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Eltheron
Senior Scribe
740 Posts |
 Posted - 10 Mar 2015 : 22:06:39
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This is a somewhat unusual Cormyrean NPC that I developed (along with her shop) a while back for a low-level city adventure.
Alyndirra, Cormyrean confectioner and business owner (simply named "Alyndirra's")
3rd level mage, Cormyrean human, 43 yrs old
Just two years ago, this rather thin and energetic Cormyrean woman rocketed from finishing her training (as a maker of cakes and sweet confections) to becoming well-known in the city and beyond, with the in-flow of wealth to match.
She did this rather by happy accident, trying out new recipes and coming up with a method for making jellied candies that remain fresh for up to two weeks without refrigeration. She will not relate her method, and her assistant has been sworn to secrecy (and given a cut of the profits).
Typically, these are made from pureed fruits and sugar, with a gelatin made from boiling a secret mix of herbs, roots, and the fatty tentacles of Carrion Crawlers. The boiled liquid is decanted, run through a sieve, and further reduced before mixing with the fruit puree and sugar and brought again to a boil. While liquid and hot, the fruit-gelatin-syrup can be poured into pans and cut into bite-size pieces (for daily sales to commoners) or fancier molds in fantastic shapes (for wealthier clients). Once cooled and properly jelled, she then may dip them in chocolate, different sweet sauces, or simply dust them lightly with a kind of powdery sugar.
These were first tried out in her shop as something of a lark, but they very rapidly became more popular than her jelly-infused cookies, hand-fruit-pies, and fruit-custard hand tarts. She still sells all of those in her shop, but her new creations quickly became "all the rage" with the children of nobles and wealthy merchants. It's not uncommon for her to take large orders for children's parties, where most of the jellies are eaten by attending adults.
She is not aware of this, but an unusual and fairly rare side effect from eating her jelly candies has made some children and people rather sleepy and torpid. This is due to traces of the paralytic chemical that remains in the tentacles of the Carrion Crawlers, which is not fully destroyed by the boiling process. The strength of the effect depends on the amount of jelly candy consumed.
Adventure Hooks:
- Alyndirra is nearly out of her supply of Carrion Crawler fatty tentacles, and requires more. This must be obtained with the utmost secrecy or she her business could be ruined. In addition to bringing back the tentacles of an adult 'Crawler, she wants the adventurers to acquire their eggs so she can "grow her own" for later harvesting.
- Alyndirra might be accused of poisoning a noble's chubby child (or fat noble), who ate far too much of her candies in a single sitting and could not easily be roused from sleep.
- One of Alyndirra's weaselly and nefarious competitors might hire them to discover her secret ingredients.
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"The very best possible post-fourteenth-century Realms lets down those who love the specific, detailed social, political and magical situation, with its thousands of characters, developed over forty years, and want to learn more about it; and those who'd be open to a new one with equal depth, which there just isn't time to re-produce; and those repelled, some past the point of no return, by the bad-taste-and-plausibility gap of things done to the world when its guardianship was less careful."
--Faraer |
Edited by - Eltheron on 10 Mar 2015 22:11:00
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Jeremy Grenemyer
Great Reader
USA
2717 Posts |
Posted - 11 Mar 2015 : 03:51:55
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I like Alyndirra.
Another hook might be the PCs learning about commoner parents giving the candies to their children, because they've noticed it helps the kids fall asleep. Not a true adventure hook per se, but I think it's enough to point PCs in Alyndirra's direction. |
Look for me and my content at EN World (user name: sanishiver). |
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Eltheron
Senior Scribe
740 Posts |
Posted - 11 Mar 2015 : 21:08:17
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quote:
Originally posted by Jeremy Grenemyer
I like Alyndirra.
Another hook might be the PCs learning about commoner parents giving the candies to their children, because they've noticed it helps the kids fall asleep. Not a true adventure hook per se, but I think it's enough to point PCs in Alyndirra's direction.
Sure, definitely possible. A bit of secret mommy/nanny lore, like the modern thing of giving kids Nyquil or Robitussin to keep them sleeping through long drives or airplane rides.
One thing to keep in mind, I think, is that it can't be too strong of an effect, otheriwse the Watch or the War Wizards might get involved.
Or maybe that might be a fun thing to have happen, depending on what direction the DM wants to go with this. Maybe a particularly strong batch is made by accident and all the kids near her shop (or at a nobles' party) get put into a paralytic sleep for more than 6 hours.
The paralytic chemical seems to be distributed throughout the body of a Carrion Crawler, as some older guides have a paralyzing contact poison that can be made from the brain liquid of a Carrion Crawler. Rogues might know this if they specialize in poisons, and put things together - perhaps getting a DC bonus from poison brewing knowledge.
Lots of ways to hook in, for sure.
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"The very best possible post-fourteenth-century Realms lets down those who love the specific, detailed social, political and magical situation, with its thousands of characters, developed over forty years, and want to learn more about it; and those who'd be open to a new one with equal depth, which there just isn't time to re-produce; and those repelled, some past the point of no return, by the bad-taste-and-plausibility gap of things done to the world when its guardianship was less careful."
--Faraer |
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LordofBones
Master of Realmslore
1486 Posts |
Posted - 12 Mar 2015 : 03:38:20
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| I'd make it a Craft (alchemy), Craft (poisonmaking) or Knowledge (nature) check. Characters trained in the use poison (poisoner, assassin, blackguard, etc) get a +2 bonus to identify the poison. |
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Jeremy Grenemyer
Great Reader
USA
2717 Posts |
Posted - 12 Mar 2015 : 04:25:41
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| It'd be fun as a PC to announce I was going off to buy a big bag of sweets. When the other PCs asked why, then I could say, "because I need the poison." |
Look for me and my content at EN World (user name: sanishiver). |
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Cormyrean NPC: Alyndirra
