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View Full Version : Baffling the Baron of the Bestiary



Christoph
02-21-08, 10:38 PM
It was amazing just how much coin Chris had accumulated during his travels. Apparently, all those insane tales of adventurers returning home as rich as kings weren’t as far off as he’d thought. That, or he’d just been astoundingly lucky not to land among the grand majority of those who wound up being burned alive by dragons, eaten zombies, or had their face chewed off random cave rat.

Over the year of his journey, leaving home, returning to home, and leaving again, the chef had saved every piece of gold he could in case he truly needed it, for when the situation called for something major. Finally, after leaving nearing Salvar’s southern boarder into Alerar on a self-appointed mission of greater importance than he’d even imagined, a mission so critical and secret that he dared not even think about it for too long, lest someone listened into his very thoughts, he decided that he would need a mount to speed up and ease his travels.

That said, for an adventure destined to be as violent and brutal as this one would become, a simple horse would just not suffice. For this, he would need to stop at Salvar’s largest and most well known bestiary. He didn’t know its name, but he’d seen it once as a child and was frightened by the roars that came from within its pens and caves. He strolled into the primitive reception area, his ample supply of money hidden in his leather pack. This would be where he’d find his mount.

Bazaar Proprietor
02-21-08, 10:43 PM
Salvar's largest and best known bestiary was in the process of being bought out. For years, it had been a family affair, run by the same pair of hardworking merchants generation after generation. Now, a well reputed warrior from Corone had made the highest bid, and he was overseeing the final dismantling of the place.

However, before he could make the orders to pack up all the creatures most worth selling, George Sellings noticed that a stranger had appeared. At first, the wily merchant feared it might be another buyer, but he soon dismissed that thought. The man was far too coarse and even though he carried a prevalida blade, Sellings doubted he was the type to have enough money to buy an entire beastiary.

"It is much more likely he wants a single beast," Sellings realized. "Ahoy there lad!" he called out, thinking that was the standard custom in Salvar. It had been a number of years since his last appearance in the land. "What brings you to the land of eternal snow?"

Christoph
02-21-08, 10:56 PM
Chris glanced around. It was definitely different than he’d remembered it. Everything was being moved around and packed up. Were they closing down or something? He shrugged. It didn’t matter. The man who addressed him had the look of a foreigner. Granted, after having spent almost a year out of Salvar, foreign didn’t seem so, well, foreign anymore.

“Well, I’m actually on my way out of the land of eternal snow, sir,” he replied. “And the quicker the better.” He sighed wearily to emphasize the point. “And that’s why I’m here. I’m looking for a mount.” He paused for a moment.

“Um… to narrow it down… preferably something mean, strong, larger than a horse, but smaller than a dragon.” Somehow, he doubted that his addendum helped much.

Bazaar Proprietor
02-21-08, 11:00 PM
Sellings didn't like this customer of his. He was the kind of man who made the merchant glad he was closing the Salvar establishment. He hated people who came into his shop and asked for something so incredibly general that practically half his store met the description.

"You can go look around," he said. "See what's left. Some of my people are bringing things out this way anyhow. See there if there is something you like..."

Christoph
02-21-08, 11:23 PM
“Oh, okay then,” he muttered. He cursed silently. He didn’t know a damn thing about purchasing a riding beast. Granted, he didn’t want to let on, lest the merchant try and rip him off any more than he was probably going to. The chef would just need to use his common sense and instincts. After all, he’d done his share of merchant work over the years.

He walked through the long hallway leading to the underground caverns. Many of the pens were empty already. There were still quite a variety of creatures to behold. Some were canine in appearance, while others were catlike. More still were reptilian or had feathery wings. Still, none seemed to catch his eye, even though any one of the beasts would have served as a spectacular mount. Still, something was missing. They all seemed so… so… docile.

At that instance, a snarling roar and a bloodcurdling scream echoed from deeper in the cavern. The chef sprinted down to see what was going on. The site was terrifying to behold, yet he couldn’t pry his eyes from it. In a large opening, about a dozen beasts were being herded out of the cave. One of them, a massive lizard with huge teeth and more bulk than a full warhorse, had gotten loose and was attacking a handler. The man tried running, but the creature pounced on with grace that was surprising for such a large beast.

By the time he’d made up his mind to step in and help, the lizard had chewed the handler’s arm off at the shoulder. Blood pooled on the stone floor. Chris shouted at the creature, closing his hand around the handle of his blade, just in case. He didn’t know what the hell he was doing. This wasn’t the Citadel; his face wouldn’t come back if this thing ate it.

Instead of showing fear, however, the chef locked eyes with the reptilian monster. His gaze was firm and commanding. There was no way in hell that this was going to work, he began to realize. That kind of cliché bullshit didn’t even work half the time in books. Even so, it was too late to turn and run, now. That would just make the beast even more keen to chase him down and devour him in very painful ways.

Bazaar Proprietor
02-21-08, 11:31 PM
Sellings rolled his eyes again. He would have been inclined to give his customer a hefty discount just to make up for the cost of transporting the beast to his warehouse, but now, the customer was starting to approach the point where he was more trouble than he was worth.

"For every Dan Lagh'ratham there are at least three of these..." he thought. He motioned over to his hands to subdue the beast before it ate his customer, and through a combination of sticks and soothing words they had managed to calm the beast.

Sellings frowned. "If he walks out of here without buying anything, I'll kill his whole family," the merchant thought to himself, only half certain that he was joking.

"That beast is 3000 GP," he said. "If you think you can handle it."

The price was nearly three times what Sellings would have charged someone like Dan, but this man was no Dan by any stretch of the imagination. It was only fitting that he charge him more until he could stand up to that measure.

Christoph
02-21-08, 11:41 PM
And there it was. The first offer. Chris gazed at the creature, examining its green reptilian form from tail to jaw. The leathery scales covering it were probably better than most horse barding and his tail could probably slice open a grown man. And those teeth… oh, those teeth. But for 3000 in gold? Not a chance.

“Ah, well,” he replied, fighting the urge to roll his eyes. “I take it you’ve included the fee you charge customers who’ve helped save one of your men from getting his other arm chewed off…” He scratched his chin and chuckled.

“Gods, given how much trouble it would be to find enough live humans to feed to him, it’s hardly worth that kind of money.”

Bazaar Proprietor
02-21-08, 11:47 PM
Sellings tried not to laugh. He could have cared less about the man who Chris had saved, he was an employee of the original owner, and him getting eaten would have saved Sellings the trouble of having to feed the beast for a day. Of course, the merchant couldn't express those feelings out loud, far too many of the people around him had also worked for the old regime.

Now, Sellings had realized he was dealing with the worst possible kind of customer imaginable. Not only did the man agitate problems and not know what he was interested in buying, but he wanted to haggle. "And he wants to haggle without naming a price too," Sellings realized.

Still, the merchant wasn't going to back down. People like Chris needed to pay a misery premium, that would be the only way they learned to be better consumers.

"How much would you think a fair discount is, then?" Sellings asked coldly, the tone of his voice implying that zero would have been the most correct answer.

Christoph
02-22-08, 12:12 AM
“Yes, yes, my apologies,” he replied, sighing, but otherwise ignoring the man’s contained hostility. “I’ve spent too long out of polite company.”

“At any rate, the beast would have probably eaten my face right off if given the chance… or at least tried,” Chris replied. “And that is a strong selling point. It’ll be good to have those teeth pointed at other people once I cross the border.” He tapped his nose ponderously. “Of course, I can only imagine how much that thing will need to eat.” The chef’s demeanor had shifted from that of a confused, bumbling customer to a savvy negotiator in moments as he returned to more familiar ground. He didn’t know beasts, but he knew sales. He could fake the rest.

“It’s a magnificent creature, yes, but I couldn’t imagine it being worth much more than fifteen hundred.”

Bazaar Proprietor
02-22-08, 03:19 PM
Sellings smiled. 1500 would have been a reasonable offer for a completely different person who hadn't extracted as much trouble as this man already had. "At least he seems to know what the market used to bear..." Sellings observed, knowing now that he more or less held the monopoly on beasts in the general area.

"I'll be the bigger man and not take that as an insult," Sellings said. "Though I'll have to insist 2500 is the lowest any reasonable merchant could go, for a life saver or not."

Christoph
02-22-08, 08:29 PM
Christopher laughed. It wasn't a loud or overly obnoxious laugh, but it was a full laugh nonetheless. “Say, have you ever considered a career in the sale of illegal goods?” he asked. “You’ve got the personality for it.” He chuckled again, glancing back and forth between the reptilian monster and the merchant.

“I only jest, of course,” he continued. “But I’ve dealt with plenty of reasonable merchants before and, frankly, I could buy two full cargo ships full of grain for less than what you’re charging me for this animal.” He sighed. “But I’ll tell you what, since I’m sure that I’m far from being your favorite customer, I’ll bend a little and let you make a little extra off of me. I’ll give you 1,700 for the beast and you’ll have me out of your hair, and you won’t need to worry about feeding him and having him eat anyone else while shipping him off to… wherever it is you’re going. What have you got to lose?”

Bazaar Proprietor
02-23-08, 03:45 PM
"At least 800 in revenue," Sellings replied succinctly. "That's a decent amount to lose if you ask me." He was neither amused nor impressed by the man's attempts at a joke, and unless the man was going to come down a bit more, Sellings was not going to make a sale. "2000 is my final offer," Sellings said. "And I have deadlines to meet, so if you're not going to take this seriously, neither will I. There are a few ponies and such still to be packed though if 2000 is too rich for your blood..."

Christoph
02-23-08, 08:52 PM
“I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t taking this seriously, sir,” Chris replied, his eyes narrowing slightly and his smile gone. “And I’m sure that you’ll be making a decent sum off of me regardless. You strike me as a savvy businessman… no doubt you negotiated a good bargain for these animals. But still…”

He stepped closer to the scaly beast, more slowly and cautiously this time. The creature was huge, at least nine feet in length, not including its six-foot tail, and it had more muscled bulk than a full warhorse. Everything from its spiked tail to its dragon-like head was a living machine of death. He smiled, thinking of what damage he could do atop such a kingly mount.

The lizard gave a low growl as the chef approached, but he didn’t falter this time. He drew on the power of his sword, charging the air around him with magical energies and making his eyes flair. The beast responded to it almost instantly, just as Chris knew it would. He didn’t know a thing about buying beasts, but he’d spent years in the less civilized parts of Salvar; he knew what animals would respond to. And at first, it responded by snapping at him.

“Back off!” he scolded, whacking the reptile in the nose, forming a barrier of fire around his arm before the creature could hope to retaliate. It growled again, but lowered its nose slightly. Chris was actually surprised that he hadn’t lost most of his fingers in that exchange. “He’s ballsy. I like it. Still… 2,000? Throw in a decent saddle for the thing and you’ve got a deal.”

Bazaar Proprietor
02-23-08, 08:59 PM
Now Sellings had come to a decision. He'd throw the saddle in, but if this man dared go back on his word, Sellings was going to feed him to the only beast more foul than the one that the man was going to buy.

"Fine," Sellings said. "You can have a saddle." He called to someone to outfit a saddle on the beast. "Take it and leave when I have my payment."

Christoph
02-23-08, 09:21 PM
"Very well," he replied, fishing his two largest bags of gold out of his pack. "There's a thousand in each. Count it or weight if you wish." With that, Chris stepped back to the beast and planted a burning palm on its flank, forever branding it as his. The lizard roared in protest but was restrained by its handlers.

"It was a pleasure doing business."

Bazaar Proprietor
02-23-08, 09:23 PM
(Chris gains 100 EXP, gains his lizard thing and loses 2000 GP)