Akiol waited for a reply. The outcome truly depended on both parties. If the guild was willing to compromise or even be generous in negotiations, and if Akiol's party was willing to give them such an item.
The truth was that Akiol truly didn't mind if the guild in question had the item. After all it was two minutes of spying, and a one-time use. At most this item could be use as a deterrent for rivals. Or a fantastic item to listen in other people's plans.
In five minutes Akiol received a message.
-My superiors had agreed on a meeting. Meet at the same place as last time and I shall show you the way to our headquarters.- Swinging Reckless
"Alright we got another meeting. Same place as last time." Akiol stated.
"Where is this?" Kan'na asked.
"Ironblight." Wrock answered.
Yielya groaned, "Can I not be a part of this? I want to log off already."
Akiol waved his hand, "Go on then, I won't hold you against your wishes."
The rest got up and used their teleport scrolls. When they arrived at the Adventures Guild Swinging Reckless was standing at the entrance. They looked at Kan'na suspiciously, but seemed to ignore it.
"Follow me." Swinging Reckless beckoned and headed towards another direction.
Following their guide the party soon came across one of the bigger houses in the town. Swinging Reckless opened the door and ushered the party in.
Swinging Reckless did not join the party, instead they shut the door and remained outside. This reminded Akiol of Jerothol, a Kingdom from his past world. There was a huge sense of honor and respect among the city's citizens. No-one held ill will to the higher members of that society and none of the 'royalty' discriminated against the lower class.
After the brief moment of nostalgia Akiol focused his attention ahead of him. The entrance to the place was simple. In the middle was a decently sized staircase, leading to the upper level. To the sides of the staircase was doors, what was behind the doors wasn't something he could find out at the moment.
Hearing footsteps, the party turned their attention to the top of the staircase. Three people stood at the top. One who looked male was armored heavily, the next was female looking, holding a staff. The final person was what looked like a male, but Akiol couldn't be sure, and had a bow on their back.
The one leading the small group, which was the armored one, soon spoke in a booming voice.
"If it isn't the sorcerer who stole my item."
Kan'na smiled sheepishly, "Yeah. . . sorry about that, mind forgiving me?"
"Ha! You have the audacity to come to my home, after stealing a precious item, and ask for forgiveness? The audacity!"
Akiol cut-in, "We are here about that. Let's talk like regular people would. Agreed?"
"Fine, come along I am indeed interested in your excuse."
The armored person lead them to what looked like a meeting room. A banner hung on the farthest wall. It was a crescent moon that had been stabbed by a spear.
The armored individual beckoned towards the seats, "Take a seat, we will have our little 'chat'."
Emphasizing 'chat' the armored person sat at the head of the table, under the stabbed moon banner. The other two sat on either side of them.
The party sat on the opposite end. Akiol initiated conversation by saying, "I never caught the name of your guild. Before we begin may I know who I am speaking too?"
"Fine then, I suppose greeting are in order. I am Stabbed, leader of Pierced Moon." The armored individual stated.
The female sorcerer added, "I am Rosadell, second-in-command."
The mysterious gendered archer finished, "It's Shot, something close to a personal guard for Stabbed."
Shot's voice was also confusing, honestly Akiol had never come across so much trouble identifying a gender before. What Akiol did notice however was that all their names were single worded. Meaning they joined around the launch period.
Names were one of the players way of identifying when another player had joined. Usually the names with one word were amongst the first to join or came up with something new. Two words are usually the common type of name. Either unlucky early joiners or those who just picked it because. So it was a decent way to determine how much of a veteran player someone was. Granted with some leeway.
After the party introduced themselves. Stabbed began the main point of conversation, "So I assume your here to hand over the item?"
Akiol responded, "For such a useful item I don't think it should be handed over for free."
"Ha ha very good! What are your demands for its return?"
"Depends on your offer I suppose."
There are usually a few tricks to gaining the upper hand in negotiations. Using his status as Hero he never really had to play an underhanded method to get what we needed. Only by experiencing other negotiations did he pick up a few tricks. The one thing he did know was that if you wanted to get what you want, always ask for a much higher price. Not too high to where the other party immediately declines and leaves however.
Stabbed turned towards Rosadell, quietly discussing something. Akiol attempted to read their lips but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't seem to focus on the conversation they were having.
Kan'na: Using some sort of muffling spell, I could rid of it but then we could seem hostile.
Akiol: Let's not do that for now.
You could always count on a magic user to understand these things. Truly, having Kan'na around was a great help.
After a short while Stabbed turned their attention back to Akiol.
"We have decided, have that purple haired sorcerer apologize for their actions, hand over the item. For your reward we can consider this offense at a close. There will be no future conflict. However there will be no other offer, no other negotiating. You have a few minutes to decide. How does that sound?"
Akiol's eye twitched, he truly expected something like this. Just by their attitude during greetings he gauged their willingness for the negotiation. Although he had a feeling this would be the outcome he still wagered to give them a chance.
It seemed his gut feeling was correct. Instead of negotiating they gave an unreasonable ultimatum. Tension rose at the table, to which Akiol rose a hand to signal the others to calm themselves.
Still he sighed inwardly, while he would like to avoid unnecessary conflict to bend over backwards? To do the bidding of the other party just to avoid a fight? That was more unnecessary than conflict. Never must you let others force your actions. In his world the moment he bends back for a power, they rapidly take advantage of it.
Akiol spoke slowly, "Apparently your power has gone to your head. Do you know the basics of negotiation? I would have easily handed over the item for a worthwhile price, but instead I was given an ultimatum? No need for deciding on an answer, here is your answer. I refuse!"
With that the party left the building. Stabbed watch them leave and made an evil grin. Turning to Rosadell he ordered, "Get a bounty on those people. Also get a few to trail them. The moment we can we will surround them and make them surrender."
Rosadell nodded and immediately went to work in the guild chat. Shot simply narrowed their eyes. Stabbed noticed this and asked, "There an issue?"
"I couldn't find an opening."
With a confused look Stabbed asked, "What do you mean by that?"
Shot looked at Stabbed with a serious look, "That entire party had no obvious openings. If you had ordered me to kill them I am not positive I would have succeeded."
Stabbed's eyes widened, "What? Even with our top professionals you never said that much. Are you positive?"
"Yes, if anything I think they are holding back, or maybe they are handicapped. One thing I know is that they are extremely skilled."
Stabbed's eyes slowly recovered. He looked back at the door and regained his confidence, "No matter how skilled a person is, no one can continue to fight against a hundred men."