[b]Europa Wilderness, the road to Alexandria[/b]

The cold breath of winter found its way weaving across the land into the hood of a cloaked traveler. The traveler felt the nipping wind bite at his face as it burrowed its' way down his neck to his toes and shivered softly as he snapped the reins with a short flick of his wrists. Slowly the beaten carriage crawled along the well-worn path, an old carriage road situated precariously next to a drop off and a steeply sloped hill. Located at the bottom of the hill was a well visible lake, frozen partly in a visually appealing jagged-like pattern, like the jaws of some great beast. Parting his gaze from the lake, the traveler looked ahead of him to see the thin pass begin to widen into a wider, stone cobble road. He was but a few days from the city and he could already hear in the distance the commotion of people and the noises of majestic creatures. A soft laugh escaped his lips, his breath like a puff of smoke in the cool air. It had been a long while since he had begun his journey and it amused him to think that there was still even more for him to see, and such an event as a royal wedding would undoubtedly hold lucrative business opportunities for him to hold of. The varied wares and trinkets he had acquired over his travels would hopefully sell to the myriad of consumers in Alexandria, though, it was definite there would be fierce trade competition within the streets and he knew that he needed connections as soon as he arrived as well as an enforcer or bodyguard of some type. To set up shop in such a big stage without friends or protection was an amateur move and such actions were only ways to lose money.

[b]Outside Dragon Keep, Marketplace[/b]

After the long debacle of navigating his carriage through the heavily packed streets for hours, Orpheus had finally situated himself comfortably in a marketplace within sight of Dragon Keep. The structure was towering and held a certain depressing visage over the lower people, or at least that is what Orpheus saw, not the common opinion of the people standing around him, ogling the majestic features of the building. All he could imagine was the backs of the common people it was built on when he observed the structure, and looking around him, they all seemed oblivious to their backs being used. With a sigh Orpheus returned back to what he had been doing before he had been distracted by his ideals, something he found distracted him more than often. 

After conversing with a wide amount of merchants traders, Orpheus began to hear about some kind of bard competition within the Keep. An interesting idea, and there could be things to be gained from joining such a contest. Should he join and place well, he would have the chance to have his name known  throughout some areas of the city. Having a name was a double edged blade, there came influence and bigger opportunities, but there was also higher risk involved. Misfortunes were common in these times and envy and greed had seen many along his travels to meet these stripes of bad luck. Though risky Orpheus decided he did not come to this city to lurk around as a market rat this time as he had done so far up until he had arrived in Alexandria, he would use his time here to seek his ambitions and take risks.

He took time to barter with the other stands near him and get to know the flow of gold within the city. A polite face and well-kept manners were enough to squeeze information on the more skilled producers of goods in the city from the more naive traders, but it required a little bit of gold from Orpheus’s own pocket to learn the markets from the older more grizzled merchants. He visited various places after locking down his carriage and paying off a less than  ambitious fruit stand owner to watch his wares in his absence. One of his first destinations was the blacksmiths’ forges, an already crowded destination by many all seeking to place orders from the metal workers. This day, orpheus was satisfied in merely introducing himself to the smiths and getting to know their skill levels and quality of their work. 

Orpheus leaned back in his stool against a barrel behind the table of his market stand and sighed, usually these times behind his own stand were the only brief moments of true relaxation he ever got, and even then it wasn’t complete rest. He kept a sharp eye open on his wares as he relaxed, making sure no open handed thieves took advantage of his relaxing. His wares had accumulated over time from just instruments of the musical arts to instruments of all shapes and sizes. He had anything the eye fancied, trinkets, jewelry, books, and weapons, all from the lands he had travelled before arriving in Alexandria. He had found there was more gold to be made from a wide variety of goods rather than focusing on one specific type of product without being the producer of such goods. He displayed the few weapons he had gathered more prominently to the passing viewer, there was also a combat tournament going on in celebration of the royal marriage and it was in Orpheus’s hopes that some of the prospective contestants would be perusing the markets in search of a good blade to suit their needs in the upcoming competition.