Titus
1. As you wander near the water's edge, there's a loud splash and a woman yells, "Hai! Hai hai!" Turning you see, not a drowning woman, but rather a mermaid with long blue hair and milky white skin. She's smiling and appears to be gesturing for you to jump into the ocean. A moment later two more pop to the surface beside her and whisper in her ear. Your mermaid's eyes widen in shock, and she quickly waves for you to remain where you are. She dives below the water and rises a moment later with a set of armor. Made, it appears, of heavy mother of pearl. It's exquisite, gleaming pale white in the sunlight. Still smiling, the mermaid babbles cheerfully in some unknown language, trying to hold the armor up high enough for you to grab.
2. A Sobellian man yells something at the mermaids, who all make rude gestures at him. "Those fish should get a trade-pool," he snaps, in Viridian, "and pay their taxes like the rest of us do. You don't need their ridiculous armor, O Stalwart Pillar of Might. Come to my shop, and I'll show you armor that will make any warrior's heart swell. Speak but a word and it appears upon you. Speak another, and it vanishes to its chest. Never again will you need to fear Faren's caprice, or a rogue wave!"
3. "Your belongings are exquisite, O Glory of Foreign Lands," says the man. "Clearly your wife is an important woman! Is she a mage, by any chance? I have a wand to please the most discriminating of sorceresses. A wand of lightning bolts. Wait! Wait! I see you frown, O Dutiful Warden of His Wife's Mansion! You think that I mean to bother your lady with inferior goods. Not I! No, this is no ordinary wand of lightning. This stunning creation, this wonder of Sobel Ka, is twice as powerful as a regular wand of lightning." And, coincidentally enough, twice as expensive -- priced at 22,500 gp.
Corvina
1. "Earrings for the Illustrious Lady?" purrs the merchant. "Pearls... rubies... diamonds?" Oddly, one of his more expensive pairs are a couple of simple silver hoops for 2,000 gp. "Those are enchanted, O Luminous Star of the South. She who wears them hears all her slaves' gossip."
2. Rooting about in an herbalist's shop, you fail to find any interesting poisons. However she does have some unusual packets of pollen, for 100 gp apiece. "Glowpowder, O Flower of Beauty. Made from the kahli-vine which grows on Sobel's sacred mountain. What it touches, glows." She proceeds to rattle off a variety of uses (adding that special touch to your eye-shadow... dusting your pudding for a dessert your guests will never forget...). None of which appear to be too compelling.
3. The House of Net has a shop where one of the House wizards offers spells for copying. In addition, the wizard on duty has a rod for 24,500 gp. "This is one of my favorites," she says. You wait for her to add some ridiculous honorific, like all the other vendors do ("O Pungeant Cloud of Magnificence!"). However the mage continues speaking like a normal person. "I never know when I'm going to need to cast a silent spell, so I never have them prepared. This takes care of that. Three times a day, it will make any of your spells silent. And it's no more draining than casting the spell regularly."
Severus
1. A seller of fine vellums and quill pens has one unusual item: a single sheet of papyrus which costs 5,500 gp. "You wonder, O Gem of Flawless Insight, at its price? It is a sheet of copying. Place it over writing and it will copy it in the blink of an eye. It can do this 50 times, remembering each copy, before it is worn out."
2. A merchant is selling a variety of +1 weapons. The best he has to offer is a +3 long sword for 18, 315 gp. "Tell your wife that if she loves you, she will buy you this," the smith advises you. "With it, you can guard her ships as well as a fine warrior!"
3. Lying almost ignored on the smith's tables is a handsome dagger. Clearly one made on the continent, as the hilt has a lillendi carved around it. You'd guess that the maker saw a Council Blade at some point, for the dagger looks like a miniature version of Ancilla (albeit forged from steel, not mithril). "That will do you little good, O Squirrel of Inquisitiveness," the smith chuckles. "Unless your lady's ships are menaced by demons, that is." With prodding, he explains that against most foes the dagger has no special abilities; it isn't even magical. "But in the presence of the demonic, great power fills it. No weapon surpasses it then, and its touch may even drive a fiend from this plane." The smith will let it go for 25,000 gp.
Marius
1. A tall, pale man wearing dark robes (spotted, here and there, with some dubious-looking stains...) watches you for a long moment. After saying a word or two in Sobellian (which you don't understand), he points at you and says in halting Viridian, "It is clerg? It is heal?" From a black sack at his side, he pulls out a small book and offers it to you. "It is book. It sells. Heal book." Whatever the book is, he appears to want 12,000 gp for it.
2. Your gaze lingers on a merchant's ring for two seconds, and he immediately pounces upon you. "You have chosen a ring of surpassing defence, O Eye of Ceaseless Vigilence! With this in your grasp, the spells of your enemies will cascade off you, like water from the back of the Peerless Mallard of Lake Soren!" After much badgering, he finally drops the poetic license and admits that this is a ring of counterspells. 4,000 gp.
3. A dishevelled old woman comes tottering out of an alley towards you, murmuring in Sobellian. When you don't understand, she gives you a toothless grin and switches into broken Rostillan. "Good boy. Good boy needs woman. Drink gets woman, gets woman boy. Happy boy, happy boy. Good boy." She wants 150 gp for what looks like a bottle of water (albeit, water that has a magical aura to it).
Leyna
1. A potion merchant has a variety of common magical drinks, all at the standard prices. Seeing that none of them excite you, the trader brings out one of her odder offerings. "Consider, O Bastion of Strength, this versatile drink -- the Potion of Ennui. Only 750 gp. One sip will soothe and calm the most agitated spirits for hours. No fear may disturb the drinker's soul, no charm sway her mind. And," she adds in a low tone, "add a mere drop to your man's drink and he'll be content with the husband-couch. Each drink can provide 50 drops -- a miniscule price for a quiet home, no?"
2. You meet your first surly merchant, standing outside the gates of the Pearls (the main palace of Sobel Ka). "I don't have time for beggars, O Child of Dubious Wealth," she snaps. "My goods are beyond the means of all but the greatest, and were the Governor here today, you should not even see them. But the Unparalled Aegis of Sobel Ka has gone to the Temples, and so I am forced to allow the eyes of snivelling wanderers to fall upon my wares. Do you have 82,500 gp, O Covetous Scrapling? Can you even count that high? If not, then begone." If so, she apparently has a book she'll let you see.
3. Two seedy sailors watch you, muttering. Oddly, you can pick out occasional Rostillan words in the midst of their babble. "Where the fuck... you think... shhh! She hears..." As you turn to look at them, one frowns and switches into broken Viridian. "Hey you. You hear me? You know? Hey, you want boots? Good boots. Make you faster, make you quiet."
Gaius
1. "You are from the south?" the merchant says, in pristine Rostillan. "The cold and terrible south?" Gesturing towards several thin, silken blankets, she assures you, "You need never be cold again, O Venerable Foreigner. Though they are as light as a baby's breath, each of these maginificent sheets will keep you warm in the coldest of Verchmai nights. Only 1,200 gp for a lifetime of toasty slumber!"
2. "You are an archer? Of course you are an archer," the trader corrects herself. "An archer to make elves weep with joy, no doubt, O Bringer of Feathered Death! Yet all archers can use some help, no? Even the very elves, Mothers of All that Flies from String. And these gloves are just the thing to help you." With a flourish, she produces a supple pair of leather gloves for 4,000 gp.
3. A woman in elegant rune-stitched robes steps forward, smiling and chattering in Sobellian. When you don't understand, she switches into Rostillan. "Forgive me. I should have recognized a foreigner immediately. Are you interested in po... wait. You're Rostillan... Viridian?" Her smile disappears and her eyes narrow. Quickly she snaps up a small paper tube, which she waggles in front of you. "I'm licensed -- so don't give yourself vapors," she sneers. When you don't immediately fly into a fit, she relaxes slightly. Though she remains hostile and suspicious. "You're not even a mage, are you? So I doubt these'll do you any good. They're potions to let you recover any spell you just cast. Any except an archmage's, that is." [Ie. up to 8th level] "They're expensive too. 4,000 gp. I don't think you want them."