Magical Emporium Battle Map - Launch

Hello Adventurers! As promised here is our next map, the Magical Emporium. It's a cluttered curiosity shop, a bit of a clearance warehouse for all the oddities and unique items that other places don’t stock or can’t sell themselves. I intentionally made this quite large because running a battle encounter in a poky 5x5 size shop would be rather limiting. Behind the shop floor is a library where you can find anything from magical tomes, cookbooks for gnomes, and even the odd piece of erotica fiction. There is also a workroom for preparing magical potions, a storeroom for all your magical supplies, and a teleportation circle for hire!

Our next map will be Earth’s Heart, an underground temple/shrine created from roots, vines, and ancient carved stone. That will be coming next week. Thanks so much for your continued support, it’s people like you that help grow our hobby, you really are the best! Have a wonderful weekend and as always happy adventuring! Now let’s go buy some cut-price, out-of-date healing potions from that dodgy-looking shop in the worst part of town.

Introduction

As you enter the shop a bell chimes a short and rather irritating jingle, slightly off-key. You’ve heard the tune before, being sung by magically animated posters throughout the city. The shop itself is disorganized and shabby, full of mismatched tables and cabinets crammed full of oddities and boxes of niknaks. You doubt ten percent are magical but the labels attached to almost every item claim otherwise. Two suits of antique-looking armour stand at the entrance, while other larger items are half-buried under mountains of cheap-looking trinkets. Towards the back of the shop is a long counter surrounded by display cases full of potions, vials, and magical supplies. Behind the counter is a little old lady hunched over a tattered paperback book. She looks up at you, blinking a couple of times through thick glasses before continuing with her reading.

You glance towards the Rogue, giving her a look that says ‘behave or else’, she grins back innocently and skips off down an aisle. The rest of the party fan out, picking up items randomly while you and the Bard head to the counter to negotiate prices. The Bard steps forward placing his well-manicured hands on the countertop. “Good morning my dear lady,” he says while flashing her a sparkling smile. She looks up from her book and smiles back at him. “What can I do for you dearies?” She says in a sweet grandmotherly tone. You try to ignore the raunchy illustrations in her open book and take a couple of healing potions off a display. “I was wondering what you could do-” Before you can finish she cuts you off. “Healing potions 75 gold. Non-negotiable.” You are slightly taken aback, but the tone is still that of a sweet old lady. The Bard decides to kick up the charm. “My dear woman, I’m sure we can come to some sort of arrangement that would benefit both parties”. He winks at her. “Non. Negotiable,” she repeats slowly. This time you notice a little irritation in her tone. She taps a yellowed sign on the counter that reads: All prices are final. If you break it, you pay for it! Thieves will be dispatched to the letter of the law!

A metal clatter erupts behind you, turning around you see the Rogue looking sheepish while hurriedly picking up a set of brass plates from the floor. “I’ll go wait outside,” she says and makes for the exit. As she reaches the doors two suits of armour creak into life and step out to block her from leaving. She lets out an audible gasp. You hear the old lady tut behind you “Oh dear and you looked like such nice young people, best I go get the mop and bucket, Ralf and Charlie do rather make a mess of things”. As she leaves through a doorway behind the counter the animated suits of armour begin walking towards your party brandishing rusty but very sharp-looking weapons.

Notes and Tips

• 30x30 grid map
• This could be used as a few shop types: a magic shop, an apothecary, an adventuring supply shop, or an antique/curiosity shop.
• The shop is large, this is to make sure it makes for a viable combat space.
• This could be a discount warehouse for cheap magical and adventuring gear.
• There is a book section in the back, this could contain any number of topics, from actual magical tomes to simple cookbooks or romance fiction.
• A new order of books has come in from an estate sale. One of the books is cursed and flying around attacking customers, go catch it! Oh, and it's infected other books that are now spewing fictional characters and creatures out of their pages into the shop.
• The armour at the entrance is magical and will attack anyone that tries to leave without paying!
• The teleportation circle at the back of the shop is broken and is opening to random locations. You are needed to protect the shopkeeper as they cast a restoration spell to fix the problem, who knows what could come through while it’s being fixed!
• The shop is owned by a monster in disguise. They kidnap shoppers for their evil schemes. The party hears a muffled cry from the back or notices some bloodstains on the floor. They could even see through the disguise and then need to decide on what to do next.
• Mostly all shops in any fantasy city are a front for something, be it thieves, bandits, cults, or insurrectionists. If your shop is just a shop… well you aren’t trying hard enough :P

Variants

Night lit and unlit versions

Neon-lit version for that extra seedy magical look.

An abandoned shop, perfect for that evil ritual the local cult has been planning!

And a night-time version of said abandoned shop.