The barn holds its breath. Neighbors crowd the open floor, eyes fixed on the route sheet in Hunter McCready's hand and the office seal that still stains the day with meaning.
Mrs. Gable
If they are purging vendors, they start with the ones they think stand alone. We do not let them do that.
Hunter lifts the paper higher, turning it so everyone can see the routing marks. A few people edge closer, not from curiosity now, but to make sure they are counted.
Nora
Say what we do next. I can take copies, or go stall to stall before dark.
Hunter McCready
We go in daylight, together. No one answers office calls alone.
The plan settles over the room like a drawn map. Elias reaches for the route sheet, Mrs. Gable straightens, and the nearest neighbors begin naming who they will warn first.
Hunter McCready leaves Homestead garden beside the barn behind and arrives at Market Office.
“I lead the vendors to the office in daylight”
SUCCESS (Fair Agility, rolled +3)
The market office greets them with hard fluorescent light and a stale paper smell. The hallway is already busy, and the vendors fill it shoulder to shoulder, carrying the route sheet like a shared banner.
Hunter leads from the front, not fast, just steady. Behind him, the line of neighbors tightens into pairs and trios, each person matching pace so nobody gets peeled away.
Elias
Nobody goes in alone. We ask for the meeting together, and we wait together.
Mrs. Gable
We are here in daylight, with names on paper. That is the point.
At the office counter, a clerk looks up from a stack of forms, then back down at the crowd, suddenly aware the whole hallway is watching.
Nora
Take us to whoever handles vendor review. Right now.
A small silence follows, then the clerk reaches for the wall phone, eyes flicking once to the gathered vendors before she makes the call.
Quest Complete
Make the office face the vendors in daylight
New Gift: Business Negotiator