The spell materials the guild had purchased had run out. Rhonin took Clark around the various merchants' guilds in Alliance Square, hoping to buy a batch to tide them over.
Arcane dust and eternal essence of various grades rarely made their way into Boralus. Kul Tiras had little demand for spell materials, no local school of magic, and only a handful of mages.
But that did not mean the local guilds never stockpiled them. It was common for them to buy these materials from Dalaran's mages, move them through a few intermediaries, then sell them back to Dalaran.
Dalaran's Council of Six prohibited private trade between mages, and the city's shops were restricted to selling everyday necessities.
This was part of an agreement protecting magical research. Aside from academic discussions, mages were forbidden to privately study arcane magic from other schools.
The policy protected the secrecy of each magical school's knowledge and secured the standing of the mage class.
Rhonin and Clark made a long circuit around Alliance Square and asked at several shops, but failed to buy any materials.
The square was packed shoulder to shoulder, bustling with the roar of voices.
The major guilds were all undercutting one another, and prices had plummeted.
Beneath the bustling market lay chaos and disorder. Rhonin was not particularly well informed, and he paid little attention to politics. Even so, he could see the turmoil within the city.
The major guilds had long since abandoned trade orders for anything other than everyday necessities. Even when they had other goods in stock, they refused to sell them.
Now every family, down to the smaller guilds under their control, was using low prices to win back the public's trust.
Their goal was simple: to strike at the Norwington Family's entire Morris Industries system.
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