Msaka fumed as he paced through the bazaar. "Unsightly body hair!" he thought, "If it were not for the laws here, I would show him how to remove hair, preferably with a flame dart to his head!" Paying no heed to the merchants around him, he continued walking, imagining many different ways to show his displeasure to the old man, none of which he would be allowed to do here.

Finally realizing that he was not going to accomplish anything by this, he pushed the thought out of his mind, stopped, and looked at the area around him. Several merchant stalls surrounded him to the left, with the river flowing past on his right. Among the human merchants were a pair that were decidedly not human, one being a small catlike humanoid, the other larger and of indeterminate species. A musician was playing a set of drums ahead of him, with a bowl set on the ground nearby.

Trying to ignore the pounding of the drums, he gazed at the items for sale. Wood carvings, clothing, meat, incense, and jewelry were all being displayed, none of which he really had a use for at the moment. On the other hand, the woman with the jewelry stand might be willing to buy one of the gemstones he had brought with him...

He approached slowly, removing one of the stones from his pouch. Before he reached the stall, the woman spotted him, and called out, "Greetings effendi. Perhaps you are looking for something beautiful to wear? I have many things that might interest you."

"At least this person is not shying away from me, or insulting me." Msaka thought. "I need nothing to wear," he replied. "But perhaps you would like to buy something from me." He held up the amethyst he had taken out. "What would you offer for this?"

"If you will allow me to examine it, effendi, I will tell you." The woman held out her hand. Msaka gave her the stone, and watched carefully as she examined it closely, holding it up to the light.

"For this, effendi, I will give you twenty royals." she said at last, lowering the stone. Msaka thought for a moment. "It is worth more than that." he replied. "Twenty five." The woman considered this for several moments, then answered, "Effendi, it may be worth more to you, but I must still sell it to another at a profit. I will give you twenty two royals, and no more."

Msaka nodded in agreement, and the woman handed him twenty two coins. He promptly deposited them in his pouch, along with the few others he had brought with him. He turned and walked back the way he had come, scanning the stalls that he passed. He carefully avoided moving close enough to any of the stalls that the merchants tending them would try to sell him things, but could not help overhearing a spice merchant hawking his wares, calling out insistently for one and all to come and buy his "genuine Mordavian garlic", whatever that was.

The sole thing that truly interested him was the beautiful beadwork being offered by an old woman. He stopped at her stall, and bought a string of beads for himself, reasoning that it was probably far less expensive than anything at the jewelry stand, and he could always trade them away somewhere else if he needed to.

He soon found himself nearing the stairs, with the old man's stall across from him. Msaka walked towards the stairs, having seen enough of the bazaar for the moment. The old man spotted him, and immediately began calling towards him. "If you're not interested in shaving, young man, perhaps you'd like to try a different look?" The old man waved a jar of ooze in Msaka's direction. "How 'bout some Dark Master brand hair gel? Made with real grue goo, and guaranteed to keep your hair in place no matter how you style it!"

Msaka pointedly ignored the old man's ravings, and walked back up the stairs, gritting his teeth in irritation and imagining several more horrible fates that should be inflicted on him. He halted at the top to look around the plateau. There were still buildings here he had not yet visited, but he turned and headed toward the spellcaster's home. "Perhaps they will have returned by now," he thought to himself, "And if so it is time that I meet them."