"The Inquisition came and killed everyone, don't you see?" You say, attempting some degree of sarcasm.
Another woosh of air and you suddenly find Plinrgleth standing in front of you. She is larger than you, and you would feel intimidated had she got the ability to harm you.
"What? That was plainly stupid. Don't try to mess with me, because I will find a way to mess you up!"
"I'm just saying what happened. They just were summoned here, and killed everyone." You helpfully point at the piles of demonic rubbish that were formerly the workstations.
A speck of fear crosses her face, as the thought of someone strong enough to kill your master passes through her mind. But it quickly fades into a wide demonic grin:
"You are kidding, boy!" She says, not believing it at all. You just answer with a shrug, and call one of your commoner souls, and you start to play around with it. This one seems to be from some teenager girl who worked as a servant in some random noble's mansion.
"Go away Blitz. I'm doing something very important." You say, trying to put a concentrated face as you go through the memories of the girl, not finding anything of importance, just a mixture of gossip, family matters, and a crush she had on the steward of said noble. The Blitzbeast frowns and reappears in front of you.
"At least I guess that I can take that soul from you, then?" She says, while leaning in what would be a painfully slow motion for her towards the soul. You answer by unleashing a bunch of your poisonous gas, and Plinrgleth starts to cough and back away.
"What was that? The last time I smelled something so awful was when I was a mortal and a Savannah orc farted on my face. Cough..."
She quickly gets at a considerable distance away from you, and adds:
"You win this time, Fart Boy! But I will come back!" And with that she disappears. You are pretty sure that she can perfectly forget about what happened here, seeing as there is not much loot to steal, or that she could come back later. You stand somewhat triumphant, having defeated by unexpected means one of your master's nemesis, and Penelope and the Tentacle Demon come out of hiding and thank you for getting rid of her.
Tentacley shakes his tentacles and tries to use his frontal ones as a tongue to lick you in appreciation, but they just go through you. Most of the tentacles shift to one side, just like a dog would when it doesn't understand something. It is somewhat cute, as far as your perception of what is cute goes.
After this situation has been sorted out, you find that it is time to start another week of your business:
Week 2:Negotiation phase:A) You are greeted by Chieftain Hill, who bows before you and offers a small lead box, which contains a soul, claiming that it belongs to you now. he then gets as talkative as the last time, and you learn that he and his clan followed the Augur to a local tavern and managed to get the soul back, but they had to pay the Dark Mage a proper compensation in silver. They almost tried to kill him on the spot, but there were some city guards around, and they didn't want to get his small clan into problems with the law. You are also told that his clan has moved from Orc Country to the southernmost human lands of the Kingdom, and that they found an abandoned house who previously belonged to a dark mage, which now serves as their base of operations. He asks you if you could find him better weapons for his clan, or another means to make them better at fighting, as they are a small clan with only one water elementalist as their disposal, and they want to take mercenary work. You don't know where to get the demonic weapons, but you are sure that mercenary work should give them plenty of souls, as long as they don't get themselves killed. Alternatively, you could contract one of your minions to them. The tentacle beast would be really notorious in a human city, but could take on 5 or 6 humans at the same time, with the plus that you could trick the orcs into a favorable contract which makes it obligatory for them to hide it. Alternatively, you could contract yourself to the orcs, and as long as you don't face an air elementalist or a member of the Inquisition, you would be pretty safe, and could enjoy some time away from work, and maybe doing some business of your own on the mortal realm while you kill for the clan. Of course, it would entail leaving your business here unattended for some time, with the dangers it could pose for your minions.
+1 old orc potioncrafter soul
B) Gretha calls back and asks for the soul of her father in exchange of those three souls she gave you. She seems far happier this time, and she even divulges that she used the scrap soul that she bought from you to power a powerful golem that had been in her family for generations, which she used to defend her city against an invading force of goblins. She points out that the goblin slaves were already cursed to send their souls to another demon, and that she had to unweave the hex and curse them with your own curse before they were executed. You could be the trustworthy fellow and give the soul back to her, as three souls is a sufficient enough payment for the scrap soul you gave her. Or you could use your leverage and demand even more souls, but you are unsure if she will be able to get them.
C) You are contacted by a lowborn human. She is called Kathy, and is interested in buying some wight souls. She claims that she won't pay anything over 4 souls for each one. You are pretty sure that if you use your developing marketing skills and mention that you have warrior souls in stock, that price could go up in one or two souls.
Penelope asks you from a distance if she can directly interfere in your negotiation with Kathy. You are sure that she could get a good deal, but fear that it may make you look weak by letting an underling do business for you. It depends on how experienced the dark mage turns out to be.
So, again, how do you answer to each customer?
Health: Healthy
Vigor Level: 2 [4/15] curses to advance to the next level.
Available action points: 30
Skills:
Elementalism level 2. [1/25] to next level.
Demonic assets:
-Minor soul vault: [15/30] souls:
Unprocessed:
3 goblin slave souls.
5 miscelaneous commoner souls.
1 drow fire elementalist soul.
1 dwarf earth elementalist soul.
1 orc potioncrafter soul
Processed:
1 Dwarf soul.
1 Human smith Wight soul.
2 Dwarf warrior Wight souls.
-Spinescorcher: your former master's flaming axe. You can't even wield it, being immaterial and all that.
Demonic minions:
-A tentacle demon. Maybe you should name him.
-Penelope the Sorrow's Daughter
Author
Topic: (SG) Bankruptcy: The Tale of a Demonic Enterprise (Read 18726 times)