As the wizard approached, Kimberly noticed he was carrying what looked to be a fair sized bag of...women's socks?. The bag was sealed and looked like one you would find in a store, though it lacked any sort of labels or brand name. The socks themselves looked to be nothing special; plain, white, ankle high socks. There seemed to be about forty pairs in the bag.
Paldinoss went back behind the counter and then set the bag down in front of Kimberly. "This," he said in his most mystic voice, "is one of my personal creations! A damn good one if I do say so myself."
Kimberly raised an eyebrow, feeling a little let down that his extensive search only came up with this. Perhaps this man is less impressive than he seemed. "Uh" she said, "Are you sure that these uh...'items' are gonna help us have a good time? I mean, we do have our own...and the place is heated."
The wizard merely smiled and laughed heartily, "No, no child, despite their humble appearance, these are not the simple footwear you would find at any clothing store in the mall. These are something much more. In the past few decades I've been working on enchanting more modern items. Magic rings and trinkets are all well and good, but one has to keep up with the times. To keep it fresh, as it were."
"Oh" she replied in cautious relief, "Thank goodness, I was worried you'd lost it for a moment. So what do they do then?" The girl peered a little more closely at the bag, her curiosity renewed.
"These" Paldinoss said with pride, "Will change the wearer in various ways, depending on which pair is worn. Once a pair is put on, the wearer will find themselves changing, perhaps slightly, perhaps drastically, to fit the style that the socks have been imbued to display. If you look closer" the wizard said pointing at the top pair, "you will see that each pair has a tag on them."
Kimberley looked at the top pair's tag. It read "Goth".
"Whoever wears this pair will find the socks, as well as their own clothes and physical appearance, will change towards a much 'darker' outlook." He pointed to another pair, this one's tag had no writing on it, but was instead patterned with gold and silver stripes. "This pair will provide a random change, even I don't know how it will affect you or your friends, should keep things interesting if you'd rather experience the changes blind."
"How long will it take for someone to change fully? Or to change back?" she asked.
"A very good question!" he replied, "And one to which I'm afraid I don't have the answer. Some could take hours or less, while others could take days before the full effects are done. The same goes with the change back."
"But you made these" said Kimberly, confused, "You didn't make a standardized time for the changes?"
"And where" the wizard replied, a sly grin on his face, "is the fun in that? I could certainly have made each pair take the same time to change someone to and from a new form, but this is a variety pack. It demands a little more...chaos than if you bought a single pair. I assure you, the changes these socks will bring should be more than enough to make your trip quite interesting, especially for a first-timer to the magical world such as yourself."
Kimberly looked intensely at the bag, mulling it over. She was slowly warming up to these things. She imagined herself and her friends all playing games together, each of them being not quite who, or what they started the day as. "They seem really cool, and as long as they can do what you say they can..."
"I guarantee they will" replied the wizard, "they may look mundane." He smirked "but they are just as magical as anything else you'd find in this store! Do be careful though, I would strongly recommend against mixing and matching these, some weird stuff could happen. Weird even for a wizard." he said his eyes seeming to lose focus for a second.
"However" he said, his focus returning to Kimberly, "follow that rule and I think this bag might be just what you're looking for...unless..." he said, a hopeful look appeared on his face. His eyes flitted towards the aisle she first came down, and rested upon the jeweled sword she had passed before, "You're sure you don't want to go dragon hunting?"
Kimberly pursed her lips and raised an eyebrow at Paldinoss.
"Alright alright" he said, throwing his hands up in mock-defeat, "I swear I'll get someone to go one day." He turned his attention back to the bag, "But what do you think of the socks? Will they suffice?"
"I really like them!" she replied, she was quite wedded to the idea of them now "I think they should work well for what we'll need, thank you so much for this!"
"It is my pleasure" he said with another of his trademark smiles, "Now, before you go tumbling down the rabbit hole with this bag's magics on your trip, I think a small taste of transformation is in order. Just so you have an idea of what to expect." He reached beneath the counter and pulled out what appeared to be an ordinary headband. It was black with a black bow on top. "Here you go, something small to get you started. he said, handing it to her. "It should take a few hours for the full changes to take effect, but don't fret about your friends showing up for the trip and finding some stranger, when you wake up tomorrow you should be back to normal. No worries about returning it either, it should transport itself back here in the morning as well."
Kimberly looked appreciatively at both magical items that she had been given. Beaming, she turned to Paldinoss and thanked him again, before taking the headband and placing it on her head.
The wizard laughed. "Again, it's my pleasure, and when you return from your trip, please do come and tell me how it went. You'll find that you can always see the store now. If you like it well enough there are other things here you could purchase or if you'd like..." he said with new inspiration, "I could see about teaching you some of the magical arts, in return for some work of course."
"I'll return! I promise mister Paldinoss, thank you, thank you, thank you!" said Kimberly and with that she picked up the bag of socks and turned to leave the store. She paused in surprise, her mouth dropping as she noticed the store's exit was now right by the counter. Yet she hadn't been anywhere near the counter when she entered. With a smile of her own she regained her composure and walked out of the store saying to herself "Magic is awesome!"
Paldinoss grinned as he watched her leave, noting that already some of the roots of hair around her new headband had already begun to lighten towards a blonde hue. The girl seemed a good kid, she should definitely enjoy the contents of that bag and, if he was lucky, he might just have a new apprentice within the year. He frowned, murmuring to himself, "I hope her friends a smart enough not to cause trouble with those items."
"Just like you to forget all about the character of her companions" said a holier-than-thou voice from behind the wizard. Paldinoss rounded on what had previously been a painting of a simple, empty background to find that the image of an old English butler had taken up the frame. "I can't imagine things will end well for her or her friends."
"I have faith that she'll come out fine, she's smart and I think she has the potential become a great witch if she so desires." He pointed a finger accusingly towards the butler, "and it's just like YOU, Bertram, to be off snoozing in some frame in the corner when our first non-magical customer in ages comes through the store. She had no one to guide her and was nearly taken by that Illithid's Orb. If she didn't have a strong aura for me to sense I may have arrived too late."
"A thousand pardons milord" said the butler sarcastically, "It shan't happen again under my watch." he said before yawning and wandering off again.
"Useless idiot, never rent out a magical space with its own wall decorations." He muttered to himself. "What I wouldn't give for a good assistant. If Kimberly doesn't pan out maybe I can see about poaching one from one of the other stores..."