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-- Cager proverb
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Copyright 1999, text by Truls Rostrup, art by Karl Mikalsen ( Prime / male rastipede / F6, T7 / Merkhant / NE ) . |
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Everything has a price. There are times when cutters get so desperate as to cough up great stacks of jink for the simplest of items, no questions asked. That is when they come to Krr'k'akar. Krr'k'akar is a rastipede; an insectoid creature with eight walking legs and a vaguely humanoid torso with two upper arms. His head has large faceted eyes, chitinous mandibles and long, glossy antennae. The clueless might think him a insect centaur of some kind. Traders extraordinaire, Krr'k'akar is no exception to his kind. He started out dealing in (often smuggled) small items and exotica at the asteroid Wildspace trading centre of the Rock of Bral, a cosmopolitan city that could handle his to some beings unpleasant form. Or so he thought. However, after having his business wrecked one time too many by the riotous Xenos, a group of xenophobic humans out to purify Wildspace of non-humans, he reconsidered. Through one of his weirder customers (the ursinal Tripicus) he heard of the city of Sigil and immediately started calculating the immense profits from a Sigilian business venture. Fate bore out his anticipation; he's only ever got richer since. After relocating to Sigil through a portal shown to him by Tripicus, as payment for some rare books on the planet of Anadia, Krr'k'akar soon set up kip in the Hive ward. As was his custom, the rastipede set about making his contacts, and as any Cager knows you can't flash jink around for too long before Zadara finds out about it. The titaness and the rastipede met, and it seems Sigil's Queen of Jink saw something she liked in the insectoid, because the chant goes that they hit it off. Zadara even offered to lend Krr'k'akar enough merts to set himself up. Ever the shrewd businessman, the rastipede refused her "kind proposal", but something about the titan must have impressed the cutter, because he joined the Merkhant sect shortly afterwards. |
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In little time he carved out his niche; instead of trading in large quantities, like Estavan and the Planar Trade Consortium, he specialised in hard-to-get items and substances from the Prime, and in particular goods procured from Wildspace through his suppliers on the Rock. Examples are the rare smoke powder needed for firearms, some firearms themselves, poisons, weed, liquor and exotic pets. He recently sold the Xaositect high-up Quake Lavender a pack of Lhee (chaotic small winged dogs with minor magical abilities), and what's more, he actually managed to get paid handsomely. See, Krr'k'akar is a tough bargainer, but he will never really cheat a customer directly. That would be bad for business. However, he is fond of making deals knowing that the other party is assuming something that is not true. In the lhee deal, Quake wanted magical, flying dogs to help protect his tavern and give it that special something. What Quake did not know was that lhee are chaotic, playful dogs who love to play tricks and rather useless at guarding. Then again, being a Xaositect, she might not have cared that much. Chant is she is working on teaching the brightest of the pack the ultimate wild magic spell of Nahal's Reckless dweomer, so the Hive could very well become that much wilder very soon.  Another of Krr'k'akar's customers is the Tailor, a xixchil surgeon of great skill. Maybe it's because he's a fellow insectoid, or a Spacer, or perhaps there's something deeper, but the pair took an instant shine to one another on first meeting. Krr'k'akar has provided the financial backing for the Tailor's studio ever since it was established. Krr'k'akar's always got his ear open for new patients for the surgeon, and regularly garnishes Harys Hatchis to dream up new promotions for the Tailor's specialised services. Quite why the rastipede's been so generous with his jink ain't know, but judging by the huge prices the Tailor charges, and the relative poverty he still lives in, it's a cert that Krr'k'akar creams off a large profit. If a customer should start getting troublesome, Krr'k'akar is very capable of defending himself, both with his star-studded longsword and his special rastipede bow. His chitinous exoskeleton would protect him from most attacks, should he be drawn into a fight. He much prefers to avoid combat though, and would much rather pay others to fight his battles for him. As long as customers are loaded with jink, Krr'k'akar is not choosy on who he deals with. Fiends of all descriptions have made use of his services, as well a strangely large number of mind flayers, including Lithoss. Exactly what Krr'k'akar is supplying to the illithids is unknown, but chances are his case will receive a "visit" by the gith races any time these days. A question which perplexes many wannabe lanned rumour-mongers of Sigil is where Krr'k'akar is channelling his certain to be enormous profits. His case in the Hive is very modest, which shows good business sense since it could easily get damaged by yet another Hive "accident". Some suspect he is building up to a gigantic weapons deal, possibly in starwheels and other firearms. In fact, the deva Jovius is watching Krr'k'akar very closely, in case his scheme involves the celestials arming fiends. After all, the stench of fiendish patrons rarely leaves the merchant's office for more than a few hours at a time. No one knows who the buyers are though, only that the planes are sure to feel the effects.    |
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