Unearthed Arcana
Tucked between the scroll-crammed halls of minor colleges and the austere residences of low-ranking magistrates, Unearthed Arcana is a quaint and mysterious shop that caters to a very specific clientele—adventurers, scholars, and the magically inclined seeking enchanted curiosities, rare spell components, or whispered lore.
Despite its humble location in the more bookish Clerkburg District, the shop has earned a reputation that stretches beyond Greyhawk’s walls. Some even say that the shop finds you, rather than the other way around.
Proprietor
- Quentillian Var, the shop’s enigmatic and aging owner, is a former adventurer-turned-archmage who claims to have served as court wizard to a dozen forgotten kings. With robes like patchwork constellations and a voice like cracked vellum, he is equal parts shopkeeper, historian, and riddler. Quentillian is known for his cryptic speech, fondness for tea made from starflower petals, and tendency to appear behind you when you least expect it. He rarely parts with powerful items unless convinced of the buyer’s need or destiny.
- Some suspect Quentillian is far older than he appears—possibly not human at all. Others believe Unearthed Arcana is only one of many such shops he operates, connected through magical means.
Unearthed Arcana is more than a magic shop—it is a threshold to mystery, a place where the boundaries of arcane logic and whimsy blur. For those with coin, courage, or curiosity, it offers a door into the unpredictable heart of the magical world. Just be sure to read the fine print… and never ask about the item marked “Not for Sale. Ever.”
Purpose / Function
While Unearthed Arcana’s stock constantly shifts, it commonly offers:
- Low- to mid-tier magic items, such as potions, scrolls, enchanted weapons, and wondrous items.
- Cursed or “temperamental” items, clearly labeled with disclaimers like “Buyer Beware” or “Prone to Complaints.”
- Minor relics and baubles from long-forgotten empires, often as much historical as magical.
- Magical services, including item identification, minor enchantments, curse lifting, or planar translation (for a fee).
- Occasionally, powerful or unique artifacts, often kept under lock, riddle, or magical contract.
Prices vary wildly—some items are marked in gold, others require a favor, a memory, or a “question never answered.”
Architecture
From the outside, Unearthed Arcana looks like a forgotten bookshop or eccentric apothecary, its crooked wooden sign dangling from a wrought iron bracket shaped like a beholder’s eyestalk. Faded lettering—“Unearthed Arcana – Arcane Rarities, Wares & Whimsy”—adorns the door beneath a slightly cracked stained-glass transom.
Runes faintly etched into the stone lintel shimmer only when touched by moonlight. A faded “Closed” placard hangs in the window, even when the shop is open—an old joke, the proprietor says, for those wise enough to knock.
Inside, Unearthed Arcana is a cluttered labyrinth of magical wonders. Shelves groan with dust-covered tomes, glowing trinkets, oddly humming relics, and bottled creatures that twitch or blink in slow, magical suspension. Narrow aisles wind between towering shelves that seem taller than the building should allow, and the scent of dried herbs, ozone, and old parchment fills the air.
Magical lights flicker overhead, and unseen clockwork mechanisms click faintly behind the walls. A softly playing harp, with no visible musician, offers background ambiance.
The shop layout changes subtly from visit to visit—some customers swear a stairwell or back room was not there before, or that a familiar shelf has rearranged itself.
History
- The back room is said to house a door that opens not into storage, but to a different reality, depending on who enters.
- Quentillian once traded a +3 sword for a child's drawing, claiming it held "a spark of true magic."
- Some believe Unearthed Arcana sits atop a buried ley line nexus, which fuels the strange inventory shifts and temporal oddities inside.
- A ghostly customer, known only as “Mistress Veyra,” is said to shop here once a year, purchasing things with spectral coins that vanish by dawn.
Tourism
Unearthed Arcana caters to a niche but loyal group:
- Young wizards and spellcasters from the nearby colleges, eager to prove themselves.
- Adventurers and treasure-hunters, looking to sell or identify strange loot.
- Nobles and collectors, seeking curiosities no other merchant will dare stock.
- Planar travelers, who occasionally arrive through hidden portals or simply… appear.
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