MAJOR UPDATE : A patch covering most of the proposed changes in this article is now available!
You can download it in the "files" section.
As great as Exchange Currency is, the very limited number of merchants able to trade your coins and notes is at times a real problem.
Which is why I'm making a list of merchants I feel should be added in the main city of each hold, to help you with your daily monetary problems.
If you have other merchants added by mods and who could fit better for this role, more power to you! This is just a list of recommendations to make the work easier, nothing more!
Yeah, okay... but how do I do that?
True, let's not be too hasty.
Before anything, I highly recommend you install the optionnal patch called "Magic Scrolls for 1 copper" in the all-in-one installer.
As it name should indicate, it changes the prices set for the special scrolls you'll need to just 1 coin. I always felt their price was too steep for what should be considered as a way to fix the original mod's oversights.
Step 1. Find an exchanger affiliated with the East Empire Company. They can be found in Markarth, Solitude and Windhelm. Ask to see their exchange lists.
Step 2. Buy any number of scrolls you might need. "Company" scrolls are for associates to the EEC, "Shop" scrolls are for regular merchants, "Remove Dialogue" scrolls are useful if you find another merchant more suited for the job after using a mod, for example.
Step 3. Find your target, use the appropriate scroll on them.
Step 4. ABRACADABRA!
I'm ready to go. Who do you recommend?
I've tried to make this list as sensible and lore-friendly as possible.
Links on characters' names redirect to their UESP page, to help you decide by yourself.
Dawnstar
Thoring (Windpeak Inn) <- added by patch!
> Find him with console command : player.moveto 0001A6C8
> Which scroll? Shop
> Why him?
As the owner of the only inn in Dawnstar, I'd say Thoring is the private owner that sees the most currency circulate on his counter, between the miners coming daily to have a drink and a meal, the sailors seeking warmth before going back to sea, and other road travelers, he should have a relatively comfortable business, earning him membership into the Tamriel Merchant Guild.
Morthal
Jonna (Moorside inn) <- added by patch!
> Find her with console command : player.moveto 0001AA62
> Which scroll? Shop
> Why her?
Pretty much the same reasons as Thoring.
Riften
Hemming Black-Briar (Black-Briar Manor) <- added by patch!
> Find him with console command : player.moveto 00019DD2
> Which scroll? Company
> Why him and not Maven?
The Black-Briars are a no-brainer when it comes to electing new exclusive partners to the East-Empire Company.
While Maven would seem like a more intuitive first choice, there are a lot of quests in which she is implicated, and she tends to move around a bit too much for my taste. Plus, depending on your choices, she might see her social status in Riften change drastically.
Her son Hemming, on the other hand, lives the good life. He's filthy rich, spends his days at the family manor or at the Bee and Barb, and has nothing else to do with his life. Since he pretends that her mother spares no expense on his education, and seeing how he likes to brag about being the heir of the Black-Briar company, I say it's time for him to be made useful.
Moreover, if you decide to help the Empire claim Riften, you will realise that choosing Hemming makes even more sense.
Windhelm
Elda Early-Dawn (Candlehearth Hall) <- added by patch!
> Find her with console command : player.moveto 0001B118
> Which scroll? Shop
> Why her when Windhelm already has Revyn Sadri?
Because in a city with so much racial tension, I find the idea of the only merchant exhanging currency being a dark elf dubious. Especially if you consider the fact that his shop is set in the gray quarter, a place where a lot of Nords would refuse to venture, even less so with a lot of money.
Again, Elda Early-Dawn owns one of the biggest inns of Skyrim, right at the entrance of the great city of Windhelm. It is quite obvious that she must see a lot of money circulate in her establishment.
Winterhold
Enthir (College of Winterhold) <- added by patch!
> Find him with console command : player.moveto 0001C1AA
> Which scroll? Shop
> Why him and not Birna in town? She owns a pawnshop, right? What about Dagur at the Frozen Hearth?
Because Winterhold desperately needs a place to exchange currency.
In the case of poor Birna, her shop struggles too much for her to possibly afford a Merchant Guild membership. As for Dagur, I'm not sure his inn is the most visited in Skyrim nowadays.
Of all the possible candidates, Enthir seemed like the only one that would make sense. He proposes rare and exclusive items, and accepts all kind of merchandises, which in my opinion defines him as a pawnbroker, and therefore a member of the Guild.
Solstheim (Raven Rock)
Lleril Morvayn or Adril Arano (Morvayn Manor)
> Find them with console command : player.moveto 0401827F (Lleril) / player.moveto 04018281 (Adril)
> Which scroll? Company
> Why them? Why not Fethis Alor in town?
Because Solstheim also desperately needs a place where you can change your coins.
Lleril Morvayn represents the interests of House Redoran in Raven Rock, and seems to be the most fit for handling the treasury. You might also consider he's delegated this job to his second, Adril... It's all up to you.
As for Fethis Alor, he makes it quite clear that he would "be on the first ship off of this island if [he] had the coin." That's clearly not something a merchant in the capacity of handling currency exchange would say.
> Wait a minute... Neither Lleril nor Adril are added by your patch!
I know, and it's driving me insane. I've tried again and again and again to add them to the new faction created by UNI00SL's mod, but to no avail. They only seem to respond to scrolls.
After two days of hard work, I finally decided to give up on them. Too much dark magic at work, and my fragile sanity can't take much more.
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This is it for my list of recommendations, I hope it will prove useful to you.
I have been able to add most of these changes by myself in my own patch, but the way the Exchange Currency script works on certain points is just too cryptic for my meager modding abilities.
In time, maybe, I will find a definitive solution for this. Till then, we'll have to make do with what we have.
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