[PbP] The Heroes of Silleria

[MerakSpielman]

OOC: I was going to post the same thing. I guess we all had things to do over the weekend? Surely you're not sneaking out playing games with RL people, are you?

Foran: Yes, you had no problem buying what you wanted.

 

[dpdx]

[Yep. My mom just got out of surgery, so I went down to visit her.]

Kerith will be ready to go to the docks (taking Buttercup) after everyone has taken what they wish of the remaining potions (Kerith will keep the remainder). If the group consensus is to go by sea (after having found a means of sea transport), Kerith will try to sell Buttercup and her saddlebags at the docks to an interested party before disembarking.

 

[MerakSpielman]

Kerith: You find a teamster willing to give you 1/2 market price for your mule and accesseries.

(Assuming you are looking into sea transport)

The port is full of ships of all description, taking on and unloading cargo in what seems to you to be a random jumble of chaos. There are not many fishermen - you suppose they must operate in smaller villages up and down the shore. Mostly Ambroi focuses on Shipping and Recieving, and people of all descriptions man the myriad ships.

Despite all this, it is remarkably difficult to find transport along the coast North. Gossland, the kingdom in that direction, has little usable coastline and few goods, so most of the ships are bouds either South, to the States of Lan, or East, to the barbarian Isle of Xyliffika or the rarely-visited, mysterous lands beyond. They all have schedules to maintain, mouths to feed, and cargo to deliver. Few are willing to consider taking on random passangers.

Eventually, you find a grizzled old man, captain of a pathetic-looking garbage barge. He looks to be coming onto ninety years old, and commands a crew of only four pathetic-looking lads.

"Sure, I'll take ya," he says in a salty rasp, "Name's Softswain. Sharl Softswain, and this is my mightly ship, the Money Lucky. I gotta go pretty far North to dump this trash here," He gestures at the immense, putrid mass of refuse in the middle of his barge, "Well, somebody's gotta do it, ya know? I been doin' it for well on fifty years now. If you dump it too close to the city they fine ya, and if you dump it near the fishin' villages, they shoot arrows at ya for ruinin' their fishin' waters. So I gotta go North. For days, if you'll believe it.

Yeah, I seen Myrtolo Keep. Sometimes I go that far. Why ya goin' there, if ya don't mind me askin'? Just a pile of junk, now, ain't it?

Oh, it'll cost you, umm, twenty gold. Yeah, that's about right. Twenty."

 

[Guilt Puppy]

"Sure, I'll take ya," he says in a salty rasp, "Name's Softswain. Sharl Softswain, and this is my mightly ship, the Money Lucky. I gotta go pretty far North to dump this trash here," He gestures at the immense, putrid mass of refuse in the middle of his barge, "Well, somebody's gotta do it, ya know? I been doin' it for well on fifty years now. If you dump it too close to the city they fine ya, and if you dump it near the fishin' villages, they shoot arrows at ya for ruinin' their fishin' waters. So I gotta go North. For days, if you'll believe it.

Yeah, I seen Myrtolo Keep. Sometimes I go that far. Why ya goin' there, if ya don't mind me askin'? Just a pile of junk, now, ain't it?

Oh, it'll cost you, umm, twenty gold. Yeah, that's about right. Twenty."

"We heard the Keep was lovely this time of year. Goblin-filled, but still lovely. It's a trip we've been wanting to take for years now! Taken forever to save up..."

Oren grins broadly, and looks a little surprised at the price.

"Twenty gold? Now, I can't say I know what a few nights' sleep next to a rotting pile of filth goes for in these parts, but where I'm from it would be five gold at most, for the six of us, and that would get you a pile of filth far bigger and smellier than yours, for a whole good week, and you'd get to take some home with you, you know, for the memories." He pauses for a moment, holding his hands out in faux apology. "Now I mean no disrespect to your pile of filth, I mean it is very big and smelly and the biting insect count is *click-thumbs-up* top-notch, but really, I'd say twenty is still pretty steep."

"But I've seen how things are in these parts, and prices do go up in this kind of city, so let's say six gold, for the six of us. Sound good?"

 

[MerakSpielman]

"Goblin-infested! That's why I charge ya so much! It's hazard pay, ya fool!

I'll do it for it to 15! Not a copper lower, mind ya, a man can only undervalue his own skin so much."

 

[dpdx]

"Smells like the neighborhood," Kerith remarks wrily.

With the proceeds from the sale of Buttercup (4 gp), the saddlebags (2 gold, 5 silver) and the remaining feed (barely 5 silver), plus what remains of his gains from the night before, Kerith can afford to pay his share, plus that of any others who may find themselves short.

Having found no takers on the remaining potions, Kerith keeps them secure in his bag, in the event someone may reconsider.

Kerith says softly to the others, out of earshot of the scowman, "I don't like Ambroi, and the Baron did say the sea route was best. Besides, if anyone is watching, they'd never suspect us coming up in a garbage barge."

 

[Jemal]

Michelle tears her eyes from the heap of rubbish long enough to whisper into Oren's ear "You've GOT to be kidding me.. Well, If we're travelling on this, I guess I'ld better pay my share right now." Stepping forward, she smiled charmingly at the old man. "Oh come now, I ASSURE you that we wouldn't be any inconvenience at all, AND You could drop us off an hours walk away. How about it, I mean 1 piece of gold for each of my friends would be a fair price, wouldn't it? And perhaps I won't need a bed of my own..." She glances back to the others as she walks around the captain, tracing her fingers along his shoulders and winking mischieviously to her companions.

OOC: Charm person - Will save DC 16, hiding it in my normal hand-movements and speaking manner, which is a skill Michelle has had to develop over time to keep herself alive. Add in a +5 diplomacy check, and...

 

[MerakSpielman]

He doesn't seem to notice you casting the spell. (OOC: concentration and bluff/sense motive rolls)

"Um, whatever you say little lady," You can tell it's been years since a woman touched him at all, let alone so gently, "Ya know lassie, ya look so much like my granddaughter, lost these twenty years to the war up north. Gods I miss her. Milana, her name was, and her eyes shone like the moon. She never had a chance to have a family, or be happy. Died when she was your own tender age."

He stops to wipe a tear from his eye.

"I'm sorry I was going to gouge ya folks so much. It's just that barging don't pay well these days, and I gotta feed the lads. What say ya just agree to feed us for the trip up north, and we'll just leave gold out of it. Milana wouldn't want me takin' advantage of folks in need."

 

[Jemal]

Michelle glances to her companions "I'm sure we could handle that, and perhaps a bit more.. You know, come to think of it, you look a bit like my grandfather... He died when I was young, though.. He was an adventurer, a great sorc..." She coughs, pretending the garbage has gotten to her "A great swordsman." She smiles at him, then back to her friends. "What do you think, guys?"

 

[dpdx]

Kerith will look up and down the dock, until he finds it: a "food" boat.

He will then walk down to the boat, and pester the workers until his questions are answered: "Hey, Mister! How hard is it to get that (indicating the food) out there?"

"Do you use a net?"

"How much would one cost?"

"Could I buy one offa ya?"