Orp's Settlement

[Orp Boon]

Orp Boon's house is part solid and part tent. Awnings extend from the sturdy earthen walls and provide shade in a sort of porch-like area. The General Store is a few steps away from his front door in a very similar building. Heavy locks sit on their doors. A low earthen wall surround the two buildings together.

[Orp Boon]

Orp arrizes from his free drink and information mining at the tavern and takes out a key. The piece of copper was large and clunky, but it did the job. He slipped it into the padlock on his door and popped it open. The door swung open and he entered into his barren living space.

The room was mostly empty, save for a stuffed mattress hung above a frame with old rope and a desk under the open part of the roof. He had picked up the two buildings for cheap because of their size but the hanging cloths and awnings nearly doubled the available living space outside.

He set down his ledger on the desk and pulled a small bag out of the desk drawer.

"Let's see here."

He overtuned the bag and a few clumps of dust fell out.

"Hm. That won't do."

He consulted his ledger.

"The jingleberries should bring in some income. I should go hire someone to pick those up."

He looked to the empty bag.

"Hm. Maybe I'll do it myself."

[Orp Boon]

Orp flips through the ledge and opens it up to the start of a contacts page. His thumb glides around the crudely drawn map. He matches the area around Wistvale with a reference number and that number leads him to a page in his contacts.

It is blank.

"There is NOTHING in this town! If I hadn't bought this land for so cheap I'd pick up my merchandise and leave.

There must be someone here who has a hand in the local trade, some underground leader or trader. There must be someone taking a cut of every deal."

He flips back the map and finds a couple other reference numbers in the areas adjacent to Wistvale. He open the contacts list again and begins searching.

"William the White is to the South. He's usually pretty reclusive. Hm. Farquar of Rembia is across the forest but there is little chance he could help me here. Ah, Hufter! He owes my after that Idria business!

Oh wait, he died last year."

He scribbles out a name from the list.

"Phillipa to the East. Hm. Now she may be running a bit of things here on the edge of her market. But...

it is Phillipa."

He puts his pencil to the paper at the start of Phillipa's entry, then lifts it.

"Maybe."

[Orp Boon]

Orp rereads the entry for Phillipa.

Name: Phillipa Grenton
Race: Cyclops
Age: 20
Physical Description: 5'9", green eye, long black hair, skinny build, typically wears eccentric clothing and jewelry
Acclaim Rating: ~80 for trading, smuggling and gang power
Talents: Thrown Weaponry, Thieving, Agility, Light Armor, Ingenuity and Liaison
Notes: Handle with caution. Caustic. Vengeful. Owes me 1000gp 2000gp and a yakow. Almost never alone and nearly untouchable now due to her ingratiation with the vice-count. Will probably be a vice-countess herself soon. Responds to trust and complicity. Soft spot for jade.

[Orp Boon]

Orp closes the ledger and leans back in his chair. It is getting dark and he hadn't spent the money to get any lights other than the skylight. 5gp for a few lanterns was just too much and the nasty cart merchant refuses to haggle. Something about a family to feed and a chain of supply. Complete yakowchips.

He gets up and moves over to his bed, leaving the ledger on the desk.

[Orp Boon]

Orp lays on his bed thinking.

49,212

49,000

212

49 thousand, 2 hundred and 12

Forty-nine thousand, two-hundred and twelve

Forty-nine

Thousand

Two

Hundred

Twelve

The number has a special meaning to Orp

Four thousand, one hundred times twelve

One thousand, three hundred and sixty-seven times nine times four

He had spent many a long night thinking of the number.

Forty-nine thousand, two-hundred and twelve corks

"Why?

Why would she do that to me?"

Forty-nine thousand, two-hundred and twelve corks

Forty-nine thousand, two-hundred and twelve USELESS corks

Forty-nine thousand, two-hundred and twelve useless corks without bottles

Forty-nine thousand, two-hundred and twelve useless corks without the promised forty-nine thousand, two-hundred and twelve bottles.

It was Dreder's Winery. DREDER'S FLARBIN' WINERY! Biggest flarbin' contract in his lifetime. In his whole families history of contracts.

And she took the money and ran.

All the loans and favors and promises.

And all he had to show for it was forty-nine thousand, two-hundred and twelve corks.

She could have told him. Doubled the money. Taken him with her. Made a killing.

But no.

[Orp Boon]

The recurring dream

[Orp Boon]

[Orp Boon]

Orp lays with his head on his desk looking up at the stars.

"What powers you, o cosmos?"

Gold...

Gold makes you turn

Gold makes the world go round does it not?

Flesh is weak.

Talk is cheap.

Consistently inconsistent.

The only insurance is in gold and yourself.

Gold makes the world go round.

I made my place.

Seen my face.

Left without trace.

Knew trust,

then forgot it.

Gold makes the world go round.

Blood is cheap.

Gold is deep."

[Orp Boon]

Orp makes notes in his ledger.

Jingleberries

Jingleberries are quite common in potions, cooking and deserts. Grows in the nearby foothills. Those grown away from water are inedible. Flowers in summer through early fall. Starts to ripen in early fall. Birds start to eat them in fall. The nearby population is guarded by the jinglgnomes who are now allied with the mushroom fairies. I have not seen the actual population but the jinglegnomes deliver shipments to me. I have yet to test their potency. The tavern shall be a good enough place to test them.