Clasping her hands together, she started a rather long reply, "Oh! No biggie, I'll fill you in. I fancy myself as somewhat of a trader, and seeing as we're birds of a feather I'll help you out. Those wolf pelts are worth about 48 copper here at the trade post, I can probably sell them at maximum 72 copper if I took them all the way back to the Northeast. So, if you're interested at meeting somewhere in the middle, I think we can work out a deal."
With a weak smile and a nod, I took her at her word. She didn't strike me as an untrustworthy individual. Plus, I was usually pretty good at reading people.
"How many are you looking to buy here? I'll factor in a bulk price if that's what you're interested in."
"I'll take all of them. They're all white, right?"
"Yeah, they're all white. Is that important?"
With that last line she seemed shocked as her eyes went wide for a second while her head moved back. Regaining her composure she started to explain, "Yes that's important! White pelts are only found in the far North after all. The Northeast has silver and gray pelts; the Middle Kingdoms have black and dark brown, while the Southern Kingdoms have beige and tan."
She continued, "You… you aren't actually from the far North are you?"
With a smirk I laughed a little, "Ha, I am."
"Wow. I'm sorry for your troubles."
Hmm, it seems people really do look down on the North.
"Don't be, I get by just fine."
Thinking over everything she told me, it seemed the price of the pelts were worth more the further from the source you got. If the pelts were worth 33% more a hundred miles south and 100% more a hundred and fifty miles to the east from my original location, I could only imagine how much they would be worth in the Southern Kingdoms.
"Well, I have seven wolf pelts, sixteen fox pelts, and twenty-four rabbit pelts. Going by your numbers, the straight trade value would be 48c, 8c, and 3c respectively. I'll sell them all to you at a bulk price of 54c, 8c, and 3c each."
She looked at me with a confused expression as she quickly responded, "You're sure? I said I could sell them for 72c for the wolf pelts. And straight trade on the foxes and rabbits?"
Nodding my head I continued on, "Yeah, you also said that was your maximum value. I figured in travel expenses and came up with what I felt was a fair number. Like you said, we're both traders. I understand the costs associated with running a business, I have no interest in driving a hard bargain to squeeze a few copper coins. You can consider the fox and rabbits discounted for the information, as well."
Finishing my sentence, I offered my hand so we could shake and conclude business. I had no interest in standing around hawking my pelts individually, so this worked out in my favor.
Time was money, after all.
She readily shook my hand and handed over 5 silver coins and 78 copper. It was the first time I had seen a silver coin, which was equivalent to 100 copper coins… I felt a little bit fancy for a second.
"Thank you, I'm glad you didn't ask for 72c for a wolf pelt. If you did I would have slapped you for being an inconsiderate ass."
Ah, I suppose there are some greedy characters out there that think they're shrewd business men. They're only successful if the person they're doing business with is an idiot though. It was an interesting thought, but even if I was an ass, I wasn't someone who looked to cheat people.
"Before you go, that small crest on your jacket… is that your guild tab?"
"Yes! I'm in the guild [Liberated Souls]. We've got a small campsite in the Northeast!"
I think I might have found something valuable.
"Is there river access at your campsite?"
"Yep! But it's a small one, only about eight feet wide and two feet deep at the shallowest. Too small for any real boats sadly."
A large grin crept up on my face, "Would you be interested in future trades?"
After a long discussion, I parted with the female elf known as Ellieby with a loose verbal agreement to bring furs directly to her guild's campsite in a few weeks real-time. By then my shipyard should have churned out at least one longship.
An interesting thing in Dragon's Wrath was that any crafters that you recruited from the NPC-Recruiter came with a skillset based on the region you were in. Since I was in the far North, the Scandinavian-like region, my shipbuilder came with the archaic knowledge of how to build a Viking Longship. In a Dark Age period game such as this, I had the best boat of the time frame by hundreds of years, at my disposal. A cold smile formed, but I didn't care. There were benefits to the North.
I just didn't want to tell anyone; they were my secrets after all.
Chapter 38: Looking For Group
(Sunday, May 23rd Game Day / Wednesday, February 17th Real Day)
Walking forth into the crowded town square I soon found myself surrounded by well over a hundred players screaming and shouting for all manner of things. The grassy clearing where I stood only provided for shoulder-width room, but it was a necessary inconvenience. Toggling the LFG option in the Menu, my name which had been hidden soon flickered on above my head.
Looking down into the small puddle beneath my feet I could see a clear reflection of light blue letters above me:
[Roth Sigurd, First of the North, Archer]
My name had been displayed along with my highest title and my highest proficiency in order for other players to see. Since I was now Looking For Group, it was a necessity. Though, there was no reason to display my title or Archery… there were a million Archers here already.
One look around the place and you could see that the majority of the population was filled with Archer or Rogue-types. They were your standard damage dealers or DPS even though the acronym didn't necessarily make sense for a person, seeing as it meant damage per second… but that's the way abbreviated phrases go nowadays.
Yeah, I would never find a party as an Archer.
This wasn't going to work.
Going back into the Menu, I toggled through the options to remove my title for privacy reasons along with switching my proficiency to Warrior. I had developed that through my usage of a Two-handed Axe and it should serve as a base tank despite the lack of shield.
Tanks were always in high demand, as were healers.
Staring back down into the puddle, the blue lights flickered for a moment as they changed to describe my new state:
[Roth Sigurd, Warrior]
Yeah, I liked that.
Within moments of the change a few invites rang up in front of my visual field, but I declined them all. I preferred those with manners even if it was a simple, "Hi, join my party!"
Anything was better than blind invites.
Those types of invites lacked tact, and spoke more of the people who sent them.
In the distance I could see two high elf females pushing their way through the crowd, stopping directly in front of me. The blonde clearly had some fun modifying her appearance as she was definitely not proportioned normally, with her exaggerated hips and ass that stuck out at least a hand. The brunette was a little tamer, but was still a modified appearance as well.
The blond spoke up first, "You're a tank right? We just need a tank."
Then the brunette chimed in, "We don't have any melee classes in our group."
Oh.
They were from different groups.
Answering them both, "Yeah, I'm a tank."
Unfortunately, this is where the situation becomes complicated. As the two girls stared at my character and the two-handed axe hanging off my back, the dagger in its sleeve on my chest, and a bow lingering by my shoulder just above the quiver dangling by my hip, they came to the major issue.
I had no shield.
The blond didn't seem to think about the shield though, as she asked, "Are you new here? Have you tanked before?"
Of course I've tanked before… but not in this game. It was a tricky question, one that couldn't be answered at face value. Hesitating first, and then just going with it I said, "Yeah I've tanked before, but I'm also new to this dungeon. It was just discovered the other day."