February 17th: Marblebush

"Oh, the Olthoi are offering us 2 Units of currency per Unit of producth."

Rory wrote:"Is that so? And where do you draw the line between protecting the people and stepping on them? Restricting them--threatening them, who knows--from asking whoever they want for help they'd gladly pay for?"

Rory downs the last of his drink. "Deciding who to do business with is a choice the people make for themselves. They're not children. Even if the Slates have authority, it's still wrong."

"I draw the line *she says this with an underlying hint of annoyance* when the people are harmed by it. What you are suggesting reminds me of a uneducated, unprepared child being thrown to the wilds under the guise of 'freedom.' *her eyes narrow* There is a difference between doing right for the people, protecting the people and their interests, and slavery. Do not mistake structure and protection for suppression and tyranny. If the people were unhappy we could see it. They clearly are not so."

"In this case... we would like to receive on a monthly basis 4 units of Precious Metals, 3 units of Construction Lumber and 1 unit of High Quality Lumber. For 10 units of currency. Of course, this is not the only thing we have to offer. As I said, you would also have an easy and secured access to the talents of our crafters as well as our help, if it is ever needed..."

Zeiss waits for her response, expecting her to haggle.

"That's... awfully low, my dear. What help would your crafthers be to us, exacthly? Whath is it they could do?"

Zeiss touches his bracelet. His hair change from brown to red and get longer. As for his face, its shape totally changes. A beard appears. The colour of his eyes goes from brown to blue. When the transformation is done, Zeiss says with a new intonation to his voice, which is more lower :

"That is one of the few things our crafters can make. It is expensive, but well worth the cost."

The woman's eyebrow raises. "And are you offering us such thrinkeths, which I admith look quithe useful, free of charge... within reason... as parth of this arrangementh?"

"To celebrate our partnership, we could certainly give you a few of these kind of trinkets, with their specifications left to you. But I am sure you understand that for us to remain competitive, we would simply be incapable to give these for free on a large scale. It doesn't mean we would not offer you an advantageous discount..."

He scratches his new beard.

"And we also have something else to offer : information. Even though the Exchange is new and still in the process establishing its foundations, we already have one of the members of the Council who is developing a network of operatives with the goal of procuring valuable intelligence. It would also be yours, provided you become an ally of the Exchange..."

Spoiler:

"I'm sure the people would appreciate that comparison," he replies glibly, still speaking in a hushed, albeit ill-favored tone. He took out another bottle of mead, twisted the cap off, and took a swig. "So they are at peace with it now. Maybe they aren't affected by it. But for how long? If they gain the freedom--and they probably won't, courtesy of living in a town controlled by the dark side of a criminal underworld--authority will be there to do what it does best: protect and serve, while enforcing laws that are made to be broken."

Rory wrote:"I'm sure the people would appreciate that comparison," he replies glibly, still speaking in a hushed, albeit ill-favored tone. He took out another bottle of mead, twisted the cap off, and took a swig. "So they are at peace with it now. Maybe they aren't affected by it. But for how long? If they gain the freedom--and they probably won't, courtesy of living in a town controlled by the dark side of a criminal underworld--authority will be there to do what it does best: protect and serve, while enforcing laws that are made to be broken."

*Z turns and grabs you by the collar. Her words are no longer hushed, though she is not yelling.*

"You know nothing of our ways, nothing of these people, nothing of how things ran before. If you wish to force you ignorant ways upon these people you may do so on your own. I will have nothing to do with it."

*Her knuckles you notice have gone white with the force of her grip on your collar. You get the feeling there is more to her anger than what she has stated, almost as if you had insulted her directly or she is otherwise personally involved although you can't really figure out why she would feel so strongly. Before you have a chance to respond though, she lets go of your shirt abruptly, shoving you back in your chair in the process. Your mead bottle in your hand sloshes and some of the sweet liquid sloshes out onto your hand. She turns and stalks out of the hotel*

Gretta drums her fingers on the table. "I'll admith it, you have inthruiged me with your offer. I will have to consider ith, consulth some people, that sorth of thing. You are welcome to sthay of course, though if you have other business nearby feel free to conducth that first, ith mighth be a day or thwo."

Rory massaged his collar, his expression a mix of shock and outrage. He fumbled with the bottle, contemplating the unfinished drink.

"Now look what you did," he mumbled to no one as he capped the bottle and pushed it away.

Snarg lazily watches Z leave and spins the dagger back into its holster. "Right then, 'scuse me. Bargaining isn't my job anyway." He downs his drink, gets up, and leaves through the door.

Spoiler:

Catching the dispute between Rory and Z, but them being too far away for him to say anything, Zeiss acts like if nothing happened and simply answers Gretta.

"We will most likely leave town in a short moment. As you may imagine, we have other important matters to attend to. But we will send a representative for you in two days to who you will be able to inform us of your decision, which I hope will be a positive one. Let's see..."

Zeiss thinks for a moment. Then gets out of his sack a plain piece of paper upon which he writes.

"He will asks for a room under this name". He gives Gretta the piece of paper."If you accept our arrangement, ask to meet him. If you do not, something that we could understand, consider him a simple traveller that is only passing through town."

He stands up from his chair.

"Thank you for time, Gretta of Firebeard."

He bows to her.

Gretta grabs the paper and gives you a small, perfunctory salute before hauling herself out of her chair, tapping her iron tooth a bit to signal her various guards as they all exit the Inn.

Javan sighs in relief as the other party exits the Inn.

"That was not very nice of her. Just because most of us look really shady, she didn't have to throw it in our faces!"

Zeiss signs to Rainbow to go back on this shoulder. She doesn't look very pleased to stop her slow breakfast, so she takes a piece of meat with her.

"As far as I am concerned, I do not care about kindness. She did not order her bodyguards to kill us and will consider our offer. For the kind of work we are doing, that should be enough."

He pets Rainbow.

"So, where do we go? Marblebush to meet Araiguna? He said there was something strange going on there. And there may be other opportunities for us there. Or we could simply send a message to him and return to Holtburg?"

"Weeeell... to be fair and all, she was quite defensive about not allowing us a tour, all things considered. I mean, we know next to nothing about the whole thing, except for what was told to us by her.", Javan takes off his boots and sits down, polishing them while talking.

"We might want to send someone that is not us to investigate this town, and hopefully it'll just be me being a paranoid fairy. With that said... it 'shouldn't' hurt to go and meet with Ara, yeah... I've been getting really used to these travels, they are pretty fun."

"Hmm... Let's get our things ready and discuss this issue with the others. Z and Snarg aren't here..."

*Z is heading back to where you feel fairly certain she left her tent*

Zeiss pets Rainbow as he waits for the others to come back to the inn.

Snarg continues to follow Z in the open, munching on a piece of jerky from his pack. He stops and watches for a second after approaching the tent. "So, you want some help packing up or something?"

"Are we done here then?"

*It is clear that upon reaching the tent Z sat herself before the embers of her fire and had been poking it with a stick.*

"Yeah, I think so. They're considering right now but I think we'll be moving on soon." He stares at the fire a bit. "So, uh, got to ask: what're you going to do when more people start finding out? They're going to start poking around more if you keep up the mysterious thing."

*Z bristles at Snarg's words.*

"So you're saying its better to be hated outright. Is that it?"

Snarg sighs. "I said nothing of the sort. You're just assuming that's what's going to happen. Sure, there'll be someone out there who'll hate you just for something you can't control. Believe me, I know," he flicks his ear, "but, don't just accept the popular opinion - change it! Start first by convincing yourself that you aren't 'hated outright' ... you know it isn't true. Several of us wouldn't still be talking to you if that was true, you know that. Look at the Elf boy, the young kid, they weren't hated. Take the initiative instead of just forever hiding!"