how to die as a merchant

[650Booger]

what risks does your average merchant guild character run when living a purely urban lifestyle?  with steady employment in a GMH, food and water provided, is there any likelihood of being killed randomly?

[BadSkeelz]

There's always a (slim) chance of just being mugged in the street, but more likely if your merchant is killed in the city it's because you were targeted. Either you ticked someone off, your boss ticked someone off, or someone is just looking to send your organization a message.

There's also exceptional circumstances like wide-scale riots or giant spiders prowling the rooftops.

[valeria]

The most dangerous thing to my merchants has been the storage option.

[James de Monet]

Accidental poisoning, non-accidental poisoning (of the types Skeelz already covered and the your-underling-wants-your-job sort), accidental run-ins with the law, non-accidental run-ins with the law (i.e. spying, smuggling, snuggling [with the wrong person], being ugly, mouthy, or too clever in the wrong company).

Admittedly, most of the above are rare, but they do happen.  Travel between cities, moonlighting in the sparring yard, testing syntax or coded abilities in public places, and boredom probably kill more clanned merchant class characters than plots ever do, but the one thing you have to watch out for is being more offensive than you are rich/important/useful.  Seems like no few merchants (really, PCs in general) misjudge that last one.

[ohrather]

Plots will get you killed, if you're doing it right.

[Eilwen]

The most dangerous thing to my merchants has been the storage option.

valeria - I laughed!