"This is the fortress guard! All of you stop this moment! You, old shaman, reconnect the walkway for me and my men." He shouted.
He pointed at a shaman who looked like he could barely walk. Nodding the old man cast a spell to control the vines the walkway was made out of and connected the two ring decks once more, then followed Sethriss across.
Seeing the mess in front of him along with a familiar werewolf he felt a headache coming on.
"What have you done Chronos?" He asked the werewolf sitting on a pile of bodies.
"I didn't kill many, just two or three of the older ones. These younger ones are just unconscious and can be taught to be better." He said with a grin.
"Haah, how did this start? Depending on your answer I may have to arrest you." Sethriss asked while rubbing his temple.
"Hehe, these great idiot leaf shamans tried to claim the northern district as their personal property without permission from the fortress commander, but we refused to respect their false authority. Then they chose to attack us in some misguided revenge. Also, this shop is under their protection and is selling a cursed flower."
Hm, cursed flower? That wasn't a small claim. All cursed items could only be handled with special permission from the naga matriarch managing the local area.
"You're certain about this?"
Nodding Chronos said, "Sariah confirmed it. It's a pretty nasty flower called a Hexbell Foxglove."
It only took a moment for Sethriss to recall the list of forbidden items that needed special permission to handle and the hexbell was on it.
Slithering forward he entered the shop.
"Stay out of my shop snake! This isn't a place for your kind!" Shouted the shopkeeper.
Sariah walked out of the backroom, "Sorry, he woke up after I tied him up. There are also poisonous plants in the back."
Sethriss just looked at the shopkeeper for a moment before going about his duties. Looking at the flower, he recognized its unique characteristic of having a thin funeral bell like appearance.
Turning to the shopkeeper he confronted him.
"Were you aware that this flower is a forbidden item amongst naga society?"
"Why should I care about naga society? The Great Fjolleblad shamans are the ones running the northern district." He spoke with absolute certainty.
Outside Chronos burst out laughing again while helping the lizardfolk tie up the other shamans.
Sethriss gave him a weird look.
"Fjolleblad is a werewolf word. It means idiot leaf or fool's leaf and is used to describe something useless. I'm guessing a werewolf used it to describe them in the past and it became tradition after some fool thought it sounded good." He explained.
Several of the shamans had shocked faces while those across the walkways heard what was said and started spreading it to the rest of the district as fast as they could.
They would never be able to show their faces again now that the name of the leaf was known. Whether it was true or not was irrelevant to those they had oppressed.
"Stop insulting our great name! A dog like you doesn't deserve to be here!" The shopkeeper was very upset with Chronos for making up what he considered lies.
It was strange. This fellow saw what was happening yet seemed unable to comprehend it.
"I believe that man is already permanently affected by the Hexbell Foxglove. It does have hallucinogenic properties and can be used in rituals or to assist with insomnia when handled properly." Sariah helpfully offered.
"Right, we'll take him in and assign this shop to another shaman. One that knows how to properly handle forbidden flowers." Sethriss sighed, feeling a headache coming along.
It was his first day as the guard captain for the fortress and he already had extra paperwork to do. He lamented the fact that it was still morning and he couldn't go drinking yet.
"Uh, excuse me sir naga?" A quiet voice came from just outside the shop.
Looking down Sethriss saw the short old man that had connected the walkways for him. He hadn't realized the old man had followed him across but seeing him now he couldn't help but notice the unusual totem the man was carrying.
All of the shamans seemed to carry something that showed what group they were a part of, but Sethriss hadn't had time to learn what symbols represented what groups yet.
"If it's alright with sir naga, I can manage the shop from now on. I'm familiar with several different types of curse plants and various poisons and can safely handle all of them."
At first Sethriss wanted to refuse but after seeing the number of shamans being slowly led towards the fortress, he decided that he didn't want any more work today.
"Alright but once you've locked all of the dangerous plants away, come to the fortress to receive a certificate for growing and handling them from Matriarch Vaelith. She is in charge of all matters related to commerce in the fortress and you won't be allowed to operate this shop until you have the certificate." He hissed.
"Of course, sir. I'll make sure to get right on that." He replied with a big smile.
Being in charge of the largest shop with a central location would give his group more authority in the northern district. For a small group of shamans, receiving authority early on would be a major step toward solidifying their presence in their new home.
Turning to Chronos and his companions Sethriss looked like he was about to say something then gave up, instead he said.
"Based on the eyewitness accounts and what I've seen you can't be blamed, Chronos but don't cause any more problems and leave for your mission as soon as possible."
He checked the ground to make certain his men down below had also picked up the shamans that had fallen then followed his men towards the fortress.
"Well, this has been an interesting first trip into the village. What should we do next?" Chronos asked his companions.
"I still need to visit the apothecary to buy healing potions." Lyla said.
"If you don't mind potions made by a small group then you should get them from my Carver's Circle shaman's. We run an apothecary two trees to the northeast of here." The old man suggested.
"Thank you. We'll certainly check out the shop. Looks like we have a destination, shall we go ladies." Chronos offered his arm to them in a gentlemanly manner.
"I didn't know you could pretend to be a gentleman. It's so hard to see you that way after watching you tear a troll apart with your bare hands after all." Lyla teased him.
"He's still big and scary, I don't see any difference with his normal appearance." Sariah stated.
Showing a hurt look Chronos said, "I'm slightly offended by that. I'm not nearly scary enough to avoid being a gentleman."
Taking the offered arm, they started making their way over to the Carver's Circle apothecary, which apparently had a pretty good reputation despite the bad location as they could see several people entering and exiting the shop from a distance.
Entering the shop, they found potions of all kinds lining the walls. Everything they could think of from healing and stamina potions to strange potions that granted luck to esoteric potions for speaking with spirits and prophecy.
Even though they were a small shop it looked like they could handle any request they had.
"Hello, how can I help you?" Asked the front desk clerk, a pretty young lady that looked like she might be the daughter of a shaman, but she was not a shaman herself.
"Hello, we need five potions for stamina and spirit recovery for each of us and three potions of healing for each of the ladies. Then a potion of water-walking and water-breathing for each of us. I was also wondering if you carried a poison that would work on trolls? Anything else ladies?" Chronos turned to his companions for further input.
Lyla shook her head.
"I want a potion that can help mitigate curses." Sariah chimed in.
"That seems to be all. Oh, and you can send the bill to Commander Stan in the fortress along with a sample of your potions with our recommendation. If they're good enough the dragon paladins will keep ordering more." From what Chronos could smell the potions in this shop were of high-quality and could last much longer than normal potions.
The young clerk's eyes sparkled at the mention of the dragon paladins before being tempered by reason.
"How do I know that your word is trustworthy?" She asked.
"I'll write a recommendation letter in my name for you. Even if Commander Stan isn't willing to buy more from you, the Black Fang unit will be." Chronos took out a paper and began writing the letter.
"I can't make this decision on my own. Let me inform the leader and get back to you. As for the potions we have all of them including the curse mitigation and the poison for trolls. That one was particularly popular in our last village."
"I can imagine." Chronos said.
Living in a wasteland populated by trolls they must have had some way to fight back against them, or they would have become a part of troll stew a long time ago.