Contacting the merchants.

Zekic finally arrived to ethos, he was wearing chain mail, and 2 handed sword with rather unque appearance, at his back. He was leading 20 Knight's of the Gauntlet.

"We need to find Otto Bosonid first, he was one of most powerfull merchant's here in Ethos, and i believe he still should be."

After few hour's one knigh's rushes to zekic with location of Otto, zekic headed that way immideatly.

Zekic arrived at Otto's rezidence, and was met by servant.

"I am here to meet Otto Bosonid, tell him that it's official business from Knight's of Ebony Gauntlet's, which should be of great importance to you'r master"

Servant rushed away, in the meantime zekic started a talk about thev fight's of the past with knights, and quite a few were ready to share the stories, however any serious attempt to discriminate noldor from zekic's side, was frowned upon, Lucius chose knights to accompany Zekic wisely..

And after roughly half of an hour, Otto Bosonid himself made his way to meet his guests.Zekic raised and have begun to talk.

"Otto Bosonid, i am here on official proposition from Knight's of Ebony Gauntlet's. Knight's of Ebony Gauntlet offer an assisstance in protection of you and you'r caravan's or ship' from any kind of threats, in excange we want valuable recources like timber, those are to assist our order with construction of fleet, which in turn would make us able to patrol seas, and defend trading ships with actual naval power.

On more personal note, you probably heard of incident at Council, but i assure there is no threat from me or my knight's to you or you'r caravan's as long as you'r business doesn't breach the laws and customs of pendor, you for sure know of my mercenary past and that i am more then capable to lead the defense of caravan's against any and all threat's including, hostile noldor, hence even my reputation would be enough to defend you against most of the threat's.

In case we would capture bandit's or other attacker's we will deal with them in whatever manner we see fit."

OOC: I am really not sure if i have done everything right, so feel free to notify me where i have done something wrong. ^^

Bosonid pondered the issue for a moment, stroking his beard.

Hmm, before I address your request for payment, how many man can you provide?

"Up to 100 experienced, full fledged Knight's as of now."

One of knight's come's to zekic and whisper's something to his ear.

"I know, do you think i am stupid or something?" Zekic yelled back at knight, who just shook his head.

Then zekic turned back to Otto, clearly annoyed.

"As me fellow knight insisted for me to clarify, we are providing only assistance, it mean's o Knight's of the Gauntlet won't be your's to command as you wish, we are not merceneries, but allies."

[OOC: Can I cut in here? Zekic, you are negotiating for the order to provide support, not for yourself and a few knights to hire yourselves out. We can supply far more knights. Make it 80-100]

[OOC:Thanks Tubby, edited it.]

Otto looked a bit surprised at the sudden outburst when Zekic yelled at his subordinate, but quickly gathered himself again.

What do you mean by "not mine to command"? he asked. Will I not be able to say which patrols I want escorted when and to where?

"You see, it is not meant that way, technicly you can't say where patrols should go, but you can suggest or ask where they should go and you'r wish will be granted most of the time, so it is pretty much the same, difference is that our knight's won't do just every command as long as it is payed for, knight's will do only those bidding's which do not come in conflict with law's of pendor, or unwritten code of honor of the knight's, it mean's no dirty job's like poaching for food should be assigned to them.

If you treat Knight's of our order with respect they deserve, you will find no difference, except for how effective knights are at they'r job, especially compared to usual merceneries ."

Well, Otto replied, we don't need a private army, we'd need people to guard our caravans in these troubled times. If your men can do that, then we will have use for them.
As for payment... he remained silent for some moments, doing some calculations. I will have to ask my fellow merchants first, but I think we can give you a wagonload of timber each month for your services.

[OCC: He offers 1 unit of timber per turn as long as 100 knights are tasked with guarding the caravans of him and the other merchants, i.e. 100 knights bound in a continuous RP mission.]

Small smile crossed zekic's face.

"We both know a hundred of knight's guarding you'r caravans are worth more then that,as i said before they are way more skilled then common mercenerie's.Even the word that Knight's of Ebony Gauntlet's are guarding you'r caravan's will stop alot's of bandit's from attacking which in turn will make sure that caravan's will stay not only guarded,but also complitely unharmed."

"And those foolish enough to attack will be eliminated as fast as possible"

"With that being said, how about 2 Wagonloads, and we got a deal?"

Otto stroked his beard and furrowed his brow.

One wagonload of timber and 500 gold, that's all I can offer you, he finally said.

"Hmm.."

Zekic was obviously deep in tought's.

"I think.." But then he saw a mirror on the wall, and in it his reflection, he was standing in simple chain mail, amongst the knight's in full plates, a short angry look appeared on his face.

"We got a deal." He said to Otto, and silently, the way none could hear, he muttered to himself "Lucius doesn't deserve even this anyway"