“Yes, we’re fine now. No, I agree, it’s not worth it this late into the project, especially if the dungeon has been more hostile than, um, anticipated. If you could send our luggage back with the next supply ship, I’d be grateful. We can pick it up at the Sun District circulation center. Yes, I can pay for it. Oh, thank you! I’ll be in touch.” Ucria hung the handset back in its receiver and stepped out of the booth. It wasn’t peak hours by any means, but the Sun District circulation center was still busy with people making centrex calls, sending mail, and picking up packages. Ucria walked over to the bench where Refos was waiting, and after he got up, they headed for the exit.

“Any luck?”

“They’re, um, sending our luggage back with the next, um, supply ship, which will get there in a day, and be back in Zolnre, uh, a day after that, we got lucky with the timing. They’ll deliver it here, and, um, we can pick it up.”

“Good to hear. I must say, this is all making me very glad I sent my rifle ahead.”

“I feel the same about my, uh, notes.”

They stepped out onto the sidewalk, and Refos quickly referenced the map he had purchased at the circulation center before stowing it back in his pockets and continuing forward. After a few minutes walking in silence, enjoying the cool autumn breeze, Refos spoke up again.

“Are you… sure you’re alright? After everything?”

Ucria looked up from the sidewalk and sighed. She waited a few moments, thinking, before she responded.

“…Yeah. I wasn’t. Um, not while we were there. But the dungeon crawl helped me, uh, focus on something else. And when we got recaptured, it wasn’t very long before, um, Pellex broke us out. And Iote… hard to see the negatives with, uh, a living, untethered dungeon core to study. Just thinking about the possibilities, it’s, um, incredible. And adventuring will be good. I think, um, I’ve needed a break. Maybe we both did? From all the, um, infighting, and petty squabbles, and the bureaucratic mess we constantly had to slog through. Adventurers always seemed to have it easier, in that department. But how are you? There were some, um, harsh reminders in there.”

Refos snorted.

“I’m fine. I was an adventurer for a long time, a few weeks of imprisonment is not the worst thing that has happened to me. I’m glad you’re excited about adventuring. It’s not easy, but it will be good to be back out there. I can’t say that back when I was level 10 and managing [Lagomoth] populations, I ever thought I would be traveling with a dungeon core, some sort of artificer prophet, and a daughter who talks to bees, but it’s certainly exciting.”

Ucria smiled, and the father and daughter crossed a street onto Tailor’s Road. The intricate detailing of a bronze archway blinked reflections from its polished surface as they passed under it, entering the quintessentially Sun District street. The variety of shops was a bit of a surprise to the Ertqe natives, who were used to larger, more corporate stores. Here in the Sun District, owning a business was far more common than anywhere else in the Peacejoined States, and there were dozens of shops, filling every available nook and cranny. People streamed between the shops, sat at benches, and dined at outdoor tables. Children waved as cars passed through, and there was a constant jingle of tiny bells as doors opened and closed across the street.

Entering the first shop they came to, Refos started looking for enchanted gear, while Ucria sorted through the mundane outfits. They found some of what they needed, but looking at the price tag and the time, they decided to make a day of it.

After their first couple hours of shopping, they stopped at one of the restaurants for lunch. Like the rest of the shops, it was family-owned, a smiling man with massive sideburns preparing them full traditional Ertqe lunch plates in only a few minutes. They took their food to one of the outside tables and sat down, watching the throngs of people mill by.

“How has your shopping been going?” Refos asked, talking around the bites of sandwich that were his first real meal since the escape. Holia’s soup had been fantastic, but it just didn’t compare to a meal made from fresh ingredients, in the chef’s own kitchen, that felt like it could have come straight from a street vendor in Ertqe.

Ucria swallowed her food, then tapped the bag that hung at her side as she responded.

“I, uh, got a good deal on this spatial bag. It doesn’t have all the stasis effects storage rods have, so it’s a good deal, um, bigger, and just easier for normal use. I found all the city clothes we’ll need, but the more, um, specialized equipment is giving me trouble. I can’t, um, find anything for really cold weather, and all the desert outfits aren’t, um, durable enough. Have you had any luck?”

“I got a nicer storage rod, with premium stasis and dungeon interference resistance. The ones our luggage is in are fine, but we’ll want the interference resistance if Iote can’t control it, or if he can, and we want to prevent anyone else nearby from getting into their own rods. Other than that, a few pairs of goggles enchanted with falselight, and I think I’ll get heatsight put on one of them. And some traveling shoes, but they just have durability enchants, not even fleet or silent.”

“I’ll pay closer attention to the, um, enchanted section at my next stops. Anything, um, in particular you want?”

“A cloak would be nice, and some practice robes. I know there’s a monastery in this district, I’ve visited it before, so some of these stores probably have [Monk] equipment. Any enchants you’re looking for? I know you like the one-way masks, and I’ve been asking about umbrellas, but putting shield enchantments on them is kind of rare, even if it’s just coverage, so we might have to get that done along with the goggles.”

“Some gloves with delicacy might, uh, be nice. While we’re here in Zolnre I want to visit the, um, jaegerwing hive at the big monstrarium in Amber Hill, but their legs burn through exposed skin.”

“That sounds just delightful. I’ll see if I can find any.”

After the short conversation, they lapsed into silence as they eagerly tore into their food. It was a matter of minutes before their plates were clean and the shop’s matron was clearing their table. Paying for their food, they went back to shopping.

Ucria entered one of the larger shops, the bell ringing as she did so. The elderly woman behind the counter told her to call if she needed help, and Ucria quickly nodded before ducking further into the store. As usual, the civilian clothes were in the front, with the more esoteric items in the back. As Ucria pushed her way through the racks, she saw a coat out of the corner of her eye and walked over to it. Finding a rack full of heavy-duty coats, the [Apiarist] sighed in relief and started sorting through them. She found two that she liked and put them in her bag, then looked over to see what was in the next aisle over. Her gasp was audible halfway across the store, and she immediately started looking through the dungeon loot clothing. Usually, loot was sold in stores entirely dedicated to such things, but the shop owner must have had a deal with an adventuring team to get the clothing, and probably several adventuring teams, judging by the volume of choice. It was pricier, but well-worth the cost, in Ucria’s eyes.

The old storekeeper raised an eyebrow when Ucria came up to the register and started placing her purchases on the counter. The coats were nearly forgotten under the five pieces of equipment Ucria had selected. A social fortitude stat pin, a thi maximum stat bracer with a fairly strong durability enchantment, a scarf which protected the wearer from the cold so long as it stayed dry, a vest that couldn’t be penetrated by horns, claws, or thorns, and a mind protection headband. Dungeon items were far more odd than human works, often having strange requirements and incredibly specific use cases, but Ucria had struck gold with these few, all of them perfect for an adventurer. The success revitalizing her, she thanked the shopowner and stepped out of the store, ready to hunt down the rest of what she needed.

By the time the sun started setting, Ucria and Refos felt they had gathered everything they could. Refos hadn’t only been able to find gloves enchanted with delicacy, the pair he found also had reach, a rarer enchantment that essentially served as short-ranged pseudo-telekinesis, allowing the user to grab things up to a foot farther away from their hands than what their physical form would suggest. In addition to the other items, Ucria had found a nice set of robes and an umbrella to get enchanted later. They visited a [Tailor] who resized all their items to perfection, and got the address of an [Enchanter] from one of the merchants. All-in-all, they were both quite satisfied with their purchases, and felt a lot more relaxed about their prospects as they directed their taxi driver back to Closeworks.