Crowns and Stones - RPLOG
Participants
Date
21/5/477
Log
The usually active Quarry was surprisingly silent today, as it seems the tools and drills were left without workers. A plethora of rockspiders have since taken the opportunity to scurry about while the miners were gone, chewing and ruining things for their own natural habits.
Up near the living spaces, around the foreman's room, the silence ends rather abruptly as the Miners are all standing around yelling and grumbling. The three local guards are centered near the foremans door, with a Rabbit bearing a Gracefull clan's insignia, and expensive looking clothing in place between them. A stack of papers in his hands shaking as he raises his voice to meet the miners own, attempting to quell them it appears. "I'm sorry! There's nothing I can do, as the price was lowered! It was either lower the pay, or fire a good deal of you!"
The miners however, don't seem very moved by the argument, sneering and jostling the picks in their hands as they speak. "So what now? You just want us to get paid scraps and let our families starve?!" A heavy set rhino bellows, his lips pulled back in a snarl. "It was bad enough you started sending Apostates around to pick up scraps, now you just think we'll roll over for you?!" A large mastiff crows as the group nods in agreement.
Bite sways into the Quarry after hearing a call for help. A dispute over crowns? Maybe a rational answer would be feasible, although she doubts a fee will be taken kindly. "Hello there sssweeties, you're all havinig issue with pay, so much that you stopped being out there to earn it? What are you mining that the price went down on?" she quizzes as she waits, looking the rock spiders over before summoning a fire elemental to engage one.
Forgoing a lovely drink at the inn, word trickles into Dio's ear and soon he sets off for the troubled quarry. Just in case things get a little exciting with either the local wildlife or perhaps the workers themselves, the lion carries his tower shield as always. "Good day to ya all," he greets in a rather booming and excited tone of voice despite the mood of those around him. "Little bit o' trouble, eh? Freeswords 're 'ere an' ready to assist! Now then, best we get both sides o' the story if we're gonna 'elp reach any sort o' deal." Catching eye of a familiar snake, Dio heads up behind Bite and puts a friendly hand upon her shoulder.
Just passing through the woods on a nice walk and looking for a good tree to nap in, Cedric had heard the disagreement coming from the quarry. The loud arguement had threatend the possibility of his rest, so he decided to head for the miners to see what was going on. Approaching the scene, he says nothing for now, just giving a curious glance around the quarry and almost snooping around it seems.
Arriving quite quickly after the word had reached town, the nosey Cassidy arrived in her usual fashion: Dropping from the sky to land atop the foreman's roof. She takes a moment to adjust her mask before looking over the crowd with a soft hum. "Money problems are the worst, certainly," she murmurs, plopping down on her rump to dangle her legs over the edge without a care in the world. "Some sort of... Stone surplus causing the prices to drop? I suppose there aren't a lot of building projects going around that I've seen..." As the others arrive, she turns her eyes upward to see who would be in attendance today.
Yoko was standing guard at the gates as a request came in. She was being assigned to help with a dispute incase it came to blows as she sighs. "Always the small stuff." as she heads off to the mine.
A scrawny Iguana covered in rock dust turns to look at Bite, along with a handfull around him as he speaks. "We're having issues because we know where this is going... They reduce our pay, to hire more apostates to come out here from the shanty town? We can tell when people are planning to replace us, and we won't stand for it!" Thankfully and for the most part, the group just appears more irate than violent at this point... After all, throttling the people who pay you in a mob justice style, usually means you just lost your job.
The Rabbit jumps some as Cassidy lands on the roof, whimpering gently before he nods and grins. "Ah! Freeswords! Thank the good King Good! Y-Yes I'm afraid there's a bit of a tizzy now... You see, some of our usual stone and metal contracts were lost to merchants from Thera'dor who are offering metal and stone cheaper as they have a current influx. As if that wasn't bad enough, we've been pressured to start hiring more from the Shanty Towns to help provide more employment and well... Between that, and having to lower our own prices to try and get the buyers back, we had to lower the pay some I'm afraid..."
The Rock Spiders skitter off as Bite's elemental sears one, the crafty creatures making for the safety of the tunnels and shade while the burning creature was out and about.
Bite smiles and watches the spiders scurry off, then turns to the crowd and tilts her head. "Who is saying you have to hire more apostates? You don't have to hire anyone to make yourself look good, hire who you need and hire those who seem committed and good at the job. I wouldn't keep someone if after a trial period the only reason I felt sorry abouut letting them go was them being unable to feed their family, if it meant that much to them they would have performed better... so are the apostates living up to your expectations? Are they doing better than anyone here? Not saying I don't care about apostates but It's sound reasoning.
And you certainly don't need to hire more workers if you can't support your own in bad times.
Dio listens to both sides of the argument and nods his head. "I see..." he whispers under his breath, an idle hand rubbing gently at his chin in thought. "Quite a little predicament ya got goin' on 'ere. When people 're doin' things cheaper than ya, it certainly puts a damper on business." The lion takes his hand off of Bite's shoulder and begins walking towards the rabbit. "I ain't sure there's too much to do in this situation. 'ave ya tried gettin' an audience with the king? Perhaps the Good King shall see that supportin' the tried an' true quarry o' Sweetwater would be the best option fer 'elpin' support local beings and business?" Meanwhile, Dio takes out his soul pendent and swaps gems to something a bit more financially related.
Cassidy taps the chin of her mask in thought. "Sorry to startle you. It's a habit of mine, I'm afraid. Consider it an extra safety precaution if it helps! I'm no economist, but that's a rather sour situation... You'd think Thera'dor would have a higher cost, due to having to import them... The Shanty Town situation I can see, though. That's a fairly difficult situation to resolve. Maybe adjust the payment in favour of the laborers, if it's not already? The work itself should be receiving higher pay than simple scooping up scraps, I'd say. And it'd still help the Shanty Town people out."
Yoko finally arives at the scene, all clad in her Full-Plate armou, great lance straped to her back,as she takes her helmet off revealing that she is a lioness. A Insignia of the town guard on her armour. "Ok so whats this about? All i was told was to moniter a dispute and take care of things if things went south."
