I just completed the quest Ferry Flotsam in favor of the quest giver. Her speech makes it sound like I should gain reputation with Defiant Bay, but the combat log shows me losing it.

I've came across that as well, and I'm wondering about it, because nothing said makes it sound anywhere like I did the wrong thing there.

If you cut down the looter group you lose rep it seems.  But you dont really need to kill them (except the first 2 i guess). If their story is true, they are not bad people after all. You can let them go, tell the quest giver that her stuff got washed away.  This way you will end up gaining rep.

FYI, according to the strategy guide, if you tell the chick that her boat washed away or whatever, you also get a +1 might hat... but if you do decide to get her stuff back, apparently you get a 100cp reward + a discount at her shop in d-bay.

Noticed this too, the fact that the looters all carry money indicates they may be exaggerating the direness of their situation. and why should people in a city far away care about these random looters anyway, who are they going to hear about it from aside from the happy shopkeeper. I think it's a mistake.

I agree completely. It's annoying that you have to side with thieves against an out of sorts merchant, and you're given positive city influence. 

Patch 1.0.4.0540 (GoG)

Helping Peregund or thelooters gives same xp and you get the +1 head. But helping Peregrund you the following addition: trash loot from dead looters, 600 gold from peregund,  a huge Discount to her store 45%. But in comparison to others it's just 13,33% discount

 

So you could say helping the looters results in Peregund increasing the store price by 33,33%

 

Shes sell campfires and traps.

Price of a campfire:

Normal price 75c

Helping Peregund > Peregund store price 65c

Helping looters > Peregund store price 100c

 

 

So the question than becomes where are the other trap stores so that her store is irrelevant

Edited May 3, 201510 yr by Taelon

The real BS is you can't just offer to pay the looters. There has to be this kill-or-lie decision like they had stolen the One Ring of Power. On the upside, I believe they dropped some nice clothes.

 

Also this +1 might hat being mentioned, I looted it off them for sure.

Noticed this too, the fact that the looters all carry money indicates they may be exaggerating the direness of their situation. and why should people in a city far away care about these random looters anyway, who are they going to hear about it from aside from the happy shopkeeper. I think it's a mistake.

i believe the looters come from defiance bay, from the part of the city that got destroyed in flash floods that destroyed the bridge. its not a city far away. the bridge infact is/was part of the city

It's a merchant that easily bounced back vs. people that are so down and out they forgive you killing their cousins. They

literally were just average citizens a short time ago, not hardened thugs. Some day, some of you may experience

hard ships and you'll find yourselves of the other side of this equation THEN we'll see how quickly your "opinion"

changes.

The merchant is the quest giver, and is likeable, but in between the lines i think Peregrund was trying to proffit from the flash floods