Alchemy: The Secret Art Christine Morgan Acquisitions Unlimited, a shop This shop is best located in a large city with a thriving wizard's guild, in a part of town frequented by adventurers. It can be an excellent opportunity for adventurers. They can hire on as part- time Acquirers, dispose of unusual items, make a bit of cash by donating blood or other body parts, and utilize the bulletin board in addition to shopping for those hard-to-find ingredients and gifts for the wizard who has everything. Along the street are an armorer, blade-sharpener, enameler, leather goods store, mapmaker, scribe/linguist, dried foods merchant, lamp and candle store, pawn shop, travel outfitter, three taverns, etc. Security: There is a Sense Life item above the door, always on and limited to "Thieves that stole something from this shop." It is also linked to a Daze spell and a Sound of an alarm bell. There are no windows except the bedroom ones on the third floor. Acquisitions is a large brick building, three stories tall. The bottom floor consists of a large open room filled with shelves and cabinets, a back office, and a back room for private chats. A bulletin board is on one wall. There is a flight of wooden stairs going up, with a sign reading More Rooms Upstairs. Other painted wooden signs are posted around the display area: Ask About Our Guide Services We Buy Exotic Items We Specialize In The Unusual Wizard's Guild Cards Welcomed There are also some sheets of parchment tacked over various shelves: Buy One, Get One Free, This Shelf Only Ten Percent Off All Blood Celebrate The Elvish New Year Special Today: Mermaid Scales Things hanging from ceiling and mounted on walls: 1. Narwhal skull 2. Stuffed two-headed eagle 3. Human-sized flying harness 4. Slice of ancient polished redwood 5. Plaque with chimera's heads 6. White tiger's pelt 7. Phoenix wing 8. Wicker dragon 9. Mummy case, open, occupied 10. Ribcage of sea serpent Things in display cases: 1. Collection of primitive luck figures 2. Miniature stained glass window 3. Six unicorn horns, varying 4. Twelve sapphires shaped like panthers 5. Pot with snake/bird design 6. Petrified wood, three pieces 7. Seven pieces amber with things in them 8. Intricate jade egg, 2' high 9. Jawbones of sharks 10. Headdress, ancient island kingdom 11. Seashell tea set 12. Giantess' thimble and ring 13. Pinned butterflies 14. Scrap of dwarvish mail 15. Elven memory crystal 16. Beach in a globe 17. Cyclops skull 18. Gems of the World marble collection 19. Spoon and knife, primitive ogre craftsmanship 20. Silver mask of woman's face 21. Abacus made from vertebrae 22. Primitive religious figurines 23. Collection of sword hilts 24. Tree/dollhouse 25. Fur, tooth, claw of Great Beast 26. Coin collection, complete 27. Several geodes 28. Cursing-dolls, four 29. Emerald-hilted knife 30. Painted plates, religious scenes Special Shelf: all ten signed original manuscripts of Pridakat's Guide to Monsters, bound in dark brown leather with gold and ivory trim. Volumes 1-10 (Orcs and Goblins, Shapeshifters, Undead, Man-Beasts, Dragons, Plant-Beasts, Giants and Ogres, Subterraneans, Sea Dwellers, and Demons) Shelf categories, main room downstairs: 1. Blood 2. Bones 3. Scales 4. Fur/Hair 5. Teeth 6. Claws 7. Wings 8. Skin 9. Organs 10. Eyes 11. Saliva 12. Other Fluids 13. Venom 14. Feathers 15. Membranes 16. Tails 17. Ears 18. Brains Shelf categories, Room 1 upstairs: 19. Gems20. Metals 21. Earths Shelf categories, Room 2 upstairs: 22. Herbs 23. Flowers 24. Roots 25. Leaves 26. Pollens/Spores 27. Fungus Shelf categories, Room 3 upstairs: 28. Oils 29. Essences 30. Miscellaneous Room 4 upstairs: 31. Bones, whole 32. Pelts, whole 33. Unborn, preserved in jars Room 5 upstairs: Storage, uncatalogued. Room 6 upstairs: Office, private conference room. 3rd floor: Treasury -- no windows, heavy door, locked. Living areas -- ten small and one large bedroom. The Staff: Helveticus -- owner, retired adventurer. Older man, tattoo of dragon on left forearm and phoenix on right bicep, has jade insets in holes drilled in the fronts of his teeth, wears star sapphire earring. Selmorius -- apprentice clerk, teenage. Shy, handsome. Has a crush on Florellia. Quarellius -- clerk, accountant. Tall, thin, gangly. Borindal -- former gladiator, convicted to arena for thievery, won his freedom. Acquirer. Large muscular man with a bald head and bristling beard. Hector Paulson -- former sailor, well-traveled. Acquirer. Short, stocky, chews kanda root. Farbelledonius -- journeyman wizard. Acquirer. Somewhat vain, favors a sparse goatee. Florellia -- Quarellius' sister, works as the maid. Proper, wears a veil, lovely dark eyes. Other: Pridakat Monsterwriter -- author of Pridakat's Guide to Monsters vols. 1-10, currently working on vol. 11 (Elementals); not an Acquirer but often tags along for research purposes. Taren of the West Woods -- young human, in love with a dryad, campaigning for the ethical treatment of plants and animals. Weilds a rowanwood staff with deadly effectiveness. Considered a bit of a kook and a pest by the staff. Bulletin Board: 1. For Sale: Bolkanavian spitting roach, tame. Contact Pavarius the Weaver. 2. Do you have a story to tell? Varcius the Scribe will write your adventures in heirloom quality handsome script. 3. Models needed. Young artist seeks non-humans for class study. Will pay reasonable rate. Ask for Octavius at the Silver Starfish. 4. Petition -- Legalize Kanda Root! (about thirty names on petition) 5. We Buy Used Weapons! Jofaricus the Armorer. Good prices, no questions asked. 6. Have you seen this dog? Gelfius, son of Zanicarius the Assassin, offers 1 weight reward for the return of a purebred silkdog, black with white and brown markings, red collar. Answers to Bumbler. (includes sketch of small longhaired dog) 7. Career Opportunities Now Available in the King's National Guard -- advancement to Jackal a definite possibility. Interested young men sign up at local guard stations. 8. Elixirs by Quentius, alchemy at affordable prices, 12 Jasper Court, next to Sweets by Felicia. 9. Support the Greens at the Races! 10. Demure young lady of good family needs respectable gainfully-employed husband. Talk to Esmilius the Astrologer regarding his sister.
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