"I'm so sorry that I don't have what you are looking for, good sir. Are you sure I can't interest you in some elixirs that duplicate some of the effects you desire?"

The customer had been a very tough negotiator. But then, members of the Fated usually were. However, the shopkeeper had a few more tricks up his sleeve. The customer would leave his store with something in hand. They always did; he made sure of that.

The Fated considered for a moment, and then shook his head. "No. If I can't get exactly what I want, I don't deserve to have a substitute. Thank you for your time. Good day."

Feigning disappointment, the shopkeeper nodded. "Perfectly understandable. But before you go, I do have a favor to ask of you, good sir. You are returning to the Hall of Records today, yes?" The customer nodded warily. "I have a good friend and regular customer there who is awaiting word of a shipment I am obtaining for him. You've heard of Rogan Dannerson, yes?" Again the man nodded. "Excellent. If you would give him this letter," the merchant withdrew a sealed scroll tube from his robes, "I would be most appreciative. In exchange for the service rendered, I will pay you..." The shopkeeper looked the Fated up and down carefully, and then glanced around his shop. Quickly, his amber eyes lit up and he reached into a nearby display case. "... this magical magnifying glass. Not only does it allow you to view any reading material as if it were in full daylight, it will also translate the text from nearly any language in existence. It should be quite useful in your studies, particularly when you have to descend into the lower levels of the library."

The customer looked shocked for a moment, caught off guard that the merchant would know of his love of old books stored in dark places. "That is most... acceptable. Yes. I agree to the payment for the service." The man took the letter and the magical trinket, shook the merchant's hand as he bid him good day, and left the store. The shopkeeper smiled to himself. Another successful sale for A'Kin, the Friendly Fiend.

Smiling to himself on his continued good fortune as one of the most successful merchants in Sigil, the yugoloth sent a mental message to his assistant. "Janelle, dear, would you please come and mind the store for a few minutes? I've just given away another one of my little gifts." He received the mental equivalent of a nod as the modest succubus - a creature equally as odd as himself - left off her accounting and teleported to the front of the store, appearing next to him. "Thank you, my dear." Satisfied that business would continue in his absence, A'Kin then teleported to the entry chamber of his private quarters.

Withdrawing a key ring from within his robes, the arcanaloth selected the proper key, unlocked the door to his workshop, and strode through. As always, the room sensed his presence and brought the lights up, cheerily brightening the room. A'Kin walked over to a desk in the near corner of the room and sat down in front of the immense tome which already lay open on the work surface. He quickly leafed through the pages, finding the words of power best suited for his task. "Let's see... illumination, yes... translation... oh, of course - self-cleansing..."

After a few minutes, the yugoloth had constructed the magical formula needed to turn the worthless trinket he'd given away into the actual magical item he had claimed it to be in the first place. He wrote the words of power down on a sheet of parchment, and stood up from the desk. Taking the formula with him, A'Kin walked over to a nearby cabinet and opened it, revealing a padded interior full of row upon row of small metal skulls. He picked one from the half-empty row, resealed the container, and then moved over to a workbench in the center of the room. Placing it within a holder already on the table, he began his work.

First, he spoke the words to make the skull ready to accept the enchantments to come. With the object glowing a faint blue, he then placed the little piece of the customer's essence he had stolen in the handshake inside the object. Finally, he spoke the formula he'd created from the tome, sealing both magic and life force within. Once the magical nimbus had faded, the yugoloth picked up the miniature mimir and held it close to his ear. Satisfied that the magical spell had worked, he placed the skull in his pocket and left the room, locking the door behind him. A'Kin then moved across the foyer to a second locked door. Using another key from his ring, the arcanaloth prepared to unlock the door to his vault.

A mental message from his assistant halted his hand halfway to the lock. "A messenger with the smell of Gehenna fresh upon him? Interesting. Thank you, my dear. I shall return immediately." The yugoloth paused only for a moment to put away his keys before teleporting to the rear room of his store. Striding through the archway as if he'd only been in the back doing inventory, A'Kin put on his best smile as he said, "Yes? Is there someone with a mess- " Before he could even complete his sentence, the lightning mephit that was pacing on the countertop began reciting its message in a jumble of words that fell over one another in a torrent of sound.

"IbringAmessageFROMtheCHILDRENofDaruIb.ThePLANofWhispersISnearlyCOMPLETE.
THEplanOFAllegienceISsetTObegin.TheTIMEofDecidingISatHAND."

A'Kin was shocked into silence for a moment, the smile frozen into a rictus grin. Then, faster than even the mephit could react to, he shot out a clawed hand and snapped the neck of the pathetic creature. As the minor elemental's body dissipated in a burst of static electricity, the yugoloth turned to the fiend next to him, all trace of good cheer missing from his mental words. "Close the store. I have work to attend to." Once more, he teleported to his private chambers.

Appearing in the foyer, the yugoloth angrily paced back and forth, muttering to himself in the native language of his people. "So, the arrogant fools are going ahead with that plan so early, eh? I told them they would have to wait more millenia than this if it was to have any hope of succeeding. Time to prove to them just how much of a prophet I was..."

Pulling forth his key ring, the yugoloth selected the key to unlock his vault. Throwing open the door, he angrily strode into the vast chamber beyond. The room was full of bookcases. But instead of holding tomes of paper, each shelf was lined with padded velvet and contained instead a multitude of small metallic skulls. The very air itself was thick with noise - thousands upon thousands of voices, all being whispered by the mimirs of A'Kin's creation. He didn't stop to consult the massive tome on the stand near the door; he knew exactly where the skull he wanted was located. It took only a minute to cover the distance from the door to the shelf. The yugoloth pulled a mimir off the top shelf of the bookcase he had stopped in front of. Caressing its metal surface, A'Kin whispered - almost lovingly - to it, "Jeird-athaca. Time for you to have a revelation."

He then spoke to the skull, in a language even more ancient than that of the yugoloths. He whispered of a fortress deep in Gehenna, and how to find it with a minimum of resistance. He told of how the 'loths there were surely in league with the tanar'ri, the ancient and most hated of foes; and especially of how the creature there was a weapon that must be secured and taken back to Baator. Satisfied that his subliminal message would be received and acted upon, A'Kin put the skull back in its place, then sought out another skull amongst the hordes he had created.

"Who still owes me a favor? Ah, yes, here she is..." Gently pulling down another skull from a different case, the arcanaloth held it up to his ear, to better hear its whisperings above the rest.

"Awww, mom... I don't have time to taste test something for you. Have Valas do it. He'll eat anything you make."

Smiling, A'Kin put the skull into his pocket and left the vault. Time to compose a letter...