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Chapter 5 - Another stupid decision

Jack woke to find a notice on his door notifying him he would be given three silver coins to "remedy" the destruction of the goblin den. He sighed "well... that's about what I expected".

A den of any sort is a complex thing that even jack did not know much about. What he did know however is that he was going to have to make another stupid decision. learn about the complex nature of a goblin society and orchestrate a split of the political beliefs in the den causing half the goblins to splinter off into a new den in a dungeon that could barely fit one den... or collapse another den destroying any potential growth in his career.

Collapsing the tunnel is the obvious answer, but it would lock jack out of potential future income. Jack was not normally equipped to deal with goblins, though he occasionally nocked down one or two that wandered too far from the den. The defenses leading to the den would be stronger now that they were expanding. In order to get to the weakest part of the tunnel he estimated he would have to fight and kill about five to ten greenies give or take a brown or two.

The standard fee to hunt three greenies and a brown is one silver. Anyone worth one silver will charge two, so they cant really complain too much if the work is close to double that. If the crawler found out that the real objective was to collapse a tunnel leading to a goblin den though, they would never do it. The employer, in this case Jack, will pay the cost to get back into town. Jack will need a better weapon witch he estimates to be about one silver. It is times like these that Jack is glad to be a doc. If he wasn't, it would have taken him forever to figure out that he is left with thirty-five copper.

The next day, jack went into town to find a crawler worth one silver, and a decent dagger. The crawler was easy enough to find. Jack looked around the guild hall and found someone paler and about ten years older looking than him. The name of the crawler was Sam. After working out the time, place and payment, the deal was made. Sam would meet Jack outside the guild hall in two hours.

Jack had never had a decent weapon before, so he didn't exactly know what to look for. He walked into a decent looking shop with a sign that read "Weapons Galore". The owner looked at him and smiled. "I know what your looking for!" Jack looked surprised "You know I want a dagger?" "Well of course, and I've got just the one". The blade was dark as the night and was light as a feather. Jack asked for the price. The gentlemen placed his hand on Jacks shoulder "Just for you... two silver". The merchant said with a sly grin. Jack got a bit worried and made a face like he had just shit himself and didn't want to say it out loud. "Alright... one fifty, but no lower" The man said as he rose his finger and turned his head to the side. It was clear Jack would not be able to pay for the dagger, so as a last ditch effort he held out one silver and thirty-five copper. His head hung low with the weight of his empty pockets. In one motion the salesman swept the payment out of jack's hand, slid the dagger into a sheath, and pushed Jack out of the store. Jack was stuck staring into space for a moment confused as to what just happed. He then slowly looked down at the weapon in his hand and smiled like a kid with a pillow case at a strangers front door. The conman was never seen again.