Too Many Lutes by Caleb Wilson
M
erchants of the Dark Road is a new tactical strategy game from Elf Creek Games. Manage your dice to move around the “Ringway” – the rondel at the heart of the game. Buy low, sell high, store your inventory, and don’t forget to pay attention to your opponents. In this pick-up-and-deliver game, you can join another player’s delivery and score when it’s not even your turn!
Someone woke me in the office built of cargo boxes at the back of my cousin’s stable. It was Ugo, my assistant. “Boss, get up! Thorpe’s planning a trip to Windglass. Care to join him?” “I wasn’t sleeping. I was doing some accounts.” “Where’s the account book?” “I was doing the sums in my head.” My assistant already knew where the account book was. More entries were in Ugo’s neat lettering than in my scrawl. I rolled off the pile of goods I’d been using as a cot. Something twanged. “Windglass? Maybe I’ll head to Farglen instead and impress the bards. When do we decide?” “Right now, boss.” Hand-lantern light shone into the cluttered stable. Thorpe had sent a runner to get my answer right away. “How many in the caravan so far?” More wagons meant that the danger, broadly shared, would cut less deeply, but the later we committed, the less say we’d have over any decisions that the trip required. “None yet; Thorpe’s come to you first.” “Oh? Impressed by my fame, no doubt!” “No doubt,” said Ugo, raising some doubt. “What about the route?” Known roads were safer, thanks to Queen Lumi’s lanterns along the way, while a more dangerous shortcut would require Thorpe to bring his own lights. If he discovered a shortcut, 20 AROUND THE table • Q1 2022
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they’d sing his praises in distant towns. Unproven shortcuts might be more valuable, or more costly, for everyone else in the caravan, but with enough lanterns, you could always change your fate. “A shortcut,” said Ugo. “Tell the runner we’re in!” I said. Sometimes my spontaneity annoys Ugo. The cargo barely fit into the wagon, but Ugo is a wizard of arrangement: tomes pressed their covers to potions wedged in beside a glittering staff jammed in over the three lutes I’d just bought at the Grand Bazaar. “Is this ... possibly too many lutes, boss?” “They were on sale!” The caravan rumbled into the darkness, my wagon near its head just behind Thorpe’s. In a snow-choked forest glade, we stumbled upon a grave. With Thorpe busy mapping the way onward, I discovered a weathered lute left graveside as an offering. Ugo was right: four lutes are definitely too many, so I swapped the old lute for one of my new ones from the bazaar. The bards of Farglen wrote a tune in my honor for bringing them that old lute: turns out it was built by Master Stravarios, a genuine treasure, while my cheap bazaar lutes were all the work of apprentices. But don’t worry; I’ll still sell those extras later for profit at the Ringway Inn. elfcreekgames.com
2/9/22 4:14 PM
