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Mercenary teams

"Hire two strangers. Bleed together for a week. That's how you make a third."

Role: Paid muscle. Two-person (or larger) combat teams you contract by the day. Cover your weak spots, share loot by share, and quit if you can't pay them.

At a glance
Where to find Rusty Tankard (Grigg's trio) + Mercenary Hall + faction halls (mid-game)
Cost Daily wage - tiered cheap / mid / pricey per team
Best paired with A class your team complements (cover the gap, not the strength)
Persists across Active contract - paid up + alive + Trust intact
Party cap 2 followers (team counts as 2; pets don't count)

How it works

  1. Pre-built teams - most mercs come in pairs designed to fill specific roles together. The starter trio at the Rusty Tankard (Grigg's three teams) is the entry point: Wrecking Crew (damage/damage), Shield & Sparks (tank/utility), Old Guard (heal/burst).

  2. Hire a team:

    talk grigg
hire wrecking_crew

    The team joins your party immediately. Your daily wage line increases by the team's rate.

  3. Wages tick once per in-game day. If your coin runs out, the team gives you a warning day, then walks. They'll return to their home base and wait there - you can re-hire later, provided Trust didn't tank in between.

  4. Loot shares. Combat loot is split by share. Most teams take a small per-member share; named-tier mercs sometimes negotiate. Check /party for current share breakdown.

  5. Team-cluster combat. Mercs fight as a coordinated unit, not isolated NPCs. The engine resolves their actions in their cluster first, then yours, then enemies - so a tank's taunt actually takes the next swing before you even act.

  6. Larger companies open up mid-game once your reputation is built:

    • Iron Wolves - heavy fighters, expensive, high HP
    • Shadow Hands - stealth/scouts, cheaper, may skim loot
    • Pale Sisters - healers/support, rare, gated behind trusted (20+) company rep

  7. Trust matters. Run a team through bad situations - push a paladin merc through necromancy, drag a healer into ambushes you couldn't survive, fail to pay on time - and Trust drops even while the contract is technically live. Low Trust = the team walks at the next dawn.

Why bother

  • Two extra bodies in fights you couldn't solo. The maths is brutal: one warrior + two competent followers beats three unfollowered warriors every time.
  • Coverage. A solo Mage with no follower dies to the first goblin scout. A Mage + Wrecking Crew melts the whole patrol.
  • Long fights tip your way. Sustain teams (Old Guard) outlast attrition.
  • Reputation. Walking with a Pale Sisters healer past Town Guard earns nods. Walking with a Shadow Hand earns looks.

When NOT to hire

  • Sneaky runs. Mercs are loud. Three boots crunching gravel is louder than one. Rogues running stealth-heavy arcs often go solo.
  • Cash-poor early. A team you can't pay for three days is worse than no team - wage failure tanks Trust and locks the team out for a while.
  • You're already covered. Warriors don't need a second front-line. Clerics don't need a second healer. Pick the team that fills the gap.

See also