The old letters found at the warehouse were hidden there by Charles before his last journey. Rumors of them had circulated among disgrun- tled employees, and the story is that Simon has them now. They are hidden in his vault, but this fact is only known for certain to Simon himself.
The letters are old corre- spondence and contracts for deals with both sellers and producers of the rare materi- als which Charles dealt in, as well as with buyers (like the covenant). These are all highly useful for Simon, who wants to
take up this business in order to get hold of the supplies. They also give details of how to get in touch with the covenant.
Simon will not sell the let- ters, nor will he let them go easily. He does remember most of the information in them, so even if they are sto- len he tries to make a profit from the ventures, If the play- er characters become rivals, they have to compete with him. However, Simon has no particular interest in this busi- ness, so if it becomes too risky or low on profit he abandons the project.
future DeAlsWith simon
In the future, Simon offers to continue supplying the covenant with everything Charles used to supply, and he will do his very best to procure anything else they want. However, the prices go up by a quarter compared to what the characters are used to. Simon thinks it is quite obvious that Charles sold his wares too cheaply and was forced to lower his priorities on security measures and quality of travel arrangements. He also goes on about variable delivery times and fluctuating prices. However, there are a number of factors which might help, as his customers are wizards, they might be able to provide valuable wares for him to sell or be able to help in other ways.
Simon suggests that he could easily sell books on magical subjects to nobles and academics in his contact group, fetching high prices. Simon knows of magic, but he does not know that the books are useless to unGifted buyers. Alternatively, he cuts better deals if the characters do him a “little favor.”
Favors
Below are ideas for doing Si- mon favors in order to help se- cure supplies for the covenant as well as further Simon’s under- hand business strategy.
spoiling leAther gooDs
Simon asks the characters to spoil a shipment of leather goods waiting in a warehouse. If the player characters choose to do this favor, they get involved with the Tanners’ Guild and Pe- ter. The goods need to be taken to a nobleman in the direction of the covenant. Ruining the wares leaves the wagons booked to make the trip free for Simon to hire. He has these pick up another shipment of leathers of slightly inferior quality in a vil- lage nearby which the manufac- turer there cannot find a buyer for. As Peter cannot deliver to the customer, Simon can get a good price by picking up this deal. The wagons can then take the lab sup- plies back to the covenant and be there within two weeks.
Simon is expecting something clever like ruining the materials, rotting the leather, rusting the buckles, or something along that vein. Burning the whole place down seems quite crude and is unlikely to have the full effect since guilds patrol the streets at night to watch for fires. Also, Simon has goons who could do that kind of thing anyway.
The warehouse is located in the dense trading and manufac- turing district in a small court- yard at the end of a narrow, winding street. The buildings are all close together, and most workshops or small businesses have their owners or workers living in the back or on the top
floor. Under these circumstanc- es, a fire could spread easily and have disastrous consequences for the town as well as cost many lives. It would take callous char- acters to go through with this. Doors and windows are barred from the inside by the old, lame watchman, who is watching for fires, not intruders.
further schemes
By doing Simon the first fa- vor, the player characters give him an opening to ask for more favors, and this escalates over time. The following favors ini- tially seem innocent and altruis- tic enough, like ridding the area of bandits or clearing a road of a landslide. But suddenly there is another problem, and an- other. They could be dealt with in other ways, but that would mean more expenses or de- layed shipments. In time, Simon wants jobs done that are still easy, but smell more and more of sabotage and ridding himself of competitors.
The first favor could be for the player characters to take a group of bandits out of ac- tion. The bandits plague travel- ers and trade routes around the town; they might be pirates or highwaymen and camp out at a natural harbor, river ford, or abandoned farmstead. The ban- dits are a small gang of eight men including their leader. Use the Standard Grog templates for the bandits and Grizzled Vet-
eran for the leader, from ArM5 page 22.
Further favors might include: repairing a road and bridge dis- abled by weather and landslide; cleverly sabotaging a shipment of wares (e.g. wine) so the dam- age isn’t apparent until deliv- ery; framing a craftsman, town official, or rival merchant for a crime; or discovering or fabri- cating evidence of a scandal in order to ruin a competitor.
These favors ask more and more of the player characters, and eventually they risk draw- ing unwanted attention to them- selves, be it from town officials, noblemen, guilds, clergy, or the Order. These are intended to be future events beyond the scope of this hook. For further inspira- tion refer to City and Guild pages
124–125.