Another zero start, D- guild contract for a witch doctor. Mature, Cute (Pretty but with Bruises), Healthy, Caring, Reserved, Clever, Uncertain, Timid, Slender, Kitchener, Novice Clerk, Theurgist, Bellatrix, Dauber, Penetration C-. Demonstration D-.
Different strategy. This slave is clearly B+ material. Planning ahead, bought school uniform, lace underwear, slippers, rubber gloves, leather gloves, hijab, leather collar, leather shackles x2, crown of thorns, nipple chain, reliable gag, anal pear, petsuit. Pierced her nipples for the chain. Dressed her in uniform, leather collar, slippers and chain to start. Sleep on floor, dehydrated food, restricted portion, act as maid, deny orgasm, no masturbation, behave pet, behave silence, deny toileting, enforce rules (applicable only to the last three, as I lack tools to enforce the others). Alternated the last three rules off and on depending on her mood. Used spa visits to keep her mood in the melancholy/pessimistic range (because she has high empathy, any lower would induce despair). Discovered after the first night that she felt better wearing the pet suit (trait "loves helplessness") and therefore kept her wearing it - however, this meant she performed terribly at anything other than behaving like a pet (and she was still refusing pet lessons), so I didn't try any lessons. Punished her with psychological pressure every morning for refusing to clean the house. Made her spar unarmed at the colosseum a couple of times.
Sent her to the arena battle, which she easily won (Healthy/Bellatrix). Rewarded her with perfume. For one night, was able to put the crown of thorns on her without dropping her mood too low. After a few days, once she already had some fear, stopped asking her to clean the house so she wouldn't need the morning verbal abuse and consequent mood drop.
Although the harsh rules induced some despair, the arena removed some, and they quickly lowered her pride and rapidly increaased her obedience. Soon enough, she was willing to clean the house, so the maid rule came back. As she still didn't want to take off the pet suit, hired a tutor one time (5$ because she was already "Feral" from the rule) for a pet lesson. She got 2 merit. Rewarded with a plaid blanket and moved her to a bedroll.
Meanwhile, her physique dropped to Model, so increased her to moderate portion size so she wouldn't lose too much weight.
Combined with the psychological pressure (more effective on her because she is Clever), she reached D- obedience on day 8 with combination of despair and Optimistic mood just barely putting her into positive obedience. She has only tried to escape once and never tried to attack.
Still have 118$ (after arena win + paying 15$ to medical center to heal her light injury). No loan.
Did not buy anything for master. He hasn't gained any skills at all yet, but has been spending spare energy cleaning the house and sparring.
Considering that she's obedient already in the first decade, reaching B+ should be no problem at all. And even if the contract is a bit late, the value will more than make up for it. So this is now a very relaxed start; it may even be possible to avoid taking a loan with careful management of sparks and relying on arena income to cover training costs.
... as expected, she fell back to F- after losing her despair, but with re-application of the rules and more psychological pressure, she gained enough obedience to stay D- by day 12. She felt guilt when she refused to tell about her background, so this was repeated a couple of times a day until she consistently felt 2 guilt; then a rough scolding was not effective, so escalated to a single threat of torture [tier 3 threat to tier 2 guilt] and this was enough to raise her fear. The above-tier punishment did not induce despair here because she had been happy for several days before that.
C- at day 18, but not yet devoted. 91$ remaining. C+ at day 20. 51$ remaining (bill was 40$). Still C+ at day 27, but two devotion and no fear. Just working on skills. 98$ (63$ after billing on day 30, just 30$ because went back to restricted diet for most of the decade ... and added leftovers). Also let her light wound heal naturally (with a spa visit and a beach trip to maintain good hygiene). Day 40, bill was discounted from 32 to 22 sparks with slave's assistance. 73$ remaining. Slow but steady progress on skills. Master has D- dominance, artistry, petting and oral now. Slave has Maid, Kitchener, Comptroller, Inarticulate, Nurse, Potion Apprentice, Theurgist, Amazon, Figurant, Domesticated, Petting C-, Oral C-, Penetration C-, Demonstration C-. Slave is devoted enough to be an assistant, but it's necessary to complete her training.
Day 126, arena battle day. Contract is 85 days late. Slave is now ranked A+ after defeating the Absolute Champion. Tough, Caring, Lively, Uncertain, Unashamed, Voluptuous, Famous, Handmaid, Kitchener, Procurator, Elocutionist, Nurse, Alchemist, Theurgist, Amazon, Etoile, Trained Ear, Sketcher, Animalistic, Hackney, Petting S+, Oral S+, Penetration S+, Group Sex D-, Demonstration S+. Only needs more fame to rank higher. Got beads from the Steel Rose for her, and she added behave alarm and behave urinal to her rules for a while now. Master is Unfit, Salacious, Authoritative, Recognized, Homemaker, Artist, Brawler, Basic Whip Skill, Novice Rope Binder, Petting B+, Oral C-, Penetration B+. Master bought a Housecoat and a Lash for himself but has not used the weapon yet. Bought pony gear (tail, plumed helmet, harness) and tried a couple of races, but with such low pony skill, although it was possible to finish the races in last place, the slave got moderate injuries so it wasn't worth it. Master is now trying to learn how to cast Auspex without a robe. 340$ after paying for post-battle medical and a visit to the hot springs. Master has not taken any drugs. Slave has taken one faerie pollen after each battle for the last few decades.
Day 134. Master progressed to Vigorous, Esoterist, Binds Correctly and Penetration A+. 296$.
Day 144. Slave progressed to Enduring, Nurturing, Ward Sister, Arcanist, Musician, Painter. 270$.
Day 145. With a few more lessons in enchanting, she can be turned in to the Guild for 2750$, minus speed penalty (1040$), for a final value of 1710$. Reaching S- rank would increase her value by 500 and S+ would increase her value by 1000. If she can reach S- or S+ in less than 50 / 100 days more, continuing training until then would be more profitable than turning her in now. If she continues arena battles only, she will reach Legendary fame after winning her nineteenth battle, which is around 50 days away, making S- break-even (but that ignores the fact that she will also be earning arena champion income until then, so waiting for S- is definitely better, and also the fact that she could immediately rank S+ as soon as she is Legendary, if you complete the rest of her training within the next 50 days). She could reach Legendary fame a bit sooner by completing some races (even if she loses, reaching the finish line in a race adds a little bit of fame), but the cost of post-race medical care would reduce the profit. Training her to win the races, on the other hand, would increase her earnings, but the cost of training her pony skill to the necessary level needs to be considered.
Of course, having trained an S+ slave, the question necessarily arises - do you actually want to give her up? On the positive side, it would greatly boost your guild reputation so you would be able to send two slaves to the arena battles each decade. And it would give you enough sparks to acquire a new slave and train to D+ for a direct sale to a district customer so you can move out of the slums, which would allow you to meet Isabella. On the negative side, you would be giving up a fully trained assistant and arena champion, so you lose roughly 60-70 sparks of income per decade from battles for several decades and all of the equipment costs invested. The 60-70 sparks per decade is compensated by being able to send a second slave to the arena for at least 50 sparks of income. Overall, you would end up with similar cashflow, maybe 10-20 sparks less per decade from battles until you train new champions, plus the loss of potential race winnings during the time it takes to train a new pony. The third option would be keeping the S+ assistant and using arena winnings to acquire a market slave or two to satisfy the guild and to get out of the slums, at which point you would have both Isabella and the S+ assistant. This path would cost a D- slave to fulfill the guild contract without any payment or reputation gain, but is also more or less cashflow neutral, because the arena champion's earning potential is slightly higher than the earning potential of two new gladiatrices. This leaves you with no progression in the guild, however, and so delays when you could have two arena champions' income, which is worth more than one. Therefore, in the long run, you are better off if you turn the S+ slave in to the guild. Also, raising your guild reputation gives you access to higher ranked contracts, which have larger prepayments and more time to complete them (for speed bonus or smaller speed penalty if you take the same route of training the next contract to a higher rank than requested, or even all the way to S+). Larger prepayments partially compensate for lost short-term income from turning in your arena champion. During the 50 days until she is Legendary, you could also begin training another slave, so that you can get a head start on the D+ to district customer and moving out of the slums plan.