Search For Gladstone - The Beginning
Its been a long, long time since he's been in the area. And getting in out of the wintery conditions outside, Tungur shudders, making his way into the tavern, glancing around. "I hate winter." he grumbles to himself, the rat moving to the bar, settling himself down on a stool, going to order himself a drink
Already seated in a dark corner merely watching the comings and goings of those who are moving in and out of the tavern is Fern, the fox waits and watches, she has little hope of seeing what she is after tonight but who knows? She espies an old rat entering that looks as though a faint wind would knock him over, yet he carries a pack bigger around than he is on his back. The rat is wheezing raggedly as he crosses the tavern, and totters as if he is almost going to fall against the bar before he throws out a paw to catch himself.
Tungur looks up when his drink arrives, the rat taking it and paying for it, only to be distracted for a moment by the other, older rat. He blinks a moment before tilting his head. "Are you alright?" he asks, turning slowly towards him. "You should probably sit down or something."
Watching from her corner Fern casts a brief glance at the two rats as the older rat answers Tungur " I be'd foine! jus' a lil worn frum der cold an me trades! " with that the rat slings his pack off to the bottom of the bar, it lands with quite a THUD. The old rat pulls off his excess clothing and orders a simple warmed ale before adding " An don' mind ifin's I do! " And takes a seat next to Tungur.
The younger rat chuckles a little bit and then nods slowly. "I see..." Tungur replies with a light smirk, watching that pack fall to the ground. "Put his drink on my bill." he says to the bartender. He figures a random act of kindness might be just what that old rat could use right now. "So. What exactly brings you here?" he asks in conversation before he spots Fern in the corner. He kind of just nods to her but pays the fox no mind other than that.
Fern returns nothing of the nod, unless one counts the ever present cold semi glare that she sends out. The oldster grins with a mouth mostly devoid of teeth at Tungur and slaps his younger on the back with all of the force of a twig swaying in the breeze. " Ya didne 'ave ta do dat! but I won't say no to it! Now I come round 'ere on a trade route o me owns runnin, seein this or dat o what ever I do happen ta find dat catches my eye is all. "
The younger rat tilts his head a little bit at the 'slap' and chuckles quietly at just how weak it is. "Don't mention it." he smiles before he then tilts his head the OTHER way next. "Hm? Really. Must be an interesting life. Probably get to see a lot of rare things." he nods a bit before thinking. "I don't suppose you might be able to help me then..." Tungur says. "There's something of...great value I've been looking for...for quite a while now actually."
The fox takes her attention away from the pair of rats briefly to see what else is moving about the tavern. The oldster keeps flashing his gap toothed grin at Tungur's questions. " O I 'as mahny a ting o dat is o a rare bits! now wha' bit o rare whur a you lookins like for? " Not moving to pick up the pack yet as he waits for an answer the oldster picks up his warmed ale as it arrives and starts noisily slurping at it.
Tungur's round ear flicks at the rather rude slurping, but he doesn't pay any real attention to it. "Well, I'm looking for anything that might have similar writing or markings to this." he says, reaching into a pocket, pulling out a piece of cloth. He places it cautiously on the bar and unfolds it, revealing very old writing, cymbals and other such markings. None of it is understandable though.
The oldsters slurping pauses for just long enough to let the quick know that he has seen something there that he either recognizes or wishes that he didn't. Fern's ears pick up on this and her eyes move quickly back over to the pair of rats before the oldster can make a comment. " Nah! nope! nevar seen anythin wit da likes o dat on et evar affore! but I do has many other things dat's worth a look yes? "
Tungur seems to droop quite a bit at the old beasts words before he folds up the cloth and stores it away again, nodding his head. "Sure. Lets see what you've got. There must be /something/ I'm interested in." he smiles a bit before remembering his drink exists, reaching out to the mug, and taking a long drink from it.
Its obvious to Fern that the oldster is a liar, as it should be to Tungur, any more of an obvious turn and it would of been able to curdle milk. Taking another slurp of his ale the oldster answers his younger " Sure dat I do 'ave summthin! I have all kinds o things jus' you wait! " Another loud sucking slurp of the warmed ale ensues before the old rat slips from his stool and flips open the top of his pack.
Tungur's tail curls lightly around the leg of the stool he's sitting on, tilting his head a little bit at the fellow rat. "Are you sure you don't have anything that I'm looking for? I mean what the cloth is like. I'd be willing to pay quite a bit for anything you might carry..." he watches him open the pack, eyes peering inside curiously.
Tilting her head slightly downwards to try and get a view of what ever it is that the oldsters pack contains. There are an odd assortment of objects already in view, old knives, cooking utensils, pans, carved bits of wood, scraps of cloth and a few odd bits of carven stone objects, but that is just the surface. The oldster looks back up at Tungur then quickly away as he starts to speak side long " Nope, I don' 'ave anythin! now looke 'ere! " The rat pulls a flute carved from some unfortunate beasts leg bone.
Tungur's eyes narrow on the old beast carefully before humming a bit. "You don't dream of fortunes? Or wealth? Surprises me greatly that a trader with as many...relics...as you carry, hasn't seen anything even remotely similar." he then blinks a bit at some of the stone objects. But then the flute makes him blink. "Oh wow..." he reaches out to take it. "Does it work?" he seems to be getting a little distracted.
A sad gleam comes to the oldsters eye but he tries to cover it up by hocking his current wares " Yar! yes et do!. " The answer could be to either question it may seem. He hands over the flute easily, there are a few markings on it, mostly simple things that appear to be of Juska origins. Quickly the old rat reaches down into the pack, brushing the surface objects aside, to pull out more rare items that are wrapped in tattered bits of red cloth.
Tungur wipes off the mouth hole with his sleeve before he puts it up to his lips, blowing across as he starts to play a slow, almost sad melody. Although he's only testing the flute to be sure it's playable, he looks like he's showing off. "Oh awesome...this would be great to have." he grins a bit. "How much? For this and whatever you're hiding from me..."
The fox raises a brow at the objects and the little dance that the pair are going through, she sees most of it as worthless junk. The oldster chooses not to answer one question but not the other " I would say a few pence for dat ting! now looke 'ere's! " Unrolling the scraps of cloth the oldster shows off sets of pewter and stone cut figures, the purpose of the items is hard to determine, but the figures are both Vermin, Woodlander and mythical beasts.
Tungur pulls out a few coins and tosses them casually to the other rat before stowing the flute away. "I'm not really interested in anything else." he says before frowning a bit. "Now...I'll make you a little deal." he says, glancing around for a moment, leaning over to whisper. "How about this...if you sell me what I'm looking for, I won't have to take it from your rotting corpse when you leave...I don't think a cold, icy death outside is how you want to go." he says, but its almost too casual. More like he's saying it as a joke than an actual threat.
Having lost interest in the pairs haggle Fern looks over to a dejected looking ferret. The oldster stops as the youngster speaks, then he slowly replaces the figures in their wrappings, on doing so a curious swirling pattern is visible on one of the tattered remnants, it bears some resemblance to the script that Tungur had shown the oldster. Taking a moment to gather both the coins and his mind the oldster starts to place everything back into the pack before he replies. " Nope, nothin like wha' you wan' 'ere! just odds an end bits! dat's all! on me own mutters own! "
Tungur hrms a little bit and was about to drop the matter when he spots the wrappings. "Wait a second." he says, reaching out. "Mind if I see the wrapping?" he asks, going to take it and inspect with a grin. "No, no, you have something of value to me after all. You may not have realized it but this is what I was looking for." he says, holding up the cloth, letting it stay completely unraveled. "Haha...perfect! I'll give you thirty coins for this..." he nods. Its dirty, but looks ALMOST like a map. But only half of a map. Or map to something small.
The oldster had forgotten about that bit, and had not intended to show it for the exact reasons that Tungur wanted to see it. The oldster tries to hold on to the old scrap, but his grip is anything but firm " NEY! et's moine an no fer sale! I 'as other tings but no' dat! NO! " The oldsters raised voice causes Fern to turn away from the dejected bit of ferret back to the pair, she wonders what the two fools are getting up to now, or what piece of the game that one or the other had let slip.
Tungur tilts his head a bit, but doesn't let go. "How much would it cost me to get my paws on this permanently?" He asks, eying him very carefully. "I can make you a good offer of a hundred coins for this...but no more. Besides, can you even read it? Because I can. And I need this...badly."
The offer of a hundred coins... That could conceivably last the oldster for the rest of his life if he were to manage it properly, and keep him up to his eyeballs in cheep booze and floozies even. The rats old beaten paws lessen their feeble grip on the cloth, then release it all together as he says " I... I will let's et's go fer dat's much I suppose, jus' be carefull wit it's is all, yer's know no' wha' it's can do ter a beast. " The rat appears to hesitate here, he looks as if he were struggling to not add something, but he does in the end. " Jus' consider yar'self warned, et's bad luck, and vury worse if yar's figure et's out. "
Tungur seems almost exuberant at the prospect of finally getting it and when the rat finally lets go, he almost jumps out of his chair. "Hahaha! Its a DEAL!" he smiles brightly before he folds it carefully and puts it with the other cloth in his pocket, untying a belt of coins from his waist, offering it out. "Here you go." he grins before thinking a moment. "Yes, yes, I'm well aware of what...could...happen." he nods. "I've been very careful with my findings. But if it turns out that the curse is real...then well...think of it this way. I may have just saved your life."
The oldsters eyes never leave the cloth scrap until it finally is removed from his sight, he takes the belt and as he takes the full weight of the coins there his arms drop down and make a rather nasty popping sound. With a whimper and a nod the oldster speaks " Moine mebey, penden on wha' I 'ave lef' o er... good luck I 'pose, ya may well need et's if et's as bad as et's were's. "
Tungur nods his head and finishes off his drink quickly. "Don't worry. I'll be fine." he smiles as comfortingly as he can before he stands up. "I've got to go. Thanks again." he says, turning and heading towards the exit, passing Fern in the process.
The oldster tries to raise a paw and wave at his younger, but the weight of gold that he holds prevents him from doing more than straining already overloaded arms, so he calls to Tungur " If ya means et's come back an let I's know will ya? " As Tungur passes Fern she wonders indifferently what a scrap of old ratty cloth could contain that would be worth so much of this realms currency, but it is of no real concern to her and the thought quickly fades.
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