Just when I thought you were finally beginning to show your potential, you have once again managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

To Master Karn Dorfson
Care of the Dutch vessel Guilder’s Own

Just when I thought you were finally beginning to show your potential, you have once again managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.  Your suggestion that we bring wheat to trade for coal in Stuttgart was excellent.  Quite timely.  However, your decision to bring the coal to Pomitain in England rather than to Carleon as I instructed the captain was typical of your pathetic mercantile history.  While I have no qualms with my agents exercising some independence, I am not in the habit of allowing them to disregard my orders.  That would still be acceptable if you had made a substantial profit on the deal.  Instead, you managed to barely come out even once Breg’s import taxes are considered.  Once you learned of them, you should have simply put back to sea and ventured on to Carleon.  Barring that spark of wisdom, you could have arranged with another captain to exchange goods outside of the port.  While such a practice is technically smuggling, it is better than simply allowing foreign rulers to steal the value from your cargo!  Another consequence of your failure to follow my instructions is that my agent in Carleon was holding a cargo of clocks for you to deliver to France.  Instead, you purchased the only cargo available, a load of salted fish and traveled back to Stuttgart, thinking to make a profit on their need for food.  Herein lie several errors.

The first is that you, and consequently myself, will gain an unfavorable reputation among the hungry people of Stuttgart.  People are grateful for those who deliver them the goods they need, however when an individual merchant shows up too often with a cargo they must have and then charges them for the true worth of the goods, they will naturally begin to resent him.  Trade a homeless man a loaf of bread for his sword and he will love you.  Return a week later and offer to trade him an identical loaf for the clothes off his back and he will try to strangle you.  Further, if your first trade was profitable enough, they won’t have anything left to purchase the goods at the same price, so you will actually earn less as time goes on.  However, if you bring the same load to his neighbor who is also in need and you will end with two satisfied customers who paid top price.

The second error you made is a common misconception of many merchants, so I cannot blame you too much for your stupidity.  A simple trade route is very attractive to the simple man.  German coal for England food and vice versa is such a route and will provide some profits.  However, should a disruption occur, such as Breg raising the import tax without warning, your profits simply melt away.  Far superior to this route is a triangular trade route.  Bring the coal from Germany to England, finished goods from England to France and then French wheat to Germany.  You avoid visiting a region too often, reduce your dependence upon any particular region and collect information from a wider area.  As I’ve already told you, a merchant’s greatest asset is the information he holds on trade.  Making more trades also helps to maximize your profits since you are profiting from every leg of the voyage.  In recognition of your continued stupidity, I have increased the principal of your debts to me by 10% to repay the costs for the ship and crew as well as the lost opportunities.

Now, purchase a load of coal or steel and take it to Carleon as I instructed.  There is currently little in Germany other than such raw materials, but it will get you to more civilized regions where your options are far wider.  The load of clocks should still be available for France.  Once there, find a load of simple goods, such as furniture, books or clothing.  The nobles of France have little regard for such items but the Dutch will pay well for them.  Particularly if you can obtain a few more current upscale dresses.   I know a dress maker who will pay well for the current courtly fashions from Charouse.  Once again, it all comes down to information.  Once you have returned here, we can speak in person and continue your education in the mercantile arts.  Try not to screw this up too badly.

Your disappointed employer,
Scrut Yaple

Smugglers meeting pirates outside a harbor at midnight is almost a recipe for misunderstanding and conflict.  Dodging the taxmen and the pirates who prey upon obvious direct routes is a sure method of sending a ship off course where they will encounter unknown islands, strange shoals and mysterious places.  While there is far more profit in a large cargo of ore or food, even smuggling out a dress or two from the court can help offset other costs.  Of course, the heroes must find a method of getting the dress off a noblewoman.  Of course, that could be half the fun.