[IC] Pharaoh of Sphinxes

[Mysticsage]

Grey whipped the map away standing quickly and wiping it clean before anything had a chance to stain, he fought the urge to not bop the fox on the head. "The fey rarely make deals without some kind of strings attached and I for one would prefer arriving there fully human with all my pieces versus some punchline to a woke of some outsider. It will be better to see if we can find a mage in town who had some kind of teleportation circle set up illegally in Shadar. Politically non private use teleportation magic can get us in a lot of trouble but its probably our best option." He quickly folded up the map and stuck it into his pack before continuing. "It will probably be expensive but I can probably haggle them down a bit, so does anyone know someone we can use or do we think that the fey or a boat would be better. A boat would be the most stable but it would take us days to get there."

[Valiancy]

Having argued with himself plenty internally, Frikki decided it was finally time to spit out the little information he had that was useful.

"Travel guy! In the buyie sellie place! Offering travel-y ...Things! Help with travel if we find? Yes. Yes, Frikki thinks yes. Would be helpful?" he says, rather quickly, all the while rubbing his paws together nervous for some iota of approval.

[Dan-e]

"I certainly agree with using magical means if possible, we don't want to be late to the party and we've a long way to go, even by boat! While I don't know of any magic users skilled in teleportation myself, this travel guy you speak of Frikki... he might be a good place to start asking. We might even be able to find someone willing to make it happen for a few thousand gold if we're lucky!" Markus reached down to pick up his pack. "I don't know if what Grey says about the fey is true or not but if we can't find anyone around the city then it might not be bad to keep our options open." Sheepishly motioning to his coin purse Markus adds, "unfortunately I don't have much coin to offer right now but perhaps we'll find someone willing to barter or take a loan of some sort." Motioning to the door he asks, "Anyone else up for a trip to the market to see Frikki's gentleman as a start?"

[FoxyPox]

"As long as you can put a decimal point in that thousand gold, I'm in!"

Roxy fiddles with a pair of sable brushes. You have a bad feeling about this, as Roxy's tried forgery before. It works, until they read it.

"Or we could, you know, improvise."

And with that, Roxy was halfway out the door, itchnig to get the shenanigans underway, when she stopped and abruptly spun around.

"Actually, where's that guy we were talking about, again?"

Roxy shrugs and whips out a y-shaped stick. She decides to improvise until someone tells her otherwise.

[spoiler=The Consequences of Being a Scatterbrain]Perception to spot somebody useful: [blockquote]Rolled 1d20+11 : 7 + 11, total 18[/blockquote]
Survival to not get mugged: [blockquote]Rolled 1d20+6 : 9 + 6, total 15[/blockquote]
Use Magic Device in case the stick was accidentally magical: [blockquote]Rolled 1d20+12 : 3 + 12, total 15[/blockquote]
Will save to not immediately run to the nearest shop and buy a shelf full of shinies: [blockquote]Rolled 1d20+6 : 3 + 6, total 9[/blockquote]
[/spoiler]

[Valiancy]

Frikki tilts and shakes his head. What did Roxy get in her head? He could only wonder and fear the unknown depths of his new companion's mind.

"Err.... Buyie-sellie place. With the people and the things. We go peaceful there yes? No sticks. Yes? None. Sticks? No. No sticks? Yes. Yes to no sticks. "

He claps his paws together a few times excitedly then chatters,

"We go into the out! Yes! On the way! No sticks!" and runs outside to catch up.

[spoiler]Dex check! Don't trip, Frikki.[blockquote]Rolled 1d20+4 : 7 + 4, total 11[/blockquote][/spoiler]

[Throndir]

Everyone
The group, after deciding on seeing the contact Frikki mentioned, made their way to the marketplace. The journey wasn't long, and though Ternadan was primarily a human city, closer to the marketplace was where all sorts of other races gathered. It was still mid-day, with the most amount of traders hollering for people's attentions, as well as a few others who were simply exchanging deals and items. There were many sorts of attractions and items on display. As the group went deeper into the marketplace with Frikki as their guide, the stalls started to become more exotic with various spices, strange-looking mementos, gems and mysterious-looking crystals, various intricate vases, and even a couple of spellcrafting stalls that sold some of the harder-to-find spell components.

More than a couple times did Roxanne stop by at one the stalls, easy distracted from all the sights and sounds of the marketplace.

As for Frikki who lead the way, he skillfully managed to get through the throng of people without any hindrance.

There were offered services too at the markets, ranging from back-rubs to pest-extermination. Eventually Frikki lead the way to one particular creature who sat on a chair with signs all about him that said "Travelling Services".

Indeed, as Frikki remembered, the man was heavily robed. As the group came closer, it was soon realized that it wasn't a man at all, but one from the Avian race, specifically from the Tengu. He had a long beak, and he made no effort to hide the claws that protruded from both his feet and hands under his robes.

He noticed your approach and eventually spoke up.

"The Guild of Galas'nor! Seeking my services today, yes?"

[Mysticsage]

Grey stepped forward unshaken by the person's strange appearance he had never really dealt with the tengu before but he had heard of them tho he thought that most of their race were larger in size as he looked down at the mage. Regardless business was business and the job they had ahead of them could be considered unsavory, so a little eccentricity was a good thing in his book."We need fast travel to Shadar. As close to this spot as possible." He pointed at a spot maybe half a day to a days travel from where he had marked the beginnings of the ruins in the dessert. The key was a subtle entrance if they got cast to close to the ruins when it may be swarming with all sorts it would just paint a target on them. Better to stealth in and try to get back out with what they could. Though since teleportation magic was only one way they would need a method of getting back home again.

Well better to cross that bridge when they came to it, "So how much for use of one of your teleportation circles if you accommodate such things?"

[Throndir]

The Avian looked carefully at the offered map as he put up a concerned facade.

"I offer anything from connections with sailors, to teleportation magic, to caravans, horses, and everything in between! Shadar though is no easy task... Such a far destination." He began. "And how many are going?" He looked up as he began to note the rest of the group. It didn't take him long to get a count.

"Four altogether, and a journey to Shadar will be two jumps. Not to mention the hassle of getting to just the right place. Shadarrians are almost xenophobic too. In that case..." He paused for a moment as he began to calculate how much the trip would cost.

"3300 gold pieces for the four of you."

[Mysticsage]

It was then that grey got a particularly predatory glint in his eye. His Merchant mode activated he seemed to grow bigger at the prospect of making a deal. He was like a tiger looking down at his next meal. "You are willing to push such a laughable price on a fellow merchant and a member of a guild no less? This town depends on the money and goods that the different guilds bring in without the ability to do our work the entire town economy would collapse. If word got out that a merchant was willingly up selling guild members who where in the proccess of their jobs. Well that merchant would likely face the full force of the combined guilds spearheaded by the trade guilds. They have a certain reputation of service to uphold after all. A shop here even with a guild mark would not hold water. So how bout a deal?

You cut your prices in half and defer payment till we return and I promise you 1650 worth in raw materials either up front or I can make you goods from them that you then can sell at three times what you charged us. They don't call me a chosen by the god of craftsman for nothing."

[info]Note that to haggle with me is at a +2 difficulty for diplomacy and intimdate

Diplomacy to lower price ect
[blockquote]Rolled 1d20+8 : 17 + 8, total 25[/blockquote][/info]

[Throndir]

The Tengu made some clicking sounds that came from under his hood as he listened to the proposition.

"You are talking about over a 2000-mile journey from here to even the borders of Shadar, you can feel free to seek out any other wizard, though unless they are powerful enough or know you personally I very much doubt that the prices would differ. The price is per jump, and I will be compensated for my return journey as well. I can bring along five people per jump, and including the jumps it would take for me to get back to Ternadan, that's four jumps altogether." He hissed slightly, though continued.

"Most adventurers take the mundane, but altogether cheaper and slower routes to travel. Guild business never usually strays too far from home after all." He ruffles around his robe and eventually pulls out an amulet still chained to his neck. The amulet looked to be made out of silver, with a cIear engraving of a particular symbol that looked like a caravan's wheel. [include u=309,400,382]With either your knowledge of the trading guilds or the knowledge of the city you posses, you noticed it immediately as the Winding Road Traders emblem, a relatively new trading guild to Ternadan who had settled here just two years ago. You knew them to have a larger presence in the eastern part of the kingdom, and at least back then, had primarily dealt with the leather trade.[/include][exclude u=309,400,382]You didn't recognize the symbol, though your knowledge of the guilds in the city were limited at best.[/exclude]


"The Winding Road Traders guild has my full support for the prices I set, they should be reasonable for the magnitude of your request." With that the Tengu moved his emblem back into the shrouds of his thick robe.

"The Guild of Galas'nor has done me a few requests in the past, that much is true... I'll bring the price down to 2500 but no less! I still have a business to run, and my previous requests to your specific guild were jobs that have already been paid for. 800 gold piece discount isn't something I normally do at all, but think of it as good will, yes?"

[info]-Note, should be common knowledge that the guild bank does give out loans, you would just be in the negatives in your Money sheet.
-You guys can decide to take the price, split four-way, or look for alternatives, or find a different merchant.

Also out-of-DM, but yay, first official use of the include/exclude tags! =)[/info]

[Mysticsage]

You couldn't blame a man for trying. Grey had a bit of money on him from the guild that they had lent him for miscellaneous things. Since the wizard didn't take up his offer of payment through goods, it just meant that he had a chance to recoup any possible loses. Though he made a mental note to come back when he was finished since his work with leather might be of interest to his group later on. "625 gold per person is better then nothing. We don't have much of a better option regardless and getting to that area as soon as possible is key."

[info]
Grey uses loan to make up the difference
-625 for teleportation
[/info]

[Throndir]

[info]2500 total cost. So 625 per person. We can move on once everyone decides they are okay with that.[/info]

[Mysticsage]

[info]actually i realized i have a ton of karma so we should decide if this is the path for us but if someone really doesn't want to take the coin hit I can cover the cost.[/info]

[FoxyPox]

"That's... a really big number to count up to. Let's go!"

Roxy pulls out a large coin purse.

"One, two, three~"

[info]Roxy's in. She figures she can get her money back later if she finds any kind of magical item at all.[/info]

[Throndir]

[info]Waiting for confirmation on Markus and Frikki.[/info]