ROLEPLAY

The armload of tools the young aspiring businessman carried to Highmarket fell to the ground with a great clatter that the crowds didn't even notice. His jaw soon followed as he realized what he was seeing: a foreign merchant hawking cheap tools to citizens starving for them.

"That's right, folks - come one, come all!" the foreign merchant cackled, throngs of people shoving and striking one another for a slightly better place in line. "We've got tools at pre-Swarm prices, and enough for everyone!"

Dainan knew what that meant for his newborn business model - death.

With cheap tools in abundance even for a little while, stockpiling began. Citizens seemed to just come out of the woodwork to claim them, people Dainan nor seemingly anyone had ever seen before. The materials glut soon followed, which put the soon-to-be ex-entrepreneur's employees out of work. The tools for which he had scrimped, saved and sacrificed to purchase as recruiting tools and as advertising were worthless. No one needed them and the resale value was now a fraction of a sliver of what he paid.

All that work. All that planning. All that CARING - gone.

Dainan left the pile of tools where they had landed. No one noticed as he shuffled out of the market and back into the desert.

***

(Thanks a lot for the heads-up, Winch Gate. :-p)