The market

"Watch your bag, Tey. You thought cutpurses were bad on the surface..."

Aliara and Teysa strode along arm in arm. All around them, the city was coming to life, vendors lighting their lanterns and spreading their wares. There was no true night down here, but the torches high above cycled through dimmer and brighter periods and most citizens seemed to mark time by them.

The two were heading for the great market. Dom had given them a list of vendors that did business with the driders regularly. In the past they had been a common sight, though they had never been truly welcomed. In recent months, though, they had had to move furtively and avoid attention as best as they could-- which, for a seven foot tall woman with a spider's body, wasn't very well. "Mood's really turned here," Dom had mused. "Used to be people would cross the street when they passed, but that was it. Lately all of the driders have fled, and I don't blame 'em."

There were still a few intermediaries that did business with the driders and allowed them to buy and sell. None of them was particularly friendly to the warren, Dom had warned, but the essentially mercenary nature of most drow merchants won out over racial animus. "The driders always paid well. They had to-- matron knows she's gettin' fleeced six ways from Dimtide, but what's she gonna do about it?"

The buildings thinned out as they traveled farther from the temple precinct. A few were still made of the black basalt common in the inner city, but more were stucco, adobe, clay brick, or event simple frameworks of metal poles covered in canvas. Up ahead the hubbub of the market was a dull roar. Skulking figures watched them from gloomy windows and doors, but nobody challenged them as they walked.

Aliara kept up a steady stream of chatter. "Anyone who's anyone lives in the inner city. Out here it's all dregs. Lots of foreigners here, too. Gnomes, dwarves, even some kobolds and trogs. The guards patrol the market but pretty much leave the rest of the outer wards to fend for themselves. Don't expect too much help if someone tries to pick your pocket in the market itself, either. They'll break up fights and crack skulls, and if someone steals from a merchant who's current on his dues they'll get the thief, but you're supposed to be able to take care of yourself down here."
Teysa nodded. "Duly noted. I have been in a market before, Li."
"Not like this one. Trust me."

They rounded a corner and, without warning, the market engulfed them. Teysa spun around slowly and took it all in. She had seen large bazaars on the surface, but this dwarfed anything she had ever imagined. Stalls stretched as far as they eye could see. They were pitched in a random, haphazard fashion, with a labyrinth of narrow alleys connecting them in a vast web. Some of the smaller stalls near the edges were no more than blankets tossed across the cobblestones, usually lined with battered-looking weapons and armor or cheap knickknacks. Others were carts or carriages, some with oxen still in the tracers. A few merchants hawked their wares from pavilion tents of particolored silk-- strange fragrances and butts of glittering smoke emerged from a few of these, beckoning in passersby. The majority of the stalls were metal frameworks draped with swatches of silk and canvas. Merchants of every race, size and description shouted in a thousand languages.

"Vases! Ceramic, clay, gombroon! A vase for every household!"

"Gems! I buy and sell, madam, buy and sell! Cut and raw!"

"Vesh pay? Adonn torida, dumathon bar ezkyell!"

"Rat! Cave rat, here, onna stick! Getchore rat here!"

Teysa and Aliara passed an open-air forge where a band of grey-skinned dwarves lounged around the bellows, eyeballing passersby. A smith, short and stocky even for a dwarf, was beating dents out of a shield on the anvil. The pounding of metal on metal was hypnotically familiar; entranced, Teysa watched until Aliara pulled her away.

"Stop it! Tey, you can't attract attention down here. We're already in- shit!"

She pulled Teysa aside and spun her around, looking up at her face. The paladin looked down in confusion. "What? Li, what's-"

Aliara shushed her with one finger. She stared over Teysa's shoulder for awhile, then looked back at her.

"Turn to your left, slowly. Don't stare!"

To their left, a pair of drow in baroque armor was receding into the crowd. From the looks of it they had passed within a few feet of the women. Teysa turned back.

"Li, who is that?"

"Fangs," the half-elf whispered. "Like city guard. But meaner. We should make ourselves scarce."

"But we didn't do anything!"

"Like that matters to them. They'll shake us down for a bribe, or just because they're bored. Come on, this was your idea. Who do we talk to?"

Teysa dug out the list. "Says here they do most of their business with Quorling + Parr. Dom says they're in a big canvas tent with a... there!" She pointed. A few hundred feet away a three-tiered tent rose above the stalls and carts of the surrounding vendors. It resembled nothing so much as a massive cake, frosted with jagged streamers of blue and black cloth. A banner hanging over the entrance flap read:
Quorling and Parr

Imports/Exports

Exotic Goods A Specialty

They pushed their way through the press of people towards the tent. Up close it was even more impressive-- a pair of armored dwarves stood outside the entrance, leaning on their heavy axes. The whole thing rose more than thirty feet off the ground, and at its base it was more than fifty feet across. It looked more like a circus tent than the crude stalls around it. One of the dwarves stepped forward and raised a hand.

"Biznezz?" His accent was thick with the heavy consonants of the deep dwarves. Teysa cleared her throat. "Um, we're here on behalf of... some of your boss's business partners. We have some questions." The dwarf stared up at her for a moment, then held out a hand. "Leave weaponz. Get back laturr." Teysa looked at Aliara, who shrugged.

"Sure. Just leave it with you?" She unshipped her mace and handed it over. Aliara pulled off her dagger belt and held it out as well. The dwarf took both and stepped back towards the tent. Reaching inside the flap he grabbed a metal casket, into which he deposited the weapons. "Enturr."

Inside, the tent was pleasantly cool, and dimly lit. Concentric rings of benches lined the walls, each of which had a hooded scribe sitting at it with a single candle. In the center of the tent, a vast spiral staircase rose up into the darkness. Craning her neck, Teysa could see a metal ceiling in the gloom, held up by a ring of struts.

The frantic skittering of pen on paper filled the room. None of the scribes bothered looking up. Teysa stood awkwardly, wondering if she should say something.

"Come in! Come in! So sorry to keep you waiting!" A figure materialized from the shadowed recesses of the chamber. An elderly dwarf with a lined, kindly looking face and a neatly braided grey beard smiled up at her. He wore a simple green robe tied at the waist with a length of robe, and his only decoration was a small pin in the form of a pair of clasped hands.

"I am Moresh. You must be our friends from the warren. Tell me, how is the matron lately? It has been too long, far too long since I was able to visit. Alas, business..." he laid a hand against his brow theatrically and gave a world-weary sigh.

Teysa was nonplussed. "Um, I am Teysa. This is Aliara. How did you-?"
The dwarf waved his hand as if to dismiss her question. "Come, child. Knowing is my business." His smile was cherubic, but didn't quite reach his eyes. "I am hurt that the matron sent you to that old drunk Dom'rek before I. She knows that the House of Quorling has always been a steadfast friend to the driders. I was saddened to hear about poor Siri'ka. A lovely woman. She always conducted business in a straightforward and satisfactory fashion."

Aliara's mouth was drawn in a tense line. "Mr. Moresh, what did you hear about Siri'ka? And should we be talking here? It seems a bit..." she glanced around at the scribes, "public."
"Nonsense! Anything you say here, you say in confidence. As to what I've heard... well, not much, I'm afraid. The caravan arrived on the 12th of Lentipas. They camped in the Ghetto on the outskirts of the city-- pretty much the only place her people are welcome these days." He wrung his hands with an anguished expression. "So sad, when these petty hatreds are inflamed. Bad for business. Anyways, we had a very excellent exchange-- very profitable, for both sides-- and they departed the 18th. I thought she was going straight home, but she didn't exactly confide her travel plans to me, haha. In any case she was well and whole when I saw her last. Her guard, too. It was only later that I heard that they did not return home. I hope she is only waylaid temporarily somewhere, but I fear the worst. In this climate..."

Teysa pursed her lips. "Did she say anything unusual? Was she planning to make any stops along the way home?"
"No, madam, she was not-- or rather, she did not tell me, if so. I did not ask... it's not my place, you understand, to pry..."
Aliara smiled, but she sounded stressed to Teysa. "Thank you sir, you've been very helpful. I believe we'll be on our way now."
The dwarf's face fell. "Oh! I am bereaved I was unable to help you. Please remember me kindly to your matron. I will tell you if I hear anything, I promise."

Outside, the dwarf guard dragged the metal casket out, then rummaged around. He handed Teysa back her mace and Aliara her dagger belt. "Wait. Iz anudder." He turned back to the box.
"No, that was everything." Teysa buckled her mace back on. "Really, we're all set. Thank you."
The dwarf held up a hand to stop her. "Wait." He turned around. In his arms was one of the long spears of the driders. Teysa recognized the oddly curved blade immediately. "Thiz left by dridur last time. You take back. You came from drider, right?"

"Yes..." Teysa took the spear, turning it around and around in her hands. "Thank you." Aliara looked at her quizzically but said nothing. "Come on, Li. Let's head back to the Egg."

On the way back, Aliara was uncharacteristically quiet. Teysa was preoccupied with the spear. She turned it around and around in her hands. "Why would she leave this, Li? Do you think it was stolen? If so, why would the guard give it back to us? Is it a coincidence?"
Aliara stared straight ahead. "I dunno, Tey. I'll tell you this, though. That dwarf was lying to us through his teeth."