Merchant Apprehension

As the sun rose on yet another beautiful day in Crimmor, Katie awoke from a fitful sleep with the usual feeling of overwhelming dread. Reluctantly, the young merchant rolled out of bed, put on her work attire, and went about making a modest breakfast before heading to her little shop in the nearby market. “One egg a day. That’s all you need,” Katie recalled her grandmother telling her when asked for the secret to her longevity. Whether the old woman had meant that literally or instead meant to convey that a simple lifestyle can keep pace with a wealthy one, Katie wasn’t sure. Either way, eggs were cheap, filling, and tasty with toast, so it had become a routine morning meal.
As she set up shop for the day ahead, Katie’s anxieties once again plagued her sleep-deprived mind. Today’s the day they’ll surely run me out of town. That might even be too generous, they’ll probably confiscate my belongings and leave me to die outside the town walls. They might even put me to death right here in the streets, they’ll make it a public spectacle.
This was the fourth town the young merchant had set up shop in, and it was right around this time that she packed up her stuff and moved on to another. Her hasty retreats from each town had brought her farther and farther from her family in Waterdeep, and as much as she missed her family, she couldn’t bring herself to see them again. What would they think of her? She’d been gone for about three years by now, only returning home for the holidays once, and after all this time she still hadn’t made something of herself.
Maybe they’re happier with me gone. My brothers are probably far more successful than I am. The only thing I’d be worth to them now would be a bounty reward.
She never voiced these thoughts out loud of course. During the day it was all smiles, pleasantries, and “Thank you very much, have a good day!” Even in the comfort of her small home, Katie never cried, or showed any visible sign of distress. The girl on the inside was a jarring contrast to the girl on the outside.
What exactly was the reason Katie felt the way she did? What awful crimes would merit the fate she dreaded for herself nearly every waking minute? Katie had a bad case of good fortune.
In nearly every place Katie visited, she found valuable riches she could sell. A small, blessed spring of Holy Water in the woods. The valuable scales of a decomposing Blue Dragon hidden in the valley. Untouched clusters of precious stones from a cave in the mountains. With every discovery, Katie’s inventory of rare and unusual goods grew ever greater, which would attract all manner of customers. But she kept these discoveries secret for her own benefit, never once explaining how she came upon such wondrous wares. She was making good money and had found a way to combine her fondness for exploration with her business, and she hoped her luck would last long enough for her to make enough money to move away.
Her unnaturally good fortune didn’t translate socially, however. Katie never had very many friends growing up, and found it particularly difficult to make friends as an adult. Her attempts at socializing rarely succeeded, and even if they did, she never knew how to maintain them. It didn’t take very long for her to convince herself that her newfound friends were only humoring her, or had sinister intentions. Her habit of assuming the worst in others eventually resulted in her abandoning friendship altogether, and she opted to spend her free time exploring the land and sea outside of town in search of new wares.
That gentleman in the brown leather suit visited again today to buy some of the more commonplace goods. I wonder why he visits me every week for this stuff. I’m sure other stores around here sell soap and candles, and at better prices too. Maybe he’s inspecting my store for illegal wares. I saw him talking to law enforcement officers last week, I bet they’re onto me by now. This is the day I get caught, isn’t it?
Her anxieties didn’t improve as the day wore on, and by the time the sun had set, Katie had decided enough was enough. She may not have been confronted today, but surely she wouldn’t be so lucky tomorrow. Before leaving her shop one final time, she packed her wares into crates and barrels and started carting them towards her home. She had done this multiple times during her time in Crimmor, but this time she meant it. Back home, she counted up her acquired wealth, decided on which items she had room to bring, and set up a plan for her new destination. Maybe Keczulla, the gem-mining town? That wasn’t too far, and maybe she could find valuable non-gemstone wares in the area surrounding it. At the very least, the items she had on her now would certainly be more valuable there than they are here, so she could live off of that until she established a more stable means of income.
She had also heard rumors of a faraway settlement called Mythrite, where merchants like her made fortunes within weeks. Katie wasn’t one to buy into that sort of hype, but if her ventures in Keczulla went sour, maybe it was worth a shot in a town like that, and it might be exciting to start a new life in a place so distant.
For the first time that day, Katie stopped worrying and started daydreaming. She always wanted to explore the world, mapping out the various towns and landmarks both for herself and others. Maybe she could even sell those maps! There was a sort of comfort in moving to a new place where nobody knew your name, and if it weren’t for the benefits of living in a settlement, Katie had no doubt she’d be happy as a nomadic merchant.
By the time the sun had risen the next morning, Katie had already left Crimmor for her new life in Keczulla. It was certainly strange, and a search party was planned, but a quick search of her home revealed that it was far more likely that she had simply left town on her own volition. No sign of foul play was revealed, after all, what kind of thief would rob someone of their toothbrush? It didn’t take long for the town to almost completely forget about the girl from Waterdeep with her unique assortment of foreign items.