"Ah yes! I forgot to explain, you're new to town and this is advanced sorcery" Dennis jumps up with a finger in the air eager to clarify and likely go into nerdy detail, "the way this is prepared, is a method I managed to invent whereupon i destroy every molecule of water within the food stuffs and then form the food into these balls, similar to marbles. It makes it easy to store but a nifty side effect is that it makes the food completely preserved, no moulding no nothing! It need a hefty rehydration preferably in hot water so the food is cooked but cold works too. But if you eat a ball it will cause you problems, the food will try to rehydrate using the auxiliary water found in your body which can cause yourself dehydration and exhaustion, making you very sick, not to mention the swelling and the, ah.. gas.
When I'm preparing it, it gets very messy and very wet, so I had to prepare a special room in which to do it, however the water makes for good stock so I sell that too, by the bucket full, but that's not something you'll need for travel. Anyway I'm getting ahead of myself, if you'd like to go out and try it before you leave be my guest, you can return any that you don't use, if you don't like it or believe me or whatever, mainly because they keep forever, I assume, yes preservation means we can stockpile, there are farms around sure! But with no news coming from Hokum we are preparing for a possible food shortage, I wouldn't hike up prices on the people in my town when we're merely trying to see that we survive, that would be barbaric. No I do it for the joy and to help out, and if I get to apply my skills in new and interesting ways then all the better, I.. ah.. Im rambling again I do apologise, um... ah.. yes about that bag, miss." After the man's tirade, he quickly averts his gaze from Sam in an embarrassed gesture that only belies the fact that he believes his audience maybe wasn't as interested as he would have hoped.
As Elthana asks Vin about Nef's abrupt dislike Vin looks to the dog and the hound seems very indignant. Vin sighs and reports with a bit of embarrassment as the young man rubs the back of his head and looks a bit sheepish. "She... ummm... she doesn't like that you upstaged me last night on the poles." The dog gives a small snort which causes Vin to blush a vibrant red and to reply "I'm not saying that!" The dog for their part seems to be suddenly enjoying themselves. Vin seems desperate to avoid the rest of this conversation and latches onto the talk about dehydrated food pellets.
Vin in their haste to avoid whatever it was asks the shop keeper "What about the flavor? Doesn't the elimination of water cause some of the flavor to leave as well? Do you have some kind of technique or recommendation for that loss?" Vin is staying steadfastly focused on the wizard happy for a chance to talk about arcane things instead of what Nef wanted them to say.
Sam sighs and moves near to Neferox, slowly squatting down with a bit of a grunt and a sigh. “You got it wrong, Neferox,” Sam says quietly, almost conspiratorially once he’s more or less at eye level with the beast. “We’re a team. And so like no as we are a team there’s no showing the other up or such, instead we root for and support each other.”
“Ebb did at least as well as me against their so called strong man. Sure it irked me some but he’s on my team so I support him. I’m happy for him. In a way his success is my success. I want him to be good because when things get serious, like when we were attacked by the wolves, I want him to have my back… we protect each other. We’re a pack…” Sam tries explaining, feeling a bit of a fool unsure if the creature can understand him or not.
“Pack. Family. Team. All the same. Fighting, or even bad feelings, amongst them only hurts everyone. Makes everyone weaker. You want what’s best for Vin? Then you want Elthana to be as good as possible so they can help protect Vin too…” Sam stays there squatting looking at Neferox for a bit trying to Gaige if they understood at all or what their reaction might be…
“Yeah, I’d still of liked to have looked tons better than Ebb. Just means I need to be better, not that I want him worse,” Sam finishes and with a groan and a wince for his poor knees he stands up and looks again towards this Pot Luck sack.
“There at least a guarantee that something will be pulled out of it?”
The dog shifts their vision from the shop keep as soon as Sam addresses them correctly. They seem to listen to Sam as they cock their head sideways. As to understanding its a bit hard to tell. They do look to Vin when they are mentioned and they also look to Elthana when she is mentioned. The hound eyes her for a bit then goes to over to Vin and circles him twice before stopping. They looks briefly towards Sam then go back to staring at Dennis taking on their role as scary dog that might bite if they don't keep in line. Vin seems to get distracted at some point and looks down at Nef before turning to look at Sam a bit confused. Vin does turn back to talking with Dennis about the finer points of dehydrating food in-between the wizard helping others. Seems the young man is interested in learning about magical things.
Elthana gives the dog a once over as Vin quickly explains why the dog is unhappy with her. She then looks Vin in the eyes, "What about you? I hope you know I didn't try the poles to one up you, I wanted to see what I could do. I know this is all a bit new to you, what are your thoughts on the matter?" She notices when Sam kneels down to talk to the dog and lingers, listening to what he says to the animal.
Bringing her attention back to the bag she eyes the wizard. "A grab bag of sorts eh? Well, this place feels a bit like an extension of the festival from last night." she takes another look at the dusty old sack and figures, why not? She takes out 5 gold and lays it on the counter. Waiting for the wizards approval or nod, she then reaches inside of the bag and pulls out the first solid thing she comes across...
As Elthana puts down the five gold, Dennis nods in approval for her to retrieve something from The bag, but he doesn't stop rambling as Vin seemed interested. " Good point, the meat specifically does become less flavoursome, and the stock I sell off I suppose I could keep some, if I re-de-hydrolysed the waters I may be able to crystallise some of the flavour salts and sugars from the various foods, the bam instant flavour powder, this opens up a whole new opportunity.. the powders wouldn't just be applicable to the foods that they were taken from, they could be applied anywhere! Soup too tasteless? Add the concentrated flavour sugars extracted from carrots, amazing! I'm writing this down so I don't forget!..." As he continues blathering on it becomes apparent that his excitement and skills lie more in the experiment and magic department, as he seems to fall short in the marketing and business strategy areas.
Vin thinks about Elthana's questions and looks over at Nef who seems to be talking with Sam before answering, "No. I think you were just having fun. It's my fault she's upset with you. I just need to get better. I'll just have to keep practicing and trying harder. I hope I can live up to how she sees me." he seems a bit worried as he looks at Nef then goes back to talking with the very excited shop keep. Vin seems to enjoy talking about cutting edge arcane magic as well and gets just as animated with the conversation with Dennis as the wizard seems to be about the topic. Vin even suggests he find fruits or powerfully flavors plants and dehydrate them specifically for adding flavor. Other then that Vin also seems a bit curious what Elthana will pull from the bag of mystery. In fact, he seems interested and counts his coins. He seems like he will give it a try as well but waits for Elthana to finish her turn.
Elthana retrieves her hand from the bag and within it she holds a doll. As she turns it over in her hand, she can tell that it is very well made, the body of wood with little clothes and the head of a porcelain, painted red. It appears to be worth easily more than the 5 gold she paid for it. As she looks closer at the head, it has little horns and actually resembles Gewyn a bit. She looks up at Gewyn as she is inspecting the doll to see if he is thinking the same thing, or if he is even paying attention at all.
She looks back up to Dennis as he is deep in conversation with Vin, and catches his eye. "So, for the entire bag, what are you thinking? Obviously it hasn't been touched in who knows how long."
Dennis looks up from his ramblings with Vin, "ohhh, um well that's One of the nicer things I've seen pulled out of there, but it never runs out of stuff, you know? Let's say umm 50 gold and it's yours, how's that sound?" He leans back on the doorway behind his counter and gives Neferox a nervous glance, before really giving the doll a hard look, then with surprise looking toward Gewyn.
Elthana frowns. "Well sir, until now I thought you ran a very good business. Now I feel like you're trying to rob me. 50 gold? For a bag mostly full of junk - your words. How about this counter... If the next thing I pull out of the bag is worthless, I'll give you 20 gold. If it is something of the same quality as this doll, or even a bit less, I'll give you 30 gold. Deal?"
Elthana reaches into the bag and pulls out a chunk of folded cloth, as she unfolds it she sees that she has retrieved a folded pair of clean, but clearly old, underwear...
Dennis' eyes go wide for a moment and he doubles over before letting out the most donkey-like laugh any of you have ever heard, "ohhh, oh my... That is, well that was precious just for my amusement, ohhhhh you can have it for the 20, oh ahaahaahaaa." He wipes his eyes as he regains some giggling composure
Sam laughs and shakes his head. “Well the food is good. Dennis is too poor a businessman to be scamming us,” he says with a shrug. He shoves the foodstuffs into his pack and looks around. “We done here?”
Gewyn is off to the side, perusing the wares absentmindedly. He looks over just in time to see Dennis comparing him to the doll. He walks over to get a better look at the doll as Elthana haggles with Dennis. Gewyn smirks amusedly as the underwear comes up and then chimes in, "20 gold for the fun little sack, you say? I think we might be able to do you one better. What if I told you that a bit of a celebrity just came through here last night and made a big splash at the carnival, and we just so happen to have a piece of his merch that I think will be in hot demand right now? I'm sure you could make back a lot more than 20 gold on it."
He pretends to hesitate and muse to himself for a moment, "Of course, if we hang onto it until our current journey is done, we'd likely make over 50. Hmmm... I like you, Dennis. You strike me as someone who is less concerned with the distasteful consumerist business of profit margins, capitalism, and profit in general, and more concerned with having just the right thing for just the right person. And I think what we've got will be just the right thing for a lot of people pretty soon. So I may still be tipsy from last night, but I will make you a generous one time offer of... drumroll please... THIS unique hand-crafted 'Gewyn the Melodic Doll' in, exchange for the bag the lady has her eyes on." He gestures with both hands and a flourish at the Gewyn-like doll in Elthana's hands.
Dennis looks to the doll, and then Gewyn, and then the bag, and repeats the process all over again, "well... It's no gem, but you all make a good point, and it is one of the nicer things, hmmm and you're sure you don't want to keep hold of the doll? It's a striking resemblance, I'll take the doll!" He smiles and grabs for it, putting it up on a shelf on display behind his counter.
Elthana drops the underwear as soon as she sees what it is and watches as Dennis has a go of it. Giving the briefness of a smile, she is about to reach for the 20 gold when Gewyn pipes up. As he works his magic with his words, she stands there, completely stunned. How the tiefling was able to convince this wizard to accept a doll in his likeness in lieu of 20 gold?? She happily hands over the doll and picks up the strange bag and sticks it in her pack. Wondering what this bag truly was?
Even before the dealing is done, Sam is headed back to the caravans. This foodstuff won't take much to store but it'll take some explaining to the guards and they may need a hand getting things ready to pull out. Besides, something has got to be wrong with that bag, Sam figures. Must be some reason villagers stopped trying their luck if it does occasionally pay off 10 or more to 1. Every villager in every village thinks they're the one who will get lucky when such an opportunity strikes. Many a con man has bilked them all because of it...
Dennis may be a fool but if he came up with magic like the food storage thing then he can't be a total idiot. He doesn't even need to pay to draw, he could just pull objects out all day long until he was rich... Something is off about that.
Thoughts rambling through his head, Sam makes his way back and gets ready to depart...
Gewyn leans on the counter and looks at Elthana. "There you go. Now you can hang on to that 20 pieces and use it to buy some newer underwear,"he jokes, dangling the old dropped pair from the toe of his boot. He chuckles and pushes off of the counter, heading back towards the exit as he rolls his new set of dice in one hand. Reaching the door, he pokes his head out and checks both directions before leaving the building to head for the carriage.
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"Ah yes! I forgot to explain, you're new to town and this is advanced sorcery" Dennis jumps up with a finger in the air eager to clarify and likely go into nerdy detail, "the way this is prepared, is a method I managed to invent whereupon i destroy every molecule of water within the food stuffs and then form the food into these balls, similar to marbles. It makes it easy to store but a nifty side effect is that it makes the food completely preserved, no moulding no nothing! It need a hefty rehydration preferably in hot water so the food is cooked but cold works too. But if you eat a ball it will cause you problems, the food will try to rehydrate using the auxiliary water found in your body which can cause yourself dehydration and exhaustion, making you very sick, not to mention the swelling and the, ah.. gas.
When I'm preparing it, it gets very messy and very wet, so I had to prepare a special room in which to do it, however the water makes for good stock so I sell that too, by the bucket full, but that's not something you'll need for travel. Anyway I'm getting ahead of myself, if you'd like to go out and try it before you leave be my guest, you can return any that you don't use, if you don't like it or believe me or whatever, mainly because they keep forever, I assume, yes preservation means we can stockpile, there are farms around sure! But with no news coming from Hokum we are preparing for a possible food shortage, I wouldn't hike up prices on the people in my town when we're merely trying to see that we survive, that would be barbaric. No I do it for the joy and to help out, and if I get to apply my skills in new and interesting ways then all the better, I.. ah.. Im rambling again I do apologise, um... ah.. yes about that bag, miss." After the man's tirade, he quickly averts his gaze from Sam in an embarrassed gesture that only belies the fact that he believes his audience maybe wasn't as interested as he would have hoped.
As Elthana asks Vin about Nef's abrupt dislike Vin looks to the dog and the hound seems very indignant. Vin sighs and reports with a bit of embarrassment as the young man rubs the back of his head and looks a bit sheepish. "She... ummm... she doesn't like that you upstaged me last night on the poles." The dog gives a small snort which causes Vin to blush a vibrant red and to reply "I'm not saying that!" The dog for their part seems to be suddenly enjoying themselves. Vin seems desperate to avoid the rest of this conversation and latches onto the talk about dehydrated food pellets.
Vin in their haste to avoid whatever it was asks the shop keeper "What about the flavor? Doesn't the elimination of water cause some of the flavor to leave as well? Do you have some kind of technique or recommendation for that loss?" Vin is staying steadfastly focused on the wizard happy for a chance to talk about arcane things instead of what Nef wanted them to say.
Sam sighs and moves near to Neferox, slowly squatting down with a bit of a grunt and a sigh. “You got it wrong, Neferox,” Sam says quietly, almost conspiratorially once he’s more or less at eye level with the beast. “We’re a team. And so like no as we are a team there’s no showing the other up or such, instead we root for and support each other.”
“Ebb did at least as well as me against their so called strong man. Sure it irked me some but he’s on my team so I support him. I’m happy for him. In a way his success is my success. I want him to be good because when things get serious, like when we were attacked by the wolves, I want him to have my back… we protect each other. We’re a pack…” Sam tries explaining, feeling a bit of a fool unsure if the creature can understand him or not.
“Pack. Family. Team. All the same. Fighting, or even bad feelings, amongst them only hurts everyone. Makes everyone weaker. You want what’s best for Vin? Then you want Elthana to be as good as possible so they can help protect Vin too…” Sam stays there squatting looking at Neferox for a bit trying to Gaige if they understood at all or what their reaction might be…
“Yeah, I’d still of liked to have looked tons better than Ebb. Just means I need to be better, not that I want him worse,” Sam finishes and with a groan and a wince for his poor knees he stands up and looks again towards this Pot Luck sack.
“There at least a guarantee that something will be pulled out of it?”
The dog shifts their vision from the shop keep as soon as Sam addresses them correctly. They seem to listen to Sam as they cock their head sideways. As to understanding its a bit hard to tell. They do look to Vin when they are mentioned and they also look to Elthana when she is mentioned. The hound eyes her for a bit then goes to over to Vin and circles him twice before stopping. They looks briefly towards Sam then go back to staring at Dennis taking on their role as scary dog that might bite if they don't keep in line. Vin seems to get distracted at some point and looks down at Nef before turning to look at Sam a bit confused. Vin does turn back to talking with Dennis about the finer points of dehydrating food in-between the wizard helping others. Seems the young man is interested in learning about magical things.
Elthana gives the dog a once over as Vin quickly explains why the dog is unhappy with her. She then looks Vin in the eyes, "What about you? I hope you know I didn't try the poles to one up you, I wanted to see what I could do. I know this is all a bit new to you, what are your thoughts on the matter?" She notices when Sam kneels down to talk to the dog and lingers, listening to what he says to the animal.
Bringing her attention back to the bag she eyes the wizard. "A grab bag of sorts eh? Well, this place feels a bit like an extension of the festival from last night." she takes another look at the dusty old sack and figures, why not? She takes out 5 gold and lays it on the counter. Waiting for the wizards approval or nod, she then reaches inside of the bag and pulls out the first solid thing she comes across...
As Elthana puts down the five gold, Dennis nods in approval for her to retrieve something from The bag, but he doesn't stop rambling as Vin seemed interested. " Good point, the meat specifically does become less flavoursome, and the stock I sell off I suppose I could keep some, if I re-de-hydrolysed the waters I may be able to crystallise some of the flavour salts and sugars from the various foods, the bam instant flavour powder, this opens up a whole new opportunity.. the powders wouldn't just be applicable to the foods that they were taken from, they could be applied anywhere! Soup too tasteless? Add the concentrated flavour sugars extracted from carrots, amazing! I'm writing this down so I don't forget!..." As he continues blathering on it becomes apparent that his excitement and skills lie more in the experiment and magic department, as he seems to fall short in the marketing and business strategy areas.
Sam watches carefully as Elthana reaches into the bag, eager to see what she pulls out...
Vin thinks about Elthana's questions and looks over at Nef who seems to be talking with Sam before answering, "No. I think you were just having fun. It's my fault she's upset with you. I just need to get better. I'll just have to keep practicing and trying harder. I hope I can live up to how she sees me." he seems a bit worried as he looks at Nef then goes back to talking with the very excited shop keep. Vin seems to enjoy talking about cutting edge arcane magic as well and gets just as animated with the conversation with Dennis as the wizard seems to be about the topic. Vin even suggests he find fruits or powerfully flavors plants and dehydrate them specifically for adding flavor. Other then that Vin also seems a bit curious what Elthana will pull from the bag of mystery. In fact, he seems interested and counts his coins. He seems like he will give it a try as well but waits for Elthana to finish her turn.
Elthana retrieves her hand from the bag and within it she holds a doll. As she turns it over in her hand, she can tell that it is very well made, the body of wood with little clothes and the head of a porcelain, painted red. It appears to be worth easily more than the 5 gold she paid for it. As she looks closer at the head, it has little horns and actually resembles Gewyn a bit. She looks up at Gewyn as she is inspecting the doll to see if he is thinking the same thing, or if he is even paying attention at all.
She looks back up to Dennis as he is deep in conversation with Vin, and catches his eye. "So, for the entire bag, what are you thinking? Obviously it hasn't been touched in who knows how long."
Dennis looks up from his ramblings with Vin, "ohhh, um well that's One of the nicer things I've seen pulled out of there, but it never runs out of stuff, you know? Let's say umm 50 gold and it's yours, how's that sound?" He leans back on the doorway behind his counter and gives Neferox a nervous glance, before really giving the doll a hard look, then with surprise looking toward Gewyn.
Elthana frowns. "Well sir, until now I thought you ran a very good business. Now I feel like you're trying to rob me. 50 gold? For a bag mostly full of junk - your words. How about this counter... If the next thing I pull out of the bag is worthless, I'll give you 20 gold. If it is something of the same quality as this doll, or even a bit less, I'll give you 30 gold. Deal?"
"if you throw down 5gp for the pull then you've got a deal" Dennis rubs his hands with anticipation.
Elthana stacks the 5 gold pieces on the counter.
Elthana reaches into the bag and pulls out a chunk of folded cloth, as she unfolds it she sees that she has retrieved a folded pair of clean, but clearly old, underwear...
Dennis' eyes go wide for a moment and he doubles over before letting out the most donkey-like laugh any of you have ever heard, "ohhh, oh my... That is, well that was precious just for my amusement, ohhhhh you can have it for the 20, oh ahaahaahaaa." He wipes his eyes as he regains some giggling composure
Sam laughs and shakes his head. “Well the food is good. Dennis is too poor a businessman to be scamming us,” he says with a shrug. He shoves the foodstuffs into his pack and looks around. “We done here?”
Gewyn is off to the side, perusing the wares absentmindedly. He looks over just in time to see Dennis comparing him to the doll. He walks over to get a better look at the doll as Elthana haggles with Dennis. Gewyn smirks amusedly as the underwear comes up and then chimes in, "20 gold for the fun little sack, you say? I think we might be able to do you one better. What if I told you that a bit of a celebrity just came through here last night and made a big splash at the carnival, and we just so happen to have a piece of his merch that I think will be in hot demand right now? I'm sure you could make back a lot more than 20 gold on it."
He pretends to hesitate and muse to himself for a moment, "Of course, if we hang onto it until our current journey is done, we'd likely make over 50. Hmmm... I like you, Dennis. You strike me as someone who is less concerned with the distasteful consumerist business of profit margins, capitalism, and profit in general, and more concerned with having just the right thing for just the right person. And I think what we've got will be just the right thing for a lot of people pretty soon. So I may still be tipsy from last night, but I will make you a generous one time offer of... drumroll please... THIS unique hand-crafted 'Gewyn the Melodic Doll' in, exchange for the bag the lady has her eyes on." He gestures with both hands and a flourish at the Gewyn-like doll in Elthana's hands.
Dennis looks to the doll, and then Gewyn, and then the bag, and repeats the process all over again, "well... It's no gem, but you all make a good point, and it is one of the nicer things, hmmm and you're sure you don't want to keep hold of the doll? It's a striking resemblance, I'll take the doll!" He smiles and grabs for it, putting it up on a shelf on display behind his counter.
Elthana drops the underwear as soon as she sees what it is and watches as Dennis has a go of it. Giving the briefness of a smile, she is about to reach for the 20 gold when Gewyn pipes up. As he works his magic with his words, she stands there, completely stunned. How the tiefling was able to convince this wizard to accept a doll in his likeness in lieu of 20 gold?? She happily hands over the doll and picks up the strange bag and sticks it in her pack. Wondering what this bag truly was?
She nods to Sam and starts for the door.
Even before the dealing is done, Sam is headed back to the caravans. This foodstuff won't take much to store but it'll take some explaining to the guards and they may need a hand getting things ready to pull out. Besides, something has got to be wrong with that bag, Sam figures. Must be some reason villagers stopped trying their luck if it does occasionally pay off 10 or more to 1. Every villager in every village thinks they're the one who will get lucky when such an opportunity strikes. Many a con man has bilked them all because of it...
Dennis may be a fool but if he came up with magic like the food storage thing then he can't be a total idiot. He doesn't even need to pay to draw, he could just pull objects out all day long until he was rich... Something is off about that.
Thoughts rambling through his head, Sam makes his way back and gets ready to depart...
Gewyn leans on the counter and looks at Elthana. "There you go. Now you can hang on to that 20 pieces and use it to buy some newer underwear," he jokes, dangling the old dropped pair from the toe of his boot. He chuckles and pushes off of the counter, heading back towards the exit as he rolls his new set of dice in one hand. Reaching the door, he pokes his head out and checks both directions before leaving the building to head for the carriage.