Somewhere, West Virginia, USA.

Clive drove Hamish to City Hall, he remembered seeing adds for livestock the last time they were here. Maybe him and Hamish can find some good prices. Though Clive wouldn't know, that's why Hamish was with him. If the halflings are as agrarian as he thinks they are then he'll have a better idea of what's a good deal or not.

It was harder to find a parking spot though, it seemed like they might be having a meeting. Not sure what though, Clive thought. The Mayor and City Council don't do anything worth a damn half the time.

Though it looks like they might actually have to now, Clive thought as Hamish and him walked through the doors to an uproar! Seemed like most of the town was here.

"What're you goin' to do about it?!"

"I voted for you twice last election and now it looks like I'm gonna have to move!"

"You and him are close, why don't you do something?!"

Clive watched as the portly Mayor and the equally heavyset City Council members sweat from the onslaught of complaints.

"FOLKS! FOLKS! PLEASE BE CALM!!! I know that the recent closure of the mine is something that is concerning-"

"CONCERNIN'?! ITS APOCALYPTIC!!! WHAT ARE WE GOIN' TO DO ABOUT WORK?!?!?!" Came a scathing retort and accompanying agreement from the crowd.

"Rest assured that I am in contact with Mr. Duval! And I can assure you that the mine is only down for maintenance! And that you need not worry! It will reopen soon!" Despite the placating statement the crowd looked no less settled. Most left grumbling and cursing the fatman while some lingered to do whatever business they needed.

As Hamish and him wandered over to the bulletin board Clive caught the Mayor and the Council in quiet discussion.

"Are you really in contact with Dion, Mayor?"

"Of course not you fool! I haven't been able to get a hold of him for days now!" The Mayor hissed in a whisper.

"Then what do we do?! That's all our wealth gone!"

"What we do, you fools, is stay calm! We will go over there with the sheriff tomorrow and sort this out!" The Mayor huffed and stormed off, Council in tow.

After overhearing this Clive lead Hamish over to the bulletin board where adds and missing person/pets were posted. Clive would hand Hamish the adds for livestock and he would hum and look at the adds with a critical, experienced, eye before either handing them back to be replaced on the board or keeping hold of them.

For a few minutes this continued until they had ran out of adds to look at. With that done Hamish and he sat in his car while he made the calls over the phone. Once time and place was set, Hamish and him went to meet the ranchers selling their product. Their first stop was a guy selling sheep.

They drove a ways west till they came to a ranch, passing paddocks and pens of sheep as they pulled up to the ranch house. Where a older man was waiting on the porch for them.

"You the buyer?"

"I'm not, he is." Clive said as he pointed to Hamish, who was already inspecting the sheep by the fence.

"Little short for a rancher ain't he?" The ageing rancher asked as they went to join Hamish.

As they came up to him Hamish had both hands in a sheep's mouth and was inspecting it's teeth. He hmm'd and moved to the other, checking the teeth of the sheep as he went. Then he stopped and turned to Clive.

"Well, hop in there lad!"

Clive looked at Hamish with confusion.

"What?"

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"You don' expect ME ta get in there now do you lad?" Hamish said with an incredulous look.

"You're the one getting them! Why do I have to get in?!"

"'Cause yer not eye level with 'em!"

"I thought you had experience with sheep?"

"Aye, I do. Just not this many at once 'nd not by myself!"

Clive grumbled as he hopped the fence and into the sea of white wool.

"Don' worry lad! I'll guide you through wha' you need doin'!"

So Hamish did just that, instructing Clive along as he poked, prodded, and got a bit more comfortable with the sheep than he wanted to!

"You sure know what you're doin' little man!" The rancher said to Hamish with a hint of respect.

"Thank you! Many 'o year workin' tha land does tha'!" Hamish replied with pride.

"OH?! Not that one! That's George's special lady!" The rancher shouted to Clive.

"George?" Clive muttered.

BAAAAAA!!!!!

Clive turned towards the baaing and lunged away as a ram rushed where he was a second ago!

Picking himself up out the dirt and sheep shit Clive looked towards "George". A ram with graying wool and a huge set of curved horns on his head. Which were now rushing him!

He threw himself once more out of the way of the ornery ram.

"Don' just lay there lad! Get up 'nd show 'im whos boss!"

"Easy for you to say! Why don't you hop in and show him whos boss?" Clive said as he ducked away from the ram once more.

"Nay lad, this looks ta be 'tween you 'nd 'im!" Hamish stated as him and the rancher watched Clive wrestle with the ram.

"Gee! Thanks!" Clive said through gritted teeth as he was now gripping the ram's horns for dear life.

BAAAAA!!!!!

"George" bucked his head one way, making Clive lose his grip. Then promptly reared and charged Clive, bucking him up into the air and onto the ground with a grunt.

The rancher and Hamish gave out their own groans as they watched Clive struggle to get up. Groaning as he got up he heard the baaing challenge of "George" once more. Which he promptly took as the sign to get out of the sheep pen!

He rushed the fence where the rancher and Hamish were, vengeful baaing closing in behind him. He jumped the fence in a single bound and bodyflopped into the dirt, which was a better alternative to being penned in with "George". Who had charged the metal fencing, earning a resounding gong from the impact.

"Are you alright lad?"

"No I ain't alright?! I just got the shit kicked out of me by a sheep!" Clive said, winded from his tussle with the ram.

"Sorry 'bout that. Shoulda warned you about King George there." The rancher said as he helped Clive up.

"King?" Hamish asked.

"Yup! 'Round here he's King of the Ewes! Everyone of them in that pen is his! He's sired more than a few lambs during his reign!" He laughed as Clive dusted himself off. King George the Vengeful glaring through the fence at him!

"Great! We'll take tha 'ole pen!" Hamish proclaimed.

"Don't you think we could look at the other pens Hamish? Maybe get a sheep that isn't so... Territorial?" Clive said under the ram's heated gaze.

"Nay! Tha' just means they're extra 'ardy!"

"Yeah, real hardy." Clive muttered, rubbing his back as the ram once more well... rammed against the fence at Clive.

"Swell, how you wanna pay?" The rancher asked.

Hamish pulled out a familiar looking jingling pouch. He reached into the pouch and produced a handful of gold coins, which he deposited into the rancher's waiting hand.

He held up one of the gold coins to the light, on one side was a crossed crook and harvest scythe and on the opposite was a ripe pumpkin.

"What kind of coin is this?"

"Tha' is a coin of the Fallmeadow Confederacy tha' is!" Hamish stated.

"Ain't no Confederate coin I've ever seen." The rancher stated before biting into the coin. He excused himself to go weigh the coins. Meanwhile Clive and Hamish stood near the pen. Much to Clive's unease as the ram STILL hadn't stopped obsessing over him! He was now pacing back and forth on the other side of the fence.

"Will that be enough? That's a lot of sheep." Clive said, worried Hamish might be overestimating the coins value.

"Ifin he's fair it will be 'nough! Those are almost solid gold they are!"

They stood under the angry ram's gaze for a minute more before the rancher returned.

"You want a receipt?"

Hamish looked at Clive with confusion.

"A bill of sale." Clive answered

"OH! O' course!" Hamish said as they went with the rancher to his home where he printed out a receipt for the halfling.

"Ya'll gonna haul 'em or you wantin' us to?"

"Ifin it ain't too much trouble ta 'ave 'em delivered?" Hamish asked as he slid a couple more coins towards the rancher, who accepted them gladly.

"Where you need 'em?" The rancher asked as he called one of his ranch hands over.

"Some land south o' town." Hamish stated.

"That's not very specific."

"Follow the road until you hit a tent city." Clive instructed.

The rancher nodded as the ranch hand wrote down the instructions. Hamish shook his hand and they left. Clive a little quicker as he noticed "King George" eyeballing him once more. Once in the car Hamish turned to Clive.

"Where ta next lad?"

"I don't know. But next time. YOU can make friends with the pissed off livestock!" Clive said, earning a laugh from Hamish.

Thankfully "King George" was the only ornery animal they had to deal with. Hamish and Clive drove to a few other ranches and did business buying everything from goats, to more chickens, to some dairy cows.

They headed home as the sun was dipping on the horizon. Clive pulled into his spot next to the wagons, Hamish stretching as he left the car.

"Wha' a good day!"

"Good for you maybe, you didn't get the shit kicked out of you by a ram!"

Hamish just dismissed his friends griping with a wave of his hand.

"Tha' just means he like you!"

"If that means he likes me I don't wanna know what he does if he hates me." Clive muttered

They went their separate ways as each went to their own tent. On his way to his Clive ran into someone!

"Shit, I'm sorry!"

"Its alright lad! Nothin' ta worry 'bout!" She said as she got back up, dusting off her leather pants before looking up at Clive. Red hair and emerald green eyes worked really well with her tanned skin.

"Yer Clive tha Giant Slayer aren't you?" She asked with a smile.

Clive suppressed a groan.

"Yeah, though I didn't really slay the giant, so much as just scare him off."

"I know, I've faced more than a couple o' giants myself. Ifin you did 'slay' tha giant. A lot more halflin's wouldna come back."

"You've faced giants before?" Clive asked, somewhat fearful for his friend in the woods.

"Aye, me 'nd some friends went on some adventures. We just came back from one not long 'fore well... this, happened." She said as she gestured around.

"Oh? How'd it go?"

"Tell you wha'. Why don' you 'nd me get a drink sometime 'nd I'll regale you with my tales of glory!" She teased as she left Clive.

"WAIT! Can I get a name at least?"

She turned to Clive with a smile.

"Names Kilpa Goldenfield!"

That was all he got as she skipped away with a giggle. Clive left with a smile of his own as he made ready for bed.