*Mailed to Tralek*
300 true for a sponge? My friend, both yourself and Az-Ptol are both in the same position. It would appear that the merchants are unfairly hiking their prices and gutting the economy. Imagine, peasants just trying to take a bath must pay upwards of a thousand true just to wipe a sponge across their bottom. I suggest that we address the issue in one of three methods...
1) Make alliances with the sea elves of Shindaleria to find a cheaper source of sponges on the sea floor.
2) Combine our alchemy skills to create synthetic versions which will work in the spell usage. Perhaps even farm our own sponges.
3) Contact our trade guilds and local governments to push for new anti-price gouging legislation laws and limit the amount of profit for items as simple as eggs and sponges to at most, 50 true, the price of a weak beer. Seems fair, no?
We really should consider instituting high fines and regulations for this kind of practice. What next, 500 true for a slice of bread? 1000 true for a grain of sand? Just because something can be used for a spell component, it doesn't make it any more moral for the merchants to take common household items and hike the prices so far up that the commoner could never attain such things. I find 300 true sponges to be a prime example of the repulsive practices of unregulated capitalism. Imagine, a piece of a spong, not a full one, mind you, that somehow costs 3 times as much as the typical oxen. It's utterly inconceivable! It's deplorable tactics and utterly harms the entire populace in decreased hygiene which leads to wretched stink and pestilence. How many children could avoid the scarlet fever or the corath chills if only they could wash properly? How many more need to die so that the merchant middle-class can continue to pillage the bank accounts of the masses?
And don't anybody go giving me that "oh well there's a market for a commoner and one for adventurers" spiel. So you're telling me that merchants all have infallible telepathy which can determine, on sight, occupation, upbringing, social status, wealth and how many giants somebody killed? Strange... especially considering how many of us are skilled diplomats, spies and socialites who could blend into any population and take the role of any class of citizen. What exactly prevents a skilled bard or rogue from dressing down and acting common, hmmm? Perhaps the merchants are all really Raksasha in disguise.
In any case, contact me and perhaps I can use my social skills to assist with these morally decrepit tactics of price gouging. Perhaps we should return the favor and petition the land owners to hike their rent?
-Farros Galdor
