Raffles was very pleased with himself, he couldn’t wait to get back to the Pony to see the results of his first haul, almost sprinting up the steps he pushed open the door a little too forcefully and stumbled through, making a beeline for the bar.
“Good evening Barliman! An ale please, and one for yourself too!”
“Evening Rollo, that's good of you, to what do I owe this generosity?”
“My first successful adventure, with proper loot, from actual goblins!” Raffles beamed, emptying the contents of his pack onto the bar.
Barliman stared, he’s seen a lot of wares, both honest and ill-gotten over the years, and this ‘haul’ surely ranked somewhere near the bottom. He also made a mental note to put up a sign stating that no goods were to be unloaded at the bar.
He sighed a little, but didn’t want to dampen the young hobbits enthusiasm, well at least while the bar was quiet, he supposed he had time “So what you got?”
Hmmm a dagger… what’s in this pouch? Oh pipeweed… old toby if I’m not mistaken… and here …
Raffles talked quickly, the words almost falling over themselves in their eagerness to get out.
He stopped, unsure as to what he now held in his hands. Opening the wooden box had revealed some torn cloth, a flask and small pot. Opening the flask raffles sniffed it … it smelt awful..
He passed it to Barliman to get his opinion, who took the smallest of sniffs.. it somewhat reminded him of that job-lot of cheap liquor a dwarf had sold him a while back… but this smelt worse somehow, which to be honest, he hadn’t thought possible.
He winced, at the memory of that particular ‘deal’ almost as much as the smell.
“I’m not buying that’ he stated flatly… take that to cartwell to see if he might have a use for it”, might be good for getting dye out of cloth he thought to himself… if it didn’t dissolve the cloth first.
“I wouldn’t touch that either he said, eyeing the contents of the small pot warily… off to cartwell with that too” his tone telling raffles in no uncertain terms that it should not stay out on the bar.
“Very mysterious” Raffles continued, stoppering the flask and putting it back in his pack along with the pot.
“Now what do we have here… “ he opened the second pouch revealing what seemed to be a set of tools, and a few gemstones.
“Hmmm jewellers tools perhaps?”
“Maybe… “ Barliman was non-committal
“what you need Raif, is a weaponsmith, a jeweller… and to get this loot off my bar... the evening clientele will be here soon and wont be able to get a drink on account of all the clutter”. He grumbled, drawing the conversation to a close.
“Yes of course” Raffles only half heard… he was still excited after his first foray.. daggers! unknown potions! gems! and pipe weed…
He stuffed the items rapidly back into his pack, leaving aside the pipe weed pouch, from which he then proceeded to fill his pipe and sit back smoking, and daydreaming of future loot laden adventures.
