“I offer you a Mission! Should you accept it! You can increase your wealth a hundred fold! No to increase your wealth a million fold! The reward also includes rightfully teaching Kendelbreu as lesson!” Repeated what he said.
Murmurers broke out throughout the room.
“Elf has a quest for us?”
“Million fold increase in wealth?”
“Teach the Cristo’s a lesson?”
The idea sparked from negotiated the terms of a quest. It grew deep in Weed’s. If quest terms can be negotiated, then surely a player can decide the own terms of his mission. Mission’s were the second piece of the grand scheme. If players can issue missions to other players...could they also propose it to NPCs? So far the game had been full of surprises and too flexible, where NPC’s seemed to be acting independently of a central control. As Weed weighed his options, it was to be tossed out like a salad or take a silly risk with his last minute plan.
Weed clicked on Missions options in the menu tab and quickly jotted down an offer and sent it to the Kobolds who stood in front of him.
TRRRING!!!
Congratulations! You have awarded your first mission! Be sure to have covered each and every term carefully as all disputes will have to be settled by the courts of the kingdom where the deal was accepted!
After a quick confirmation from Weed’s side, a window popped up in front of the NPCs’.
You have been offered a counter quest / mission. Save your dying race by claiming the lost treasure of Kendelbreu Du Cristo as your own!
Difficulty Level: D
Reward: Kendelbreu’s treasure!
Quest Requirements: You must share 5% of the treasure with Weed the strange elf.
The kobold’s huddled together and discussed.
“No work. Mines shut.”
“No money too.”
“But Weed offer money?”
“Yes! That too Kendelbreu’s treasure!” added a kobold excitedly!
“Foolish Kobold’s!” Snapped the Elder. “He gives fish not teaching fishing. What happens to us when we run out of fish?”
“Ohh….” The young Kobolds were swayed by the elder’s wise words. The treasure couldn’t possibly last forever….and when it finishes, they would be back where they started.
“Elder! Please hear me out.” Weed shouted as he realized his offer might be turned down lest he sweeten it further.
The Elder nodded. "Speak Elf."
“Oh Kobold’s! Such a grand race are you! Direct disciples of the Great Silver Mnomonth Mnomonth.” Weed’s opening lines were pure flattery, aimed to soften the kobolds. “How unfortunate that your mighty race today shivers in fright of dwarf might! The lands are your own, yet you cannot live in them. Why? Because Cristo’s greed oppresses you. Now, thou reduced to the lowest rung in dwarven society! You are the lizards that clean dwarves sewage! But I offer you, wealth so great, so immense that you can re write your fate. Dwarves acknowledge skills before blood, blood before wealth. Wealth before all that remains. No longer will dwarves look down upon kobold but rather, treat you highly! You will not be the door mat but rather the rightful rich of Northen Mountain City, admired in society everywhere you go.”
The kobold’s listened with great interest. They were already enticed by Weed’s magical words.
“The wealth Kendelbreu amassed if from your very Kobold Mines. It belongs rightfully to you. It is not a fish that you can finish in one or two bites. It will take a life time for you to eat. I saw mountains and mountains of riches, never ending piles of it. Rarest of the rare ores and precious stones just stacked away.”
The kobolds were astonished when Weed told how much wealth the vile man had amassed.
“It is stupid, to leave what is yours in your own mine while you starve here. It is justice to take what is yours! Even the Great Silver Mnomonth Mnomonth would agree.”
The kobolds began to nod their head in agreement.
“No fish last’s forever just as fishing in same pond will deplete it. I cannot teach how to fish, but I can do what the strange dwarf did; give you best weapons cheap at any time. Unlike dwarf you speak about, I am but a poor elf. Not a coin to my name. I need money to buy ores and for the fish I eat. But I will never take more than that. I offer you, vast treasures and weapons for a price. Live comfortably while defending yourselves. In time, with your own strength you will sufficient to kill terrible enemy scorpion.”
The young and not so young kobolds, were now in a chattering away excitedly. Every kobold was talking among about Kendelbreu’s riches. One of the larger looking kobold was talking loudly with the elder, his voice booming atop the others “Elder you have to admit, if we are armed we can defend ourselvesss against the dwarves and at last claim our own fish with our own claws!”
“Grandfather, no more mining for the young children? We can live closer to city?”
Many more kobolds started turning towards the Elder and requesting him to accept Weed’s mission. Weed smiled away. If the Kobold’s accepted his quest, it would mean he could acquire the treasure which he previously could not. Though, he did wonder if this meant he failed Kendelbreu’s quest and would that trigger the penalties?
“Silence everyone!” At last Elder spoke. “Weed before us you have painted the most beautiful picture. But know this, if you have craftily stitched together lies and reality. Then only doom awaits you. Young ones, these things should not be decided on impulse. Weed, you have our interest but only after we discuss each term carefully you may have an offer. Follow me Weed.”
Weed smiled, in between the Elder’s speech his heart sunk. If the Elder said no now it would mean that his plan failed. But the response was positive. The Elder stepped out of the tavern first then Weed crawled out and finally the other kobolds.
“Go away you!” The elder screamed at the other kobolds who were following him. The Elder led Weed to a small hut in which Weed had to again literally crawl inside. Weed sat on the ground his head almost touching the ceiling.
“Young kobolds are much too curious.” The Elder said after they were seated. “Now tell me Weed, where do we begin?”
“I offer map of the forbidden mines, location of Kendelbreu’s treasure, swords and other weapons. In turn, I want 5% share of treasure as I will have to face Kendelbreu wrath for betrayal. To protect myself from his ire, I request 5% share. I offer good swords for nominal rates, so that Kobold’s can once again defend themselves.”
“Weed, we have no gold no silver. We cannot pay for anything. I lied to the other kobolds saying we have little. But truth be told, we have not even little.”
“...”
“I say for every sword and shield, we pay not in gold or silver but in goods. We can’t pay you in silver or gold since we got none, but we can trade with the ores we have left and barter with the other good we got. Everything for same rate.”
Weed frowned, gold and silver were the most easy to trade in. That is why they became a standard for trade currency. Bartered goods held little or no value for others if they didn’t want it. If he was being paid in bartered goods then, then it was a loss making proposition for him. There was the other disturbing thing of uniform rates. If Weed crafted amazing high quality swords or terrible swords, they both would be valued at the same price.
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“Sorry Elder, but these terms do not fit me. I can suggest paying me afterwards. I will sell the sword’s to you on credit and you can pay me after you get the treasure. However, I will have to charge a reasonable but nominal interest for the credit period.” Weed replied craftily like a banker. “Uniform rates for swords are completely unfair to me and is an insult to my work as a blacksmith. By uniform rates, are you implying a trash sword is same as sword which I pour in my sweat, blood and tears?”
It was now the Elder’s turn to frown. Credit facility was an excellent idea but the idea of paying interest bothered him. He wanted to save as much money as he could. After a long pause of silence, the Elder spoke up. “No interest on credit, if don’t want this deal, you can leave.”
Weed started getting up to leave. Although he got up, he moved very slowly, with exaggerated movements; Weed was only pretending to leave. With the Kobold’s true financial position revealed, he wasn’t the only desperate one in the room. Weed knew he had better negotiating power that he could lever.
“...Fine stay!” The Elder spoke up. “But I give something else, instead of interest on credit.”
“...”
The Elder got up and walked to a bookshelf. He picked up a book and handed it over to Weed.
“This is higher form of blacksmithing, it is called alchemy. This book is kobold secret art, we give you this. Now you learn alchemy!” The Elder said proudly.
The Elder said and explained lengthily how the Kobolds had no more alchemist in their tribe after their fall from grace. They had no need for such profession anymore as they didn’t have the resources to fund poor craftsmanship. The book was the only thing they managed hold onto after their fall.
TRRINGG!
You received a book on alchemy! Possessing this book is the equivalent of learning the Koboldian Alchemy. It is a rare form of alchemy, which was considered forgotten and lost.
Weed smiled, this book was indeed invaluable. The interest was something he never hoped to charge and receive. It was a bargaining chip which now served it’s purpose. “Fine. I get book, you get credit to buy swords and shields with no interest.”
“Good then we have deal?” The Elder hurriedly asked.
“No uniform rates.” Weed added. Weed was shrewd and would negotiate each and every term to his favor.
The Elder sighed in surrender, “Fine two rates. Good swords 1 Gold, bad swords 1 silver. Good shield 10 Silver, bad Shield 95 Copper.”
Weed frowned, these rates were ridiculously low, they might not even cover the cost of the weapon. “No free rate. You give 10 gold credit to each Kobold. They buy from me. Its not only sword and shield but armor too! Armor varies from kobold to kobold size. Its not about good or bad but cost at which I make.”
“There are nearly ten thousand kobold! 10 Gold credit to each?” The Elder asked in shock.
“No, only to the warriors.” Weed explained. “Each warrior gets to choose how he wants to spend 10G credit. The credit can only be spent on buying weapons or armor from me. If they don’t spend, then you keep it.”
“Hmmm, I sseeeee.” The Elder said with a pensive look on his face. There were only a thousand or so kobold warriors. If each kobold negotiated well, then costs would be no more than 3-5 gold but everything depended on how well they negotiated.... “No! crafty elf! We pay 5 Gold final rate for, armor, shield and sword that is acceptable to us.”
Weed thought about it, the rates the Elder quoted rates were meaningless since he didn’t know their definition of acceptable quality. If the quality was supposed to be very low, his margins could be as much as 4 gold, if the quality was very high, he could be making losses. Negotiating was difficult, since both parties here were settling for vague terms to scam the other. “Ok, I offer best rate.” Weed said, “You give me ore and I will charge 1 gold for all items over that.”
The Elder frowned, they didn’t have much ore to begin with. Furthermore, with no money, they could not purchase ore from the dwarves. “No we have not much ore to give to you.”
“Then, I will buy ore and sell all items to you at ore market price plus one gold.”
“50 silver.” The Elder added.
“99 Silver.”
“51 Silver.” The Elder countered.
“98 Silver.”
This was going to take some time, but neither the Kobold or the Elf showed any chance of agreeing quickly.
“60 Ssssilver.”
“90 Silver.” Weed lowered, his prices slowly. He knew the Elder was a shrewd one, so his margins would have to be in the ore he purchased.
“ Final offer 75 Silver!” The Elder just increased, his offering by 25%. It only showed how willing he was to close the deal in silvers and not gold.
“Fine 55 silver and exclusive weapon sale rights to the Kobolds.” Weed finally said it. He had been aiming for this all the while; exclusive sale rights. Even if he sold weapons cheap now, in time he could always charge more. Making him exclusive dealer, made the kobold’s dependant on him. Even, if he didn’t sell the swords here, he could sell these rights to merchants for a much higher rate. Selling to a new race held lot’s of value for merchants.
“DEAL!” The elder shouted and shook Weed’s hands hurriedly.
Weed smiled away merrily. He had intentionally quoted 20 silver below the Elder’s price but 5 silver above his initial offer. It was a trap to lure the Kobold. By quoting it so low, the Elder was ensnared by his greed to save a few silvers. By quoting it above 50 silver, Weed successful deceived the Elder into believing that there was nothing suspicious.
Weed tapped an acceptance on a pop up window and the Kobold smiled. Both of them thought they got the best of the other. Only time would reveal who got the best of the other.
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Authors Note:
1. Will be edited soon. Please do expect a lot of mistakes as we worked .....very late to write this. O.O these days all my messages have this.
2. Thank you so much V4LKYR13 and Alakokaine for writing this.
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