As she headed into the market proper Bethany took a closer look at the shopping list she’d been given.

1 kilo rice

14 Bronze

1 large Frying Pan

3 Silver

1 large Pot

1 Silver, 7 Bronze

1-gallon Urola Ice-Cream (frozen treat)

1 Silver, 5 Bronze

100g Tea Leaves

12 Bronze

10 Atoo’kth (fish)

1 Silver 5 Bronze

2 bottles Atoo’kth marinade (pre-packaged)

8 Bronze

2 bottles Honey

1 Silver, 8 Bronze

25 Tballa (vegetable similar to carrots)

1 Silver 7 Bronze

25 Hicore (small grape-like fruit)

3 Silver

While she didn’t recognise most of the items on the list, she understood their alternatives well enough to know roughly what to look for. Alongside each entry was the rough market value of each item allowing Bethany to work out how possible the Trial was. Doing the maths on the back took Bethany a while but, in the end, she found the list came to 231 Bronze or more usefully 15 Silver 6 Bronze. Bethany obviously hadn’t been provided that much as that would defeat the point of the Trial. Instead, she had only 12 Silver to work with.

Heading into the market proper Bethany found herself among a great number of different races, however all the shop owners were the same race. Once again, Bethany found herself associating the race with a familiar animal, this time they resembled large moles. They weren't quite human sized instead they were all around the height of an 11-year-old. The stalls, however, were made with adult human proportions in mind. As such Bethany had no problem looking at the stalls as she passed. All the stalls were very meticulously organised and if a potential customer picked something up to look at it and placed it back it was always readjusted by the owner regardless of how carefully the customer had returned it.

Stopping at a random stall Bethany tried to get the lay of the land before getting started on bartering properly. Obviously, she couldn’t waste the man’s time and buy nothing so she elected that she would purchase the tea from them as it was a fairly low-ticket item. In return the man was eager for a chat and ended up telling Bethany plenty about the planet and his people.

They were what is known as nevukus and apparently, they were the only native sentient race to the planet. The planet had its initiation so long-ago records don’t say when it was and instead are started after the event. The whole race are generally, fierce shopkeepers and many families insist they reach level 10 in bartering before they go after any other skill. Those that don’t enjoy it frequently leave. Not due to being driven out but because it’s hard to be around people who only really want to talk about market prices. On top of their renown business sense they were also commonly seen as the most trustworthy people in the universe.

The planet itself, called Nevu, is completely covered in an ever-sprawling marketplace that due to being a popular shopping destination never closes. Instead, the nevukus all live underground in an area that was generally off limits to non-inhabitants and was where the rest of their necessary facilities were found. More relevantly they also had keen bartering traditions suggesting Bethany would be required to spend a good amount of time at each stall, and she should expect to be offered a spiced drink as part of that process. As thanks for the help from the stall owner she bought the tea she needed directly from them only bartering minimally, rather than in an attempt to save money. As such she got it for 10 Bronze. This was an overpayment as tea has a huge mark up and the stalls as a whole were selling things for roughly 30-40% over the amount they would actually accept for the products. None the less Bethany was happy with her decision.

Having gotten the low down on this new race and ensuring she wasn't about to say anything offensive or ignorant Bethany approached the first real stall she had scoped out. This one primarily sold grains and given the general low cost of the needed rice items Bethany figured it was a good place to start. Looking at the list once more she considered why the list was the way it was. It was clearly a handwritten shopping list, and the items weren’t random but came together to form a meal feeding 20-30 people. In the end she put it down to being another quirk of the system that she didn’t quite understand yet.

From this stall she needed to pick up both the rice and the marinade, both low ticket items. After that she had eyed up two stalls that both sold the fruit and veg, she needed that were opposite each other. That would be handy as they could be played off each other. Using these two occasions to warm up would allow her to approach a blacksmiths stall. There were lots of them dotted around but she would want one that focused on kitchen goods. Last but not least she would want a stall that focuses on sweet goods for the honey and ice-cream.

Approaching the nevukus at the stall, she was noticeable their only customer. As such she headed straight to them and introduced herself. While not the most well versed in small talk Bethany wasn't completely without ability in such things. As such she struck up a conversation about the weather and, having been given a tip at the last stall, she related it to how porous the ground was around their home and how that affected their appreciation of the sunny day. This transitioned fairly naturally into a conversation about the origin of the man's produce and the best weather conditions for growing these water-based grains. Bethany obviously knew nothing about this topic but knew everybody likes to feel intelligent, especially shop keepers.

She accepted joined him in drinking a glass of hukiboo, a spiced honey drink popular when bartering with the nevukus. It was served in small glasses about half the size of a normal mug and was fairly viscous. Bethany found herself talking to the man for almost 10 minutes, before finally bringing up her purchase. In the end she got away with the rice and marinade she needed for a combined 1 Silver, as well as getting a small portion of fried sweet rice lightly dusted with cinnamon, that was more a walking snack than take home item. She quickly ate her portion and crossed off goods she'd already purchased. Chatting further with the shop keeper had resulted in him offering to help point her towards his sister who worked nearby. She had a stall nearby that sold the honey and ice cream she was after and apparently if Bethany name dropped him and asked after her kids, she would get extremely good discounts.

This seemed like an extremely good lead and as such Bethany headed that way immediately, ignoring her previous plans and the other stalls on route selling similar items. Arriving at the stall she was greeted by a portly woman who was immediately delighted to discuss her kids. So much so in fact that Bethany still found herself there almost 40 minutes later having felt too awkward to interrupt and get the conversation more on track. When the woman finally lost steam, she seemed to only just remember she wasn't out for a hukiboo with a friend but instead had talked the ear off a potential customer

"Oh, do listen to me go on, sorry love. Shall we get you sorted with some stuff; I’ll give you a good price. After all I’ve taken up enough of your time."

When Bethany explained what she was after the woman gave it to her at roughly 50% off market price, for 2 Silver, 3 Bronze. When Bethany tried to push back against this, after all she didn't want to bargain the poor lady out of home and could make a smaller discount work the woman shushed her and leaned in conspiratorially.

"We often get tourists in this area who don't understand that bartering is a conversation. They feel good about their 10% off and we feel good about the fact we over charged them for being obnoxious. I'm not losing any money on what we've agreed here don't worry."

Fortunately the lady also provided Bethany with a small bag that should keep the items inside frozen for 24 hours. Bethany hadn't even thought about how to handle such an issue so was releaved the kind woman had thought of it.

Having thanked the lady profusely for her generosity Bethany crossed the off the ice cream and honey from her list. This took her halfway through the list and she had more than half her funding left. As such she was excited to continue with the Trial and see just how much she could end up maknig off it.