Loan for Trollskull Manor

[TrashPastor110]

Hey, so I am currently running Dragon Heist and my players want to fix up the manor, but naturally do not have the money to do so. I did some poking around to find out how they can make that much money in that little time. And I am constantly seeing Mirt, among others, mentioned as potential money lenders. I have no idea why, but I cannot find where the book explains this for the life of me but everyone acts like its so obvious. Could someone steer me in the right direction?

[NecessaryWeevil]

What is it you want explained? The exact terms he will offer? As I recall in our game he offered 1,000 GP in exchange for 10-20% of the profits. [I don't have the book; I was just a player]

[TrashPastor110]

I just wanna know where it says it in the book my guy.

[EternalPrime]

I've played through this adventure and also DMd it.
I have never found suggested guidelines in the book for how the PCs can/should raise the money.
Zhentarim members may get a loan from Istrid Horn for 2500gp at 10% interest per TENDAY (page 17).
Mirt is never referred to as a "moneylender" in the book.
None of the faction missions pay anywhere near enough to cover renovations or start-up costs, and the ones that pay anything are for higher-level parties.

The DMs Resources book for Chapter 2 available on DMs Guild has suggestions for loans from Mirt and Istrid. The half-page side-bar isn't with the price of the pdf.

When I played Dragon Heist in Adventurers League, the common solution is that Volo would front the money. I don't know if that was suggested in an AL resource or just made up by a local DM/Coordinator. I balked at this solution because Volo is the guy who dumps the property on the PCs because he DOESN'T HAVE ANY MONEY.

When I DMd the adventure, I had Renaer, now thoroughly paranoid about being kidnapped again, move into Trollskull Manor "just to be safe." He was willing to dump large sums of money into the renovations, but kept diverting the work crews to improve "his" chambers on the second floor. It was a test to see how long the PCs would put up with such annoying "house guest" as long as he was paying the bills.

[ProsecutorGodot]

We borrowed from Ulkoria, she lent us the money expecting a cut of profits or the full amount with interest. We paid from our share of the hoard and own the full business now.

[Damon_Tor]

Hey, so I am currently running Dragon Heist and my players want to fix up the manor, but naturally do not have the money to do so. I did some poking around to find out how they can make that much money in that little time. And I am constantly seeing Mirt, among others, mentioned as potential money lenders. I have no idea why, but I cannot find where the book explains this for the life of me but everyone acts like its so obvious. Could someone steer me in the right direction?

When I ran this, it was pretty clear my players didn't have much interest in the "running a business" minigame, and I would suspect most groups are the same. My solution was to have Raener Neverember come on board as a business partner. He secured the loans for the refurbishment and handles all the business stuff my players aren't interested in.

[Keravath]

Adventurer's League offers up the following solution (since AL characters don't typically have enough gold for characters to refurbish the tavern).



The Cost of Doing Business
If the characters do not have the gold to pay for the necessary refurbishments for their new tavern, Volo is interested in entering into an arrangement with them by covering the initial costs (typically around 1,000 gp). Each character present earns the following story award:

Volo’s Guide to IOUs
Volothamp Geddarm has presented you with a loan for the cost of the initial upkeep of your tavern. In exchange, all he asks is that you stock his books, sell his books, market his books, provide free room & board for him upon request, and to not let Fai Chen enter the premises. He's not willing to explain the last bit, but instead references "some misunderstanding in the markets of Amn".

He is known for making dubious investment choices, though, and is unable to provide any further money for the maintenance and operation of the tavern.

In a homebrew game you could do whatever you like to make funds available to the characters. In my opinion, the inn is more a base of operations than a source of income but is also a chance for some fun and creativity depending on whether the players are interested in creating a base.

In addition, there are some factions that could be supportive of the venture either for services rendered or a return on the investment.


Zhentarim
• Istrid offers loans of up to 2,500 gp with an interest rate of 10 percent per tenday. (DM could adjust this to something reasonable if the characters are members of the Zhents or perform services)

In addition, if the characters complete the adventure and recover the treasure hoard:
"Laeral Silverhand is prepared to let the characters keep one-tenth of the treasure (50,000 gp) for themselves. Even that much coin attracts unwanted attention, in the form of several people who beg loans or donations from them."

However, if they have some of these funds then refurbishing the tavern should be easy. The DM can decide to reward them with far less gold but sufficient to get the tavern up and operating for several years.

Victorio Cassalanter also appears to operate a loan business.

[ProsecutorGodot]

Adventurer's League offers up the following solution (since AL characters don't typically have enough gold for characters to refurbish the tavern).



The Cost of Doing Business
If the characters do not have the gold to pay for the necessary refurbishments for their new tavern, Volo is interested in entering into an arrangement with them by covering the initial costs (typically around 1,000 gp). Each character present earns the following story award:

Volo’s Guide to IOUs
Volothamp Geddarm has presented you with a loan for the cost of the initial upkeep of your tavern. In exchange, all he asks is that you stock his books, sell his books, market his books, provide free room & board for him upon request, and to not let Fai Chen enter the premises. He's not willing to explain the last bit, but instead references "some misunderstanding in the markets of Amn".

He is known for making dubious investment choices, though, and is unable to provide any further money for the maintenance and operation of the tavern.

In a homebrew game you could do whatever you like to make funds available to the characters. In my opinion, the inn is more a base of operations than a source of income but is also a chance for some fun and creativity depending on whether the players are interested in creating a base.

A fine solution, but it's kind of silly, the entire reason Volo gives you the tavern is because he couldn't pay you the amount he offered for rescuing Floon. It doesn't make sense for him to fund it after giving it to you when he could have instead offered you room and board (perhaps he'd offer a management position to anyone interested) as payment.

[Keravath]

A fine solution, but it's kind of silly, the entire reason Volo gives you the tavern is because he couldn't pay you the amount he offered for rescuing Floon. It doesn't make sense for him to fund it after giving it to you when he could have instead offered you room and board (perhaps he'd offer a management position to anyone interested) as payment.

Perhaps not silly at all ..



"On a success, a character discerns that Volo is honest but might be stretching the truth about how much he can pay. (Currently low on cash, Volo is awaiting royalty payments from Volo's Guide to Monsters."

When he gives the quest and when it is completed. Volo does not have enough funds so he offers up the tavern. After the deed is transferred the players get to find out what poor shape it is in and perhaps progress the adventure.

This all takes some time, and in the meantime it is quite possible that Volo receives the royalty funds he has been expecting. At this point, perhaps feeling bad for having dumped a run down inn on the players after they had risked their lives to rescue his friend. He offers them a loan of some or all of his royalty funds in exchange for selling his books and free room and board.

Personally, I think it can fit perfectly with the storyline as written but that would be up to the DM.

[nickl_2000]

I’m a player currently in chapter 4 of dragon heist. We went with Mirt ourselves with a smaller loan to get the tavern portion going to begin with. We also negotiated the interest down due to PCs skills and backgrounds.

It’s been pretty useful, since we have used him as a information source in later chapters (after all, he wants to protect his investment).

[ProsecutorGodot]

Perhaps not silly at all ..



"On a success, a character discerns that Volo is honest but might be stretching the truth about how much he can pay. (Currently low on cash, Volo is awaiting royalty payments from Volo's Guide to Monsters."

When he gives the quest and when it is completed. Volo does not have enough funds so he offers up the tavern. After the deed is transferred the players get to find out what poor shape it is in and perhaps progress the adventure.

This all takes some time, and in the meantime it is quite possible that Volo receives the royalty funds he has been expecting. At this point, perhaps feeling bad for having dumped a run down inn on the players after they had risked their lives to rescue his friend. He offers them a loan of some or all of his royalty funds in exchange for selling his books and free room and board.

Personally, I think it can fit perfectly with the storyline as written but that would be up to the DM.



Imo there's not really a good time for him to be your primary loaner, if he receives those royalties before you'd have been able to pay for the renovations yourself he'd still not benefit from giving up a passive source of income. All he really needed to do was leave you in charge or offer you an extended deal on room and board.

Although with him making a deal in gold that he knew he couldn't pay at the time, it could be argued that he's not particularly business minded despite his success as an author. Since he's an adventurous author he might also just not want to bother with it. If you play that angle it would be pretty in character for him to pawn off what could easily be a successful business.

[Pex]

When I ran this, it was pretty clear my players didn't have much interest in the "running a business" minigame, and I would suspect most groups are the same. My solution was to have Raener Neverember come on board as a business partner. He secured the loans for the refurbishment and handles all the business stuff my players aren't interested in.

My group did. We got our funds by the way the DM introduced the various factions. Each one came to us with a paying job to do since we got a reputation for rescuing Floon. We did the mini-adventure and got paid. It was after our Manor was opened and doing well that the Fireball on the street happened.

[jenniferdehner9]

Thank you all for the information.

[thorr-kan]

My group did. We got our funds by the way the DM introduced the various factions. Each one came to us with a paying job to do since we got a reputation for rescuing Floon. We did the mini-adventure and got paid. It was after our Manor was opened and doing well that the Fireball on the street happened.
That's how we did it, too. Nickled and dimed our way through the renovations based on adventuring income, with the added benefit that my paladin came from a Guild Merchant background that I'd happened to populate with my parents the innkeepers.

The party almost diverted into running the Manor fulltime, we had so much fun with it. But the DM wanted to run the rest of the module. So after OOC discussion, we let our PCs get involved in the Heist.

There's a lot of supplemental resources for Trollskull Manor on DMsGuild. I can't speak for the quality, as I haven't reviewed them all yet.

[Chronos]

Remember, this is in a big city, and at that point in the adventure, the PCs already have some connections. When I ran it, I just said that the city offered small-business loans, and Renaer had the right connections to negotiate a low rate for the party.

In Forgotten Realms lore, Mirt does have a history as a moneylender (though that's not really referenced in the Dragon Heist book), and so it's quite possible that he's the one behind the loans. But really, who's behind the loan doesn't matter much, just that the loan exists.

And of course, once the adventure concludes, the party has easily enough to pay off the loan in full.

[Pex]

When I ran Dragonheist one player was very distrusting of paying anyone anything to get a tavern started. He didn't want to pay any money up front and whatever was paid was minimal. He was insistent on it he cowed the other players. The only times the party was able to make any progress on the idea were the game sessions the player was absent and had no vote that day to do stuff. Very much to that player's annoyance when he was absent the party gave Force Grey the necklace of fireballs as part of evidence. That resulted in Force Grey liking them very much, recruited the party for membership, leading to the Happy Happy Joy Joy Good Guys Win ending, but that player was miffed. He's not a That Guy player. I don't allow such in my games, but he is close to one. He is willing and able to adapt his playstyle to fit my game, so we're all good. Getting the reward at the end paid off any outstanding debts.

[Sigreid]

So they didn't steal the silver bars from the warehouse?

[Lorka]

Loan from Doom Raiders or Cassalanters are most fun.

[Chronos]

Quoth Pex:

When I ran Dragonheist one player was very distrusting of paying anyone anything to get a tavern started. He didn't want to pay any money up front and whatever was paid was minimal.
Funny thing in my game: My players started off very similar. They were pissed off at Volo for cheating them, and just wanted their 100 GP each cash, instead of the deed. So I offered them an out: I had Emmek Frewn offer to buy the place off of them, free and clear, for 800 GP total (party of six, so they were only actually hoping for 600 GP from Volo). But once they had that (ridiculously lowball) offer available, and realized that the place was actually worth tens of thousands, then the party (or at least some of them) wanted to run it themselves (the ones who were interested bought out the ones who weren't; that's part of where the loan from the city went).