Fantasy The Demon Merchants

[Wylrin]

The sun was just peeking over the horizon in the small town of Avondale. The warm rays would not be the only thing coming to visit the townsfolk, however. Unbeknownst to the citizens, the new merchants they were anticipating to come bring business to their humble town were merchants of an entirely different sort. Though mere initiates now, should they succeed in their assignment, they will be fully fledged demons capable of exchanging valuables for souls. Ah, but they had a long way to go before they could be trading such goods. For now, their currency was the common copper piece, their services ones that mortals would provide.

Our aspiring demon capitalists have rented a mule to carry their wagon of goods. It cost them a good bit of copper, but it was necessary to bring everything with them. They had assumed their human hosts outside of the city at an inn not far down the road, and were coming to Avondale for the very first time.

As they approached the town's entryway, made evident by the guard who was keeping watch, Milo made his relief very apparent. Letting out a quiet breath, he said, "We've made it. I had feared bandits might attack us while we were in transit." Indeed, he had made a point of keeping an eye out as they traveled, hardly participating at all in any conversation that might have taken place during the journey.

 

[Nuclear Magician]

Justina cocked an eyebrow at the comment. "That, my dear Milo impersonator, is the joy of the human body. Fragile to a fault, but so delightfully replacable. Besides, even if the rabble were to attack, we are hardly without the means to defend ourselves." She glanced at her nails, before tutting and raising the file once more. "Actually, that might not be the worst outcome. This husk has taken such dreadful care of itself. Its going to take an age to fix these cursed cuticals." She attacked the offending keratin with long steady strokes, shaping the nail to suit her needs.

Glancing ahead of them she eyed the horizion. "So, aside form the whole take everyting but the shirt of their backs and then the shirt apporach, why here? Seems like just another town, and not a particularly intrsting one. I would have imagined we could do better in a larger city no? More gormless idiots and all that."

 

[Venchi1986]

Daniel was still getting used to his new body and name. While even as a demon he was was humanoid there were still major differences, the ones that bothered him the most were the lack of his exoskeleton and the fact this body had two eyes. When the group finally arrived at their destination two of his companions spoke up, with Justina complaining about the size of the pace and being a bit too open about her true identity. "I see what you mean. But on the other hand if we work together properly we might be able to fully control the economy of this town, and thus more easily plant the seeds for... our future transactions." Hoping that she caught the hint about staying in character in public he sheathed his dagger since he doubted they would be attacked anymore and getting into with the guards would be a bother.

"That and if we're found out destroying this place would be easier than destroying a big city." He made sure to whisper the last part even if he doubted the guard could hear it.

 

[Dgjkbfx]

Rosa hummed absentmindedly as she cast her twinkling eyes over the town entrance and the view behind the bridge they were standing on. The sight of lush green pastures and crystal blue water made her smile, she had not been partial to the rocky magma filled walls of Hell. She much preferred Earth and it's natural beauty. Lost in her trance, she had not listened to a word that the others had been saying. Rosa did not consider the threat of town guards, she was experted in charisma and flirtation. She could usually talk her way out of most risky situations.

Turning her head towards the group, she raised an eyebrow and hummed as if to enquire about their conversation.

"Are you all not buzzing with excitement to be meeting the humans and seeing their market stalls?" Rosa inhaled a deep breath through her nose and shut her eyes in bliss as the smells of fresh bread, fruits and chimney smoke filled her senses. "I cannot wait to talk to them and cause some mischief." She giggled slightly and brushed a red lock of hair from her face.

Rosa cocked her head slightly as she saw Juliana's disapproval of the town and she scoffed softly.

"Juliana how can you possibly label this place as 'not interesting' when you haven't stepped inside yet? Listen to the sounds of the bustling crowds, the birds chirping and the smells of the produce!" She leaned against the side of the bridge and peered down at the river below her as she spoke.

 

[Nuclear Magician]

Justina shruged at their comments. "Oh I am sure there will be an abudance of fine marks upon which we might ply our trade." She glanced at rosa, dozens of burning orbes repalced with two of smoldering brown. "However, anonimoty is very much to our benifit. Tell me, if we were to encounter someone who knows what to look for, how to find our kind? In a city, we would be among thousands. We would have much greater freedom to move and work. Here, while we are of course capable of wiping the town from the face of the Earth, we are more exposed, must be more careful least we draw suspicion. I simply note our odds of success"

 

[Dest]

"Ah, but is that not part of the point of this test? We must be able to hide from even the most capable searcher in an where it is almost impossible to hide, a city would be far to easy to hide ourselves in," Allan pointed out as he looked up from the subpar arrow he was attempting to fix,"I must agree about our hosts though, mine had no idea how to take care of his equipment and it shows. And Rosa? Try not to cause to much right away, we wouldn't want to be caught to quickly by these bugs."

Allan slid the arrow back into his quiver as his eye catches a guard watching what he is doing, making sure that they know he isn't planning anything and was just fixing it. "I just hope that they know quality goods when they see them, I would hate to have to persuade anyone to buy from us so soon."

 

[Wylrin]

He had a mind to tell Justina - or Justina impersonator, as she had called him - that it would be best to keep such talk of their true selves to a minimum, but he did not, fearing the guard might overhear. Though when she went on, he decided it would be best to tell to her, "Replaceable to one of our... elders, certainly. But we have little in regards to trade back home. These assets may have been given to us once, but I somehow doubt that would be a repeated act of kindness." They were demons, after all. Their instructors may have given them each one body to begin their capitalistic ventures, but free things were scarcely to be found in Hell. If they lost their current body, they could be certain that to acquire a new one, they'd need to form a contract with an older demon, who would no doubt see to it that they profited from the deal far more than the student ever would.

So yes, they were quite stuck with their bodies unless they wanted to be indebted to another demon, which was guaranteed to be bad for them.

Thoughts of human casings were redirected to... destroying the village? Well, he supposed he could give the man credit for having a contingency plan. Still... "Let's see that it doesn't come to that, shall we?" After all, it was hardly profitable to kill a person without having their soul formally signed off to them. Humans were both the customers and the actual resources, so killing them would be most unfortunate.

At the mention of mischief-making, and Allan's advising against it for now, Milo nodded, telling Rosa, "I'm certain there will be plenty of time for that... when the time is right."

At Allan's next words, he decided he'd have to have a talk with him about appropriate and inappropriate means of persuading customers. For now, he was very eager to get into the village, evidenced by the quickening of his pace.

"Come," he beckoned the others. "We'll want to get everything settled so we can open the shop as soon as possible!" With that, he made his way towards the village entrance.

 

[Venchi1986]

"Of course, our goal is to make as many money as we can and maybe arrange some more... profitable deals without being found out." Daniel agreed with both Allan and Milo, though he didn't actually expect to find any demon experts in a place this small.

When Milo headed to the gat Daniel followed him, eager to get started as well. He had picked the role of a slightly crooked merchant who would occasionally shortchange his customers but was still an overall friendly guy, because he believed it would be more suspicious if they were all honest. That did mean he would have to be careful though. If he went too far he would lose business and might even get kicked out, but that just made for more good training in his eyes.

 

[Dest]

"And so it begins," Allan followed the two, a grin on his face and a evil look in his eye, already planning on how best to pass this test and earn his right to play with the souls of these bugs he deemed useless. And after all? Why not have a body when you had plenty of faces.

 

[Dgjkbfx]

(So sorry I've not been getting any notifications for this thread for some reason, but I've been watching it :/)

 

[Dgjkbfx]

Rosa:

Rosa eagerly followed the group as they headed through the gates. She was overwhelmed by the new scenery and the excitement of meeting customers.

"Milo..." Rosa put her hand up to get his attention and smiled. "You seem to be very organised for this...what experience do you have with humans?"

 

[Venchi1986]

Daniel had to admit he was curious about that as well, since as far as he knew none of them should have any actual experience. Still he wasn't gonna pas on any potentially useful info. While hoping Milo wouldn't say anything outright incriminating he waited the answer.

 

[Nuclear Magician]

Justina slipped her nail file away as the cart drew to the stop. Taking a moment to compose her vessel's features, she descended and began to follow the others. Hem held slightly above the street she walked slowly, her eyes moving continually. Justina tried to impress every street and detail into her mind, working to build a mental map of their new home. Taking particular note of any potential competitors to her own interests, she began putting together a list of possible "obstacles."

Smiling slightly, Justina began to hum to herself. "So tell me my dears, any interesting little plans? Your own stamps to our new venture?"