When he finished eating, Floris made his way downstairs and met up with Elizabeth at a small table tucked away in one of the corners of the room, somewhat hidden from everyone else.
"So, what did you want to talk to me about?" Floris asked.
"I'm going to teach you about what we call bartering, Floris." said Elizabeth, "I know money wasn't very important to you in the past because people from the swamp very rarely have a use for it. However, out here, it's pretty important. If you don't have any money you're not going to get far unless you're able to join some sort of guild. However, even then you'll need finances for a number of different things."
"Like what?" Floris asked curiously.
"Well, for one thing, spells." Elizabeth answered, "Food and knowledge from books and arcane volumes may be relatively free or cheap in the guild, but you'll need finances to gain access to most of the more important things. Spells, as an example, are not cheap and can cost quite a bit of money to buy them. Even just the beginner or novice level spells can cost upwards of thousands of gold coins, which is far more than you currently have."
Floris took a deep breath and rubbed the back of his neck while looking away from Elizabeth, "Yeah. A lot more. We started off with twenty and now we're down to five gold coins. I never dreamed we'd start off so poorly."
Elizabeth smiled softly and continued, "Not to worry, Floris. You have a skill few in the guild actually have. And it's going to give you an advantage in the coming days."
"How do you mean?" Floris asked.
"To put it simply, if you were to make a potion of...let's just say a healing potion as an example, you could sell that potion to a number of different vendors, including the Mages Guild." Said Elizabeth, "Admittedly, potions you sell to the guild won't fetch the best prices because the guild has such a massive stockpile of every potion you could think of, but if you were to take it to some privately owned shop somewhere, it would likely fetch a better price, especially if you tell the owner your name. Around here, people would flock to get their hands on some of your potions in a hurry, so you could make a pretty decent income in a fairly short amount of time."
"However, the potions would lose value over time, too, right?" Floris asked. "It only makes sense. The more rare omething is, the more valuable it is. Even us Swamp People know that much."
Elizabeth nodded, "Yes, that's correct. It's something you'd have to keep an eye on. If, for example, you stayed here for a few years and made potions on a daily basis, they wouldn't be nearly as valuable as they would have been when you first introduced them. However, if you only made potions during certain times of the year, they would be far more valuable to the local populace."
"I see." Floris grabbed his chin for a moment as he thought quietly, then looked at Elizabeth again, "So, I get the part about the potions gaining and losing value, but what about the bartering itself? It sounds a little...confusing to me."
Elizabeth giggled for a moment, then smiled at Floris, "Well, it's really not. All you really have to do is take whatever you want to sale to a shop and tell the person working there you have something you want to sell them. They'll look at what you're selling, suggest a price, and you can negotiate from there. If you think they're offering too little you can negotiate another price."
"It's really just that simple?" Floris asked.
Elizabeth shrugged her shoulders, then nodded a little, "Yeah, more or less. It ultimately depends on the person you're negotiating with. Usually, they'll be polite, but if they're in a bad mood or just a jerk, you might not have very much luck with the pricing. But for around here...I doubt you'd have any problems. Your name carries too much weight and everyone knows how effective your potions are."
The more Floris learned about the idea of selling his potions for money, the more he liked it. Alchemy was definitely something he excelled at and he enjoyed learning new properties of strange plants and other ingredients. And now that he was out of the swamp, there was bound to be a whole new world of interesting things for him to experiment with, though his normal method wouldn't work anymore. "Do you have a place I can make potions here in the guildhall?" He asked curiously.
Elizabeth nodded, "We certainly do. I didn't show it to you earlier because I figured we'd be having this little chat. I'll take you to it right now. Follow me."
Floris followed Elizabeth to the far end of the first floor and to an area he hadn't seen yet. She opened a wooden door that revealed a downward staircase with cobblestone walls and faintly lit by a few torches. She led the way down the stone steps to the basement, where the guildhall's alchemy chamber lied.
"Here we are. I think you'll feel right at home here, Floris." said Elizabeth, smiling down at the young boy standing beside her.
Floris was taken aback by the sight in front of him. There were shelves along all the walls that contained innumerable plants from the surrounding areas. Some he was familiar with and others that were alien to him. Plants and other ingredients from the swamp caught his eye and he walked over to investigate. He was in pure shock and awe by the number of resources he had at his disposal. There was at least six times that of what he had back home when fully stocked. Even the more rare and hard to get plants were in plentiful supply.
"We also have live animals for you to test on should you wish." Elizabeth said from behind.
Floris turned around to look at Elizabeth and asked, "Even Swamp Rats?"
Elizabeth nodded, "Yes, even Swamp Rats. If you go through that door on the far side of the room you'll go down another level where you'll find any animal you may need. We prefer you to use the older specimens because they've lived longer. I should also warn you that experimenting on babies of any species is prohibited."
"Don't worry. I had similar rules back in Two Creeks." Floris responded.
Elizabeth nodded, then looked at a device she had on her wrist before looking at Floris again, "Well, I have some other things I need to attend to, Floris. I take it you'll be staying down here for a while?"
Floris nodded and responded, "Yeah, I haven't made any potions in nearly four weeks. I think I need to do a little refresher."
"Very well. I suppose I'll see you later, then." Elizabeth bowed, then headed back up the stairs.
Floris, however, returned his attention to the ingredients he was looking at before and started collecting what he needed.