Settling in

Secure in your temporary new home, you get to work on your plans. In the meantime you've been helping out around the store, doing tasks such as carrying boxes and chopping wood. Marie pays you, though not much since she's already providing room and board. You eat quiet dinners with Marie most nights before the two of you retire to your separate rooms. Rumors have been circulating about the widow who let an unknown young man into her home, and those rumors tend towards the uncharitable. Sometimes you feel that you should make the rumors a reality, since people will think the same of you two regardless.

You've been talking to the locals about the trade, to get more information. It turns out that to sell furs legally, you need to sign on with a trading company. These companies station men out in the frontier forts, and trade mainly metal wares and **** in exchange for pelts. Apparently there is a lot of politicking with the various native tribes, who can be quite hostile to those who deal with their rivals. However, you've also heard of the more enigmatic and somewhat less legal counterparts of the companies, coureurs du bois. These independent traders and hunters skirt the trade monopolies, making a hard living alone or in small groups in the wilderness. Thus, you are left at a crossroads.