[Merchant Questline, Task 1: Sell to 1 Customer]

I started the morning rather confident. Yes, no one in Windglen had likely heard of the shop but with the daily stream of adventurers, it didn’t seem far-fetched that one curious person might wander in and realize that a cape would be a great addition to their equipment set. On top of that, I had added a nice flyer to the quest board advertising an opening sale.

The night before, I had spent hours carefully arranging the displays, organizing by clothing type and then by skill buffs (agility, mana regeneration, intelligence, etc.) When posting my flyer, I read through some of the quests and then carefully selected some of my best pieces that would help with the needed abilities. My rank didn't come with a lot of built-in signage options unlocked, but I made sure the equipment was in good view of the window. All of these tactics I had learned from my dryad mentor - I was set up for success.

And yet no one came in.

The first couple hours, I attributed the emptiness to the rain that had started only minutes after the town’s establishments started to open. Rain was bad for visibility and often made adventurers delay the start of their journeys, the most common time to stock up on equipment.

But then the rain cleared up right before lunch, and I still hadn’t a single patron even enter, let alone make a purchase. “Time for a more direct approach,” I said to Rune, who was busy playing with some loose yarn and had little concerns for my plight.

I went over to the door and propped it open, letting the sunlight pour in right on the featured table in the front. I then stood just outside and began to greet people as they passed by with pitches such as - “Looking for some lightweight buffs?” or “Opening day sale!”

A few people smiled, a curious orc even looked behind me a bit, but they all quickly broke eye contact with me and kept walking as I tried to usher them inside.

I frowned and started pacing around the aisles. Had I done something to offend the townsfolk? I had stayed at an inn while my house was still under construction, and everyone had seemed perfectly friendly. I had tipped well when I grabbed a scone at a street vendor this morning. Was there some sort of cultural norm I had missed in my research of the area?

My pondering was interrupted by the sound of the bell at the door. I almost jumped in excitement. “Welcome in!”

My first patron was a goblin holding a huge bow and arrow set. Her hair was in a tight black braid to stay out of the way of her armor, and I could tell she was fashion conscious as the tint of her light chainmail complimented her light green skin quite well. “Figured I’d see what all the fuss was about,” she said cheerly. She had a regional accent I didn’t recognize.

She flashed her stats card at me in a further way of greeting, and although I wasn’t quite sure what she meant by "the fuss", I was going to assume she meant someone had told her of my pitch or she had seen the flyer.

[Name: Lithia

Class: Barbarian, Level 15

Sub-Class: Archer

Profession: Adventurer, Rank 6]

As I assessed her current equipment set, Lithia began looking sound the shop. She took a peek at nearly every aisle from a far, but didn’t walk down any of them. It appeared she was perhaps checking for something? She almost seemed a bit...nervous. Was she just shy? But she didn’t seem so with her boisterous greeting and general confident demeanor. You didn't get far as a shy barbarian, after all.

I decided to jump in. “Feel free to keep browsing on your own, I can unlock any of the glass displays if you want to something on."

She just nodded, continuing to look around, even peering at the corner I hadn't filled yet as if wondering why. Truth is, I just couldn't afford to start with more inventory. But why should an empty corner matter to anyone?

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I had finished my assessment of her equipment, and decided to focus on that. "You know if you don't mind me saying, I believe I’ve got just the cloak for you. Your hair is so beautiful, wouldn’t want that to get scratched up on that metal there when you’re running around. And it’s got a nice agility buff as well!”

Lithia smiled, clearly surprised at my compliment. “That’s so nice…sure, I’d love to look at some cloaks.”

My relief was nearly palpable as I started to look through some drawers for a good recommendation. I decided to make conversation. “Starting a new quest?”

She shook her head. “No, I really should though, rent is due next week. You’d think my landlord would trust me after nearly a decade in this town, but for some reason she still expects her payments on time.”

“Wait, we have to pay by the date on that contract? Every month?” I joked. “I suppose I should make a few more sales then!” That part was serious.

“Yes, well maybe I could advise on that actually...” Lithia replied, pushing in an arrow threatening to fall out of her bag.

I raised an eyebrow at the idea of unsolicited advice, but at the same time I was clearly not in a place to refuse.

“So, I assume you’ve met Enos,” she continued.

Yes, quite impossible to forget that smug face. “He introduced himself last night.”

“I’m not really supposed to tell you this, he’s my brother’s best friend and he's helped me out of a few jams, but he’s also a prick, so…” She leaned against the wall. “Fanwen, right?”

I nodded.

“Well, Fanwen, the truth is Enos has been spreading rumors about your shop. Last night, he came into the Torchlight Tavern, down the street? A lot of locals frequent there on weekends. Anyway…he has been sort of telling everyone he can find that this place is…haunted.”

“Haunted?” I scoffed. “That’s ludicrous!”

Lithia sounded a little embarrassed. “Yes, it certainly sounds that way now, doesn’t it?”

“What kind of ghosts would be haunting a clothing store anyway?” I asked, trying to wrap my mind around this intel.

“That part of the story seemed to have evolved by this morning. Some say it’s the previous owner, others think it’s a cursed object or something? Although the idea you’d unknowingly have a cursed object is also rather nonsensical of course…” She trailed off.

“To be clear,” I said, crossing my arms, “The previous owner did not die. He simply returned to his hometown, very much alive. And as for cursed objects, I am a mage with purification spells, not to mention I made everything in this shop by hand.”

Rune chose that moment to walk up to the goblin and start meowing, asking for attention.

“My apologies,” I said, lightly shooing her away. “She’s not used to the idea of lots of people walking around that aren’t here just to pet her.” Truthfully, I was glad for a break in the tension. Although the news of Enos’ rumors was upsetting, showing that was not going to help me win anyone over.

“All good,” she assured me. “My pup is the same way. Well, if it helps, I can tell this place isn’t haunted. I have a talisman that picks up on that sort of thing.”

“Well, one person is a start I suppose,” I responded. “You said your brother is close to Enos?”

She nodded. “Yeah, we all did some quests together a while back.”

“Do you know why he would do this?”

“Other then just being a prick?” Lithia responded. “I think he’s just…scared of competition. His family has been here a long time, but he’s always paranoid about losing customers. Truth be told, he probably messed with that halfling you mentioned went back to his hometown, not that I can prove it.”

I filed away a reminder to reach out to the halfling when I got a chance. Maybe had left a forwarding address with someone. “Why tell me this? If he’s your friend and your brother will be angry as you described.”

“Truth be told,” she said. “You strike me as someone from a noble family. So you’ve probably been told certain, stereotypes about goblins.”

She wasn’t wrong. There was a lot of prejudice around goblins in my region - my own grandmother had warned me to keep an eye on my coin purse when they were around, and the old man in town we bought bread from was always claiming they had stolen a loaf from him. But I paid things little mind - I preferred to come to my own conclusions about people, and I would never judge a race based on an individual’s actions anyway.

“Right,” she continued, seeing the confirmation in my look. “And yet, you’re brand new to town, and you immediately offer to show me anything I want, on top of complimenting my hair. Why would I judge you based on some baseless claims if you aren’t going to?”

“I…appreciate that.” I sighed. “Listen, I’m clearly not going to get any customers anyway, and I’m feeling a bit worn out. Think you could show me this Torchlight Tavern and we could grab a drink?”

Lithia smiled. “I’d be happy to be. But first - I’m going to buy a cloak!”

And so, Fanwen’s Fabled Fabrics made it’s first sale.

[Merchant Questline, Task 1: Sell to 1 Customer- COMPLETE! XP+ 10]