Chương 15: Chapter 8.5: The Appraisal of Goods

The market changed on the walk back. A wagon wheel had an iron tyre worn thin beside one spoke. Rain had entered a seam in a leather pack and darkened the lining before the merchant noticed. Three fish at a riverside stall carried clouded eyes beneath a layer of clean river water, while the basket beside them held fresher catch despite the smaller price board. The impressions came through touch, sound, and small failures I had seen for years without ever noticing.

Timbercraft had taught me the grain of wood because grain could split beneath a blade. Skinning had taught me seams because flesh spoiled when I missed them. Harren had placed seven axes in my hands and left me to determine their differences. Wear, use, and damage had been written across everything in the market; I could read more of the marks now. ABILITY LEARNED You have learned a new craft ability: Appraisal.

You can now better recognise quality, wear, hidden value, poor construction, material flaws and practical usefulness in tools, goods, materials, and harvested parts. Current ability grade: Common. Iron (early) craft ability slots filled: 3 of 4. I stood beneath the market awning while rain fell from its edge in a continuous silver line. My arms remained sore, and the people crossing the square remained as difficult to understand as before.

A cooper's repaired bucket made immediate sense, however, I could see why one band would fail months before the others. I spent long enough studying it that the cooper covered the bucket with one hand and asked whether I intended to buy it. It seemed as though I was also learning of a thing I had overheard guards talking about. A min-max. I was not entirely sure what it meant, but I could see a limit in my ability slots for my rank. I had three craft abilities, two active abilities, and one passive.

I had space for one more craft and one more active ability only. And no idea what to do about that. ⚜ ⚜ ⚜ Beyond Dunmere's markers, I chose to return to the southern marshes, but not as deep as before. I had seen common marsh hares between the fern cover yesterday. The decision felt almost timid after the boar and reed cat, though my shoulder approved each time the axe remained at my side.

I followed small tracks, watched the places where wet fur had brushed seed heads and let two uncertain trails go when the depth reminded me of the reed cat. The first hare died beneath a clean descending strike. The new axe stopped where I intended instead of turning my wrist through the body, and the new knife found the line along the hind leg with so little pressure that I thought I had missed it. Hide lifted from flesh in one pale sheet.

When the belly came free without a tear, I sat back on my heels and grinned at it until cold rain reached my teeth. The second hare took longer, and a bark squirrel nearly escaped after I almost mistook shaking leaves for a small beast. I returned before dusk with three clean hides, both hare carcasses dressed for meat, and the squirrel intact enough for Merris to find a buyer. No fresh blood stiffened my clothes, and no advancement.

But it was a calm hunt, the complete opposite of the terror of a charging boar and the desperation of the reed cat. I still had three saleable animals and enough strength left to climb the inn stairs. Merris turned the first hide beneath his lantern, ran his thumb along the belly as if déjà vu and looked for the damage he expected to see and failing. He found one short score near the hind leg, and almost smiled in noticing it, then checked the second as if I might have concealed a worse mistake there.

As the length of his silence went on, I found it harder to suppress a satisfactory smile. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

"Harren sold you competence and a piece of metal it seems" he said at last.

"It was just an early iron hunters axe and a skinning knife."

"Then you obtained competence and paid for it with time... this may be the first favourable bargain you have brought to my stall." Merris placed the hides together, weighed the squirrel in one hand and pushed the wrapped hare meat back towards me.

"Fifty-five iron for the hides and the squirrel. Keep the meat. The Cataract is feeding half the eastern road, and an innkeeper values supper more highly when it arrives skinned." PAYMENT RECEIVED You received 55 iron pieces for two clean Common marsh-hare hides and one Common bark-squirrel carcass. You retained the dressed hare meat. Your Current Coin is now 55 iron pieces.

"Only fifty-five?" I asked. The amount sounded smaller after an afternoon spent recognising quality everywhere. Merris laughed loudly enough to make the seller beside him turn.

"There you are, dear boy. Better tools preserve the value an animal possesses. They do not persuade a squirrel that it was born a stag." He lifted the two clean hides again, and the approval remained visible despite the line.

"Bring me work like this regularly and I may stop pricing your mistakes before your goods." ⚜ ⚜ ⚜ The innkeeper at The Cataract unwrapped the hare meat, ran his eyes over the hindquarter and smelled the clean cut near the joint. Appraisal supplied no value because it depended as much on the market of hungry crowded men and the man holding the room keys, as it did on the weight of the animal. It did show me that he approved before his face decided to conceal it.

"Twenty-four iron and the meat," he said.

"Private room, supper tonight, breakfast tomorrow. If you're here tomorrow night, you'll enjoy the rabbit stew, maybe even rabbit pie the day following." TRADE ACCEPTED You traded dressed hare meat for a discount on one private room, supper and breakfast at The Cataract. The bundle cost has decreased from 48 iron pieces to 24 iron pieces. I handed him the bundle and counted the coins into his palm.

The transaction left thirty-one iron in my pouch, no margin for another poor day and more food than I had managed while sleeping at the yard. Supper waited behind the kitchen door. For once, earning shelter had also purchased enough to eat better than the default option. PAYMENT SPENT You spent 24 iron pieces on the discounted room bundle. Your Current Coin is now 31 iron pieces. After supper, I climbed to the third floor and found the broken spear still leaning where I had left it.

The new axe rested across my knees while I tested Appraisal on the objects hanging beneath my shirt. I began with Pell's square token. SQUARE IRON TOKEN Rank: Common Quality: Simple Material: Stamped old iron Marking: Dunmere local seal Condition: Serviceable Recent wear: Carried against skin for fewer than thirty days. The details arrived together. I recognised the shallow stamp, the softened corners and the newer polish where the token had rubbed against my chest.

I returned it beneath my shirt and closed my hand around Orven's blackpine marker. BLACKPINE MARKER Material: Blackpine composite Construction: Hand-cut Markings: Three directional lines Surface: Darkened by decades of handling and worked oil. The second appraisal stopped there. It gave no rank, quality, purpose or value for the marker. I pushed my sleeve above the charcoal veins and tried again.

Appraisal found skin, old blood beneath the healing reed cat cuts and the rough edge where my sleeve had rubbed the wrist raw. The markings themselves produced no further detail. I set the good steel across my knees, pressed Orven's marker into my other palm and tried again.