Wondering down the street, Charlie kept glancing over his shoulder at Nolkonoe. She seemed still tense, but after what just happened, she seemed a little more cheerful. Deciding it was best to keep their cover low, Charlie had returned to the shop to lower the gun order to fifty guns. This bulk order would make sure that all merchants in the area would assume this was just another order for a gang.
Lowering the order also meant it would be quicker for him to deliver the guns to the Chiefess. Now, they wandered the streets, looking for another gun shop to order from, as well as other shops to potentially order things from to reduce suspicion. Glancing over his shoulder to Nolkonoe, he felt shivers run down his spine.
Picking up on this insecurity, Nolkonoe walked to his side.
“Are you ok?” she questioned. Charlie only nodded as he stared around the signs of shops, looking for something that may be of interest.
“Yeah…” he said, his tone slightly shaky as he didn’t look at her once as he walked.
“Charlie…” she said. Again, shivers flowed over him. She never, never used his name in such a deep and menacing tone, “Tell me what is wrong,” she continued.
“I was just thinking…”
“Seventeen,” she cut him off.
“What?”
“You were going to ask about how many men’s cocks I have bitten off right? Well, I was attacked by some looters while out teaching Phukomeia about plants. They broke my arms, so I used my teeth… I think the rest speaks for itself,” Nolkonoe’s explanations gave Charlie a mixed sense of amazement at her endurance to still fight with two broken arms, but also a feeling of dread at what those men must have felt.
Still, though, it was their fault for thinking someone like Nolkonoe would be easy to take advantage of. Despite the motherly feeling he got from her, there was an aura of constant awareness that seemed to emanate from her. Stopping, Charlie stared up at a store. The windows presented blankets, pillows, and all kinds of exotic furs and items.
Turning and pointing to the store, Charlie made sure all the group had gathered.
“Using the ideas, you were taught, try and buy some stuff from here,” Glancing to just next to the door, Charlie saw the image of a green cog, the owl with its eyes closed at the centre.
The gun store had had the red variant of this symbol, while the bakery had the green. Considering how good the bakery had been in compared to the gun store, Charlie began to assume that these symbols may have been markers of some kind to say which shops had higher standards than others. This shop here was going to take part in testing this theory.
Slowly, and with a little hesitance, the women entered the shop. Nolkonoe went in alongside them, acting as a mentor as she had (at least hopefully) taken in what Charlie had said a little more than them. Standing to the side, Charlie allowed the women to file in first as he again had Nolkonoe make sure they were all aware of what they needed to do.
Once they were inside, he stood back and watched as the natives began to wander around the store. An old man stood behind the counter. His posture and domineer shuddered and shrank as the women began to imitate Charlie in his act of being smug, overly confident, and all together with an asshole. Feeling sweat begin to drip down the side of his face, Charlie came to a realisation.
He had only taught them how to deal with bad merchants, and everything about this little old man screamed gentle grampa. A small echoed through the building as one of the women hit the counter, causing the man to jump as she leaned onto the arm and glared at him. Shuffling into the shop, Charlie edged his way over to Nolkonoe.
“Sorry… umm…. There has been a slight mistake,” Charlie muttered to her as he watched the woman say nothing as she simply glared at the man.
“What?” Charlie quickly explained his mistake, but before Nolkonoe could translate to the women that this didn’t seem to be that bad of a shop owner and they should be more polite, the woman at the desk had the man by the scruff of his neck.
Leaping forward, Charlie gave his best customer service smile as he took the woman’s hand and began to separate her from the man. Placing the man down and dusting him off, he used one foot to subtly move the woman away. Like an old dog, the man looked up at him with large, dopy eyes.
“Wh…Why is that woman angry? Did I say something bad?” the man said, his eyes showing himself to be more sympathetic to his attacker than worried for his health.
“No, no sir. We just had a bad shopping experience, so they have all been a little on edge,” Charlie said with a smile, as he carefully made sure the woman hadn’t broken anything on him.
For a moment Charlie simply stared forward as he came to a realisation. He couldn’t breathe. Looking up, he stared into the eyes of a man. No, not his eyes, but the red slits of a stark iron mask. This creature tightened its grip. A woosh of air and scratch of the wood against the floor, and Nolkonoe was by the man. Her knife was pressed against his neck.
Placing a hand onto that of the masked man, the older shopkeeper gave him a warm smile. Reluctantly, the man released his grip. Falling to the floor, Charlie was quickly surrounded by some of the natives, each keeping their hands on their blades. Now being able to get a better look at the man, Charlie saw that a cloche showed his body. Preventing them from knowing what weapons this man held.
Standing, Charlie placed his hand on Nolkonoe’s shoulder. Putting out a hand, he had them lower their weapons.
“We’re very sorry sir, it seems there has been a great misunderstanding,” Charlie said, carefully placing himself between the two groups.
“It’s true my friend, they aren’t bad people!” The old man said with a long smile as he placed a hand on the shoulder of the tall man. Silently, he moved past Charlie, past the women, then to the doorway.
“Again sir, I’m very sorry for them. You see, we had a very unpleasant experience down the road at the gun shop, so my friends here assumed that all would treat them in such a poor way,” Charlie’s words stopped the man in the doorway. Nodding, in silence, he turned and began to walk down the street. For a moment they all stared as the man walked casually down the street
“I want to leave,” Nolkonoe muttered, a look of worry on her face.
“Fine, let's buy the stuff and leave, that guy creeps me out,” Charlie said, but Nolkonoe shook her head.
“That’s not the reason. That man has no scent. No presence of sound as he walks,” she said, and with this new knowledge, Charlie quickly brought some furs, bed sheets, and other artefacts before leaving the building.
Nodding and waving their goodbyes to the man, they took their goods and began to wander down the street. Turning and twisting down alleyways, Charlie made sure to keep Nolkonoe and the others on the other side of the street as they began to move past the bakery owned by the night elf. Once past the bakery, tension seemed to lift from the group as they all knew they were closer to the safety of the Desert Claimers.
By the time they were at the front gates, they quickly sighted the large creation of rifles and crates of ammunition. It seemed their friend from the gun shop worked quick. As they approached, Charlie had the natives take the goods back to the Desert Claimers. Some mercenaries even came to help, most likely out of fear of the Chiefess’s wrath.
“I’ll stay here for a bit, my throat hurts from that man almost strangling me to death. I’ll make a list of what you should do when in the stores, for example checking for the copper-gold scam, and please don’t kill anyone,” Charlie said, turning back to the Desert Claimer outside the gates.
“Also take the merchant handbook, the rules of it don’t apply to shopkeepers, but at least make sure that the prices are fair using it,” Charlie finished as Nolkonoe walked off, retrieved the papers, and then re-joined the group.
“Lastly, take this,” Charlie took out a piece of paper that he had roughly written of goods that they should get. Nodding, Nolkonoe took the list and tucked it into the merchant handbook.
After loading the goods with the help of some mercenaries and renaming warriors/Vultures, Charlie turned to watch as the women left to go and buy some goods. Now alone, Charlie simply watched as the natives walked off into the town. Leaping, he struggled for a moment as arms wrapped around him.
Quickly he relaxed as he saw Klipesia staring down at him. One problem and straight into another. Charlie thought to himself as she let go of him.
“Hi, everything going well here?” he asked, only now realising that she was meant to be with the Chiefess. Klipesia sucked in her cheeks as she looked away. Nervously, she looked back at him. Going to speak, she stopped before biting her bottom lip and deciding reluctantly to speak.
“Yes, Chiefess though…” she glanced over to a large wooden house, “Chiefess drink lots,”
“She got drunk?”
“Met leader of the town, he bore her, he challenges her to drinking game them…”
With those few words, a man came flying out of the room and onto the floor. At first glance, nothing looked broken, but as cheers came from inside the hut, he had a good idea of what was happening. Why was she doing this? Well, he assumed it was best to probably not know, but still, go and check to make sure she hadn’t killed anyone.
Walking towards the wooden building with Klipesia in tow, he shuffled past the guards and into the doorway. A hand stopped him as it planted itself on his shoulder. Looking to his side, he saw a nervous guardsman simply shake his head.
“Don’t do it, boy, she downed a couple of bottles of dwarven wine and when a man touched her ass, she just started swinging,” the man said, his eyes falling onto the man who had been thrown outside. He was asleep, or at least that was what Charlie hoped.
“I know,” Charlie muttered as he entered the building.
A dimly lit table sat at the centre of the seemingly empty room. But as he walked deeper inside, he realised that all the soldiers and mercenaries alike were cowering against the sides of the room. They were so closely packed together; it was hard to tell how many people there were as they all seemed to just be one large blob of fear.
At the centre, around this melancholy grey table sat the Chiefess, head of the mercenary third regiment, and several more men. Most of the men seemed exhausted. A man that sat upright in a nice, expensive looking suit sat across from her. His posture and presence, despite his obvious intoxication from his struggling to keep his eyes open, were upright and firm.
Further, Charlie moved into the room, and the stronger the scent of alcohol assaulted his senses. Swearing and muttering something under his breath, one of the men placed a pile of coins onto the table before the other standing men did as well. Grinning, the Chiefess placed down a bag of coins as well. Oh no… this wasn’t just a drinking game; they had convinced her to gamble with them.
Guessing from how Klipesia had said it was just a simple drinking game, he assumed that they were unaware that they were gambling. Usually, by this point Charlie would have stepped in to stop her and explain to her the situation but looking at the bags of money that she had already accumulated, it seemed she had already won quite a few games against the men.
Towards the back of the room lingered a man. He held his arm against his chest as some other men tended to a wound on his face. Considering, even from where Charlie was, the arm looked broken he thought it was safe to assume this was the man who had touched the butt of the Chiefess. Taking a glass, she extended her hand as the man was handed another bottle of dwarven wine.
Once each shot was poured, each cheered before chugging down the alcohol. Three men collapsed, while the head of the mercenaries stood tall, and the man he assumed to be the town lord also seemed unaffected. Grinning, the Chiefess leaned across to the mercenary and prodded his chest. Dust kicked up off the floor slightly as the man fell back.
Looking to the town lord, the Chiefess leaned forward and tapped the man’s glass. Charlie could make out little detail on the man, but from the look on the Chiefess’s face, he knew she could probably tell he was also about to fall to her. Again, she tapped his glass. Muttering something under his breath, he poured the drink into the cups.
Once the drinks were poured, the man and the Chiefess raised their respective cup. Glaring across at each other, they downed their drink. Swaying, then using an arm to stabilise himself on his chair, before eventually tumbling, the town lord was defeated. As if just proving a point, the Chiefess grabbed the bottle of dwarven wine and downed the drink in its entirety.
Leaping up, a proud grin on her face, she saw Charlie by the doorway. For a moment she blushed at being caught in such a situation, but when she saw the large smile on Charlie’s face, she relaxed. Moving towards him, she handed him one of the bags of coins. Seeing his smile widen, she could tell she had done well.
Shuffling past her, he began to pick up the bags of coins. A little annoyed, but satisfied that he was happy, the Chiefess chose to walk outside as he began to pick up the bags and cradle them into his arms. As Charlie passed the Chiefess, he caught the glare of the Chiefess. Shuddering slightly, he knew she was annoyed.
“Are you… mad?” he muttered. Puffing out her cheeks, she looked away from him.
“Sorry, I’ll make it up to you,” Charlie said as he wandered past the now pouting Chiefess. She was drunk, so it was no use trying to reason with her. But on the bright side, from how much money she seemed to have made they may even be able to turn a small profit from this journey. With her gambling skills and his merchant knowledge, they could have done very well today.
Sighing, Charlie felt a little annoyed. He had sent the others away to do some of the merchant skills and buying, but if he had been doing it himself, there was bound to be some exploit he could have found to pay less for their goods. Yet still, it seemed they at least had the men distracted for now as they all tried to recover from the Chiefess either terrifying them, beating them, or getting them off their minds drunk.
Shaking his head as if to banish any reasonable thought, Charlie moved to begin getting the payments for the guns ready.
Hey everyone, hope you have enjoyed the story. Just got a few things to show/say here.
Number 1 - the funny number
Also want to say I may or may not upload on Sunday/tomorrow, not sure yet, since I am making a lot of the comic. Here are a few images of the stuff I am trying to do at the moment using assets and editing.
These two haven't been fully rendered yet.
So yeah, hope you all enjoy!
Wondering down the street, Charlie kept glancing over his shoulder at Nolkonoe. She seemed still tense, but after what just happened, she seemed a little more cheerful. Deciding it was best to keep their cover low, Charlie had returned to the shop to lower the gun order to fifty guns. This bulk order would make sure that all merchants in the area would assume this was just another order for a gang.
Lowering the order also meant it would be quicker for him to deliver the guns to the Chiefess. Now, they wandered the streets, looking for another gun shop to order from, as well as other shops to potentially order things from to reduce suspicion. Glancing over his shoulder to Nolkonoe, he felt shivers run down his spine.
Picking up on this insecurity, Nolkonoe walked to his side.
“Are you ok?” she questioned. Charlie only nodded as he stared around the signs of shops, looking for something that may be of interest.
“Yeah…” he said, his tone slightly shaky as he didn’t look at her once as he walked.
“Charlie…” she said. Again, shivers flowed over him. She never, never used his name in such a deep and menacing tone, “Tell me what is wrong,” she continued.
“I was just thinking…”
“Seventeen,” she cut him off.
“What?”
“You were going to ask about how many men’s cocks I have bitten off right? Well, I was attacked by some looters while out teaching Phukomeia about plants. They broke my arms, so I used my teeth… I think the rest speaks for itself,” Nolkonoe’s explanations gave Charlie a mixed sense of amazement at her endurance to still fight with two broken arms, but also a feeling of dread at what those men must have felt.
Still, though, it was their fault for thinking someone like Nolkonoe would be easy to take advantage of. Despite the motherly feeling he got from her, there was an aura of constant awareness that seemed to emanate from her. Stopping, Charlie stared up at a store. The windows presented blankets, pillows, and all kinds of exotic furs and items.
Turning and pointing to the store, Charlie made sure all the group had gathered.
“Using the ideas, you were taught, try and buy some stuff from here,” Glancing to just next to the door, Charlie saw the image of a green cog, the owl with its eyes closed at the centre.
The gun store had had the red variant of this symbol, while the bakery had the green. Considering how good the bakery had been in compared to the gun store, Charlie began to assume that these symbols may have been markers of some kind to say which shops had higher standards than others. This shop here was going to take part in testing this theory.
Slowly, and with a little hesitance, the women entered the shop. Nolkonoe went in alongside them, acting as a mentor as she had (at least hopefully) taken in what Charlie had said a little more than them. Standing to the side, Charlie allowed the women to file in first as he again had Nolkonoe make sure they were all aware of what they needed to do.
Once they were inside, he stood back and watched as the natives began to wander around the store. An old man stood behind the counter. His posture and domineer shuddered and shrank as the women began to imitate Charlie in his act of being smug, overly confident, and all together with an asshole. Feeling sweat begin to drip down the side of his face, Charlie came to a realisation.
He had only taught them how to deal with bad merchants, and everything about this little old man screamed gentle grampa. A small echoed through the building as one of the women hit the counter, causing the man to jump as she leaned onto the arm and glared at him. Shuffling into the shop, Charlie edged his way over to Nolkonoe.
“Sorry… umm…. There has been a slight mistake,” Charlie muttered to her as he watched the woman say nothing as she simply glared at the man.
“What?” Charlie quickly explained his mistake, but before Nolkonoe could translate to the women that this didn’t seem to be that bad of a shop owner and they should be more polite, the woman at the desk had the man by the scruff of his neck.
Leaping forward, Charlie gave his best customer service smile as he took the woman’s hand and began to separate her from the man. Placing the man down and dusting him off, he used one foot to subtly move the woman away. Like an old dog, the man looked up at him with large, dopy eyes.
“Wh…Why is that woman angry? Did I say something bad?” the man said, his eyes showing himself to be more sympathetic to his attacker than worried for his health.
“No, no sir. We just had a bad shopping experience, so they have all been a little on edge,” Charlie said with a smile, as he carefully made sure the woman hadn’t broken anything on him.
For a moment Charlie simply stared forward as he came to a realisation. He couldn’t breathe. Looking up, he stared into the eyes of a man. No, not his eyes, but the red slits of a stark iron mask. This creature tightened its grip. A woosh of air and scratch of the wood against the floor, and Nolkonoe was by the man. Her knife was pressed against his neck.
Placing a hand onto that of the masked man, the older shopkeeper gave him a warm smile. Reluctantly, the man released his grip. Falling to the floor, Charlie was quickly surrounded by some of the natives, each keeping their hands on their blades. Now being able to get a better look at the man, Charlie saw that a cloche showed his body. Preventing them from knowing what weapons this man held.
Standing, Charlie placed his hand on Nolkonoe’s shoulder. Putting out a hand, he had them lower their weapons.
“We’re very sorry sir, it seems there has been a great misunderstanding,” Charlie said, carefully placing himself between the two groups.
“It’s true my friend, they aren’t bad people!” The old man said with a long smile as he placed a hand on the shoulder of the tall man. Silently, he moved past Charlie, past the women, then to the doorway.
“Again sir, I’m very sorry for them. You see, we had a very unpleasant experience down the road at the gun shop, so my friends here assumed that all would treat them in such a poor way,” Charlie’s words stopped the man in the doorway. Nodding, in silence, he turned and began to walk down the street. For a moment they all stared as the man walked casually down the street
“I want to leave,” Nolkonoe muttered, a look of worry on her face.
“Fine, let's buy the stuff and leave, that guy creeps me out,” Charlie said, but Nolkonoe shook her head.
“That’s not the reason. That man has no scent. No presence of sound as he walks,” she said, and with this new knowledge, Charlie quickly brought some furs, bed sheets, and other artefacts before leaving the building.
Nodding and waving their goodbyes to the man, they took their goods and began to wander down the street. Turning and twisting down alleyways, Charlie made sure to keep Nolkonoe and the others on the other side of the street as they began to move past the bakery owned by the night elf. Once past the bakery, tension seemed to lift from the group as they all knew they were closer to the safety of the Desert Claimers.
By the time they were at the front gates, they quickly sighted the large creation of rifles and crates of ammunition. It seemed their friend from the gun shop worked quick. As they approached, Charlie had the natives take the goods back to the Desert Claimers. Some mercenaries even came to help, most likely out of fear of the Chiefess’s wrath.
“I’ll stay here for a bit, my throat hurts from that man almost strangling me to death. I’ll make a list of what you should do when in the stores, for example checking for the copper-gold scam, and please don’t kill anyone,” Charlie said, turning back to the Desert Claimer outside the gates.
“Also take the merchant handbook, the rules of it don’t apply to shopkeepers, but at least make sure that the prices are fair using it,” Charlie finished as Nolkonoe walked off, retrieved the papers, and then re-joined the group.
“Lastly, take this,” Charlie took out a piece of paper that he had roughly written of goods that they should get. Nodding, Nolkonoe took the list and tucked it into the merchant handbook.
After loading the goods with the help of some mercenaries and renaming warriors/Vultures, Charlie turned to watch as the women left to go and buy some goods. Now alone, Charlie simply watched as the natives walked off into the town. Leaping, he struggled for a moment as arms wrapped around him.
Quickly he relaxed as he saw Klipesia staring down at him. One problem and straight into another. Charlie thought to himself as she let go of him.
“Hi, everything going well here?” he asked, only now realising that she was meant to be with the Chiefess. Klipesia sucked in her cheeks as she looked away. Nervously, she looked back at him. Going to speak, she stopped before biting her bottom lip and deciding reluctantly to speak.
“Yes, Chiefess though…” she glanced over to a large wooden house, “Chiefess drink lots,”
“She got drunk?”
“Met leader of the town, he bore her, he challenges her to drinking game them…”
With those few words, a man came flying out of the room and onto the floor. At first glance, nothing looked broken, but as cheers came from inside the hut, he had a good idea of what was happening. Why was she doing this? Well, he assumed it was best to probably not know, but still, go and check to make sure she hadn’t killed anyone.
Walking towards the wooden building with Klipesia in tow, he shuffled past the guards and into the doorway. A hand stopped him as it planted itself on his shoulder. Looking to his side, he saw a nervous guardsman simply shake his head.
“Don’t do it, boy, she downed a couple of bottles of dwarven wine and when a man touched her ass, she just started swinging,” the man said, his eyes falling onto the man who had been thrown outside. He was asleep, or at least that was what Charlie hoped.
“I know,” Charlie muttered as he entered the building.
A dimly lit table sat at the centre of the seemingly empty room. But as he walked deeper inside, he realised that all the soldiers and mercenaries alike were cowering against the sides of the room. They were so closely packed together; it was hard to tell how many people there were as they all seemed to just be one large blob of fear.
At the centre, around this melancholy grey table sat the Chiefess, head of the mercenary third regiment, and several more men. Most of the men seemed exhausted. A man that sat upright in a nice, expensive looking suit sat across from her. His posture and presence, despite his obvious intoxication from his struggling to keep his eyes open, were upright and firm.
Further, Charlie moved into the room, and the stronger the scent of alcohol assaulted his senses. Swearing and muttering something under his breath, one of the men placed a pile of coins onto the table before the other standing men did as well. Grinning, the Chiefess placed down a bag of coins as well. Oh no… this wasn’t just a drinking game; they had convinced her to gamble with them.
Guessing from how Klipesia had said it was just a simple drinking game, he assumed that they were unaware that they were gambling. Usually, by this point Charlie would have stepped in to stop her and explain to her the situation but looking at the bags of money that she had already accumulated, it seemed she had already won quite a few games against the men.
Towards the back of the room lingered a man. He held his arm against his chest as some other men tended to a wound on his face. Considering, even from where Charlie was, the arm looked broken he thought it was safe to assume this was the man who had touched the butt of the Chiefess. Taking a glass, she extended her hand as the man was handed another bottle of dwarven wine.
Once each shot was poured, each cheered before chugging down the alcohol. Three men collapsed, while the head of the mercenaries stood tall, and the man he assumed to be the town lord also seemed unaffected. Grinning, the Chiefess leaned across to the mercenary and prodded his chest. Dust kicked up off the floor slightly as the man fell back.
Looking to the town lord, the Chiefess leaned forward and tapped the man’s glass. Charlie could make out little detail on the man, but from the look on the Chiefess’s face, he knew she could probably tell he was also about to fall to her. Again, she tapped his glass. Muttering something under his breath, he poured the drink into the cups.
Once the drinks were poured, the man and the Chiefess raised their respective cup. Glaring across at each other, they downed their drink. Swaying, then using an arm to stabilise himself on his chair, before eventually tumbling, the town lord was defeated. As if just proving a point, the Chiefess grabbed the bottle of dwarven wine and downed the drink in its entirety.
Leaping up, a proud grin on her face, she saw Charlie by the doorway. For a moment she blushed at being caught in such a situation, but when she saw the large smile on Charlie’s face, she relaxed. Moving towards him, she handed him one of the bags of coins. Seeing his smile widen, she could tell she had done well.
Shuffling past her, he began to pick up the bags of coins. A little annoyed, but satisfied that he was happy, the Chiefess chose to walk outside as he began to pick up the bags and cradle them into his arms. As Charlie passed the Chiefess, he caught the glare of the Chiefess. Shuddering slightly, he knew she was annoyed.
“Are you… mad?” he muttered. Puffing out her cheeks, she looked away from him.
“Sorry, I’ll make it up to you,” Charlie said as he wandered past the now pouting Chiefess. She was drunk, so it was no use trying to reason with her. But on the bright side, from how much money she seemed to have made they may even be able to turn a small profit from this journey. With her gambling skills and his merchant knowledge, they could have done very well today.
Sighing, Charlie felt a little annoyed. He had sent the others away to do some of the merchant skills and buying, but if he had been doing it himself, there was bound to be some exploit he could have found to pay less for their goods. Yet still, it seemed they at least had the men distracted for now as they all tried to recover from the Chiefess either terrifying them, beating them, or getting them off their minds drunk.
Shaking his head as if to banish any reasonable thought, Charlie moved to begin getting the payments for the guns ready.
Hey everyone, hope you have enjoyed the story. Just got a few things to show/say here.
Number 1 - the funny number
Also want to say I may or may not upload on Sunday/tomorrow, not sure yet, since I am making a lot of the comic. Here are a few images of the stuff I am trying to do at the moment using assets and editing.
These two haven't been fully rendered yet.
So yeah, hope you all enjoy!
