Entry 1 - Your days of shore leave are filled with the details of setting up Halaan with a forge in which to create a new Coin of Power, valuing the party's treasure & trade goods, and re-purchasing the equipment you lost in the shipwreck.
It turns out these simple tasks are a lot more difficult than you expected, and you discover a lot about the City of Zoa and its guilds. Setting out to purchase a set of jeweler's tools you find that no merchant will sell you a set of tools without verifiying your guild credentials. Not being a guild member, you are turned away a few times, learning in the process that the guilds seem to control a lot of what goes on in Zoa. There are a lot of guilds, seemingly for all professions and trades - even the Clerics and Mages are organized into guilds And they have a lot more power than guilds typically do - not only can they restrict the sale of tools to members only, they can also levy a 10% tax on all tools as well.
Entry into a trade guild is no mean feat - typically a Zoan child starts an apprenticeship at the age of 10 or 12 years old, and his family often pays a tuition to the Master for his time. After 8-10 years training he is tested for a journeyman's rank and allowed to enter the guild. You could shortcut the process by finding a Master willing to test you, but he would command a significant fee for the service. The professional guilds - such as the Merchants or Mages - are easier to join, one just need to declare an intent to settle in Zoa and pay the guild dues, after the applicant demonstrates they have the relevant skills and assets required to succeed. Geolain even suggests you join the wizard's guild, especially if you are going to continue to summon horses in the street. Geolain also lets you in on part of the secret of why he lives in the Dregs.
"Its a lot easier to obtain some rarer items in the Dregs, Navear" he says as you help him setup some alchemical apparati under Halaan's direction. "why don't you head for the shops along Harbourfront Lane near the Low Market and look for your goods there. I'm sure you'll find what you need."
Taking his advice, you explore the neighbourhood around the low market (taking care to guard your purse) and find a number of shops selling a bit of this and that. After some surreptitious discussion, you manage to purchase a set of Jeweler's tools and book binder's implements (and a set of thieves picks on the sly).
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Navear will definitely want join the Wizard's guild, the other guilds would be if I could afford them, so I will look into the price for merchants an Jewelers.
ReplyDeleteJoining the Mage's guild is pretty straightforward: an existing member must sponsor you, and you need to demonstrate your knowledge & skill in the arcane arts in an interview with the Judge of Members.
ReplyDeleteThe guild fee is 100gp / year - due on the 1st of Renewal.
The Merchant's guild is pretty simple too - the fee is 25gp but you need to show you own or partly own a trading business with revenues of at least 1,000gp per year. Members then vote to allow you in at a monthly meeting. If you just want to operate a market stall or general store, the fee is only 30sp but you have no voting rights at guild meetings, and can't become an officer of the guild.
Finally, getting into a craft guild like the Jewelers without doing an apprenticeship can be very difficult. First you have to find an existing master in the guild who is willing to test your skills and vouch for your ability. If the master deems you have passed the test, then you can pay the guild fee and join.
The tricky part is finding a master willing to test you - because masters make a lot of gp from the work of their apprentices (and also through the contract fees paid to the master by the apprentices family) there is usually a pretty steep price for a master to test a potential member who wants to skip the apprenticeship system - this can be as high 800gp to 1,000gp. The exact fee is a matter of negotiations - if you found someone who needed the money you might get a better price.
(You need a minimum of 7 ranks in a craft skill to become a journeyman in a guild.)