The first inroads into Hanorian society are at Qudir the maritime capital of an island Sultanate that whilst a puppet of Hanoria, is still set slightly apart from their society, slightly more liberal and slightly less closed to foreigners. Having docked here Puff is soon approached by someone that claims that they know him, the halfling Pinch.
Pinch has been living in Qudir for some time now, and has grown very wealthy, but because of the arcane rules governing the export of wealth from the sultanate, he is stuck sitting on a fortune but unable to leave. Pinch has come by his fortune by dint of considerable effort and is especially reluctant to leave it behind as it is amongst the first fortune that he feels he has earned. Having travelled in Hanoria a little before settling in Qudir, perhaps he could offer to guide and give safe passage to The Rose into Sadir a slave market and corsair's port on the Hanorian mainland that is normally closed to outsiders.
On arrival in Qudir, Pinch began by investigating the Sultan's palace in the hope of stealing something of great value - he found his way into the library where he observed the sultan's vizier consulting an almanac. Intrigued Pinch waited and when the business was done he investigated determining that this was how the Sultan's wardrobe was determined for the following morning. Returning each night, Pinch was able to discover the colour of the Sultan's turban on the following day permitting him a means of winning bets that are often placed in the outcome.
Realising that he could not continue to break into the library like this, Pinch spent several nights copying out the almanac and over the course of several months he was able to work out how to prediction the wardrobe as well as the Vizier. Pinch made himself a considerable sum but soon found that in the first instance no one would take his bets and in the second that his golden sickles would not pay the bills. Infuriated by the wasted effort he began seeking another means of making money.
The breakthrough came through his employer. He was working as a spy for a goldsmith and moneylender who got much of his business in the crafting of golden sickles - some of this currency is illegally broken down into raw gold and so there is always business for the number of state registered goldsmiths who mint new sickles. Pinch realised that regardless of whether he won or lost, his gambling was brining trade to his employer - and the bigger the bet, the more likely it would be that the gambler would need to come to the goldsmiths.
Pinch got a reputation as someone that would always offer double or nothing to a looser and as he won rather frequently his doubling could get to rather large sums - but as the correct sort of gentleman would never back down, and as of course Pinch would always try to be careful to loose at just the right time - suddenly the goldsmith would get rather a lot of business. Over the course of two years, Pinch has acquired a significant share of all of those goldsmiths in Qudir licensed to produce sickles.
