Mercenaries dealing with adventurers?

Hey guys,

a quick question. We have a situation of a large mercenary group in Forgotten Realms being paid to raid and pillage a small town. They were successful. They've looted a nice sum of wealth and have enslaved a lot of townsfolk. Including a few adventurers (sandard array - fighter, rogue, cleric, wizard).

Their task is to accompany the slaves and the loot to drop off point three days away and trade them for gold.

My question is: How would they treat the adventurers?

What are these mercenaries like? Very professional. True neutral. Take good care of their own, they stick to the contracts (as long as it suits them). Pragmatic. If need be, cruel, but never "just because".

thanks

Chances are, they'd bind and gag the spellcasters (too dangerous, otherwise) and bind the fighter and rogue like everyone else (if they know they're a rogue).

They might try and recruit any that seem capable, especially spell casters. A capable Cleric or Wizard is worth a whole lot more to a band of mercenaries as a member than any gold they might make selling him as a farm slave, that's just a waste of talent.

Barring that though, if they're truly just professional types they would probably treat them pretty bad (they are slaves after all) but not with any particular cruelty. I wouldn't have them do anything sadistic, just mechanically going through the necessary processes to sell slaves which isn't a nice process, its pretty dehumanizing and harsh. Cramped cages on carriages, just enough food and water to keep them basically alive, whips and threats to keep any rowdy ones in line. Unless they had any particular value as a pleasure slave or a noble hostage for ransom, I can't image they would treat PC's any better, although they might treat Clerics better if only to keep the Gods from smiting them.

If they're skilled professionals, then your party's spellcasters are going to be treated poorly out of necessity. They will be both bound and gagged, constantly.

More than the other slaves, the adventurers will be under observation because these mercenaries will recognize their potential for danger.

However, adventurers make terrible slaves. No mercenary that values repeat business is going to try to sell a bloodthirsty warrior as a laborer, or a fire-wielding wizard as a housekeeper. The mercenaries would probably try to find some other way of getting value out of them.

It actually depends on the contracts of the mercenaries. If the mercenaries were paid to pillage the town and enslave the townsfolk, then this doesn't actually include any travelers like the adventurers. So the mercenaries have leeway in what to do, but they're very unlikely to just drop them off like the ordinary townsfolk. The mercenaries might try to recruit the adventurers, they might offer the adventurers to simply buy their freedom back with gold, or anything mentioned by the others.

If it's a long-term contract (for example, for an entire war campaign) the mercenaries' partner is likely to get told and then he would decide their fate. But if the contract ends after the drop-off, the mercenaries might haggle for extra pay for the captured adventurers or might even release them after the drop-off, as it's unlikely for mercenaries to become traders themselves, so they don't want to have slaves (or any other goods) with them outside of their contracts.

The mercenaries are likely to talk to the party leader though (or rather, to the person they think is the party leader), and the adventurers have a chance to interact socially with the mercenary commander.

Smart mercenaries would realize from endless books and plays that they need to either release the adventurers and leave the area or kill the adventurers as all other courses of action lead to nothing but trouble later.

Bind everyone. Gag anyone that can cast spells or talks too much. Remove any objects they can find, especially on armed people like adventurers. Definitely, remove any spell books or foci. Minimal food and water. Cramped cages or extended periods of long walking while the mercenaries ride in carts or on horses.

I haven't checked the DMG to see if it gives advice on this but here is my mechanical interpretation:
Bound feet reduces speed by half.
Bound hands means no 2H weapons, disadvantage on attacks, and no spells with somantic components.
Gagged means no spells with verbal components.
No foci or spellbook means no spells with material components and cannot prepare spells.
Constitution saves each day to avoid exhaustion. Probably make the save climb a little each day.