Pendor 3.6: Let us play!

I rolled up my character Sairtar after adjusting all the difficulty sliders to their highest settings.  Total difficulty modifier for poor Sairtar is 149%.  I have never played with block mouse directions, but I will surely get used to it quickly or perish.  My character is purely non combat, I selected every possible merchant option starting out, when I role play I prefer to become a bad-ass and not start as one.  I invest some points into strength so I can wield a shield that isn't made of paper and roll off the assembly line in Javiksholm.  Here is a quick photo:

So I have vanquished the bandit in town with my trusty wooden stick and tell the merchant that his son will soon be rescued.  I then decide that charging off into battle would be folly, whilst armed with my mighty giant slaying stick and observe the market conditions of Javaksholm.  I gra the one stack of wool linen and flax bundle and jet set toward Avendor... sadly, I made it ten feet before being waylaid.  First death.  Joy.  Restart.

Attempt number two, I blunder into the tavern to find some mercenaries and am immediately vanquished by the first drunk with a sword I find.  Embarrassing defeat numero dos.  Luckily, after he spit on my crumbled body on the tavern floor he left, leaving me my choice of sell swords for hire.  Now I have six ne'er do well sell swords with which to protect my spoils.  More trading to come, Iron to Laria.

While in Laria I went into the tavern to look for more wastrels to add to my merry band, and find foreign nobles.  Nobles would be a great choice for me, as a burgeoning merchant, due to their ponies keeping my caravan moving along at a fever pitch.  However, the poor sod was wearing the ugliest red shirt with chain clearly left from PoP's earliest days and I can't be seen traveling around with that pixelated garbage pony or nay (also worn by Jeren Longshanks).  For a while I wander from town to town looking to trade, buy gear, and seek companions.

(30 minutes later)  Well, trying to trade has been an utter failure.  The market is still fresh from the new game start, thanks M&B engine.  I will have to wait a few weeks for it to even out, and I don't have that kinda time.  So I was running away form Jatu scum on my way into Ravenstern lands... littering the ground with poor hapless souls that trusted me to not leave them behind.  Then, something wonderful happened.  I met a new unit called a Highlander Mercinary.  They look fabulous and cost a metric ton of gold, I must have them.  I got a bunch spending several thousand gold, and then, as I traded my way toward Fierdsvainian territory I lucked out and bought a few more, 11 in total.  Hopefully that was a good investment.

Apparently, with a few soldiers under your belt (the expensive kind), you can loot Vanskerry den's with ease... assuming one of your very valuable mercenaries doesn't die. I took the time to create a new classification for them under the party menu, I refer to it as "Meat Shield."  Basically, I make all my farmers and peasents hang out by my banner, and take my Meat Shields on a little stroll into enemy lines.  So far, so good, though I nearly went broke when payday landed the day after I purchased these puppies.  A few raids later and I am back in the black ink, though.

Clearly selling loot from corpses is far more valuable then large scale trade runs at this point.