Mother Mehira’s Government Building, Thistle Hold.

Mother Mehira’s Agency

When the former treasure-hunter Mehira lost her left arm, her right eye and the major part of her respiratory capacity in an encounter with a group of tricklestings she put the adventurer outfit on a shelf and settled down in Thistle Hold. But just like her former colleague, Mayor Nightpitch, she was unable to rest on her laurels. It did not take long before she had a new business up and running, one which proved to be both lucrative and beneficial to the ambitions of the Queen.

Any fortune-hunter may register at the agency, relating his or her personal details along with a description of important skills and the willingness to take risks (low, high, extreme, foolish). The skills are sorted under the categories a) Fighter, b) Pathfinder and c) Mystic, and must upon enrollment be verified in some way. Once the agent has received their first assignment, the contractors get to evaluate his performance; evaluations are used to rank the agents. The price you must pay to hire an agent is then based on his or her rank, the supposed timeframe of the contract and its estimated level of risk. A quarter of the cost and a fixed deposit are awarded Mother Mehira, the rest is paid to the agent once the job is done.

Explorer's Licencse

Since the autumn of Year 15, the person of Ambrian origin who wishes to venture into Davokar must obtain an Explorer’s License, formally known as “License for travels in and explorations of Davokar forest”. The license can be bought on a monthly or annual basis, at the headquarters of the city watch in Yndaros or at the Queen’s Legation in Thistle Hold. The cost varies depending on the number of people it covers: the bigger the group, the higher the cost per individual. In other words, for a company of adventurers encountered by a Ranger patrol in the wilds, it is not enough to present individual licenses. Adding to the basic price there are a number of costs related to the aim and composition of the expedition. Whether you aim to gather or harvest some resource or explore an area, there is no escape from paying the base price for those three categories, since the licensor presumes that you at least will gather firewood, harvest some berries and perform explorations in the most expansive sense of the word. The arbitrariness of the system angers most people, particularly when it comes to the supplementary costs for incompetence and intentions – the former related to the wildlife experience of the group, the latter based on an assessment of to what degree the expedition’s aim may be considered disturbing or provoking. But for anyone who wishes to travel the woods without risking hefty fines or the loss of fingers/hands there is no alternative but to come up with the sum dictated by the authorities.

Table 1: The Cost for an Explorer's Licence

Number of persons       Cost per month    Cost per year                Add-ons

Single person                    2 thaler                 9 thaler —

2-5 persons                     10 thaler               50 thaler —

6-8 persons                     25 thaler               90 thaler —

9-10 persons                   55 thaler             180 thaler —

Unlimited                              —                  450 thaler —

Gathering                             —                         —                           3–10 thaler

Harvesting                           —                         —                           5–12 thaler

Exploring                             —                         —                          5 thaler/person

Wagons                               —                         —                          5 thaler/wagon

Incompetence                     —                         —                           5–15 thaler

Intentions                            —                         —                           5–50 thaler

Other                                  —                          —                          1–50 thaler