He gave a nod. You handed over 1403 gold, he gave you the items. Your sailors helped you carry them to the ship, "We may run out of room if we take much more, sir" as these orders came in batches of about 20 for a decent trade.

"Okay!" Ivan said. "We'll drop them off when we get back to St Petersburg." he looked around. "Where's that last sailor? Is he still sleeping?"

"He's down in the hull, said he heard something and wanted to check it wasn't rats." one explained, "Should we get ready to sail?"

"Sure." Ivan said. He looked at the horizon. "I hope we don't run into any pirates or storms...."

"Storms aren't that bad. They're actually rather calming" one sailor chirped, "pirates though.."

Ivan brooded over the threats of pirates. The items he was transporting weighed down the ship considerably.

The sailor smiled, "I'm sure we can avert them, sir, or buy some canons and fire back. Only small rascals hang this close to St Petersburg."

"I think averting would be a good idea. At least until we have weapons and cannons." Ivan said. "About that noise down in the boat. I hope we do not have rats, or something worse. If they get into our cargo, it won't be tradable."

The sailor came up, "N'thin to worry a'out c'ain the voice was mumble and pronounced. you noticed several missing teeth from the older sailor. The younger one chirped again, "We can get canons from the sailors craftsmanship stores in St Petersburg"