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TheGrandBazaar

The Grand Bazaar

Ah, the power of gold! Wealth and ownership flow here like water, to the chime of rattling coin. Scores of tents, stands, pens and stages crowd this dusty plaza. Among the maze of stalls of the largest market in the world, anything may be had, for a price.

Hooks

• The slavers' trail ends here, in this city of silks and decadence. Somewhere inside, your kinsmen (and the woman you love) writhe under their whips, if they have not been sold already. Slave pens abound, but you search for one in particular - the one owned by Grulak, the swine with the scars on his bald head.
• Your purse, fat with coin, burns by your side. What good is wealth if it cannot be spent? Sultry dancers beckon you to silk-draped tents, weapons gleam from woven baskets, men with strange accents hold jeweled chains to your face. Say, why does this one look familiar?
• You leap off the balcony, landing sure on the street below. I say, that gilded armor may look heavy, but it doesn't seem to slow the palace guards down any, does it? And those swords look like they have a certain weight to them as well...quick! Dart around the corner and through the alley; It will take you, and them straight to the turbulent sea of activity that is the Great Bazaar. You were born and bred on the streets of this city, and you know the locations of every upturnable fruit cart as you know your mother's face!
• Deep in the market, a little old man opens his stall every day at noon. He smokes and watches carefully as people pass him by, and none look his way. He is a demon, a djinn, not of this world, and he deals in things immaterial and all the more valuable for it.

People

Grulak, the scar-headed slaver (The Whip (5), Intimidating manner (4), Blunt businessman (3), Greedy (1); Chi 3)

Soralla, dusky-skinned temptress (Seductive like a coil of lust (5), Pry the secrets from a man's heart (4), Stygian sorceress (3), Control freak (1); Chi 3)

Agrat, pick-pocket and guide-for-hire (Sleight-of-hand (5), Navigate the Bazaar (4), Thin and slippery (3), Fear of the Gods (1); Chi 3)

Old Alayaz, purveyor of curiosities (Drives a Hard Bargain 5, Wealthy 4, Dagger Behind the Counter 3, Distracted by Young Women 1; Chi 2)

Complications

Avoid over-paying on an item (Goal 10); Gang of thieving children (Challenge 3, Time limit 1 round - then becomes Challenge 10 as they snatch your stuff and split into the crowd); Cattle pen bursts open (Get out of the way, Challenge 5, 1 round; if you fail, mooks at 2/15); Damn crowded (+1 Complication). Pickpockets (mooks 1/5). Muggers (mooks 1/10). Gang protection racket (mooks 2/10).

Color

Cymbals, dancing girls in diaphanous silks, fruit carts, strange accents, sweat and the smell of cattle, exotic spices in the air, colorful tents flapping in the breeze, hot sun on your head and back, tent pegs, mysterious people watching you with veiled eyes, the king's daughter in disguise. Shouts and calls and loud bargaining deafen the ear. Strange animals, fabrics, and foods distract the eye. Large men with spears guard the expensive stalls. Youths run and play in the cacophony of the market. Ox-carts threaten to crush the unwary. Birds perch on the canopies, watching for dropped food.

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