Hill looked around... The various alchemical items now used in Luskan bore the unmistakable mark of the Undead.
Most family guilds had brought small Alchemy Workshops purchased from William on this trip to Toril. Once they knew they would be staying in a world for a long time, they had pressed William to let them buy them... After the last few worlds, they knew all too well how much money they lost buying basic alchemical supplies straight from the Space-Time Divine Artifact.
They could gather the materials themselves. Who didn't know how to mine? Toril had plenty of basic mineral deposits. There were so few mines only because most people lacked the strength to hold on to one.
Who knew when a dragon might happen by their mine...
Besides, their mining methods were far too primitive. They relied entirely on exploiting or deceiving the poor.
The Undead used Earth-Element spells to prospect and mine!
And whenever most of them passed through mountains or forests, they would casually swing a pick a few times or chop down a few trees.
What family guild didn't have guild quests? They weren't asking members to hand over money. So even though those quests only rewarded guild contribution, guilds with at least ten thousand members could use them to supply their own people with enough essentials to live on... And the larger guilds naturally had surplus resources they could sell for profit.
With the efficiency and precision of the Alchemy Workshops, those guilds could make a hundred arrows for fifty copper coins and sell them to the Elves for ninety.
But even a skilled Elf would spend more than a hundred and twenty copper coins making them... And no matter how hard they worked their fingers, they couldn't make that many in a day!
Not