[b]"Alright then. Let me think..."[/b] Allan said as he became thoughtful. [b]"The market value for the amount of silver you are asking for sits at somewhere above a hundred gold. And that price is only going to go up depending on the artistic quality of the silver and the sentimental value the owner has for it. Then there is the cost of transportation to think about. Gravestone is a day's ride from here and a day's ride back. Meaning I'll need to hire bodyguards for a two day journey from the Adventurer's Guild. A sell-sword's pay is a gold coin a day, so five guards for two days would be ten gold. Then there's sustenance costs and lodging and stabling fees to think about. Another ten gold all in all."[/b] Allan's focus returned fully to the rangers now that his calculations were done. [b]In a perfect world, I would only need a little over 120 gold to get you what you need. But sadly, a perfect world this is not. The silver will likely cost more than my estimate, and I can't stay in business if I don't make a profit. So with that in mind, what do you think of starting the haggling at say... 500 gold?"[/b]

Allan knew this initial asking price wouldn't be accepted. It wasn't meant to be accepted either. It was a common tactic in haggling. Start with a higher than reasonable offer that no one would accept so that when the true offer was made, it seemed like a more palatable offer by comparison.