"So...you want to go three jumps out past Sadaal, to the far end of the Horizon, to visit an abandoned Monolith that's ready to collapse, on a world where monsters appear out of nowhere and massacre people?" Adhan grinned in disbelief, though it might have been tinged with a bit of admiration. "The markets out there on the fringes are mad; half the time all you'll get paid for your goods is a bullet. I'll check the boards for any good opportunities, but that's an awful lot of risk for a tourism stop, no matter how interesting the planet might be. Find a nice proxy documentary instead, that's my advice." He gave what he hoped was a sympathetic smile, and poured more kawah.

He was true to his word though, and checked the trade boards a bit later, in case there was something immensely profitable that needed to go to Menkar.

Asa woke up early, but stayed in bed for nearly an hour, just reading and relaxing. She finally got up, had a luxurious shower and a change of clothes and then went to the Spring Plaza to find a good breakfast. Half an hour before the appointed time, she sent a message to the others that if they wanted to join her in picking up the package, they were welcome to join her at Osmano’s Cafe.

Exactly at the end of the morning watch, she approached the antique shop of Baltazar Shammas.

Kira was devouring a greasy breakfast not far from Osmano's and sent a quick reply that she would be there. By that stage she felt more or less recovered.

Aisha shook her head in disbelief as Adhan drank his coffee. "A tourism stop?? No, you don't understand... what if the legends are right?? Or have a grain of truth at least! What if, on Menkar, they DID have the first portal? What if the technology to build portals is still there, in the ruined second monolith? The sheer possibility!"

By the time she'd finished, she was practically spitting with excitement. Adhan was probably wise to politely exit the mess.

A couple of hours later - and 15 minutes before the appointed time - Aisha was waiting at Osmano's.

Half an hour before the appointed time Kira, Aisha and Adhan joined Asa at Osmano's. "Farah has some personal issues that she has to work out, so it's just the four of us," Asa explained as she paid for her breakfast. "Has anyone looked up this Baltazar's shop? Where is it located?" A quick network search showed that the venue, aptly called "The Old Horizon", was located in Archaeology Alley a couple of blocks away from where they were.

The group left Osmano's and headed across the Spring Plaza towards the Ring's perimeter, passing the majestic central fountain that gave the place its name. The Spring Plaza, along with the adjacent streets, alleys and cul-de-sacs, was well known for the numerous small shops and boutiques selling art objects and paraphernalia from across the Horizon. Here you could find paintings and sculptures, Algolan paper birds and clay hydras from Sadaal, clock birds from Dabaran and autonomous abaci from the polytechnicians on Aiwaz. The local shops also sold a plethora of religious goods, including miniature Algolan prayer towers, Icon mosaics from distant Eanu and even Zalosian relics, possibly containing the bones of one of the militant faction's famous martyred holy warriors.

Adhan recalled the news he had read a couple of days ago back on the Star as he saw a couple of cafes ravaged by a fire. Gangs were a constant presence on Coriolis and even the Judicators were hard pressed to stop the sporadic violence which sometimes erupted during gang turf wars.

It didn't take them long to locate Archaeology Alley, an arc-shaped passage following the curve of the Ring's hull, crammed full of antique shops, curiosities and bookstores. It was common knowledge that most of the items sold here were replicas, but with enough motivation and birr it was possible to find real sugar globes and even healing scarabs. The sale of unregistered goods and Portal Builder artifacts was, of course, strictly forbidden. The group was indirectly reminded of this fact by a passing judicator, who followed them briefly with his gaze before moving on.

A couple of minutes later they finally located Baltazar Shammas' antique shop. To the right of "The Old Horizon" stood a secondhand bookstore called "Saleh's World of Books". To the left, across a narrow alley, the group saw a board game store called "Alluba", its display window taken up mostly by chess and backgammon sets.

Across from "The Old Horizon" sat a one-legged beggar in a well-worn djellaba and turban, one hand outstretched in a habitual gesture of supplication, the other holding a pipe. As the group approached the shop, the man turned his heavily pockmarked face towards them and finally addressed Kira. "Th' Icons smile 'n me t'night," he said in a surprisingly cheerful voice, giving the girl a good look from head to toe, making sure not to miss anything in between. "I'mma blessed by such radiant beauty! Yet beauty is not enough t' keep a man sated. Spare a couple of birr for an' old beggar, will ya?" He smiled, revealing quite a lot of missing teeth.

Ignoring the exchange for the moment, Asa approached the shop and pulled on the door, only to find it locked. She shielded her eyes and looked inside through the glass. She saw an old man moving along the shop's shelves, seemingly checking something, not paying any attention to what was happening outside.
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:48, Mon 15 Aug 2022.

Kira, well used to getting attention, smiled politely and handed the old beggar four birr coins. "Of course, grandfather, here you go. That should get you a nice meal. But tell me, do you know the man who owns the shop here? Baltazar?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:00, Mon 15 Aug 2022.

As Kira was talking to the beggar, Asa knocked politely on the door. "Good morning in there! Mister Shammas?"

With the beggar and the door both being investigated, Adhan kept his eye on the surroundings; the judicator's presence in the general area was somewhat reassuring, but the news of recent gang violence had him on edge. He tried to stay casual, but kept an eye on both ends of the street in case any of the passers-by seemed potentially dangerous, or unduly interested in their activities.

"Sure, I know 'im," the beggar answered Kira, pocketing the birr with a deftness worthy of a street magician. "Regular customer of 'is, I am!" The man laughed infectiously, once again showing numerous missing teeth, eliciting a grin from Kira. "Good mornin', Mister Shammas, I 'ould say. Care t' do business 'ith you favorite customer Farhan?" He coughed through laughter, wiping a tear from his eye. "I came 'nto possession of a coupla birr t'day, Mister Shammas! May I take a look 't your lovely wares?"

Asa, meanwhile, knocked on the door, trying to get the shopkeeper's attention. The old man turned at the sound and shook his head, then crossed his arms in an x-shaped gesture, indicating that the shop was closed. Asa was not so easily dissuaded, however. She knocked again, louder, and this time the man came to the door and opened it wide enough to converse.

Baltazar Shammas, if that were indeed him, was a stick of a man about sixty years old, with long gray hair and a beard to match. He was dressed in an old djellaba of an indeterminate color, his bony hands covered with a multitude of birthmarks. "Miss, I'm sorry, we're closed," he said in a quivering voice. Asa couldn't help noticing that there was a certain paleness to the man's face and his hands trembled as he spoke.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:59, Mon 15 Aug 2022.

The shopkeeper's obvious nervousness redoubled Adhan's watchfulness; this was clearly not going to go as smoothly as they had hoped. Were there any gang signs, particularly recent ones, visible in the area? Any signs of damage to "The Old Horizon" or the neighboring stores?

Asa, now wishing that Farah was with them, frowned at the shop-keep and pushed gently at the door with her foot. She tried to peer discreetly over his shoulder.

"I was told you were expecting us? We're associates of Mr. Naser."

Noting the shopkeeper's obvious discomfort, Adhan examined the store and immediate surroundings for any sign of recent damage, but didn't find anything out of the ordinary.

The old man, meanwhile, screwed up his face at the mention of Naser's name. "I'm sorry, I'm not familiar with a Mister Naser. Now, if you will excuse me, I'm busy..."

"It's for a friend of ours - from Sadaal," Adhan interjected over Asa's shoulder. "I'm sorry, but this is the only place we thought we could find a suitable gift for a Sadaalian friend."

Kira, noticing the commotion across the street, frowned. "Is the shop normally closed at this hour, baba?" she asked Farhan.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:47, Mon 15 Aug 2022.

The beggar shook his head at Kira's question. "No, he was open, e'en had a coupla 'ustomers, but locked up maybe half 'n hour 'go or so."

The old man, meanwhile, paused at Adhan's interjection and looked at Asa and him with a different expression. "Ah, yes, well..." he muttered, opening the door for them. "Why didn't you say so in the first place..." Asa thought that the man's face grew even paler than when he had initially opened the door.

Baltazar gestured for them to come in, then closed and locked the door behind them. The insides of his antique shop were a dusty and chaotic jumble of tables and shelves full of all kinds of statuettes and figurines, boxes big and small, trunks and chests of various sizes, strange mechanisms and contraptions, paintings, a plethora of books, scrolls and numerous religious implements, as well as tons upon tons of unidentifiable junk. The owner looked very organic inside his shop, with his well-worn clothes, disheveled hair and crumbs in his flowing beard. There was a faint smell of food in the place, combined with the familiar odor of old things crammed together without sufficient ventilation.

"Icons almighty, a plague on my house," the old man suddenly started wailing once everyone was inside. He grabbed his head with shaking hands and started pacing back and forth like a caged animal. "What shall I do, oh, what shall I do... Oh, I'm ruined, I'm completely ruined, this cannot be happening..."
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:17, Mon 15 Aug 2022.

Asa tried to gently calm the old man down. "What is wrong, Mr. Shammas? What has happened?" She looked around the shop to see if she could spot the cause of his distress but the jumble of old junk offered no readily available hints.

Kira rolled her eyes slightly at the dramatic cries of the shopkeeper and wandered idly around the shelves, picking up objects here and there, studying them briefly and then putting them back again, more often than not in the wrong place.

While listening to Shammas’ response, Adhan turned his attention to the outside of the shop - was anyone in the street approaching, or seeming to pay undue attention to their arrival?

Adhan went to the window and looked outside to see whether the shop was the object of any unwelcome scrutiny. The alley outside was quite busy, but he didn't see anyone watching the shop.

Baltazar, meanwhile, stopped pacing and looked at Asa with wild eyes. "The statuette!" he exclaimed, as if the answer was self-evident. "The statuette that you were supposed to pick up! It's gone!"

Asa groaned in frustration. Well, there goes 15,000 birr...

"Gone? Maybe it got lost in this mess? Or did someone steal it?", she asked, quite blunt for once.

"I did not lose it!" The man's beard trembled indignantly at the suggestion. "It was here when I opened shop several hours ago, I checked it myself! I kept it downstairs," he pointed at the back of his shop with his thumb. "But when I went to retrieve it twenty minutes ago, it was gone, gone! Oh, what am I to do? How did I anger the Icons? I tell you, there's sorcery involved here, things don't disappear like that without a trace!"

"Show me where you kept it, please!" snapped Asa. "Kira, Aisha, with me. Adhan, stay here and keep an eye out for trouble."
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:12, Sun 21 Aug 2022.

Kira put down the fragile sculpture she had been examining and followed the group downstairs. She discreetly pulled out her accelerator pistol so as to not upset the merchant further.

Damnation!, Adhan thought, though the only thing he said was "Yes, Captain." His only weapon was a stun gun, which he pulled out and kept low, out of sight of any passers-by. He moved a bit farther into the store, so as not to be obvious to anyone on the street, and settled down to wait, watch, and listen.

"Yes, of course, follow me." The man said obediently and led them to the back of the room, where a steep staircase led to the store's basement.

After a careful descent Asa, Kira and Aisha found themselves in a small, weakly illuminated room without a single window. One corner was occupied by an unmade bed, while along a wall stood several shelves taken up by dusty tomes and an assortment of antiques and trinkets, including half a dozen statuettes, a couple of ornate jewelry boxes and a funeral urn. A small cot covered by a coarse blanket stood right under the staircase, while an open door led to a tiny bathroom. Due to the lack of windows, the room smelled stale and musty, with only a small ventilation outlet under the ceiling providing a semblance of an airflow.

"I kept the statuette in this book," Baltazar said, handing Asa a massive tome entitled "The Last Night of the Emperor", then pointing at an empty place on the bookshelf. As Asa flicked open the book's ornamental lock and looked inside, she understood why the book weighed so little - it was hollow inside. "In the morning, before I opened up, the statuette was there," the old man explained, then pointed to a spot on the floor near the bookcase. "When I came down... oh... twenty, maybe thirty minutes ago, the book was lying right there on the floor, and the statuette was nowhere to be found. Just gone!"
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:46, Tue 16 Aug 2022.