Karl led the group to where Lotus was set up, just in case Remi and her bodyguards weren't enough to quell the inevitable chaos around the healing tree.
But on the way there, they encountered an odd sight. The boardwalk along the river had the food carts pushed against the buildings, and the street was filled with merchants frantically purchasing everything that they could.
Karl's first thought was that this was a full city looting event, but the people lined up were mostly dusty civilians, and there were guards every few steps.
"What sort of event is this?" Karl asked one of the senior guards.
"It's ... A yard sale?" The guard looked confused, as if there was no word for what was a tradition in the city.
"Whenever there is large damage to the city, the merchants buy up anything of value so that it can't be stolen in the aftermath, and the locals have some funds to live on. Then they head out and sell it for profit, and to the city's rebuilding fund. The more that they make, the better the rebuilding process is. Most of this stuff wouldn't survive weeks out in the weather, and even if it would, the owners have no way to keep it safe until they have a new house.
An inventory only holds so much.
So, they start over with a bit of cash to their names, and nothing else." The guard finished, doing his best to explain the situation to outsiders.
Karl would have thought the logical thing would be to load it into crates in a warehouse, but these were keepsakes and valuables, and money would be needed to buy new furniture and whatever else was needed for the new houses.
Karl nodded and headed for the east side of the river.
"If you've got anything to sell, the price might not be the best, but the profits come back to the city." The guard called as Karl began to walk away.
When the Undead bodies vanished, so did their weapons and other items, so there wasn't much to be gained from the battle. But Remi had found some things she didn't particularly want.
Karl looked down the line to a man who was buying up weapons, and stepped in line.
The housewife in front of Karl pushed him forward, as did the locals in front of her.
"You've got better stuff to sell than we do, I'm certain. Plus, you were with the Healing Tree during the first time she visited us. How long will she be there today? Some of my boys were still fighting when I left." The first old woman in line asked.
Karl smiled at her, then placed the stack of ugly and oddly shaped cursed magical weapons on the table where the merchant's men were sorting items.
"Those are..." The merchant began.
"Stolen magical weapons. Royal Rank, with a few negative attributes." Karl explained.
"Well, I don't know how you did it, but that is impressive. They're all unbound, so they're fair game. I can give you a flat twenty gold a piece for them. All profit when I sell them goes straight to the city coffers."
Karl nodded and shook his hand, then gave the four hundred gold coins to Cara.
[We can spend those later.] Karl informed her.
Cara laughed and gestured to the literal hill of currency she had stolen, much of which was local.
[Good point. We can it to whoever you think has the best snacks, or can make good stuff for the city if you'd like. Lotus is getting famous, and I'm sure it would help if we paid off someone with a furniture factory.] Karl suggested instead.
[Oh, that is good. We can make Sister Lotus really famous in the city. They already love her.] Cara agreed.
Thor and Remi suspected that she was up to something, but Cara wasn't elaborating, so they had to guess what her plan was in making Lotus famous.
Karl suspected it was actually simple. Cara loved sweets. Lotus also loved sweets. If Lotus got famous, they got free sweets.
[No, but now that you mention it...] Cara laughed.
Great, now he was the one giving her ideas.
When they reached the tree, there was chaos everywhere, but not in a dangerous way. Local gangs were sorting out residents, passing out blankets and the relief supplies that the city had distributed via the guards, and making sure that there were no fights in the market area.
Outside of that, tensions were high, and people were clearly staying away from the edges of the area if that was not the part of the district that they lived in, but it was functional at the very least.
Many of the elderly were in rough shape with all the dust and the injuries that they had taken during the battle. Both from the aftermath of the attacks, and from the collapsing buildings.
There were also many mournful faces, as the worst of the casualties had been at the start of the battle, and much more than the minimum time had passed to resurrect even the ones whose bodies could be found intact.
The undead curse tended to raise those slain or seriously injured by Wights as zombies, so it was a priority to get everyone who had been fighting to stand within Lotus' light for at least a few minutes until everyone was sure that they were not going to turn.
Karl wasn't sure how the south side of town was dealing with that threat. He hadn't even considered it during the battle, but the locals had been pulling the severely wounded back to Lotus anyhow, so it wasn't really a concern on their portion of the docks.
"Mister, did you need help?" A young girl asked as Karl approached with the others.
Karl shook his head. "We're with the Healing Tree and the Naga Queen. We just came to make sure that they were alright."
Tessa gestured towards a clear spot near the edge of the market closest to the grass.
"Let's set up there. Little Miss, can you find us a HUGE pot, one from the restaurants? I'm a Priestess, and I can create food for everyone." She explained.
The girl smiled. "Oh, that's even better. The healing tree has food too, but she can't cook."
Well, not when she didn't have hands or arms.