-The shopkeeper is attacking it for real, and these are supposedly evil, and she HAS fought humanoid Very Evil Things before, and you need to act fast in a fight, and that crystallizes into: Transform and magically enhanced claw-strike.

A magically-enhanced claw-strike from a Large fox form is enough to knock the imp out, throwing it to the floor. 

"It'll be back up in a few moments," Gasta says. To the apprentice, she barks, "Go get one of the silver knives, finish it off. It probably had a scheme in mind, best make an example of it."

...It makes her a little queasy to just casually... Well. It invisibly invaded a shop, and she did - mention it - to obviate responsibility a bit and check-

They disperse when slain, like Curses, but are intelligent enough to plot and that makes her mind go to Cryptids which makes this Srs Bsns Time.

She puts a paw on its chest and another on the tail just below the poison stinger, and waits. But it kinda sucks that violence was apparently the answer, here.

The apprentice rushes back downstairs and quickly cuts through its neck with about as much emotion as if he was cutting the head off a carrot. The silver of the blade makes the imp's flesh sublimate into foul-smelling black smoke at the touch, and when it cuts all the way through both head and body start to collapse in a slower version of the same process.

Gasta cleans up some of the mess with a Prestidigitation.

"They're not usually so bold," she says, not quite an apology. "Could you dismiss your fires, please? Now, where were we?" 

"They won't catch unless I let them," but yeah, the fires go away. She gives a Large sigh. "What a shame. I want to try that headband still, and quite likely buy it. I was also asking about magical defenses of various types- And do you have any magic that might have to do with the moon or moonlight for a special interest?"

She would really like a way to rapidly regenerate magic that is not her naked moonlight dance and there is lots of weird stuff here, but would rather talk around this instead of, like, admitting it.

"Do you have proof of wealth? If so, you can try it on, along with any of the defensive trinkets you like. As for... moon magic, let me see..."

She heads up the stairs and beckons for Weiss to follow, stopping off on the third floor to open a locked cabinet that contains various pieces of clockwork and astronomical equipment. From within she takes a small disk-shaped device that opens like a pocket watch. Inside, a set of dials display the phase of the moon.

"This is a Moon Clock. It tracks the phases of the moon, useful for timekeeping underground, and can be broken to release a burst of moonlight that will force any lycanthropes back into their original forms."

She produces the Abadaran note for display. She's less dexterous like this but not completely incapable. The paw looks a bit weird, holding things produced from dipping it deep into tail fluff.

"Huh. One time only, it seems, for the moonlight?" She bets it'd work though. Maybe for emergencies. How big is it?

It's about the size of the larger of her gold coins. 

"Yes, the enchantment is shaped in such a way as to fail in that manner reliably. It is priced at 2,650 gold pieces." Which she now knows Weiss is good for.

Gasta politely refuses to react to the eccentricity of her continuing to go about in fox form.

She doesn't want to waste magic, obviously.

Bit pricey for a one time contingency. But it's nice on its own, too.

"...I'll consider it. Headband?"

The cabinet on that floor is unlocked too. Gasta waits a moment, then will awkwardly lift up the headband to put on Weiss rather than have her try to take it off the mannequin with her paws.

It's as if, suddenly, she just knows how not to embarrass herself. She can read the room more, that customer service smile, and that's fine, this is a shop, no need to go feeling awkward about it-

"Oh. I like this. I can- Hmm! One moment..."

She plays a complex scene in her head, losing herself in it and filling out all the details. It's... Not easier, exactly, she still has to clearly visualize everything and figure out how it should react, but... Yeah her usual patterns for body language and clothing design and facial expressions and tone of voice all seem so amateurish, now.

She wills it to life, a startlingly complete image of Sinnah, her bored yet interested expression, the way her fingers twitch slightly when she moves, the curling flick her tail does- And how the shopkeeper's eyes dart to it, and what parts of it draw the eye- She makes the Sinnah illusion scoff dismissively, then vanish.

It's not even just the illusions though. Wearing this- And maybe she should have been a little more hesitant to wear mind enhancing magic but too late- It feels like walking down the street openly back on Tirra would be less overwhelming, less embarrassing. Like she can let the opinions of idiots wash over her, unaffected.

Aaaand back, to see how it settles- Just a teensy bit uncomfortable around her ears but she'll get used to it-

"Very good, don't want to ever take it off."

She pulls out and offers the promissory note, kept separate from the one that just said 'this person has at least X in their account on Y date'.

Gasta already has a quill ready for filling in the details of the purchase. It's always entertaining to watch someone put on a headband for the first time, even if it does give her a pang of envy that Uncle Toff never thought enough of her potential to permit her one of the family headbands.

"I think that's all for now. I hope you have a good rest of the day!"

There's probably time for a quick snack, and then 'an hour before sunset' will be close so after that it will be back up to the ominous castle.

The castle is not any less ominous on her second visit, though this time she is shown through the security cordon more quickly.

Sabina is waiting for her in the reception room.

Also present is another soldier, wearing similar equipment that looks to have been freshly provided from how she's adjusting the buckles and straps. She is also standing, because there are still no chairs to be found.

"We are expecting three more," Sabina says.

Since the food last time was a success, there are a couple of Oliphant Ears on the table, huge flatbread pastries traditionally fried on the backs of tower shields that ooze with butter, dusted with dried herbs, each big enough to be split between three people.

She'll spin up six chairs, why not. Ooh, that's like, garlic bread. Nice snack.

"Good evening. So, in terms of intelligence on the enemy and likely foes, I have little of it and for the mission to go well I could perhaps know more- Not even specifics about where and who that would be discussed later anyway, more like - common features of the undead and necromancers, in case they're different than the ones we have back home."

The other woman tests a chair then sits down heavily with an appreciative grunt.

"Been a long day, and been on my feet for most of it."

She does an obvious double-take at Weiss' ears. 

Sabina remains standing. 

"Undead are... formed from negative energy, or the spells of necromancers, or from unusual deaths without the proper rituals, or from being killed by the sort that can spread. The bodiless ones are hard to damage without spells or magic weapons. The most common ones are simply mindless, but some can be cunning. All are driven to harm the living, whether out of hunger or mindless instinct or from being the kind of person who turns undead by themselves. Destroying them is a mercy because their souls remain bound after their deaths, tormented and unable to move on."

"Necromancers are vulnerable in the usual ways spellcasters tend to be, reliant on words and gestures and materials, with a limited number of spells. Most of their magic is used on creating and controlling their undead, which does give them plenty of bodies to hide behind. Once you get past those, their school also has fear magic and rays or touches that inflict curses or weakness, but they have to be at least fifth-circle for any of the spells that have a chance to cause instant death to someone of comparable power to them."

She does a deliberate flick of the ears.

"Okay... Mostly similar basic undead traits, good to know. I've only fought one person that could be called a proper necromancer before, and even she was more using an ability than spells."

And she didn't even finally take her down, the Rose March branch of the Inquisition did, with heavy losses, while she held off the horde in the forest.

"Going for the necromancer past the undead, or wearing out their spells..."

"Just so."

A few moments later, the rest of the party is led in by a servant: 

A human woman with a scroll case,