Ugh.

The tall, black-robed figure swept into Orion, hand waving before his face. This place was so... dusty, so dim. He'd need to clean some of the ruins, that's all--find some of the old buildings, someplace where they were arranged in a suitably market-square-sort-of-open-area, and clean it and hang it with lights.

Yes--that would do.

Canis, after all, was thickly hung with those disgusting trappings of Order, at the moment; Orion was more central regardless. Really, it all worked out.

He took some time to find a good location--one where the buildings faced one another, mostly, across a large open area. That area had once held other buildings--or maybe it had been an open street--but now it was long gone, flat and strewn with rubble to the sides. He cleaned this, and hung strings of Baubled lights along the edges of the rooftops. I will summon The Piano for our opening hours, he decided. ...Perhaps. It would be rather a waste-... But he did have all these delightful little items that needed loving new homes.

The cursed flail, for example, that drove its owners to violence. Or the ring that healed even the most severe of wounds-... at a cost. Not too high a price to pay, all things considered, but it was a neat little concept he enjoyed, and he'd like to see it in practice. Ahh--and the Wizard's Triune, starting with that lovely little amulet. Then there were the mace and the bag, the weapon and the other ring, the Crown-...

When the square was finished--eerily clean compared to the rest of Orion's ruins, and remarkably well-lit--he left a single table up with a large, bold-lettered sign propped up on an easel, for those of them educated enough to read.

---

THE COLLECTOR'S FLEA MARKET

Bring your goods and services. Trade, buy, and sell. Set up your own stall, at no fee! Takes place in two weeks' time.

Cost of Enchanted Items: your stone, or your life.*

* only a little piece.

---

He stood back and examined his work, looking around the large, dim square. All in all he'd only been here a few hours, but-... Yes. "This will do quite nicely," he said aloud, and vanished in a flash of red light.

He had work to do, after all--preparations that must be made.

---

Gembounds are welcome to gather and discuss, and to read the note (if they are capable) left behind, but the Collector has exited the thread.