Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Routine and more routine

Hardest part of being a guild hunter was all the boring times between jobs. I mean sure you could get crunched by some behemoth animal, but that was like a once a month occurence.  Most of the time we sat at base trained, cleaned, took care of our weaponry.  Even then on jobs I spent most of the time WATCHING HORSES!  Yeah all that training and I was a horse guard, and outside of my first job I never even got to kill anything, I'd help clean kills afterward, but most of the time it was watch the horses burn random things in the enviroment (My aunt thought I brought flint and tinder for this purpose and commended me on taking the iniative with learning survival skills).

I did pick up what would be the start of my entrepenurial skills working for Aunt Corli. Most of the hunters would rather train then go to town and sell things, and I'd rather leave camp occaisionally then swing a sword and pretend to fight. So I'd load down my horse with various items we'd taken off creatures and hit up the local merchants.  At first they were screwing me pretty badly and the hunters in camp were not too happy with the money I came back (I might as well have had a sign on my head that said "I'm a rube take advantage of me"), later though having learned a bit about supply and demand and banking on my previous rep of being an easy mark I started to get them.  My easiest money maker was going to town with a limited amount of one good that we actually had a lot of, I'd sell it for a low price and then when they'd lament they need more to actually produce goods/sell to others I'd say I'll ask Aunt Corli if we can hunt more of that monster.  Now here is where the big money would come in, they'd usually give me extra to "persuade" her to make that decision and at the same time lock in a higher price for more of that good.  So I'd wait a week come back and sell of the stock I had at that higher price.  They thought they were getting a good deal, the hunters never knew the money I was skimming off for my persuasion techniques and the world was a happy place.

Later I'd learn of playing off one seller against another and also start producing my own goods to sell as well. Back then I was on the top of the world though, I swapped my two hand me down swords for a single broad bladed long sword (Linsk shook his head at what he thought was a useless purchase). For me it was about individuality, I had to be different from the others to feel like my own man. Not wanting to give my ability to take skins I had the smith who made my sword make me a small flat bladed dagger and sheath I carried on my lower back. I also had him design me a glove for my right hand, it had some spikes on the tips and a blade on the top.  Linsk dissapproved of this immensely stating if my left hand became damaged I wouldn't be able to properly feel the blade with my right.  I waved this off as his normal rambling (in retrospect its obvious why me and Linsk didn't get along the greatest).

I got so good at selling, buying, and reselling that I stopped going to jobs entirely.  Aunt Corli was a bit sad at first, but when she got a share of the extra profit I brought in she didn't care as much (I guess prior to me taking on the buying and selling trade the guild was kind of running low on funds). I even got to expand my smaller bedroom into an office with prices written on a small board I purchased and stacks of supplies organized by what I was selling local merchants.  I'd expanded as well to take part in trade caravans even enlisting the guilds help to get our goods out farther.

It was while they were out of town that I had my first true "adventure" and tomorrow I'll regale you with a tale of intrigue, betrayal, lust, and uhh adventure! I honestly don't know why I'm writing this like I'm talking to someone, perhaps this is some kind of mental issue.  Oh well, till tomorrow!

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