34

Vic will follwo the others lead, but also is watching and learning everything she can.  .  "Do we need to register first, or can we go right to the trade exchange?". 

rolled a 15 perception, as she takes it all in, looking fot unusual activity or behavior.  

Djoser stands near the gangplank, the light of the ever-shifting bazaar glinting off the polished surface of his holy symbol.  His posture is composed, yet there's a tense look in his eyes as he studies the market.  He steps toward Vic, Archael and Tahlia before they fully descend, speaking low enough for just the group to hear.

"This place is less and more than what it appears.  There is an unsightly chaos, but neither is it without law.  There are rules here—masked in all the glamour."

His gaze shifts toward the ziggurat-like Merchant Registrar.  "I will go to the Registrar.  We'll need permits, licenses, or at least a token of legitimacy to trade freely.  If you act before then, tread carefully.  Don't mention Toril.  Bargain with caution, not bravado."

He pauses, eyes sweeping over the swirling colors and floating signs of the market.

"Watch for signals beyond the spoken word.  Listen more than you speak.  Let the market's rhythm guide you—but do not dance if you find the tune is one you cannot follow."

Then, quieter, almost as if speaking a prayer aloud:

"Waukeen guide us—let our offers be fair, our eyes sharp, our tongues silver, and our ledgers ever in the black."

With that, Djoser folds his hands behind his back and waits.  When it is his time to act, he will be ready to engage the Market not with coin or charm—but with purpose, and reverence.

[have not forgotten about you. Just running around a lot today. Will post tonight]

((Possible percentage profit set to 34%. Trade HP 98/98))

Looking across the Main Thoroughfare, Vic's eye's, accustomed to spotting the shadowy side of commerce and urban civilization, notice the comings and goings of certain misplaced individuals into a particular area near three booths. Could this be an access to some black market?

Possible points of interaction:

• Main thoroughfare: Loud vendors, bright banners, roaming entertainers, and aggressive barkers.
• Possible Blackmarket?
• Trade Exchange: Formal area where commodities, goods, or contracts are bought and sold in bulk.
• Spice Lane: Row of exotic food stalls, intoxicating aromas, and aggressive food-hawkers.
• Merchant Registrar: temple-like structure with massive ledgers, forms, and scrolls.
• Currency Exchange: Large central booth, magical coin-weighers, suspicious accountants, ever-shifting rates.
• Entertainers' Row: Bards, buskers, actors, illusionists, and hecklers drawing crowds.

Up Next: Tahlia -> MARKET -> Djoser (actions taken on hold)-> Archael -> Vic 

(I'm assuming that d100 roll was just for Vic, right?)

Tahlia halts as Djoser converses with them before they descend.  He has an almost haunting way about him, but his rhetoric has a certain rhythm to it that she appreciates.  She nods and watches as Vic descends and starts checking out the market.  

She starts heading for the main thoroughfare, thinking that must be the best place to start, but as she heads in that direction, she feels a pull and notices the Entertainers' Row.  Her current season of Spring is drawn to all of it.  Being on Selune, riding a ship of the stars here and now a row of entertainers.  Her smile that hasn't really left her face since boarding the Pen and Parchment grows into a grin and she lets her feet lead her there.

She does as Djoser mentioned, she listens.  Honestly, she would have done that anyway, just overwhelmed by everything.  She focuses on the bards, listening to their lyrics, seeing if there is anything to learn of the area or possible new directions that seem interesting.  

Perception: 22

Entertainer’s Row on Selûne

A floating crescent of suspended stages, kaleidoscopic tents, and echoing illusion-clouds where entertainers of every plane gather to perform. You hear cosmic sea shanties, psychic ballet, and visual poetry made of light and song. Story-spinners weave tales that update with the stock ticker. A sentient harp trades secrets for chords it's never heard.

Tahlia’s presence draws attention—her Eladrin aura glows with verdant joy, and the spring breeze around her stirs streamers that weren't there before.

((Converting check to Insight as bonus is same and is more appropriate to discerning intent behind lyrics))

With Tahlia's high insightfulness she discerns a couple things relevant to her party (providing a temporary +2 bonus to the next pertinent checks/saves for her party):

Lyric Heard:
"Where coins fall faster than feet can chase, beware the smile that knows your name."
Insight:
The main thoroughfare is laced with pickpocket networks who target newcomers, especially those flashing coin or status. The “friendly” vendor who remembers your name may be a spotter.

Lyric Heard:
"A parchment sealed with star-born wax grants favor, or a heart attack."
Insight:
The Registrar’s office is under subtle magical influence—a particular clerk or seal is tied to a hidden agent of a faction. Contracts may have embedded compulsions or long-term clauses that aren’t obvious on the first read.

Now the Market acts (2 actions):

• Pick-pockets swarm Vic (Perception check +2 bonus against DC 13)
• Traders mark Archael's rich attire. A surge of vendors offering all sorts of worthless trinkets try to get his attention - and some gold (Wisdom save against DC 13)

Djoser is next up in the Merchant's Registrar (can include a +2 to whatever action he takes due to Tahlia's success). Here are possible actions he may take (choose one and roll appropriately):

1. Religion: Invoke the Tenets of Waukeen

Flavor: Djoser recognizes sigils, seals, and trade rites that must be honored—or refuted—through sacred tradition.
Effect:

• On Success: Nullifies one cursed or magically binding clause in a key document.

• Profit Impact: +5% modifier to final d100 roll (the favor of Waukeen).

• Bonus: May create a visible mark of legitimacy (“The Golden Seal”) that improves standing throughout the market.

2. Insight: Discern Magical Manipulation

Flavor: While reviewing a permit, Djoser notices subtle compulsions in the Registrar’s language—emotional manipulation baked into “standard clauses.”
Effect:

• On Success: Prevents the party from being magically compelled to future unfair trades or binding oaths.

• Market HP Impact: -20 (strikes a blow to market's coercive power).

3. Persuasion: Formal Negotiation with a Registrar Priest

Flavor: Djoser uses reverent rhetoric and scripture—not to charm, but to compel fairness.
Effect:

• On Success: The Registrar waives one tax, processing fee, or licensing delay.

• Profit Impact: Restores 10 HP to the party pool (saved effort + divine diplomacy).

4. Arcana: Sanctify or Seal a Contract

Flavor: Using divine-infused arcane knowledge, Djoser “cleanses” a document or sigil to make it magically neutral or just.
Effect:

• On Success: Prevents backlash or interference from magically binding trade agreements.

• Market HP Impact: -15 (strips away a tool of manipulation).

5. History or Investigation: Recall Precedent or Find a Loophole

Flavor: Djoser recognizes an outdated clause or a previous ruling that the Registrar’s bureaucracy must still honor.
Effect:

• On Success: Gain advantage on the next Market Action that requires a contract, token, or license.

Vic rolls a 13+2=15 (rolls in log) and catches the pickpocket in the act!  

She quickly dodges rhe attempt to steal from her, and says  out loud.

"Oi-  watch where you're going!" but in theives cant she adds "

 (intentionally not trying to get the lout in trouble, hoping that brings some goodwill..) 

(I have been playing this game for 35 years and I think that is the first time i ever attempted to use thieves cant)

[Option 1]

Djoser approaches the Merchant Registrar with the slow, deliberate steps of a man who knows this place—though he has never stepped foot in it.  The temple-like structure breathes paper and ink, incense and bureaucracy.  Scrolls flutter midair like prayer flags, quills scribble without hands, and the air is heavy with the rustle of clauses.

Inside he spends a long moment just standing there, taking in the moment.  This is a holy place; every bit as much a temple to his goddess as the Golden Lady's House of Barter itself.  When the moment feels right, he reaches beneath his robes and draws out a gold-threaded prayer strip, inscribed with the holy syllables of Waukeen's Tenets.  With a flick of his wrist, the strip unfurls—and as it does, each tenet ignites softly in sequence, shedding warm, golden light.

He closes his eyes, not needing to read these words, so often has he intoned this prayer.  He speaks in a clear, formal tone—not a shout, but a declaration.  A ritual.  A rite.

"By the First Tenet, Trade Must Be Honest.  By the Third, Contracts Are Sacred.  By the Fifth, Fraud Is a Desecration.  And by the Seventh... No Law May Bind What Waukeen Has Made Free."

Religion:  24  [22 rolled in game log +2 bonus.]

When he again opens his eyes, the traditions and rites of this market are clearer to him that they had been only moments before.  He sighs in reverie, feeling what is surely Waukeen's approval - further confirmation that he is walking the path his Lady has set for him.

When Vic catches the pickpocket the pickpocket’s brows rise, just a little. She gives a nearly imperceptible nod and vanishes back into the crowd with professional grace.

Within a few minutes, a street-runner returns with a token: a half-bent silver crescent—a sign of acknowledgment from the local Thieves’ Guild granting access to the Shadow Market - the local black market. Future Black Market checks made by the party gain +1d4 for this encounter session. Vic is also now marked as a neutral party with business rights.

STILL WAITING ON ARCHAEL'S WISDOM SAVE - then his turn

but moving on... 

As Djoser approaches the Registrar's central desk—carved from obsidian moonrock veined with silver—he's presented with a sleek arcane scroll, already unfurling itself mid-air. Gilded runes spiral along its edge like circling birds, and at the bottom: the glowing sigil of the Merchant Registrar, pulsing faintly in time with his heartbeat.

But to Djoser’s trained eye, it is all too precise. Too rehearsed. The divine current feels... misaligned.

He squints at the third clause—seemingly benign boilerplate about "profit-sharing obligations"—and beneath the ink, layered in illusory glyphs, he sees the truth: a hidden binding geas, veiled within bureaucratic elegance. The sigil bears the imprint of lunar trickery, written in a celestial dialect that echoes with the name Leira.

Djoser raises a hand and, quietly, invokes the Rite of Fair Bidding from the Book of Golden Deeds. A subtle shimmer gathers around his fingers, forming a translucent quill of radiance.

"No agreement shall bind what has not been truly offered."

With a single gesture, he slashes the clause—not with violence, but with divine correction.

The scroll re-forms itself with a tremble. And then—pop—a symbol blossoms near the signature line:

The Golden Seal of Waukeen’s Favor

• A radiant, embossed sigil shaped like a balanced scale over a field of golden wheat, encircled by a narrow band of celestial glyphs.

• It pulses with warm, living light, and holographically projects a golden ribbon of script in multiple languages:

  “This bearer trades with honor and in good faith. Let no shadow corrupt their dealings.”

• The seal cannot be forged, copied, or hidden. Those who attempt to tamper with it suffer brief vertigo and a vision of burning ledgers.

• The seal glows slightly when cursed, false, or exploitative terms are presented, granting advantage on Insight checks to spot scams. 

   

((Possible percentage profit set to 34% + 5%= 39%. Trade HP 98/98))

STILL WAITING ON ARCHAEL'S WISDOM SAVE then his turn ... will he engage:

• Main thoroughfare: Loud vendors, bright banners, roaming entertainers, and aggressive barkers.
• Shadow Market:  the local black market
• Trade Exchange: Formal area where commodities, goods, or contracts are bought and sold in bulk.
• Spice Lane: Row of exotic food stalls, intoxicating aromas, and aggressive food-hawkers.
• Merchant Registrar: temple-like structure with massive ledgers, forms, and scrolls.
• Currency Exchange: Large central booth, magical coin-weighers, suspicious accountants, ever-shifting rates.
• Entertainers' Row: Bards, buskers, actors, illusionists, and hecklers drawing crowds.

Archael Wisdom save to handle aggressive vendors: 10

(Archeal will make use of his Portent roll of 12 to pass the save)

As the franchisees debarks their ship, the young white-haired waterdhavian noble listens and nods in agreement with the words of the Waukeenar. Archael knew much about trading but he had still a lot to learn from someone like Djoser. 

As the group makes their way into the market the young noble barely manages to fend off aggressive vendors seeming to target him. He can only watch as the group disperses in various diections. Worrying over how they would possibly find each other in the market he decides to weave his way through the crowd to catch up with Djoser who was going to the registrar, which indeed seemed to be a natural place to start.

((Woops - misunderstood - full save was 15 so success! Hurray! ))

striking 

 and revising:

Archael succeeds and follows Djoser into the Register. No loss of Trade Points (98/98)

((Archael  make an Investigation, Arcana, Calligrapher’s or Forgery tools check [based on your proficiency or lack-there-of] and describe what you try to do in the Registrar where official business, permits, trade rights, taxes are managed, to either profit the party at the Market's expense or improve the party's chances))

The young white-haired waterdhavian noble calls upon the magic of the weave to enhance his business acumen. (Enhance Intelligence)
He would then follow the wise Djoser's lead to thoroughly and diligently go thorugh legal documentation, reading the fine print to find legal pitfalls and loopholes to be avoided or used by the franchise in their dealings at the market.

Investigation: 13

Quote from Oberon99 >>

The young white-haired waterdhavian noble calls upon the magic of the weave to enhance his business acumen. (Enhance Intelligence)
He would then follow the wise Djoser's lead to thoroughly and diligently go thorugh legal documentation, reading the fine print to find legal pitfalls and loopholes to be avoided or used by the franchise in their dealings at the market.

Investigation: 27

Archael finds that dormant escrow funds from a defunct Moon Elf trading house are technically unclaimed.
The party seizes legal access to those funds for "market liquidity support." Market Trade HP Damage: -10

ROUND 2

Team can interact with: 

• Main thoroughfare: Loud vendors, bright banners, roaming entertainers, and aggressive barkers.
• Shadow Market:  the local black market
• Trade Exchange: Formal area where commodities, goods, or contracts are bought and sold in bulk.
• Spice Lane: Row of exotic food stalls, intoxicating aromas, and aggressive food-hawkers.
• Merchant Registrar: temple-like structure with massive ledgers, forms, and scrolls.
• Currency Exchange: Large central booth, magical coin-weighers, suspicious accountants, ever-shifting rates.
• Entertainers' Row: Bards, buskers, actors, illusionists, and hecklers drawing crowds.

((Possible percentage profit set to 34% + 5%= 39%. Trade HP 98/98))

Up Next:  Vic -> Tahlia -> MARKET -> Djoser (actions taken on hold)-> Archael

Vic will discretely make her way to the black market to see what there is to see.  14+2= 16 perception check, to survey for opportunities.   With the local guild's blessing subtley flashed when it seems appropriate, she nimbly explores the wares..

Vic, the party’s quietly brilliant Obviator, moves like shadow and silver through the echoing hush of the Black Market, far below the main tiers of the Leira Trading Center. Here, the colors are muted, the light filtered through enchanted smoke and illusionary curtains. Stalls aren’t so much set up as suggested—the doors to nowhere, flickering sigils, a velvet curtain that leads into a vault the size of a broom closet.

As she passes through, she flashes the bent silver crescent token—the subtle sign of guild blessing—only when needed. A momentary gleam, a flash of knowing eye contact. She’s not just a tourist. She’s recognized. One of the working class of the shadows.

She quickly discerns which vendors are legitimate (as far as illegitimacy allows), who’s fencing cursed goods, and which stalls are fronts for extraplanar cartels or franchise rivals. Avoiding those, she finds several key opportunities, settling finally on one to sell some of their cargo. Void termites have infested one of Selûne’s primary lumber depots, halting legitimate shipments. The Lunar Council has restricted off-world wood imports, fearing infestation—but untreated wood is still in high demand for spelljammer repairs. A rogue shipwright’s guild, The Knot of Broken Spars, is paying above rate for unregistered lumber. They build custom drydock ships in Time-Frozen Pockets. Vic makes a tidy deal for their lumber cargo.

Well done! Market takes 10 more Trade HP damage.

((Possible percentage profit set to 39%. Trade HP 98/98))

Up Next:   Tahlia -> MARKET -> Djoser (actions taken on hold)-> Archael -> Vic

Thoroughly enjoying herself, Tahlia moves on from the Entertainers' Row regretfully as they are amazing her with their abilities and to sit for days and learn their ways - she would truly be happy.  But, they were on a mission.

Before moving into what she thought were the more serious sections of the market, she moseys over to the Spice Lane.  First she just takes it all in, the scents, the people the area.  But she does try to figure out how they can be part of this market, what would be good to purchase and possibly sell at a higher price.

Perception: 16

((That sounds more like Investigation than Perception, but still succeeds))

Tahlia notices that several high-end spice vendors are colluding to artificially inflate prices of extraplanar saffron (used in both cooking and planar conjurations). They've created an illusion of scarcity—but their shipments are actually stored in stasis vaults beneath Selûne. She is able to leverage this information to acquire a batch of real extraplanar saffron at a reduced rate. The Market takes 15 Trade points of damage.

But the Market does not play nice.

As Vic weaves through the dim, incense-hazed alleys of the Shadow Market, her instincts prickle. A half-step too long in the reflection of a curved glass stall. The same rustle of silks behind her three turns in a row. She casually adjusts her cloak, catching a glimpse of a slender figure—masked, gloved, and too clean for these back channels—mirroring her path with predator patience. No sudden moves. No confrontation. Not yet. ((NEED A STEALTH OR SURVIVAL CHECK FROM VIC))

At around the same time:

The Registrar's chamber shudders as the gilded doors swing open and three robed figures stride in—Audit-Magi of the Ecliptic Compliance Syndicate, their ledgers floating beside them like grim sentinels. Without preamble, they announce a sweeping audit of all foreign franchise filings. Quills scratch the air as records begin to reorder themselves, glyphs shifting ominously. One of them calls out “This will only take a few hours. Or days. Depending on cooperation.”  The room tenses. Nearby scribes vanish behind curtains. Djoser and Archael need to act fast or risk the reversal of trade paperwork they have been successfully negotiating and getting processed. ((I NEED A STEALTH, PERSUASION, OR ARCANA CHECK FROM EACH OF THESE TWO.))