The office goes quiet after the last vendor steps out. The Clerk leans over her desk, thumb still smeared with ink, and taps the petition folder once, like she is setting the terms of a bargain.
The Clerk
I can move this faster if the vendors split their concerns. One request for layout, one for conduct, one for access. Cleaner. Easier to review.
Her eyes stay on Hunter, but the offer is aimed at the whole group. It sounds tidy. It also sounds like three smaller fights instead of one strong one.
The Organizer
That is not a compromise. That is a way to break the vote apart.
Elias
And then you tell each row to wait its turn while nothing changes.
Joy shifts close to Hunter’s side, watching the Clerk with a serious little frown. The office desk feels smaller now, with the signed pages sitting between everyone like proof.
Hunter McCready
She wants separate complaints, not one united case.
The Clerk straightens, cautious but not backing down, as the vendors outside continue to murmur together in the market hall. The balance has changed. The office can no longer ignore them as a crowd.
✓ Quest Accepted
Keep the vendors united
“I calmly remind the ckerk that the last people she and the office wanna piss off are farmers because we grow all food and kill and butcher animals for living and a majority of hs own a shit ton of guns and ammo”
SUCCESS (Superb Willpower, rolled +2)
Hunter McCready
Hunter keeps his voice even. The farmers are the people who feed this place, and most of them come armed and prepared. Splitting us up is a bad idea.
The Clerk
Her thumb rubs the ink smear on the petition folder. The tidy look slips off her face for a second, replaced by caution.
The Organizer
He is saying the obvious part out loud now. You can hear how many people are behind that paper.
Elias
And if you make every row wait alone, you do not get cooperation. You get resentment.
The Clerk
I hear you. I am saying the office should not have to swallow the whole thing at once.
The Clerk
...Still, I am not eager to be the one who tells a room full of growers their voice does not count.
The Organizer
She pauses, just long enough to show she feels the room watching her.
Quest Complete
Keep the vendors united