Mor's End Craft & Trade Submissions

[Conaill]

Das Wagon seems like it might be hard to incorporate in the average fanatsy setting. It's relatively "high tech" (at least more so that, say, a pony express), and it would have an wide-spread impact on the area around it.

Nice idea, but I'm not convinced we want to incorporate it into Mor's End in its current form.

 

[jdavis]

Dimble’s Exotic Weaponry

I edited Dimble's Exotic Weaponry to add discriptions of Dimble's five sons and their specialties.

 

[Knightfall]

Re: Enduring edge points

He really should be a dwarf. Dwarves are the classic weaponsmiths and we have an oversupply of dwarfs.

Not every great weaponsmith needs to be a dwarf. And I'm sure Kul Moren will have its fair share of great dwarven weaponsmiths.

The point of selling inferior weapons to the guards should be a rare event, or just not happening. The guards way outnumber the guild [or the guild would be the government] and so selling them inferior stuff means they will find out and be back to object. Maybe once or so he can get away with it, but pretty soon the guards will notice that his "fine" weapons are foul.

Yes, it is rare for him to do so and only when he knows he can get away with it.

The killing of the master and then not knowing what to do with the body is distinctly dubious. Now we might say his plans went bad. Maybe he tried to smother the old man in his sleep in the hope of making it look natural, but the guy woke and started to yell, so he was left with a bloody body he couldn't explain. Alternately, he was in contact with the thieves much earlier and they were there to dispose of the body that same night. But that he killed the man and only then started to think about what to do with an obvious murder victim doesn't cut it.

Brandon killing his master was a emotional kill for them man. It was a huge moment of greed and weakness. After he'd done it, he took the time to have it cleaned up carefully. Brandon is a cold-blooded, calcuating man who tends to think before he reacts but he is also slightly unstable.

 

[GladiusNP]

Something a little more prosaic....

Bert's Barrels and Baskets.

Bert is a thin little half-elf who owns one of the numerous barrel craft-shops in Mor's End. He mainly sells to the Merchant's Council, through a factor who buys for them - Ander Wilson. He spends the early morning hours making barrels, and then usually carts them to Wilson's warehouse down near the docks.

Bert also sells some stock to the general public, and has an agreement with one of the city’s breweries, to whom he sells the barrels and vats used in brewery.

Bert’s shop itself it a narrow store-front built in between two other shops, and has a small window with an arrangement of baskets (made by his wife, Linda) and some examples of barrels set up. Over the door, a small cask hangs, made of weathered oak. Upon entering the shop, most of it is taken up by baskets – Bert sells a lot of these to the public, more so than barrels (for obvious reasons). A small counter along the far end is usually where Linda weaves her baskets, and deals to customers, and a door (rarely closed) leads into the back of the shop, where sawdust, barrel staves, and iron rings are all liberally placed about. Bert usually works back here, on a large work-bench standing in the middle of the room.

In the back of the workshop, a staircase leads up to the second floor, where Linda and Bert live.

Bert is a slight fellow, but rather than being slender, is more on the scrawny side. Born of an human father, and elven mother, his father has died about four years ago. His mother returned to her homeland, leaving bert with his father, Samuel Carson. His eyes are the only real clue that he has elven blood – they are emerald green, and almond shaped. Other than that, his hair is sandy-brown, he isn’t particularly graceful, and he has dusky skin. Bert is a very faithful follower of (whatever the campaign equivalent of Pelor is) and tithes every month. He attends church every week, along with Linda, and will often have long discussions with clerics who come into the shop, something that many of the clergy in Mor’s End find very soothing.

Bert doesn’t really care for politics, and has some slight wariness when he deals with adventurers (excepting clerics and paladins.) His wife, Linda, usually deals with customers.

Plot-hooks:

One of the clergy in town has found out that someone is harassing Bert (the Black Hand traders are trying to force him to make false-bottomed barrels for them). The faithful cleric is too old to take up arms, but he appeals to the party cleric to investigate. Can they win Bert’s trust? Will the party be able to survive the warrens as they hunt for the Black Hand traders? Can they fend off muggers hired to keep them from getting closer to the nefarious smuggler behind the scheme?

--Way of introducing a cohort.-- Bert has taken on a young man as an apprentice, who has begun to manifest strange powers as he develops. Can the party wizard/sorcerer help the young sorcerer master his power?

Bert (Robert) Carson, male half-elf Com2 (Cooper): CR 1/2; ECL 1; Medium-size Humanoid (half-elf); HD 2d4; hp 6; Init +0; Spd 30 ft; AC 10; Melee unarmed strike +1 (1d3); AL LG; SV Fort +0, Ref +0, Will +0; Str 10, Dex 11, Con 10, Int 13, Wis 11, Cha 10. Feats: Skill Focus (Craft, Cooper). Skills; Craft (Barrel) +8, Handle Animal +5, Knowledge (Religion) +3, Spot/Listen +1, Search +2. SQ; Half-elf traits.


Linda Carson, male human Com1 (Basketweaver): CR 1/4; ECL 1; Medium-size Humanoid (human); HD 1d4; hp 2; Init +0; Spd 30 ft; AC 10; Melee unarmed strike +0 (1d3); AL NG; SV Fort +0, Ref +0, Will +0; Str 10, Dex 11, Con 10, Int 10, Wis 11, Cha 14. Feats: Skill Focus (Craft, Basket). Skills; Craft (Basket) +6, Profession (Barmaid) +4.

Linda worked in the Downpour Alehouse for several years until she met Bert, hired because of her very attractive personality – also the reason why she runs the shop. She has blue eyes, and long black hair, with very pale white skin. Though she is about five years younger than Bert, they are both very much in love. Linda also has a large extended family, including 12 uncles, 9 aunts, 21 cousins, four grandparents, one great-aunt, four older brothers, and both her parents. She learned her trade (basketweaving) from her mother.

 

[David Argall]

Brandon

"Not every great weaponsmith needs to be a dwarf. And I'm sure Kul Moren will have its fair share of great dwarven weaponsmiths."

True, but we are talking here about THE weaponsmith in the city awash with dwarves. A human might be a reasonable weaponsmith, but the very best one should be dwarven. Or at least his old master should have been.


"Brandon killing his master was a emotional kill for them man. It was a huge moment of greed and weakness. After he'd done it, he took the time to have it cleaned up carefully. Brandon is a cold-blooded, calcuating man who tends to think before he reacts but he is also slightly unstable."

Given I read it and did not see it as an emotional kill, it would seem to need a rewrite on the point anyway. But the cold, calculated kill seems to fit better.

 

[Tonguez]

Prometheron Muckraker: male hobgoblin Adp1, Ari1, Rog4;
The Night Pot Collector

Pommy Muckraker is the richest man in the squats and the one who lives closest to the Swamps. 6'5" tall and hugely obese Prommy Muckraker is a man who doesn't mind getting his hands dirty - literally as well as figuratively.
The unscrupulous and opportunistic Muckraker began life as an orphan, the survivor of a failed raid against the city. Luckily he was taken in and apprenticed to the city's former night pot collector. Not quite slavery since he was given room and board in return for doing a job noone else would, but of course not entirely free either.
Anyway his life as Night Pot collector could have continued indefinately without change that was until one day whilst emptying the pots out into the swamps he saw a gleam and found the ring which he now wears on his ear. From that day on he started to be more careful in emptying the pots and soon had himself an impressive collection of trinkets, coins and teeth! - its suprising what you find in other peoples muck!.

He used the money he had gained from his finds to buy the Night Pot business from his former Master and soon had expanded the business to include refuse disposal specialising in industrial waste - the run off from Abatoir and Tannery, the chemicals of dyers and alchemist. Because of this he became a lobbyist for the protection of the lake and silk fish demanding that industrial waste not be disposed of into the streets as it had been. This waste along with the contents of the night pots gets poured into huge holding ponds which he employs goblins to rake through and collect all and any items that might have fallen in. One of the Goblins (his cohort) is a shaman (Adept/Druid) who trained Prommy as an Adept and taught him the value of teeth. Prommy now wears the teeth he finds on a thread around his neck.
Muckrakers also deals with domestic rubbish and Prommy and his goblins sort through every peice, recycling, reusing and reselling anything salvagable.

Plothooks:
1. A severed hand has been found in the Muck Ponds!

2. Prommy Muckraker has found a most unusual item and wants to know exactly what it is.

3. Is Prommy Muckraker just a businessman or does he also have less honest interests in the city - they are goblins he employs afterall!

4. What is Prommy Muckraker going to do about the Otyugh thats decided to move in to the Muck Ponds?

CR 5; Medium-size Humanoid (goblinoid); HD 5d6+1d8+24; hp 46; Init +5 (Dex, Improved Initiative); Spd 30 ft; AC 11 (+1 Dex); Atks +6 melee (2d4+4/crit x3, ranseur); SA sneak attack, spells; SQ darkvision 60 ft, evasion, uncanny dodge; AL LN; SV Fort +7, Ref +5, Will +7; Str 16, Dex 12, Con 18, Int 15, Wis 13, Cha 10.

Skills and Feats: Diplomacy, Spot, Listen, Gather Information, Bluff, Balance, Intimidate; Improved Initiative, Great Fortitude, Leadership.

Special Attacks: Sneak Attack (Ex): Prometheron Muckraker deals +2d6 damage against an opponent with a discernable anatomy who is denied a Dex bonus or is flanked.

Special Qualities: Uncanny Dodge: Dex bonus to AC.

Possessions: Muckrake (ranseur stats), Ring of Sustenance.

Adept Spells Prepared (3/2):

 

[Knightfall]

Re: Brandon

Not every great weaponsmith needs to be a dwarf. And I'm sure Kul Moren will have its fair share of great dwarven weaponsmiths.

True, but we are talking here about THE weaponsmith in the city awash with dwarves. A human might be a reasonable weaponsmith, but the very best one should be dwarven. Or at least his old master should have been.

Well, if you think there there should be a dwarven weaponsmith, as the THE weaponsmith in the city, that strongly then go ahead and submit your idea. After all, that's what the EN World City Project is all about.

Hope to see something ffrom you soon. You dwarf and Brandon could be bitter rivals.

I'll do a minor revision to make Brandon's emotional state about killing his master clearer. Thanks for the suggestion.

Later,

KF72

 

[Buttercup]

I love Prommy Muckraker! Love him.

Bert's Barrels & Baskets is good too.

And Knightfall, your weaponsmith is cool just the way he is, even though he's not a dwarf. David, I really hope you do create a dwarven weaponsmith who can be an archrival of Brandon's. I can envision all sorts of fun that could come from that. Perhaps they would try to hire adventurers to sabotage each other's forging processes, or to somehow sully the other's good name.

Keep up the good work everyone!

 

[Buttercup]

Shivamuffin, I think Das Wagon is a cool concept, but it might need a tad bit of revision to make it fit better into Mor's End. First, you should probably change the names of the coinage to match Mor's End names:

Shield (platinum piece)
Hammer (gold piece)
Sword (electrum piece)
Dagger (silver piece)
Knife (copper piece)

The other thing that should be changed is references to an empire, since Mor's End is an independent city state. You could just say something about his service reaching into "foreign parts" or "other realms" and leave it at that, or alter it in some other way I haven't thought about.

Other than that, It's good!

 

[GladiusNP]

Bert's Neighbour.

The neighbour of Bert and Linda Carson, Glenda Ashcroft runs a small food-stall. She lost her husband, a labourer who worked on the docks, four years ago, and was left a widow at the age of forty-eight. Though they never had children of their own, Glenda and William (her husband) were favourites of the street’s children. Even nowadays, with Glenda having much less money, she still gives children a free sticky roll or mug of cider.

Glenda has curly grey hair, which she usually wears under a scarf, especially when she’s working. She dresses in practical work-dresses and usually wears an apron, which is well-worn but clean. She has warm brown eyes and a ready smile, and still has a girlish laugh. She often talks with customers, and recognizes nearly all of her patrons.

As a widow, Glenda has had to support herself by running a small bakery / food house from the front of her house. Since her former living room had a large window onto the street, she began to sell soup, rolls, biscuits and various sweets to passer-bys. Bert, using leftover stock, set-up a small counter along the sill of the window, and gave Glenda six stools which he made. Early each morning, Glenda opens up, after baking rolls / pastries in her small oven. She also makes soup, which she sells in loaves of bread. Quite a few labourers regularly stop at Glenda’s, and most days Bert comes over to eat lunch with her. Due to this, Glenda is pretty well protected – some of the labourers have already ‘had a word’ to people hanging about Glenda – namely a baker who tried to shut her down. She also keeps an eye on some of the young men – who learn very quickly not to come by if they’re hung-over. Balarous (see NPC thread) has also been known to stop by – though he usually brings his own drinks.

Glenda doesn’t charge too much, and sells mugs of cider (mildly alcoholic, and mulled during winter), bread rolls (some baked with cheese, others without), meat and vegetable soup in loaves of bread, and pastries / pasties with a variety of fillings, including black-current tarts, and cheese, bacon and mushroom pasties. Most days, around breakfast and lunchtime, there is a small line, and the seats are full up. During the quieter afternoon and morning, Glenda usually bakes what she can for the lunchtime/next day. Glenda usually closes at about five o’clock, since some of the people who live on the street buy pastries each night (to eat after dinner).

Glenda Ashcroft, female human Com1 (Cook): CR 1/4; ECL 1; Medium-size Humanoid (human); HD 1d4-1; hp 1; Init +0; Spd 30 ft; AC 9; Melee unarmed strike +0 (1d3); AL NG; SV Fort +0, Ref +0, Will +0; Str 6, Dex 9, Con 8, Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 13*. Feats: Skill Focus (Profession, Cook), Endurance. Skills; Profession (Housewife) +6, Profession (Cook) +8.
*Taking into account aging penalties/bonuses. Originally were Str 7, Dex 10, Con 9, Int 11, Wis 13, Cha 12

(Edit - added plot-hooks)