Open Chronicles Suspicious Kapmadillo in Vel Anir

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Tiff Noomron

Traveling Merchant
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The morning fog lingered over the cobblestones of the Vel Anir market district as Tiff Noomron arranged his stall, a shaky wooden cart covered with a blood-stained velvet cloth. With a dramatic gesture that caused his gold-trimmed purple hat to teeter atop his head, he retrieved a collection of small frosted glass vials from his coat.

Each one radiated an unsettling deep violet glow, capturing the faint sunlight in a manner that proclaimed its potency. "Come forth, masters of the shadows! Seekers of the quiet demise!" Tiff’s voice was a sweet, raspy whisper, slicing through the noise of the bustling morning crowd.

He raised a vial high between his clawed fingers, examining it through his monocle with focus. "Directly from the obsidian labs of the deep drow hives! The fabled Midnight’s Kiss. Just one drop, and your foe will be joining their ancestors before they can take another breath. I gambled my scales and my very soul to deliver this to the surface."

A passing sellsword paused, squinting at the display. Tiff didn't blink. He leaned in, lowering his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "The Aristocracy pays ten times the price for half the potency, friend. But for a man of action? A special pioneer's discount" Had the sellsword examined it more closely, beyond the menacing stare of the Kapmadillo, he might have spotted that the Drow Sigil on the label was nothing more than a poorly drawn spider with ten legs, trembling beneath a coat of cheap ink.

Had he uncorked it, the aroma would not have been of neurotoxins, but rather of stagnant pond water mixed with a hefty splash of beet juice. The so-called frosted glass was simply a crust of dried salt and grime meant to conceal the absence of thickness.

However, Tiff was an expert in shady dealings; before the mark could raise any questions about the sediment resting at the bottom of the bottle, the merchant was already tallying the silver and slipping the deadly mixture into the man's hand with a sly wink.
 
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Ovlan breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, luck had smiled on him; even if it had been a very tentative one, reluctantly granting him his boon.

He clenched his fist on the prize of Republic coin he'd sifted from the nearest tavern. Now he could really do with some breakfast.

But instead, his easily-distracted eye caught something else. A strange merchant selling even stranger wares. Ovlan thrust his hands into the pockets of his beaten, scarlet coat, sauntering over.

One sellsword marched away with a vial and a nasty smirk. Ovlan blinked. Meanwhile, the slumbering Scarly began to stir beneath his collar, the small cockatrice wriggling in his daily ritual of rousing.

"I don't suppose you sell anything else but, uh, poison..?"

Tiff Noomron
 
Guillaume had learned long ago that markets were where truths slipped their leashes.

Vel Anir’s thoroughfares churned with noise and motion, and he flowed with them easily—cloak close, pace unhurried, expression bored enough to be believed. He let the crowd carry him until a sudden impact broke the rhythm.

Someone slammed into his shoulder.

“Watch it,” the man growled.

Guillaume caught himself smoothly, one gloved hand coming up to steady the other before the moment could turn ugly. The sellsword was built like a walking argument—scarred knuckles, worn armor, the unmistakable posture of someone who expected trouble and was ready to answer it.

“My mistake,” Guillaume replied evenly, releasing him at once. “The crowd drifts.”

The sellsword studied him, eyes sharp, hand hovering near steel. For a tense breath, Guillaume wondered if coin or pride had already soured the man’s mood. Then the tension eased into a grunt.

“Yeah. Fine.”

The man turned and disappeared back into the market, irritation still clinging to him like sweat.

Guillaume watched him go, mind already assembling quiet observations.

Armed. Recently paid—or recently cheated.

His gaze followed the invisible thread of that last thought and landed precisely where it led.

A Kapmadillo stall.

The merchant’s voice carried over the din, rich with promise and nonsense in equal measure. Violet-glowing vials were displayed with almost reverent care, catching the light just enough to make fools of the unwary. Guillaume drifted closer, stopping just short of the table.

He wasn’t alone in his interest.

Another man stood there already—Ovlan Vare, though Guillaume did not know his name. Tall, attentive, posture alert without being aggressive. He was speaking to the Kapmadillo now, asking questions rather than buying dreams. Guillaume noted that immediately.

Careful, he thought. Or suspicious.

Guillaume remained silent, an observer within arm’s length, eyes lowering to the merchandise. The glow was convincing at a glance, but he looked past it—at the glass thickness, the seal, the faint residue left behind inside the vial. He leaned closer, inhaling subtly.

Sweet.

Too sweet.

Not drow poison. Not even close.

His mouth curved faintly, a restrained smile meant only for himself. His eyes flicked briefly from the vial to Ovlan Vare, then back to the Kapmadillo’s expressive hands and polished shell.

So, Guillaume decided, we have a liar, a skeptic, and at least one soon-to-be-unhappy customer already loosed back into the crowd.

He folded his hands behind his back and waited, curiosity sharpening.

This was about to become interesting.