A Problem at the Smithy

The Black Void - Episode 3294

Teran's eyebrows shoot up when he hears how much the smith is demanding. "We can't possibly afford that," he says. "It's an outrageous amount. It shouldn't take you more than a matter of minutes to remove the anklets, half an hour at the outside. Why are you asking so much?"

"I don't know who this Madam Scarlet is," the smith replies, referring to the inscription on the anklets [3199], "but I could be in big trouble with her if she should ever find out that it was me who removed them. It's only right that I should have fair compensation for the risk that I'd be running."

"But how could she ever find out?" I protest, deciding that it would be unwise to mention that he would also be in trouble with a bigger fish. "Even if we were recaptured, we certainly wouldn't tell her."

"I'm the only smith in town, so if she knew you'd been here it wouldn't be hard for her to work it out."

I wonder whether to try to persuade him that the metal from which the anklets is made really is the gold that it resembles (though I'm sure that it can't be), and would easily meet his price. However I can't see an experienced smith - who must surely know all about metals - falling for that.

After further argument:

  1. Teran whispers in the man's ear, and he suddenly drops his price sharply. I wonder what Teran threatened him with.
  2. The smith lowers his price to something that we can barely afford. It's going to mean that buying new clothes for Moula and me will have to wait, though.
  3. The smith won't budge. And I have another worry - that as soon as we've gone he might try to get a message to Madam Scarlet in the hope that there's a reward for information leading to our recapture.

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JH

1/24/2007 12:53:08 PM

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