Chapter 2

Moving quickly and displaying some measure of alertness, I managed to avoid any and all cutpurses in the grand bazaar, making my way to the Jackal Gate past the Council Hall and Gaol block, a truly massive walled compound, then crossing the ironically named Pathfinder bridge to the Twilight Gate city district, eventually reaching the soaring, crenellated spire of the Grand Alchemist's Tower. Even the most aggressive and loudest merchant had not been a bother, though I was startled at the sheer number of Pesh peddlers, be they parlors or crude stands and tents, hawking their addictive wares openly and relatively cheaply. Katapesh really was different, and since all was taxed, I began to acquire a notion of just how much power the Pact Masters actually had, resting upon massive piles of coin. True wealth was as powerful as great magic, when magic was for sale. In Katapesh, everything was for sale. I paid only limited attention to vendors, stopping only twice to bargain sharply for herbs and reagents, once to purchase a crude map of the city, and spent a copper to buy a tankard of cool, clean water from a great barrel. For all that inattention, I couldn't fail to note that the selection was wide ranging indeed, at least six times what Thuvia's greatest city had to offer, and that was when Merab swelled with visitors, when the Sun Orchid elixir was sold to foreigners from all corners of Golarion and beyond. I'd heard of the Nightstalls, where the truly revolting and bloodcurdling mechandise was sold, though was not certain how they were to be found - perhaps the saying was true, and you truly could find anything the markets of Katapesh.

It required almost an hour to make my way to the guildhouse, a palpable reminder of the sheer size of Katapesh, supposedly second in population only to Absalom, the city at the center of the world, which is home to the Starstone - the easy path to godhood and every mortal's dream. Such a walk would have had me sweaty and tired, only a month ago. Young again, and physically fit like I'd never been, I was ready and eager to begin working. First, however, came the paperwork. A bored young man, face and arms pockmarked and scarred by acid, probably a never-do-well apprentice, informed me curtly that an apprentice needed sponsorship of a Master Alchemist. Choosing not to claim to be one at present, given the pressing lack of time, I announced my intention to join the guild as a journeyman, and asked for the price of renting a small lab in the tower for a day.

"A journeyman, huh?" his gaze sharpened with interest, and he began questioning me on basic alchemical procedures, growing more excited when I explained a few short cuts he could take. "I am recently arrived from Thuvia," I added by way of explanation. As all roundst the Inner Sea knew Katapesh for a land where anything was for sale, the birthplace of Pesh and a den of slavers, druggies and poisoners, so all knew Thuvia for the land of alchemists nonpareil.

"Oh!" he sounded considerably more respectful all of a sudden. "I'm afraid," he sounded genuinely regretful, "that only a master can certify you as a journeyman, and they are all exceedingly busy today."

"Of course," I smiled at him companionably, "I know how that goes. They're always busy when they actually need to do something," we shared a laugh. "I suppose I'll be back for that. Can you schedule me a meeting with one of the masters so I can prove my craft and join the guild?"

"Of course, sir. Ahem," he seemed embarrassed for a moment, "what is your name?"

I shook my head and slapped myself on the back of my head, "Of course, of course. I am Farouq al Rashid, formerly of Thuvia."

"There," he conquered a laugh at my theatrics, coughing lightly, "you now have a meeting with Master Onayra Enaldyn, she's a half-elven emigre from Absalom, joined the guild six years back. I'm afraid it is four days hence, two chimes past noon," he shrugged apologetically. That is how time was marked here, with chimes echoing hourly off one of the great ruins the city was built on and around - an obelisk of some sort, if I'd heard correctly. Given that the informant had been a vegetable peddler, probably not.

"Not a problem," I slipped a pair of gold coins onto the desk. "And concerning the rent of a small laboratory?"

"Well," he palmed the coins with studied innocence, "since you are joining the guild ... do remember not to sell anything until you actually are a member, right? That's against the law. Members can use a laboratory for free, the rent for visitors is five gold a day. Let's make it three, shall we? It's not like you're not joining us soon enough. There," he collected the coins and escorted me by a convoluted way to a laboratory I suspected no one would normally use - or visit, or notice the use of. I took no umbrage, as while five gold coins was more than a month's wages for a laborer, it was a lot less than I was willing to pay, especially since I also got to raid the supply cabinets, to which he turned a blind eye.

I needed no pause to consider what to make, as the walk here had granted me time enough and more to plan. The laboratory was a bit dusty, but everything was in order, and I went to work with a will. It was a good thing that the perfidious apprentice did not stay to 'supervise' - my speed, skill and knowledge would have struck him dumb, and for now secrecy was useful.

When the time was ripe and things were bubbling and distilling along, I took a short break to inquire concerning the use and retaining of property, questioning a severely dressed and coiffured woman at another desk in the reception hall, and several other folk when she proved of no help. I wasn't entirely astonished that none of them knew the requirements to establish rights in a property, especially one with a recently deceased owner who lacked heirs. Hopefully, Anya or Sortalos would have a notion.

I sold the poisons and other assassination tools with remarkable ease, exchanging them for the battle potions we would need, and picking up some other useful stuff - two days just weren't enough time to make everything. I worked through the remainder of the day with iron concentration, treating the pangs of hunger to some dried fruit I had in my backpack's left outer pocket. Finally I was out of ingredients, and regretfully capped every last bottle. Hopefully, there was enough here and more. For the first time since I'd surveyed the smoking ruins of my former home in Thuvia, I felt a spark of optimism. Desperation breeds daring, and daring may allow for success. Perhaps I could rebuild my life here, without a master's leash, and plan for something greater. With the full knowledge my master had gained through centuries of life in my hands, I had the shortcut to immortality and much more besides, though a great deal of time and effort would be needed to decipher his notes. Much of it, I suspected, was beyond my present ability.

Wrapping up and packing everything away, I made polite inquiries, asking half a dozen people for directions to the Serpent Gate and the River Inn. The two who were decent enough to respond and knowledgeable enough to answer agreed with each other and the map, so I felt confident enough of finding my way.

It was already dark and quite pleasantly cool - or so I surmised, as with my protective ring, the temperature always felt balmy - but the markets did not close. The crowded small streets and the broad avenues, both were lighted and crowded with salesfolk. Admittedly some of the tradesmen were taking a nap, but the bell hung at their stall would fetch them right quickly from their cot below the counter. Such dedication was chilling, truly frightening, and for the first time I realized how alien this place truly was, where human - and non-human - life carried a price tag and little more. Purportedly, the law forbade slavers to engage residents, but I sincerely doubted that it was enforced all that rigorously. Society here seemed so much more raw, closer to the blood, the basic barbarism and unabashed greed that was humanity's darkest side, almost a mockery of Hell or what I imagined the cruel Efreet-dominated City of Brass was like.

Still, I calmed myself, there was always danger in cities. Perhaps there were codes I was not aware of that allowed the common people to sleep peacefully.

I made my way outside the city, passing through the massive old stone edifice of the Serpent Gate, flanked with chillingly large metal statues, snakes large enough to effortlessly swallow an ogre, without incident. The ability to see magic allowed me to identify a number of otherwise ordinary items as bearing a dweomer of some sort on my journey there, and when the magic looked to have some power, I stopped to look at the wares, carefully avoiding too obvious a focus on the item in question while working to identify its properties. After being disappointed twice by magic aura fakes and picking up some food (savory fresh-baked pita bread, goat cheese and olives), I lucked out, finding a scaly black leather belt that was something more, an item designed to enhance physical stature and abilities. The large platinum buckle was all I needed to affirm my analysis of its powers. Pointing out to the garishly dressed vendor that she'd failed to clean all the blood from it, and loudly asking whether selling stolen property would earn her an eternal seat inside an Aluum, one of the soul-powered golems that served the Pactmasters - well, I managed to get it for surprisingly little coin. The trio of Zephyr guardsmen out on patrol nearby might have had something to do with the fat woman's eagerness to get rid of me - fortune was certainly smiling on me today. As I walked away from the carpet and the merchandise strewn upon it, I could almost feel the murderous gaze of the perfidious seller, and could not help but idly wonder as to the identity of the belt's former owner - and how they'd died, so recently. There really were traces of blood spatter on the leather, hard to make out against the black leather, which felt like ebon dragonscale, a material rarely encountered, softened in some solution - I had some ideas and notions about that last.