The sweatshop is an illegal and exploitative garment factory in Return to Krondor. It can be investigated in Chapter 0 in an optional quest which has one ending but can reveal different information depending on the player's choices.
Geography
The sweatshop is in Krondor's Poor Quarter, south along the street, left at the alley just past the shop, behind a door next to a pile of crates and guarded by a Keshian Hired Thug.
Description
The sweatshop, a facility for dyeing fabric and piecing clothing, is run by "the honorable" Yusuf ben Ali, a well-to-do Keshian cloth merchant. The house means nothing to the party until they have heard the story of a child who once worked there, after which crying children can be faintly heard from inside and the party can speak to the guard out front.
| Warning! This article contains plot or ending spoilers. |
The interior features an entryway with bolts of fabric and vats of dye; an office with a wooden desk and yellow rug; and a staircase leading upward to a room in which more victims are imprisoned.
Chapter 0
If the party speaks to Nita, they learn about a place where people claiming to be in the Order of the Yellow Shield cage children, force them to make clothing for Yusuf under threat of beatings, serve food infested with rats and maggots, and take "bad" children away, never to be seen again. Jazhara and James, finding the story horrific, agree that it requires immediate action.
At the sweatshop's entrance, the guard claims that his master is too busy to meet with anyone today. Asking about the place allows them to learn who owns it, but the guard still claims that his master is absent. They can also demand entrance; ask for entrance; push past the guard; or leave.
| Warning! This article contains plot or ending spoilers. |
Pushing past the guard causes him to call for help and attack them. Once they enter the building's entryway, they are immediately attacked by a Keshian Hired Thug and a Keshian Merchant in ornate clothing. A young boy and young girl in the entryway witness the fight, but they are not interactable afterward. Once the two foes are defeated, the party can search the rest of the building but learn nothing about Yusuf.
The guard refuses if the party asks for entrance, but Jazhara can successfully demand entrance as the newly appointed court mage. The guard then orders them to touch nothing and escorts them into the entryway, telling them that Yusuf is in the office. If they try to talk to the children, they are warned once not to bother the workers and the second attempt launches combat with the merchant and both thugs, once again securing the building at the cost of Yusuf's information.
If they proceed to the office, they are welcomed by the merchant, who proves to be Yusuf. If they end the conversation without speaking further, he asks to speak with Jazhara alone. If she declines, he humbly apologizes for what he must do and launches the entryway battle.
If they speak with Yusuf, they can listen to his claims that his competitors have been paying children to lie about his shop in order to get it shut down and that at least the children working here are housed, clothed, and fed. Afterwards, Jazhara asks for a private word with Yusuf.
Without James present, Yusuf speaks freely about his work as a Keshian spy for Jazhara's uncle, the head of Keshian intelligence, blithely remarking that he has not mentioned the details of his operation to the ambassador but that he approves of his results. Despite Jazhara's disgust at Yusuf's methods, he urges her to work for him as a mole in Prince Arutha's court, citing the ties of blood and family honor, framing treachery as one of the hard choices of adulthood, and warning her that whatever choice she makes will change her forever.
If she agrees, she receives +25 EXP and warns him that she will return to formalize their arrangement and make sure the childrens' working conditions have improved. Outside, James is furious, waving aside her refusal to explain the suspicious conversation and showing her a young girl he found tied up and dead in one of the crates in front of the sweatshop. He wants to kill Yusuf immediately, but Jazhara argues that the children come first and that they must be taken to safety before attempting to bring Yusuf to face Arutha's justice. The two then go back inside for the downstairs battle.
If she plays along, she receives +100 EXP and finds James outside as before. At first not interested in her excuses, he stops upon hearing that Yusuf tried to suborn her. Concerned that Yusuf will kill the children to cover his tracks, they reenter the sweatshop for the downstairs battle.
If she refuses to cooperate with Yusuf, she receives +50 EXP, but he commands his men to kill her. She faces the first round of battle alone against the three Keshians, after which James, having heard the noise from outside, breaks in and joins the fray.
Once all downstairs enemies are defeated, the party can search the building. In the office, they can receive +100 EXP from the papers on the office desk, a set of documents in a Keshian desert script revealing that the Crawler has paid Yusuf to turn traitor and foment conflict between the Kingdom and Kesh. A desk drawer protected with a Needlewire trap contains +138 gold, several unassessed items (Weak Potion of Beastwalk, Magical Blade Grease, Recipe for Fire Oil, a ridged gold Poison Ring), a Kingdom Dagger in average condition, and Yusuf's Key. Upstairs, they can battle two Keshian Hired Thugs in front of a cage containing two crying children. The cage can be opened for +250 EXP with Yusuf's Key, with a Magic Key, or by picking the lock, upon which the children run away.
Outside, six noninteractable children -- three boys and three girls -- wait with a guard who was brought to the scene by one of the escapees. The party asks for the children to be rounded up and taken to the Palace, although the guard feels that the followers of Dala could surely take care of them. James also asks the guard to take the incriminating documents to the Palace as fast as possible, as they involve a conspiracy against the throne.
Enemies
- The exterior guard, interior guard, and upstairs guards are all Strong Keshian Hired Thugs at Warrior Level 2. Each carries a Keshian Scimitar and is Inept with it. Other equipment varies, but they may carry a low-level dagger and a small amount of gold, and may be unarmored or wear a Leather Jerkin.
- Yusuf is an unarmored Keshian Merchant wielding a Starblood Scimitar and carrying two unassessed items (Ring of Inspection, Chai Recipe Document), a Keshian Dagger, and 36g.
Trivia
- While asking for information about the building reveals that it is run by the man Nita named as her tormentor, the party can raid the sweatshop whether or not they ask.
- After the downstairs fight, the party can leave the building and return at any time before opening the children's cell, but cannot reenter the building once they leave after the children are free.
- James's dialog to the guard about the incriminating documents is the same whether or not the party read the documents in the office.