As Lyssa fiercely turns on the merchants accosting her like midges in a swamp, the hawkish marketeers quickly distance themselves from Lyssa's anger and leave her be. By a few shops down, however, new merchants encouraged by the party's mass of purchases eagerly swarm about the party, pushing metal tea pots, woven rugs, and dried mushroom caps not only in Lyssa's face but the faces of everyone else, too.
To Alex's eye, despite her proclaimed two years in the Underdark, Ardyth remains human enough and hasn't lost the bulk of her human mannerisms. Though perhaps more comfortable in Szith Morcane than he is, Ardyth still seems a touch careful around several of the more dangerous Underdark denizens.
As Hael borrows Blite's new oilstone and commences sharpening one of his throwing axes, the bevvy of merchants flocking around the party soon scatters in fear of the surly duergar and his blade. Holding the throwing axe aloft, Hael inspects the blade for tang and finds the weapon to his satisfaction.
As Zarra stops to purchase her last waterskin, she discretely casts a furtive look back down the byway in an attempt to spot the creature sighted by Hael. There, six stalls back, a drider bargains with a herbalist over a wooden box containing a powder of one variety or another. The drider seems perfectly engrossed in his purchase as Zarra gazes his direction, but just as Zarra pauses at the next stall across the way to purchase more food rations, she notes that the drider abandoned his haggling and is scuttling after the party. Further, when Zarra looks up at the ceiling, this time she spies two more drider and a host of spiderkin further down the byway busily weaving webbing along the crags of the bazaar's cavern ceiling. While spiders are a common enough sight, drider aren't often seen in Szith Morcane, preferring to lair in obscurity in caverns outside the main halls rather than succumb to the heat and crowded city.
