She has travelled a long way. Her horses are weary, her guards are dusty from the road, and her brightly-covered caravan is piled high. Silver loops gleam in her ears as she beckons you forward to show her wares.
Two spotty-faced apprentices bring forth samples: fiercely-painted ceramics and bright fabric from the eastern ports. "Your Grace must have the first choice of these improbable luxuries. It is your unquestioned right! See, are they not splendid? Wonders like this adorn the finest parlors in Val Royeaux. I must confess: the journey was not easy. I do not know when - or if! - I will return. Who knows when Serault will see such marvels again?"
Available actions[]
1.
Convince her to include Serault on her regular trading route Buy up her stock, and convince her to return.
Difficulty: Rulership*6/5
Success: A bargain As your servants struggle to carry the contents of her wagon into the château, the merchant counts her coin and commends your realm's "charming people", "rustic hospitality" and "arboreal dignity". As long as she's effusive when she tells the other merchants in her guild about Serault's markets...
+20 Prosperity, -1 Bag of Royals, +5 Clues
Failure: A bargain She remains maddeningly vague on her plans to return, citing as excuses the distance, the civil war, her handsome, patient husband in Arlesans and her other handsome, patient husband in Jader. "I miss them so, poor things. It's hard enough keeping each secret from the other, without spending half the year trekking to the arse-end of Orlais." She does, however, fill your ears with information she has gleaned on her extensive travels.
-1 Bag of Royals, +10 Clues
2.
Purchase some finery "These silks are from Antiva! Touch them to your cheek. See? Soft as autumn moonlight!"
Result: Proper attire The merchant coos and marvels as you try them on. "Dare I say it? I must! You look more regal than the Empress herself! Forgive me, your distant Imperial Radiance! I am a slave to the truth!" She may be overdoing it, but you do look splendid.
+15 Dignity, -1 Bag of Royals, +5 Clues
3.
Provide a map of Serault Including the locations and times of the markets. Let her goods find homes among your people.
Difficulty: Woods-wise*2
Success: Up in the world Some of her ceramics, fabrics and spices are unheard-of this far from the heartlands. Now they adorn the tables, shoulders and dinners of honest Serault folk.
+10 Freedom
Failure: Upwardly mobile Normally, the few Antivan fabrics that reach Serault, are snapped up by the gentry. Now, fortunate peasants wear bright Seleny blue or sumptuous purple mantles from the dye-vats of Tresivo. A few of them begin to get ideas about their station...
+5 Freedom, +5 Rumors of Revolution
