[Balanor]

Farming is definitely not the only way to make money. Slaving is definitely one. And quests are a very good way as well. Although you may often get the 'fetch me this item(s) from this dangerous place' quest, those types of quest are only 2 of the 9 that we have in Thay. Plus, if you know where to look and you have the right skills, you can avoid the fetch me quests from a dangerous area altogether if you don't like them. See the first paragraph under Quest Tips in this thread for some examples of where to look for specific types of quests.

I strongly advise against farming the same areas over and over again. DMs have the ability and (some of us, like me) have the strong desire to start throwing uncommon obstacles at PCs we see in the same areas over and over and over.... ;)