Happy's Fish Market and Sea Supplies

[Havoc]

EDIT: Big note for anyone trying to buy from here. You, eheh. Cant. Happy's is out of business. Read the posts below this initial one. I would repost it, but Stephan bought it. He is the owner now. This thread is being used to allow Stephan to investigate what is left in Happy's. Thanks!

-GM Trinity

Happy’s Fish Market and Sea Supplies. Is just off the wharves in the port district of Narim. Customers from all over the empire flock there to purchase the finest sea food, and equip themselves for a long sea voyage. The building is a long wooden shed, with an open front facing the beach and the docks.
The store is run by a merchant called Happy who has lived his entire life in Narim, and is more than willing to spend the day chatting with his customers. Happy is a large human male, with big beefy hands, a winning smile, and an apron covered with fish blood and guts.
Happy throws his arms open wide, and gives a big hug, and with a smile says,
"Serale, my name is Happy, what can I do for you today."

The Fish Market
The fish market offers the finest selection of catches from Narim’s fishing fleet.

Live lobster: 3 silver a lb.
Tuna: 1 silver a lb.
Cod: 1 silver a lb.
Sea Bass: 2 silver a lb.
Sword Fish 2 silver a lb.
Catch O’ The Day ask Happy

Sea salt 2 lb. For a silver
Fish and Chips Take Out: 5 silver’s per serving.

Sea supplies:
Water Cask Filled: 10 days for 2 people 10 crowns.
Water Cask Empty: 5 crowns.
Cask Of Cheap Wine: (10 gallons) 50 Crowns
Cask of Rum: (5 gallons) 50 Crowns
Cask of Lime juice (5 gallons) 10 Crowns (prevents scurvy, and mixed with rum, wow!)
Salt Pork Cask: 10 days for 4 people 100 crowns
Hard Tack Box: (A large dry crackers) 10 days for 2 people 50 crowns
Fresh Greens Boxed: 10 days for 4 people 10 crowns. (only lasts a cycle, then spoils)
Barrel of Apples: 10 days for 20 people. (about 1 apple a day, prevents scurvy) 20 crowns
Live chickens, goats, and lambs: ask clerk
Feed for Live chickens, goats, and lambs: 10 lb. For 2 crowns (chicken’s lay eggs, doh)

Ropes and rigging: 1 silver per yard.
Sails: custom, ask Happy, about 2 silver per square yard.
Life preserver: large canvas and wood 2 crowns
Buckets, wooden: 1 crown
Rags: 10 lb. 1 crown
Holly Stone: (For cleaning deck) 5 silvers

Sea Chest: large 4 crowns, medium 3 crowns.
Sea Bag: 1 crown
Shaving Kit: Small Mirror, Razor, Soap. 10 crowns
Sewing Kit: Needle, Thread, Paring knife, Thimble. 5 crowns
Working Clothes: Set of canvas gloves, cheap pants and shirt, cloth hat. 5 crowns

Navigators Tools: Sextant, Compass, Chronometers, Rulers. (used, mismatched) 100 crowns
Navigators Tools Deluxe Boxed: Same as above but matched in polished brass 250 crowns
Telescope: (used, if available) 300 crowns. (new) 500 crowns
Compass: 50 crowns
Sextant: 75 crowns
Chronometers: 100 crowns
Rulers, and Drawing Compasses (for marking, and making notes on maps) 30 crowns

Weapons: (Happy carries a very limited amount of armor for some reason, doh)
Large Cutlass, brass knuckle hilt, with metal ring holder: 75 crowns
Large Sea knife (dagger) 10 crowns
Brass Knuckles with spikes, 5 crowns
Small metal buckler: 20 crowns
Large wooden Shield: (can serve as life preserver) 10 crowns

Maps:
Local Fishing Waters: 5 crowns
Trade Routes, Each Route 10 crowns
Others: including secret pirate maps ask Happy

[Trinity]

It was a sad day for Happy's. The place had not been getting much business, and as such had fallen victim to the broken dreams saga in the Shvakkim. At the end of the road, people could now see Happy's barred and closed up, a simple sign hanging in it's window..

Went Bankrupt, sold back to Narim. I'm getting too old for this..

Another sign was hung over it, this time in the scrawling of Patricia the Aedile:
Want to own this business? Contact me in the Aedile's Office.
Serale,
Patricia the Aedile

One thing was for certain, the place was very underused and in good condition still. Poor Happy, he just didn't have anyone to have business from that would keep the shop afloat. It seemed that though, if anyone else wished to try their luck, they could always stop by the Aedile's Office and buy the place out.. It couldn't cost too much, could it?

[Stephan Woulofen]

After a long walk through the city of Narim from the Aedile's office Stephan finally reached his new business. Happy's Fish Markey and Sea Supplies, name seemed to work and be an attention getter, but for some reason the business had gone under. Was it because the owner was a bad businessman or possibly simply there was no market? Surely it couldn't be the second of the two, for Stephan hadn't come upon any other sea supply stores in Medonia and Port Alyxandrya.

Well, Stephan would just have to turn this business around, and he knew how, or at least he hoped his ideas would prove successful. Entering the pretty large and still well kept business a horrible smell nearly made him pass out. Clasping his nose with his fingers he gasped and immediately ran outside. Once outside Stephan immediately tried to breathe in some fresh air, it even caused him to lean over and place his hands on his knees.

"Wow, thats horrible," Stephan said and then, once he caught his breath, turned and looked at Happy's again. The door would have to remain open for days and those rotten fish had to be removed. "I can't believe they didn't clean out the place, what a waste." Removing his silk shirt and throwing it alongside the entrance of Happy's he then removed his undershirt so that he was shirtless. Placing the shirt over his mouth and nose Stephan walked back in to take a look around.

The place was simply a mess, if he was one to get sick easily his meal would have surely been all over the place. Fortunately, most of the stuff was still in rolling bins to be placed on display, which would allow for faster removal. Would he have to do this all himself? It seemed so, he surely had alot of work to do.

Walking to all of the windows Stephan opened everything, allowing for the bad smell to slowly escape, and fresh air to enter the building.

[S'Lon]

Walking across the Docks in what he hoped was the direction indicated by the Harbour Masters vague wave, S'Lon was in a pensive mood.

The shivers caused by the chill winter wind whipping off the sea were matched by the inner worries that were beginning to surface despite his best efforts to control them. He had wanted adventure and a change from the life that had seemed to stretch into the future doing the same things year in and year out on some small islands. The reality, of course, was somewhat more uncertain than he had envisaged while day dreaming of adventure in far off lands.

For now, his immediate concern was to find this Shvakkim the Harbour Master had spoken of - he knew that just because it was well known and therefore obvious to the locals, it did not mean that it was quite so obvious to a stranger.

However, even the immediate navigation issues could only occupy part of his mind as he scanned the route ahead, automatically dodging the ropes, boxes and other paraphanalia that were the everyday debris of the Docks at a busy seaport. Now that he was starting to recover from the seasickness that had assailed him for so long (or so it had seemed anyway), his mind was starting to clear and the tone of the Harbour Masters voice and the speculative look on his face as he had peered over those spectacles perched on the end of his nose had forced an old worry to the surface - it was clearly not going to be easy to get a Visa, and what would he need to prove or do in order to get it?

As he drifted along, he was also becoming aware of just how many people were routinely carrying weapons, and even though he had no formal weapons training - to be walking around unarmed was to invite trouble. Unfortunately, in order to purchase something as expensive as weapons, he would need to cash in some of his travelling funds so he also needed to fund a respectable merchant who would be willing or able to help him. With this in mind, S'Lon extended his scanning of the surroundings to include any local businesses.

In the near distance, movement drew his eye to a long shed of a building where the windows were being thrown open. He could just make out the sign which labeled it as Happys Fish Market. Fish was far from being a favourite of S'Lon's, though an island background had forced him into a closer relationship than he would have preferred.

Drawing up close to the business, the stench coming from the windows made him gag - what was going on? No-one would run a business like that! Coming round to the doorway, S'Lon peered in - and quickly snatched his head back as the smell of rotting fish brought tears to his eyes. The glance had been worthwhile however as it had shown a well dressed man, although oddly shirtless despite the cold, with a cloth wrapped round his head glaring at the contents of the building.

Taking the opportunity to take a few breaths of the cleaner air outside and to let the place ventilate a little, S'Lon considered the opportunity that had so fortuitously occurred and quickly came up with a plan. Straightening his shoulders and with a quick glance to make sure he was decently dressed, S'Lon strode confidently into the building.

"Serale, my good sir", he said. "Do you need any help? If you do, I have a proposition to make you"

S'Lon paused for a moment and pressed on - "I have just landed at the Docks and not being currently employed, it would be of assistance to me if I had a respectable member of the community, such as your good self, who was able to say a good word for me. Never fear, I ask only that you give your honest opinion!

In addition, having just landed from Daltice, I need to exchange some of my travelling funds for Crowns so that I can make some purchases. If you were willing to do this for me, and give me fair value then I will help you for the rest of the day"

S'Lon paused and waited for a response.

[Stephan Woulofen]

Turning around at the sound of a voice before he wandered in further into his establishment Stephan turned to see a man standing there, not a very smart man. Why he had entered was beyond reason, this placed smelled absolutely horrible, it surely wasn't inviting at all. "Serale, a proposition? Go on," he said and then waited for the man to continue speaking.

As the man continued speaking Stephan became more and more interested in what he was saying. He was from Daltice and so he was an Outlander, Stephan hadn't come in contact with many Outlanders before. He didn't look all that different from himself, but he figured being an Outlander in the Allerian Empire could sometimes be hard on them.

"Oh an Outlander from Daltice, welcome to the Allerian Empire. I'm Lord Stephan Woulofen," he said and walked over to the man. Fortunately, he hadn't touched any of the rotten fish and so his hand was not slimy. Offering the man his hand he smiled, "And you are?" After introductions were over Stephan continued, "If you help me clear out all this rotten fish and throw it into the sea, and help clean the place out from this horrible stench, I'll pay you 2000 crowns and speak well of you for any job you would like to seek in the city. As for your Daltice currency I am sure you could go to the Narim bank and they will exchange if for crowns for you."

Waiting for the man's answer Stephan had to hold his breath for awhile, this stench was getting more and more worse by the second.

[S'Lon]

S'Lon listened carefully as the man introduced himself and was rather surprised that a man of such importance would be prepared to get his hands dirty in such a disgusting place. He took the offered hand and smiled as he shook it.

S'Lon was pleased by the offer and was impressed by the enthusiasm shown - this was a man who obviously intended to get things moving in a very quick time.

"I would be pleased to accept your generous offer and I will assist you to clear and restore this building to a state that will be a credit to you."

Might I suggest that I start clearing these wheeled bins containing the rotting fish so that they are at least outside the building - I'm not sure I can stand being in here much longer otherwise. If there is something else you would like to suggest, then perhaps we can step outside to continue this discussion". S'Lon stopped and put his hand over his mouth in an attempt to reduce the smell.

[Stephan Woulofen]

IC: Stephan nodded quickly at the man's decision to help him out by removing the fish bins from the building. "Yes, wheel them out as quickly as possible, this smell is absolutely horrible. We will talk more later once this is all cleared out. Remove all fish but keep any documents or anything else where it was." Putting his shirt back over his mouth Stephan looked around for the closest bins so that he could start rolling them out of the building.

This would surely take many trips of filling the bins, dumping them, and then returning and filling them again over and over. Most likely this would take all day long and be quite tiresome work, however with a second hand to help it may go so much more smoother.

Getting behind the first bin Stephan tired his shirt against his mouth and nose, so that he could still breath, but so that the smell wasn't as bad. Wheeling the fish out in the first bin he was glad this process was finally underway, the sooner it was all cleared out, the sooner the better.

OOC: Gotta wait for Trinity to post

[Trinity]

It was a dusty place by now, the long forgotten glory of 'Happy's Fish Market and Sea Supplies'. A lone tattered sign on the back wall above a map of the Sherian Province and it's predominate sea and river areas that were wonderful for fishing remained. Little, ackward colored pegs sat in the wooden wall atop this map, pinning down either location of something, or just holding it to the wall. Who knew? The last owner, whom had gone by the alias 'Happy', was now ill forgotten amongst the prominent people of Narim. If he even still was around, he was a mess, a drunkard, possibly a homeless beggar. On any account, he definately was not well off if he was still alive.

Luckily for Stephan and S'Lon, the owner and the outlander, many of the bins weren't heavily laden. The first one Stephan grabbed was only about a fourth full, and reaked of spoiled fish that had baked in the dim light of the dusty building. It seemed the government had boarded up the establishment as it had been left after abandoment and bankruptcy. There were a total of four baskets left, each smelling of the worsest smell rotten fish were able to produce. Thankfully they both had guarded their senses, else they become queasy and generally ill altogether.

As he wheeled them outside, it became apparent to Stephan just how close to the sea of Diana the establishment was. Heck, there was an extension of the docks that reached very close by, actually. The actual Serpent of the Sea docks were a little more south off of the main road, but someone had been smart enough to construct a good, sturdy and small dock for a few boats at a time interspursed due to their fishing shipments. What he was going to do with these bins, who knew. Dump them off into the sea, try to get the local government to dispose of them, dump them off somewhere in the alleys and hope no one saw him?

Maybe it didn't matter, as the chief concern for the moment was just ridding the building of spoiled materials. It seemed in the absence of an owner and an upkeep, other beasties had found their way inside aswell. Behind the bin Stephan had wheeled out, S'Lon heard a barely audiable squeak!... The place had a few rodents dining on the dead fish, it seemed. Of course, the best way to get rid of any unwanted visitors was to move their reason for being inside away. If all the fish were cleared out, it gave line to believe that the rodents would follow suit.

Many of the supplies the old store had sold were still around. A small chest sat in the corner, tattered and frayed rope hung from a shelf top and an old looking few pieces of parchment -- likely maps of the surrounding areas, smaller scales of the big one on the back wall, were strewn about. Some of the old parchment rolls were records of Happy's.. He didn't seem to care about much of anything when he left, and due to the look of things, was not too happy. Out of the four bins, everything looked okay.. Except for the fifth one, which was not easily seen. Of course, who can see one that's overturned on the floor? Here the mice nibbled, and it was here they made their home. They hid behind the counters, making it their established abode..
Apparently Happy was not all that 'Happy' when he was evicted due to bankruptcy...

[Stephan Woulofen]

Taking the first bin that was full of rotten fish Stephan rolled it slowly down the docks and to the edge. Letting it set there for awhile he walked back inside to find something to scoop out the fish rather than tipping the whole bin as it may crash into the water. "Roll them all to the end of the dock, we have to empty them alittle before we tip them over." Grabbing a shovel, which he had to struggle to find, Stephan walked back to the end of the dock and began to shovel the fish from the bin and into the sea.

Wasn't that hard of a task, especially since the sea air weakened the horrible rotten fish smell. Shovelling full loads, one after another, the work went simply easy as the task had never been that hard. The hardest task was the cleaning out of the building and its smell after the rotten fish had been removed. There would need to be alot of renovating done before the Stephan could even plan to open the building or get suppliers.

Once the bins had been emptied enough he asked for S'Lon's assistance to help dump the bins. They would have to be careful and slow or the bins and themselves could go falling into the water. Stephan definately didn't want to take a swim today.

[S'Lon]

Following Stephans lead, S'Lon grabbed the next bin and maneuvered it out from where it had been sitting. As he struggled to overcome the combination of rust locked wheels and the general build up of refuse that had formed a block in front of the wheels, there S'Lon could hear rustles and squeaks from the previous occupants who were clearly not happy with the change.

By the time S'Lon had got the recalcitrant bin moving towards the door, Stephan was coming back in. S'Lon nodded acknowledgement of the instruction and got behind the bin and pushed. Fortunately the rust seemed to ease off and the bin rolled away towards the dock, and he left it next to other one.

S'Lon jogged back to the building, glad to be doing something constructive and keen to get this fairly unpleasant phase out of the way.

The work went quickly and soon all the bins were lined up where Stephan was working with the shovel. No-one so far seemed to be complaining about what they were doing - perhaps everyone was fed up with the smell coming from the building and were happy with any solution.

Together they manoeuvered the heavy bins and tipped them off the edge of the dock. The tide seemed to be on the ebb so hopefully the worst of the mess would be carried out to sea and not linger around to remind everyone of what was taking place here.

They took a break as the bins were heavy and they didn't want to risk dropping one onto the edge of the dock and either damaging it or losing it into the water. During the break S'Lon borrowed the shovel and went to fill the last bin that that had spilled over the floor and bring it down to the dock, but it was too heavy for him to lift on his own so he went back out to the dock and told Stephan that he would need a hand to lift the bin upright.

After that it would be time for the next stage! S'Lon hoped that there were sufficent cleaning materials present in the building as he was curious as to Stephans plans and also he had a large chunk of natural curiosity as to what they would find in the building.

[Stephan Woulofen]

As the dumping went pretty successful there was still the cleanup of the dumped fish upon the floor to be taken care of. Wheeling the one bin back into the building Stephan stopped it before the mess. "Hey, come over and shovel this fish into the bin and then dump it like the rest. Sorry, what is your name?" He couldn't believe that the man hadn't given him his name nor that he hadn't asked him before.

After getting the man's name and handing him the shovel Stephan walked off to look at the supplies that were left over and such. The ropes were worthless, but everything else looked to be worthwhile, maybe the parchments contained something worthwhile and if not they would be tossed also. However, something caught his eye, a small chest sat on the ground. The mice that were still running about didn't bother him as this chest seemed rather interesting, maybe something valuable was still inside.

Kneeling down by the chest he looked for a way to open it, if it wasn't locked it would be a simple task to open, but if it was locked it would take alittle more effort to open. There surely would be some tools around to open it, but if not a small trip to the local supply store would get him what he needed to open the lock.

[S'Lon]

As they came back into the building, S'Lon replied to Stephans request and also gave his name. He was a little embarrassed that he had not done so before, but really the need to do something about the smell had overridden the normal social conventions.

Getting the bin closer to the spilled fish and shovelled them in. This pretty much cleared the worst of the mess and once this was out, the rest of the rubbish could be removed and the place scrubbed out.

Returning to the building with the now emptied bin, S'Lon started to clear the remaining clutter. Stephan was inspecting a small chest he had discovered so S'Lon started with the ropework, which he grabbed from the shelves where it lurked. At first glance it appeared to have had better days and indeed was no longer saleable as first quality rope but there was still some useful rope that could be used for splicing and chances are there were some poorer fishermen for whom the rope would still be usable even if only to replace sections of their existing rigging. S'Lon quickly sorted through the rope and neatly spooled together what was usable and stacked it neatly and then looked around to see what needed doing next.

He would leave the paperwork for Stephan to sort through and instead would search the shelves and corners for the cleaning materials that surely would be found here. Those bins needed scrubbing as a minimum and ideally the whole place should be done, although maybe just a mopping would suffice.

[S'Lon]

Seeing that Stephan was still busy, S’Lon continued working his way round. First thing was to collect all the paper and parchments and put them down in one place for Stephan to review. The whole place seemed to have gone downhill and lots of small repairs had been left undone. Grabbing up some of the discarded cordage, he sorted through and selected some thinner lengths that seemed still sound. Cutting off a length he knelt by the nearest bin and threaded it through the boss on the side and using a spike he had found quickly spliced the ends together to form a loop and create a new handle. He continued to work around repairing and renewing as required – at least he had plenty of scraps of cordage. While he worked, he decided to make up some simple rope loops that he could use later as quoits to keep his hand in practice at throwing them.

Deciding that he had done enough playing around at tasks that could be done later, he hunted out the cleaning materials and started work scrubbing out the bins to remove the last traces of the rotting fish. At least the smell was starting to leave the building and with a bit of luck with the bins cleaned it would drop to a tolerable level.

[Trinity]

As S'Lon finished the work on the bins, the air and atmosphere of the entire place seemed to improve. The spoiled fish were no longer choking their lungs to death, the rats had mainly cleared out (seeing that the spoiled fish happened to be their main source of food).. and the general feeling inside the building had risen a few notches, to say the least.

As Stephan fiddled with the chest, he came to notice that it wasn't actually locked, just kind of a bit rusty. Something that looked like a poorly 'bent-out-of-shape' crow bar was to the left of it, having pried it open a good number of times. It was currently rusted shut, but it didn't seem like it was going to require a ton of effort. He could probably get it open rather easily and quickly if he gave it a shot.

As S'Lon gathered up the papers and parchments for Stephan to look over, he noticed words that seemed to have been written very strangely. Mentions of 'Fiends' and 'Disasterous' struck across the pages. Journaled things -- possibly events or notes -- just suddenly dropped off the face of the paper as if stopped abruptly. Others were notes of fianances (which had also descended rather rapidly in the end times of the poor Fishing market and Sea Supply shop.) and random notes that seemed to mean nothing.

He found the remainders of cleaning materials and went to work at scrubbing out the old fish bins.. which remarkably cleaned rather easily. The smell continued to dissipate, and in time they were both able to breathe rather well once more. The building was going to need another paint job and probably a good air freshener, but it seemed to be coming along pretty well so far.
Depending on what was in the dusty chest, too.. This entire mess might have just been worth spending as much money on a run down joint as Stephan did.

[Stephan Woulofen]

Hmmm.... Stephan thought as he seemingly wasn't going to be able to get the chest open on his own. Looking around he quickly found a crowbar, if thats what it was called anymore, it was so old and rusted looking that he didn't think it was going to last too much more. Figuring it was best to try than not to try at all and never know what was inside the chest Stephan wedged the crowbar between the lid of the chest and the base and pulled back on the crowbar.

He didn't use too much force at first so he didn't end up hurting himself it the crowbar would snap. The anticipation as to what was inside the chest was overwelming, surely it had to be something worth the effort. If the chest opened, which he hoped it would, Stephan would set the crowbar to the side and take a peek inside the chest. Being careful with everything he would touch he made sure that nothing would crumble.