The Chained Watcher

A ''Bazaar'' Coincidence

~~~

Finally back in town, Grian asks the kid in Scar's arms, "Hey kid, any idea where you want us to drop you off? We can bring you back to your house if you want, but I get if you don't want to tell us where you live."

The kid just looks at him warily. He sighs. Did extracting the water that got in their lungs really scare them that much? He meets Scar's eyes. Guess the question needs to be asked by the only one of the two of them the kid trusts.

It takes Scar a second, but he picks up on the hint. "Oh! Where do you want us to bring you? We're going to meet back up with the rest of our friends after, but I don't know where you live, so I don't know where to drop you off."

Despite being basically the exact same thing he just asked, the kid perks up, pointing off to the left, in the vague direction of the river. "Ma's house is that way. She's at work though."

"Well alrighty then! We'll get you home, then be off."

Once that detour is completed, Grian takes the lead, making his way alongside Scar back to the rest of the group. With his festival mood subdued, he turns his focus to picking out important bits of information, whether in customs, clothes, or accessories.

One of the things he notices is how few people have an actual phone or similar tech-based communication device. They're basically something only outsiders possess. At least the number of outsiders is significant enough during the festival for the players to not stand out too much. What's more interesting than the lack of tech is what they do have.

Instead of a phone, some of the locals have a small crystal earring, necklace, or bracelet, allowing its user to make calls and facetime others with a mini magic hologram. Interestingly, these don't seem to be able to connect to the internet.

He'd love to see how they work. Artificing is something he always enjoys studying, even if most places borrow the world's power to do it instead of wielding their own. He'll have to borrow- No, bad habit, don't steal their stuff. Purchase a couple samples at a reasonable market value. Borrowing can happen if the hoops he has to jump through to make a purchase are too annoying.

Reunited with his friends, Grian starts making his way towards the local place of worship, keeping an eye out for any signs of suspicious people following them or ye olde 'shining exterior, rotten interior'. Everything seems above board and honest though.

His thoughts on it once he gets close are... Why is it surrounded by a huge bazaar?

No, seriously, the vaguely Grecian mini-temple is surrounded in all directions by a sprawling mess of stores and merchant stalls advertising all sorts of wares to anyone who'll listen. If the prices didn't look astonishingly fair, he'd say they were trying to take advantage of the merchant god's temple to scam followers and random passers-by.

A couple minutes of sifting through nearby conversations while trying to find the path through to the temple reveals the reason to him. All these merchants and tradesfolk? They respect Kwazzle. Some are even followers, with a set of ornate scales emblazoned on their money boxes or even a tiny figurine they set a coin in front of as an offering. They obviously revere those statues too, since Grian can sense little wisps of divinity clinging to some of the little figurines.

For a prominent god to leave traces of power on figurines of that size, they have to be quite powerful. Potentially even powerful enough to overwhelm the bracelets he currently has for his friends. Threatening a god is definitely on the table, even if he'll try offering a truce first.

You know... Grian's aware that he doesn't truly understand the draw to worship plane-bound sapients experience. He's fundamentally incapable of becoming or receiving power from the divine. As a Watcher, his nature is touched by the Void, and no god has dominion over the Void-touched.