Along the western side of the Inner Wall of Si-Tahna runs a large thoroughfare. Its sides are lined with large signs, and the buildings have large windows displaying all kinds of wares. This is Jorazel’s Boulevard, the largest shopping street of Si-Tahna. Here you’ll find everything, from the latest fashion to exotic foodstuffs. Any higher-end magic shops would also be located here. The busy and cheerful atmosphere of this place is one of the first things you notice, as well as the large, colorful banners that hang from side to side over the Boulevard. This is an entirely opposite world to the dark, gloomy slums that line the outside of the city.
Magic shops
Thought there are many shops that also sell enchanted items, there are three very special stores along the Boulevard. These three do not only sell single magic items, they also buy, trade or even manufacture large amounts of potions, weapons, rings and other magical baubles.
The Gilded Tome
A one story building appears before you. The wooden crossbeams give the building a rustic exterior. A large sign hanging over the simple doorway spells out The Gilded Tome, Curiosity Shoppe. Nothing out of the ordinary, it seems. And then you see the large shop windows light up with magical energy. Trinkets and baubles inside whirring and buzzing with delight, a fabulous display of colors, sparks and lights.
Inside the shop is as much a chaos as the shops windows would let you believe. Items are stacked on top of one another on large wooden tables, and rows of shelves are piled with enchanted gear. The entire shop hums with a magical air. In a corner of the shop is a heavy wooden counter with a pair of gilded scales. On top of the counter sits a lithe elf, cross-legged, his head tilted and staring curiously at the newcomers.
Behind the counter is a door that leads to a back room. Here Devan, the elf owner of the store, has a small bed, but much more impressively, an enormous alchemy setup. Tubes, vials and flasks and burners all intertwine around the room. Shelves with ingredients line the walls.
The Gilded Tome specializes in wondrous items and curiosities, which are sometimes magical and sometimes not, but the rich people of the city are intrigued by them so they sell. It has a high-tension competition going on with its rival, Shatosh’s Store Spectacular, for their shared clientele of rich (and often dumb) nobles. For adventurers this store’s worth lies in its excellent potions.
Shatosh’s Store Spectacular
You see a wide, two story building, adorned with red and purple flowing fabrics that are form columns over the exterior. They are sharply contrasted by the spiked black metal accents that both hold the fabrics and poke out between them. The entryway has no door, but rather curtains of red cloths that are meant to be pushed aside.
Inside, the first thing that catches your attention are huge metal racks that display a variety of weapons, some even more outlandish than others. Then a smell hits you. Censers hung on chains from the ceiling produce a heavy, heavy smell of incense that wafts through the entire store. The same black metals make up most of the other display tables, though most also have a glass cover to protect what is inside. The floor is nigh invisible, covered by as many rugs and carpets as you can imagine. The ceiling is open in the middle to the second floor, a metal spiral staircase connecting the two. There is no counter, but several clerks dressed in wide pantaloons and turbans of red and purple help various customers around the store.
At the back, opposite the entryway is a large doorway, made up of many beads of metal that jingle. Behind there is a large, circular room where the scent in incense is, if possible, even stronger than in the main part of the store. Large, fluffy purple pillows are arranged in a circular pattern around a low, round table. This is the private room of Shatosh Spectacular himself. Here he sits when he reads the fortunes of those who wish, and who pay for that service. Then a large crystal ball sits on the table, as well as many cards. Here also he makes business deals with people of particular interest, or over peculiar items. Then the crystal ball is replaced with a hookah and a teapot. This is also where he sleeps, and then the low table is replaced with a comfortable bed, with the pillows on there.
Shatosh’s specializes in wondrous items and enchanted weapons, as well as divination magics. Shatosh’s service of fortune telling involves crystal balls, card readings, and the casting of dragon bones. Most of it is more for show than anything, but the rich people buy it. It has a high-tension competition going on with its rival, The Gilded Tome, for their shared clientele of rich (and often dumb) nobles.
The Giant’s
It takes you a while to locate the building. Located between two large warehouses, it appears more than a hovel, almost an outhouse, than a magic store. You are not sure what it is doing here on the grand Jorazel’s Boulevard. The only clue you get is a small sign on the front, that says in a crooked font: Magick Store. You are not sure why people referred to it as “The Giant’s”, as this is officially the least giant thing you have seen so far in Jorazel’s. Then you step through the door.
A huge warehouse opens up before you. All the walls are covered in shelves, stacked to the ceiling ten meters above you, with all kinds of adventuring gear. At the back of the gigantic room is an office desk, three meters off the wall, with on it a stack of parchment sheets and a golden bell for alerting employees. When you ring it you hear a very soft ting, and then a very, very loud boom as the entire back wall of the room opens up. Where you previously saw no regular door to a back office, now you realize the back wall is the door. You get a brief glance of an enormous bed and table, before the opening is occupied in its entirety by a large, large figure. He is clad in giant fabrics of deep blues and purples, and he has giant silk slippers on his feet. He bows his head as to not bump into the ceiling, and then he looks down at you with a smile. ” ‘Ello down there, ‘ow may I ‘elp you?”
Other than its two colleagues Devan and Shatosh of The Gilded Tome and Shatosh’s Store Spectacular, respectively, Perrywinkle built his own shop not for large sums of money or scamming the idiot nobles. Adventurers can always count on him for fairly prized adventuring gear, and he is open to negotiations. The giant also specializes in custom orders.