Economy — Shops, Stock & NPC Spending¶

How the living economy works

Economy — Shops, Stock & NPC Spending

Ghelmyon has a living economy. Shops have finite stock,
NPCs earn and spend real gold, and supply chains affect
prices and availability.

Shop Stock
  Shops carry limited quantities of each item.
  Consumables (food, potions): up to 10 in stock
  Equipment (weapons, armor):  up to 2 in stock
  Other items:                 up to 5 in stock

  When an item sells out, you'll see:
  "Sold out. Check back tomorrow."
  Shops restock at dawn. Restock depends on:
  - The shopkeeper having enough gold for wholesale
  - Supply chain levels (low supply = slower restock)

NPC Spending
  NPCs spend gold during their daily routines:
  - At taverns: ordering food and drink
  - At markets: buying supplies
  - At temples: donating (pious NPCs only)
  Poor NPCs may eye the menu but walk away.

NPC Income
  NPCs earn gold daily based on their occupation:
  Innkeeper 80s, Shopkeeper 60s, Guard 40s, etc.
  NPCs who can't cover expenses accumulate debt.
  After 5 days in debt, guards drag them to jail.

Supply Chain
  Production sites (farms, mills, quarries) produce
  goods that flow to town shops. Low supply means
  higher prices and slower restocking.
  Type /supply to see supply levels.

Price Modifiers
  Many factors affect prices: haggling (barter skill),
  reputation, supply/demand, faction standing, bounty,
  weather, and relationship with the shopkeeper.

Economy — Caravan Routes & Escort Quests¶

4 named caravan routes connecting the 5 towns; escort offers

Caravan Routes

Four named caravan masters run daily routes between
the towns, hauling goods and offering paid escort
work to travellers willing to brave the road.

Commands
  /caravan              List all routes — current
                        waypoint, hazard, escort status
  /caravan info <route> Full route detail: itinerary,
                        commodities, escort reward band
  /caravan escort <route> Accept the escort offer
                        (must be at the caravan
                        master's current waypoint)

Routes
  Greenway Lumber Run   Ghelmyon ↔ Thornwood (Dara)
                        5-day cycle · hazard 2/5
  River-Coast Grain     Ghelmyon ↔ Millhaven (Toller)
                        7-day cycle · hazard 2/5
  Iron-Coast Ore Run    Ghelmyon ↔ Darkhollow (Goran)
                        9-day cycle · hazard 4/5
  Greenweald Tinker Loop Ghelmyon ↔ Greenweald (Iska)
                        5-day cycle · hazard 1/5

Short forms work: 'thornwood', 'iron', 'grain',
'tinker'.

Escort Mechanics
  Accept at the caravan master's current location.
  Travel with the caravan — each day at a non-hub
  road waypoint while co-located credits one leg.
  Payout fires when the caravan returns to your
  accept-waypoint AND you've completed at least
  half the cycle's legs. Reward = base (50-300g
  band per route) + 15g × hazard_level × leg_count.

Ambushes
  On non-hub road waypoints the caravan rolls each
  phase against its hazard level:
    hazard 1  ~1% per phase
    hazard 2  ~2% per phase
    hazard 3  ~4% per phase
    hazard 4  ~7% per phase
    hazard 5  ~12% per phase
  An armed ambush flag lingers for ~2 days and
  surfaces to feedback as 'Bandits strike the
  <route> on the road near <waypoint>!'

Speculation
  Each route declares its commodity import/export
  margins. Use /caravan info to see what each
  route carries — buy cheap at the origin, sell
  dear at the destination.