Chapter 6
Chapter 6
“This is the last one,” said Carrot Top, setting a tray on the table. Berry Punch looked over the carrot cakes, looking for any faults. Finding none, she nodded with approval. Opening one of the cupboards, she produced a small bag of coins, which she tossed towards the waiting farmpony.
Carrot Top caught the bag in her mouth and dropped it into her saddlebags. Giving a last look to the large kitchen of the inn, she smiled at her new best customer.
“See you tomorrow,” she said, loading a stack of empty trays onto her back and walking out through the back door to where she had left her cart. Dumping her burden into the cart, she strapped herself in and pulled onto the main street.
Two green creatures were still there, unpacking their luggage around their strange vehicle. There was a tent already set up, as well as a small stand. Curious, Carrot Top pulled in towards the front. One of the creatures walked up to her, while his friend left towards the inn.
“Howdy there, customer. What can I do you for?” He smiled, wider than should have been possible for a humanoid.
Carrot Top stopped as close as her cart allowed, peering over the makeshift counter.
“Good day to you. I’m Carrot Top. And what are you selling here?”
The creature extended a hand, shaking her hoof. ”Pleased to meet you, Miss Top. I’m Screed and my partner over there is Legassi. We are travelling goblin entrepreneurs. And as for what we sell...” He looked around and back towards his strange machine. “We haven’t decided yet. Once we arrive at a new place, we run a small market research to see what will sell. Then we modify our little mobile factory here to produce whatever is needed.”
The farmpony gave a closer look to the vehicle. The largest central part looked like a large barrel, but with all the pipes, vents and cogwheels sticking out of it, it was impossible to guess at its actual purpose.
“A... mobile factory?” she asked, eyeing the goblin with disbelief. He only smiled.
“Yup, a real treasure she is. All the customer might need, it can produce... after some tweaking, of course. We keep modifying it as we travel. When we first got it, it was some sort of industrial juicer. We took it from our unicorn business partners that we... well, they were forced to close their business, sadly, and we got the machine as payment for the money they owed us. Since then, the Creed-Legassi mobile factory has been a distillery, a forge, a mining grinder, a lathe...”
Carrot Top kept listening, her eyes growing larger and larger. She had seen some examples of modern engineering, but this was more than she had thought possible. Trying to find anything to say, she grabbed onto the last word she heard. “A lathe? What were you selling?’
“Unicorn horns,” said a voice behind her. She gasped and jumped up, almost upturning her cart. The other goblin had just exited the inn, a large bag of foodstuffs balanced in his arms.
“...What!?” the farmpony gasped, trying to wrap her head around what she had heard.
Screed turned dark brown on the face. “Lagassi! When will you stop thinking with your stomach and start using your head!” He turned to Carrot Top, quickly going from shouts to urgent whisper. “Not real unicorn horns, of course, don’t panic, miss. They were... narwhal horns. We used the lathe to cut them to the right shape.”
”But... what for?” stuttered Carrot Top. Why would anyone buy fake unicorn horns?
The goblin seemed to shrink under her gaze. “Decorative purpose?” he tried. Seeing that the farmpony’s gaze wasn’t softening, he hesitated. “A paying customer is a paying customer. Why would I care what they do with my merchandize after they give me the money?”
Carrot Top pushed into his personal space, pressing a hoof to his chest. “You should. I’m not stupid. You’ve been ripping somebody off. You haven’t sold anything in this town yet, and I already feel like I should be calling the guards on you.”
She was interrupted by Screed grabbing her leg. He was much stronger than his frame suggested. Pushing her slowly away, he hissed: “And what will you tell them? There is nothing left for you to use as proof...” Just as suddenly as it appeared, his snarl was gone, replaced by the smug smile he had started the conversation with. He took a deep breath and shook his head. “Well, if you really wanna know, we were ripping off evil wizards. Once you guys appeared, there were a lot of magic practitioners interested in how your magic works, some less scrupulous than others. We saw the opportunity for profit, and it’s not like they didn’t deserve it, right? All we needed to do was hire some help to do the hunting for us and be long gone when our customers had finished experimenting. Cheating villains is what heroes do all the time.”
Pulling her leg out of the goblin’s grasp, Carrot Top stared into his face, frowning.”You expect me to believe that you two would have the courage to cross a bunch of evil wizards?”
“Why not?” It was Lagassi who spoke this time, peering out of the tent. “They aren’t the types to travel a lot. At worst they send some adventurers after us, and everybody knows how well that works.”
Just at this moment a shadow fell on the stand. Carrot Top turned her head and froze. A powerful armoured figure was standing above her. It was one of the Dreanei, huge and muscular, clad head to toe in spiky black armour. There were blue lights glowing from the slit of his helmet and as he brushed past Carrot Top, the pony felt a touch of cold that chilled her to the bone, without ever quite touching her coat. The Dreanei grabbed Creed by the collar and picked him up, holding him level with his face. In the corner of her eye, Carrot Top saw some city guards shifting nervously, not acting yet, but moving closer just in case. She heard the armoured figure whisper something, in a voice that seemed to have a hint of howling arctic wind to it.
To her surprise, Creed didn’t stop smiling. He just whispered something back and after a moment, pressed something small into the giant’s free hand. For a moment nobody moved. Then, slowly, the Dreanei dropped the goblin back to his feet. Turning around, he walked away towards the airship tower. Carrot Top stared in astonishment.”What did you tell him?”
Creed smiled at her with superiority. “One of our dissatisfied customers just made a typical blunder of sending an adventurer to do his revenge for him. You can hear some spirited speeches about honour, duty and all that, but that’s good for knights of the realm. The adventurers, they only fight for three things; gold, reputation and unique equipment. Now, as a merchant, I have gold, much more than the wizard in question. After all, I have his gold too. What I had to give away here was actually much less than I had got out of that bargain. Being a goblin, I also have connections; getting on my good side can provide some good reputation with my associates. As for magic items... well, I suppose the wizard might have some. Them being his most prized possessions, it is unlikely that he would part with them. Still, they can be looted off his corpse.”
Carrot Top’s jaw dropped again. “You... sent him back to the wizard that hired him?”
The goblins chuckled. “That’s what we always do,” said Lagassi. “Serves him well for being an idiot. Never send an adventurer at someone who can beat his price with your own money.”
This was enough for Carrot Top. She pulled back, getting her cart back on the road. “Um... thanks for the words of wisdom. See you... tomorrow, I guess.” She quickly ran down the road. She needed to get away from those two weirdoes.
You are now [neutral] with Gadgetzan
***
The farm was full of activity, as had been the case for the last couple of days. The two stands set up by Vinyl Scratch and the local kids were still there, and by the look of it, enjoyed a steady flow of beginner adventurers. Carrot Top ignored them. They were potential customers, but not the high level customers she needed. The one exception was what looked like a very ornamental clump of shrubbery arguing with Blueberry next to the barn.
“Five... gold? But that’s a lot of money... It didn’t use to cost that much...”
Blueberry didn’t seem moved. “Boss’ orders. Adventurers get adventurer prices. That’s how everypony charges these days.”
Carrot Top walked closer to the pair. Peering through the multicolour leaves and twisting vines, she could see some green fabric underneath. She could also spot a yellow wing sticking out. “Oh, hello Fluttershy. What seems to be the matter?”
The druid stepped back, rubbing her hooves together nervously. “Well... I wanted to buy the food for my animals... like I always do... but Blueberry says the prices have changed...”
Carrot Top gave a deep sigh. Looking closely at the pegasus, she noticed that her attire also contained pieces of stone. What had at first glance seemed to be an antlered helmet turned out to be an elaborate flower pot with a very gnarly plant growing out of it. Why anypony would wear something like that and to battle, no less, the farmpony could only guess at.
“Well, yeah,” said Carrot Top. “This is what everypony does nowadays. But you are a successful adventurer now, aren’t you? Travelling the world, saving Equestria from monsters, discovering hidden treasures. Five gold isn’t a big deal for you anymore.”
Fluttershy didn’t seem convinced. “B... but if I’m... a...”
The farmpony interrupted her. “You also buy more from us than before, don’t you? I bet you have some interesting new pets that need taking care of. How do you manage to do this while adventuring?
The change of topic had the expected result of relaxing Fluttershy a bit. “Oh yes, I have made a lot of new friends.” She poked the side of her flower pot helmet and a particularly tangled part of it turned out to be a bird’s nest – the animal peered out staring at Carrot Top over its owner’s brow.
“And you are right. It really takes more and more effort to take care of them all. But now that I’m a druid, there are some young ponies willing to learn about animals... and they help while I am away.”
“So,” continued Carrot Top,“you surely want to get the best food available for them? We do have less expensive vegetables we sell to ponies that don’t adventure. But the most expensive ones are also our best, the juiciest and most nutritious. With you being a hero and everything, you can afford to get the very best for your pets.”
“Well... if you put it that way...”
“Let me see that shopping list of yours,” insisted Carrot Top. Pulling at an end of a long list she saw sticking out of Fluttershy’s saddle bag, she unrolled it in the air, pressing the top of it to the barn door with her hoof. “Let me see... for five gold, I can provide you with all this and have it delivered to your home. And if you pay in advance, we can keep delivering food regularly while you are away. This would be another chore off your head. How does that sound?”
She turned towards the druid with a smile. Fluttershy hesitated for a moment before nodding her head. “Yes... that would be good, I guess.”
“Great! Wait here for a moment and we will get it all packed up for you.” Carrot Top rushed towards the barn, taking just a moment to stop next to Blueberry. “We need the money, but a happy customer will bring more money tomorrow,” she whispered, smiling.
***
The sun had barely risen as Carrot Top started on her way to Ponyville. The deal she managed to get from Fluttershy had been a very good way to start a week. There was still a lot of work to do, but between her and Berry Punch things were finally starting to look up. This was her way to earn money, honest work and business, not risking life and limb in monster-infested forests. Now, if only she could find a way to grow vegetables a bit faster...
She was so lost in thought, it took her a moment to notice a smell in the air. It was coming from Ponyville and it was definitely cake. But she was some distance away from Sugarcube Corner and who else would be baking at this hour?
Her questions were answered once she entered the street in front of the Berry Punch Inn. The goblins’ stand was already open and a line of adventurers was formed in front of the counter. One of the green creatures, probably Lagassi, though Carrot had a problem telling them apart, looked her way and waved.
“Oh, hey there, pony lady! We’ve finished our market research and this time we’re making an oven!”
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“Howdy here, customer. What can I do you for?”
missing a t there
2178354 Thank you. Nice avatar btw.
Oh crap. Bad twist for Carrot Top. But I'm impressed with these two. Instead of just making two typical sleazybags, they were almost protagonistic in how they dispensed seller's wisdom to Carrot Top. Free professional advice! Even now they aren't trying to screw her over. Of course, they won't give a damn either. You have excellent insight on sales and microeconomics. Does that relate to anything IRL? I hope you'll have CT use her wiles to get out of this, instead of going with the crowd and just beating things up for cash. But really, she does need to figure herself out and pick a class that suits her. Giving up the ability to adequately defend or heal yourself, in the world of Warcraft, is far worse than some missed opportunity.
2209088
Well...
Sorry, the story WILL continue. I'm just a bit tangled with other projects atm, that's all.
As long as I get paid.
That's a true goblin for ya.
Oh, draenei dk! And Creed's got it. "Gold! Rep! Items!" That's the holy trinity of WoW players!
I suspect if the Scourge themselves had rep and items to sell, we'd be working for them against the Alliance and Horde, who cared if it ends life as we know it? Also, I want a nerubian mount.
Nice starting scene there.
And a new rep is unlocked.
Flutters! What's the wearing? Sounds a bit like the druid tier out of Molten Core. But then a lot of druid stuff has leaves and antlers and pots and pans.
Fluttershy's personal zoo must be freakin' enormous by now.
Has a challenger appeared?
I'm still grinnin' with this chapter and the previous one, though I'm very certain I read the one before this on a mobile device some time ago. Lucky me, there's more, too! No wait!
3058046 Back in WotLK, I was disappointed that DKs didn't get the option to stay with the Scourge. Years later and we still don't have a third playable faction, despite how stagnant the game has become.. At this point, I'd actually ENJOY sticking it to the Alliance and Horde. They're both full of jerks.
I can't really blame to gobbos, they were up front about things, plus they scanned Flim and Flam, so that earns them some good will.
Now, how to deal with this, change tactics... or just hope they are only some seasonal event?