Polisberg is a typical Dungeon Fantasy town. It has a powerful Merchant's Guild, a powerful Thieves' Guild, a nearby Druid Grove, and many temples and churches to diverse faiths.
Currency[]
Polisberg uses the typical coins of civilization: a brass bit worth $0.25, a copper penny worth $1, a silver talent worth $4, and a gold noble worth $80. All of these coins are small and 250 of any of them weigh 1 pound.
Polisberg merchants will happily accept other coins, valued by weight: gold at $20000/lb, silver at $1000/lb, copper at $250/lb, and brass at $62/lb.
Mages' Guild[]
The Polisberg Mages' guild supports delvers mostly by casting spells for them, at the normal rates.
They also make concoctions, potions, alchemical amulets, and spell stones; these are available at normal prices.
The guild does not contain many enchanters, and cannot custom make magical equipment for spells requiring more than 100 power points. They can custom order more advanced magical equipment from Enchanters' Guilds in more civilized lands at the usual 50% mark-up. They can also send magical equipment to the Enchanters' Guilds to have more spells added to it - this takes 2 weeks, plus an additional week per 50 power points of enchantment, and costs the usual amount to have the spells cast. The guild can cast Quick and Dirty enchantments of up to 100 power points at $3/point, which takes a day. They can add enchantments to existing items, including magical items, when doing this.
The guild can transfer enchantments from one suitable item to another. This is a slow process, but not demanding of the mages' time, so they only charge $1 per power point of enchantment transfer. It takes 1 week per 100 power points of enchantment transferred. Delvers must either do without some of their equipment or spend money to stay at the Inn while waiting.
The guild can order custom magic items that allow a single use item (such as a potion, amulet, or spell stone) to be used once a day, every day. These items have a base cost of 12 times the underlying single use item. The normal 50% import mark-up applies.
Merchant Services[]
All types of gear are available in Polisberg, but special orders cost 50% more than normal. All types of weapons, shields, and armor are also available, but there is a 50% surcharge for difficult items:
- Weapons with modifiers other than Balanced, Fine, or Ornate
- Shields with modifiers other than Balanced, Fine, Mirrored, or Ornate
- Armor with modifiers other than Fine, Ornate, or Spiked
- Thieves' armor is available at normal price, but only by going to the Thieves' Guild. The Merchant's Guild doesn't sell it.
Accurate appraisers are also available for hire. They will identify all characteristics of and price a piece of gear or treasure for 8% of its final value.
Blacksmith Services[]
The skilled bladesmiths and armorers of Polisberg can add new qualities to existing weapons and armor, even to magic items. However, it is very expensive.
Adding a new quality to an existing item costs twice as much as buying a new item with only that quality. For example, a fine axe costs $500. Upgrading an existing balanced axe to a fine, balanced axe costs $1000.
The armorers of Polisberg can also refit armor to fit anyone of the same size as the original owner, including races that cannot normally share armor. This costs 1/5th the price of the armor in question, or 1/3rd the price for races that cannot normally share items. This is mostly useful for resizing fine armor, but delvers with odd morphology might take advantage of it.
All custom blacksmith services require that the owner of the equipment be present in town. Delvers who are barred entrance at the town gates cannot take advantage of blacksmith services. The delver can bring along a friend to do the negotiating, though, as per the normal Dungeon Fantasy rules.
Hirelings[]
The good people of Polisberg are willing to hire themselves out to delvers in need of guards, grooms, guides, and valets.
All hirelings require each week's pay in advance, and expect to be paid for the return trip from a delve site. They provide their own gear, drink, and food (at 4 lbs/day). Under no conditions will they enter an actual delve site, but they can be counted on to watch the delvers' gear and campsite and defend it against random monsters. The bodies and gear of hirelings killed in service are expected to be returned to their families, along with a death stipend of a month's salary.
For every 4 non-guard hirelings hired, at least 1 guard must be hired. The people of Polisberg will not enter the Westmarch without protection.
| Hireling | Weekly $ | Gear | Other Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Groom | 80 | Bedroll, clothes, staff, lasso, combs and brushes | Can tend 4 equines (horses, mules, donkeys) |
| Street Thug | 50 | Knife, club, leather jacket | Serves as a guard. Unreliable. |
| Sellsword | 100 | Bow, leather armor, axe, small shield | Serves as a guard. |
| Mercenary Guild Guard | 180 | Crossbow, broadsword, shield, mail armor. | Serves as a guard. Bonded by the guild; reliable. |
| Guide | 100 | Bedroll, compass, club | Has Navigation-13, Area Knowledge (the Westmarch)-12 and sketchy maps of all of the Westmarch. |
| Porter | 50 | Bedroll, two sacks, pole. | Has ST12 and carries stuff. |
| Valet or Maid | 60 | Bedroll, dwarven whetstone, cleaning supplies | Will sharpen master's weapons in the morning before they go to a delve site. Gives a +1 bonus on the first Fear, Stun, Unconscious or Death check each week |
| Wagon drover | 150 | Bedroll, wagon-cart, two draft horses | Carries 1000 lbs in a wagon that travels 10 miles a day. Delvers assume responsibility for the deaths of the horses, at $1400 each. |
| Rented Riding Horse | 25 + 500 deposit | Saddle, bridle, horse shoes | A riding horse, worth $1200 if it is killed. Will only be rented to delvers that demonstrate ability to care for horses or who have sufficient grooms. |
Hirelings expect to be tipped after a particularly successful delve. Failure to do so makes it harder to recruit future hirelings. The definition of a successful delve, and the amount of the tip, have to be judged by each delver.