Peek: Castleview Deliveries

Horlon City, capital of the Kingdom of Horlon, is a very busy city.  Not only does the royal family live there, but so do to much of the nobility, no less than three major adventurer guilds, over a dozen lesser ones, a major guildhall for the dungeoneers, several major merchant guilds, and all the ordinary people that make up the hustle and bustle of city life.

In an awkward cul-de-sac atop a small rise is the main stockyard of Castleview Deliveries.  They're hardly the largest shipping business in the capital, but the proprietors do well enough.  Fondair mostly does scheduling and takes the delivery orders, while her brother Fendyr and his friend Holly, a horsekin, handle actually taking the goods where they need to go.

This morning, the three are going over the manifest, trying to figure out the best route to take everything.

"Man, we're going all over the city today," comments Fendyr, to the nod of Holly.  "Three barrels of gem dust to the enchanters, five hundred board feet of lumber to the carpenter's guild, three crates of manure to the herbalist on eighth street, One full sail to the docks, a large cask of fancy wine to castle intake, four racks of weapons for the Red Rose guild, and what looks like an entire new kitchen for the Muddy Boots tavern?"  He turns a question eye to his sister, who nods.

"They had a fire in the kitchen, almost burned the whole tavern down, so they're finally upgrading."

"I'm glad it only almost burned down.  Their sea stew is really good," comments Holly.

Fendyr makes a mental note of that as he nods.  "Maybe they'll let us be one of the first to help them break in their new kitchen, then."

"Pft, for dinner maybe.  We're going to be busy until sundown, even if you strain your magic to let me haul as much as possible."

"...yeah," admits Fendyr, before looking to his sister.  "Why so much for one day, anyway?"

"Spring isn't so far away, so some people are trying to get an early start, especially with the milder winter this year.  They all needed quick delivery, and were all able to pay for it."

"At least we'll have full coin-purses to help soothe our aching everything.  Is tomorrow going to be busy like this, too?" asks Holly, who is relieved when Fondair shakes her head.

"Tomorrow will be a little lighter than usual, unless someone needs a rush job.  There's a big dellivery from the quarry to the south, and we'll be distributing it from their main warehouse to the various masons, sculpters, carvers, and crafters that need it.  We're just hauling, not loading or unloading."

"That shouldn't be too bad then.  So, anyone need their stuff by a specific time?"

Fondair nods and motions towards the list her brother read from.  "The crafters would prefer to get their materials quickly.  The order list there is my suggestion for the delivery order.  The gemdust, lumber, and manure will be a bit heavy, but the carpenter's guild isn't too far away.  You two can do a loop to deliver all of that, maybe take a quick break for lunch, or wait to come back and get the sail to take to the docks and eat there, before loading up the wine, weapons, and kitchen."

Fendyr interrupts his sister.  "Eating after delivering the sail sounds like a good plan, most of the dockworkers prefer to do their own loading.  We should probably hit the castle last, just so we don't have to wait for them to inspect everything.  If we drop off the kitchen first, then the weapons, we can finish with the castle and maybe all head back to Muddy Boots and see if they're open for dinner?"

"Sounds good to me," agrees Holly.  "I know a great greasy fish and chips place by the docks.  Just the kind of thing to keep me going for hauling all that.  You'll be good keeping everything inside the wagon, Fendyr?"

"I'll probably be straining for the first leg, but once we drop off the lumber, I should be fine."

"Then I'll help you two get loaded before opening us for more orders," offers Fondair, and the three head to the yard to load up.

The wagon is an interesting piece of magical ingenuity, a result of Fendyr and Holly working together.  Holly has been a hauler practically her whole life, so she knows a lot about how a proper wagon should be built, wide enough to be stable, but not so wide that it's difficult to maneuver.  This wagon is more like a glorified cart, but with how much Fendyr and expand the space inside, the horsekin woman thinks it deserves the glory.  The clever elf can even compartmentalize the space, making it much easier to organize the loads.  For Holly, the fact that the whole thing feels balanced no matter what weird things they haul is the best part.

The three make a good team getting the goods loaded, the siblings often taking one side of a heavy crate or barrel while Holly takes the other, so the dust and manure are loaded quickly.  The lumber takes a bit longer, but they quickly fall into a nice rhythm and get everything loaded.

Holly is feeling nice and warmed up as she slips the hauling harness over her shoulders, and gives Fendyr a sympathetic look as he takes a seat at the front of the cart, already looking worn.  "You gonna be ok?"

He tries to wave her off and be tough, but she can hear the strain in his voice.  "I'll be fine, especially now I can take a seat and just focus on the space.  I think this will be one of our heavier loads."

Holly nods and leans forward, testing that she has the harness on well.  "Yeah... I think we'll both be glad to get the lumber out of there.  Let's get going."

The morning deliveries go well, with the carpenters descending on the wagon like locusts, apprentices quickly moving to unload the wood both to appease their masters, and to bicker in their own ways for the choicest pieces for their own projects.  The enchanters have their own unloading dock, so it's only a matter of minutes to roll the barrels out and be on their way.  They end up having to help the herbalist get the manure out, as it seems they weren't expecting quite so much of it.  They at least have a place to put it all, for now, so back to the yard they go.

By now, the streets are much busier, and Holly and Fendyr are glad to have an empty wagon to make it easier to move.  Hawkers shout their wares, criers shout the news, parents shout at their kids as they do stupid kid things.  For the two, the din is like a warm blanket, a comfort and confirmation that life is pretty good, even with the beginnings of a traffic jam starting to show.  They take a side street to get around the impending gridlock of the lunch rush, and once they get the rolled sail into the wagon, take a more industrial and commercial route to the docks.

The noise of the seaside is a different one to that of the heart of the city.  Gulls and even seals join in the clamor, while the actual language used makes mothers everywhere weep.  It's mostly all in good fun.  It's the middle of the day, so people are either too busy or too hungry to get to actually insulting each other just yet.  It seems the docks also are having a but of a busy day, shipping in all sorts of goods for the people looking to get their spring started a bit early.

Holly leaves Fendyr with the cart as she goes to get them some lunch.  He has to stay behind to manipulate the space of the wagon for the teamsters.  Holly returns with greasy crispy fish to see Fendyr with a wide smile and looking like he's holding back laughter.

"What's up?" she asks as she hands him the fish, then starts getting back into the harness.

"Just sailor silliness.  The wine cask was loaded simply enough, but then they started telling tall tales as they loaded the weapons, acting like they've each slain a sea serpent with something like what they're hauling.  Then they got to the kitchen and decided to keep acting like they've killed other monsters on the ocean with kitchenware.  My favorite was a dwarf who said he carved a tentacle clean off a kraken with a paring knife, only for the chef to almost throw him overboard for dulling it!"

"I hear kraken's good eating," replies Holly with a smile as she reaches back for her own lunch, and eats as she moves.  They chat as they eat, about what they might do if they were adventurers, laughing the whole way.  Neither of them really has an adventuring class, but it's still interesting to dream.  Idle daydreams are cut short as they get to the Muddy Boots tavern, where it seems every employee is running to and fro, working and mauling and repairing.  The owner, a large tarantulakin woman, orders them where to drop off the kitchen equipment in a tone halfway between rude and efficient.  With how quickly people seem to just materialize to unload the wagon, the two deliverers decide it's more efficient than rude, and move on with their own work.

The adventurer's guild goes a bit smoother, though they feel like they're delivering candy to very dangerous children, thanks to the looks they get.  Glares from the receptionist gets the adventurers to at least be more subtle with their looks of naked want, and Holly and Fendyr are  more than glad to leave the dangerous toys to the nanny.

At the castle, they're just in time to deliver before the gate closes.  An elf from the kitchen is actually waiting to receive them, once the wagon gets through inspection, and nervously blathers about how happy he is they're there.  The wine will be perfect for some course of blah blah, and they'll have just enough time to get it to the perfect temperature.  Holly is a little annoyed with the elf, though it might just be her fatigue from the workday, but Fendyr provides a professional face to help get the cask out and situated, letting everyone get on with their evening.

"Whew... what a day," sighs the elf as they head back to the yard, and Holly has to agree.

"I'm gonna be sore in the morning, I bet.  How about you?"

"Trying to ignore a headache from all the magic of keeping the wagon right, but I'll be fine."

"Cool.  Hey, I hope you weren't too set on Muddy Boots for dinner?"

Fendry chuckles and shakes his head.  "Not really.  They looked like they had way too much to do to be ready tonight."

"Yeah, they're working hard, but I doubt they'll be ready tonight."

"So uh... want to get dinner with me tonight?  The teamsters said the Floating Anchor has a good stew and should even have kraken on the menu tonight.  The story about the dwarf getting a tentacle might not have been such a fish tale after all."

Holly stumbles a little at the offer, but tries to act like it was a rock in the road.  Just the two of them?  She feels a little bad about excluding Fondair, but she's also not the elf she's been starting to crush on.  She's glad the fading light can help hide the blush as she nods.

"That sounds cool.  I hope she won't be too sad about not being invited."

"Nah, she's not a huge fan of seafood."  Fendyr isn't a huge fan of it either, but if it'll give him an excuse to take Holly on a date, he'll suck it up.  Besides, he's heard kraken is good eating, too.

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Inspired by Kebbitevoke, who wanted to get a look at life in the capital.  In short: a bit like life in any big city, really.