Excellus’s Enchanted Enigmas

Inside the so called ‘magic shop’ was a strange world I’d never seen before. The walls were lined in strange trinkets, odd looking machines, various books and scrolls, magic staves, and even a full taxidermied goblin. I couldn’t make heads or tails of it. Sofia however, was a different story.

The redheaded pyromancer’s eyes glittered like a kid in a candy shop. She scurried between displays ‘ooh’ing and ‘aah’ing like a child. She stopped at one object in particular.

“THERE’S NO WAY!!! Is this real!?” Sofia nearly shouted. I walked over to her side to find her pointing at a bracelet, embedded with rubies and shining with a soft red light.

“Oh, it is a genuine article, I assure you,” said a voice right behind us. We both jumped, startled. Behind us was a man in traditional black wizard’s robes. He stared down at us from behind a pair of thick rimmed glasses while twiddling his jet black mustache. “Excellus. Pleased to make your acquaintance.” He eagerly shook our hands.

“Uh, what exactly is it?” I asked, feeling out of the loop.

“This bracelet is the legendary Flame Bangle!” Sofia said. “Legend says that the pyromancer who wields this bracelet will become unstoppable!”

“Indeed!” Declared Excellus. “And all for only a measly 100 gold! Isn’t that a steal!?”

“Yeah! Isn’t it!” exclaimed Sofia.

“Oi! That’s way too much, even with both of our money pooled together!” I said after doing some quick math.

“Oho? How about I sweeten the deal for you?” said Excellus, rubbing his hands together. “You are adventurers, yes? Then how about you two fulfill a request of mine. In exchange, I shall let you have the Flame Bangle for merely what you have on you right now. Reasonable, no?”

“What’s the request?” I eyed him suspiciously.

“A certain group of bandits has been hassling my suppliers on the road to the capital as of late. I would like them dealt with,” he said. I smirked inwardly. He would have no way of knowing that the bandits were likely already dealt with by some other adventurers, or that we were about to get paid quite the sum by the church. Time to scam the scammer.

“Deal,” I said, shaking his hand and handing over what petty change I had. Sofia did the same before eagerly slipping the bracelet onto her arm. I quickly steered Sofia out of the store before she could say anything to the owner. “Hehehe.”

“What?” Asked Sofia.

“Those bandits he was talking about are the same ones we met, remember? The ones that are already likely beaten down by the guild. That idiot basically gave us such an important item for free!” I whispered, quickly moving us away from the shop.

“Wow! You’re amazing Flynn!” She said. “Now lemme test it out!”

“Stoooopppp!” I said, smacking her staff out of her hands. “Not in town idiot! Wait until we leave!”

She pouted the whole way back to the church.