Buying and outfitting a ship was a somewhat detailed process and Broneslav almost regretted not chartering a vessel rather than buying one. In the end, he did manage to get a small trading ship, The Stout Meg, that was nearly new for 5000 Royals and a crew that would cost him 500 Royals per month for as long as he retained them. His goal was that the cargoes he planned to carry would pay for them, but first he had to get somewhere he could sell the cargo and buy a new one for the return journey.
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| Broneslav attempts to look like he fits in on a ship |
Discussion with his family and their major domo showed that his planned voyage might need to make a detour to Ierendi or Minrothad rather than trading in the Thanegioth Archipelago itself. Ierendi always needed what Specularum had, so he invested 5000 Royals in cargo that should trade well there: iron and copper goods and a stock of fine leather items. For his first trading voyage, he was advised against travelling to Minrothad where they would likely make mincemeat of him, strip him of all his wealth by legal means and leave him in debt to one of the guilds.
Putting his expedition together took time, and the quarterly tax collection happened in the middle of it. As a law-abiding citizen, Broneslav had no choice but to reach into his purse and donate a portion of his treasure to the Duke. Hopefully, he would recoup that and more on this voyage and he had successfully managed to write off part of his tax burden by buying the ship and trade goods, so it did not hurt as much as it would otherwise. It was fortunate that he had the connections in Specularum to help him with sorting all this out.
By 12 Fyrmont, he was ready and over 16000 Royals poorer. Stores for a month were loaded, the cargo was onboard and the crew were all present. It was still summer and the voyage should be plain sailing, barring unexpected squalls. Big storms were not usual at this time of the year, or so the captain he had hired had informed him. So it was that on 12 Fyrmont on the rising tide and with a fair wind behind him, Broneslav set sail for the south. Milka, she of the snow white skin and rose red lips, waved him off and promised her eternal love and wept piteously that he should sail off into danger like this. Broneslav tried to ignore her pleading and tears. He suspected that his wealth and status after his Shearing played a large part in her interest, where previously she had shown little sign of attraction to him. It would be good to be free of her attentions for a while, he thought, as the ship sailed out of Specularum harbour and head south. They should reach their destination within two weeks, if all went smoothly.
As the wind blew through his hair and the deck rose and fell under him, Broneslav was very pleased with himself. He was setting out on a new adventure. He thanked the unknown mugging victim for this opportunity. Then he suddenly felt queasy. He lurched for the ship's rail as the crew laughed at the neophyte sailor's plight...
Notes
I'm going to deal with trading in the abstract here. I do not want to complicate the issue because that will get in the way of adventuring. Rather than buying specific cargoes, I shall spend an amount of money for the cargo and dice to see if Broneslav's purchases and attempts to sell it are wise.
When Broneslav gets to his destination, he will make two skill checks to sell his cargo. The first will be a Wisdom check to see if there is an opportunity to sell his wares (Has he been sensible in his purchases for his destination?). The second will be a Reaction check to see what profit, if any, he makes on the sale. In both cases, any eventual Merchant or similar skill will be used to modify the rolls. He can refuse the offered price if he thinks he can do better elsewhere but he cannot try to sell the same goods in the same area again before a full week has passed. I would quite like to subsume the whole test into a single roll, but I worry that Wisdom, Reaction and skill bonuses can quickly add up to always making a huge profit.
Although I am dealing with generic cargoes at this stage to save effort, I might introduce the trading rules from GAZ9 The Minrothad Guilds at a later stage if I feel like spending more time on trading and less on adventuring. Right now it would just get in the way of the real adventure.
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