Team Ranger Meets the Mayor

between-session play by post featuring Rissa as gm of The Bows of Purgatory Gulch and Tepcat and Kummer Wolfe as the players of Zhang Sephia and Bruthazmus, respectively

You and your birds head into the General Store, a two-story yellow building on Purgatory Gulch's main street.

The store itself is laid out with most of the goods attractively arranged on shelves BEHIND the long counter, the idea being that a customer will present their basket and list of desired goods, and the smiling human man in the vertically striped shirt and the clean green apron will whisk your basket away (empty) and return (filled) to settle up your total purchase price. The goods you could pick up on your own include some woven baskets and a variety of brightly colored sacks.

Also on your side is a "hall tree", more or less like https://www.remodelaholic.com/diy-hall-tree-coat-rack/ for people who want to put their hats on the shelves and hang their coats or their weapon belts while they shop. Civilized!

You could walk around the counter to stand on his side, of course.

The gentleman mostly hides the flinch when he sees loose birds of prey. He is certainly happy to see the two people!

"Good mahrnin'," is in fact what he says, but I'm not going to keep writing the accent. "Welcome to Purgatory, ma'am, sir. I'm Mayor Blaze, but folks here call mostly call me 'Jaeke'. What can I do for you on this fine day?"

He probably stood up from the rocking chair when he saw the shadows of approaching customers through the glass in his front door. On a table close to the rocking chair he has a kettle on a trivet, a small stein with lid, a book with a bookmark hastily inserted (the spine is away from you so not sure what it is he's reading!), and a dull gray-brown oatman hat with a kerchief tied neatly onto the hatband. Hanging on pegs nearby are five more steins with lids, all about the same size as a coffee mug.

On the countertop are a stack of five baskets, an old brass cash register, a flyswatter, a box of jumbled plain jugs (they probably hold no more than 2 cups of fluid, and were definitely made by amateurs), two heavy lanterns (unlit), and an extremely bent fireplace poker. There's also a polishing rag and a spray bottle more than half full of some kind of fluid.

I will glance around to see if I can see any signs of someone else being in the store right now - an apprentice or helper of some kind.

— Zhang Sephia

You don't see anyone!
Granted: there are stairs on the western interior wall of the building, leading up to a second floor. I suppose there could be someone up there. But one mug in use, one rocking chair set in place, this is probably a one person shop. Probably.

A grin spreads over Bruthazmus' face. He tips his hat a bit at Jaeke, then reaches up to the owl on his shoulder to give him a scratch under the chin.

"Well, Jaeke, a lot of that depends on what you have. I had a bit of a spat with something ugly out on the longgrass and so lost an arrow or two. So I might be needing some fletching. Then some dried meat, trail bread, those are always nice. That is, if that storm that hit the plains didn't slow down any supply caravans coming this away. What might you have?"

— Bruthazmus

"Well then. Hmm." Jaeke thinks over his wares dramatically. But then, you might start to form the impression that Jaeke does everything dramatically -- that "dramatically" is his base state of body language. In another setting he would have become the head of a theatrical troupe.

"I want to be a smart businessman," he says, "but I can't rightly bring myself to take advantage of you good folks. You just want some good healthy chicken feathers. Not even the whole chicken. If you simply got to buy some, I recommend you visit a farm or a ranch and offer a couple copper to pick over the henhouse while the hens are out eating. Most everyone around these parts has got chickens." Jaeke seems to catch himself being foolish. "What am I saying? Tell you what. You go on down to, hmm, Ayrshire could use the unexpected funds and no mistake. But that is something of a hike from here. Salers are going to be out working, you would have to search around for someone. Chiamina farm hands will all be out fightin' the weeds too, but they get noisy enough that you should be able to do business. I can give you directions there after we are all settled up here, no trouble."

He looks inquiringly at both of you to see if his solution suits you before he will reach for a basket and start gathering Bruthazmus's other requests.

Bruthazmus nods thoughtfully. "That'll do. Thanks for that, Jaeke, much appreciated."

He glances over at Zhang Sephia.

"Man's got a nice store, don't you think, Sephia?"

— Bruthazmus

It is a nice store with a nice selection. Right neighborly of you to be thinking of saving our money. That is always a resource that there is never enough of. (light laugh) Tell me Jaeke, has then be anything odd or weird around here lately??

— Zhang Sephia

"Well," he says with a Sincerely Troubled expression, "that storm was a tetch odd, of course." His eyes flicker to look out his doors briefly as he thinks about recent goings-on out in the street. "Even with the padre and Miss Melinda bringing some of their resources to bear, we had four days of hard scrubbing to clear the grime away. Today has been my first day to set a spell, and that's a fact. Padre's been checking on the outlying farms as he is able. I spent what turned out to be the last week of the storm slogging from main house to main house, farm and ranch, passing around some of my stores to keep folks eating. Almost lost my burro more times'n I can count."

He looks Downcast for a beat.
Then the metaphorical sun comes out as he raises his chin again.

"Sure does my heart good to see folks come in across the grasslands! So long as you don't want stew spices, I can probably accommodate anything you need, or tell you a better place to get it. I've got some nice bunny jerky to sell you, Mister...?"

Bruthazmus nods. "Bruthazmus. Name's Bruthazmus, and bunny jerky will do me just fine. How much would a couple of Geldarian silver coin bring?" He scratches the fur on his chin. "Odd you say? Well, I'm not one to judge, but over near Aquitaine it seemed downright off-putting. How do you mean odd for here? It send frogs flying around on pigs?"

— Bruthazmus

Jaeke gives Bruthazmus a hard look in the eye for a second. He follows that up with a thoughtful look up to the owl and down the length of the ranger's coat sleeves. He makes up his mind about something.

"You'll forgive me for sayin' so, mister, ma'am, but you two kind of advertise that you are not from around here. You need someone to take you in hand, give you the lay of the land, sort of thing." He sets the basket back down on the counter. "You expected anywheres at a particular time?"

Bruthazmus chuckles. "Sorry Jaeke, I'm used to the prices back in Aquitaine. How much for the jerky?"

— Bruthazmus

He glances at his carved sign. "This is why I never put the jerky on the list," he says, "because the prices goes up and down about as wildly as a rabbit in the witch garden. This week's price is eight copper for a quarter pound bundle. Eggs is always eggs, cheese is mostly cheese, but rabbits," he shakes his head in genial dismay.

Bruthazmus nods. "Fair enough then. A quarter pound bundle if you please."

He scratches his chin once more. "And, well, speaking of Aquitaine, we came out this way from there at the askin' of a young goblin boy. Seems his Da and their caravan found more trouble than they could handle out on the longgrass. Given the two legged demonic cow we fought last night, I'd say it was a lot of trouble. Did a goblin caravan come back into town out of the storm? Or come through before the storm? We're looking to make sure they're safe and sound."

— Bruthazmus

Jaeke blanches. He takes in a careful breath. "Those poor souls," he says. "In that nasty storm." He presses his lips together tightly while he thinks. "No," he says at last in a firm clear voice, "I have not seen hide nor hair of the Bicchieri Caravan since late last winter." He reaches for the basket that he had put down when he was thinking of playing cultural guide. "I'll just get you that jerky and a loaf or two of bread, shall I?"

glances askance at Bruthazmus

Now then, calm yourself. We did not mean to upset you. We are simply trying to do our duty to the earth and the creatures upon it. We were asked by a young goblin boy to find his pa and we are determined to help the boy and his father. Would you be able to assist us in this endeavor?

We are not here to ruffle the feathers of anyone - your mayoship included.

— Zhang Sephia

Bruthazmus shrugs at Sofia “What? You’ll never know the answer until you start askin the question.”

— Bruthazmus

For a split instant there, Jaeke was about to blurt something out. He presses his lips together tightly again while he steels his resolve. "I hoped the storm had made the Bicchieri Caravan hunker down somewhere, not driven them off completely -- nor worse. I'll ask around where I can before the afternoon heat sets in. Chapel door's the only one to open if someone knocks during siesta."

The lines around his eyes are still sharp -- this is a person who has committed himself to doing something frightening.

"But you could ride out to meet the mail coach, see if you can spot any wagons in the arroyo along the way. Or maybe they spotted something. The land around hereabouts will fool you -- looks like grass or scrub to the horizon, gentle hills, and right down the middle will be a deep trench in the earth. We have warned the stagecoach team more'n once about using the arroyo for a road. They reckon the steep walls help discourage bandits. They reckon as far as natural hazards go, even a flash flood would not dare to mess with the tax assessor on their rounds. Anyway, lapir can swim."

"Lapir horses? Those are the black and white 'paint' horses orcs like. Good animals." Bruthazmus tilts his hat back on his head a few inches. "Though about the caravan. We found where they hunkered down, at least we think so. A little mesa south of here. We spent the evening there and would up having a bad time with some sort of devil-taken cow. Thing walked on two legs and came at us with a halberd. Mind you, I like beef as much as the next person. But I'm not so fond of it when it stabs back. Every hear tell of something like that?"

— Bruthazmus

"Yer talkin' the same burrow milk as Ranger," Jaeke says discouragingly. "We in the town proper pretty much try to stay out of the troubles between the farmers and the ranchers." He walks off into the shelves of the shop to fill the basket.