"Yes. I assume it is the same for you."
As they walked back to the central plaza, Asha told her tale of woe. He felt his own face heating up when she told how they tried to sell her into prostitution. Killum had a sick feeling she didn't confess everything she endured in their unmerciful power, but he felt much better when he learned how Asha and Deidra killed all three of them.
"So Joss went to Purgatory for a month?" Rand asked. "It sounds fitting, considering what she did, but also sounds kind of scary. How many deaths do you have already?"
"Two," Asha said. "And believe me; I'm actually going to be trying extra hard to stay alive from now on."
The plaza was even more crowded when they arrived. Enchanter's Hall was three buildings to their left. The half-timbered structure was painted a nice tan, with a two murals. One was a picture of a wizard surrounded by smiling wildlife and the other was a sorceress surrounded by playing children. And both murals were moving, like little gif files or something.
"Wizardly propaganda commercials," Fergus said. "They look so sweet and innocent, see? Wizards and witches aren't scary, see? But the magical murals are kind of cool."
Asha led the way inside. Killum brought up the rear, keeping an eye out for trouble. He didn't like the way the priests and a few others watched them. The others seemed oblivious to the threat.
We probably have a reputation since killing Lord Seth and his men, he thought. I need to buy some fighting magic while here. Just in case.
The entrance was a narrow, dark corridor to a central courtyard. There was a gurgling fountain, with benches and lots of decorative trees, bushes, and flowers. All of the shops opened onto the courtyard, so walkways encircled it on all levels. Tiana pointed at a ground floor shop, while whispering to Asha.
"You guys look around," Asha said as Tiana pulled her by the hand toward the shop. "We'll catch up."
"What the hell is up with them?" Rand asked. "Should we go check it out?"
"No," Fergus said. "I suspect it has to do with women's issues, so we aren't welcome. And I, for one, am glad. Let's go see if they sell magical weapons."
The ground floor was all for women. Mostly clothes and enchanted jewelry. There were two shops selling medicinal potions, as well as things like love potions. A pretty witch tried to sell Rand a love potion.
"Pour this in your heart's desire's drink, and she'll be yours for the night," the witch said with a wag of her brows. "And she'll be very, very eager to please."
"No," Killum said. "You'll be kicked out of the group if you buy a love potion."
"That's just a date rape potion," Fergus said.
They each grabbed an arm and escorted Rand away.
"Prudes," the witch sneered, and vanished into her shop.
"Thanks. I never considered love potions to be date rape drugs before," Rand said. "But you're right. Eww. I've read a lot of stories with love potions."
"Well, this is real virtual reality," Fergus said, making them all pause. "So we don't play that game."
The next level was all bookshops. Not just grimoires, either. There were books on history, warfare, and religion. Mostly, though, they sold spell books. Some of the shops sold individual spells.
Killum gawked into a bookshop's window. "Holy crap, grimoires start at three gold shekels?"
They quickly moved away from that magical bookstore. The next shop sold battle spells. While Rand and Fergus checked out a display of enchanted rings and bracers, Killum engaged the shop owner. He was Haig and a level 33 mage, but just an NPC. But Haig was a friendly, eager to help computer-generated fellow. They discussed previous spells Killum had possessed in the past, while not mentioning other realms. Also, they touched on spells he'd seen used by friends and enemies, and what he might need in the future.
"I know you really like that hovering spell your sorceress friend has, but wouldn't it be better to have different spells than her? While she hovers and distracts the bad guys, you can strike them down with lightning."
"I have a Ring of Lightning," he said, holding up his hand. "And she has Thunderbolts."
"Thunderbolts is a powerful battle spell, but not as powerful as Gatecrasher."
"Oh?"
"Gatecrasher can smash apart a wagon or chariot, as well as blow a common door into smithereens. Its power really depends on how much mana you can give it. With enough mana, you can knock down a stone tower!"
"How much?"
After a bit of haggling, Killum handed over two silver and fifty copper shekels. He was given the spell to read, which vanished in a puff of smoke afterwards. Haig even told him about Lady Evangeline's Potions on the ground floor, where he'd find the most powerful mana boosting potions anywhere.
They met Asha and Tiana on the stairs when they headed back down. Both women wore silver rings on their left pinky. Before he could ask about their acquisitions, Tiana asked about theirs.
Rand spoke up. "Killum bought a gate crashing spell, so we're going to Lady Evangeline's shop to buy some super-charged mana boosting spell."
"Potion," Killum corrected. "If you have enough coin, it'll be a good idea to boost your mana, too."
Lady Evangeline turned out to be the wicked little witch with the love spells. She gave them a smug smile upon their entry.
Evangeline. Human Witch (Lvl 25). Neutral.
The fact she wasn't Dark surprised him. How did she brew such evil potions and not go Dark? He shook his head, which made her beam with wicked delight. Then she looked both of their women over with glint in her eyes, before catching Rand's eyes.
Killum quickly asked about the mana boosting potion to divert her attention, while Fergus warned the two women about her love potions. In the end, Killum bought a single potion since it cost one silver, and she wouldn't haggle with him. Asha bought two.
"Holy crap," Killum cried upon drinking it. It went down like moonshine, sucking the air out of his lungs and burning all the way into his gut. But when he checked, his mana was up by five hundred. "Good shit."
"Thanks," Evangeline said. She gave Rand a sultry look. "All of my potions are very, very powerful."
Asha cried out in her native tongue, and then bent over huffing and puffing. "That is powerful. Wow." She looked at her second potion, sucked in a deep breath, and drank it. "Ooooh. That hurts so good."
Evangeline laughed, and soon the others joined her. Asha didn't seem to care. She had the most beatific look on her face. "Up a thousand. I'd like to buy two more."
Evangeline sold Asha two more mana boosting potions, but warned her to wait at least a day before drinking the next. It would be best if she only drank one a day. Killum couldn't afford any more. He was down to his last silver shekel and three silver bits, and fourteen and a half copper shekels.
Asha seemed to have unlimited resources, because she led the way back up the stairs to buy some spells. The sorceress bought Simple Fire, Fireballs, Bind, and Farsee. And Killum also bought Farsee, because the ability to zoom in on anything in his line of sight was too tempting to pass up.