Part 6: Greed is good
Part VI: Greed is good![](1-gaius.jpg)
This is Gaius Goonius, and he'll be starring in the side playthroughs. First up: merchant.
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Merchant is arguably the easiest background for beginners, as you'll rely entirely on dialogue skills and won't get a sniff of combat if you're smart.
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I'm getting good vibes from Linos.
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Remember Gracius, the merchant with the map who ended up dead? Linos was behind it.
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Oh, well if that's all...
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We're transported to the Boatmen of Styx guild. It's nice to see someone who enjoys their work.
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I invested some points in Trading since we're a merchant. It'll come up a lot.
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I didn't know Stalin existed in this universe. Time to see our buddy, Feng!
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He's his cheery self, as usual.
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He's also the sass dispenser. Time to show him the map.
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Our Streetwise/Trading is high enough to know Feng's bullshitting us.
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This sounds familiar.
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Time to squeeze Feng a little.
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Nice. We'll deal with Cassius right away.
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Instead of shanking the doofus, we'll convince him to leave town.
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We tell Feng the news, he gives us the ring, blah blah blah.
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Something I didn't show off in the main playthrough: there's a trader outside the inn we can bilk. It's easier if we have the merchant background.
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Ah, there's nothing like shaking down hapless citizens. Puts a smile on my face.
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With that out of the way, we go back to Linos.
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I imagine Linos bathing in a pile of gold every day, like Scrooge McDuck.
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Linos sounds like Mr. Burns in my head.
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By the way, the Zenon we referenced earlier? He's right here.
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Q & A time!
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The Commercium operates much like the mafia, it seems.
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Great. Sounds like Strabos is another unbearable, power-hungry tyrant.
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Linos, Strabos and Athanasius could form a comedy team. Call it "The Three Sociopaths."
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Thanks for the SP, Zenon.
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I dunno; the Commercium is less of a hen and more of a viper.
Off to the palace. We talk to the preacher along the way, but things go differently...
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Instead of asking about the Gods, we can go on an ego trip.
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A major ego trip.
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We need a charisma of 9 to pull off this next bit. Luckily, we do!
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Yes, we convinced this man we're the fucking Messiah. How many games let you do that?
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Huh, this is different. Thank god we don't have to waste time with Dellar.
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CASSIUS!
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Back outside we go. Looks like we have to complete Dellar's missions after all. Before we leave...
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Aw, poor Dellar. Sadly, his training is wasted on this character.
At the bandit camp...
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I told you Trading would come up a lot.
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Boy, people will tell you anything when you've got god-like charm.
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Pay attention to this next part.
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Back to Dellar!
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Oh come on! I went through the whole negotiation for nothing?
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Back to Esbenus!
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God dammit, why do I get pushback on every plan I propose?
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Back to Dellar! Again!
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Yeah, it looks like Esbenus held up his end of the bargain.
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We could keep the money, but, uh, that seems like a bad idea.
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And he gives us the power module for keeping our word. See? It pays not to be a backstabbing douche, Cassius.
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From here, we activate the smelter like we did in the main playthrough.
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You'll notice we can do something else at the control panel, but our Crafting is too low. We may find out what it does later...
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We show Antidas the map and he goes through his spiel.
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Remember when we asked Antidas about his House and he shut us down?
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So, Daratan was king of the hill until the war against the Qantari almost wiped them out. Then a prophecy said Antidas would rebuild the Empire and, being a stuck-up noble born with a silver spoon in his mouth, he swallowed all of it. Yay!
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Uh oh.
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Hilariously, Cassius spots it's a fake immediately. Time to shit on his expertise.
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Eat my entire ass, Cassius.
Next time: Subterfuge, forgery, and windbags