Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cerebral Paladin" data-source="post: 3111648" data-attributes="member: 3448">After a few minutes, a boy approached Lady Sepulva’s table and laid down a wooden chit with a blazon on it.  Lady Sepulva glanced at the chit and then stared cooly at the boy.  “Yes?  Do you have a message for me?”The boy’s eyes widened in fear and confusion.  He gestured back towards the chit and then glanced over his shoulder at the middle circle seats, where a banner with an identical blazon stood next to one seat.  As he looked back at Lady Sepulva, apparently hoping that he had conveyed his message, his mouth opened slightly.  She startled at the sight within:  his entire tongue had been removed.“Very well, I will go see your master.”  The boy visibly relaxed at Lady Sepulva’s words.  Hoping that the pattern here was the same as the protocols she had learned as a child in Enclaves, Lady Sepulva made her way up to the seat of the merchant who had summoned her, while keeping one eye on the area behind her.A heavy-set but clean and very well kept half-orc sat in the seat by the banner.  He bowed floridly from the waist as Lady Sepulva approached.  “I’m sorry to hear of your loss, but glad to see the seat occupied again.  I did regular business with your late husband when he was here.”“Perhaps I have heard of you?”  “I am Septulos of the Eastern Trade Confederation,” he bowed again, floridly.  He then scattered tokens across the table--offering 1 silver 2 copper a head, when 1 silver 5 copper was the going rate.  “Two thousand head?”Lady Sepulva thought for a moment.  The price of beef in Canberry had been falling, although it was starting to stabilize of late.  It had been declining for years after the fall of the South Kingdoms;  beef was a huge export for Canberry, and the tremendous reduction in demand held prices low.  Even with the declining prices, and even assuming the worst cattle that could be found, the price Septulos offered was too low to be considered.  Which left Lady Sepulva with only one problem:  she wasn’t certain what the norms of negotiation were here.  Hoping they were not too different from in Enclaves, she reached forward and flipped each wooden chit back over to its unmarked side and pushed them back.  “The market is going up, sir.  Supplies will not last.”“In the spirit of memory of your husband…” he tossed down 1 silver and 4 coppers.Lady Sepulva turned them over again.“1 and 6, but when you shear your sheep in the fall, a half copper below market per bail.”This was getting dangerous.  That price was reasonable, but “Lady Sepulva” had no cattle to sell and was not too eager to spend the rest of the day covering a short sale.  She decided to hedge.  “But I must inspect the cattle first.  Would you present them for an examination by one of my herders?”Septulos blinked in confusion.  “Inspect them…  but my lady, I seek to buy.  It is your cattle that we’re discussing, so what need would you have for inspection?”  He thought for a moment.  “Ah, this must be some new way to try to push my price further, but no more.  I have made the bid I will offer.  You must either accept it, or leave me to buy my cattle elsewhere.”They bantered a little further, while Lady Sepulva tried to cover over her error, but reached no deal.  She left Septulos with a promise to return if she felt she could accept his offer.In search of more information, she sought out the doorman.  “Tell me, who else deals in beef here?”“Purchasing, m’lady?”“No… for the time being, I’m more interested in the competition.”“Ah, of course.  Several of the independents do, although none with herds larger than about 250 head, and some of their cattle are diseased.”  He pointed at the cattle-ranchers.  “At the other extreme, the factor from the Empire of Tang will make deliveries on any order up to about 40,000 head.”  He gestured at a seat in the middle circle.  “And then the man with the eye tic in the outer circle sells at a steep discount, with the worst tired out dairy cows in the Archduchy.”“Thank you.  It will take me some time to learn the local merchants as well as I know the ones back home.”</blockquote>

Verification