>read newssheet

You attempt to read a news sheet, but a small piece of folded parchment which reads, "GET OUT OF DEBT" appears to pop up in front of your eyes. You crumble up the piece of paper and discard it.

>read newssheet

You attempt to read a news sheet, but a small piece of folded parchment which reads "GET OUT OF DEBT" appears to pop up in front of your eyes, again! You mumble and dispose of the paper as before.

>read newssheet

You attempt to read a news sheet, and a third time, a small piece of folded parchment which reads "GET OUT OF DEBT" pops up in front of your eyes. Grabbing the paper, you decide to investigate.

> read parch

Don't Give up: The Young Trader's Guide to Getting out of Debt and Back on the Trade Routes I am a rather young trader. Several months ago we had a festival. I drained all my bank accounts, all of two plats to my name, and made a run. It was an intimidating affair, but all and all I think I made out pretty well and pretty wisely with what I had. I then put the items in my vault, where they would collect dust, and hopefully value, for awhile.

But then I found myself in a bit of a sticky situation. I began to trade contracts again and realized I could not pay my dues! I would give the clerk every last Kronar and realize I still owed money. This happened at every outpost until, to my great dismay, I was deep in debt and unable to trade!

Maybe you've been stuck in this situation by some circumstance or another. Whether it was a fest, theft, or just bad luck, we can all get into this situation when we are young. We think about hunting, skinning, and scavenging and how much of that it will take to get us out. Me? I became a bum. I hibernated for several months. I neither traded, nor hunted nor pawned nor sold anything. I was never much of a hunter, and heading to the shipyard to hunt rats for the chance at a 10 copper pelt didn't seem worth the effort.

Finally I decided I needed to get back out on the trade routes, any way I could. Here's how I did it.

Step 1: Determine your total debt. Flip through your ledger and figure out your total debt. (OOC a spreadsheet is nice for this) It's imperative that you keep this total, because as you begin this process you may not feel like you are making much progress because your debt will go up and down for awhile at the various outposts. But over time your total debt will decrease.

Step 2: You're going to have to... That's right, you're going to have to make money in some other way then trading. That means hunting, scavenging for items to pawn, fishing (my favorite way) or selling branches if you still can. Don't worry, you'll be trading soon, but you'll need to take this initial step.

If you've ignored hunting until now you're not going to feel like you are making much progress. You'll fight and fight and fight, and if you're lucky, you'll not only kill a rat, but get a pelt which can be sold for maybe.. 10 copper. The important thing here is to not get discouraged and not worry about making money right away. You're gaining skill. When you get locked in your weapons, retreat go and do something else and don't worry about the money. While you're doing something else, you are absorbing your weapon ranks so you can more effectively hunt later. That time you just spent is called an investment.

Fishing is my favorite way to make a little extra money. If you are an estate holder you can fish off the amusement pier in crossing. You can use the poles and bait provided instead of your own. Yes, that's free poles and free bait! Otherwise if you need to buy fishing equipment, take a trip to Langenfirth and see the supplier near the wharf. Fishing is a fine hobby for a trader with all the traveling we do.

Then of course there is scavenging for items. I don't have a lot of success with this, what with the janitor and all. (Now if we could just find that janitor...)

Selling branches is great, but if you can't do that anymore here's a little trick. Forage yourself a bunch of branches and then go stand outside the pawn shop. Carve the branches into staves (they won't fit in your backpack) and sell them for about 20 copper each.

Step 3: Now, look at your ledger again. What outpost do you have the LOWEST amount of dues paid? This is the first outpost you are going to pay off. Do your hunting, fishing and whatever, and occasionally go to the bank to deposit your money, or to the outpost directly to pay your debt. Your goal is to get a contract from this outpost.

Step 4: On the road again! Once the debt is paid you are now able to do another contract. Before you do this, keep in mind that you should really keep your expenses down. This means no caravans. You probably can't afford one anyway yet, but even when you can, make this promise to yourself: no caravans until all outposts are paid off. Yes, pack animals are dumb, slow, and they don't know their way around, but this is all temporary.

Throughout this process, keep track of what your debt is. It will fluctuate for awhile, but the trend will be for it to gradually decrease.

So get your first contract from the minister, and give it to the clerk. (Ah, the good old days.) Now, when you get that first contract again, right away you have incurred more debt. Pay as much as you can now (though don't let 'em get your ferry money!)

Another hitch: When you arrive at your destination outpost, they will pay you, but do NOT use the money you have earned to pay dues at the destination. You will not be getting a contract at THIS outpost yet.

Step 6: That means trek back to the first outpost with your little yak friend. Pay the clerk, and get another contract.

You will repeat this step until you are able to leave the first outpost debt free. That means, get contract, give contract to clerk, play clerk, clerk
says "your debt is settled." Now you have a contract and no debt at one outpost.

Now you are making some money. As long as you leave your first outpost debt free, you can use your earnings to pay your destination outposts. But you're just doing on contract at a time, always heading back to the first one. Yes, it's still tedious and hard and slow, and you're really wishing for a caravan at
 his point, but keep at it.

Sometimes you will incur a little debt again at your originating outpost that you won't be able to pay with your earnings. When this happens, go back to your other activities. Use this opportunity to remind yourself that there are other ways to make money other than trading. One of the great things about trading contracts it that you have plenty of time to think about things, which means absorbing your hunting experience.

Step 7: Keep it up until all your outposts are cleared. Now you should be out of the red! Soon you will have enough to begin caravan trading again.  You're back in business.