Creatures of Wonder
Sixth Day of the First Month 293 AC
When Orok spoke of 'the Pit' you had imagined it as some manner of collectible metaphor, representing the trades that set up there, perhaps a hint as to the shape of the land, the way the inhabitants of King's Landing might speak of 'Fleebottom', the unfortunate dip in the land where all the waste of the city gather. You should have known better, for what is the 'shape of the land' to those who can mould stone with a thought, just as they might swim in it as though it were water?
Twelve terraces, each hundreds of feet wide, lead down into the crystal of the Shining Egg until they reach a central pit like an inverted model of a Ghiscari pyramid crafted of a giant's hands. On each of these steps countless merchants of forms and seeming almost as varied as their charges extolling the virtues of all manner of strange creatures that screech, skitter and crawl. It does not escape your notice that true genie solders in their gilded armor patrol here as they do not through most of the city.
"How about that?" Tyene calls in jest to Waymar, pointing to a gathering of
giant bugs armored in thick brown chitin and drooling noxious acid over the steel floor of their enclosure.
"Not even for..." He breaks off abruptly and says instead, "Not even you could convince me to do that. Hell, not even
Viserys could."
You tactfully ignore what what he had been about to say and look instead to the owner of this particular gathering of beasts, a sort of
earth spirit you had never seen before, his hunched posture and oddly articulated limbs and insect-like head bespeaking of deeper, stranger realms than the lighted halls of the Shaitans.
"Ankhegs not good to ride for fleshy ones," it says in a deep droning voice, proving that it must have some power of true-speech. "Twist turn. Spit, all bad. Very good for mushroom farms... till soil then can take crop to market, very strong, can drip acid."
"That is one of their good points, is it?" you ask, half-humoring the trader while you look around for other prospects.
"Can harvest acid," it replies. "Good for etching things, for weapons against soft ones." So saying it hands you a small vial of greenish-yellow liquid.
Waymar cautiously looks at it, even unstoppering the vial to sniff it. "That's decently strong," he confirms after a small bout of coughing brought about by the smell of vinegar and rotting eggs. "If it does work to... er, milk them, it would probably be cheaper than distilling acids normally." Then with a mock glare to Tyene. "I'm
still not riding those."
Found Ankhegs (Cost 180 Scepters; Maximum 12)
***
Not all the beasts that can be found in the various nooks and crannies of the Pit are as large or as immediately alien as the great tunneling insects. Inside a small shop that caters to wizard's familiars you find all manner of strange companions, from serpents made up of animated sand to living stones who occasionally awake to give sage advice... or perhaps cryptic ramblings prefacing calls for food. However, by far the oddest creature there has no seeming affinity with stone and is instead according to the genie-kin shopkeeper a recent import from the realms of the Djinn
The creature looks like a sky-blue elephant though no larger than a housecat, and if its color and size were not enough the spikes that adorn its ears and knowing colorless eyes bespeak of an arcane nature.
"So what can you do?" Waymar's raven croaks disdainfully at the odd little beast, with what might in fact be a hint of jealousy added to the discomfort of being so far from the sky.
"it can bring luck. Good to its friends bad to its foes," you translate from what the shopkeeper tells you, not truly believing it. To manipulate the weft and warp of fate and chance is no simple magic.
"So let's test it," Tyene shrugs, taking out a pair of bone dice from one of her pockets and tossing them.
The strange creature trumpets impatiently.
"I don't think it knows what counts as good luck on those dice," Waymar guesses.
You explain and then, to your not inconsiderable, surprise you feel the familiar
shift in the fabric of the world around as a ripple passes the threads of fate are torn and knotted anew.
"How much for for a breeding
pair?" you ask with perhaps more eagerness than is wise. At least you manage to keep yourself from wincing at the reply.
Found Ceru (Cost 590 Scepters; Maximum 4)
***
It is getting late enough that you almost call an end the expedition by the time Waymar finally spots something that catches his eye amid the crowded Floor of the Pit, a small round coral that holds eight horses of the same kind the shaitan guards at the gates. Glossy black or dabbled grey, all the steeds show no fear at the bustle and noise around them, yet the glimmer of interest and curiosity in the eyes of the foals warns you not to take steadfastness for a lack of wits.
The Shaitan handler makes no particular move to convince you to buy. On the contrary he is seems unhappy to sell to foreigners, but having had one of his recent contracts fall though at least willing to entertain the notion. He claims his
chargers are fearless beneath a skilled rider, impervious to many of the magics of stone and can even make the earth quake to topple foes before their charge.
"I still think something that flies would suit you better," Tyene offers, seemingly idly.
"Do you think so?" Waymar asks a little too eagerly.
You struggle manfully against a smile, something Ser Richard does not quite mange, though thankfully Waymar's attention is occupied and
not with the spirit-horse.
Found Istaheq (Cost 900 Scepters; Maximum 9)
What do you buy?
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OOC: Odd that you crit (96 on a d100) on the familiar roll and not the mount, but I'm sure you guys do not mind the luck altering mini-elephant.
