Stone Toenails

Near the ramp in Talltown stands a circular building made of white marble with a domed roof. Originally it served as a shrine built by Stone Giants when they came to help build Fellport, but the Cult of Surtur died off soon after its completion. Enterprising giants changed it into a spell component shop (The Temple of Components) to capitalize on the growing College, a task made easier with all the tiny drawers built into the walls that originally held runes and totems sacred to the cult. It's muddled along, losing business as the giants left town. The majority of the giants moved out decades back, but a motivated young Hominae Vitae lore bard named Felix Argentum recently bought it for a song and works tirelessly to fix it up.

Giants built all the fixtures and doors, so they're comically large when compared to the diminutive Felix. His slippers of spider climbing give him a literal leg up in dealing with the height disparity, so he has access to everything without the need for ladders or ropes. Watching him climb the walls to get to the taller drawers has a certain air of entertainment to it, so some teens go in to browse as a joke until they can't stop laughing. Felix laughs it off, but he's starting to compile a mental list of the pranksters so he doesn't fall for it a second time.

Felix still struggles to identify everything he bought despite his extensive training in magical lore. Drawers full of odds and ends stretch around the entire circumference of the single large room, and many of them have lost their labels. Early on he joked that a pile of grey stone slivers looked like clippings from stone toenails, and the name stuck. He commissioned a large grey toe and scribed the toenail with magical sigils as his sign, which hangs over the main door. He's carved out a living space in one of the side rooms that used to be a vestibule for one of the other three entrances to the building, with a hammock hanging in front of the cooking fire he kindles in an old offering niche.

He's not afraid to experiment, so he talked Thea Willowstaff into helping him to identify things. They get into all sorts of trouble between Thea's wild magic and Felix's naive lack of wisdom, but they usually don't cause any permanent damage. Thea has started buying components from Stone Toenails when making her experimental magic items. The shop carries a wide selection of components, even if Felix don't know exactly what everything is yet, and he's started carrying leather and cloth component pouches and bags to hold everything for easy access. Felix has worked to find suppliers for reliable sources of stock, but he has some holes in his inventory at the moment.

Felix doesn't really notice how warm the shop stays year-round, as the constant struggle with his inventory occupies his mind most of the time, and he enjoys a snug bedroom to sleep in. Further investigation may reveal the spirit of a fire giant trapped in the building's foundation, a throwback to the Cult of Surtur. Will an experiment unleash it and spread fire across Talltown? Only time will tell.

Part of T.W.Wombat's Lore 24 project, detailing the world around Fellport.
For all city posts, see the Fellport Index. For posts about the wider world, see the Beneterra Index.