Suhuba
Barter and Haggle
Prompt 2


Can be used toward Solo or RP req


Lately, the local market places have been filled with new traders offering their wares. It seem as if many across the land are trying their hand at selling clothing, weapons, and trinkets. With so many new faces, now is the best time to go to the market and barter for the best prices.

So go ahead and grab your goods or grab your gold and take a shot at bartering.

This prompt can be played from either side: your character can be the merchant, or can be looking to purchase an item. Groups can RP with both characters on the same side, or trying to barter with each other.


Eresin lay on his bedroll staring up at his tent ceiling. He wondered why he had been so wide awake this morning and wanted to go back to sleep. Tossing and turning for half an hour, he tried to get comfortable to sleep in some more, when he heard people approaching his tent. He sat up, ready to meet what he thought were his parents. “Excuse me, anyone here?” a girl’s voice asked. That’s not mom’s voice… He quickly jumped out from under his covers and put some clothes on. Forgetting about his hair, he opened the tent flap to see a short girl smiling at him. Eresin cleared his throat, “Oh erm- Can I… Help you?”

The girl frowned. “Are you in charge of the item shop out front? I really need to buy some healing poultice for my brother. Please, can you help me?” Eresin nodded and gestured the girl to follow him. Eresin knew that the recent events of people being attracted to the newly discovered exotic beasts and trying to catch them wound up leading to many more injuries than anything else. Eresin would know, since he tried to tame a Tintural, and ended up failing miserably. They reached his parent’s stall and as he retrieved the healing salve, the girl placed her coins on the table as payment. “Will that be all?” Eresin asked.
“Yes, sir.” The girl replied.
“Alright, just apply the salve to the wound, and let it harden. Then bandage it up, but not too tightly. Good luck.”
“Thanks!” The girl smiled and ran off as Eresin put the coins away in a hidden pouch. Eresin turned around and went to peruse their stock of salves. As he was going through the long shelf, completely packed with the small jars, he found a little sign. The sign read;
“Raise Price: 4 per Jar”
That’s double the price! That’s not right… Eresin scowled at the thought of his parents extorting people who need goods that would be considered necessity during some kind of hard time. Speaking of which, where are they…? I guess I should man the store… He stood at the front of the stall once more, only to be greeted by a group of people waiting for the shop keep. He gaped for a moment at the sudden boom of customers. “Um, can I help you all?”

An Oban woman approached first. “Please sir I need healing poultices, three of them. It’s an emergency!”
“My buddy needs one too!” A Matori man in the back of the group shouted over the rest. It was quite a mess, a clamor of people all needing the same thing. The only problem was that Eresin didn’t want to sell the salves to these people at the high price his parents wanted. He just couldn’t, it wasn’t in his nature. He did, however, need to think of some kind of compromise quickly, else he might have a riot on his hands. I could sell the salves at 3 coins per jar… That’s a little steep, but it’ll surely beat the competition… Eresin raised his hands to quiet the people and said “We have plenty of salves and herbs. Please form a line and I will help each of you. Unfortunately, the prices have changed for the salves from 2 to 3 coins per jar.” There was a slight uproar with shouts of “Hey, that’s not fair! You can’t do that!” and “This is highway robbery!”

Eresin once again raised his hands once more and said “Please! Supplies are actually running low, and the competition is selling these for much higher. An extra coin will help us get more herbs to make more! It really is fair, I promise you!”

The clamor quieted down to a murmur. One of the customers said “Well it is true, one guy was sellin’ ‘em for about 7 coins a pop!” At the sound of that, each customer nodded their heads and started to form a line one by one going to the side of the stall. Phew… This may work out after all. Going through the motions, he asked each customer how many salves they needed, collected the coins and put them in the stall pouch, and then handed them their purchased goods. One customer after the other, for what seemed like an hour, until at last the final customer approached, and purchased their healing salve and left. He let out a sigh of relief. “What a busy day today, huh, Peco? I just hope mom and dad are okay with the three coins per jar…” With that statement, he heard someone clear his throat. Eresin cringed because he knew exactly who it was. He turned to see his parents, one looking at him, and the other looking at the almost empty shelf. “Um, mom, dad, I can explain!”

“Eresin, there’s no need. We saw the whole thing. You rather handled yourself well.” His mother said as she reached into the stall’s coin pouch. She put about two dozen of the earnings into a separate pouch and handed them to him. His dad turned to him, smiled and said “A job well done, son. Enjoy your earnings. We can take it from here.”

Eresin smiled and left into the marketplace to spend his hard earned money. Well, it looks like I’m not that bad of a business person at all.

(901 WC)