[Last Time, on El WHAT?!: Our heroes arrived at Crossroads, and managed not to piss off the guards so they could get into the city itself. They booked rooms at an inn while Nick went and discovered the temple of Wal, God of Merchants, along with a friendly priestess.] [We open on Fadi and Sophie, who have rested for the night and awoke as the only people in the room. They've just finished a palatable meal of potatoes and meat. More potatoes than meat, but it's still a good breakfast.] [Session... START] * Fadi finishes his meal and talks to Sophie. "So, apart from the amazing vanishing act we all love to do and gather supplies, is there anything else you think we should do?" * Sophie shrugs. "We have the horses yet?" No, and there aren't any horses in town. None we can buy, at least. Caravan came through just before we got here, and took all of them. Mm. Mmm? * Sophie shrugs. Nothing else to do. * Fadi gets up. "Well, as much as I like to stare at the ceiling, we should get going. We're not solving anythin' sittin' here." And do what, precisely? I don't know, buy supplies? Look around for Nick? See if someone *does* have a horse they'd sell? MMm... We don't have any supplies. I suppose we'd better get those, then. Yeah, I think we should. * Sophie rises. "Well, then. Let's go do that." * Fadi starts walking for the door. * Sophie heads after. Where is Nick, anyhow? Or anyone else, for that matter. I got no clue. He ran off yesterday doing somethin' and never came back. What do you say he got in trouble? And everyone else felt like doing the vanishing act, I guess. * The denizens of the inn are still shying away from Sophie, who is apparently believed to be a powerful sorceress. Outside, the streets are quickly becoming crowded with the morning rush to meet the new caravan, which is now set up, or that's the buzz. * Fadi glances around. "Man, I suck at shopping." I could imagine. But, as I don't have a great deal of money... Neither do I. Harold had it all... Remind me to bust his ass for disappearing like this. * Fadi grins. So we can't really do any shopping, either. * It's not hard to follow the flow of the crowd straight to the marketplace, which is roaring with the bustle of a small city. Dominating one end of it is a massive, two or three story shining white marble building with a massive yellow disc dominating the space above the large entrance. Inside the disc are a pair of black dots underscored by an upward-opening crescent. It bears a strikingly odd resemblance to a massive smiley-face. * Fadi looks over. "Okay, that's just damn creepy." * Nick taps both Fadi and Sophie on the shoulders. Did I hear someone say they wanted for money? * Fadi turns around to see the tapper, and smirks when he sees Nick. "What have you been up to?" Plying my trade. * Sophie turns around too. "Your trade." * Nick taps his backpack, which clinks. * Fadi grins. "Nice." * Fadi puts on his shades. "So, we have the money problem solved. What should we take care of first?" Oh, and say hello to the temple of Wal, God of Merchants, He Who Cannot Be Undersold. * Nick waves grandly, and bows towards the building. How quaint. ... You know, if it wasn't a coincidence, I'd say that's a really bad pun. I stayed there last night. Good room service. Nice people. So, what do you want to buy? Nice. Rations, for one. We're going to need some flint and steel as well, and some more rope... Also, here are some peace bonds for your weapons. * Nick hands one each to Fadi and Sophie. * Fadi takes one and wraps his sword. "Yeah, and we need to say hi to Wal as well, so..." * The peace bonds are pre-made, and appear very, VERY easy to simply tear free. * Sophie blinks at it, and applies it. Now, supplies or horses? You find any horses at a cheap price? They're pretty expensive. I could probably afford.. what, three? With some cash to spare for supplies. * Fadi shrugs. "I overheard something about it, though. Let's go check to see if it's true..." Well, I've got the prices in my head.. * Fadi starts heading the opposite direction of where they entered the city. ..Nevermind. * Nick follows the barbarian. * Sophie follows the barbarian thieves too. * As you near the north gates, inns become more and more common, and then you smell the horrible smell of horse dung wafting down on a gust of north wind. Eeugh. * Fadi wrinkles his nose, but keeps walking. * Sophie follows too, paying no heed. * Just outside the city gates, you spot what really does appear to be a massive horse ranch. Now, uh.. Riding horse is like 200 gold, pack horse is 120.. And if you want a warhorse you can buy your own. Oh, well, I only need about four hundred times the amount of gold I have, and we're all set. I've got 500 in platinum and trade notes. * Nick grins back at Sophie. * Fadi chuckles. "Well, let's at least check this place out. The horse dealers in the city would charge a high price, but just outside of it... Probably not because it's less convenient." He heads to the ranch. You made an awful lot of money in such a short time. Yep. He' He's good at it. I'm sure. Anyway, how many horses do we want? Ideally, one each, plus a pack horse. * Nick snorts. Yeah.. that's not happening. Uh-huh... Hence the 'ideally'. I figure we can get two riding horses and a pack horse, tops. Then I suppose we'll have to make due with that. * Nick muses. * Fadi looks back. "Well, you coming?" * Sophie hasn't stopped walking. Yeah, I wanna see what they have first. * Nick hasn't, either. * The walk to the ranch takes longer than expected. The unusually flat plain seems to play tricks on your eyes, which have become accustomed to the closer ranges of the forest and hills. It takes nearly a full hour of walking to get to the gate, which is marked with an odd sigil. What an odd sigil. Hm. * Fadi shrugs. * There's a clearly marked path leading up to the large ranch house. Any volunteers to be the spokesperson? * Sophie shrugs. "I suppose." How about we all go in and decide what to do next? Eh, alright. * Nick keeps walking. * The door at the end of the path is closed, but the sounds of activity are coming from inside. * Sophie opens the door. * Inside is a large room that doubles as entryway, dining room, and living room, as far as Sophie can tell. Several men are gathered around a large table, chowing down on some tasty-smelling food. * Nick smacks himself on the forehead. * ONe of the men facing Sophie waves. "Oi! Customers?" * Fadi chuckles. * Sophie nods to the man and offers a smile. "That's right." * A different man, this one older and much more... solid, stands up and turns around. "Hey, always good to see the face of a customer. What's with the weapons, though?" Adventurers. * Fadi nods. We travel. You never know when you'll be set upon by goblins. Well, that makes sense. You musta come from the city, huh? * Sophie nods. * Fadi takes off his shades and pockets them. * The man steps over and offers Sophie his hand. "I'm Jed. Welcome to our humble little ranch." * Nick sighs and takes his sunglassess off as well. * Sophie shakes his hands. "Sophie. It's a pleasure." * Nick *also* takes the opportunity to glance around. Pleased to meet you, Sophie. Best selection around, my ranch has. What're you in the market for? * Fadi eyes Nick and shrugs. Adventurers need warhorses, right? Heh, not at the prices they're at now. * Sophie nods. "As nice as it would be." * Fadi rolls his neck. Damn. Well, riding horses, then? * Sophie nods. "That would be preferable. And a horse to carry our belongings." * Jed nods. "Well, come along, then." He turns around and walks out the back of the house. * Sophie follows * Nick stays at the back of the group, eyes sliding around the house. * Fadi follows in the middle. * Jed quickly leads you out into a massive stable. There are a number of empty stalls, but still more full than empty at this point. Prices're up, on account of the caravans coming in the past few days. * Jed keeps walking down towards one particular section, then stops. I see... I pray we can afford them. Well... take a look. You won't find anything less than the highest quality horses here, but I'm sure we can make a deal. * Sophie nods and appraises them. * Fadi glances around. * Fadi shrugs. * Sophie looks over the horses. "Hmmm..." She picks out two. * Jed nods to himself. "You've got a good eye. Those are two of our best. Three hundred solars each, and worth every solar at that." * Sophie nods. "I'll agree that they're good, but they're not that good. That price is mighty steep." * Nick coughs. They ARE that good. * Fadi twitches his eye. No disrespect, sir, but I know my horses. I think... 250 each would be a closer price. Not a chance in hell. I can come down a little, but not that much. There's a lot of money invested in these horses. 270, minimum. * Nick turns and starts heading for the door. Hmmm... I fear that that's beyond our ability to pay. Call me in when the price gets reasonable, alright? * Jed frowns. Hold up, people. * Fadi raises an eyebrow. "Yeah?" How good are you with those weapons? * Sophie blinks. "What are you saying?" * Fadi shrugs. "I like to think I'm decent." Not the best in a straight-up fight, but.. I'm rather a skilled fencer, if I do say so myself. I'm saying there's always a deal that can be made. You said you're adventurers. Okay, what do you want us to do? I want you to kill something. ..Monster, right? Most of us don't kill people. * Fadi shrugs. "Sure." Give us the details. Dunno. Something's been tearing up livestock and horses every once in a while, and hiring guards didn't do a damn thing. So, what do we get? You stop whatever this thing is, and I'll see you're well rewarded. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the farmers hereabouts chipped in to reward you, too. Sounds good to me. What about you guys? Eh, sure. Sounds like a deal. If you're sure you're up to it. Whatever it is killed a full grown warhorse. Tore it to shreds. * Fadi grins. "I like a challenge." Might need to wait for the other half of our party.. We'll manage. Okay. You bring back whatever it is, and we'll deal. [Session... END]