CAMPAIGN: Normin's Adventure (The Unburning) (D&D5e)

Talk about things that are not making games here. But you should also make games!

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Post by Newbie Newtype »

ooc wrote:He's heading to the marketplace. Normin doesn't plan on enrolling in the school
<TheGiz> oh hai doggy, oh no that's the straw that broke tjhe came baclsb
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Post by Bob the Hamster »

In the Marketday district, Normin locates a street lined with shops that sell supplies for Alchemy and Magic. Some are already closed for the day, but others are still open.

One in particular seems to cater to university students, judging by the advertisements posted in the window. A few students are hanging about in the front in the incence section, but the back of the large store stretches into darkness and the shelves are full of many things.

Another promising store a little further down the street seems to be a bulk wholesaler of magical ingredients. The plain exterior and open loading doors have a business like air.
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Normin decides to approach the market aimed at the school. It seems to be the most likely to have a partnership. The large warehouse would also allow things to be stored beyond the scope of a typical distribution.
<TheGiz> oh hai doggy, oh no that's the straw that broke tjhe came baclsb
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Post by Bob the Hamster »

Normin enters the "The Abscondlery" it smell like too many different kinds of incence.

Up front is a display of discount magic flameless candles with a sign that says "When you need to burn the midnight oil and you can't burn anything"

There is a section of common potion ingredients and a chart of which professors require them. There are a lot of bottles of oil and baggies of pre-measured herbs.
DM wrote:you can roll investigation checks for each specific thing Normin wants to find
A fat old ogre with tiny glasses and a shock of white hair lounges behind a sales counter reading a tabloid.

Three students, all elves, hang out near the incense. One is saying "...he was in my Conjuation class. He sat right in front of me. I mean, I never talked to him, but now he's gone." She shakes her head making a show of how distressing it is.

"Magic is dangerous" says another. "You have to sign a paper that says so when you enroll"

"I know, but it still creeps me out. I heard he's technically not dead, there's just no countercurse"

"That's why I'm a literature major" interjects the third, smugly.
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Post by Newbie Newtype »

Normin isn't sure how he will go about finding vials of acid that are, in fact, not acid. He decides to head to the acid containment and see if he can find anything in particular that stands out as odd regardless of context.

{{1d20 + 3 Intelligence check}}
<TheGiz> oh hai doggy, oh no that's the straw that broke tjhe came baclsb
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Post by Judge Slimehold »

<p><b>Newbie Newtype</b> rolls...</p><ul><li><b>1d20 + 3 Intelligence check:</b> 19 + 3 &rArr; 22</li></ul>
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Post by Bob the Hamster »

There is a whole shelf for acids. They seem well organized and clearly labeled.

There are acids extracted from foreign fruits, both in fermented and distilled forms.
There are acids milked from fire ants, and acids extracted from the blood of rock-beasts.
There is a whole range of alchemical mineral acids.
Some acids are cheap, others are expensive.
Some are mild, others so strong they are contained in reinforced crystal vials.

All of them are definitely acids. Nothing on this shelf fits the description of an acid that is not an acid.
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The trip through the shop's stock has helped remind the memory addled wizard that various acids are extracted from various occurrences in natural habitats.

Whatever is 'not an acid' could be something that was extracted from a source highly-not recommended or even illegal, he thinks. He decides to leave the shop to seek out a more grassroots, possibly even unsavory market for the sciences to see if any enthusiast exists that may be more in the know.
<TheGiz> oh hai doggy, oh no that's the straw that broke tjhe came baclsb
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Post by Bob the Hamster »

Normin exits "The Abscondlery", leaving behind the well-ordered shelves and the gossip of the students.

Looking at other Magical Ingredients shops on the block, it is hard to tell which are the most grassroots and least reputable. Obviously none of them openly advertise unsavoryness, but a few stand out as suspicious.

One narrow storefront has several very burly rumbleback players browsing its aisles. They are all wearing different colored shirts, but don't display any of the usual posturing, animosity, or steath-full-body-tackles that usually characterize the interactions of rumblebackers of opposing teams. The sign on the store says "Mundane Nutrition & Health"

Another store, labelled "BUGS" has nothing on its sparse and dusty shelves except half a dozen large glass boxes, each of which is teeming with a different kind of crawly creature. The proprietor of the otherwise empty store is standing in the back, playing very softly on a large violin.

Possibly the most suspicious is a portable cart up on a pair of wheels, with bricks wedged under them to keep it from rolling away. The wares piled on the cart, and on blankets on the sidewalk beside it mostly look like random bits of junk, but it is entirely possible that some magical or alchemical ingredients might be mixed in. The owner of the cart is conversing loudly with a well dressed gentleman about the comparative benefits of different kinds of magical intimate supplements. The gentleman keeps glancing over his shoulder and admonishing the merchant to lower his voice.
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Between the choices he finds, he has little interest in an herbal grocer filled with solutions intended to be ingested. The wagon also comes off as likely lacking in the knowledge of the composition of materials and most likely are simply there to sell products given. Perhaps one of their wares are to blame, but he won't be able to find out from the sellers themselves.

He heads to the store filled with grotesque offerings. Surely only someone with a real passion would offer to share it for a price. There is definitely much worth for the mind there.
<TheGiz> oh hai doggy, oh no that's the straw that broke tjhe came baclsb
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Inside the store with the grotesque boxes of creatures, the music of the violin is louder.

Some of the glass boxes contain recognizable vermin; cockroaches, an ant colony, a mass of scorpions and vinegaroons. Others contain many-legged and winged creatures that Normin does not immediately recognize.

The shopkeeper is a halfling woman with bronzed skin and white hair pulled up tightly on top of her head. She is just a little taller than Normin himself. The bow in her hand moves across the violin with the grace and confidence of a skilled musician, but the actual song is very droning and repetitive.

She looks Normin's enormous hat up and down slowly, and then removes the bow from the string, and waits in silence for him to say something first.
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"Greetings, madam. I'm pursuing a new interest I've had just moments ago, and would like to know more about varying acids and toxins, oh and even flammable substances known to be utilized by the most earthly critters for survival. I understand many of the substances are used as extracts, huhhmm.."
<TheGiz> oh hai doggy, oh no that's the straw that broke tjhe came baclsb
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Post by Bob the Hamster »

The shopkeeper lowers her violin, and places it on a shelf.

In the absence of the violin's music, some of the boxes of bugs suddenly grow noticeably louder, creaking and chirping in a tiny cacophony.

"Yes, I am well versed in the many uses of my wares... Perhaps you can be more... specific about the properties you are seeking?"
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"Are you well versed in wares.. that you may not have? I've been curious as to substances that could be mistaken as acids but are dangerous to be treated as such." As he asks this, he looks at a nearby caged centipede and taps it with his branch, "And perhaps I'll buy this to support the business."
Last edited by Newbie Newtype on Mon May 21, 2018 8:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Bob the Hamster »

"Mistaken for acids?" The shopkeeper repeats, pondering. "Acids are a family of materials with very specific alchemical properties... But I suppose many uneducated lay-persons would use the word acid for any dangerous liquid which can destroy other materials... For example Imp blood, or Marble worm bile"

As she is talking, shemoves towards the box of foot-long centipedes and begins to don a pair of gloves.

"--Wait!" She interrupts herself, "you don't intent to eat this centipede, do you?"
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