Merchant Quest

[Darkandus]

There is only one solution. We're going to have to be called away on urgent business. To the nearest Hero's guild! The sooner we finished doing missions involving the killing of rats in basements and sewers the sooner we can leave town to slaugter kobolds in some dank cave, rather than spending time with our family.

We might even get more money out of it. I hear some animals like wolves eat chests and when they die loot pops out.

[LifeOfGesture]

... Can our house even accommodate our clan?

Also, I agree with Dark. Let's murderize some rats and help balance the books of the Hero's Guild we join! Spend our lira on some nice weapon and armor.

[Wittgen]

Oh my god we're from Boatmurdered. Oh my god. oh my god.

oh my god

If a bunch of people from Boatmurdered are coming here, we desperately need to not be here. Get away. Flee, we fools.

[Darkandus]

Ah, Boatmurdered, many a fine dwarven tale came from that place, especially all the reclamation expiditions.

[EnigmaticD]

Boatmurdered-Syrupleaf. Two of the most infamous dwarven fortresses imaginable. Each of them managed to dig their way to the other, and they were both united in mutual insanity. The untold horrors emerging from the lands around the fort have calmed down since the elephants that were inexplicably ubiquitous were culled and domesticated in a joint human-dwarf effort about ten years prior. Still, when you were a child, you still awoke to the shrieks of those foolish enough to loot the growing pile of dead outside the fort. You've been working on getting a therapist.

Right then. About half of House McLargehuge is going to be fitted in your compact, two-bedroom house, and your goal is to make sure you are several miles away when that happens. You have the perfect idea: take your weapon, and kill some rats, making tons of money!

Except there are already established companies of exterminators within Vraldi, who are effective enough that the only place brimming with rats is the slums. You're not expecting the people of the slums to be able to pay you, and rat components aren't very high quality.

You could be an adventurer, except for the fact that the entirety of Continental Europa has been thoroughly charted, and nuisances such as kobolds and goblins are all but extinct or, barring that, pushed into ill-favored countries. The only place where adventurers would be needed would be in the New World to the west, and you're not allowed on boats. It's not because you're a dwarf, or even because you're a woman, but because you happen to come from one of the worst joint fortresses ever, more specifically, in the Boatmurdered part of it. There's only one choice for getting out of this city long enough to evade your family.

A contract.

You inform Perrino of your intent, and he pulls out a miniature notice board, containing a few choice contracts that were approved for you by the Board. You read them, and try to decide which is best.

Spoiler: show

Contract One: Request for Discretion
Description: Need services of discreet merchant to deliver package to secluded hamlet. Must have no strong connection to any of the many Tiberian noble houses, the Church, or any other political/military authority.
Chances to Claim: 2
Payment: 342 to Guild (93 to merchant)

Contract 2: Wartime Rations
Description: Requires prompt delivery of supplies over the Weissland border. Must be prepared for potential attacks on caravan, and travelling through warzones.
Chances to Claim: 1
Payment: 473 to Guild (172 to merchant)

Contract 3: Securing Valuables
Description: a Saturnalian noble wishes to deliver a large order of luxury goods to a political ally. Goods included are crystakl glass sculptures, centuries old paintings, and a chest of gemstones. Damage to the goods, or theft thereof, will not be tolerated.
Chances to Claim: 4
Payment: 1000 to Guild (240 to merchant)

Decisions?

[Aldraia Dragonsong]

Hmm, go for the third contract!

[LifeOfGesture]

Contract 2. Contract 1 sounds like 'OOPS YOU'VE JUST BEEN FRAMED FOR MURDER' all over it and Contract 3 requires a delicate touch. Us Viridian Dream forumers do not have a delicate touch.

[doc.exe]

Yeah! I also vote for Contract 2. It's the closest thing to our original plans of adventuring, and a warzone might actually be more peaceful and pleasant than dealing with our relatives.

[ShonenHero]

Boatmurdered? Oh sweet lord, run. Take whatever contract we can (#2). If we smell the slightest scent of burning meat or tar, full-out flee. And if we hear the sound of screaming, and feel a slight burning sensation at the back of our necks find the nearest horse and gallop to a river bank and swim across it.

[serbii]

The second one, it's the best in terms of what % of the money we get and it's less likely to put us horribly into debt than the third.

We're from Boatmurdered, warzone is nothing.

[AlucardBackwards]

I vote for # 2

[ewuvi]

I vote for option number 2.

[SynzofGlikus]

We should plan on taking two and three. I think there should be a Merchant Skill <Level 2> that will allow us to gain a lira from both quests at once using some kind of reserving tactic.

[NotreallyHere]

Let's take option #2 as it seems safest.