The TriadCity Adventurer

Greetings Readers,

Welcome once again to Ask Church, the place where you can find the answers to your questions. For your reading pleasure, I present to you today's question.

Dear Church,

I recently picked up a sapphire headband on auction and so far it's been working out nicely, but last ruby star's day, I noticed that it seemed to bear slight signs of previous use - light wear around the edges and a few scratches on the gem face. I know these didn't come about since I acquired it on auction, so I have to wonder where it came from previously - and it wasn't from a fellow citizen of the City, since I was the only one in existence at the time. Could it be that this is a cast-off from Death or the Help Bot? Where do these auction items come from anyway?

--Puzzled, in the Palace of Nuit

Greetings Puzzled,

After receiving your question, I went to the best source of information available on the subject, TriadCity's very own auctioneer. Not wanting to give away the secrets of the auction, I was asked to avoid writing certain "confidential" details in my article, so after a brief discussion with my friend from the NorthEast College of Law, I decided to dictate this to my assistant.

The items that are offered on auction are in fact items that have been left in unpaid inn rooms. Where you leave items in your inn room but fail to keep paying the rent or say, die, whatever remains in your room becomes property of the innkeeper. Legally they can't sell the items themselves - shopkeepers need special permits. But there is nothing to stop them from putting the items on auction. This is an excellent way for them to make back funds that are lost maintaining a room for someone who isn't coming back.

Now it's true that some people may argue that it isn't morally justified for the innkeepers to be selling items that don't belong to them. But if you look carefully, you may notice that there is a sign in the inn. Have you ever read it? Maybe you should do that before you decide to rent a room and not pay for it.

For those of you that are still concerned that the innkeepers are stealing hard earned items from citizens, I ask you this; have you ever taken money from one of the guilds around the city? Don't you consider this to be stealing? Or do you think that those coins magically appear in the upholstery for the sole purpose of your financial gain?

Well Puzzled, there you have it. Those mysterious auction items aren't so mysterious after all. I guess the lesson here is that if you rent a room, either pay your rent, or take your items with you. Unless of course you want to spend a good deal of time trying to buy them back on auction, but that's up to you.

~ Church, Copper FreeBlade, of TriadCity

Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed this article and would like to spiff me, dinars would be preferred over experience. And remember, if you have a question you need answered, send me a PM and you too, can Ask Church.