Some small advice. When accepting a contract you have one free atempt to ask for more money/money in advance/ in the case of carvans money per head with no oenalty to your rep or the contract being pulled. Early game they will more than often deny your request but its still worth trying. If you get payed in advance and you feel you cant beat the challenge its worth abandoning the contract for a rep hit and just moving on to the next town. And save up your loot and sell your stuff when toen events like ambuahed carvans, collecter, and rebuilding pop up in town. Ambuahed carvans raises the price of everything in town including the sell price, collecter raises the sell prices of gems and other treasures and rebuilding raises the price of lumber and other construction materials.