How to afford things from forge of wonders? and how does money work in regards to merchants?

So i found a forge of wonders, and the main guy is selling things for 10k+, and will only give me ~250 for some nice guns, so… how am i supposed to afford those nice 24k cost items? pretty sure my inventory will never be big enough to hold enough to trade for it, since it seems money doesnt work.

similarly: i read old threads saying money should work… but cash cards, money in bank account, and even paper money, wont be accepted by this merchant for me… are any of them accepted by other merchants (like refugee camp i havent yet gone to, or random npcs?) or is this money literally purely for gas and vending machines?

or… am i being an idiot and missing something?

edit to add a question: does the forge of wonders restock? i returned after 3 days a good distance away, and i swear it seemed they have the same stuff (and still have the items i sold them before)

For me, I stockpiled a huge pile of stuff on the ground that I could sell at once, and made sure it was all stuff with high value/low weight. As long as you haven’t left anything perishable there, anything you leave on the ground for sale later will be perfectly fine when you return.
As for restocking, I’m not sure. Haven’t stuck with a run long enough to notice.

i didnt realize you could drop things on the ground for it, that may solve the issue… but still, that is going to take “huge” piles, lol. thank you for the response :slight_smile:

also would be real nice if they restock… even if only just to get rid of the things i sold them before (to clear up the list)

Base game merchants (Free Merchants, Hub01, and possibly some others) have their own currencies (which, unless that’s been fixed, don’t stack, and so are a pain to deal with since it’s moved one note at a time).
Paper money is essentially worthless, although it might be that the Free Merchants buy it for a very low price (not sure).
E-cash is used for fuel and vending machines. I’ve seen some indications that it might have become usable for trade, but it isn’t in 0.F-0 (as far as I know).

the places i saw that said e-cash was usable for trade, were old responses to old questions, so likely outdated. thank you for the answers… a combo of both responders answers now lets me know i need to start stocking up on trade goods.

The ability to trade cash cards was removed recently, as they were way too valuable for how easy they are to get. Magiclysm has its own currency called a “denarius”, and I recommend setting up an autopickup rule for that.

There are some normal items that are pretty portable and valuable - fuel (gas/diesel) and 40mm grenades come to mind.

But I think the intended play is that you trade away magical items. Magical rings in particular tend to be extremely valuable, and you can only wear two yourself, so flog the rest. Those kinds of super valuable items are found in monster lairs and sometimes magic academies, but wands from cabins and +1 weapons from goblin camps are worth several hundred each, so a pile of those is at least enough to buy the cheaper expensive stuff, like that delicious toolbelt Valzain is always wearing.