You've stumbled across a warlord's stash of diamonds and gold, and now you're ready to shop! Everything from simple spears to lavish wakasashis imported from Ch'in are there to be found. Or maybe you'd rather spend it all on kegs of beer and gyros. A nice roasted rat might do if you find yourself down on your luck. Toys and clothes, diamonds and gold, weapons and armor...there are thousands of items and hundreds of shops out there for you to spend your money on. But how?

There are several different types of merchant that you can spend your money with, and we will explain them here. How to use them, what they normally sell, and the proper etiquette to use when dealing with alterers is important to know if you want to be able to equip your character.

Merchant Shops
Commands Covered: ACCEPT, BACK, BEFRIEND, BUY, CUSTOMIZE, DONE, MENU, MORE, ORDER, REFUSE

These are the shops that you will find around the world of Alliance of Heroes and are permanent to a certain degree. It's possible some event might close a shop, but these merchants are not as prone to closure as travelling merchants are. These shops usually sell things like armor, clothing, weapons, and profession-specific items but they can sell all manner of things. Examples of these types of shops would be a fletcher, a clothier, an instrument shop...pretty much all of the static stores you will find around Athens.

These shops are menu driven, so when you enter them you will need to type ORDER to see the merchandise. If you enter someplace that you think may be a shop and type ORDER and nothing happens, then it could just be a shop with no merchandise or it could be one of the types we will be explaining later in this section. Once you order you will see a menu like this:

Let's break this down. The dinar message is obvious, as is the welcome message. But what about her greeting? You'll notice as you purchase items from a shop, the shop owner will get to know you better and begin to greet you differently. After you impress the merchant by becoming a regular customer, they may offer you an option to gain access to a special backroom with merchandise not available in the regular menu. To ensure that you are working toward the backroom of a particular merchant, you need to let them know that is your intention by typing BEFRIEND while in the merchant menu. That way you are sure to have your purchases there count toward earning access to this special backroom.

Next we see a list of items, these are the items you can buy. Only 9 items will show per page of the merchant's inventory, so be sure to look at the line below the item list to see if MORE is an option. If it is, then you type MORE and you will get another list of more items for sale at that shop. To get back to the first page, simply type MENU or BACK from that page.

To order, all you need to do is type the number of the item you want. When you do this you will get the following message that will tell you the price of the item as well as let you know if any customizations are available and sometimes provide an item description:

8. a ring -- (8 dinars)

(Optional description will be here if there is one.)

You may: BUY the item, CUSTOMIZE the item, or BACK to return to previous menu.

If you wish to customize it, just type CUSTOMIZE and you will see:

The following customization options are available for this item.

x. (This item is not available in special colors)
2. Custom materials and features.

Enter an option #, or BACK to return to previous menu.

Pick the customization number you want and you will get a menu list of different things you can customize the item with. This menu works just like the item menu. After choosing the way you want to customize it, it will return you to the "You may buy" menu with an updated item description and an updated price.

5. a silver ring -- (38 dinars)

If this is acceptable then you type BUY and go to the haggling stage.

Argyria says, "A fine choice. The price is 38 dinars."

You may OFFER a lower price, ACCEPT to purchase the item or REFUSE the offer to return to the main menu. 

You may now OFFER a lower price by typing OFFER <price>. The merchant will either turn it down flat, make a counter-offer, or accept your offer. If you get too ridiculous with your offers they won't even bother with you and will kick you out of the merchant menu. If you change your mind just type DONE or REFUSE. If you wish to accept an offer you just type ACCEPT and you've bought the item. This will return you back to the menu where you may purchase up to 4 more items during your visit.

When you are done with the merchant menu, type DONE and you will leave it. If you have bought something then you will be given your purchase as you exit. If you have bought more than one thing then your purchases will be placed into a sack and handed to you.

Tavern Menu Shops
Commands Covered: MENU, ORDER, READ

Not all shops set up in this way are taverns, but this is just a way for us to classify them so as to avoid confusion. In tavern menu shops you will usually see a counter and a menu along with an NPC listed in the room description. These types of menus generally sell food and drink, but can sell other things as well. Here is an example of a tavern menu shop:

[Hero's Welcome, Sidekick's Lounge]
The air in the lounge is a bit brighter than in the main area, yet holds the same steamy feel. The walls of this room sport souvenirs from the right-hand men and women who have supported heroes through their greatness. You also see a cheerful waitress and a dessert menu.
Obvious exits: south.

The way to order in a situation like this is to first find out what is for sale, either by typing MENU or by READing the MENU in the room. When you do this, you will see a list like so:

You are currently carrying 128 dinars. Welcome to Argyria's Gems and Jewels! Welcome to the Hero's Welcome, Sidekick's Lounge! ##      Dinars     Item 1         5        a slice of cinnamon apple pie 2         5        a slice of cherry-topped cheesecake 3         5        a slice of chocolate fudge cake 4         6        a hot fudge vanilla sundae 5         6        a wildberry strawberry sundae 6         6        a caramel chocolate sundae ORDER by item number. For example: Order 1.

Unlike the merchant shops, these menus show all available items in one screen and have no other options for customization or backrooms. All you can do with these menus is order. You simply type ORDER # and you get the item corresponding to that number for the price listed on the menu.

Traveling Merchant Tents
Commands Covered: BUY, GET, LOOK

Again, these types of shops will not always be in tents and will not always belong to traveling merchants, this is just a way to classify them. These shops work very differently from the two above. There is no ORDER or MENU command, there is no fancy list of items on a sign or in a menu. The items are just usually laid out on tables or other various containers in a room for you to browse. These shops generally sell items that are sold by wandering merchants who will set up shop for a few days and then leave. Here is an example of what one of these shops might look like:

[Alinore's Collections]
Small crystals hang suspended from translucent silk threads. Their gentle clinking sounds echo through the shadowed enclave of the small tent. You also see a lacquered black chest, a crystal jewel case with some stuff on it, a slender silver hook with some stuff on it and a glass earring stand with some stuff on it.
Obvious exits: east.

Notice the item list in the room contains cases and chests and hooks and such with stuff on them. This is the merchandise that is for sale. The chest has items IN it, so you would need to LOOK IN CHEST to see the items for sale. The hook and case and stand have things ON them so you'd LOOK ON HOOK to see what items were there for sale. Let's look on the hook and see what's there:

On top of the silver hook you see a slender spun glass chain, a fine white crystal chain, a serpentine gold glass chain, a silvery-white glass chain and an interlocked ruby glass link chain.

Now, to see how much an item is you simply GET <item>. But here we hit one of the drawbacks of the traveling merchant shop. That hook has five items on it, and they're all chains! I want that ruby chain, but GET CHAIN defaults to the spun glass chain. You REALLY need to be careful when shopping at these merchants to use the adjective or number of the item you wish to buy. If I want that ruby chain, I'd have to type GET RUBY CHAIN or GET FIFTH CHAIN. When we try to get the chain, this is what we see:

A sales clerk steps over to you and says, "Ah, a fine choice madam. The ruby glass link chain sells for 85 dinars. You can BUY the ruby glass link chain if you like."

If you want it, then you can buy it. Again, be careful to use the adjective and BUY RUBY CHAIN. The clerk will take your dinars and hand you the chain and you're done.

Pawnshops
Commands Covered: APPRAISE, BUNDLE, GET, SELL

Pawnshops are where you go to sell the junk you collect during a hunt. You'll find when you go out hunting you'll find all sorts of things like armor and weapons, boxes and even some rarer things if you're lucky enough. The pawnshop will give you 1/7 the value of most any item you wish to sell them. So what happens if the item is worth less than 7 dinars? Well, unless you can BUNDLE several of the same item together to reach a high enough value then you're out of luck.

To use the pawnshop, simply hold the item you wish to sell and type APPRAISE <item>. Let's assume we have a longsword we want to sell. Typing APPRAISE LONGSWORD results in this message: The Pawnbroker examines your longsword and tells you it's worth 6 dinars. If you want to sell it then just SELL LONGSWORD and he'll take it and hand you the dinars for it.

Again, as we mentioned in the traveling merchant section, be sure to use adjectives to describe the item. You could have a nicked dagger and a jewel-inlaid golden pharaoh dagger signed by Zeus, and if you just type GET DAGGER and SELL DAGGER you're liable to sell either one. If you wanted to sell the nicked dagger then be sure to GET the NICKED DAGGER. Otherwise you're out one pharaoh dagger.

Furriers
Commands Covered: APPRAISE, BUNDLE, GET, SELL, SKIN

Furriers are much like pawnshops, except they deal in animal skins. Anything you SKIN off of a critter can be sold at the furrier. You may, and often will, need to bundle several skins together for them to be worth anything to the furrier. As with the pawnshop you just APPRAISE and SELL the item.

Jewelers
Commands Covered: APPRAISE, GET, SELL

Most gemshops will have a special backroom for buying gems. You will find gems when you go out to hunt and this is the place to sell them. Again, be careful to sell the gem you want to sell and not one you are wanting to save just because you were lazy and didn't specify which one. The gemshop works like the furrier and the pawnshop, just APPRAISE and SELL the item. They will often pay more than the pawnshop for jewelry items also, so be sure to check there first.

Consignment Shops
Commands Covered: GIVE

These shops will buy items you have sewn yourself. Don't waste your time going to the pawnshop, they will rip you off. Take the sewn item to the consignment shop and they will give you a better deal. Now, these work a little differently than the three shops above. A consignment shop will have an NPC buyer who you must GIVE the item to. When you give them the item, they will look it over and quote you a price then give it back. If it is an acceptable price, just GIVE them the item again in the time allotted.

Shrine of Tyche
Commands Covered: ASK

Shrines dedicated to Tyche, goddess of luck, are set up as a sort of thrift store for the down-trodden. If you're broke, just visit her shrine (one is located in the Athens SouthEast Quadrant, use DIRections to TYCHE) and you will be able to select from a series of items donated by another player. Just ASK the PRIESTESS ABOUT DONATIONS and follow her instructions. You may do this once per day, but don't get too greedy because there are other people in need as well! People who donate items to Tyche may find themselves blessed by her gift of better luck or some other boon in return for their generosity.

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