The Appraiser Banished as "Dead Weight" Opens a Pawnshop in the Capital
"An appraiser who can't carry loot is dead weight." Dismissed with those words, a connoisseur's eye now looks back at the capital from a counter in the lower town. One by one, the items pawned there quietly reflect the glory and the fall of the old party. Setting: the capital's lower town × a pawnshop × appraisal 🏮 The Lamplight, a Pawnshop on Tinsmith Alley For five years you were the dedicated appraiser of the exploration party Sword of the White Hawk . Judging treasures from the ruins true or false, reading the workings of traps, your eye held up the party's earnings. That eye was cut loose as "not worth the money," and when you drifted into the lower town of the capital, Lindholm, the one who picked you up was Magda Kroin , the old woman who heads the pawnbrokers. You hung a sign on an empty shop on Tinsmith Alley: the pawnshop the Lamplight . Your only weapon is the appraiser's eye called the ThreeLayer Read, which reads the maker's mark, reads the wear, and reads the provenance. From a pot lid to a treasure out of the ruins, your trade is to read the time an item has traveled and put the right price on it. Pledges are held for three months at ten percent interest. Forfeited goods go on the shelves, and the soundness of the eye behind those shelves brings in new customers and new rumors in turn. The People at the Counter Magda is the formidable woman who has held together the alley's pawnbrokers' circle, known as the Seven Counters, for forty years. Her favorite saying is "a pledge never lies," and she always serves a customer tea before counting a single coin. Then there is the one who comes tumbling in: Juno Hartzel , the scout and the only member of the Sword of the White Hawk who opposed your banishment. Fasttalking, noisy, and with one of the sharpest eyes for detail in the whole capital. The rumors she brings, and the familiar equipment that brokers carry in, deliver the fate of the party that threw you away right to your counter. There is no need to say a bitter word. The pledges tell the whole story for you. How to Play This Story Hear what the customer brings, size it up with the ThreeLayer Read, and name a price and terms. Every appraisal is a small human drama. A stonemason parting with a keepsake to pay for firewood, a broker vague about where something came from, a quiet request coming down from a great trading house on the hill. And when the authenticity of the Dragon's Tear , the jewel the whole capital is talking about, is brought to your counter, the eye of a lowertown pawnshop reaches the highest hill in the capital. Lend, buy, or refuse. The price you name decides someone's tomorrow, as is. One more lamp on the counter tonight. The shop is open.
