Dealing with Slavers [CLOSED]

Techno sighed as he departed the train. He looked around, searching for their destination, due to the fact that he wanted as little to do with this town as possible. He spotted the Town Hall and turned back to the others who were still getting off. "I don't like this place, and I'm sure none of you do either. We need to get going to the town hall, over there," he said, indicating the building a ways off with a point of the hoof, "where we'll negotiate with the mayor about trade. We do that and get out, and we never have to be here again, sound good?" he finished, stating what he wanted to do. New Appleoosa had traded with Old Appleoosa for a long time now, and even since he was a little colt, he didn't like any of the ponies that came from the town. They were always mean and grumpy and never treated any of the slaves better than the wasted dirt they walked on.

Scum, the lot of 'em.

Sky followed techno, as they walked into the town. Sky responed to techno, hearing him talk about not to come again. "yeah, agreed. lets just get this done." Sky said to him as she followed him.

"I said I wanted to visit the slaves when we got here, and I meant it." Starry asserted. "I want to visit these slaves before we start doing any negotiations."

Starry was still mildly displeased with the plan. She had agreed to go through with the trade deal, but she seemed to be dragging her feet.

Shutter looked around, as he followed the group, before leaning over to whisper to Starry, not wanting any of the locals to hear what he was saying.

"I can't actually see any cages though...look, I want to help just as much as you do, but we really don't want to be annoying these ponies too much by asking questions like that..."

He said quietly, his eyes still glancing left and right.

"We'll just keep an eye out, and listen carefully...if it's really such a big business here, then someone will have to be talking about it somewhere, right? And if they are, chances are good they'll let slip the location, or something..."

Lucky spoke in a low voice to avoid unwarranted suspicion.

"If you know what's good for you, stay the hell away from the slave pens. Get too close, and they'll throw you in with 'em, and then we'll have all sorts of problems. If you wanna see them, you'll have to offer to buy them."

He kept walking with the group, and averted his eyes from any of the guards that moved along the town at will.

"Come one, come all!" announced the miracle drug salespony, as the group neared him. "Come and try the miraculous Snake Oil's miracle elixer! It will cure all your ailments! Each and every one of em'!"

The pony, who called himself Snake Oil, had a yellow coat and a brown, well groomed mane. He wore a clean business suit and a bowler cap. He had a smug grin on his face. "You there!" he had pointed to Techno. The crowd quickly turned to look, as Snake Oil singled them out. "How would you like to try one of Snake Oil's miracle cures? Cures all ailments! Discovered by the wisest doctors Equestria has to offer!"

Techno froze for a moment, then turned to face the salespony. He had been brought up with this tactic for deterring phony ponies like this. "If you can name every ingredient in that 'elixir' of yours, I may just try one." he said, an annoyed look on his face.

"Why so skeptical, sir? My elixir is made with only the finest spring water, mixed in with herbs that the old zebra mystics once used, to strengthen their warriors in battle! That, combined with the modern contents that make up Equestria's healing potion, combine to form the greatest elixir ever seen!" The merchant spoke. While the words may not have been convincing in the slightest, the way he said them and the fact that the audience was already falling for it didn't arouse suspicion from the audience in the slightest.

"Come now, you aren't pretending to be an expert on these matters, are you, boy? Just take it from the professionals, this substance works, and it works miracles!"

Techno raised an eyebrow, obviously skeptical. "No, I'm not pretending. I know my alchemy, so would you tell me what these herbs you added are and what they do?" he asked, not very amused at the salespony's attempt to sell him probably fake stuff.

Starry smirked. She knew everypony wanted to play it safe, but this was the perfect opportunity to sneak out and go check on the slaves, while the group was distracted. She had to see for herself how these slaves were being treated. She had to see if it was as bad as she was told.

She backed up very slowly, until she suspected she was out of the ponies' sight and hearing, before trotting toward a nearby alley where she could sneak over to the slave cages. Once she found them.

"Ah! We have a doctor here! See, my friends? Now watch, as I prove to even the most skeptical of ponies the authentic, healing power of my concoction here!" Snake Oil uncorked one of the bottles, yanking the cork off with his teeth. "Smell the soothing aura of the herbs, my friend? Go ahead! Take a sip! See for yourself what's inside, as all your ailments will be cured in the wave of a hoof! Pains, sore backs, you'll feel a hundred percent better in an instant, guarenteed!"

The pony offered the potion over to Techno, with a smug grin on his face. He had clearly just dodged his question. The elixir itself smelled overwhelmingly of fragrance. There was clearly a smell artificially added to the substance, which was drowning out any smell that any of the ingredients might produce.

Techno stared blankly at the salespony. One thing that he had taken away from living with a family that ran a shop was to never buy until you know what exactly you're buying, and this merchant was obviously dodging his question. He decided to rub it in his face. "You're dodging the question, so I'd assume that either you don't know what that stuff is or does, or don't want us to know. If I knew what was in it and what it did, I'm sure all these ponies would be much more inclined to buy it." he said, gesturing to the small crowd in front of him.

A few of the ponies started to turn their heads. None were quite convinced, but a few were curious why Snake Oil wouldn't tell Techno the ingredients. Maybe he didn't know? Snake Oil seemed to pick up on the confusion in the audience, and quickly spoke to pacify it.

"Why, but good friend, I am offering you a free sample, so that you may experience the effects of my elixir first-hand! I need not ramble on about the details, when the effects are quite perfectly clear! Every ailment, cured! What more is there to know?"

Techno maintained the blank stare. "The ingredients."

Athanix had been busy doing whatever mundane obligations he had to do in the slave town as he trotted up to the group of ponies he had been tasked to accompany and aid in any sort of relations. He noticed that the doc was in bit of a verbal argument with the couth pony waving questionable liquids around like a madmare.

Keeping a respectable distance from the group of ponies he tightened all his bags for the billionth time, brushed his cloak and mane, and pushing up his glasses which he basically had to do ad infinitum, Athanix waited for an opportunity to listen in to the conversation while trying to look as casual as casual can be in a town chalk full of slavers.

And maybe if he was luck he would get something out of it too.

"How about you, my fine zebra?" The salespony had evidently chosen to ignore Techno. Techno was too smart, and he was clearly pulling the crowd away from him. The zebra should be gullible enough. "Certainly, you wouldn't doubt the invigorating properties of your own peoples' alchemy, now would you? Those very techniques played a key role in the creation of this here elixir!"

Starry quickly hid behind an alleyway, sneaking past the back sides of the buildings. She didn't have to worry about hiding from her own group anymore, now it was just the slavers she had to avoid. It should be easy enough. Starry may not be a master of stealth, but she had spotted Shutter sneaking about once before. She didn't get a good glimpse of it, since it was sort of during the heat of battle, but she saw enough to know that it wasn't all that hard.

She had snuck quite a distance from the salespony, she was nearly toward the x intersection in the road. She figured she'd go down another street, and see if she couldn't find the slave cages. She'd head back to the group once she got a good idea of what condition those slaves were being kept in.

Shutter would watch the display from the crowd, not too sure what to make of it (Well, other then the fact that he wished he had an outfit as sweet as that Salepony's...he needed to find a suit...).
However, the show didn't keep his attention for long, as when he looked around the crowd to see what their reactions were, he noticed one blue head missing...

"...Starry?"

Quickly, Shutter looked over at Lucky, giving his a light jab with his hoof to get his attention.

"Lucky! Starry's gone! I can't see her anymore!"

"I most certainly would question the invigorating properties of my own people's alchemy if I don't even know what the buck you are talking about." Athanix said as he slowly made his way through the mass of ponies in front of him and stood at a respectable distance from the sales pony. He pushed up his glasses so that he could get a better view of the pony in question. He was dangling some funny looking oil in front of his face with a rather intoxicating smell floating from the substance.

Athanix slowly backed off as he didn't want to get to much of the chemicals up his nose and into his system. Shifting his bags casually as he pulled out a special healing potion that he had brewed many a nights before, he held it in a hoof and he dangled it in front of the pony for all too see.

"Now this is some really potent stuff! Some of the ingredients in here may have a strong if not stronger effect than whatever this mongrel is peddling!" Athanix said as he spread the most charming smile he could muster across his face. He might of been pushing it this time, but hay, he hadn't really done anything productive the entire trip.

Why stop now? This was a perfect opportunity to find out what the pony was really up to.

Techno grinned when he saw Arthanix's plan. "I can vouch for him. He makes the real deal and actually knows what he put in it!" he said, showing that Arthanix had backup for his scheme against the salespony.

"Wait... what's in it?" A mare in the crowd asked from Athanix. The crowd finally seemed to be growing dubious of the Snake Oil's claims. Snake Oil, seeing that his audience was clearly being drawn away from him, some through doubt and others merely at the prospect of Athanix's elixirs, chose to back away from Athanix and Techno. He walked back up to the stage.

"Wh-Why, my elixir is far superior to this zebra's alchemy! Come tomorrow and get a free sample! That's right, it's been a long day and Snake Oil will be back here in this square tomorrow!" He shot Techno and Athanix an angry glare. It was quite obvious to the two that he was packing up early because of them.

Meanwhile, Starry had finally managed to spot the slave cages, they were a ways down the street from the sheriff's office. There were two slavers standing guard, armed with hunting rifles, so Starry chose to observe the slaves from afar. She was so focused on the cages, she did not see the two ponies walking up behind her. She was swiftly hit in the back of the head with a shovel.

"This one of them stable ponies?" One of them asked,
"Of course it is, just look what it's wearing,"
"So? What do we do with it?"
"Put it with the others."

A poke came from Lucky's side. He turned his head, and heard Shutter ask his question.

He answered in an urgent tone. "What do you mean she's gone?"

Lucky swiveled his head, looking at all the heads in the crowd. When he failed to spot Starry's, he dragged Shutter away from the crowd and behind the nearest building, out of sight.

"You didn't see what direction she went, did you? This is now a matter of INCREDIBLE proportions."

To himself he thought, 'Please, Celestia tell me she didn't go to the damned slave pens...'

Techno walked away from the crowd looking smug. He just loved doing that as a kid, and apparently still did. He walked over to where Lucky and Shutter were standing, off to the side of the rowdy group of ponies now gathering around Arthanix. He took a quick look around, and gave his input as to their next action. "Alright, let's keep moving. Where's Starry?" he finished, noticing that Starry was nowhere to be seen.

"Wait starry is gone?" Sky looked at the group in confusion. "just ten minutes here and she is gone." Sky let out a sigh. "lets go find her, first she said she wanted to check should be the slave pens." Sky suggested to the group.

A small framed unicorn stallion approached the group from Stableton after spotting them out as the crowd dispersed. He was a light orange stallion, with a blonde mane. He wore a dark tan leather jacket and boots, as well as a cowboy hat. He seemed fairly young, probably not even twenty.

He waved a hoof toward them, and trotted swiftly as he approached them. "Uh, hi! Name's Orange. Just orange, parents didn't give me no last name." he said, as though trying to deflect a commonly asked question, "Anywho, you look like them stable ponies come to make a trade deal. I was sent by the mayor, you see, he told me very clearly, 'Don't come back here until you've got those stable ponies with you!' and so, here I am!"

Orange smiled nervously, he was not very good at making conversation, and he wasn't sure the group was very receptive to his message. "Anyway, uh, why dontcha' all come with me to the mayor's office? I'll probably get a right-good scoldin' if I don't bring ya back with me, so uh, how about it?"