A Handy Merchant Approaches!

Strange sights abound near the Guild halls. The inhabitants of surrounding areas have surpassed terror of these unusual events and have adopted a grim fatalism about their neighbors and their frequently odd clients, enemies, and other troublesome visitors. Nonetheless, a giant hand descending from the sky is still an odd way to start one's morning... or whatever time it is. Smart people know to go inside at times like these, so of course the Guild members are coming outside en masse. A voice booms from the floating hand in the sky, which is not at all unusual. "I am the Great Hand, Merchant of Odnetnin. You foolish adventurers know not the Classic glory of L nor R, thus it falls upon me to point you in the direction of masterful shields, for a price that can only be described as 'Crazy.'" "..." "What do you mean you're not impressed?! You all think bracers are so cool? Well, fine ! I also have a paralyzingly large number of limited use items that you can purchase!" "Buy a shield from me and I'll even throw in a bag of maxim to... * ahem * Blood Apricots for free!" Troublesome visitors, indeed. This sinister merchant will sell you any magical shield or consumable for 60% of the list price (so a 40% discount). If you purchase a magical shield from this merchant, you also get 3 blood apricots (thankfully unused), gratis. Please post/RP your purchases below! The merchant will leave Friday, March 5 at 23:59 Pacific time .

A cloaked figure stalks its way around the edges of the Guild hall, hidden in the shadows, mysterious as a whisper - or perhaps she would be if that long cloak didn't keep getting caught on furniture or stepped on by other people. Eventually she manages to make her way around to stand behind the strange merchant, and hisses, "I have need of your finest ki-enhancing reagents and enchanted shurikens, that I might fight the good fight and destroy evil wherever it lurks, while I also lurk behind it in the shadows, like the... shadowy spectre of justice." After seeing the price tag on those finest goods, she instead buys a handful of the cheapest crap the strange merchant has and runs off while it isn't facing her, a dramatic exit made somewhat less mysterious by the very loud and obvious sound of her retreating footsteps. [Buying 8 +1 spider bolts, 2 +1 attention-stealing bullets, 4 +1 shiver-strike ammunition and 2 +1 shadow-shaft ammunition for Krystal Nightstarr. Also buying 3 paragon frozen whetstones, 1 paragon dark clover and 1 epic elixir of flying for Captain Gale, 3 ghost ales, 3 sonata wines and 2 paragon cognizance crystals for Dawn, one +2 lightning arrow for Helena, a +2 dispelling bolt, +2 summoning bullet, +2 forbiddance bolt and +2 firesight ammunition for Hope, 2 paragon elixirs of flying and one elixir of speed for Khepri, 2 sonata wines for Maeve, and why not, 8 sands of restored opportunity for Gabriela just to pad Matt's stats.]

Zeral: Can't be too careful...I'll take 50 of those skill speed up boosters people have (syllable of grace)

A young and brazen landsknecht warily approaches the wares and spots a shiny shield she's interested in: "This looks pretty handy" A mature lady wreathed in fire arrives with a basket: "Have to take advantage when it arrives. These ingredients will do nicely." A prince in shining armor gets a glimmer in his eyes at all the wares. Then he checks his pockets and becomes dismayed: "Next time you will be mine" as he peers at some of the high end shields, "But I can't leave empty handed, I'll take these, kind giant hand in the sky!" Then finally a drunk dwarf stumbles into one of the piles of wares, tries to scrape some of them off his sticky armor and beard, gives up, and looks at the somewhat irritated giant hand: "Guess I'm buying this stuff." Buying: Greater Storm Shield; 10 Heroic Flame Roses, 10 Paragon Rust Barks, 17 Coins of Good Luck, 10 Blood Apricots; 1 Unguents of Blindsight, 2 Spider Potions, 5 Stimulant Injectors, 2 Rays of Feywild Sunshine, 2 Shards of Clear Sight

A hooded figure in black and moss-green clothing glides towards the Hand and it's wares, stops and raises one of his rotten hands from under the cloak, points at a shield and says in a hoarse voice: "I want th-......., no, I need that to stay alive" "How much is it going to cost me?" Buying: Tiamat's Bloody Bulwark for Crom, getting 3 Blood Apricots to go with it (15,000 gp)

A man in blue-accented Clone Commando Armor approaches the hand and says, "If you've got 'em, I'll take ten thermal detonators." A silver-scaled Dragonborn reaches up to the hands and says, "Whatever you have that'll keep my enemies frozen in place, I'll take five of." Buying: 10 alchemist's fires for Ram'ser (120 gp), and five fundamental ice for Djorax (600 gp)

Buying 5 Apricots 150g

As Sorin starts filling a bag with random candy from the vendor; he stops and his eyes grow wide as he sees some catastrophic Dragon eggs. Forgetting his candy for the moment, he excitedly tells the merchant he wants to buy all of them, thinking he could hatch a few into new and different kinds of pokemon. The merchant, realizing his mistake in putting these items out, apologizes and tells him that these items are not for sale. Dejectedly, Sorin will buy the candy but will spend the rest of the time the merchant is at the guild trying to find a way to steal the dragon eggs (Unsuccessfully) Buying for my various characters: 50 Syllable of Grace, 50 Blood Apricot, 60 Coins of Goodluck, 10 Frozen Whetstone; 13 Attention-Stealing Bullet +3; 6 Freezing Arrow +3; 6 Stonehold Ammunition +3; 6 Bolt of Clumsiness; 

Nihil cautiously looks at the large selection of thin slivers of metal on the desk, futuristic-looking pieces of technology. "I'll take 10 of those, some of those, and some of these..." Buying for various characters: 10 +2 Dual Arrows(1200), 4 +2 Dispelling Bolts(300), 10 Heroic Flame Roses(1200), 20 Clay of Creations(1200), 50 Syllables of Grace(600), 60 Blood Apricots(1800) = 6100 gold total

Fidel entered the store, he had woken up badly this morning. "hey merchant, what do you have to sell?" then he looked at the stock of merchandise and finally found something that interested him." I'll take that, merchant " throwing the agreed amount on the counter "and thanks for the blood apricots "then he came out without looking back buying for Fidel a Tusk Shield 312gp (originally 520) and 3 blood apricots gratis

Luna arrives, returning from an extended mission in a strange world, and finds a merchant selling strange reagents and ingredients. She buys an enormous amount of materials with her extensive paycheck and starts refining them into more ammunition. Luna purchases: 3 +3 Freezing Arrows, 3 +3 Attention-Stealing Bullets, 3 +3 Spider Bolts, 1 +3 Dispelling Arrow, and 2 +3 Shiver-Strike Arrows for a total of 6750gp (more purchases to come as I check budgets on other characters) Filain: 50 Syllables of Grace (600gp), 20 Blood Apricots (600gp), 20 Coins of Good Luck (600gp) Ladrimme: 50 Syllables of Grace (600gp), 20 Blood Apricots (600gp), 20 Coins of Good Luck (600gp) Lady Mal: 50 Syllables of Grace (600gp), 20 Blood Apricots (600gp), 20 Coins of Good Luck (600gp) Nalin: 50 Syllables of Grace (600gp), 20 Blood Apricots (600gp), 20 Coins of Good Luck (600gp) Sayura: 50 Syllables of Grace (600gp), 20 Blood Apricots (600gp), 20 Coins of Good Luck (600gp), 50 Paragon Cognizance Crystals (24000gp) Larya: 20 Blood Apricots (600gp), 20 Coins of Good Luck (600gp) Jeremy: 20 Blood Apricots (600gp), 20 Coins of Good Luck (600gp) Khojin: 50 Syllables of Grace (600gp), 20 Blood Apricots (600gp), 20 Coins of Good Luck (600gp) Ogaron: 20 Blood Apricots (600gp), 20 Coins of Good Luck (600gp) Furkep: 20 Blood Apricots (600gp), 20 Coins of Good Luck (600gp) Annalise: 50 Syllables of Grace (600gp), 20 Blood Apricots (600gp), 20 Coins of Good Luck (600gp) Licia: 20 Blood Apricots (600gp), 20 Coins of Good Luck (600gp), 50 heroic Cognizance Crystals (1200gp) The Keeper: 50 Syllables of Grace (600gp), 20 Blood Apricots (600gp), 20 Coins of Good Luck (600gp) Menglor: 20 Blood Apricots (600gp), 20 Coins of Good Luck (600gp) Liarel: 50 Syllables of Grace (600gp), 20 Blood Apricots (600gp), 20 Coins of Good Luck (600gp) Emer: 20 Blood Apricots (600gp), 20 Coins of Good Luck (600gp Nivrahn: 50 Syllables of Grace (600gp), 20 Blood Apricots (600gp), 20 Coins of Good Luck (600gp) Total Spent: 56550

A tiny baby mind flayer comes to collect a variety of goods in an oversized bag for a variety of recipients. Ishtar: 20 coins, 20 fruit, 2x sands of restored opportunity, 60 gems of valor. Tyra: 20 coins, 20 fruit, +4 lightning arrowx5, +3 lightning arrowx20 Gaia: 20 coins, 20 fruit, 60 frozen whetstones Katarina: Creeping Gatevine(Paragon) x3, Sands of Restored Opportunityx2, Frozen Whetstone(Paragon)x20 Taylor: 10 coins, 10 fruit Indra: 20 fruit, 20 coins, 20 paragon cog crystals, 10 madstone Mairya: 10 coins, 10 fruit, 30 frozen whetstones Sabrina: 20 tempest whetstones, 10 fruit, 10 coins, 10 rust bark

Bruce entered the store stealthily throuh a window on the upper floor. Withought being heard he went downstairs and said "Hey" to the Merchant. Not knowing where the voice came from the merchant asked" Where are you?". "Up here" came the answer from a man hanging upside down from a beam After talking to the merchant and acquired the following items Blood Apricot  x5 = 150gp,  Syllable of Grace x10 = 120gp,  Coin of Good Luck x3 = 90gp,  Stone of Shielding x1 = 120,  Vial of Darkness x2 = 60gp,  Potion of Elven Fleetness x1 =30gp,  Potion of Water Walking x2 =48,  Potion of Delusion x1 = 30,  Gravespawn Potion x1 =30,  Potion of Friendship x1 =30,  Potion of Eladrin Shape x1 =15,  Potion of Feyspeak x1 = 18gp,  Potion of Spectral Form x1 = 30gp  Tempest Whetstone 120gp  Total 891gp      

Buying 20 Blood Apricots and 2 Coins of Good luck for my 2 characters. 660 GP

Ghormeh Sabzi buys 10 Caustic Whetstones for 1,200 gold.

Rasputin will purchase 3 Flame Rose (360 gp), 3 Coins of Good Luck (90 gp), 3 Blood Apricot (90 gp), 2 Rust Bark (420 gp) Onyx will purchase 5 Coins of Good Luck (150 gp), 5 Blood Apricot (150 gp)

Purchases: Alukard von Hartstein - 90x Blood Apricot, 90x Coin of Good Luck, 9x Sands of Restored Opportunity, 15x Ray of Feywild Sunshine Zaphon Thalendar - 30x Frozen Whetstones (paragon), 30x Tempest Whetstones (heroic), 30x Brightleaf (paragon), 90x Cognizance Crystal (paragon), 90x Blood Apricot, 90x Coin of Good Luck Asako Yang - 30x Frozen Whetstones (paragon), 30x Tempest Whetstones (heroic), 90x Blood Apricot, 90x Coin of Good Luck, 90x Flash Flower (heroic) Nechtan Thalendar - 30x Brightleaf (paragon), 90x Blood Apricot, 90x Coin of Good Luck Enoch R. Kanter - 90x Caustic Whetstone (heroic), 90x Blood Apricot, 90x Coin of Good Luck, 30x Cognizance Crystal (heroic) Inanna Thalendar - 90x Frozen Whetstone (heroic), 90x Blood Apricot, 90x Coin of Good Luck Xiulan Long - 90x Tempest Whetstone (heroic), 90x Blood Apricot, 90x Coin of Good Luck, 90x Flash Flower (paragon), 90x Stormglass Shard (heroic) Cainan Long - 90x Tempest Whetstone (heroic), 90x Blood Apricot, 90x Coin of Good Luck, 15x Stormglass Shard (heroic), 15x Flame Rose Cheryl T. Wright - 270x Caustic Whetstone (heroic), 90x Blood Apricot, 90x Coin of Good Luck, 30x Flame Rose (heroic), 30x Rust Bark (paragon), 30x Stormglass Shard (heroic) Shosuro Takuya - 30x Frozen Whetstone (heroic), 30x Blood Apricot, 90x Coin of Good Luck Abram Nabokov - 90x Coin of Good Luck, 90x Blood Apricot, 30x Flash Flower (paragon), 30x Rust Bark (paragon) Saliamus A. Agrazitus - 90x Coin of Good Luck, 30x Blood Apricot, 15x Rust Bark (paragon), 30x Desert Rose Geir d'Lyrandar - 90x Blood Apricot, 30x Coin of Good Luck, 30x Cognizance Crystal (heroic) Keith Wilson - 30x Coin of Good Luck, 30x Blood Apricot, Flame Rose x9 Bastian Hearn - 90x Frozen Whetstone (heroic), 90x Blood Apricot, 90x Coin of Good Luck Tokagure Hisao - 30x Frozen Whetstone (heroic), 9x Freezing Arrows +2, 6x Firestorm Arrows +2, 12x Lightning Arrows +2, 3x Attention-Stealing Bullet +2, 3x Dispelling Bolt +2, 3x Shadowshaft Ammunition +1, 12x Shiver-Strike Ammunition +1, 3x Forbiddence Bolt +2 Dante d'Lyrandar - 30x Coin of Good Luck, 30x Blood Apricot, Flash Flower x3, 30x Syllable of Grace Fujihiro Makoto - x3 Coin of Good Luck, x3 Blood Apricot, 6x Cognizance Crystal (heroic) Gunther Chen - 90x Coin of Good Luck, 9x Blood Apricot Hantei Quirin - 90x Coin of Good Luck, 3x Blood Apricot Polonius J. Lau - 90x Coin of Good Luck, 9x Blood Apricot, 30x Cognizance Crystal (heroic) Togashi Fyodor - 3x Coin of Good Luck, 3x Blood Apricot Uriah Warfiend - 3x Coin of Good Luck, 3x Blood Apricot Vaknag Drotning - 90x Blood Apricot, 30x Coin of Good Luck Wolfram C. Therlane - 3x Coin of Good Luck, 9x Frozen Whetstone Okito - 15x Blood Apricot, 15x Coin of Good Luck Dennis Yu - 15x Coin of Good Luck, 9x Blood Apricot Hagendaz Long - 30x Coin of Good Luck, 9x Blood Apricot, 30x Syllable of Grace James Eventide - 30x Coin of Good Luck, 3x Blood Apricot, 15x Elixir of Invisibility Johan H. Beresford - 30x Coin of Good Luck, 9x Blood Apricot Shosuro Mizuki - 30x Coin of Good Luck, 9x Blood Apricot, 30x Cognizance Crystal (heroic) Willard P. Wright - 9x Coin of Good Luck, 9x Blood Apricot Yasuki Ryusei - 9x Coin of Good Luck, 9x Blood Apricot, 21x Freezing Arrow Yoritomo Kangmin - 9x Coin of Good Luck, 9x Blood Apricot Eolus Eun - 9x Coin of Good Luck, 9x Blood Apricot, 30x Cognizance Crystal (heroic)

Bruce switches his Syllable of Grace x10 = 120gp (because he cannot speak supernatural or abyssal) for another 5x  Blood Apricot = 150gp paying the remaining 30gp.

In a dazzling flash of light, accompanied by a flurry of rose petals and a faint smell of cologne, a beautiful, broad-shouldered and square-jawed man appears before the merchant's giant hand-sized stall, his golden hair fluttering majestically in a breeze which only seems to exist for him. Smiling with a great number of pearly white teeth, the man straightens his bright floral print gambeson, takes off a comically oversized pair of cheap plastic sunglasses with neon pink rims, and bombastically proclaims " Here I was, sojourning in the demiplane of sandy beaches, when suddenly news reached my ears of FANTASTIC BARGAINS! Truly, such an opportunity was not to be missed, for a thrifty shopper is an honorable shopper! And honored too is the merchant offering such great deals to the brave men and women of the Guild who keep the world safe!" He performs a sweeping gesture across the moderately sized throng of shoppers, and briefly holds his pose, as if waiting for applause. "Very well then, o five-fingered entrepeneur! I shall have some of your finest incantations of celerity, stones that bring righteous thunder, legal tender of bountiful fate, tinctures of hardiness, tinctures of fool hardiness, as well as the juicy fruits of vitality! To go!" Siegmar buys 50 Syllables of Grace, 50 Tempest Whetstones, 50 Coins of Good Luck, 20 Potions of Invulnerability, 10 Potions of Delusion, and 50 Blood Apricots. And a paper bag.

The sun sets on yet another "uneventful" day in the countryside by the Guild hall, with the voice of the giant merchant hand echoing over the hills. "...ahaha! Store credit , I told him! Hahahaha!" * ahem .* "Ah... YES ! Some of you hefty spenders deserve extra lootcra... I mean DL... *ahem* ' rewards !'" Those characters who spent more than 10,000 gold on the merchant's wares may choose from one of the following items: Inscrutable Lightweaving This preserved image depicts an iridescent, oversized species of Rodentia attired as a luchador atop a faceless facsimile of a prone woman in flexible garb. Its true purpose and meaning have been lost to the ages. Special : You must carry this item in a pocket or bag at all times. Power (Consumable, No action): Trigger: You or another creature attempts to remove the picture from your pocket or bag. Effect : The triggering creature is stopped by the telepathic voice of the Guildmaster telling them, "This isn't the time to use that !" before the image glitches out of existence. Wilde Statue It's a miniature, creepily accurate statue of you, made of some non-porous, slightly flexible material. It seems a little beat-up for some reason. Shield stun (Power, Consumable, No Action) : Trigger: you drop to 0 HP or below due to damage from an attack. Effect: This statue is destroyed. You instead take no damage from the triggering attack (any other effects of the attack are still applied). You are dazed until the end of your next turn. Special: You cannot make attacks, use attack powers, or deal damage until you have taken a short or extended rest. Model only. Individual design may vary. And so, after "inconspicuously" fist-bumping the Guildmaster behind the Guild hall, the enormous hand floated off and folded itself through space back to wherever, leaving behind a Guild rich in equipment, a newly-founded "Bank of Good Luck," and several villages flush with robust defensive charms and a stunning variety of authentic Dwarven meads and liquors. Living near the Guild does have some benefits, after all.