A Trader's Scales
Twenty-Eight Day of the Tenth Month 293 AC
Though you had spoken of taxes you seek something much more valuable than coin here, just as in the arcane reflections of the House of Mirrors or the whispers of the shadow fey it is knowledge you desire, eyes and ears that might pierce the plots of your foes before they can do harm to your realm and its citizens. "I would ask that you and all those who answer to you follow the laws of the realm and pass information of any present or future threats to the Inquisition or other investigative branches..."
"A deal I can find no fault with in substance, though the form may be troublesome," the Hooded Lord interjected. "If a mortal should sell a third of his years for the skill and grace to court the beloved of his heart, and then perish without mark or illness when the hour comes due, would not his kin claim that fey magic slew him? Here it is and in many other instances I can conceive that the law is silent and the mob likely to be loud. We who are the children of faerie may trade in substance more sublime than common matter, but the price paid is no less binding for it. Those years, once given, could be traded on in turn. Tell me, Dragon King, will you protect us from the cries and demands accustomed to the careless generosity of the divine?"
Before you can answer the lord of shadow speaks, turning a pale weirwood twig between his fingers. "If you know a bargain to be troublesome to mortals than why chance it? I do not sell shadow viper venom and then expect to be treated as one who trades in honey and mead."
"I do not sell, I do not buy, I keep the peace, one that mortals break more often than the fey once the intoxication of triumph, wealth or glory wears away and they must consider the cost." The hooded head tips as though the one beneath it is considering the other fey lord in a new light.
"
Intoxication," the word has an edge to it, though not yet any anger. "I mislike the word, if bargains are to be made under my authority and with my subjects, then they must be sound of mind and fully aware of the terms of the agreement."
"Mortals and fey alike grow drunk on dreams and hopes more often than on any wine," comes the reply. Were you minded to read the voice that speaks in the splash of raindrops you would say there is a shadow of sorrow there, but it is gone too soon to be certain. "Still, that is an acceptable condition, the business lost from fools without the wit to understand the bargain they have wrought will be gained as more mortals come to trust fey trade more."
"Speaking of stumbling into peril, I would have your assurance that any wander into the Goblin Market without intent would be escorted back at no cost to them should they choose to," you add. Sadly you think of a few reasons why someone might not wish to leave and sooner take their chances with the fickle fey than the world of men.
"Agreed, such lost ones are often interesting, particularly for those of a darker disposition, they are rarely profitable," the words offer no judgement on such cruelty as they describe. Hermetia shivers sightly beside you, and not from the rain you would wager. While you sympathize, if compassion were required to enter your service you would be much poorer in vassals and she would likely be dead for the lack of her erinyes guard.
"In exchange for leal service you shall have protection, the right to trade freely both in my realm and with my allies of the spheres of Earth and Air, a enchanted brazier for swift communication and if you wish a construct assistant," you conclude, nothing extraordinary, but then you would not be ruling the market with any but the lightest of touches. The Hooded Lord had not been wrong in his estimation. You desire to directly rule a portion of the Feywild slightly less than you want a parcel of land in Hell.
"And on the matter of more arcane trade, with mortals in full possession of their faculties of course," the lord of the Goblin Market presses. "Where would you draw the line?"
What do you reply?
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OOC: Good rolls all around for Diplomacy and Sense Motive As far as Viserys can tell this is an honest question, not an attempt to specifically screw mortals over. The Hooded Lord wants to see what his profit margins are going to be and the diversity of services offered is a part of that.
