Flashpoint: Shopping!

Well, we were all feeling a bit lazy so it was a gentle session. They arrived in Augustana but, due to the high tensions between Cheliax and Andoren, and the fact they lacked any signal flags, meant that a naval ship with an Iomedaean captain approached them to figure out who they were. It was all quickly sorted out and they were allowed to dock in the Shipbuilding district across from the Office of Privateering Actions where a small crowd of Andorens waited to greet the new freed slaves, as is their customs.

The ex-slaves were given small woven baskets with fresh loaves of bread, given little blessings like herbal U-shapes that were put on their wrists, liberty bells were rung, and they were also given little vouchers that were made from small, flat stones with images carved on them (the store sign images). Hallik went down in manacles, of course, though the Andorens were too polite to boo him openly (or rather he was too unknown).

Everyone went into the Office of Privateering Actions to be processed and given their temporary writ of citizenship and told of the offer to stay at the Pirate's Fallen Trousers Inn free for a week (it was pointed out that the name was gnomish, it's not a brothel, it's actually a family-friendly establishment) which is on the inland-facing side of the hill. They then split up.

Lhye went with Lieutenant Archer to Aegis Hill to drop off the prisoner and the scroll case, mostly to see Hallik off, but he was too easily goaded by the old ex-drill sergeant who manned the sally port and was soon seen off when he traded insults. Lhye then went shopping, spending a particular amount of time around the M.L. Cahill Book Store and purchasing Seventy Seven Stings (a Calistrian text) written in Varisian, and a very expensive recipe for Butterfish (based off the Elven magical recipes in the elf book) written in Elven. Lunjun also purchased here a map book and a Cartography Map of the Inner Seas. They were both curious about what made the Witch-Cults of Northern Avistan so expensive (250gp) but none of them could afford to buy it.

Lhye, Lunjun, and Lenny, all went to the Naval Armoury to sell their excess masterwood goods, though Lenny didn't like the price offered for her masterwork whip and decided to keep it instead. The Naval Armoury didn't pay in gold, but in 'cheques' that could be used to make purchases in most Andoren cities, or cashed in at the Abadaran temple, but of course they didn't want to mention that as they want more trade for Andoren, not overseas.

I used a cool little technique to provide them with the shops so that they could browse through the shops and what they specifically had, and at their specific prices, rather than having to constantly tell them what was there. It meant I only had to roleplay a short bit of what the store owners were like, and a bit of what the store was like, and they could otherwise keep themselves entertained browsing.

It involved 2 - 3 slips of card and I'll scan a picture of them tomorrow so you can take a real look. The first card has a picture of the shop. The second card had a description of the shop and the store owners / clerks. The third had a table containing the equipment and prices. I didn't bother listing anything out of the core book or the Pirates of the Inner Seas as it was assumed they could find all of that easily enough. That way they only had to fiddle with two books and the card they were looking at.