I shook hands and said my hello’s to the whole town of Green’s Peak at Fyera’s insistence. Snagging several more pictures of mundane things for the compendium from the black smith’s work station as we went along. Finally after all the introductions and extra entries we arrived at a large wood plank decorated storefront. The second story and subsequent floor made of a dark wood. The windows of the first floor were unique, one large and rectangular, the other rounded out of a single pane of glass. The western style swinging saloon doors were slatted vertically looking almost like—!

I froze mid-step and laughed till my sides hurt. Guys, it’s wearing a top hat and monocle. The doors were the mustache! What a Dapper Crate indeed.

“This is the best thing ever!” I said between breaths as I came down from my humor. Camera in hand I had Fyera stand in front of it like she was on one of those old timey television game shows. Ker-chunk.

[Floor 1 Secret 2/10]

A secret, even better! The compendium updated properly, placing the picture as the icon for the entry. Fyera led me inside. Simple home turned store front would hold: on the other end of the room from the entrance was a waist high book shelf sat nestled against the wall along a staircase that led to the second floor. A pair sitting couches sat parallel in front of the lit fire place, a small table between them. A nice modest sitting and entertaining room. A balding man sat on the couch reading a book, he looked up at us once he deigned to turn the page.

“Oh.” He said furrowing his brow as he got an eye full of Beach Bum’s luscious curves. Only after he realized the illusion did he let out a chuckle. It took him a bit thought if I’m going to be honest.

“Plyne, meet Mica. She’s making a compendium and I’m going to be in it!” She said proudly. Plyne the merchant blinked lazily as I gave a wave and summoned my camera for proof. He let out a snort at that.

“[Tourists].” He muttered under his breath. “Roqor warned us about [Tourists].”

“What did he say?” I asked with intrigue.

“You’re the charmer class.” Plyne said as he got up from his table. “But I won’t be falling for any of your tricks [Tourist].”

I waved away MANY compendium notifications from looking around the room as one overtook the whole screen for a solid fifteen seconds, ensuring I saw it.

[Skill Challenge Begin: -THE ART OF THE DEAL-]

[GET ALL ENTRANTS TO EITHER GREEN OR RED]

There was no option to say no, I was all in. Overtop of Plyne’s head was a meter that indicated his attitude toward me. Green smiley face meant good, red frowny face meant bad and it was already sliding toward the red frowny face. Uh oh. Already off on a bad foot because Roqor had to program stupid prejudices into the NPCs. Damn. Okay pull it together Walters. He called [Tourist] the charmer class, so let’s turn up the charm. This IS an establishment that requires TACT.

“If I gave you my word that I would pay FAIR price for your goods and not haggle on them would you still be willing to do business with me?” I offered. Staring desperately at the meter from behind my sunglasses, trying not to showcase the panic that run rampant through my veins at that moment. It stopped as he considered. All was well until I hastily added at the last moment, “Fyera can be a third party to the transaction.”

“No.” Plyne said as he shook his head, his meter slowly slid back down more toward the angry frowny face. “You’ve already got her hooked on you with this compendium nonsense. Why didn’t you pick a real class with some oomph behind it?”

No! I clenched my teeth and had a split second idea. “Waelen! Fyera go get Waelen.” A meter suddenly appeared over her head, planted firmly in the green happy face. I’d added her to the skill challenge, did that mean I was going to add Waelen too? Oh this was suddenly becoming a bigger gamble than I’d thought.

“You have him under your spell too?” Plyne asked after Fyera dashed off. I shook my head as I took the sunglasses off. Plyne stared in surprise as most people did when they saw my eyes, one brown, one blue. It made eye contact a pain sometimes so I tried not to pay attention to it, focusing on the meter.

“The only spell I know is Light, no tricks here.” I said as I cupped my hands together and summoned the ball of light, letting some of the beam out towards the ceiling so as to not blind him. He watched with suspicion as Fyera came back with Waelen in tow. A deep flush of crimson spread across the man’s cheeks, he tried his best to keep his eyes off Fyera when he saw me.

“Oh you.” He said, disdain evident in his tone as he straightened himself.

“Hello Waelen.” Plyne said from behind the main counter. Waelen gave a nod of respect to the shop keep.

“Waelen, I was hoping you could help me.” A meter appeared over his head as well, also leaning toward red frown. Crap. He approached and stood beside the counter top.

“I’ll hear you out but I don’t know if I’ll help you yet.” He said. “You better not be taking advantage of Plyne.”

“I resent the accusation good sir.” I said putting on a further air of offense, I didn’t care what they said so long as I didn’t lose this challenge. “In fact I have asked you to come and make sure he doesn’t swindle me, so long as I pay whatever you deem to be as a fair price for the items he can provide.”

The two men looked between each other. They both knew the implication of what I’d suggested, Waelen was a point on the side of Plyne during this negotiation. Together they could control the prices, bring it down a bit from truly outrageous, but still over charge me by a little. Plyne looked like the kind of man who might pay him his cut for his share in the scam. I stopped that thought with a shake of my head. What was I thinking? This was a tiny town in the middle of a forest and let’s face it this shop was the main attraction. Plyne and the whole town would benefit from this transaction. Both men’s meters had stopped steadily falling toward the red. There was less than half of the red left until it reached the frown. I wouldn’t have much wiggle room or way to object if I found something I really needed.

“Alright, I can trust an honorable man like Waelen to oversee this.” Plyne said as he folded his arms across his chest. In the information section of my HUD came a full itemized list of the things that were sequestered to the non sitting room side of the store.

Aside from just actual food items like apples or wheels of well preserved cheeses, he had quite the assortment of herbs. I found x2 Orange Curry Leaf and x1 Red Curry Leaf among his shop. I found the same Thistlebloom and Frostward like from Fyera’s garden. Iron and leather scraps, ink pots and travel quills. I clicked them and the HUD highlighted them on the wall. I brought them over to the counter top where Plyne and Waelen watched.

I flitted through the store, grabbing and picking things as I saw that interested me.

Socks -could definitely use a few extra pairs of those. (3)

Extra Canteen -more water is NEVER a bad thing. (7)

Rope -100 feet should be enough to get me out of most trouble. (28)

Potion of Healing -you never can be too careful. (50)

Potion of Mana -An emergency back up, just in case. (25)

“You’re at 113.” Plyne said with smug satisfaction. Fyera was frowning beside me, eyeing Waelen with a dirty glare anytime they tried to cheat me. 113 was fine. I was still under my personal limit for what I wanted to spend at the moment. Until I saw an item I hadn’t expected: A selfie stick.

But no, there it was tucked back along the back rack of the wall behind Plyne, a selfie stick. I slapped that down on the pile too.

“What do you want for the selfie stick?” I asked as I slid the shades back down. The HUD glowed with a soft blue white light. The journal updated accordingly as I stared at it.

[Tourist Class Exclusive Item- Selfie Stick] -Unlocks ::SAY CHEESE:: Quest.

I’d drop even the socks for this damn selfie stick if it meant I got a quest out of it. Plyne eyed Waelen who was trying really hard not to make eye contact with the glaring Fyera.

“50 gold.”

“I thought you weren’t supposed to say your outrageous price first.” Fyera shot off giving Plyne the stink eye. He waved her away.

“Agreements are always upheld at The Dapper Crate. I’m a man of my word and I will hold this [Tourist] to theirs.”

“50 does seem a little unreasonable Ply,” Waelen conceded with a wince.

“No no. Plyne’s right.” I said interjecting. Plyne’s meter moved toward the green. “50 gold is but an investment.”

The meter stopped moving abruptly. Crap. I’m so bad at this.

“75 gold.” He said upping the price, narrowing his eyes at me.

“Plyne!” both Fyera and Waelen gaped in shock. Waelen’s meter leaped into the intermediate mix of the middle at the blatant up charge after I’d agreed to pay whatever he said.

“Done.” I told him.

“150 gold.” Plyne challenged again. The man wouldn’t let it go. Time for a bluff. I summoned my and slapped it on to the table and folded my arms across my chest.

“You’re really twisting my arm here but 500 gold is everything I’ve got unless you want some of the stuff I’ve picked up on my very short journey.”

AS IF I would slap down that much for a damn selfie stick in the real world. But I wasn’t in the real world I was in the Tower and that selfie stick meant I hadn’t missed a quest for my class. Yet. Plyne’s meter remained stopped. Waelen’s meter moved solidly into the green side but hadn’t met the halfway mark just yet.

“What do you have?”

I summoned everything that might be of interest from my fanny pack. A lot of kitschy pewter wizard figurines, they were everywhere in the tower and they seemed like they’d be a collection together so I took them with me. Plyne didn’t seem interested in those, I kept the letters I’d taken a secret, I hadn’t snooped through them yet so I wasn’t ready to give them up. I set the (4x) Yellow Curry Leaf on the counter and Plyne’s demeanor changed.

“Where did you get those?” He asked immediately with a sudden intensity I was not prepared for. He snatched the leaves rubbing them between his fingers and then across his tongue, blinking in bright surprise as his nostrils flared. “They’re fresh!”

“From the woods on my way down from Roqor’s tower.” I managed. He stared at me in disbelief.

“You found a Yellow Curry Leaf plant on this Floor?” he asked. The meter shot up to the gradient of red and green, a horrible brown color that looked terrible.

“Yeah, is it important?” I asked nervously wondering if I’d been wrong for taking the leaves.

“Did you take the stalk?” Plyne asked. I shook my head quickly.

“No, one of the books I read before finding it said the leaves regrow quickly so I left it in case I needed more later.”

Plyne looked relieved. “Where is it?”

There it was, my in with Plyne and my chance to win this skill challenge. I wagged my finger at him as I tutted.

“I don’t have to tell you that.” I smiled as politely as I could muster without gloating.

“Yes you do!” Plyne sputtered, now on the back foot. He snatched the selfie stick from the table. “I won’t sell you this unless you tell me where the stalk is! You must be lying about destroying it in hopes of swindling me!”

“Sell me the selfie stick and all the items on the table for a flat 150 gold and I’ll take you to the stalk myself.”

A grand total savings of 13 gold from the first offer if he decided to honor the other prices he’d told me before. Waelen and Fyera would make sure of that. My two eye witnesses were the pressure I needed to guide him back down to a reasonable arrangement.

The plant meant nothing to me, but trading it for the selfie stick would be the best Swap I’d ever made. I once knew a girl named Gretchen who while at a swap meet managed to drive away with several signed baseballs worth a couple grand. This swap would now forever replace that deal in my mind.

I pulled out my camera, the now familiar weight settled into my palm. I clicked through the gallery of photos stored in the memory and pulled up the one I’d taken of the plant. I turned and showed it to him across the desk, the yellow stalk poking out of the deep lush tones of forest behind it.

“This was it before I took leaves from it. I swear on a bowl of noodles I didn’t destroy the stalk.”

Plyne grumbled, clutching the pale yellow leaves. His meter wobbled like he wanted to hate me but couldn’t.

“Fine.” He grumbled. “Take me to the stalk.”

Plyne got up from his seat and strode to the wall where he grabbed an over the shoulder side satchel and a shovel. And so the four of us set off back into the woods; Fyera fully invested in wherever this took us, and Waelen fully invested in Fyera. Happily, I ignored them as I tramped through the brush again bringing them back to the site I’d found the Yellow Curry Leaf plant I’d taken from earlier. New leaves were already beginning to bud from the stem that remained.

“Here we are.” I said as I gestured to it.

Plyne gasped when he saw it, a wide smile split across his face. He busted out the shovel and set to work carefully digging the plant out. He transplanted it into the satchel, being careful to bring extra dirt with him to help it along the move.

His meter moved to the green side of the gradient. Almost there. I looked at the plant, it’s information pulling up in my lower HUD vision.

[Name: Yellow Curry Leaf]

[Classification: Cooking and Potion Ingredient ]

[Notes: Yellow Curry Leaf is the mildest ranking in terms of heat produced from consumption. Red being the hottest and Orange sitting comfortably in the middle. The stalk regrows lost leaves in under a day. -Curried Flavors vol 6. pg 32.]

“There it is safe and sound as promised.” I said, gently pushing the issue of our bargain agreement as we headed back to The Dapper Crate. Plyne nodded still smiling.

“Aye.” The older shop keep said. “150 gold for the lot of it.”

Waelen’s meter hit happy green when he saw I hadn’t been lying. Fyera’s opinion still hadn’t changed and was still firmly green.

“Can I ask what are you going to use it for?” Curiosity got the better out of me. Plyne raised an eyebrow, a cocky smirk played across his face.

“[Secret Recipe: Rainbow Curry]” He said the full name like how I’d find it in my compendium and it updated accordingly. “Betcha didn’t know that did ‘ya [Tourist]?”

Huh? A Secret Recipe counted as one of the Secrets? “Was I supposed to?” I asked. Plyne sighed.

“I helped design the pamphlet for this floor that you’re supposed to get when you choose the [Tourist] class. No one reads the pamphlet anymore.” He devolved to grumbling.

Oh no. Now that he mentioned it I DID remember getting a pamphlet in my starting gear. I’d skipped it completely in favor of the library I’d copied. I quickly pulled it from my inventory and gave it a good look. Oh man I should have checked this sooner, this floor pamphlet gave hints and descriptions for the missing secrets.

[Discovery: Pamphlet- Floor 1]

The pamphlet for the floor included a whole picture of a bowl of the [Rainbow Curry] it looked like a swirling rainbow bullseye of red yellow and orange but it was hard to tell with the grainy-ness of the picture. A small written statement described the enticing flavor as ‘rich and spicy’. There was even a logo for The Dapper Crate in the same general shape of the building.

My compendium updated.

Looks like the Pamphlets were how I was going to find out where I needed to go for more photos. I remembered the Red and Orange Curry Leaves he had in his inventory and an idea struck me on what I needed to do to obtain the perfect entry for the compendium.

“How much for the Rainbow Curry?” I asked. Plyne’s smile turned into a grin, the meter finally moving all the way to the green.

“Now you’re asking the right questions.”

[Skill Challenge: Won]

[Skill Increase: Haggling level 1]