Reginald Danpero, known to most as Reggie, lives a joyful, adventurous life plying the waters of the Blue Wash. He captains one of the many trading barges that calls Berador home and ventures up and down the Wash in search of profit and pleasure, not necessarily in that order. As a purveyor of sometime exotic goods and always interesting news Reggie finds himself welcome at any table in the Maple House when he comes home.
Up River or Down River
"It's a simple question: up river or down river; which do you want?" Reggie asks with a twinkle in his eye. A strong breeze blows in his face, and his wavy brown ringlets of hair bounce and flutter in the wind. He fixes the younger Halfling with his deep emerald eyes and his lip curls in a playful grin.
"Um, I'm not sure, Reg. Shouldn't you decide? I mean, you know, you've got all the experience and all." The apprentice shuffles his feet as he mumbles to the master trader. He meets Reggie's gaze with a look of awe and near reverence.
"Aw, c'mon, Raykie, don't you want to make journeyman someday? You have to be able to make the tough calls, boy," Reggie cajoles the Halfling apprentice trader called Raykimi Cachon. "Make a decision. What have we in our holds?"
"Well, we've got plenty of roots from several of the nearby farms. And there's the salted pork from over‘t the Branloth holdfast." He pauses to think, "Oh, and then we got the hides and beef from Greyski and his neighbors." Raykie smiles nervously, seeking Reggie's approval.
"That's right," Reggie replies and nods reassuringly. "Now, where's the best place to trade that gear off for something of use here or elsewhere we can go?"
"Well, we could take the roots down river t' Darshire," Raykie answers hopefully. "Maybe trade for some greens or other vegetables; maybe even some early summer pears. The beef and pork would sell about anywhere, but would probably fetch the best price down t' Port Eben. And the hides . . . well, I'm not too sure about those."
Let the Goddess Decide
Raykie pauses and rubs his chin thoughtfully. Reggie looks on with a hint of pride. The boy will make a fine trader some day.
"Well, when you're not sure, what should you do?" asks Reggie.
"Look to the master trader for advice?" grins Raykie.
Reggie laughs a hearty laugh. "I guess that's one way. But what if you're the master trader and you can't decide? What then?"
Raykie's brow furrows as he considers the query carefully. Uncertainly he mumbles, "Ask Avandra for guidance?" It's clearly a question and not put forth with any conviction.
"That's right!" Reggie hoots and slaps his young charge on the back. "Let the Goddess decide!"
Reggie draws a fat silver coin from his purse and rolls it expertly across his fingers. The coin dances between his knuckles catching the sunlight in flashes and then rests in his palm. "So, you call the toss. If your call is right we'll go downstream. If you call it wrong we'll go up."
Raykie nods hesitantly, and Reggie tosses the coin high in the air. Raykie calls loudly, "Crown!" as the coin spins overhead.
Reggie snatches the silver from the air as it passes in front of his face. He holds his fist out in front of himself and towards Raykie. Slowly he lays open his fingers and the reveals the coin. The etched crown of the lost Oshland Empire winks up at the apprentice trader.
"South it is, boy. Now go get the others ready."
Master Trader Secrets
As Raykie heads down the gangplank and back to shore, Reginald Danpero, master trader, chuckles softly to himself. He rolls the coin over in his palm, alternating the crown of the Oshland kings with the menacing head of a dragon on the reverse. He slips the old Oshland silver crown back into his purse. Raykie will learn someday. His reasoning was good, given what he knew. And the decision to go down river was the right one, but not for the reason Raykie thought. And Reggie has never heard the Goddess complain when someone makes his own luck.
Unknown to the apprentice trader one of Reggie's barges carries a chest full of silver bars and ingots down from Dalton. The silver came over by a caravan led by Reggie's cousin. Those bars and ingots will fetch a nice load of master crafted steel weapons down to Port Eben. Steel weapons are hard to come by out in the wild and will fetch an excellent price at any town or holdfast north of the Palantir.
Raykie also doesn't know that a messenger bird arrived on the morning. The message came from another of Reggie's cousins making his way to Darshire with a Traveling Carnival from the great city of Roth. They'll be in Darshire next week. Conveniently so will Reggie and his barges. There he'll take on a load of fine plateware and silverware which he'll pass on to the Branloth family as payment for the pork.
The job of a master trader is not to buy and sell goods. It's not to move goods up and down the Wash or on the Road. The master trader's job is to know who wants to sell and who wants to buy and how to help those people with their wants. What they want to buy and sell is less important than the fact that they want something. And Reggie will be glad to provide it.
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