Free Trade Square

Free Trade Square
Free trade square is where locals and small time vendors can set up a stall (with permission and charter from the town council of course). The square usually is about half full of full time vendors. Once per week the Flea Market is set up. The Flea Market is set up for all to sell their wares, no licence required, and mostly groceries and food-stuffs from local farmers are added to the goods for sale. Flea market days are heavily patrolled by the town watch, and specially appointed trade inspectors are dispatched by the council to ensure that the goods for sale on this day are safe to consume and are not illegal or contraband. Adventurers and others can purchase a variety of foods and alcoholic drinks from the venders who set up stalls here. Vendors also sell clothing, jewelry and magic charms (amulets and other totemic items of significance to the locals and their religious traditions).

A vendor named Ma’Omah (female half orc M’wange) sells a foodstuff that is a rare delicacy. They are round seed pods with numerous spines and tentacle-like feelers. They are the seed pods of the Goham Tree. This tree is very rare and only blooms in the deep jungles once every five years. The blooms turn into pods which are fully ambulatory when they drop off the tree. They behave with an almost intelligent manner and have been observed to co-operate in traveling away from their mother tree to search for new soil. The spines allow them to roll and shuffle like a sea urchin along the forest floor. The tentacles have suckers and allow them to climb and dig.

The Goham pods Ma’Omah sells are “peeled” variety, which means that most of the spines have been plucked and the tentacles have been snipped off. They still twitch and quiver, and only when the shell is punctured do they become still. The pulpy fruit inside resembles that of a dragon fruit, and is quite sweet and tangy.