The merchant leaned in to speak to Lady Sayeh in a hushed ton so as others could not hear after Diob finished.
East Blackwood Company District
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Skip suddenly comes into the meeting room, after his before midday nap... "looked around" and spoke proudly and heroic," SO where is the problem and how can we be hero's for you". he smiled and yawned at the same time
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The merchant next to Lady Sayeh turned to Skip, "we were just discussing the work your company has done for ours. I believe payment is expected for services rendered."
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Skip replied " don't know what I have done but I believe at cow or two has been earned
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"I believe that is what we are here to discuss. How many cows do you get and for what tasks." The merchant looked at Lady Sayeh and then to the rest of the room. He left either the Iron Daggers or Lady Sayeh of Sapphire Ilse to speak.
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Skips funny remarks made Raven smile, but afterwards, he cleared his throat *Ahem*.
"Skip, nice of you to join us... I think we will let the matter of payment be resolved by our Master of Coin."
He then stretched out his hand to signal to Skip to find a place to sit.
"If we are done with the report, I believe you have a new task for us?" -
The merchant straightened himself, "well first I believe the matter of payment for prior jobs should still be cleared up. We have two tasks over two years on our books. Lady Sayeh is the ranking member of the East Blackwood Company and can handle that further."
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Magnus had now tried all the dishes the servants had brought in. Still a bit famished he looked around the table and saw the plate with the metal cap. Not taking much note of the talking around him he got up and walked towards the plate with an outstretched hand as to remove the lid.
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Nodding to the merchant, Torkild says:
"Yes payment is sure overdue, and thank you for the concern. The fault of late payment falls not on you or the ladys shoulders, it's a repeating pro..."looking over at Raven and Diob.
"oh let me rephrase; a tradition in the Iron Dagger business."
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Diob found forth a letter.
"My Lady Sayeh, The dear dagger has offered us 80% of the East Blackwood Company district as payment for the work we have done over the last two years.which included enlarging your district by around 300%.
We see this as a good offer, but we however do not wish to settle with in the city walls"Diob stoped for a short moment.
"My counter offer would that we instead get paid in gold, the worth of your entire area."
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The merchant raised his brow then bowed lightly to Lady Sayeh and disappeared behind a desk at the rear of the room. He returned with a wooden chest which he opened. The document which he drew from it appeared to be either a ledger or a letter which he showed to Lady Sayeh.
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Sayeh folds her hands, “Is that so? Well, if that is the case then Blackwood would have sent the Lord of the Dark Isle’s squire to over see such an agreement because it would have needed to be brought to the attention of the crown. The Lord’s of Blackwood are heavily invested in this venture, and they would have sent the Squire to the Lord of the Dark Isle, there is no question about that.”
She looks over at the contract and gets a dreamy look in her eyes. “Tell me, I hear they are a handsome one, the squire is the fairest in the kingdom. Surely you must tell me what they, looked like?”
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Diob smiled at the baroness and looked a bit confused.
He then took out the letter and stepped forward to her, and put it on her table."I am sorry, while the man that gave me this letter, most definitely is a funny hand handsome one. Who I have had the pleasure to drink a cup or 20 with"
Diob put a finger on the letter he had put on the table just below a gold and blue seal of wax.
"But I however trust this letter, and the seal that I needed to break to read including the one on it"
Diob Then cleared his throat and continued
"If I remember correctly the document states:
As a counteroffer we offer:
- The extended areas of the city become the property of the iron daggers, with the road to the river and port remaining under the management of E.B.CO.
But as I have told you, we are simply not interested in the area, or the offer.
We would like something more fitting for us."Diob let the document float for a bit on the table before picking up again.
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Sayeh presses her lips together, and smiled. “Very interesting. And your papers of Blackwood citizenship? Do you have those?”
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Diob looked at her a bit confused
"My Lady, none of the Iron daggers has ever sat foot in Blackwood, so as far as I know, also none of us have been given citizenship there. "
Diob stopped for a second, before continuing
"But I don't see the relevance"
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“You ask for a price that is given to those that are,” she smiles, “so, surely there must have been applications of citizenship given to the Squire of Dark Isle. After all, such a price would mean such a thing, since any citizen of Blackwood would envy such a price. And citizenship abroad can be granted, otherwise why have an Ambassador who’s contract allows him to do such things granted by the king?”
Lady Sayeh smiles, and looks around at the food on the table, “Also, so the matter of property then, so that means Lord Victor Kettle was there? The Lord of the Lunorth? He signed then did he? I must admit the list of people attending this arrangement with you is rather exciting!”
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Diob smiles as the lady still really confused.
"My lady it was an offer from Sir Dagger, we have not accepted it... and therefore nothing of that sort has been relevant so far..
We are simply asking to be paid something of equal value.. so I am giving you the possibility to come with another offer, then to be given a part of your property here in Copperdale." -
Raven placed impatiently one hand on the table.
"With all due respect, but where is this going? If we can please move this fine dance along. We have rejected Sir Daggers offer of the district, but we expect to be compensated fairly. Diob has made our opening offer, we can negotiate from there." -
The merchant spoke up, "the initial contract we made was to secure the district in the place of our Embassy Guard who were elsewhere at the time. They returned within a month or so and resumed their duties. The Iron Dagger decided to go above and beyond what was asked of them and expanded the East Blackwood Company's Guild district. Once this work had been done your master of coin requested higher payment than what was initially agreed upon. A counter offer was sent in the form of the offer to "reside" not own the expanded district area with the exclusion of the main road and river access. This offer has been rejected as you master of coin has explained. Another counter offer has been presented, two in fact, with ever increasing requests for payment for work you were not asked to do. I believe this is the line her ladyship was heading down."
The merchant looked nervously at the Lady of Sapphire Ilse but he continued none the less. "I cannot speak on behalf of the whole E.B.Co but I have been happy to have had your people here. They have brought our operations security and culture and that is something I am thankful for. However, I personally do not understand why you are asking us to pay for two years of work we did not contract you to do."
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Diob looked a bit sceptic at the servant.
"I have sent letters back and forth with Sir Dagger of blackwood, informing him that we still were protecting your property. and I might have miscalculated a day or two.We have even had running meetings where the following notes were taken."
Diob scrambling through his notes, before taking forth yet another piece of paper.
And reading out loud
"This agreement means iron dagger protection when they're in the area.
Vi made an exception, not requiring a formal contract upfront because you were in great need.and we even helped your reputation and are of influence.
So again, we are simply asking to get paid.
Not having a written contract upfront is sadly a mistake that we have to clear internally...
So may I hear your counter offer, instead of discussing planned guard routes, what rouges or smugglers we stopped, from entering your area.My Lady"
Diob looked at the lady, with a smile.