Innkeeper
You shake your head; you can't walk away from this. Your mom might be in serious trouble because this loan. Selling the inn might not even be enough to cover it and even if it is, she probably won't have enough to fall back on.
You aren't angry with her, but you do feel a little anger towards your dad for getting her in this position (and you indirectly). You realize he still had the best intentions for you, but those don't really help right now.
"Alright first things first, who is the name of this loanshark?" you ask your mother.
"Mr. Reynolds. He'll be coming next week to pick up a collection. He's not a member of the Crimson Talons, but he does have a couple of their goons working for him."
"The Crimson Talons? Oh geez, this just get better okay how is this place doing for business?"
"It's doing about as well as it always has."
"That won't be enough, we'll need to get more people in here, or cut costs somehow."
"Well your father was going to have more work done on the rooms in the hopes that it would keep adventurers and maybe even merchants to come back whenever they travel through here. I'm not sure if it's worth it though. Adventures don't care where they sleep half the time and it's not always a sure thing that they're going to live long enough for repeat business. As for merchants, I think this place is a little too blue collar for them most of the time."
"You said something about getting a new liquor supplier?"
"Yeah, the one here raised their prices, it would actually be cheaper to get the stuff shipped in from Hessla. Your father was supposed to meet with the new potential distributor in a couple days, so I'm not sure how that's going to go through, if at all."
"How about the staff?"
"The staff is working on minimum wage as it is, we've got three barmaids, Rita, Eliza and Wendy and they're all disgruntled about their jobs, but they all still work well.. We can barely pay them though, and we might have to fire one of them.
Grim stuff, but you're determined to see this through. Since the liquor supplier from Hessla won't arrive in two days you're just going to focus on what you can do now.
Fixing the rooms is still a good idea to keep potential returning wandering adventurers happy. Spending a little money now could increase potential profits later. Who knows, maybe even a merchant will show up and spread the word that this place isn't just some place where miners get drunk.
Firing people sounds like it might save you money, but all it's really going to do is create more work for the rest of you, so you decide to hold off on firing anyone for now.
Your mother doesn't agree with your idea of fixing the rooms, but seems relieved that you're not firing anyone.
Things go as normal at the inn. Several of the miners still offer their condolences about your father and are surprised to see that you're taking up his mantle as it were, but other than that they don't say to much to you. They probably don't know what to say since while some of them might know you since you were little, but you're not really "one of them" in terms of education level. Not to say they're all a bunch of grunting idiots, but they probably figure you're used to talking about things of a more cerebral nature. You don't mind though, after all your main concern is getting your mom out of debt.
Two days pass and the supplier from Hessla arrives. He's a grungy shady looking individual, but considering he's from Hessla that's hardly surprising.
He immediately says his name is Calwin asks for your father at which point you tell him he died recently. Calwin shows no sympathy and merely complains that he's made a trip up here for no reason. You show a little restraint and call your mother to speak with him, but after five minutes with him she's ready to throw him out the door for hitting on her, and you're not exactly thrilled with him either at this point.
"Look folks, if you want good quality alcohol at a low price I'm willing to deal wit ya, but I'm gonna need some incentive for my troubles because y'all seem like a buncha uptight prigs. Now I was invited here by the man who ran this establishment, so you called me here, if my help ain't wanted, I'll be on my way " Calwin says.
While you're tempted to just have him leave, you decide it would be best to at least see if his stuff is any good.
"Alright prove it. Surely you've brought some of your alcohol here so we can test to see if it's any good."
"Well I do have some with me, but I can't just be givin' this stuff away for free."
"Don't worry, you'll be compensated."
You call attention to the miners in the room and ask them if they'd like to try some new beer, naturally they're all for it. A few of the miners take their fill of Calwin's beer and they say that it's different from what they usually drink, but it's just as good.
Calwin looks a little put off that they claimed his alcohol is "just as good", but still maintains that it's better than what you already have. He states his price, and also mentions that he wants a free room whenever he comes here since he's apparently got a harpy of a wife at home and he likes to stay away for a couple days before having to go back to Hessla.
Your mother obviously isn't thrilled with having to deal with him, and in the short time he's been here; he's also hit on every one of the barmaids. Granted they're used to such behavior, he's particularly revolting. (Plus he's from Hessla)
You aren't angry with her, but you do feel a little anger towards your dad for getting her in this position (and you indirectly). You realize he still had the best intentions for you, but those don't really help right now.
"Alright first things first, who is the name of this loanshark?" you ask your mother.
"Mr. Reynolds. He'll be coming next week to pick up a collection. He's not a member of the Crimson Talons, but he does have a couple of their goons working for him."
"The Crimson Talons? Oh geez, this just get better okay how is this place doing for business?"
"It's doing about as well as it always has."
"That won't be enough, we'll need to get more people in here, or cut costs somehow."
"Well your father was going to have more work done on the rooms in the hopes that it would keep adventurers and maybe even merchants to come back whenever they travel through here. I'm not sure if it's worth it though. Adventures don't care where they sleep half the time and it's not always a sure thing that they're going to live long enough for repeat business. As for merchants, I think this place is a little too blue collar for them most of the time."
"You said something about getting a new liquor supplier?"
"Yeah, the one here raised their prices, it would actually be cheaper to get the stuff shipped in from Hessla. Your father was supposed to meet with the new potential distributor in a couple days, so I'm not sure how that's going to go through, if at all."
"How about the staff?"
"The staff is working on minimum wage as it is, we've got three barmaids, Rita, Eliza and Wendy and they're all disgruntled about their jobs, but they all still work well.. We can barely pay them though, and we might have to fire one of them.
Grim stuff, but you're determined to see this through. Since the liquor supplier from Hessla won't arrive in two days you're just going to focus on what you can do now.
Fixing the rooms is still a good idea to keep potential returning wandering adventurers happy. Spending a little money now could increase potential profits later. Who knows, maybe even a merchant will show up and spread the word that this place isn't just some place where miners get drunk.
Firing people sounds like it might save you money, but all it's really going to do is create more work for the rest of you, so you decide to hold off on firing anyone for now.
Your mother doesn't agree with your idea of fixing the rooms, but seems relieved that you're not firing anyone.
Things go as normal at the inn. Several of the miners still offer their condolences about your father and are surprised to see that you're taking up his mantle as it were, but other than that they don't say to much to you. They probably don't know what to say since while some of them might know you since you were little, but you're not really "one of them" in terms of education level. Not to say they're all a bunch of grunting idiots, but they probably figure you're used to talking about things of a more cerebral nature. You don't mind though, after all your main concern is getting your mom out of debt.
Two days pass and the supplier from Hessla arrives. He's a grungy shady looking individual, but considering he's from Hessla that's hardly surprising.
He immediately says his name is Calwin asks for your father at which point you tell him he died recently. Calwin shows no sympathy and merely complains that he's made a trip up here for no reason. You show a little restraint and call your mother to speak with him, but after five minutes with him she's ready to throw him out the door for hitting on her, and you're not exactly thrilled with him either at this point.
"Look folks, if you want good quality alcohol at a low price I'm willing to deal wit ya, but I'm gonna need some incentive for my troubles because y'all seem like a buncha uptight prigs. Now I was invited here by the man who ran this establishment, so you called me here, if my help ain't wanted, I'll be on my way " Calwin says.
While you're tempted to just have him leave, you decide it would be best to at least see if his stuff is any good.
"Alright prove it. Surely you've brought some of your alcohol here so we can test to see if it's any good."
"Well I do have some with me, but I can't just be givin' this stuff away for free."
"Don't worry, you'll be compensated."
You call attention to the miners in the room and ask them if they'd like to try some new beer, naturally they're all for it. A few of the miners take their fill of Calwin's beer and they say that it's different from what they usually drink, but it's just as good.
Calwin looks a little put off that they claimed his alcohol is "just as good", but still maintains that it's better than what you already have. He states his price, and also mentions that he wants a free room whenever he comes here since he's apparently got a harpy of a wife at home and he likes to stay away for a couple days before having to go back to Hessla.
Your mother obviously isn't thrilled with having to deal with him, and in the short time he's been here; he's also hit on every one of the barmaids. Granted they're used to such behavior, he's particularly revolting. (Plus he's from Hessla)