Master Of None

"Number seven, five hundred and fifty gold!" The auctioneer announced this lacking the same fire she normally had, this time was less impressive than all the other items. She knew this should be sold in the general auction but since a guest brought the, today she was stuck selling them. She could see that there wasn't even going to be any competition for them. 

"Going once, going twice, Sold for five hundred and fifty gold to number seven!" She even dropped the congratulations at the end. 

"Well that was easy, we were the second bidder and got it." Walker just looked at Gil who slowly sat back down, he had jumped up watching for any opponents to bid against them.

"Hehe, you got pretty excited for your new arrow heads oh party ranger." Remey mocked him much like Gil had before. Gil pretended not to hear her and looked off at the wall. The party had taken in a significant number if items so far and there was still a few items left from the other things left to be sold.

"The next item tonight it a very rare item indeed. This was taken from the deepest party of the deserts over the mountains, sunshine honey! This had the ability to purify ones body of the toughest of poisons and even assist in the healing of burns. The sand stripe bees that create this honey will hunt anyone that harms their colony so it is very hard to obtain. These four jars will start at seven hundred gold!" The auctioneer looked to be happier with these items and tried to push just how rare this item was. 

The effects were very good and Walker could tell that it had taken root in a few of the other bidders. "Number eight, seven hundred!" The high priest had been the one to bid on this immediately. He was hyper focused on getting this honey to use in the cathedral for burn patients. 

The bidding war had come back in an intense way. The high priest was being pushed higher and higher on the price and it looked like it was not going to end easily. The last bid that opposed him pushed the price for the sunshine honey to six thousand gold. Not wanting to let it get away from him he stood up and leaned on the balcony. "Seven thousand gold in the name of the church!" He raised his hand with his number. The entire hall had gone silent, the high priest had just used his trump card to obtain the sunshine honey. 

"Number eight, seven thousand gold, going once, twice, sold to number eight for seven thousand gold! Congratulations!" The auctioneer was startled by the sudden interjection but she rushed the final words to make sure it was harder for anyone to oppose the high priest. She knew that the high priest and the elder that had personally appraised every item tonight were good friends. She would lose respect in the family if she did not take care of this as best as she could. 

The high priest sat down with a warm smile on his face, he felt no shame at all for using the name of the church to stun every other bidder in it letting him win. "That is definitely a good strategy, remind me to have you bid on something if I am having trouble in the future." Walker spoke without looking at the high priest. The lesson had been learned, this was a way to use one's political power to their advantage and Walker would not soon forget it. 

The final auction items were nothing impressive, they were all things that specific systems could use or that would not be of any help to the church or the party. They had gained a decent amount of items anyways and Walker decided that he was content. They had some extra gold in the party bank and some new things to bring back to the blacksmith for their gear. It was safe to see they had come out victorious. 

"Thank you all for coming to the VIP auction this month, I wish you good luck in gaining tickets to the next and hope to see the amazing items you bring with you. Please remain for the final hour and enjoy drinks provided by the auction house." With the closing words said Walker noticed the man in the white robes moving to the exit.

"Hey I will meet you all outside, I have someone I need to talk to!" Walker ran downstairs the way they had come and reached the corridor leading to the entrance. The man in the robes was only a little ways ahead of him and Walker easily caught up. "Your bid tonight was very bold, I would expect a golem builder to have such courage." The man in the white robes stopped dead in his tracks.

"You know me from somewhere?" His voice was cold and raspy, not used to speaking to others. 

"Not at all, I have a skill that gives some details. That's not important, I would assume that a man with such a system would be after some golem related materials? Like an undead golem core, a snow golem core, and even a steel golem core?" Walker was trying to hook him in to buying these cores so he held nothing back. 

The white robbed man started to turn but then stopped himself. "If you ever find yourself in the mountains I will expect you to visit the high forge, ask for grey." The man rushed off and out the door. Walker could only feel like he had failed, but there was the chance that he would end up in the mountains one day. The underground city of the dwarves was there, and so he was sure it would be the high forge. 

Walker stopped by the desk and entered the same room he had dropped off his items for auction. An attendant led him to all of them and he stored them away in his inventory. The rest of the party and the high priest made it to him with no problem, the high priest gave him a knowing smile. 

"What was that all about? Did you think the stuff we bought would run away?" Gil was curious at what could make Walker run down the stairs so fast.

"Oh, you know just trying to talk to an interesting guest. I have a place we can visit if we ever go to the mountains." Walker left it at that and helped the high priest with his winnings. When they got outside they found that there were some young priests in training waiting for them.

"Walker, if you could please pass them my items so that they can take them back to the cathedral?" Walker did as he was asked and the priests in training eagerly took them. They had been waiting outside conversing with each other on moral values and their lessons, it had been a long wait. 

"There you are kid! It would have been nice if you told me you had the balcony seats, I would have joined you all." The old man was walking briskly to the party giving Remey an intense glare.

"Well if you had told me you wanted to sit with us I could have had something arranged but guess who didn't, you." The two gave each other their normal not so nice greetings but there was no real anger or distaste in their tones. 

"Ah yea old man, this is the high priest. He is very interested in those potions you made with the pure water, I am certain that if you made some more with the pure water you bought tonight then he will purchase them for the church." The high priest was surprised that this old man that had rushed up so fast, this was the master alchemist she wanted to introduce him to?

"You want me to meet the high priest?" The old man gave the high priest a once over, "You look familiar, have you ever healed a man who burned his left leg on a spilled cauldron?" 

"Was this in the summer a few years back?" The old man lifted his robes showing the faint scars on his left leg. 

"Been a few years but I can walk pretty well again. I have made some decent burn salves since then, I can try and make that Honey you bought in to them to stretch your supply." The two fell in to step with each other as they walked behind the party. They were becoming fast friends after remembering each other from an unfortunate accident. 

"Guess I didn't need to introduce them…" Remey was a little miffed since her efforts were lost but at the end of the day they would both still have what they want so she dropped it and moved on. 

Their walk took a little longer since they were limited to the pace of their new additions. Walker had been pretty quiet but still managed to match pace with Alice. The two of them walked slightly red face shoulder to shoulder. 

...

...