<strong>Just outside the Point Respite Magna Sophia chapter house</strong><br/><br/>Besieged on both sides by authoritative women, the remaining men hesitated for a moment. Their ringleader, either terrified of losing power or heady with the tiny taste that he'd had, began to formulate a biting response (or perhaps just a torrent of profanity). However, before he could say anything, one of his compatriots clapped a hand heavily on his shoulder and said, "Leave it alone. We'll be late to the worksite if we drag this out any longer, and BB doesn't stand for that."<br/><br/>The group was silent for a moment, then the former ringleader nodded, and they ambled off together, quickly breaking back into conversation, as though they had already forgotten their grudge. Or perhaps they just wanted to create that impression.<br/><br/>"... the gals ... Sons of Igni house ... same trouble ..."<br/><br/>"... no<em>way</em>that would have would have worked ..."<br/><br/>"... the worst that could have ..."<br/><br/>"... get eaten!"<br/><br/>The street was now empty, with the exception of the three women and a small rodent of some sort that had just crawled out from under a nearby house.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide</div><div class="spoiler_body">Despite my best efforts, I still do not yet have full mastery of this system. I looked back over the .pdf and found that, in fact, there <em>are</em> teamwork rules! Whoops! They're fairly simple, though. The person with the highest skill rolls, and gets +1 for everyone else with that skill in their group. As such, Lazerette's Great (+4) score gets bumped up to a Superb (+5) which is enough to defuse things in an "friendly" manner without any negative fallout.</div></div><br/><strong>Point Respite main square: speaking with the quartermaster</strong><br/><br/>The swords he brought were good ones: not elven blades by any meaning of the word, but sharp, well-balanced, and made of good, solid steel. His eyes tracked her movements with inexcusable closeness as she tried out each blade in turn, and he hung on every word, despite his obvious best efforts not to let it show. Still, he hadn't broken into a flop-sweat or noticeably blushed again, so there was something to be said for his composure, however small.<br/><br/>As soon as the word "money" came out of her mouth, Nils showed his true colors. He might be an all-too-mortal man, but in this instance, his professionalism overcame whatever sway she had established over him. After less than a minute of haggling, he sighed, crossed his arms, and said, "Look, I don't doubt that you'd be a service to us all with this in your hand, but there'll be a bunch more folks wanting to buy good steel in the next couple of days. I said ten crowns earlier, and ten crowns it still is. I'm sorry."<br/><br/>He hesitated for a moment, then added, "Everything in my stock belongs to the crown, technically. If you really need a sword, I'd go talk to the Commandant for a special dispensation. What she says generally goes, around here."<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide</div><div class="spoiler_body">Sadly, that isn't going to get Reliyian the sword. Ten crowns is fairly high price for a sword, but everything's a bit more expensive on the island, on account of its relative isolation. The Commandant is the escape clause here. She's the one who'll be getting you all together, and she probably won't want you under-prepared for the mission she'll send you on (unless, of course, you manage to really make her angry in the interim).</div></div>