Marcel the merchant, who made news not long ago with his venture to Trinsic with a small army of bodyguards, is back in the news again. This time he was robbed by a young lady in Vesper who is now dead, and Marcel, for one, believes this could have been avoided.

    “I don’t think she was a bad person, she was just in over her head and needed a way out. Her death is a tragedy.” Marcel was quoted as saying.

    The young ladies name was Michelle, and she was deeply in debt to a man named Fyn, a loan shark from Minoc. Word on the streets is that she owed 5000 in gold to Fyn, and was desperate to get out from under him for fear of her life. She chose Marcel most likely because he is a well known businessman, and was likely to have a lot of money on him. Once she relieved him of the gold, she headed towards Minoc, via the cemetery, and was not seen again until hours later.

    Marcel desperately tried to rally a group to go and find her, worried not only for his money, but for the girls safety as well. Reports indicated that a small band of evil mages had been ravishing the land between Vesper and Minoc that afternoon, and Marcel was afraid for the girls well being.

    Meanwhile, in Minoc, Fyn tried to rally his own group of mercenaries to help track down the girl, apparently unaware that she was on her way back to Minoc to pay him off. After fruitless hours of searching, however, he abandoned the search and disappeared back to the shadowy alley from whence he came.

    Marcel’s desperate plea for help seemed to fall on deaf ears in Vesper, as he could find very few people willing to risk their own lives to help find the girl. She was found a few hours later. She had died, apparently from spell casting, and local authorities are blaming the band of wizards. Marcel has stated outright that because of this lack of community support he is no longer interested in running his business through Vesper.

    “I’ll stick to Trinsic and Britain.” He said, “At least there you can find some brave souls to pitch in and lend a hand.”



From the Town Cryer - The Journal of Ultima Online, Wednesday, March 4th 1998