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highchiefqueeqeug · 2 years ago

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Here's a short story I've been working on. I'm planning on writing an anthology based over a few centuries centering on the city of Dagger's Edge.

Deep in the city of Dagger’s Edge, nestled between the Alchemists’ Guild and the Enchanting Emporium lied a small but well-visited convenience store. This store sold various and sundry objects and items that are needed by the townsfolk. The name of this shop is Tzar’s Odds and Ends and it was Ragnar’s first day as an employee. It is he that we will follow as his adventures unfold.

The Tabaxi employee, Grindel, was training Ragnar today and he is in the process of doing so. “Ok, so one of the first things you need to know about the way our registers work is that we don’t keep any Moonstones in our register. If a customer comes in and uses Moonstones as a payment, you break it and return the change. Now you don’t literally break it because it can cause a temporal vortex or a magical malady. Those things are so unstable, I don’t even know why we accept them as forms of payment. Well, once you get one and give the change, hand it to the Store Imp, and he will run it to the safe in the back.”

Grindel continued on, licking his furry finger as he flipped through some of the paper currency, “These are called Promises of Payment, and is pretty common here. A customer will come in and you’ll help them fill it out. Three times a day, the Blink Guards will come in and will run these to the bank, and the goblins there will transfer the funds from the customer’s account to our store account.”

Ragnar nodded, “So break Moonstones, and don’t keep it in the till. Hand it to the Store Imp to run to the safe. Gotcha.” He grinned as he was very excited for his first customer, what looked like a burly dwarf came up with some merchandise and put it on the counter.

“Ah, sharpening stones, gotta keep your ax blade sharp as you tear into your foes?” Ragnar smiled as he envisioned the dwarf going toe to toe with a dragon deep in the Elvendeep Mines.

“Nay laddy, gotta sharpen my razor, the wife wants the beard gone, says I look too much like a dwarf with it.” Ragnar looked perplexed.

“But aren’t you a dwarf?” “Nay laddy, I’m a gnome.” “Oh well, that’ll be twelve coins.” “Can you break a Moonstone? Just got back from the bank.”. Ragnar nodded, “Sure can!” He took the hunk of rock and, in an instant, forgot what Grindel first told him. He snapped the Moonstone in half and a whirring noise behind him started up. It was the Store Imp and he was holding what appeared to be a vacuum.

“STAND BACK!” bellowed the Store Imp. “ANOMALY DETECTED!” In a flash, the moonstone and the blue swirling mist surrounding it were sucked into the bag attached to the vacuum. Ragnar sighed, he may get fired on his first day after all.

Grindel, the Tabaxi supervisor laughed, his feline features grinning as he doubled over in laughter. “You almost got us blown up or worse but, to see the look of horror on your face when the power came out! Oh, that was too much! No worries Ragnar, we all think like a troll sometimes and you had your troll moment, your personality and kindness will keep you on with us for sure, just be more careful next time.”

The gnome coughed, “Excuse me, my change laddy?” He tapped the counter with his staff. “Oh yes, 88 coins for you. Thanks so much and have a great day!,” Ragnar replied. “Oh yes, off to the temple for me, gotta do some um….errands.”Well hope it goes well!” “I’m sure it will.”

As he watched the bearded gnome walk out with his staff, Ragnar couldn’t help but notice that a faint glowing blue aura followed the gnome, landing on his staff. “Oh Trollocks, hey Mister! Come back you got some residue on you from the Moonstone!” The gnome smiled, “Well thanks, I was about to go to the Enchanter’s Emporium to make my wife a summoning sigil. If she can say that I look like a Dwarf, then I can get her to have that phase hound I always wanted. Thanks a lot though! Who knows what would have happened to me if the magic would have interacted with the enchantment. You have yourself a wonderful day, laddy. Here,” he plucked the fragment from the staff, “put this back with your Store Imp and keep these few coins for doing such a nice job notifying me about that residue.”

Ragnar got his first tip and the gnome's demeanor certainly changed when he helped him, things were starting to look up! He carefully took the Moon Shard to the Imp. “Store Imp, please put this in the safe.” “AFFIRMATIVE!’ Grindel greeted him as he came back to the register. “Now, Ragnar, the Blink Guards should be popping in at any second using their teleportation spells. Now just keep calm at the register as I help them count the contents from the safe. Don’t worry, you’ll do fine.”

The next customer scared the everloving moonshards out of Ragnar. He was wearing a black robe and his face was concealed from view. In fact, he wasn’t sure if he was using the right gender for this ‘person’. Ragnar wasn’t even sure if this was an actual being or something more cosmic. The hooded figure crooked a finger towards our favorite, frightened cashier. “Excuse me, young man, but your time has come.”

“Um..what?,” choked the cashier. “Er, I mean..how can I help you?”. He asked with the most trepidation in his voice.

“How much for the flowers? I have a date with my girlfriend Destiny tonight and want to really impress her and your time has come to prove yourself as an employee at Tzar’s Odds and Ends.”

“Oh well then, sir? It is sir right? Uh, the Meriwax flowers are a lovely shade of blue, what color are her eyes? If they match, it may make her day. Would you like that?”

“Well, Destiny doesn’t have eyes. When she came to be, she was put into this existence blind. Tragic really but she still has the ability to see, through her own ways you know. Sad really, I’d get lost in her eyes, if she had any. You can call me sir, if that fits your worldview and helps to ease you. Or you can call me Gurth, most of my friends do, and I want to consider you a friend.”

“Of course Gurth, please feel free to help yourself to the flowers, the Violizim are a lovely shade of violet and they say its aroma has a bunch of pleasing different scents depending on the season. Right now, it smells like oranges.”

“I don’t know what oranges smell like, I have no nose,” Gurth replied. “However, Destiny does and she has a lovely garden. The price I’m willing to pay for a nice starter kit of Violizim is high, how much…young man?”

“20 coins, good sir. I mean, Gurth.” The hooded figure bowed and handed over a satchel of the coins. “There’s 20 there, plus a pair of dice. Keep the dice, it may help you at a future juncture, according to my fair lady.”

Ragnar opened the satchel and indeed there were 20 coins and a pair of orange dice that seemed to glow in the dark. He grinned as he swept up the dice and put the gold into the register. “Farewell, mortal.” came the gravelly voice. As Ragnar looked up, it was already too late. The figure had left without even ringing the shop bell.

“Ragnar, hurry! One of the Blink Guards is having a heart attack! Have the Store Imp get the healers,!” Grindel said, running out of the back. Ragnar hastily wrote a scroll about the incident and put it in the Store Imp’s claws. “Hurry, Imp! Get the medics!”

But it was already too late, the Blink Guard breathed his last breath and was gone. The medics did their best but resurrection was too costly and wasn’t covered in the Blink Guards’ insurance policy, according to the other guard. “Shame, really,” said the blue-tinted guard. A creeping thought occurred to Ragnar. Had his customer come into the shop for reasons other than buying a flower kit for his girlfriend Destiny? And what use is a glowing pair of dice?

He took them out of his pocket and they hovered slightly above his hands. As he went to grab them, they fell out of his hands in a motion as if he went to cast them onto the floor. Eight! Two fours showed on the orange and black dice and then something truly miraculous happened.

The guard coughed on the gurney the healers were preparing and sat up. “Where? My chest..the last thing I remember is my chest feeling so tight and now it’s fine! Praise be to the gods. I’m going to the temple and making a donation as soon as I can. But which temple? Which God saved me?” Ragnar quickly put his dice back in his pocket, he’ll have to try these more often. But what of the customer, did the customer’s girlfriend give these to him for this reason?

“Well, since I’m here, you can make a donation to The Temple of the Cats. I’m sure the cats and young and infirm Tabaxi could get all the help they could use.” Grindel remarked. However, this was all in the background as Ragnar heard a voice in his head. You handle the gifts given to you well. Keep up the good work, Kid. Destiny is going to love her flowers…..

Grindel motioned for Ragnar to come closer. “Looks like the store may have to shut for a while for the investigation of the Blink Guard’s mishap. Perhaps you could run a parcel for me? The Store Imp can’t really be trusted with this one and I trust you more than I do because this parcel is pretty magical in nature.” Ragnar looked up curiously at Grindel as a small grubby package was shoved into his hands.

“Ok, I’ll level with you,” Grindel continued, “This is a moon shard that has nearly reached its magical limit and is almost even more valuable to the temples because of it having a huge part of the cycle of rebirth. You see, within this moonstone, is an ancestor of mine and it is going to be reborn as part of my wife’s litter which is due pretty soon. I’d like you to run this to the Temple of Cats for me. I would do it myself, but with the guards coming in I will have to answer some questions. Don’t worry kid, you’ll be fine.”

With that, Ragnar left for the Temple of Cats. He walked through the crowded streets, passing vendors selling cabbages, candies, and meats. Through the din, he heard a crier. “Come one, come all, check out the Engineer’s Guild’s latest invention! Travel the skies like a bird but far more luxuriously! Ride the zeppelin today and see distant, far off lands, like the country of Crescent, where magic abounds and moon shards fall! Seek your fortune there or earn a title and keep of your own in the uncharted lands of The Wild! Sign up for a ride today, payment plans are simple for your fare.”

Ragnar briefly daydreamed as he imagined himself hacking through the jungle of The Wild when, suddenly, he bumped into a small child. “Oh terribly sorry, Sirrah! Did nae see ya there. Apologies to ya!” Before he could utter a word in response, the apprentice shopkeep saw the youngster run off into an alleyway. “Hmm, wonder where he’s off to?”

He noticed, with horror, that his package was missing. How was he going to explain this to Grindel? Not wanting to lose his job, Ragnar rushed off after the child through the alleyways.

“Help, Guards! Thief! He took my parcel!” He ran past the coal shovelers, card players, and dice rollers…’Wait, dice rollers.’ thought Ragnar. He took the dice that Gurth gave him and, deciding he had nothing to lose, rolled them. The dice levitated and rolled in the air. Snake Eyes! The two Ones glowed green and made a ‘follow-me’ gesture towards Ragnar. He made his way easier following the dice and their green trail. “No way,” Ragnar was standing in front of the Courier’s Guild, how could this thief be tied up with the delivery service? He rapped on the door and was greeted by a tall, slim figure with a bald head, dressed in a green suit.

“Hello, young man. How can I help you?” Ragnar was practically a puddle of sweat and was panting hard. He wasn’t used to running that much and the Courier’s Guild was known for hiring swift youths to relay messages. Suffice to say, the kid probably had a good five minutes to hide the parcel within the guild, where it would be perfectly camouflaged among the other packages that were out for delivery.

Ragnar drew a breath and spoke up. “Well sir, it seems as if one of your couriers took a package of mine and ran off with it. It’s vital that I get it back. Would you mind grabbing it for me? It should be in an indigo bag and it has the seal of Tzar’s Odds and ends on it. I hate to accuse your courier of petty thievery but he bumped into me and ran back here with the package.”

“Oh sure, I look down on petty thieves, I’m a legitimate businessman, you know” said the gentleman in the green suit. “Boys, come to Mr. Fawkes and tell me which one of you took this young man’s package.” It was obvious that the man was referring to himself in the third person, which Ragnar thought was a bit pretentious. However, being the leader of the Courier’s Guild allowed some pretentiousness, especially for someone dressed so garishly in green. A tousle haired youth stepped forward. “It was me, sirrah, I apologize for taking your package. I thought I could make some good money for my family if I could get paid for returning the items to their rightful owner. We are very hard up on money and could use all the help we can get. Winter is arriving soon and I just wanted to afford a nice blanket for my sister. She has an illness you see.”

Mr. Fawkes beamed, “You see, young man? There’s no harm done. Here take your parcel back. As for the youth, don’t worry he’ll be reprimanded for his actions. Don’t you worry, he’ll be reprimanded indeed”. The look on the man’s face was more than happy, it was downright maniacally villainous. “No need for that Mr. Fawkes, I’m sure it was just a simple misunderstanding.” Ragnar didn’t want this poor kid to be out of a job or suffer an even worse fate. “Very well,” Mr. Fawkes said, “what would you have done with young Timothy then?”

Ragnar thought for a second then, having come up with an answer, spoke a bit more confidently. “Have him come to the shop, tell him Ragnar sent him. I’m sure Tzar himself can find some work for him. Normally I would want him to be reprimanded in some fashion but I understand that he needs to get his affairs in order for the upcoming season. Life’s too hard on people these days and a little kindness paid forward can make a world of difference.”

Ragnar then took the package back and looked at the dice in his pocket and thought ‘This is truly a gift. Let’s see what the fates have in store for me.’ He took them out and rolled the dice again, they levitated in the air and shook viciously. ‘Hmm. I wonder what that means.’ The dice then glowed red and pointed to the Courier’s Guild’s door. “Whatever that is, I don’t like it. Mr Fawkes may be more nefarious than he lets on.” The young elf realized he was putting off his boss’ order and decided to head to The Temple of the Cats.

The Temple of the Cats was a haven for the Tabaxi of the city, housing both humanoids and the domesticated strays of the city. A Tabaxi being raised in the city learns kindness as a child by helping take care of the many cats that lounge about in the temple’s interior. Long ago, the Tabaxi were second class citizens of the city of Dagger’s Edge, until a Tabaxi hero rose and felled the evil necromancer Yorid. To those interested in history, it seems as if a necromancer is always popping up every hundred years or so. That’s the trouble with necromancers, if you don’t properly destroy their phylactery, they will always come back, sometimes laying low and going to another fortress under a different name and coming back into the city as their own grandson years later.

#fantasy #short story #curio shop #odds and ends #current wip #dungeons and dragons #dnd stuff #dnd story #tabaxi #grim reaper #writersnetwork #writing #creative writing #writerscorner

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