It came as no surprise to Garret that something involving the use of ships would be the hottest topic of income from the reports he obtained from his operatives. It was a high risk, high reward opportunity. Weather, pirates and government seizures of goods. Anything could go wrong on a trip. However, it certainly paid back quite nicely. Garret left the administrative duties to Acius to dole out, and set everything up so he could take a look first hand on what the kind of work was that would take place.
Garret headed down for the main port city docks early in the morning, wand in his sleeve, on horseback. He left his gauntlet over at the villa, but didn't feel vulnerable because of it. Garret was looking forward to getting their ledgers back on a positive slope, and looked forward to what was to come. As he rode into the city, Garret headed towards a stables to put his horse up for the time he would be there, paying the stablehand the appropriate patronage to keep the horse there. He was of the habit of using his personal funds for work, and had therefore not bothered to document the expense. It was the least he could do to help positively impact their resources. Garret moved through the city's thickest part; the markets. As he walked through the throng, which was one of the fastest yet most annoying ways to get to the docks themselves, Garret spotted something strange and familiar from the corner of his eyes. He approached a stall where a man was selling various wares, mostly artistic items, but a crystalline dagger caught his eye. He had seen something similar in the dungeon he had delved together with Azix.
The shopkeeper noted his interested and spoke up. "This is a rare piece, crafted by an anciet artist named..." The shopkeeper went into the story, explaining how the piece came to be from an ancient and well known crafter from Heliohapt. While he was speaking, Garret inspected the item and confirmed his suspicion. "And it's yours, for 75,000 Huang."
Garret shook his head, and walked closer to the man's stall. He leaned over the counter and said "It's mine for 30,000 Huang, and for me not telling everyone how poorly you lie. You must have found this lying about somewhere. This came from the dungeon Bifrons." Garret began haggling with the man. With first hand knowledge of the object, Garret had an upper hand on the stall merchant.
"Ah, ah, my apologies dear customer, but I like to make sure my customers know what kind of quality item they're getting! And, I must make a living! Surely, you could see that this item is well worth 60,000 Huang, yes?" The merchant rubbed his hands together, not having lost a single bit of his momentum.
"45,000 Huang. You may need to make a living, but I've also got mouths to feed." Garret said, cutting down the price again.
"Ahhh, dear customer, you drive a hard bargain, you know that? For you, I can go as low as 50,000. No lower, though, I'm terribly sorry." The merchant sized up Garret's reaction, seeing how he felt about the final offer.
Shrugging, Garret placed the Huang on the stall and took the dagger, alongside what looked to be a custom sheath for it. Strapping it around his waist on the left side, Garret was fairly happy with his purchase. He would have to inspect it better at a later time.
He continued to move down towards the docks, and found that it was bustling quite a bit. After asking around for a short while, Garret had no trouble finding work. It was mostly manual labor, of which exhausted him, but Garret listened to what people were saying, and the kinds of terminology they were using when they were unloading the ships. While not the strongest of the dock workers, he definitely had stamina, and the overseers certainly appreciated that he was constantly in motion. Garret found himself unloading crate after crate of goods from a ship, bringing it to the shore where the next group would bring it to a warehouse. Garret learned that these ships mostly brought in storable goods that could be shipped out across the continent. Spices, clothing, equipment and tools.
Noon came quickly, and Garret found himself having worked up an apetite. He joined the first batch of dockhands in their meals; it seemed as if these workers had to break in shifts, as the docks themselves were busy and always needed people working on it. Garret took note of the productivity that was required for a successful business while enjoying a meal in the tavern. When it was time to work again, Garret got up and ran back to the job they had him doing. He briefly wondered if Acius and the others would laugh at him, a spymaster, working as a dock hand. It was enough to amuse him, but he supposed there were plenty of worse things that spymasters in the past had been forced to masquerade as when gathering information and casing a place.
The rest of the day went by fairly uneventfully. Garret assisted with loading up some goods that could be sold in Heliohapt, as well as some food that would be needed for their voyage. Mostly dry goods that wouldn't spoil easily, but he was certain that there were some fruits included as well. The dock master said those were to help keep diseases from the crew. It was now the end of the day, and Garret collected his wages from the man who was orchestrating their work during the frenzy of their rushes earlier. The man patted Garret on the back and told him that if he ever wanted work in the future, he could feel free to come down at any time. "We need more productive guys like yourself, kid."
Garret thanked the middle aged man and made his way back to the stable. After checking out from the place with the stable hand, he rode off back to the villa with a better understanding of the docks and the work that takes place there.
OOC:
Word Count: 1031/500.
Garret headed down for the main port city docks early in the morning, wand in his sleeve, on horseback. He left his gauntlet over at the villa, but didn't feel vulnerable because of it. Garret was looking forward to getting their ledgers back on a positive slope, and looked forward to what was to come. As he rode into the city, Garret headed towards a stables to put his horse up for the time he would be there, paying the stablehand the appropriate patronage to keep the horse there. He was of the habit of using his personal funds for work, and had therefore not bothered to document the expense. It was the least he could do to help positively impact their resources. Garret moved through the city's thickest part; the markets. As he walked through the throng, which was one of the fastest yet most annoying ways to get to the docks themselves, Garret spotted something strange and familiar from the corner of his eyes. He approached a stall where a man was selling various wares, mostly artistic items, but a crystalline dagger caught his eye. He had seen something similar in the dungeon he had delved together with Azix.
The shopkeeper noted his interested and spoke up. "This is a rare piece, crafted by an anciet artist named..." The shopkeeper went into the story, explaining how the piece came to be from an ancient and well known crafter from Heliohapt. While he was speaking, Garret inspected the item and confirmed his suspicion. "And it's yours, for 75,000 Huang."
Garret shook his head, and walked closer to the man's stall. He leaned over the counter and said "It's mine for 30,000 Huang, and for me not telling everyone how poorly you lie. You must have found this lying about somewhere. This came from the dungeon Bifrons." Garret began haggling with the man. With first hand knowledge of the object, Garret had an upper hand on the stall merchant.
"Ah, ah, my apologies dear customer, but I like to make sure my customers know what kind of quality item they're getting! And, I must make a living! Surely, you could see that this item is well worth 60,000 Huang, yes?" The merchant rubbed his hands together, not having lost a single bit of his momentum.
"45,000 Huang. You may need to make a living, but I've also got mouths to feed." Garret said, cutting down the price again.
"Ahhh, dear customer, you drive a hard bargain, you know that? For you, I can go as low as 50,000. No lower, though, I'm terribly sorry." The merchant sized up Garret's reaction, seeing how he felt about the final offer.
Shrugging, Garret placed the Huang on the stall and took the dagger, alongside what looked to be a custom sheath for it. Strapping it around his waist on the left side, Garret was fairly happy with his purchase. He would have to inspect it better at a later time.
He continued to move down towards the docks, and found that it was bustling quite a bit. After asking around for a short while, Garret had no trouble finding work. It was mostly manual labor, of which exhausted him, but Garret listened to what people were saying, and the kinds of terminology they were using when they were unloading the ships. While not the strongest of the dock workers, he definitely had stamina, and the overseers certainly appreciated that he was constantly in motion. Garret found himself unloading crate after crate of goods from a ship, bringing it to the shore where the next group would bring it to a warehouse. Garret learned that these ships mostly brought in storable goods that could be shipped out across the continent. Spices, clothing, equipment and tools.
Noon came quickly, and Garret found himself having worked up an apetite. He joined the first batch of dockhands in their meals; it seemed as if these workers had to break in shifts, as the docks themselves were busy and always needed people working on it. Garret took note of the productivity that was required for a successful business while enjoying a meal in the tavern. When it was time to work again, Garret got up and ran back to the job they had him doing. He briefly wondered if Acius and the others would laugh at him, a spymaster, working as a dock hand. It was enough to amuse him, but he supposed there were plenty of worse things that spymasters in the past had been forced to masquerade as when gathering information and casing a place.
The rest of the day went by fairly uneventfully. Garret assisted with loading up some goods that could be sold in Heliohapt, as well as some food that would be needed for their voyage. Mostly dry goods that wouldn't spoil easily, but he was certain that there were some fruits included as well. The dock master said those were to help keep diseases from the crew. It was now the end of the day, and Garret collected his wages from the man who was orchestrating their work during the frenzy of their rushes earlier. The man patted Garret on the back and told him that if he ever wanted work in the future, he could feel free to come down at any time. "We need more productive guys like yourself, kid."
Garret thanked the middle aged man and made his way back to the stable. After checking out from the place with the stable hand, he rode off back to the villa with a better understanding of the docks and the work that takes place there.
OOC:
Word Count: 1031/500.
