spikes on the walls and said, "And I'll take those iron spike."

We left the Smith's shop and we went into the cartographer's shop. The shop's walls were covered in maps, some of them completely fake and unreal, and others seemed to be accurately portraying the lay of the lands. There were maps rolled up into scrolls on scroll shelves, and atlases of the Realm and surrounding lands on book shelves. In the back was a man with a compass, a graphite stick, a feather, and ink, as well as paint and several brushes in a clay pot. He was middle aged, wore glasses with two or three lenses which could be pushed into place.

The man looked up, took off his glasses and said, "How may I help you?"

"May I have a map of the realm and the surrounding lands?"

"Absolutely." He went over to scroll shelf, took out a scroll and handed it to me. "This is of the surrounding lands."

I opened it, and it showed the area within ten leagues of the castle. In the top left corner was the compass rose. The rose was in the middle of the forest, which was called the Fellgrim Forest. The forest covered the entire northern portion of the map and the north, west and east sides of the forest were off of the map. On the southern edge on the left side of the map was the Borderlands Keep. The road leading into the map from the Realm, forked off and towards the Keep. If you continued to follow the road you reached the forest, and then it curved north into the forest. There were two other roads which went into the forest, one led to the Cave of the Unknown and the other leads to the cave of Chaos. To the south was a river, and it was surrounded by bogs and marshes. To the south of the Baleful Bogs was another forest.

"What about a map of the realm?" I asked.

"Well, you could wait a few weeks. A map like that might take a while to make. Would you like any other maps? Perhaps a large one seven feet high and ten feet across! Rich folk come in here all the time and just pay me to make maps of made up lands. Look at this. This map is of the ocean." He pointed to a large one on the wall, "See all the monsters and stuff I painted in. That map by the way costs five gold pieces."

"Okay." I paid him for the map; I rolled it back up, and put in my back pack.

"Would you like anything else?"

"No thank you." Cynwyd replied.

We left the shops and went back to the Red Dragon and prepared for our quest. In my room I studied the map. I guessed the map we found at the Alchemist's led to the Cave of the Unknown.

When we were ready we set out for the Alchemist's new Laboratory.