Cat smiles like the one who just ate the canary "Why don't you come inside the Manor and meet Lif? Since you're going to be our first new Manager. Be warned he's our partner on this venture, and he's a little odd, So bring a bottle of wine and put it on the bar. If you got them, some wine glasses."

She leads the way carrying two of the bottles "Pardon the mess by the way we only just started renovation."

She says in thieves cant to Drux "You may need to stop him out here from taking off." 

In common "Drux will watch the wagon for you."

Piers goes nearby cat and whispers 'are we sure he aint gonna freak out once he sees Lif?'

Lore whispers to Cat, "I'm not sure a man who has spent his life on the roads selling bevereiges city to city is necessarily the best choice for an Inn manager. Besides, if he is managing the inn, where will the drinks come from?"

She nods and whispers "He might, but being so greedy, he'll see profit signs in it, also."

She shrugs whispering back. "Good point. But I'm sure he knows where to buy here."

Lore shakes his head, continuing in a whisper, "I'm sure he does see profit in being handed a business to sell his wares." He considers a moment since, after all, Lore did not come here to run an inn. Perhaps this should be viewed as the owners renting out a business premises in return for 80% of the profit?

Raising his voice to a normal level, he continues. "This is a small town. He brings drinks here. He may be the only one, or one of only a few. If there are manufacturers here, then let's buy from them direct and skip this guy." Lore shrugs, clearly losing interest, "If it was up to me I'd drive a decent bargain for regular supply at a decent discount, or just break his cart again. Then hire a local to manage it all. Someone with skin in the game: local connections, reputation, friends, family." His eyes flicker over the merchant, "Not someone with no connection, who's as likely to skip town with the years profits."

Cat shakes her head as Lores words, make sense to her. "I guess we Should go to the city hall and ask for the registry. When we get the chance. Thanks Ragan I'll see you back to the door. Stop by some time if you have wares to sell." Feeling tired now as she leads the dwarf back to the door. She decides not to go looking for a bed roll, she's slept in worse situations. Besides they have a patrol tonight.

She wonders if she'll have the dream again of the tiger like humanoid today, Idoza told her once that it might be some blood memory of past lives, or ancestors. 

"Ah..." Lore's gaze flicks from Cat to Ragan, then back to Cat, then Ragan in rapid succession.

Eventually he addresses Ragan, "It's, ah, not really my place to say but, Ragan, perhaps you might be able to see your way clear to provide us with regular supplies at a discount? Such a deal would ensure your income and get us started in our new business. As to profit sharing, the profits will be minimal I am sure, accountancy being as it is, but a regular client has some value, eh?"

"Your generosity so far should only be rewarded with further custom, and perhaps before you leave town we might give you a down-payment on the next shipment?"

Piers acknowledges  he isn't the proper person for this conversation.Trusting cat's and lore's judgement as they are familiar with the ways of negotiations and transactions he remains  silent 

Drux responds back in cant. “Why would I need to stop him? You think he’d just take off?”

Aloud, “Sure, I can do that for you. Gota protect the merchandise, or so they say.”

While the others are inside, Drux just circles the cart, seeing if he notices anything this Dwarf may be attempting to hide.

Investigation 10   

Ragan looks at cat "well . .. i'm not new to odd fellas. what is he? a dragonborn? a shapeshifter? perhaps something more unique?" he asks lost in tough as he didn't hear lore speaking. he was following cat to the door but stopping when cat adresses him. he turns to lore "oh? well sure! did you aready got the bottles you need? next time i will sell the bottles at a favorable discount. and. . . a  down-payment? well. .. normally one bottle of wine would be 10 gold pieces. let's say. . . i'm willing to give 30% of a discount, and sell it at 7 gold pieces per bottle, how about it?" he asks, fiddling with his fingers

drux does not see anything that seems to be out of the ordinary inside the cart. however, as he stepped closer to get a better view, something barks at him from inside the cart. he does not see anything inside, but the barking and snarling continues. Ragan quickly turns, looking at the cart "Hey! down boy!" he says, with the barking quickly ceasing "sorry for that! it's my. . ."security", as you can say. don't worry too much about him."

Cat is somewhat shocked at the barking, but she regains her composure magic watchdog good Idea. She decides talk to Pumphry about wine when she gets the chance "Such deals! Is there a way we can get in touch with you? We're really busy at the moment, fighting the undead apocalypse, and we need our sleep." 

She says as a matter of fact and wonders if the truth sounds like a lie. She says in thieves cant to Drux as Drux and the barking is distracting Ragan. "Change of plan".

She wonders if Pumphry would be their manager? She knows he works as a bouncer.

The unexpected sound of barking startles Drux a bit, but of course it’s only after a long exhausting day and he is past the point of needing sleep.

“Sounds good. Guys a bit odd eh?” Drux responds in cant while walking a few feet away from the cart.

”Guess ya don’t need someone watching the cart while we talk, do ya Ragan?”

"I have to say 30% discount sounds  very tempting!" says Piers he yawns

Lore nods, smiling. "That sounds like a good deal. Give us a little time to discuss what we need with our ... manager/barkeep, and we'll place an order. for the next shipment."

"oh there is actually! one moment, please. . . " he says, rummaging trough his pockets and grabbing one stone- the stone has the face of an elf carved on it, and it appears to be speaking "this is a sending stone! it allows both users to communicate once per day. twenty five words, i will know it's you. i have my own, do not worry." he says, smiling and givint it to cat "ohh? undead apocalypse? huh. . . well i hope you suceed, there's no clients on an apocalypse." he says in a nervous smile. he seems to not actually believe and take it as some kind of joke "oh, more or less. my watchdog is powerfull but good bandits can pretty much deal with him easily. so please, don't tell anyone about this, or i will lose the element of surprise." he then jumps on his wagon, sitting as he fiddled with his fingers "i will patiently wait here."

As the man settles into his cart, Lore stands ready to follow the others into the inn.

Before going in Piers nods to Cat and lore to have a quick talk..Whispering says 'I may not know a lot about dealing  with merchants but why would he have a sending stone?And he has a magical hound.From what I get he is not a common merchant and there is more than meets the eye.Should we have dealings with him?Keep an eye as he may sell other staff we might want?'