The City of Grx (part three)

The Captive Market (#18/30; #169/365)

The Captive Market is the main trading area of Grx-Sel-Vik, and is a wide cobbled-stone plaza that lies in the centre of the city, flanked by the Palace of the Archveult, the various Ministries, and one end of the avenue of Temples. It is full of raised daises and rickety stalls selling and hawking everything from humanoid captives (hence the name of the market) to gems and minerals, various fungi and underground creatures, and all kinds of obscure Down Below crafts. Stalls that are likely of interest include:

• Gurvoy the Fungi Purveyor: Gurvoy (unkempt, flamboyant) is a Flayer and sells subterranean fungi. He is widely considered to be one of the most knowledgeable in his field and a true connoisseur. Among the wares of Gurvoy's stall (and feel free to roll on the Random Fungi Generator!), one may find:
• 2-12 Yellow Coral Plumes. 2 OT each. Each piece of this bracket-fungi restores 1-2 STAMINA points when eaten.
  
• 1-6 Green-Topped Fungi. 4 OT each. Each giant mushroom is worth 1 Provision, restoring 4 STAMINA points when eaten.
  
• 1-6 Green Mushrooms. 5 OT each. Each one of these smaller mushrooms restores 1-6 STAMINA points in healing.
  
• Two sealed lead caskets: one contains a Greencap (see The Titan Herbal (p. 32), the other some Elfbane (see The Titan Herbal (p. 38). 30 OT each.
  
• 3-18 patches of unused Glow-Mould. 1 OT each. One use, will glow as bright as a torch for 1-6 minutes when breathed on.
  
• 1-6 Growth Mushrooms. See The Titan Herbal (p. 39).
  
• 1-3 Mix-Up Mushrooms. See The Titan Herbal (p. 50).
• 1-6 Purple Puffballs. 5 OT each. One use - if thrown at an enemy, explodes in a cloud of purple spores causing 1-6 STAMINA points damage.
  
• 1 small FUNGOID mushroom humanoid in a wicker cage. 50 OT. May become a Familiar if treated nicely. (see Return to the Pit, pp. 83-84)
  
• Thrax Netslinger: Being a decadent race, periodic strange fads sweep the social milieu of Brain Slayers and one of the current ones is a desire to own small interesting pets. Thrax Netslinger (powerful, dull), an ex-operative Brain Slayer from the Ministry Below, has been in a prime position to corner this market. To consult what Thrax has for sale, roll on the following table:
1. A CAVE BADGER in a wicker cage. White-furred, bad-tempered and smelly. 40 OT. SKILL 3 STAMINA 3, Small Bite, -1 to Damage Roll, -1 to opponent's Attack Strength.
   
2. A TENTACLED SPAWN in a wooden bucket of water. Lots of tentacles and teeth. 40 OT. SKILL 4 STAMINA 4, Small Bite, -1 to Damage Roll.
   
3. 1-3 GRANNITS in a wooden crate. Like flesh-eating armadillo-like coconuts. 40 OT each. SKILL 4 STAMINA 3, Small Bite, Medium Armour, -1 to Damage Roll.
   
4. A WINGED GREMLIN with pinions bound, in a metal cage. 50 OT. SKILL 5 STAMINA 4, Small Bite, -2 to Damage Roll. Will reward anyone who frees it with info to a nearby treasure cache hidden in a dark alley of Grx.
   
5. 1-6 GRIPWORMS in a glass tank. Long flesh sausages with lots of mildy poisonous teeth. 35 OT each. SKILL 2 STAMINA 4, Small Bite.
   
6. 1 SLIMESPAWN in a clay pot. Like a puddle of animated acidic green slime. 30 OT. SKILL 3 STAMINA 2, Small Claw, immune to fire.
   
• Objob the Peculiar: The previous cultural trend was for bizarre and wondrous objects from the surface world; the itinerant Brain Slayer pedlar Objob (long-tentacled, greedy) is currently offering the following "Trinkets From Above!" at marked-down prices (1-6 OT each):
• Box of brass cutlery
  
• Stack of fine porcelain plates (actually worth 50 GP to a collector)
  
• Bamboo parasol
  
• A fine felt top hat
  
• Violet silk scarf (from Fang, worth 10 GP)
  
• Bag of teeth (12 Human, 3 Dark Goblin, 1 Cave Giant)
  
• The Eye of Foretelling: This is a dark, creepy tent, whose entrance is signposted with a spectacular placard (in Brain Slayer and Allansian): 'Dare you face the Eye of Foretelling? Confront your Worst Fears! Discover your Mysterious Future! Understand your Secret Past! Only 5 Obsidian Tokens!'. Inside is the Eye (stuttering, collector), a disgusting-looking tentacled jellyfish-like creature with, perhaps not surprisingly, one gigantic staring eye. The Eye is sentient and can talk, claiming to be from the surface city of Blackhaven. In heavily accented Allansian it will hypnotize its victim with bizarre and uncontrollable visions of either its or their life, both past and future, while using its tentacles to pick their pockets.
  
• Moschops the Cleaver: On a dais near where captives are sold is Moschops (strong, honest), an immense green and black-scaled reptilian humanoid creature armed with a gigantic iron cleaver. Moschops will hire out as a mercenary to almost any buyer, at the rate of 25 Obsidian Tokens a 'day'. Moschops has worked for the various Ministries on a freelance basis in the past, usually on 'clear-up' missions. He would prefer not to work against the Ministries, unless paid triple his daily rate (but in Gold Pieces, not Obsidian Tokens), as he is looking to finance a move to the surface soon. More information on CLEAVERS can be found in (see Return to the Pit, pp. 46-47).
  

An Obsidian Pass is needed if one wishes to sell things in the Captive Market - they can be purchased from the Ministry Urban for 10 OT. Anyone new attempting to sell things without the correct Pass will be reported by outraged nearby sellers to a Sentinel patrol. 

Grokkar’s Tavern (#19/30; #170/365)

This is an alcoholic institution within Grx, a run-down, dingy tavern where non-Brain Slayers may drink and converse and forget they inhabit an underground city full of octopus-headed psychic monsters. Of course, Brain Slayers come here too, 'for the ambience', but, by and large, Grokkar's Tavern is considered 'neutral ground' for all. As a result it is full of every kind of weird creature from all the caverns around, carousing as if the world were about to end. All weapons must be left at the door, with a ROCK EATER (see Return to the Pit, pp. 154-155) bouncer Konkar Quartz-eye (clumsy, forceful), and there is a strict policy of no magic or psionics on the premises. Violators of this rule will be expelled by the customers and a Sentinel patrol will be summoned. Sentinel patrols frequently stop by anyway (one of the reasons Grokkar's is allowed to stay open), so most customers keep their Obsidian Cards handy.

To determine who are the customers, roll several times on the following table:

First Roll 1-3.

Second Roll:

1.  1-3 BRAIN SLAYERS, slumming it, their table is littered with gourds of Shroomshine grog.
2. 2-7 SKORN miners, cautiously sipping cups of ale.
3. 2-12 TROGLODYTE tribesfolk, completely trashed on Shroomshine.
4. 1-6 DARK ELVES, heavily robed and cloaked, drinking expensive imported wine and watching everyone
5. 1-3 GLEFF, glaring and suspicious, clutching at tankards of Mushroom Mead.
6. A lone CAVE GIANT with an enormous mug of Bladdergill Beer.
   

First Roll 4-6.

Second Roll:

1.  1-6 N'YADACH, scornful and secretive, passing around a dark glass bottle of something that smells disgusting.
2. 1-6 FLAYERS, maggotted on Shroomshine and playing Pinfinger extremely badly.
3. 2-7 DARK GOBLINS, chattering about the local gossip, drinking Guursh.
4. A lone CAVERN ELF, gazing about them with wide-eyed wonder, drinking something from a hip-flask.
5. 1-6 angry SKELETON MEN, playing cards but spoiling for a fight.
6. 1-3 CAARTH traders, trying to avoid attention in thick cloaks, drinking shot-glasses of smuggled Sidiki.
   

Food is typically grilled or roasted, and usually a mixture of weirdly coloured fungi and be-tentacled creatures (all taken from the banks or the waters of the River Scour). Despite its appearance the food restores 3 STAMINA. Booze includes Shroomshine Grog, Mushroom Mead, Bladdergill Beer, and the occasional crate of Sidiki, Guursh or Hweagh that has been brought down from the surface (or close to it). Pinfinger is a very popular game - many patrons are missing tentacles, fingers and other appendages - as is dart-throwing at various polyp-like creatures that are then harvested for food.

The proprietor is Grokkar (fat, paranoid), but nobody knows if that is their own name or that of their people - in appearance they are a very large and hairy ape-like creature with sharp teeth, clad in leather armour, with a Rod of Paralysis kept on their personage at all times. Grokkar knows much of Grx and the Down Below, and will divulge rumours for 5-15 OT depending on the importance of the information.