The island itself, on account of the ever-replenishing Quintessence that the Danube around it carries 24-7, is an oasis for not just mages - people are unconsciously drawn to the place and enjoy the natural high that comes with magic literally being in the air.
There are joggers, families with children, and anyone aching for the outdoors; there's a swimming pool, a petting zoo, and no internal combustion engines are allowed in.
The market
The 'market' itself is as unassuming as can be - two floating pier sheds full of kayaks, boats, oars, and other boating and kayaking gear on the left-hand side of the photo above (facing the Buda side). They belong to the Budapest Boating Association with a HQ on the opposite side of the island, and only a handful of people know about the sheds' more mystical purpose.
View of the kayak and boating paraphernalia sheds that double as the market-place from the Pest quay
If you know the right passphrase, look familiar to the two 'shopkeepers', or seem like you need an item to help you out (or deserve an item that brings you misery), you will find that the sheds in fact are crammed full of the most interesting magickal stuff, large and small.
Customers are normally charged a small quest in exchange for items.
Gulyás and Hóbor, the shopkeepers
They're really a two-man Euthanatos cabal who have taken it upon themselves to better the world by controlling the distribution of harmful and beneficial magic items.Gulyás ([ˈɡujaːʃ]) is the younger one of the pair, in his twenties, handsome, quiet, brooding, and in fact very manipulative, especially of Hóbor ([ˈhoːbor]), the nominal leader of their little cult. In fact, he's the 'power behind the throne' - Hóbor rarely admits it to himself, but he's head over heels in love with his young ward, and will do anything to keep him by his side. Gulyás is part of the gardening crew on the island, and has a uniform and a pass that gets him access to virtually anywhere on Margit-sziget. The quests he likes to set for people who come looking for talismans and wonders slowly but surely build a web of contacts and information with him sitting in the middle, a fat spider pulling the strings, a but like Leland Gaunt in Needful Things. At least that's the way he likes to think of what he does.
Hóbor on the other hand comes as close to a wise old hippy stereotype as a Euthanatos can. likes sharing his unique mystical worldview with anyone who will listen, rambling on while fishing on the pier. He can't hold down a decent job on account of his missing left arm, but the boating association keeps him on as watchmen/groundsman. He keeps bees - all the bees on the island come from one of his hives, tucked in nooks and crannies - and he likes to command them into clouds and direct them around like some Biblical prophet. He can take over the swarm's senses and so finds out about a surprising many things even though he never leaves the island.
Sample items
- Pair of scissors. When used to cut off all of someone's hair will make collected hair have limited divining powers. Think Queequeg in the 1956 version.
- Some loose leaf tea that when brewed in a special pot with water taken from one of the Buda Hill caverns as part of a secret ritual, will grant the drinker the power to answer any yes-no question correctly within a 24-hour time frame.
- A pearl that will make an urn fill up with whatever is already inside when left in it unattended overnight. Causes havoc if urn is opened while magic is going on (along the lines of overabundance (Think jelly flood in Ben and Holly), or a Geas related to the thing that is being multiplied (such as the witness gets allergic to that thing from then on, or must eat/create that thing every day, or cannot say its name).
- Betz Sphere: seems to have limited consciousness, moves around on its own accord, self-preserving, attuned to specific frequencies, highly magnetic, resists scrying attempts. Remote-controlled? Mechanical? Organic and alive?
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