"Charms! Good luck charms! Genuine, antique amulets carved from the sacred wood harvested from the heart of an old wise man's hermitage! This wood is made from mahogany blessed by the seer Lidam'Ala. The prayers uttered by him over the years have imbued these trees with the power to repel evil!"

Delanac grimaced as he briskly kept walking, but this was typical of the Mamlak marketplace. Unlike Arri and Endapano, the vendors here could get rather pushy when they thought they spotted a potential customer. Frankly, he wouldn't have come here if his father hadn't told him to. In Yovaesh it was a well-known rule that when ordering goods from Mamluk, you never bought from anyone not included in the community's list of suppliers. Anyone who broke the rules often suffered a bad deal or found themselves with a whole bunch of poorer quality materials, or even worse. The memory of a young jeweler who ended up getting a cursed stone when she bought from a seller who had lower prices than her family's usual gemstone provider was something they never let her live down, even after they had called a group of clerics and mages from Adeluna and Iria to safely nullify the effects. Thus, the rule of thumb when browsing the Mamluk market was to look straight ahead and keep on walking.

He was here to place an order for iron, silver, and orichalcum ore for his father Carric Ironbrow, head blacksmith of the family business. After checking inventory, their stocks were low and their usual supplier sent word that he'd be here in Mamluk market for trading and business. It wasn't as critical, but Carric had told his son to see if the man had any obsidian or good quality gemstones for inlaid ornamentation. If the vendor had any stock, he would purchase the raw gems and have the man deliver them to the island where Carric would pass them off to one of the jewelry artisan families to polish and cut. After his third lap around the market, he found the vendor he was looking for and made a beeline for the tent. The supplier was a human with deeply tanned skin and thick Abedi accent, known as Anil. The man waved to him when he saw Delanac. 

"Hello there friend! I hope I wasn't too hard to find in the sea of stalls! So, what will it be this time? I've got a good variety of things in stock after my trip to the steppes and Arri. Your father is the blacksmith by the name of Ironbrow, correct?"

The orc nodded, taking the man's hand in a solid handshake. "That's right. Good to see you Anil. The old man needs a shipment of raw orichalcum, silver, and iron. Do you have any uncut gems? Anything from corundum to amethyst is fine." Anil nodded. "The usual amount of ore, yes? I will write that down. When I pass by Yovaesh the shipment will arrive as promised. As for gems, I do have some fine rubies and emeralds. The miners found a new vein recently and the pieces they dug out were of exceptional size and color. How many do you need?" Delanac rubbed his chin contemplating how much they might need. "Hrmm. I'd say, a half pound of the biggest ones you got in the lot for both of them. Are these arriving with the ores or will they come separately?"

The quick click of the abacus beads filled the brief silence as the vendor calculated the costs of the order. "They will be coming with the ores. Alright, your total will be 5,752 silver crescents. I will come to collect the payment for the shipment once I am at Yovaesh and after your father approves it." "Good to do business with you Anil. I'll be on my way now, safe travels!" He and Anil exchanged goodbyes as Delanac prepared to leave the market, carefully avoiding being pulled aside by the other merchants. With his business here complete, it was time to hit the road again. He looked around if there were any trade caravans willing to allow an extra person to join their company. The Sarchu Valley was treacherous to go through alone, and so was the Laeto rainforest to the south. He still had a few days to decide how he would depart, since he had finished his duties here earlier than expected.

The city was once again bustling with life, merchant calls and sale being discussed flooded the streets, though most of the outside folks were only getting deals with those new to the city itself. Most people who were familiar with these lands already knew to trust the locals, as if there was a curse on everything a foreigner would try to sell. Some had even tried to make the place a more permanent residence as if that would fix their problem. It was not his problem, really, considering the explorer was seated in the near-barren tavern all by his lone-self.

"No,that's not it," Douken muttered to himself, slipping a piece of parchment into his hand and crumbling it away before dropping it next to his seat, next to the others that held the same treatment. "Even if I find away across that crevice, the team that follows up would need to reach it as well with their carts of gear. The speed I would get would turn into wasted effort." In front of him was a map of the local landscape, a stack of parchment where he took another sheet from to place on top of said map, an ink vial, which he dropped an ink quill into, a mug of ale which he took into one hand and a job offer which he took into the other, taking a drink as he looked over the offer.

It had seemed that one of the shop resources were running low at their collection point and had to find a new place to restock at. And of course, what better object to hunt for than ore? A fresh new ore vein to seek out and gather from, purify into ingots, all before reshaping into bars and then equipment from tools to weapons. All apart of the job for the smith… it was his job to not only find it, but a route to it as well. All they had for him to work with was nothing more than rumored spots.

Setting the mug down, he sighed as he scratched his head. "The only way they would consider that route is if they built a bridge, and it would need to be a damn good vein for that to even be considered." Setting the job request down as well, he moved the parchment over yet another mpart of the map beofre taking the quill back in hand, this time full of ink before once again jotting down possible routes on it. "What about like this…"

Taking a break for a drink while he waited, Delanac ducked into a local tavern for a taste of some regional specialties. He had heard of some exotic cocktails made from the tropical fruit gathered from the Laeto rainforest–one of them being the infamous durian. He had seen them once, in his first time coming here. From a first glance he had doubted if said fruit was even edible, seeing it bore more resemblance to an oversized flail head than any he had ever seen. The intimidating spikes and the near-impenetrable outer layer had him scratching his head at why anyone would risk getting injured for one of those. When a vendor cracked one open, the inside contents were…questionable at best. The smell was what really put him off; it stank in a very pungent way. However a few people he knew who had tried it claimed it was an acquired taste, and praised how delicious it was. Not wanting to waste money buying a whole one for himself, he decided to start small.

The tavern was surprisingly empty, with only one customer seated at the bar. The floor around him was littered with crumpled scraps of paper as the man muttered to himself about something. The orc thought the man lucky that he had the place all to himself, otherwise he'd be getting an earful from the other patrons. Scooting some of the paper wads out of the way with his foot, he took a seat at the bar. The bartender asked him what he wanted to drink and Delanac scratched his chin. "Hm…how about something special? Have anything with less alcohol but a bit more flavor? Local ingredients, like fruit or the like."

"We have a few of those. They're mostly cocktails, if that is what you are looking for. Here's a list of what we have; most people simply order the usual imported ale or beer." The bartender produced a list of drink names and handed it to him. "Anything catch your fancy?"

Skimming the list of things that gave little to no hint as to what they contained, he settled on the safest looking choice. "I'll have this'n here." He pointed to the 'Rainforest Sunrise'. It sounded tropical, and hoped he wasn't getting some kind of roundabout joke in the drink being nothing like the name. The bartender nodded and began to prepare his order.

After five minutes, he was presented with an interesting concoction. Served in a tall glass, the liquid was an opaque yellow-orange with a sprig of mint on top. The rim of the glass was coated in some kind of crystalline powder, and he hoped it wasn't anything that would endanger his health. Thanking the bartender, he raised the glass and downed it in one shot. As soon as the drink hit his tastebuds he already knew what one of the ingredients were. That smell, that texture…there was no mistaking it. It was still strong, even with the other fruity flavors mixed in. The crystals on the rim he discovered were sugar stuck on after dipping the edge of the glass in honey, but the main player in this drink was durian.

"Oh by the gods–" Delanac was trying hard not to send the drink back up his throat. It was like someone had thrown garlic, sweet egg custard, whipped cream, and something sour all in at once. By now any vestiges of mango or passion fruit were gone from his palate, and it was all durian. Putting his head in his hands, he took a deep breath as he tried to get the aftertaste out of his mouth, but it was stubborn. No amount of alcohol could make this any better, and if he weren't in the presence of two other people he would've swore that this was something straight from a medicine man's stewing pot. "That's got a proper nasty kick to it now…whoo!" He rinsed his mouth a few times with several gulps from his canteen until it finally lessened. Never again, he swore to himself. Never again.

While he heard the door open and close, Douken did not pay too much mind to it. After all, this place was a business, and while the day hours were not too common for customers looking for drinks, it was still running. After all, sometimes a man is seeking information, and bartenders tend to hear many stories, often leading others to the jobs they seek. Other times… well, other times, people want to be drunk 24/7. Something he could not argue against, considering he was sitting with a mug of ale with his work… considering the shop did not have many nonalcoholic drinks, and Douken was not a man for coffee.

Hearing the other shoo away his scraps with his foot, Douken muttered, "Sorry about the mess," not exactly looking up as his fingers shouted the map lines once more, making quick notes about the landscape to see if he was missing out on any details. "Maybe… the path is more roundabout and longer… and may need a raft, but would be easier to move the items around safely." If time was not an issue for them, it could be worth investigating. Then again, when short on supply, people tend to get desperate for the quickest route to get back into the game. A sigh escaped in, just thinking about being denied just because it took longer when a quicker route placed a team's life on the line.

Douken's attention was quickly stolen from his research when he heard the regrets and gags coming from the stranger beside him, looking over to see a half orc choking on his shot. Looking at the bartender, the man shrugged while simply stating, "Guess it was too much?" What was too much?

Sure, it would have been rude otherwise, but his curiosity took him over. Taking the glass, he looked it over before getting a small sniff to see if that told him what was in it. Sure enough, what he got told the man plenty. "Well now," Douken chuckled, "I hope you didn't order this not knowing what was inside," Douken chuckled before passing his mug over to him. "I doubt it will help any, but maybe this can help drown it out a bit?"

"Ah 'course I did. I expected a tropical sunrise, but instead I got knocked clean sober even with the alcohol in it! Whew–it's getting into me nose. If I wasn't awake then, I sure am now. You'd need to be proper plastered to not get your eyes wide open after the first glass." Delanac graciously accepted the mug the man offered and took a swig. "Much appreciated, lad. The pungent taste's still there but that ought to water it down a bit." Returning the mug, he wiped his mouth and looked at the remaining drops of liquid pooling at the bottom of his glass. Here he had thought that pepper-spiced rum he sampled with Rufus had a kick. His eyes wandered over to what the man next to him was doing, and he made out the scribbling of some kind of map. "What you got there in front? Some kind of drawing, or the like?"

Apparently the man had been dissatisfied with the previous twenty-something crumpled papers covering the floor around the bar. The orc wondered to himself what would be so troubling that it would require him to redo it so many times. Surely something important–it was obvious enough. He then remembered he hadn't paid for his drink yet, and gave the bartender the amount of crescents to cover it. He was done with drinks for today. 

Setting the mug down, Douken's was about to get back to the project before the orc quickly intervened, asking about that he was even doing. A good sensible question, considering his mess of parchments around him and having the map of the local area spread out. Instead of picking up the quill and ignoring the question, he instead picked up the sheet of parchment that had the job offer on it and handed it over to him, telling him the gist, "I am trying to find a good route to a rumored vein, and if its true, I would need to find a good transport route.

"However, just because i can get there on foot, it does not mean carriages of supplies and workers can do so," he explained, motioning the mess of papers on the floor. So, it was clear he was able to find routes himself, but when it came to bigger transports, not so lucky. "Its almost like that city's curse also affects information!" While he was a bit irritated with it, he did try to make sure his tone also shone with a bit of humor. "I mean, how much do you bet by showing this to a citizen here that job and this same map, they would find the perfect route and sales pitch almost instantly?"

"So that's what this is all about then? That'd explain much. You look like you've got your work cut out for you. The area around Mamlak's more jungle than solid ground, and narrow in places to boot. Unless you had one of them geomancers–if that's that you call them–it'd take a lot of work making a road wide enough for wagons to get through. All I know is working metal and a little on gems, so I'm afraid I've got no advice to give." Delanac had seen his share of ores and watching miners at work, but he rarely had the chance to see the effort that was made into accessing the precious treasures buried deep within the good earth. His extent of any knowledge on mining was that they dug around areas where ores and stone were present and kept going until they couldn't find any more. The orc had once went with his father to purchase goods at the mining settlement in the Mo'Mey steppes, but they weren't allowed near the mine shafts. Personally, that suited him just fine as he heard that they were using giant worms to dig out their tunnels.

It wasn't one of his best points, but he wasn't particularly fond of scuttling things with legs–or no legs for that matter. He hated spiders, worms, and anything with legs between six and eight. Actually there were millipedes and centipedes in that general category of crawling things too. Snakes he could at least tolerate, but by the gods did he hate those eight-legged fiends known as arachnids. The only thing else he hated just as much, were flies and cockroaches. In the more humid areas of the world it was tough, as insects thrived in such environments. So far he was thankful to have avoided any unwanted run-ins with said pests. Not only were they filthy, but there was something about how they looked that made his skin break out into goosebumps.  

"Yeah, geomancers would definitely help, or simply get some loggers to open up the roadway, but its mainly convincing them that the cost of hiring said workers to make the route viable worth the pay off in the end. And with each obstruction that needs those workers need to take care of, the question of cost increases, because in the end, what they have is a business, whether it be to keep their doors open, a roof over their heads… or their innate greed." It sucked that very few shops would take care of these costs without question, but that was how the market worked. "Trust me, you need a tongue of gold to be able to talk to the client about constructing three bridges, even if it is to a large vein of rare material." Sure, he can to use large semi-sarcastically, considering they were skill pretty small pools compared to other ore, but the toughness and value of them often meant needing mining crews for them alone.

With a sigh, Douken scrapped the last shot of paper before letting it fall back onto the floor below. "I think I will just call this job cursed by the town and seek out a job somewhere else," he admitted as he worked on folding the map up. "Besides, its not like I actually lost anything too big. After all, this was more research before accepting the job than anything else." With the map folded up, he began to throw that along with the extra parchment, quill, and ink into his back. "Sorry for the mess!" he called out to the bartender before stepping out of his seat and getting to his knees, cleaning up his mass collection of scraps. "Still, I should find some job that can help me pay for my next room…"

"Huh, sounds like a proper pickle. Can't blame them for shying away at the sound of spending money. I suppose maybe someone else with coin to spare would be more willing to give it a go in the future. Still, being willing to split hairs even over something like this for a job's downright commendable." Delanac admired this man's determination, even if the ore miners were balking at it. Everything came through one's blood, sweat, and tears at the end–there was no way getting around that. It was a slow afternoon so far in the tavern, and the orc was still waiting on the nearest available caravan heading out of Mamlak. It was then when he heard something going on outside, and left his seat at the bar to investigate. Looking out the door, he saw a large group of people in the market place, with heads in their hands and mixed expressions of concern and frustration.

There were no signs of a fight, or any reason for a disturbance. However something was wrong, as implied by the distress. Pulling aside one of the locals passing by the tavern Delanac asked him about what was going on. "Hey, what's with the noise over there? Something happen?" The man motioned with his head towards the situation. "There was an accident following one of the caravans preparing to depart. A few scouts reported that there was a collapse somewhere along the main trail through the rainforest, blocking the way out. And if the weather forecast comes true, heavy rains are expected to come within the next day or two delaying them further when the flooding spills over the banks." "That's terrible news. Is there any way to clear the path and get them going before then?" The man put a hand to his chin looking at the ground."Perhaps. Clearing the fallen trees and rubble will take more time than available if you aim to leave before the flash floods hit. Unless someone works a miracle, the best we can do is find an alternative route and go around the blockage and hope for the best."

Letting the man go about his own business, Delanac heaved a sigh. "Blasted luck, couldn't have been a worse time for the caravans to be held up. I'll have to stay in the city for an extra week or two once the flooding recedes." Rainstorms were intense and sudden here, but brief. They were common enough that the entire area retained its muggy humidity and the plants were well-watered, but that meant serious delays for his plans on getting back home. There weren't any airships around either, so he couldn't hitch a ride on one of them. Even if there were some docked, the weather conditions would still prevent them from flying until the skies were clear.

Douken's ears perked up a the sound of commotion outdoors as well, drawing him shortly after the orc. However, unlike the orc, he did not peer himself into the conversation right away. Instead, he dug himself back into his bag for the map of the local area and his quill. While he typically hated drawing on his own maps, he felt like he had to make an exception  for the moment. Unfolding his map, he sought out the town and the local forest before folding it back closed, just keeping the local area within view.
offering the quill and map.

"Um, can you show me where the blockade is?" Douken asked, holding out the items over to the man Delanac spoke to before he took them, thinking about what he was told.

"I think the scouts said it was somewhere in this area," he replied, circling a small portion of the map before handing things back.

"Hmm…" Douken hummed as he checked out the map, tracing his finger over the route before finding a connection and tracing backwards. In his mind, he watched the woodlands pass by him, seeing the landscape before him, breaking only for a moment to see the carts in the caravan and the sizes of their transport before back down to the map. "You know…" Douken muttered, "While the route is a bit longer, it will get you around the blockade before the storms hit hard."

"Wait, what?" the leader yelled, puling the map out of his hands before looking it over. "But how?! The only other route adds a week tops!"

Clearing his throat, Douken took the map back into his hands before taking his quill to it, drawing along the path before a section away from the blockade. "From here, you will need to go a bit off road before you connect to this route here." There, he traced a precise route that lead through the woods before hitting another pathway. "This also gives a benefit of placing you on a higher elevation route, making it harder for the flash floods to impede travel. The only problem is that you would need to hire a geomancer or two to help move some trees out of the way to ensure the carts can move through clearly."

There was a pause of silence in the air as the man looked over the details, before pointing over at one of his men. "You, look for a geomancer who is ready for a quick job. Tell him I will pay for the sudden task! Hurry!"