Accidental Healer

We spent the day exploring the town with Cassie.

Sadly, there really wasn’t a whole lot to see. Most of the people in the faction only left their homes when it was absolutely necessary. Cassie led us to a group of homes that had essentially been fashioned into a small market.

According to Cassie, this was the part of town Jordan reserved for his favorite crafters. People who worked to provide new items for the militia and in return were given resources to grow and develop their skills and gain higher levels.

The market in question was a group of around twenty shelters shoved together in an ugly half circle. There were no signs or shop fronts. Just roughshod log cabins that doubled as homes for the crafts people.

Cassie had spent little time here so she couldn’t direct us to which building sold or offered what. So we settled on visiting one by one. I had given pretty much all my UBC’s to Jared but Nick and Ellison had cash to spend and both wanted to see if they could upgrade some equipment.

Together we walk to the first shelter and Cassie wraps on the door. We hear some scraping and shuffling before the door cracks open and a small middle-aged woman peers out from behind the door.

“Cassie?” The woman asks, sounding a bit confused. She scans the rest of us and retreats just slightly more behind her door. “These must be the strangers Tom told us about.”

“Hi! That’s us, the strangers.” The woman jumps at my introduction, eyeing me from the cover of her door.

“Janette, this is Layton. Him and his friends are from another faction.” Cassie sighed annoyed. Janette chewed her lip, fingers still tight on the door frame. Her eyes flicked to Cassie, then to me.

“Jordan already met with them,” Cassie pressed. “It’s fine.”

Janette exhaled sharply through her nose, still tense. Finally, she stepped back. “Alright. But Tom and his boys already came and got the good stuff.”

Janette walked off deeper into the cabin and we followed. The floors were dirt and the walls full of holes where the morning light peeked through, no windows and Just a cloth flap covering a single door to the back.

The state of how Janette lived shocked me. There were thousands of people that lived in this faction. I found it extremely hard to believe that there weren't any capable workers to build actual homes or shops. Why hadn’t they?

I didn’t want to jump to conclusions about Jordan but the evidence was hard to ignore. The problem? What was I going to do about it? I still wanted to gather more information. It was way too early to make any decisions yet. But his persona as a friendly uncle was melting fast.

“Well come take a look. Everything I have is in this chest here. Pop in a finger and see if there is anything you want.” The chest in question was sitting open on a log bench against a wall near the door to the back room.

Nick gave me a quick look and then shrugged. Then dipped a finger in the chest to take a look at the wares. It was a stark contrast to our shops where they kept their wares proudly displayed. Ellison followed suit and took a look and soon after I followed the three of us dipping our fingers in the magical chest.

Curious, I open my screen and start scrolling. As it turns out Janette, our grumpy new friend is a seamstress. The chest is full of white linen shirts. Most are just crude grades, however there are seventeen common grade shirts of varying sizes. But that is it. Just a pile of shirts. I look up and remove my finger from the chest.

Seriously? She made me stick my finger in just to see this crap?

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“Is this it?” Nick asks slowly, narrowing his eyes.

“I told you already Tom came by and snagged the good stuff before you got here.” She stuck her nose up defensively.

“The good stuff? Like what?” I ask, trying not to sound skeptical.

“Pants.”

Nick snorts. Janette's eyes shoot daggers. “Yes pants. What? Do you think it’s easy to sew clothing from linen someone found in a dungeon?”

“Forgive Nick, he’s not familiar with the delicate intricacies of crafting.” Ellison swoops in and Janette jumps like she had forgotten he was there. She eyes him up and down.

“As it turns out we have several members of our faction who are in dire need of replacement clothing. How much are you selling your wares for?”

Janette studied Ellison. I had no idea what she was thinking behind her green eyes but when she finally answered I nearly gagged.

“200 UBC’s for the common grade, 100 for the crude.”

“Janette be serious!” Cassie blurted.

“Holy shit woman, what did you sell your pants for?” Nick choked.

“Those men stocked me with the material, I will sell it for what I want. If you want my shirts, that is the cost.”

I opened my mouth ready to give her a piece of my mind. 3,400 UBC’s for a pile of common grade shirts? We could set up two teleporters for that amount. This woman must be out of her mind.

Before I could get the words out, Ellison placed a hand on my shoulder. “Would you be willing to negotiate a lower price if we buy the lot?”

My head snaps to Ellison. “Seriously? This is an obvious shakedown!” For just a moment Janette looks nearly as surprised as I am, but does a valiant job of reigning herself in.

Ellison smiles and nods. “We need the shirt Layton.”

“It’s true Layton, Alex is basically running around in a bra and thong at this point. But 200 coins?”

Nick is about as confused as I am.

“I don’t see the problem. Janette here has something we need and we have money. Would you be willing to part with it all for 3000 coins?”

Janettes mouth drops open, not believing what she just heard. She collects herself albeit barely before responding.

“Yes uhh I mean, well how about 2500 that seems better actually.”

“Why don’t we call it 2700 and we will be on our way.” At this point Ellison is the only person in the room not at a total loss of words.

Calmly he withdraws the coins and places them on the bench near the chest. Janette only nods looking at the coins. Ellison reaches over and places his hand in the chest. Once the shirts are safely in his inventory he nods to Janette.

“Janette, we have more places to stop today. It was a pleasure to do business with you.” He turns to leave and we all just watch him.

“Layton, was there something else you needed?” I stare at Ellison confused.

“No, that's all. We’ll let you get back to it Janette.” And with that we leave.

Not even a second passes after I hear the door swing close before I grab Ellison's shoulder.

“Ellison, what was that? She just basically robbed you in there.” He stops, tilting his head like I’m missing something obvious.

“Layton, I lived in Ulm long enough to recognize a desperate soul when I saw it.” Then he glances back at Janette’s door.

He places his hand on my shoulder. “With you as my friend, I hope to change that. But where I can, I will help others.”

His words hit deeper than I expected. I hadn’t thought about Janette’s situation beyond the price gouging. Not about why she felt the need to do it. Not about what kind of world Jordan had built.

“Thanks, Ellison,” I muttered. “Let’s see what else people have to offer.”

It wasn’t until the sun was going down that we left the market section. Of the twenty stores half refused to do any business with us at all. Most just ignored us knocking at the door but there were a couple who peeked out and just told us to go away.

The ones who let us in? It was a mixed bag. Most crafters hovered around woodcraft, or clothing of some kind. But none of it was high quality or even worth spending any money on. That didn’t stop Ellison from making deal after deal. If there wasn’t anything worth buying he negotiated trade between our faction pending Jordan’s approval.

There is no doubt in my mind now that Jordan is limiting how people progress. He gives the merchants just enough to keep gaining trickles of experience points. My suspicion is that Tom and the militia don’t even really need the things they buy. Most likely finding better items from looting.

Why would Tom and his men spend money on gear that they don’t need? My guess, appearances.

So far my investigation revealed that Jordan is a schemer and most likely a narcissist. But what bothered me was I just couldn’t see a clear end game. By this point Jordan and his militia had already gained ultimate power over the faction.

Even if the entire faction revolted there would be nothing they could do with the level disparities. So why didn’t Jordan reveal his true goals? Or maybe he already had. Was it simple vanity? He needed power to control but wanted the people around so he could rule and be their hero?

It didn’t really compute for me. But I still wanted to gain more information. Slowly the picture was forming but when I brought the case together I wanted to know all the facts.

With the light of the sun slowly fading, we headed back to our temporary home.