Our Corporate Ledger and Holdings (Not Loot; Merchant House)

[AthasianLaborer]

This will be our running ledger for our earnings 

Correct me if I am wrong but--

We exchanged the following goods:

Salvaged Skimmer
--Lacquered Box
--Several pairs of lead/tin earrings
--Poisoner's Gloves

Refurbed Skimmer
--Candles and Ceramic Holders
--20 Stone Plumbata Darts
--6 Bolas
--3 Tooth/Wood Swords

for 1400 Silver pieces of Balican Mintage and then secured another 200 Silver pieces of Balican Mintage in exchange for 1200# of Flint (600# White Minting Flint and 600# Red Smeltable Flint) for a Grand Total of 1600 Silver in startup funds for our mercantile endeavors.

Balic is a buyers market for Livestock, Salt and Silver (Price Code: D or "Supply is high, demand and prices are low.
  These are cities where one can buy large quantities of goods at reasonable prices and, with luck, transport them to a place where demand (and profits) is high.".  Is a 25% reduction in base cost a fair assumption?  )

If we assume that Trained Kanks are selling in Balic for 9sp each, we can afford 177 Trained Kanks which leaves us with 7 silver left over.

Each Trained Kank which makes it to Nibenay will sell for 24sp each, netting us 15sp of profit each.

Assuming that all 177 Kanks sell for 24sp, we'll walk away with 4,248sp.  2,648sp in profit.  If we take that and purchase Nibenese Copper (for which Nibenay is a buyer's market), we'll be able to afford 2,832# of it.  Balic is a seller's market for Copper, buying at 4sp per pound.  If we got that price for all 2,832#, we'd have 11,328sp.  That's 9,728sp in profit.

I think that is the point where we should look at diversification and funding stable, recurring transactions for raw materials.  We continue to work this alchemy as long as it works, though we should pour profits into other pursuits as well (like securing commodities desirable to giants in exchange for their shavings, steady supplies of agafari and enough food to feed the entire Ledopolan Arsenal for decades to come)

[DM Bob]

Let's keep this ledger on the Obsidian Portal page along with the loot.

I will have to look at where a buyer's market may be. There *are* price fluxes; Tyr recently lost a SK and the Tablelands gained some chaos. You can perhaps ask about in Nibenay as far as demand is concerned? The Dune Traders supplement assumes a different timeline than the current one.

Also, I have to look into how many kank are available for sale within Balic. It would not be a single day's task securing a herd. Perhaps Laahk's contacts could look into it for you while you travel. I would need him contacting his kanksman friend in game proper to begin this.

[AthasianLaborer]

Sept 30, 2020 5:50:28 GMT -12 DM Bob said:

Let's keep this ledger on the Obsidian Portal page along with the loot.

I will have to look at where a buyer's market may be. There *are* price fluxes; Tyr recently lost a SK and the Tablelands gained some chaos. You can perhaps ask about in Nibenay as far as demand is concerned? The Dune Traders supplement assumes a different timeline than the current one.

Also, I have to look into how many kank are available for sale within Balic. It would not be a single day's task securing a herd. Perhaps Laahk's contacts could look into it for you while you travel. I would need him contacting his kanksman friend in game proper to begin this.

What would be a more reasonable timeline?  20 every 3 days?  It would take us a month and a half to move all of the Kank we could afford with our initial investment.

I am not against it taking a minute, especially if that will be less suspect.

[DM Bob]

You'd have to check in character. I also need to determine the effects of moving that much livestock from one area to another. A wormhole can move them fast enough, and you could possibly even find a buyer that would accept them in batches, etc... Again, all stuff that needs some roleplay and where you want a PC trader or bargainer involved. You also might want to consider what type of buyer or buyers you want to do business with. Possibilities: Elves, House Shom, a different House, the State directly, etc... or parcel it out to more than one. Think on that.

[AthasianLaborer]

Sept 30, 2020 6:19:32 GMT -12 DM Bob said:

You'd have to check in character. I also need to determine the effects of moving that much livestock from one area to another. A wormhole can move them fast enough, and you could possibly even find a buyer that would accept them in batches, etc... Again, all stuff that needs some roleplay and where you want a PC trader or bargainer involved. You also might want to consider what type of buyer or buyers you want to do business with. Possibilities: Elves, House Shom, a different House, the State directly, etc... or parcel it out to more than one. Think on that.

Something that I was thinking while stuck in traffic, what do we think of the idea of not doing the transaction as a singular grand event?

Instead, set it up as two smaller recurring events-- 1) weekly sale of ~20 kanks in Nibenay which funds the acquisition of Nibenese Copper and 2) sale of the acquired Copper the following day in Balic.

Are we supplying others with Kanks to sell or are we running an open-air livestock auction?

I think Laakh or the Skysingers should be our first opinions in Nibenay, we decide collectively, but they have history here, they should have first say on how we go about things in Nibenay.

[DM Bob]

darksunsouthtablelands.obsidianportal.com/forum/loot-provisions#post-1207745 - updated

[Niachi]

Laakh needs a coin budget for keeping his contacts happy. From the Auditor kit:

"The quality of information provided by a contact depends on how the PC treats the character. As a general rule, contacts must be paid 1d6x10 ceramic pieces per level of the contact to produce a specific piece of information or to perform a small favor. If treated well, contacts may be also be able to loan the PC money or equipment, hide her if she’s on the run, or track down illegal supplies for her. Once again, the quality of these services depends on how well the PC treats her associates."

Bob: what are levels of Raum the kank rancher, his wife Maris, and Telb so I can budget small, large, or epic favors?  We need to consider our plans risking the rancher pair's business, and heed their advice on depleting stock, attracting rivals, normal transactions vs. grandiose events etc. Consider they have Laakh's kank supplied by Telb to add to their stock for breeding. Laakh knows he owes them for boarding when we come to them, outside of the usual fee for keeping them happy.

[DM Bob]

We can consider it a clean slate at this point. Your sale of skimmers had extra coin deducted from your profit that accounted for Falmon's take. I did consider it, he's currently happy. This is also why there was limited trading sway. The price was set. But you probably needn't worry about any further repercussions from the skimmers coming back to bite you on the ass.

Once you next meet any of the said NPCs you can drop them some early coin - or wait until you need their services. The actual roll will be made at the time of the favor being asked, so pre-bribes may or may not account for the future debt.

Consider any non-level contact to deduct at 3rd. Kaz is a special case (see below).

I will roll behind the scenes as to not give away NPC level directly. Falmon is *not* cheap though. Telb only cost you 50 CP to help you escape Nibenay. Raum has accepted 12 silvers in coin in a favor letting him escape notice from the tarek you pissed off. You have not asked Maris for a direct favor yet. She likes your attention in non-monetary ways though. You have not asked Kaz for a direct favor yet either. A giant might want usable supplies or gifts instead of coin - and we'll base that on her HD, not level. Basically, all of these things can be done in the equivalent in barter as well.

[AthasianLaborer]

Oct 3, 2020 9:32:57 GMT -12 Niachi said:

Laakh needs a coin budget for keeping his contacts happy. From the Auditor kit:

"The quality of information provided by a contact depends on how the PC treats the character. As a general rule, contacts must be paid 1d6x10 ceramic pieces per level of the contact to produce a specific piece of information or to perform a small favor. If treated well, contacts may be also be able to loan the PC money or equipment, hide her if she’s on the run, or track down illegal supplies for her. Once again, the quality of these services depends on how well the PC treats her associates."

Bob: what are levels of Raum the kank rancher, his wife Maris, and Telb so I can budget small, large, or epic favors?  We need to consider our plans risking the rancher pair's business, and heed their advice on depleting stock, attracting rivals, normal transactions vs. grandiose events etc. Consider they have Laakh's kank supplied by Telb to add to their stock for breeding. Laakh knows he owes them for boarding when we come to them, outside of the usual fee for keeping them happy.

How many Kank can Raum supply us with on a weekly basis?  What about a monthly basis?  How many can the market in Nibenay absorb on that basis without killing demand?  How much of our gems and silver will that cost us?  I think we should aim for consistency and longevity for this particular exchange.  We want to be a benefit to Raum and if he expresses the desire, we may want to offer to help him expand his ranching capacity (especially if Nibenay can absorb more than he can supply us with on either basis).  If he does not want to/cannot expand, we keep an eye out for other reliable Kank suppliers (not to replace Raum, but to independently collaborate with as our suppliers). 

I also think that this exchange should be self-funding after the initial investment which should be easy if we're buying low and selling (just under)high.

[DM Bob]

There needs to be roleplay involved. You will not be privy to game speak from NPCs, as in, no level will ever be offered. You can meta-reason based on past expenditures, but the kit is a guideline. This is the second time I've brought it up. There needs to be contact with Raum (even if it's telepathic) and he might need to look into it if he didn't have an immediate solid answer. We can deal with that after this evening if you wish. I'm relatively flexible about coin though. Favors, gifts or barter can be used when it makes sense thematically in game.

[AthasianLaborer]

Oct 4, 2020 3:45:32 GMT -12 DM Bob said:

There needs to be roleplay involved. You will not be privy to game speak from NPCs, as in, no level will ever be offered. You can meta-reason based on past expenditures, but the kit is a guideline. This is the second time I've brought it up. There needs to be contact with Raum (even if it's telepathic) and he might need to look into it if he didn't have an immediate solid answer. We can deal with that after this evening if you wish. I'm relatively flexible about coin though. Favors, gifts or barter can be used when it makes sense thematically in game.

I was just spitballing to figure out what things we should take into consideration while planning the exponential growth of our collective wallet.