Village Merchants
Named merchants in every area occasionally need something couriered somewhere else: for gold, and for their trust.
Getting an offer
Every one of the 20 areas has its own named merchant and shop. Entering an area has a 20% chance to trigger that merchant's delivery offer: shown as an exclamation mark in the Village panel. Only one offer can be pending per area at a time, and you can only ever have one delivery in progress at once, account-wide.
Accepting hands you the goods immediately: mostly a stack of a material native to that region, rarely (10%) a genuine piece of equipment. You then have 5 minutes to reach a different area you've already unlocked and turn the goods in there for a gold reward roughly matching what they're worth, capped at 150 gold per delivery. Run out of time, or lose the goods before delivering, and the delivery fails.
A merchant's named shop isn't just flavor for the offer dialogue: it's the same shop shown in that area's Village panel, so trading with (say) Theodore's Bakery and delivering for Theodore are the same relationship. The active delivery's countdown and turn-in button live in the Village panel too, since that's where both ends of the exchange actually happen.
Merchants by region
Green Plains
| Area | Merchant | Shop |
|---|---|---|
| Green Plains Outskirts | Theodore | Theodore's Bakery |
| Plains Farmlands | Marigold | Marigold's Granary |
| Bandit Foothills | Gareth | Gareth's Outfitters |
| Thornevald's Bramble | Old Pell | Old Pell's Last Stall |
Shadowfen Marsh
| Area | Merchant | Shop |
|---|---|---|
| Shadowfen Shallows | Wren | Wren's Waterside Goods |
| Sunken Croft | Bertram | Bertram's Croft Store |
| Silt Barrens | Yelena | Yelena's Silt Traders |
| Aldric's Drowned Court | Cormac | Cormac's Drowned Exchange |
Frostpeak Reaches
| Area | Merchant | Shop |
|---|---|---|
| Frostpeak Foothills | Halvard | Halvard's Hearth & Trade |
| Frostbloom Terrace | Sigrid | Sigrid's Frostbloom Botanica |
| Glacial Deep | Osric | Osric's Deepglass Outpost |
| Isolde's Frozen Seat | Freya | Freya's Frozen Larder |
Cinder Wastes
| Area | Merchant | Shop |
|---|---|---|
| Cinder Outskirts | Ember | Ember's Ashwood Trading Post |
| Ashen Steppe | Dorin | Dorin's Steppe Caravan |
| Obsidian Depths | Kessa | Kessa's Obsidian Forge Goods |
| Pyrocles' Ember Throne | Ronan | Ronan's Last Ember Stall |
The Sundered Abyss
| Area | Merchant | Shop |
|---|---|---|
| Abyssal Fringe | Ilsa | Ilsa's Fringe Outpost |
| Voidroot Expanse | Merrow | Merrow's Voidroot Curios |
| Riftiron Depths | Thane | Thane's Riftiron Trading Co. |
| The Sundering's Heart | Vesper | Vesper's Last Light Exchange |
Trust
Each area tracks its own trust in you, starting at 100%. A failed delivery (timeout, or the goods are gone when you try to turn in) costs 20 points; a successful one earns back 3. Trust regenerates passively at 1%/hour even while you're offline.
What trust is worth
Trust is not just a gate. A merchant who trusts you pays you better and charges you less: at 90%+ standing (Honored) their deliveries pay 20% more gold and their shop is 10% cheaper; at 70%+ (Trusted) it is 10% more and 5% off. Since you start every merchant at full trust, those perks are yours to keep by delivering reliably, and yours to lose by letting deliveries fail.
Supply and demand: glut and scarcity
Your deliveries move prices, not just your standing. Carry a good into an area and you glut its market: that good sells cheaper in its shop, marked with a green Glut tag. Keep taking a good out of an area (as the origin of your deliveries) and it grows scarce there, selling dearer under an amber Scarce tag. Each recent delivery nudges the price about 5%, up to 30% either way, on top of your trust discount.
Only your own deliveries from the last day count, so the movement fades on its own as that trade ages out. It is your private market for now: your hauling moves the prices you see, no one else's.