Something sneaky

Some part of you knew the statuette wasn't worth a lot, and you also knew you'd need supplies other than clothing for the journey ahead. With those thoughts rolling through your mind, you'd opted to look into a few basic items.

You grab a simple, sleeveless tunic and skirt off a nearby rack. They're made of a lightweight, soft material, and look to be well-tailored too. The tunic is snug without being tight, with a deep 'V' opening in the front that tightens with laces across it. The skirt is fairly loose, falling to mid-thigh, allowing you to move freely.

You head to the footwear portion of the stall, intending to grab a pair of simple sandals. As you reach for them, a strange pair of shoes catches your eye, hanging on the side of the rack. You don't know why, but you're drawn to them, and you pluck them from the side of the rack. You hold the shoes up, and find they aren't really shoes at all, since they don't have a sole. They consist of a thin leather anklet, connected to a thin leather strap which ends in a loop that looks like it fits around your second toe, and are jet black. Two small, dark gems are inset in the center of the strap leading from the anklet.

Following your compulsion, you take a seat on a nearby bench, and put them on. They're so light you almost can't feel them. You stand and take a few experimental steps in them. It's kind of like wearing your recently-lost boots, but lighter and with nothing between your feet and the ground. At that moment, the shopkeeper approaches you, a smile on his face.

"Those are something unique, which I acquired a while back. They seem to have belonged to a master thief sometime in the past. They have a pair of enchantments on them. One seems to be a fairly weak protection spell, which seems to serve the purpose of preventing minor injuries from **** temperatures or rough terrain. The other one makes them completely trackless. You could walk across a room with two hundred years of dust on the floor and not leave a sign of your passing. I have the other items from her set as well, if you'd like to take a look."

You barely think about it before deciding it can't hurt to look. He tells you to wait a moment, and heads to the back of the stall, returning moments later with a few other items in his hand. Setting them on the bench beside you, he steps back as you take a look at the items. They turn out to be a soft, front-lacing leather corset, a pair of tight leather pants, a wide, leather belt, a pair of fingerless leather elbow gloves, and a large cloak, all of which are jet black as well.

You smile as you look at them, knowing they'd fit, and somehow drawn to them, while the shopkeeper tells you a bit about them. "The corset, pants and gloves are imbued with an enchantment which makes it much tougher than the leather suggests, roughly on par with a well-made suit of leather armor. The pants also have an additional illusory enchantment that conceals a pair of pockets on the thighs, perfect for keeping valuables out-of-sight. There are also several hidden pouches on the inside of the belt, though none of them is exceptionally large. The cloak has an enchantment which makes the wearer much harder to see in shadows. The corset, pants, and cloak are 100 silver apiece, the gloves and belt 50 apiece, and the thongs 50." He finishes with another smile, as you contemplate how you're going to actually pay for these.

"Um, all I've got to trade for these is this statuette," you say, pulling it from your satchel and handing it to him. He looks at it critically, before cocking his head quizzically, and taking it to a small scale at the front of the store. After weighing it, he takes a small magnifying lens and looking intently at the base of it. He then flicks a small spot on the bottom of the statuette, and a tiny, hidden compartment pops open, a tiny, clear, perfectly formed gem glowing slightly inside it.

He looks back up at you, and says, "I haven't seen one of these in years. They were made to smuggle these gems out of Forscythia, far to the north. They're exceedingly rare, and apparently quite magically potent. Unfortunately, this one seems almost spent, and I can only offer you 300 silver for it and the statuette." As he finishes, you frown slightly, realizing you can't afford the entire set. An unbidden thought passes through your mind, of you kneeling before the merchant, sucking his cock, and you shake your head slightly as you realize that's the second time you've had these thoughts.

You quickly weigh your options, debating between buying part of the set, or actually offering yourself as payment.