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One would think merchants would make sure they could get on every gold piece they could, and they would, yet there is one debt which has been on the ledger of the Merchant House of the Silver Coin. More than 10 years ago, an old man borrow 10,000 gold pieces to build a tower, promising in return 10 times that amount when the deed is done, plus the right to owe the estate when he was dead. As deposit, according to the tales, he changed ten rocks into sparking rubies, and that sealed the deed.

However, more than 10 years have passed and the old man have not yet returned. There are indeed rumours of a tower being finished construction five years ago, but the Silver Coin has not yet send anyone for the debt. More likely, it is that they do not dare to, for over the past three months, all the debt collectors sent never returned…

1. Needless to say, the old man is a powerful mage and the Silver Coin has been swindled of their money. The ten rubies which he had conjuired proved no more than just an elaborate fake. The enemies of the Merchant House has began to use the story to tarnish its reputation, and if not for that the head of the Silver Coin would have leave the mage in peace. Is simple greed the reason why the mage did this? Is there anyway the PCs could persuade the old mage to pay what he owed the Silver Coin? What happened to all the debt collectors sent?
2. The story is just a cover up for something more drastic; ten years ago, the only son of the merchant lord of the Silver Coin fell sick to a strange disease. The old man, a graying sorcerer, promised a cure if he would have a tower for himself. The merchant lord then is not the head of the household and to put it simply, he embezzled from his family’s (and the city’s) coffers to pay for the cure. So to cover his track, he invented the story of the sorcerer conjuring the rubies and asking for the 10,000 gold pieces, which the latter did not reject. Ironically, now the son, who is an adult, spotted this uncollected debt and wishes to pursue the matter to the very end…
3. If the PCs examine the record carefully, they would notice that the 10,000 gold pieces recorded was doctored – it was only a 100 gold pieces. The debt was never collected because it already have been, and those sent to the collect the debt were simply adventurers sent to their doom. The Silver Coin is more than just a merchant house, it also brokers assassination deals between different parties. It seems that the PCs have become the thorn in someone’s neck, and he wants them removed. The “collect a debt from a tower” ploy is just one of the many schemes the Silver Coin devised to get rid of people looking to earn a little gold on the side.

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