Automata Prime

1.15: A field trip

“Ridiculous!” Jada shouted.  “Both those Automata girls are gone?  Who’s going to do the forgin’ for today’s products?”

Shiro looked around at the fully stocked store, loaded with unsold goods, but said nothing.  Alfred raised his hands, defensively.

“We will be fine for today, Miss Jada.  We have plenty of stock, and few customers,” he said.

“Well that’s true enough.  Just my regulars from before I was run out of the Artificer’s Guild... We need some fresh customers.  How’s that Automata, Prime, going to make that happen?”

“We need some unique products that people want but can’t find at other shops”, Shiro offered.

“Everybody wants that!” Jada snapped.  “It’s the comin’ up with what that thing IS that’s the hard part.  It’d be pretty easy to come up with something unique that no one wants to buy.”

“Miss Jada, are there any local toy shops?” Alfred asked, tapping his moustache.

“Toys? Hmm, not really.  There’s a shop on the south side of the market district, close to the Upper Residential area that carries some toys, but I think that’s it.”

“Ah! So there’s a market!  I’ve seen plenty of children running around Urd.  Shiro, my boy, I do believe we need to take a field trip.”

“Eh, I don’t know,” Jada cautioned, “I’ve never really seen Loni’s shop do much in terms of sales for the toys they carry.  This is an Adventurer town, so everything is mostly geared towards them.”

“Maybe that just means they aren’t selling the right KIND of toys.  I’d like to take a look at what they have, if you don’t mind?”

“Why not! I got nuthin’ better ta do than babysit a couple a’ clankers.  Ravage! Watch the shop!”

Ravage, for her part, completely ignored Jada and continued to stare absently out the window.  Only the occasional twitch of her tail gave any indication of life.

The trio locked up the shop and headed out.  Alfred got the impression that “Tibbins” the cat was probably left to “watch the shop” pretty often prior to becoming Ravage the Automata.  Jada’s Junk was located several blocks into the “Low Rent” area and outside of the Market District.  There wasn’t any law that said that a shop had to be in the Market District, but it was much more difficult to get any customers if you were located outside the main shopping areas.

When asked why her shop was so far out, Jada had said that she was once an artificer of Automata that specialized in “Free Range” Automata that only used “organic” souls, locally sourced from the graveyard.  When the Trone Automata Factory started flooding the market with their mass produced Automata and got popular with the Royals, she and all the other small time artificers couldn’t compete.  

When she spoke out against the Factory and tried to warn people about what they might be doing, she was kicked out of the Merchant Guild and forced out of the Market District.  Shortly after, laws were passed, declaring that Automata were defined as magic tools and to say otherwise could be considered treason. Even the crafting of Automata had been strictly regulated to those with special permission from the Empire.  After that she gave up and tried to just live her life selling simple magic tools to regulars and people in Low Rent.

As they walked through the Market, the usual bustle of people haggling and vendors calling out to people passing by with deals simply too crazy to pass up, Alfred took note of the kinds of items that were selling.  Most things seemed to be magic tools or items that were useful for camping.  Things that would aid the Adventurers on their quests or provide the “comforts of home” while away, were sold easily.  On the other hand, things like magic shields and weapons were largely expensive and rarely worth the cost for the limited spell that they provided.

Maybe there would be an opportunity to improve on these sorts of things.  With my [Developer] abilities, I was certain that I could improve on the spells embedded in the items at the very least.  They continued through the market and were nearing the Guild Hall, and it seemed as if every vendor they passed would call out to Jada.

Most of the calls were friendly and casual, though one old man glared at her and told her to crawl back to her hole.  As we passed his stall, Jada smacked an awning support pole with her cane, causing it to partially fall in and cover the man and his wares.  Shiro looked stricken, like any second the Knight Watch would descend on us, but the other vendors laughed and told “old Joe Bib” that he got what he deserved.  Alfred asked who the man was and his relation to Miss Jada, but she refused to answer.

At last, Jada stopped in front of a fancy shop front with large windows and a sign above the door that read “Tori’s Consignments”.  In the window, stood a mannequin wearing a fancy dress with plate armor over top.

“This is the place,” Jada announced, as she planted her cane into the ground.

“I thought we were going to see someone named Loni,” Shiro wondered aloud.

“Yep.  No idea who Tori is or why Loni named her shop this.”

They walked inside and were greeted by a well coiffed goblin wearing what looked like lederhosen.  “Hail and well met, dear customers!  Might I interest you in— Oh, it’s you.”

“Nice to see you too Loni,” Jada said, looking over her glasses.

With the potential for sales evaporated, Loni’s entire demeanor changed from bright and bubbly to tired and annoyed. “Yeah? So? Whaddya want Jada?”

“Nothin.”

“Nothin?” Loni repeated indignantly.

“Nope.”

“Nothing at all?”

“Nothing at all.” Jada repeated back.

“Then why are you here?!” Loni yelled.

Alfred delicately cleared his throat that he didn’t have. “Miss Loni, I presume?  My name is Alfred, and if I may, my associate Mister Shiro and I, would like to see what you have in the way of children’s toys.”

Loni looked like someone had slapped her and her head whipped around to look at Alfred.  Confusion crossed her face for a moment before being replaced by her bubbly salesperson-ness.

“But of course, dear customer, right this way.”

Loni showed us to a group of shelves that were probably too high for most children to see.  On the shelves were the typical soft dolls in dresses for a wide range of different species, some cast pewter figurines of soldiers in armor, and some simple wooden toys like blocks and balls.  On the lower shelf was a collection of Illusion stones, like the ones that the kittens Jacob and Joshua had.

Alfred tapped his mustache as he considered the items.  “There isn’t much here for the poor children of this city, is there.  Yes, there is clearly a market opening.  Mister Shiro, what do you think?”

Shiro put down the doll of a baby lion person and looked over at the Illusion Stones.  “Ah yes.  These are the items that Master Prime came across and has improved upon.  Oh look, this one has a Drakin Knight.”

“Maybe we could purchase these on behalf of Master Prime?”

“Hmm, I see.  Miss Loni, we would like to purchase the entirety of the collection here.”

“All of them?” she said suspiciously, “what will you do with all of those Illusion Stones?”

“Sell them back to you, of course.”

Again, Loni took a step back and her jaw dropped.  “Sell them? To me?!  Why would I buy them back from you?”

“Our benefactor, Master Prime, is a highly skilled artificer.  He has developed a method to improve upon these Illusion Stones in such a way as to make them interactive and provide a simple game for the children to play with them.  We will take them, enhance them, and then sell them.”

“Why would you tell me all this? Aren’t you giving away your sales plan?”

“Yeah! Why would we sell them to her when we can sell them to more customers?” Jada demanded.

“Ah,” Shiro held up a finger, “Miss Jada, which would be better for our little out-of-the-way shop? Having a popular new item but very poor customer traffic due to our location, or having a single, regular customer that buys as much stock as we’re able to produce?”

“You really think the Illusion Stones will be that popular?” Loni asked with a smirk. “Sure, they’re my best seller for children, but that isn’t saying much.”

“We do.  These currently sell for fifty coppers per piece.  With Master Prime’s improvements, they will sell out at a silver per piece.  If you sell them to us at twenty five coppers, we will sell them back to you at fifty.”

Loni thought it over for a while, a range of emotions playing across her face.  “I can’t do twenty five for all of them.  The lowest I can go is thirty each for ten of them.”

“Very well, but the price to buy them back will be seventy five.”

“Seventy five?! That’s considerably more of an increase than my offer.”

“True, but you’ve limited the purchase to only ten stones.  Thus the amount of product we will have to sell back will be much more exclusive.”

Loni tapped the tip of her long nose, “you’re sure they’ll sell out at a silver per piece? What about you Jada, what do you have to say in this?”

“Eh, if Prime can do it, it’ll be worth it.”

“Just who is this Master Prime?”

“Prime is this new kid I’ve got working for me, has a lot of experience with magicode and automata fabrication.”

“Oh, is he a licensed expert?”

“I doubt it, but he has a lot of first hand experience.  Don’t worry, we’re not planning to get into the Automata game.  Just magic tools and I guess toys.”

“Alright, ten for twenty five, but I want to buy them back at sixty.”

“Deal,” Jada said as she grabbed Loni’s hand.

Alfred grabbed ten of the Illusion stones at random and put them into his satchel and produced two silver and a fifty copper piece to hand over.

“You know, I have some lovely [Inventory] bags over here, I carry them in tall, grande, venti, and trenta sizes.   Each one comes with a keyed ring for item retrieval,” Loni offered, sweeping her short arms in the direction of a selection of handbags, totes, and pouches.

“A ring? That’s a clever idea,” Alfred said.

“It’s not as secure as keying the [Inventory] to someone’s mana signature, of course, but you can’t beat the convenience!”

“May I see a tall bag, Miss Loni?” Alfred requested.

Loni selected what looked like a change purse and handed it over. “We carry a variety of designs, but all of the tall [Inventory] bags have a storage size similar to that of a barrel.  In fact, many in the Transportation Guild swear by them and will use them in place of traditional shipping containers.  Prices start at three gold and go up depending on the design.”

“I see,” Alfred said, handing the bag back.  “Most interesting, thank you for sharing that with me, Miss Loni.  I expect good things in the future for both our businesses.”

Loni held the bag in Alfred’s hand and placed her other hand on top of his, breaking character for a moment and looking up into his eyes.  “We can’t talk about it, but those of us that have been around a while know what you truly are, Mister Alfred.”  She patted his hand before taking the bag and putting it back on display.

Alfred touched his hand to his chest and gave her a little bow, as he’d seen Shiro do from time to time.  The three from Jada’s Junk exited the shop and started the walk back to their own store.

“Let me see one of those Illusion Stones,” Jada demanded.

Alfred retrieved a stone and handed it over.  Jada examined it as they walked, then flipped it over and looked at the underside.

“Okay, next stop is the Manufacturing District,” she announced.

“What business do we have there, Miss Jada?” Shiro asked.

She tossed the stone over to Shiro, and said “These illusion stones were produced by the Haz Brothers.  We’re going to pay them a visit.”

“Shiro,” Alfred asked, “that was a deft display of business negotiation.  I know that I wouldn’t have been able to manage such a feat.”

“It was nothing.  I was present for many negotiations and political talks between my former master and other important persons.  It would have been more strange, had I not adopted some of that knowledge.”

“Still, I was most impressed.”

Jada snorted and mumbled something about “negotiations without booze, don’t count as proper negotiations.”

The Market District gave way to the Manufacturing District as they walked along, stalls and booths were replaced by smithies, vats of dyes near gigantic looms, and artisan craftspeople doing fine detail work at benches.  Large warehouses and buildings with various signs and ranges of different people working or taking their breaks.

Jada looked up at the signs, as if to get her bearings, then power walked another block before turning a corner to duck down an alleyway and find a small building hidden away behind a much larger carriage construction company.  Without hesitating, she threw open the door and walked in.  The sign above the door read: Haz Bros.

Inside, three old gnome men were sitting at work benches with bins in front of them, and a young gnome woman was further behind them surrounded by painting supplies.  One man had a bin full of tiny crystals, a bin of black stones, and sheets of parchment with lines and lines of text written on them, as well as an intricately sculpted and painted figurine of an orc, ready for battle.  The figure was set on a small pedestal that could freely spin.  As they watched, the man took a crystal from the bin and held it up to the figure while reciting a spell under his breath.  Light gently cast out from the crystal onto the figure as he slowly turned the pedestal so that the figure would be completely bathed in the light.  

When he was done, he took a black stone from the bin and set the crystal into a recessed hole and placed them both onto a sheet of parchment.  Again, he recited a spell under his breath and the words on the parchment glowed brightly before vanishing and the inlaid magic circuits on the stone lit up.  The completed illusion stone went into a bin with others, and the now empty parchment went onto a stack of empty papers.

At other desks, a man worked at carefully inscribing the black stones with the magical circuits while another was meticulously copying text from one sheet of parchment to another.  As he wrote, the words would flare with light for a moment before darkening.  Alfred tried to peer at the work but wasn’t able to make out the text from the current angle.  Behind them, the young woman was delicately applying paint to a figurine of a mermaid basking on a rock.

Everyone was so engrossed in their individual tasks that no one took notice of our entrance.  I could relate, actually.  Jada lifted her cane and replanted it with force on the stone floor with a loud “thunk.”  All four of the gnomes looked up.

“Huh? Oh it’s Jada,” the transcriber said.

“It’s been a while, eh?” the spell infuser asked.

“When did they let you out of jail?” asked the circuit inlayer.

“Who?” asked the young woman.

“Herman, Hillel, Henry,” Jada said to each in kind, “you got a new painter, eh? She doing the sculpting too?”

The transcriber, Herman, turned around to look at the woman as if for the first time. “Oh her? Yeah, that’s Merrel, my daughter.”

“Jail?” Merrel asked.

“That was years ago, pay it no mind,” Jada said, waving away the question.  “I’m here on business.”

“Business, she says,” Henry said, breaking into a smile.  “If it’s business, then where’s the bottle?”

The others started laughing at this, but Jada just rolled her eyes dramatically before pulling out a small bag.  She opened up the bag and pulled out a bottle of some thick, amber, liquid that was far too large to fit inside of a bag that size.  It hadn’t even occurred to me that [Inventory] was as common as this based on Shea’s reaction when I’d first used it.  It seemed to be expensive, but not uncommon, though maybe having it as a skill without being attached to a bag was the rare part.  Maybe, instead of being attached to a bag, Beam had simply attached it to my main body since I was inorganic, and it wasn’t really a “skill” at all?

The old men all burst into laughter and stopped what they were doing to lead Jada and her bottle into an attached room.  Merrel huffed and went back to her work.

Alfred carefully stepped around the desks to look at the text being copied onto the sheets of parchment.  What he saw were lines and lines of hand written MagiCode.  If I had to guess, probably ten to fifteen illusion stones were produced per day.  Rom could probably manage double that in the same timeframe.

“That’s a beautiful aquadrian that you’re painting,” Shiro said to Merrel.  I hadn’t noticed that he’d moved to get close to watch her work.

“Oh, thanks,” she said looking up.

“Did you sculpt and paint all of the figures for the illusion stones?”

“Only about half of them.  My mother used to do most of the figure work before I took over for her.”

“Really great work, I’m Shiro,” he said, extending his hand, “and this is Mister Alfred.  We work for Jada’s Junk shop.”

“Nice to meet you,” she said, taking his hand, “What brings you guys here?”

“Honestly, I have no idea.  Miss Jada said we needed to come.  Do you know, Mister Alfred?”

Alfred shrugged.  “I’m afraid I do not, Mister Shiro.”

The sound of raucous laughter came from the adjoining room and Jada emerged wobbling slightly.

“We’ve got a partnership!” she announced.