Alaric had about 243 charred left for the rest of his gear.
He needed to buy fishing rods, a weapon, and bait.
Like he thought earlier, he would just set aside some money for the bait for after he got information about what to do.
For the bait, he set aside fifty three charred, leaving him with 190 charred flat.
Now he would have to find the right store.
He was in the Merchant Coast, there were stores everywhere. In the midst of plenty, it is often difficult to hone in on the best of the best. And oftentimes, it was impossible.
But Alaric had grown up nearby, and thanks to a map he knew about where to go.
"Obese Carp Fish and Game"
A strange name, but it was what he was looking for.
The Merchant Coast was divided into sections, and subsections within that. If one had the money, almost anything could be bought and sold.
But this meant that one had to have intimate knowledge of the city to find the good stuff.
The stores that were often advertised were expensive, and were purely profit focused. In order to find the real quality goods, with human flesh and soul imbued into their construction, Alaric would have to really look.
He started with the Obese Carp.
The Obese Carp was run by the fishing guild, so Alaric trusted in slightly. It was the biggest fishing good store in the city. Alaric would take a look.
It was pretty close to the boat shop that he had stopped at. It was in the general maritime district of the city.
But due to the prevalence of the fishers guild, it was closer to the major economic center of the city.
There were guilds for almost every profession, and they ranged in size. Being the biggest city in the surrounding area, Merchant Coast was home to the majority of the guilds of the region. The Wolf Slayer guild was the major mage guild. That was the most important guild in the area.
The fishing guild itself was on the far side of the city, close to the suburbs outside of the walls.
The real fisherman operated outside the walls of the city. The direct area near the city was too disturbed by merchant ships and vessels for the good fish to be around.
The thought of good fish made Alaric Lick his lips.
"I can't wait...." He thought.
He started walking over to the store. It was now about 3:00, so there were a lot of people about.
His strange fish eyes caught him some attention.
"Are you a mage?"
A little boy with his mother asked him.
"No. Definitely no." Alaric responded.
"Then why are your eyes like that?" The boy asked. The mother seemed to be tugging him along.
"I ate too much fish." Alaric responded smiling.
The boy continued on his way.
Magic users often had physical side effects from the magic they used, thus the misunderstanding.
As previously stated, magic isn't innate to humans, so often when exposed to intense magic, their bodies would have to shift to adjust to the magic.
But this was a reasonable alibi to use for his fish eyes.
If he pretended to be an apprentice mage, it would explain things to a lot of people.
"Thanks little boy." He silently thought.
But this would only be for emergencies. In general Alaric didn't want to associate with mages.
He kept walking, and passed the central market.
And he kept walking. It was not time for people watching. It was time to get stuff for fishing.
He eventually found the shop.
Is was a large brick building with a dome on top. The dome represented the glory of the fishing guild. The building was large, and had many windows. On top of the sign was a bronze statue, depicting a giant carp. The carp was obese and looked gluttonous. Clearly a well fed carp. The statue was carved very well. Alaric was never a huge artist, but he could recognize real art. This obese carp was real art.
Alaric only hoped the fishing goods inside matched in quality, but would only be a fraction of the cost.
Alaric entered the store.
Ring
Yet another bell. Yet another bell.
He ignored the bell.
Entering the store, it was of a large size. There was a section for fishing poles, tools, baits, lures, nets, anything one would need for fishing. There were a couple of other people in the store, but nobody notable. Mostly men aged twenty to forty, all fisherman likely. The older ones had shriveled faces due to the salt breeze on the ocean.
Alaric started with looking for poles.
He went to the pole section to talk to the pole attendant.
"What are we looking at for poles here?" Alaric asked.
"Just standard stuff. What are you looking for?" The attendant said.
"Just two standard durable poles." Alaric responded. He wanted to start small scale.
"Alright look at these." The attendant brought out a couple poles.
Alaric eyes were caught on something. There were tags on them with the price.
"250 Charred"
"Oh hell no." Alaric thought and almost let slip.
"You know what, I'll look for some tools." Alaric transitioned to a separate part of the store.
The tool section contained numerous things.
Alaric was looking for something to use as a solid weapon.
He wasn't going to get a sword or a spear or something. He wasn't a warrior, he was a fisherman and a businessman.
He settled on the knife section.
"Machete, 20 charred."
Alaric picked it up. It was a nice, solid, large knife.
Decent weight, and it was sharp.
"I'll look for a pole somewhere else." Alaric thought.
But he wanted to buy something here. And the machete would do.
It was also a very discreet weapon, many tradesmen carried some kind of knife for their occupation. A sword would imply more intent to slay humans.
Alaric was not yet a human slayer.
He went to the checkout, and came out with his machete.
All that was left was the rods. The pillars that would hold him up. He needed good poles.