I'm running Savage Tide in Eberron, and we're about to reach Sea Wyvern's Wake. Going by the adventure notes, they're going to have around 20-30 tons of free cargo capacity for their own personal use.
Now, I may be wrong - maybe they will indeed take along extra provisions, or armaments, or much-needed supplies for the colony - but something tells me their first instinct is going to be to stuff the hold full of whatever valuable commodities they can afford, so they can sell them somewhere between Sasserine and Farshore.
And that means they're probably going to be making Knowledge checks, and asking me what sells well that can be bought in Sasserine.
Since I'm basing the adventure in Eberron, their course from Sasserine in the Lhazaar Principalities will take them along the coasts of Q'barra, Valenar and Aerenal, and whilst Lavinia's schedule doesn't include stops at any major cities, I won't prevent them from making a minor detour, so they'll likely be looking for items to sell to one of those three places - or to the colonists of Farshore.
As far as I can recall from what I've read of Sasserine so far, its chief exports are lumber, whale products and exotic animals. Lumber isn't likely to sell in either Q'barra or Aerenal, though it might fetch a decent price in Valenar. Exotic animals have permits and restrictions on export, making the startup costs steep for that market. Whale oil would sell well, but the Darfellan party member has been carrying out an anti-whaling sabotage campaign in his spare time, so I don't see him going along with that one.
What else would make a good export? Any suggestions would be welcome.
Textiles, spices, booze, slaves, metal bars, slaves, tools, NAILS, glass, paper, medicines, I would basiclly just set up the told into 10 cubes- assign a value to each cube- then allow them to sell at their cost + or - 5 to 30% based on diplomacy checks.that way it doesn't actually matter whats on the boat. but um- slaves are very valuable.