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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 451904" data-attributes="member: 8530">Chinese Take-outChapter 32, “Life in the really big city”, September 17, 1018, 9:30 P.M. The Ming Estate in Y’Cho Kang is located in the prestigious southeastern Y’Cho section of the city.  This  part of the city is south of the river and between the the major roadways heading south and east.  Thie estate is location is the fourth smallest of eighteen hills in this section of the city.  The height of each hill designates status.  The castle of the Y’Cho Kang Emperor is atop the highest hill, actually a small mountain, which overlooks the city below.   Each of these hills has a protective walls around it, with each of these eighteen areas being a self-contained community within itself.    The Ming estate supports a population of aaproximatey 8,000, who are approximately 60% dwarven, 25% human, 10% gnome and 5% dwarven-centaur (mountain goat bodies).  The Silver Moon party arrive in a main living room, where Hiroshi begins dumping the party from the bags of holding.   They are soon joined by the Estate’s leader, Tak-Tung Ming, another brother-in-law of Hiroshi.  The dwarf  ushers them into a dining chamber, a vast underground room with a sturdy Oak table large enough to seat over a hundred.  They are joined by approximately thirty dwarves.  Food is served, and Tak-Tung tells them to “Help yourself.”  Much to the embarrassment of the rest of the party, Duegar begins to fill up his pack with food.Hiroshi relates why the party is there.   A discussion follows about the city’s auction houses.   The Ming family says that they use primarily the Crafters Guild auction house, bit it would not deal with slaves.  Most of the city’s other auction houses have been set up for agricultural products and estate liquidations.   The Mings know of an auction that the Emperor has at his Estate every third day, but do not feel that slaves would be sold there either.  The poorer Kang section of the city has several places to buy and sell goods of all types, but the party feels that the Hengeyokai would appeal to a more upper-crust audience.   It is mentioned that located in the better part of the city is a restaurant/auction house that holds twenty auctions a week, and that they believe it has an occasional slave auction.  Tak-Tung explains how this particular auction house provides an exquisite meal followed by the auction, with a maximum of five hours set aside for each breakfast and lunch auctions, and the dinner auction lasting until all items are sold.   There are eighty four-person tables at the auction house, and all bidding is done in the local language.  The auction house charges a flat fee per table, 50 gold pieces for breakfast auctions, 100 gold pieces for lunch auctions, and 150 gold pieces for dinner auctions.   Each auction is comprised of six lots.  Each lot is initially bid for as a lot.  If it fails to meet the seller’s reserve, it is then broken into sub-lots or individual items, of which the seller can only place reserves on up to half of the items.   The auction house retains a transaction fee of 20% of the price if the seller wants payment in cash, or 10% if they will take auction house credit.  It is suggested that the party check this place in the morning, prior to start of the breakfast auction. The party considers checking it now, as the evening auction will be taking place.  They are told no, that nobody is admitted once an auction begins   It is also pointed out that outside of the Ming Estate walls it is not necessarily safe for foreigners to travel unaccompanied, as they could find themselves victims of slavers.  They are also told, that in this city, only non-Orientals or Oriental monsters may be sold or kept as slaves.  When asked about the city security, Tak-Tung explains that a formal Y’Cho Kang Army is maintained to guard and protect the roads, rivers and lands outside of the city, essentially acting as a “moving wall”.  While this protects the city itself from outside invasion, there are no formal “city guards”, with each part of the city responsible for its own protection.   The Ming Estate, like the other walled hills, maintains its own formidable defenses.  The neighborhoods in the wealthier Y’Cho region each support their own security forces, which range in quality from mediocre to excellent.   The poorer Kang region is essentially guarded by organized gangs, which tend to be as much predators as protectors.   The party is given rooms to stay in during their visit.   Each of the guest rooms is rather spacious, and affords a fine view of the city at night.  Serita locates Kim-Sung, who is bunking with her cousin Kit-Tung, to find directions to the local hospital.   Kit-Tung refuses to give Serita directions, saying that the hospital is closed at this hour.   Serita is insistent, cannot convince the stubborn dwarf to give up this information, no matter how altruistic her intentions.   Serita storms out of the room.  Kim-Sung tells her cousin “I don’t think that she is used to people ever telling her ‘no’ to anything”.An angry Serita returns to the kitchen, seeing Duegar loading up his pack with even more food.  She tells him to stop, to which he replies “But they said we could help ourselves.”  She says he is being rude, to which he answers “Yeah, like you have the most personable personality yourself.”  “I don’t have too,” she answers.  “Well, you really should loosen up some,” he answers, “Here, have a chicken leg.”  She repeats her earlier line about not eating anything she has talked to.  They then get into an argument about the cleanliness and unsanitary condition of the inside of his pack.  She eventually gets frustrated with him, and leaves the room, heading up to bed.</blockquote>

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