The Beast Fears Fire - Goblin Markets

Goblin Markets [Want 2-4]

Impulse – Make you buy.  The most sociable goblins around are traders.  Either that or traders are the most sociable goblins around; sociability and therefore trade or trade and therefore sociability.  Goblins tend to have fewer needs than humans, or, at least, they pay them a lot less mind, unless they are hobgoblins and doomed to a life of frustration and disappointment.  In any case, goblin traders like to congregate in sort of out-of-the-way places to ply their trade and swap their goods.  And goods they have.  Over time, hospitable places have begun to accept and host these meetings, usually open only after dark, and not generally spoken of directly, and others have joined them.  Still predominantly goblin, shoppers can find spirits, more singular underworldly denizens, witches out on the lunatic fringe of witchcraft and assorted other hustlers and hucksters.

Goblin markets have things for sale.  There is a steady stream of the lost, strayed, stolen and hobgoblin made, there is goblin fruit (though goblin fruiters tend to keep out of sight for the sake of causing less trouble) and native ruegoblin produce.  Then there are singular things.  Magical things and otherwise.  Things you never knew existed but need.  Things that are dangerous to possess and more dangerous to let fall into someone elses’ hands.

Things.

Harm – Moderator Moves.  The market isn’t the safest shopping experience, but it’s not violent.  In fact, a lot of trouble goes into keeping it from being violent.  That said, there is a lot of latitude for strange and unpleasant things to happen to an unwise or unwary shopper.

When you go to market, you’re best off knowing exactly what it is you are seeking.  You’ve got a better chance of finding it there than most places.  Going for entertainment is a bad idea that courts disaster.  In between is the real purpose of the goblin market, shopping for a solution to a problem.

Dark Market

When you go to a goblin market looking for a solution to a seemingly insoluble problem, face Want.

On a Hit you get something that will serve, if obliquely, and comes with plenty of difficulty and danger in making happen.

On a Hard Hit, you find something that matches a plan you would like to enact, with only a Soft Move or two to gum it up.

On a Miss, I hope you like your bargains Faustian, because that’s what we’ve got.

You’re looking for something that’s hard to find and I think I have what you have in mind.

Okay, seriously, do I have to spell this one out for you?  A market where you can get anything you want, and you will, good and hard, full of colorful characters, dangerous goods and run by the underworld’s own little chaos batteries.  If you can’t make anything out of this, I despair for you.
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Published on December 12, 2012 08:22
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