Ghoulish Delights [EVENT]

Along the roads, it mattered not where, but there was a Poe and her caravan going through the night. "Nwee hee hee!" The Poe shrieked, seeming to both draw and frighten comers and goers alike. "Come one, come all! I've got treasures for you all!"

Inevitably, it seems to gather quite a massing... Maybe even drawing in a peculiar, or two.

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• Ice Enchantment, available to you for 45 rupees. They probably won't be able to bust out of this one!
• Bombproof Ring, for all your bombproof needs! Available for 18 rupees.
• For when you want to stay up late (or perhaps forever), I've got this All-Night Mask. It's available for -yawn- 14 rupees.
• In constant danger all the time? Then I've got just the spell for you! Quicksand-- place it where you want, and you probably won't get hunted down by the Hyrule Guard. Available for 25 rupees.
• For those of you who pursue more... scholarly pursuits, I've also got texts about all different kinds of languages! Get yours... or else! (Available at 7 rupees.)

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This shop will close its doors at the end of August 2017.

For Judith Vilcaron, the sight of a freewheeling Poe merchant haunting Hyrule's roads was a most peculiar thing. Her usual dealings with the dead consisted of performing funerary rites, appeasing the spirits of Sisters from eras past, and occasionally banishing those undead that sought to destroy the living... all standard fare, for a priestess. But a peddling poltergeist was quite beyond her purview, and the correct course of action remained a mystery to her, despite her prayers. Should she intervene? Near as she could tell, the ghost was harmless, its unnerving mien notwithstanding. Deciding that she required more information before she could render a judgment, the priestess strode forward to join the crowd that had gathered around the spectral wagon to gawk at the spectacle.

While the Poe continued to hawk its wares, Judith carefully inspected the merchandise, trying to detect the presence of any unnatural auras with her magic. A curious array of trinkets and sundries lay before her, though thankfully none of them seemed to be cursed or obviously defected. Most of them were of little use to her, or otherwise too pricey to justify spending the rupees her congregation had donated to her (Alas, it would have been nice to wield an Ice Enchantment, like the one Laurel had perfected during their expedition to Snowpeak). When the spirit called attention to the linguistic texts, however, Judith's ears perked up, her interest piqued.

Now this was an investment that would be money well-spent, allowing her to broaden her mind and her horizons! And at such a bargain, too! But which languages would be available, she wondered? Her superiors could probably teach her Ancient Hylian if she asked, so something more exotic would be-

She saw it.

As if she were naught but a puppet on a string, Judith's eyes were drawn to a thick black tome, the cover of which was adorned by a strange cyan rune: Utterly unmistakable as Twilit script to a learned scholar.

A book that could teach the tongue of the Twili to an outsider? How could it be? Such a text would be impossibly rare, if it even existed at all- No. No, it had to be fake. The tome was nothing more than a ruse designed to lure in naive young academians like herself, and the Poe was nothing more than a charlatan, the ghost of some con artist determined to practice their foul trickery in the afterlife. It couldn't be real...

... But what if it was? Surely it would be quickly snatched up by some collector or bored noble without an appreciation for its true value, and the opportunity to gain a greater understanding of the Twilight Realm would be lost to her forever. The more she thought about it, the more it made sense. If anyone was to possess a tome detailing the intricacies of the Twilight language, was it not the most likely possibility that it would be a ghost, who had existed long ago? Not to mention, that rune was the genuine article, she was certain of it.

And she had need of that knowledge, didn't she?

Raising a trembling, giddy finger, Judith pointed out the tome with one hand while fumbling for her rupee pouch with the other, a steady stream of praises directed toward Mother Nayru spilling from under her breath. Her words weren't the only things that were spilling, either; in her haste to pluck a handful of rupees from her satchel, Judith had failed to notice that one had slipped between her fingers, plummeting to the hard earth below.

Such carelessness was hardly becoming of a Nayruite, but obsession was a harsh mistress...

"Th-That tome... I-I'll take it."

(Judith will spend 7 Rupees to purchase Foreign Language: Twilit. Judith also loses one rupee, which now awaits a certain female Deku to come claim it...)

Under a nearly full moon, a ferocious beast split the night. The white wolfos' stark fur split the musty brown fields of southern Hyrule. Gore still dripped from the mouth of its last victim, yet it craved more still. On this night the only thing more bloodthirsty, perhaps, was the 3-foot suit of armored hatred riding upon its back.

A caravan up ahead--an easy target. It was riding along a well-known road, unguarded, with its back to hear. Though she could not make out its driver, the wagon was unguarded. A fool, she assumed, would think the cover of night to protect it. Sienna's back straightedge, and her short but powerful arm raised a mighty glaive above her head. It was hardly her first ride-by mauling.

She could hear the driver chortling wildly, "Nwee hee hee!"

Did the driver not hear her wolfos' paws against the road, nor her armor rustling? Or was it so foolish? She didn't care. The moment Sienna was upon the driver, her glaive shot towards it with a lethal stab... only to hit nothing but air. Indeed, the driver's body seemed to dissipate into nothing but smoke.

A trap? A ruse? Or a real fight? Sienna's eyes darted all around, only to discover the figure was now floating in the air above her. Only now did she notice it was carrying a lantern, and had lanky pitch-black skin. It was a chilling poe if she ever saw one. An unliving voice cackled, "A bandit? How cliché! If you're so eager for my wares, just pay for them!"

The caravan slowed to a stop a short distance away.

The poe spoke, in its eerie voice, "Oh, I recognize you! You stole that poor hylian's rupee instead of returning it to her! Hee hee, you think I didn't notice? My, my... there are is no bottom to the depths of your thievery and crime, is there?" It let out another cackle, "Luckily for you, I serve all kinds of clientele. Might even have something for a degenerate like yourself.~"

The caravan, transforming on its own, unfolded into a small shopkeeper's stall right on the spot.

"..." Sienna glared. "I'm still going to kill you."

"But dear," it chortled, fully expecting this response, "Can you murder that which has already died?"

Sienna sneered; she wasn't in the mood to answer stupid questions.

...

An hour later, a newly acquired All-Night's Mask rested upon Sienna's grimacing face. Suffice to say more than a few things died in that field on that particular night, thanks in part to a stubborn refusal to sleep from a murderous sociopath... but by some miracle, a poe was not among the victims.

(In part because Darth is a top-tier bro, Sienna spends all 13 of her own rupees and 1 of Judith's to acquire an All-Night Mask.)