Brier
Having already torn apart the only thing valuable he could offer to sell the merchants, Brier makes his way back to the kitchen to search through the storage rooms again for any remaining items of interest. A few fine cooking knives and some ornate silverware stick out, so he gathers everything he can fit in his pockets and rushes back.
A few minutes are spent dealing with the merchant who's almost brought to tears when he has to settle for a good deal for Brier finally being reached. He'll take one set of the ornate silverware, worth around 150 coin, in exchange for all the metal scraps and a few cheap pieces of clothing. Brier takes the offer, though not knowing what he'll need the clothing for.
He sorts through the scraps, finding a few cogs, springs, even a few chains that would do well in machinery. Sadly, no designs befitting this small treasure come to mind, so he puts it off to put a proper finish on his repairs.
Finally noticing his belly had started bloating from hunger, Brier chows down on some of his rations. These were rations he had taken from home, consisting of three small rolls and a glass of water. The meal was modest, but enough to fill Brier as he continued his repairs.
After several hours, he puts the finishing touches, and the Cracker is repaired to a state that it can be worked in without worry. As he's about to put the repaired Cracker to work on the third of the four doors in the kitchen, a gnoll Brier had never taken notice of comes in dropping off a small pile of wood, and leaves with the clothing after a small exchange.
As requested during their chat, Brier puts the Weave Cracker to work on a door that apparently leads to an actual workshop with a working forge. It doesn't matter much to the old elf, the kitchen is quite comfortable, but a working forge would be nice. He estimates the Cracker to be done by nightfall, and goes back to try working on a new model for the cracker.
The people he asked to make the shells return saying it was far too difficult and apologize. So simplicity in construction will have to be integrated in the next model.
Veranus Tigerclaw
The sudden realization that she was never one to interact with merchants at her village dawns on Veranus all too late as one of the merchants offers a price. The leader who seemed decent enough has already wandered away from the dealings to inspect the local stone for quality assurance.
The offered price is six copper coin per stone accessory. She had no idea what they were talking about when they said copper coin, but the price seemed rather low to Veranus as she worked hard to form those annoying dolls, but she couldn't speak up with her sudden realization of her inexperience catching up to her. Humbleness is virtue, so the elf silently hopes she can work her way into a better deal without having to resort to intimidation. But as she tries to calmly negotiate, the deal just goes more to their favor.
As her patience begins to waver, the situation only goes downhill, and the merchants say that with her attitude and the "good" deal being offered, they won't accept if it's not free.
Before her spear can be drawn, the eccentric leader returns holding a rock. He compares the stone accessories to it, and determines that what is being offered is worth a great deal to him. According to the merchant leader, the stone used is a mineral rich, high quality substance, and magically created accessories are highly valuable regardless of quality because they become rich with mana easily.
He offers 10 gold coin each. Still not knowing the terms used, Veranus asks how much that translates to in real coin.
"Veteran merchants and mercenaries use four different minerals to express the value of coin it has. Coin is an otherwise generic currency with no higher or lower values. Anyway, the four different values are copper, silver, gold, and platinum. Coppers are one coin, silvers are 10 coin, golds are 100 coin. And platinum is where it takes a sudden leap. You see, platinums are only used to reward large jobs by guilds and governments, or when dealing in treasure material or artifacts. Platinums are worth 100,000 coin a piece. Anything in-between is referred to differently by merchants of different guilds, but you won't have to worry about that for a while."
"So, now that you know the values, do we have a deal?" He turns back to tell the other merchants that he'll be kicking them and anyone else like them out of the caravan back in the city then turns back with his same old smile. This merchant had a different quality than the others, it was very clear he had no intention of giving a bad deal, but he also had power. Veranus felt uneasy being around him, but his deal seems fair.
Forrel de Yahmiz/Ba'gandi Kashi
Forrel, sick of dealing with these no-good merchants, goes off to the forest. He notices Brier up again, and tells Ba he can unlock the workshop he's been wanting to get into if he asks Brier. The gnoll continues to the forest with Forrel regardless, somewhat making Forrel more chipper than usual. The upbeat lizard and now-relaxed warrior reach the forest faster than they would alone.
Forrel begins talking to spirits while Ba looks for anything appropriate to chop down for wood.
Most of the forest's trees are too large to chop down, and he can almost see them growing. Forrel watches from the branches, eating some of the local leaves. Content with his time, he eventually goes down and tells the wandering Ba that he can help search for some decent wood.
He asks the local forest spirits, and as long as Ba keeps a promise of not taking anything but branches, they can lead them to a nice grove. Forrel is amazed at what he sees, while Ba remains typically unaware of the grove's full value. These were treasure trees whose wood has been used to build history's ten greatest ships. The spirits reveal that the trees grew from acorns that came out of a garden around The Hub, Ba, still unimpressed, inspects the massive trees, looking for ones that could miss a branch or two with much consequence to keep his promise. He decides on the third largest of the ones present.
Its branches are larger than even normal trees in the physical realm, but not too big to chop through and carry back. He decides two will be enough, and gently manages to get the branches off without bringing harm to the tree or its surroundings. Forrel, still talking to the spirits, only notices the branches were taken off when Ba starts talking about how he's not used to being gentle when using his axe.
They both return, and begin processing the wood. When it becomes obvious that Forrel is too weak, and almost broke his one good arm trying to process the small load he was given, Ba finishes everything himself. Not many mistakes were made, but a small bit of a branch can only be considered firewood now.
The two men separate to go finish some business.
Forrel runs off to hear two sets of 10 gold coins being offered for some stonecraft being sold by Veranus, and Forrel's jaw drops. Deals like that are hard to refuse when you've been surrounded by merchants for years. He considers sitting in on the deal, but decides to just wait anxiously for the results. The scholars drag him off to ask about his ventures outside of the castle again, which sends the excited Forrel into tears of muffled distress.
Ba takes some of the wood to Brier. He apparently doesn't like leaving the kitchen, so it seemed in proper order to offer a fellow smith materials. They talk a bit about opening the forge, and Ba takes the clothing the necromancer asked for after asking for them. He delivers the clothing then passes by his lizard ally being dragged off and crying. Ba is typically uninterested, and goes to rest in the courtyard a while.
Cicatrix Greywood Greenflower
The warrior-woman's dealings with the merchant seems to be taking quite a long time, so Cicatrix takes some of her own time to inspect her insects. There are about fifty in total, and they all seem to be fairly decent to work with. She handpicks a few of the best, and morphs them into queens. The become much more dangerous, and have absolute loyalty to Cicatrix as pets. Though they may be dangerous, Cicatrix views insect queens more as breeders to make stronger generations. She sends the rest off to map out the road to the town that human Cyrano told her about.
While her insects are busy producing offspring and mapping roads, Cicatrix uses the rest of her time to visit the shrine she was told of. The path is rather difficult to tread, primarily due to her blindness, but she eventually manages her way. She feels her feet touch the carvings in the stone and chuckles from the delight of traversing ancient ruins again.
She begins making her way to the center, where a strong pulse is coming from. The closer she gets, the more Cicatrix realizes that she can see again. The shrine is radiating a powerful aura of death magic and pulsing huge amounts of mana toward Cicatrix. She gets close enough, touches the shrine, and passes out.
Cicatrix wakes up back in the castle, realizing she's back to being blind. She had wanted to trick a merchant so she could murder him or her, but it looks like she had lost her chance while she was gone. Ba hands her some new clothing and tells her that all but the merchant leader will be closing any dealings with the group after the current deal he's working on is finished.
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It is now night. RP if you want.
Just say yes or no if you want to accept the deal, Dwarmin. This won't be dealt with during the next turn.
Author
Topic: Runners of Hyperion -- one spots open (Read 36126 times)