The stakes are raised

After about thirty minutes, Sally and Jorella returned to continue their bidding. Jorella arrived in a gold, jewel encrusted caravan about the size of an average tavern. Four beautiful horses were pulling it with ease that could only be explained by magic. Sally was carrying a comparitively smaller suitcase filled to bursting with papers and pulling a large wagon behind her, filled to bursting with finery, silver, and pretty dresses.

All of that was, apparently, worth the same as the two befuddled naked slave girls shivering in the mud between them.

"I'll start with the offers to make it fair," Jorella said smugly. She pulled out a large burlap sack tied at the top, and dropped it on the ground with a loud CLINK like hundreds of coins clacking together. "I offer 1500 gold coins for these two lovely ladies."

Sally bristled. "Well, I'll double that. Three thousand gold for Lady Hilda and, uh, you," she stuttered, realizing she hadn't gotten the drow's name. She pulled out a large chest from her wagon and dropped it onto the ground in front of Grugluh. The goblin, for her part, was completely baffled as to how things had escalated so far.

"Is that all?" Jorella said with a guffaw. "I've got five thousand gold in my caravan. I'd like to see you beat that!"

Sally stepped back, mouth agape. That was a ludicrous sum to just carry around with oneself, especially when bandits could easily confront them at any moment. She had no idea that Jorella had lost a sizeable chunk of that gold to pickpockets and sneak thieves on her way through town, but neither did Jorella, so for now it was moot. Sally groaned, pulling out a suitcase and opening it to reveal a plethora of sparkling jewelry, silverware, and other finery neatly arranged for display. "Can you beat this?"

Jorella scoffed. "Easily." She walked into her caravan and brought out a satchel of her finest necklaces, braclets, rings, and even a bewjeweled set of eyewear with black-colored glass in place of clear lenses. None of the others had seen this before, as it was a new development Jorella had seen in her travels and purchased in the hopes of mass producing it. The merchant who's made them had called them "sunglasses" which sounded like a poor name to Jorella. She'd been meaning to brainstorm a better one before she found these two moneymakers.

Sally opened the cover on her wagon to reveal she'd packed a large wardrobe in with her items of value. She opened it to reveal many fine dresses, most of them rather modest and conservative, thought Hilda swear she was a lavish evening gown that left little to the imagination squeezed into the back. Sally hadn't wanted to give these up so quickly, since without them she'd have nothing for her lady to wear, but she was getting desperate. "My wardrobe is some of the best you'll find in town. I'll bet it's even better than whatever you've got stuffed in your wagon."

"How dare you insinuate I don't have the best clothes in all the lands!" Jorella cried, offended beyond measure. She stormed inside and produced a large trunk full of garish and ostentatious clothing. Dresses, tunics, skirts, boots, even opera gloves and masquerade masks (she'd never been to a masquerade ball before, but she'd bought these just in case she was someday invited). "Eat this, peasant!"

Things were getting rowdy. Some passersby had started to linger around to hear the impromptu auction, and were cheering as the argument grew more heated and angry. Sally and Jorella had completely abandoned their reasons for bidding and were now completely focused on simply outdoing the other. Sally offered up her furniture, remaining clothes, stockpiled food, and eventually escalated to the deed of ownership to her house and land. It slipped her mind that without the house, she'd have no place to bring Lady Hilda to warm up and get some proper food and rest. Somehow, simply being in her beloved's presence was sapping her reason and long-term thinking.

The offer of land really got under Jorella's skin, as land was the one thing she couldn't offer up. She wouldn't admit it, but she'd had to make some cutbacks on her spending recently and was currently living out of her caravan. It was still nicer than any of the houses in this podunk town, but it still felt like Sally had pulled one over on her. So in her endless wisdom, Jorella offered up her caravan and horses to counter the offer. She even offered up the dress she was wearing as part of her bid, since she'd still have her elven silk to wear after that. That was the one thing she wasn't going to part with.

Grugluh was completely beside herself for what to do. These two women were offering up their very livelihoods to her all so they could take her two rescued humanoids with them. They seemed convinced that Grugluh "owned" these two poor babies, and they'd neglected to listen to her telling them otherwise. It was about as confusing as anything she'd been through so far. Eventually, after they'd both offered up everything they owned to her for a chance of taking the two naked ladies away with them, they turned to the poor goblin for her decision. Evidently, she needed to decide a winner of this little contest.