Either way you’re selling your gems while they still hold SOME value.
Suddenly every vendor in Frostmill is out of cash to buy up all these gems.
Some try to trade with eachother to just rid themselves of these soon to be worthless shiny minerals.
Others take a boat to nearby Palo town as they don’t want to wait for the funds of the merchants at Frostmill to be sufficient for them to sell the shinies.
What will you do?
You’re in the midst of the chaos.
All you know is that if you don’t sell these in a timely manner, you’re unlikely to turn a profit from this.
You stare in horror at the budging bag of gems you still have to sell.
It was just a week ago when you could have exchanged it all for the rarest and most exotic items of the seas. Weapons, scrolls, vanity, it wasn’t too difficult to trade with the allure of gems. But now…
Where did it all go wrong?
Was it when I started stockpiling gems hearing about the new technique called gem socketing?
Or maybe when I sold my family heirloom to pray on the rise of gems?
I don’t know anymore. If it all goes south, my empire will crumble that’s for sure. But at least I’ll have my sky pumpkin farm in the clouds.Right?
As the shouting turns into an incoherent mess, you overhear something about the price fluctuation and momentary confiscation of mass amounts of Sky Pumpkins and Sun Caraway.
A limit of 30 for the forseeable days.
The auctioneer probably didn’t think much when he mentioned that, but the already existing outrage increases. And so does the despair you feel.
There’s already a congregation of Ravenna ships near Shell Island, as well as various other ships.
This madness has reached the furthest ends of the Bronze Sea, even having reached the Heartland, Ravenna. The population has never seen a spike of commerce like this, but the spike was all for the wrong reasons.
…and they’re also out of cash except for the times the Shipwright makes some profit due to all of the crashing and cramming of ships all over.
You managed to sell some, but not enough as to be one and done with the ordeal. Only 1-2. Turns out crashing ships without ramming into them with a ram isn’t that much of a profit anyway for the shipwright.
That… or you weren’t the first one to think that, as even getting through the entrance was an entire ordeal.
Improvise. Quickly, now, before someone gets the same idea, the desperate masses are bound to try every trick in the book. Sacrificing a lone diamond out of my hoard of soon-to-be worthless baubles, I begin to knap all the gems one by one into smaller bits, before sanding them into a vaguely round shape on a rough patch of frozen rock.
I depart the spot quickly, stragglers in the crowd already found broken bits of my gems and are fighting amongst themselves to sell even those, and i cannot afford to be spotted on the next task. I visit the shipwright, asking for as much yellow and white paint as they have in stock. “Just felt like repainting my ship!”, I lie, shame long gone from my mind as my fortune threatens to reduce itself to nothing with each passing second. I quickly board my ship and retreat within my own quarters.
Slowly, carefully, i use my painbrush, far too large for the task, and begin to paint my rounded gems… The nacre-like white of sail paint for some, the golden sheen of yellow metalic paint on others… Yes. It’s unlikely to fool an expert or anyone giving it too close a glance, but it shall do. It should fool merchants long enough for me to leave the premises before the jig is up.
With my newly minted “pearls”, i raise the sails, heading for Sailor’s Lodge. I pray deep within my heart i can find fools drunk enough to purchase all my stock, and some island to bury whatever scant profit i may gain from these desperate measures until this all dies down.
They didn’t even bat an eye… And no one’s checking for counterfeit pearls and gold pearls…
Though the second an Alchemist sees one of these… they’re bound to be able to tell the difference.
With these new counterfeit pearls in circulation, more problems are bound to arise… but for now
this’ll suffice. As long as nobody uses these pearls in any potions of any kind, that is.
With the help of Enizor, I head to the blacksmith to craft some extremely fine enchanted jewelry. I pack my bags, and sail off towards Sailors lodge, where I open up my own shop selling my jewelry.
A frigate arrives at the lodge a few weeks later, packed with refugees from Frostmill. I overhear them talking to the owner of Sailor’s Lodge about the collapse of their economy, leading to a deadly famine across the island. These people were able to escape, but were denied entrance to Ravenna due to being “traitors” for leaving Frostmill.
A few moments later, I heard an explosion. A shriek. Cries of pain. I looked back and saw the frigate that brought over the refugees overflowing with water. I spotted a bronze legion ship in the distance, and realized they had come to eliminate all traces of Frostmill, almost the same way their ruler had ordered the assassinations of all Winterveil refugees years before. Now, many bronze legion soldiers had climbed on board the damaged frigate, dragging out the wounded men inside and arresting the for “treason”. My instincts kicked in, as I loaded my musket and shot it, penetrating the soldier’s helmet and killing him on the spot. Suddenly, all was anarchy. I was suddenly struck by a ball of lighting, paralyzing my body, as i was dragged away by many Centurions. I looked back one last time before fading to black, to the sight of the entire Sailor’s lodge up in flames and collapsing into the sea.