Where has my sunshine gone?Mandy grumbled to herself as she headed to the trade depot. She had made a request for some seeds for underground crops, sunshine was all well and good but sometimes one just had a craving for some good old fashioned dwarven rum. She also requested some meats and threw in a request for silk and leather as well. Mandy had no idea what sorts of thing Athel might demand in the future so she figured it would be prudent to make sure they were well stocked.
Of course it wasn't until after Mandy had said what they wanted that Athel showed her the list of things she wanted in return.
(Toys? Why toys?)
Mandy wondered at the toys, Athel claimed that she was just passing along what folks had requested but Mandy wouldn't put it past her to add a few things just to mess with them. At least they had picks now so they could in-theory make almost everything on the list.
Arriving at the depot, Mandy started looking through the goods they had brought while she waited for the bins of gloves and whatnot to be hauled to the depot. Athel had apparently brought what they had requested, much to Mandy's surprise. She was sure the wagons were going to hold nothing more than a few piles of second hand goblin clothing.
“I see you found the picks.” said Athel wandering over. “I'm surprised, I thought you would be more thrilled at getting those. I was expecting a little dance at least.”
Mandy opened her mouth to tell Athel she could go sleep with tentacle demons but thought better of it. “They remind me of the place we came from.” she said instead.
“I'm so sorry they are distressing you, perhaps I should take them back with me to spare you further troubling memories?” Athel said grinning.
“No!” said Mandy attempting to look alarmed. She would have loved to tell Athel that they really didn't need then now but then she would know about the human traders who visited already. Given Athel's reaction to finding out about the elves Mandy wanted to keep that bit a secret. That meant that she had to pretend they still needed the picks as everyone knew that elves didn't trade in metal and you couldn't make a pick from wood.
Athel chuckled at Mandy's response. “Well then do try to look happier about seeing them would you?”
Mandy once again battled with her face and this time only won the war to smile by picturing returning the picks to Athel in some rather creative, uncomfortable, and most certainly anatomically impossible ways. She was spared further suffering by the arrival of Skuz. “That's the last bin chief.” he said as he walked up.
“Oh good.” said Mandy with real enthusiasm at the prospect of spending time with someone other than Athel even if it was a trader in the process of ripping them off.
“Oh well while you are busy with that, I'll see about exploring the rest of this fine fort you have here.” said Athel
“Wonderful, you go do that while I see that your trader here gets the absolute best deal.” Mandy said with a huge grin.
Athel frowned for a moment at Mandy's sudden enthusiasm.
Mandy made shooing motions with her hands at Athel, “Go on, do have fun. I learned a few things from dealing with those elves that brought us the sunshine so I feel much more comfortable dealing with traders now.”
“On second thought, I had better stay. I wouldn't want you to get a bad deal for all those gloves you worked so hard on now would I?” Athel said.
It didn't take much effort for Mandy to look disappointed at Athel's change in mind. She really would have preferred it if Athel left her alone but hiding their digging was more important right now. Mandy was also a bit surprised at how easy she had found it to manipulate Athel into staying. All she had to do was hint that Athel's precious profits might suffer.
Of course the downside to having Athel stay became apparent once the trading had concluded and Mandy wound up almost giving away the gloves they had made for goods that were worth almost one tenth what she estimated the gloves were. They wound up with five more picks, a bin of leather, a bin of silk cloth, a few barrels of meat and a few bags of seeds in exchange for three full bins of some decently made cloth gloves and mittens.
Athel also didn't forget about the Sunshine and Mandy wound up just outright giving them five barrels of the stuff as a “Show of good will.” Mandy hoped she choked on it and drowned with her head in the barrel.
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Topic: Apexwhips - Convicts at large (Read 24024 times)