6.8 SHOPS

Once you've made some money, it will undoubtedly be burning a hole in your pocket, and you'll want to invest it in clothing or a backpack, or healing elixirs, or any other of the staples of an adventurer.

The first step to shopping is, naturally, to find a shop. Player run shops are usually found in one of two places: in the market district of a city/commune, or in a manse accessible from the Aetherplex.

In a city/commune, you can either explore the shops individually by walking to them, or you can go to the a central directory to see what is sold where. Once at the directory, the command DIRECTORY <item> will give you a list of all shops selling that item. For example, DIRECTORY BOOTS will give you a list of shops selling boots. Sample DIRECTORY output:

*************************[ Local shops selling boots ]*************************
Shop                      Description                            Stock    Price
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(19342) Serviceable Goods a pair of steel-toed work boots            1    450gp
(19342) Serviceable Goods gleaming crystal boots                     1    450gp
(19345) The Four Winds Em calf-length boots of soft emerald leat     1    600gp
(42148) The Frozen Mirror stylish black boots of burnished leath     1    500gp
(42148) The Frozen Mirror wintry boots with ice skates               1    500gp
(45003) The Painted Firma claret silk-laced boots of cinereal gr     1   1500gp
*******************************************************************************

The first field on a line is the room number on the shop - the same one used in the pathfinding system. The second is the name of the store itself. Third is the appearance of the item, followed by the number in stock and finally the price of the item in question. You can use GO <shop number> to instantly travel to the shop in order to make your purchase.

Shopping at the aetherplex gives you access to manse shops instead of the shops owned by your organization. To do so, you simpy go to the main aetherplex chamber (via TELEPORT AETHERPLEX or PATH TRACK AETHERPLEX) and check SEARCH SHOPS for a list of manse shops. You can also use PORTAL SEARCH SHOPS <item> to get a list of shops selling a specific item, in the same manner as a directory. Sample PORTAL SEARCH output:

************************[ Aether manses selling salad ]************************
Manse Name            Description                                Stock    Price
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
540   srs             a weevil spring salad                          7     60gp
1555  WFG             a fresh fruit salad                            8     45gp
1575  gaudiguch_shop6 a grilled octopus salad on a bed of roast      6     90gp
1575  gaudiguch_shop6 a spicy seared tuna salad                      5     80gp
1575  gaudiguch_shop6 a rosy salad cradling a cygnine carving        7     80gp
*******************************************************************************

In order to buy something, you will need to enter the manse where the shop is located. To do so, you can use PORTAL ENTER <number or name> to enter the shop. In the example above, both PORTAL ENTER 1555 and PORTAL ENTER WFG would both take you to the shop where you can buy some fresh fruit salad. When you're ready to leave, you can use PORTAL EXIT AETHERPLEX to depart. (HELP MANSES has more advanced information on getting around in aether manses.)

Once at the shop (be it an organization shop or a manse shop), you can check WARES for information about the items for same in that specific shop. You can use WARES <item> to search for a specific item in a shop, just like you can use DIRECTORY <item> or PORTAL SEARCH SHOPS <item>. Sample WARES output:

Proprietor: Trader Bob
--------(Item)-------(Description)----------------------------(Stock)-(Price)-
         pie13485: a lemon pie                                     2    500gp
        pike61672: a pike                                          5    300gp
      rapier20480: an ornate steel rapier                          5   2000gp
       vial122778: an potion of healing (ruby vial)               21   1000gp
    colewort23488: a group of 10 colewort leaves                  27    100gp

On WARES, the first field is instead the item number of the item in question. This is the number that you use to buy that item in particular. BUY vial122778, for instance, would purchase a ruby vial containing a potion of health. BUY 7 PIKE would purchase 7 pikes. You can also PROBE items in shops just like you would items outside of shops.

There are a few special cases. Buying liquids is a slightly more complicated affair, as you need to specify what container you want to fill with your purchased liquid. Thus, you have to use REFILL <container> FROM <container> in order to purchase liquids. Similarly, recharging enchantment charges from energy cubes is done using RECHARGE <item> FROM <cube>. Finally, there are occasionally denizen merchants in Lusternia. Rather than have a fixed shop location, you can buy items from them wherever they happen to be. In order to do so, however, you have to use a special set of commands:

ASK <merchant> WARES [item]
ASK <merchant> WARES INFO <item>
BUY <item> FROM <merchant>
ASK <merchant> REFILL <container> FROM <keg>
ASK <merchant> RIFT FILL <sips> FROM <keg>
ASK <merchant> RECHARGE <item> FROM <cube>

See also: HELP COMMSHOPS, HELP SHOPKEEPING