You approach slowly, the words just tumbling out "You uh... you're not going to keel over on me, are you?"

He blinks at you. His face slowly colors red and he laughs nervously. "My bad. I-I'm alright. I'm used to it."

You eye him before clearing your throat and leaning on the counter, "That's the thing. Your last few... customers. Didn't seem like they bought anything, did they? Well, I intend to collect what's owed. And I'll need information to do it."

He stares at you as he tries to gauge how serious you are. There's a hint of fear and doubt at your rather meager appearance. You get it. If you were extorted for years by a bunch of big sharp toothed oafs you'd be doubting any schmuck walking in saying they're the next hero in town.

He looks off to the side, hands fidgeting behind the counter, "I don't.. I don't know how much I can help with that. But if that's all you need, ask away."

You get right to it. "How often do they come by?"

"Um. Once a month. I'm not the only one.. But it's my fault, really. I took a loan from them when my family business was going under."

"Does every shop around here owe them money? How much do you owe?"

"I'm not sure. Most of the ones here will owe something. If you don't take the loan, they'll come in and intimidate people and drive out your customers." He sighs. "But I owe a lot. They keep charging me interest... I'm over ten thousand..."

Sounds like they just want to keep this poor guy in debt.

"If everyone's feeling the heat, why don't you guys poison their coffee? There's got to be a few restaurants they regular."

He jumps at the insinuation, looking around as if he's going to get caught. "It-It's not all like that. If they like what you sell, they'll spend a lot. There's a few businesses that thrive from their... excessive spending. If anyone were to try something serious... Someone would say something."

Well, that definitely explains all the brothels you passed by. If you were the type to plan long term, you'd start out by paying the sex workers off for information. Yet, as romantic as uniting the city and starting an uprising would be, you have about a day and a half to kill off one guy.



"You ever met the boss, Julien?"

He glances towards the door before speaking low, "No... No I haven't. I don't really want to. He has an unpleasant attitude from what I've heard.. But it wasn't always like this. Ever since what happened two years ago... It's. It's been hell."

You wince, "Right. What's the difference exactly?"

He sighs, tone wistful, "They used to protect us. Sure, it would get bad sometimes with the violence or the money tossed around. We'd have to close shop early or fight with insurance claims. But it was difficult back then with all the other gangs around. At least you knew Akito was one of our own."

Damn. Well... Shit. You can't say much to that.

Hm. But why does Akito sound familiar?

"Is that who lead the Wolf Bites before?"

"Yes, I think they made the gang about 6 years ago. I would've joined it if I wasn't a wimp." He laughs, "It was made up of locals when the Bulls would still bother people."

The Bulls are the gang over in STEAK. You've had a few dealings with them before. They're a lot more short tempered and broke on account of their bad bookkeeping.

But, you do have a few REGULARS over at STEAK. You haven't tried contacting them since all this shit has been going on. They could know something about Julien's alternate ARMS SOURCE. Or maybe they're tapping into it too.

That's enough for you to chew on for now.



You thank the shopkeeper, "Anyway, don't mind me browsing. There's something worth getting here, I can feel it."

He gives you another smile, "Of course, let me know if you need anything else."

You can take your time to think of more questions to ask him as you continue.

As you look around the shop, you find a number of items that give off a magical feel. (You won't know what the item can do until you ACTIVATE the magic of the item or use IDENTIFY.)

CURRENT SELECTION (3 ITEMS MAX):
- A CRYSTAL BALL (25C)
- A BUTTERKNIFE (5C)
- A CHIPPED CERAMIC FROG (20C)
- A CLOWN DOLL W/ A MISSING ARM (30C)
- A BROKEN DESK CLOCK (30C)
- AN OLD RING (60C)
- A MUSIC BOX W/ FADED PAINT (60C)
- A CARVED ANTELOPE HORN (75C)

With your natural experience as an ARMS DEALER, you can determine that each item's current value could be DOUBLED when sold in the future, regardless of the item's current properties. However, if the magic within it is useful enough you'll be able to further MAXIMIZE the price.

You have 75C worth of GIFTCARDS. You are UNSURE if the shopkeeper would be willing to take them. You could also try BARGAINING or even STEALING when he's not looking.

Do you take the risk and buy/steal item(s) without knowing their properties? Or try to activate one of the items here at the risk of setting off an unknown spell?

You could also try your luck and attempt to draw IDENTIFY. An item from the selection and a winning number (between 1-5) will need to be picked.

Intuition Uses: 2.

[Current Deck Spells: FIREBALL, FLEE, IDENTIFY, BURST, and DANCE]