It is yours, ifyou keep to yourself what I am about to tell you. The gnome lookedat Chantalot, he nodded that it was okay. He checked the gem withhis magnifying glass nodding his head in agreement. It wasdefinitely a fine gem. So he pocketed it with a happy smile on hisface then pulled down the blinds in the front window and locked thedoor.
Aquitain shapeshifted to a Llanllean spider. The gnome didn’t seem the slightestbit concerned about Aquitain being a Llanllean but he was veryinterested in the gold collar revealed around Aquitain’s neck. Hewalked over to a shelf and got a yellowish crystal and looked atAquitain through it.
‘My, my…. Youare indeed a Llanllean. Who would have guessed? You’re not going totell me that Llanlleans are starting to make magic items are you?That’s a very nice collar.’ he said, not being able to keep hiseyes off it.
Aquitainshifted back to his little person shape again.
‘I’m an artisanas I said. I was a Newman, but recently I died in an accident, andwas reincarnated as a Llanllean spider by a druid. Aren’t youafraid of Llanllean spiders?’
‘I’ve madequite a few sales to Llanlleans over the years. They’re pretty keenon magic and magic items. They’re not very skillfull at makingitems though.’
Aquitaincouldn’t help being a bit disappointed. Most everyone else he methad been scared of his spider shape.
‘Would you liketo see my collar?’ he said. It was formerly shaped like anironstone amulet around his neck. But in changing to his spiderform he purposely mentally changed it to look like a gold collarknowing that it would catch to eye of Rumple. Aquitain took off thecollar and handed it to the gnome who examined it carefully using amagnifier.
‘It’s not gold,what metal is it?’
‘It’s made outof a very rare substance from another world that can mimic othermetals.’ said Aquitain. ‘I’ve made it to look like gold but it canlook like any metal and as if to prove the point the collar changedback to ironstone. It acts as a magical vehicle allowing the collarto adjust its size to the wearer.’
The gnome wasmore excited than Chantalot had ever seen him.
‘You made thisyourself,’ asked the gnome. ‘Where’s your marque?’
‘My marque isnormally invisible on a mind activated item as it usually talks tothe mind of the user if he asks for it. But I can mentally tell itto appear for a few seconds.’
He held thecollar with the topside uppermost and concentrated on it. Momentslater his marque appeared.
‘I can’t say Ithat recognize it.’
‘That’s why Iwanted to borrow the use of your equipment. I have a ring of objectlocating and I wanted to check its marque and embedding. It mightgive us a clue to where it came from. We are interested in findingthe maker.’
‘Maybe I canhelp you. You can’t be that bad if you’re a Llanllean. I alwayslike doing business with Llanlleans; most of them are prettyhonest. Let me see the ring.’
The gnome had alook at the ring and its marque then passed the ring and hismagnifier to Aquitain, for him to have a look.
‘I would say itwas made by a Newman. They use that band cross section a lot. Thegold’s been diluted with copper and probably tin, it’s probablyabout half gold. That made it a bit more durable and a lot cheaper.The magic is in the gem. A poor quality, but acceptable enough forits purpose. Ring of object location I would say. By its poorfinish I’d say it wasn’t intended for sale. It was probably used bythe maker of some more valuable object to find it, when it gotlost.’
‘I don’t knowwhose marque it is, but I have seen one or two items that have asimilar marque that came from Templegate. There are several magicitem makers there. That’s the best I can do.’
‘Thanks.’replied Aquitain checking the ring carefully under the magnifyingglass.
‘Now there issomething you can do for Me.’ said the gnome and he wandered off tothe back of his shop returning with a wooden drawer containingseveral items. They looked tarnished and quite dusty and obviouslyhadn’t been used in quite a time.
‘I got thesesome time ago at an auction. I knew they were magic but couldn’twork out what they did. Maybe you can tell me?’
Aquitain lookedat the items and could see immediately that some were mindactivated. ‘I’ll do it for half their value.’
The gnomestopped dead, banged the lot on the top of the display cabinet andsaid.
‘There you haveit. I go out of my way to help these nice people and they want torob me blind.’
He looked atChantalot and said ‘I thought you were a honest person like yourbrother and what do I find … a mercenary, a charlatan trying totrick a poor gnome out of his livelihood. Wait until I tell yourbrother!’
Chantalotlooked worried. What was Aquitain doing? They were supposed to begetting the gnome’s help. Not fighting over the cost of identifyingitems. Aquitain started to walk to the door. The gnome quicklyheaded him off.
‘All righttwenty percent.’
‘Thirty.’
‘Twenty five.’replied the gnome. ‘And that’s my final offer.’
‘Okay,’ repliedAquitain nodding, ‘Let’s see what you’ve got.’ and they both wentover with smiles like naughty little children on their faces, tolook at the items in the drawer.
Chantalotcouldn’t believe it. This couldn’t be the crusty old Rumple he hadmet before.
Aquitain pulledout the first item. It was silver collar inlaid with a pinkcoloured crystal.
‘This is worthonly the value of the silver. The crystals are rose quartz of apoor quality, worth nothing. It’s a collar of control. Some magicuser probably used it to enslave some unfortunate person orcreature. It has no power.’
The next itemwas a fancy torc of copper inlaid with a small clear gem.
‘This is a torcof mind blast. It increases the effectiveness of a mind wizard’sdamaging mental attack on their enemy’s minds. Most mind wizardscan use them, but it’s useless to anyone else. Its value on thePanmagican item market might
