(Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 6)

[DracoOmega]

>Nod.

>"Forty guilders," she replies plainly.

[Hello Purvis]

Do we argue her up?

I think we have a case, given we found a tunnel she did, kept her from falsely accusing Momoka, kept her from making a public spectacle of herself, got back the wine, got her repairs for free, and at least temporarily scared the faerie from doing it again.

>How much is forty guilders? Does it seem appropriate for this kind of job?

[DracoOmega]

>How much is forty guilders? Does it seem appropriate for this kind of job?

>It isn't a terrible sum for the length of time the job took you, but on the other hand, the goods in question were clearly worth a very substantial amount. For contrast, you received 120 for the Melon Bowl job, and Ellen paid you 50 guilders for finding a cat, and even tossed in a minor magical bauble, though she was a little odd, and this lady is clearly all business.

[Hello Purvis]

I think we can get 60-70 out of her.

[Oldmansour]

This is where I think I'd disagree. I think we've basically convinced her to cut her losses, as far as she's concerned. I doubt she'd be receptive to haggling under the best of circumstances, let alone after the rather animated discussion we just had. She's none too kindly disposed towards either of us. About the only leverage I think we have that she won't be able to argue her way around is free repairs, and even then, we'd basically be charging her for her 'free' work. That wouldn't go over too well.
Besides, we've already got something extra out of this; we've made a new friend. And kept her out of trouble that she doesn't deserve. That's good enough for me.
Plus, if we start pressing her for more money, it'll look like we really DID have an angle for ourselves after all, and that might be an issue if we ever find work with her friends. I doubt she'll have much good to say about us.

Long story short, I say we take the 40, be glad that we got Momoka off the hook, and call it a day.

[Hello Purvis]

I see where you're coming from and would agree, but there's a professional aspect to it as well. Or rather, we can't let it seem like Seekers can be taken advantage of after all the garbage she put us through. She's trying to shortchange us, and it would be irresponsible to let her do it without at least mentioning blacklisting and the like. Otherwise other clients can try the same, and claim we let this person get away with it.

Edit: Alternately, we could spin it as a pity discount and get in a few choice burns on the way out the door~

Edit edit: Another possible version: "Okay, I won't argue. I'll take 40. I'll just be sure to mention to my seeker friends you ripped me off. And I'm sure they'll mention to their friends about this tavern where the owner rips people off, and so on..."

[Oldmansour]

Alternately, we could spin it as a pity discount and get in a few choice burns on the way out the door~

Now, that, I can get behind a lot.
And I still think we oughta warn the guildies about this woman. Bad attitude, stingy, tries to exploit folks when she can... We warn folks to get payment in writing before dealing with her in the future.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Normally, I would argue that. But, frankly, I'm tired of saving you from yourself. So I'm going to take 40 guilders, and I'm going to leave. And I'm going to go back to the seeker's guild, and make a mention that you've been thoroughly unpleasant to work with and, despite going the extra mile to make sure things end as well as they can, have ripped me off. And seekers, being people who have no desire to stick their neck out for skinflints, are going to take note of this. And probably mention it to their friends. And given we tend to travel all over town, we have a lot of friends all over the place. So alright, 40 guilders."

[DracoOmega]

>"Normally, I would argue that. But, frankly, I'm tired of saving you from yourself. So I'm going to take 40 guilders, and I'm going to leave. And I'm going to go back to the seeker's guild, and make a mention that you've been thoroughly unpleasant to work with and, despite going the extra mile to make sure things end as well as they can, have ripped me off. And seekers, being people who have no desire to stick their neck out for skinflints, are going to take note of this. And probably mention it to their friends. And given we tend to travel all over town, we have a lot of friends all over the place. So alright, 40 guilders."

>Your client's expression grows steadily darker as allow yourself the satisfaction of detailing the consequences of her attitude today. By the end, she takes little effort to disguise her upset. Momoka actually shrinks off to the side a little.
>"Don't think you're the only one who'll be mentioning this incident to the guild," she says. "And in case I have to remind you, only some of the goods were returned to me. You should consider yourself fortunate to be paid this much, given the circumstances."

[Oldmansour]

>We'll be fortunate if we don't see you again for the next few years.
>Draw in a breath, then pause. She doesn't like us, we don't like her, so there's not a lot of point in continuing this tirade. We have better ways to waste our time, and better people to waste our breath on. Besides, that archaeologist might have left word by now, this did take a bit longer than anticipated.
>"Then let's take care of the paperwork, so we can both be out of each others hair, and Momoka can get to work."
>Produce the paperwork.

[Hello Purvis]

>We'll be fortunate if we don't see you again for the next few years.
>Draw in a breath, then pause. She doesn't like us, we don't like her, so there's not a lot of point in continuing this tirade. We have better ways to waste our time, and better people to waste our breath on. Besides, that archaeologist might have left word by now, this did take a bit longer than anticipated.
>"Then let's take care of the paperwork, so we can both be out of each others hair, and Momoka can get to work."
>Produce the paperwork.

>Not yet.

Sour, a suggestion:

"If you'd like to go cut open that faerie or follow her around with a bucket, be my guest. And I hope you do go to them so I can get a pat on the head for having to deal with a miserly bullying monster like you. That'll just back up everything I'll be saying. And only some of the goods? You're lucky you got any of them back at all. You're lucky I cared enough to keep you from making as ass of yourself in public court trying to file suit against Momoka. You're lucky I don't report you to the guard for trying to intimidate and extort her. You're lucky I found that tunnel at all, because you were too slow to find the thing."

"The sad part is? If you think about this even a little bit, you could make all that money back and more with this situation. But you're so busy trying to be as thoroughly unpleasant as you can that you can't even see it."

I have an idea to dangle in front of her.

[Oldmansour]

I still think we should finalize our own payment first, just to make sure we get something out of her. Don't get me wrong, I'm quite pleased we got Momoka settled with her, but I'd like to have the same security for ourselves as well.
That said, however, I have no qualms with idea dangling. It's obvious she likes to make money, so if you can get her to listen, she may just go for it. But I myself wouldn't browbeat her QUITE that much, or she might just stop listening to us at all, and then you're not gonna get anywhere.

[Hello Purvis]

Point. We'll save the browbeating for now.

>"If you'd like to go cut open that faerie or follow her around with a bucket, be my guest. But, you know, if you think about this a little bit, you could make all that money back and more with this situation."

[DracoOmega]

>"If you'd like to go cut open that faerie or follow her around with a bucket, be my guest. But, you know, if you think about this a little bit, you could make all that money back and more with this situation."

>Her expression takes on a note of incredulity. "And how exactly is that?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"Any particular reason why I should tell you after the way you've acted like a monster this whole time?"

[Oldmansour]

>This might be a little too browbeaty as well, so let's try this instead.
>"Well, so far, you've given me little reason to WANT to help you, beyond our agreed business."

[Hello Purvis]

>Yeah let's do that.

[DracoOmega]

>"Well, so far, you've given me little reason to WANT to help you, beyond our agreed business."

>"Then what was the point of saying anything at all?" she asks.

[Oldmansour]

That's a good question, Purvis. Why did we say anything?

[Hello Purvis]

>"Perhaps if you offered an apology to Miss Momoka for earlier?"

[Oldmansour]

>"Perhaps if you offered an apology to Miss Momoka for earlier?"

Sourfang is ashamed he didn't think of that himself.

[DracoOmega]

>"Perhaps if you offered an apology to Miss Momoka for earlier?"

>"I don't see that I have anything to apologize for," she replies.

[Hello Purvis]

What do you think, Sour?

[Oldmansour]

Let's try this, and do feel free to fiddle with it if you think it won't fly.

>"A simple apology in enchange for an idea that might get you in the black out of all this, and you're gonna balk?"

[DracoOmega]

>"A simple apology in enchange for an idea that might get you in the black out of all this, and you're gonna balk?"

>"I don't need your advice on how to run my affairs," she says. "Either say your piece or don't."

[Hello Purvis]

So, what kind of piece do we give her?

[Oldmansour]

Hey, it's your idea. Even I don't know what you were gonna advise her on.
That said, however, I myself am not in a hurry to do her any favors. She hasn't exactly ingraciated herself to us, and I wouldn't mind leaving her out a few bucks.

[Hello Purvis]

I think we give her both pieces. We straight up tell her, then tell her off. She did say to say our piece.

[Oldmansour]

That she did. She's literally askin' for it. Just don't lay into her TOO harsh, bro.

[Hello Purvis]

>"It's actually pretty simple. You can't sell them as unopened and premium anymore, so don't think of them like that anymore. Think of them like all the other stuff you sell. Now, obviously they're higher quality, so you already have a hook in offering higher quality drinks to people. But you do that anyways, so what you have to do is make it more appealing. Such as "Buy two normal drinks, get a fine drink at half price." Appeal to people who would be interested, but are normally put off by the price by making it cheaper via encouraging to get things they would normal already get, you see? It's actually a pretty good opportunity to see if you could becoming a place known for that. Not to mention that once people get a taste for finer stuff, they're more likely to get it normally despite the usual price. You see?"