Category: RPG

Outside of the Elysian Gate, just north east of the wall that borders Grimsdown sits a large thatch covered cottage that has a sign in front of the door reading “Herbs, Salves and Ointments”. On most days, you’ll find a cantankerous Kaedwyni man named Ecgbrith sitting on a stool outside of the hut nursing a strong alcoholic drink. He claims to have been schooled in the natural arts by the Aen Nord, a moon elf tribe in northern Kaedwyn, and that he has learned everything that the Dol Naev’de druids had to offer him. He knows about the healing and harming properties of all herbs and, when pressed, is familiar with many alchemical formulae.

His cottage is filled with the scents of lavender, rosemary, silversage and whitecaps, and long, looping wreaths of grave moss and bristles of dreamfoil are hanging from the rafters. Baskets filled with ghost mushrooms and goldclover are usually drying in the sun, while the shadow side of his cottage is growing a steady supply of wildvine. The acolytes of the Temple of Light and the apprentices from the Circle of Mages often come to Ecgbrith for their supplies, but so do a large amount of cooks and chefs in Kingsport. The szygani have a strange relationship with the man; sometimes they can be seen yelling at one another, while at other times, shady figures come to his cottage at strange hours of the night.

Just north of Wickenham Street in Sevenoaks, in an alley tucked between different book binders, scribes and pamphlet makers, lies a small shop called Adria’s Novel Idea, run by an elderly gentleman by the name of Calford. He’s a quiet man with great sadness behind his eyes. The shop is always gloomy, with little sunlight reaching its small windows. Great, intricately carved oak wooden bookshelves line the walls and are filled with dust covered books of different shapes and topics. Most of the floor space has been taken up by large stacks of books, giving the entire shop a maze-like quality. Some of them are leather bound, some of them are bound in wooden covers, some of them not bound at all.

In the back there is a desk where old Calford sits. Unlike the shop, the desk is neat and clean. Atop the desk sits a lantern, a pot of ink and a quill and two stacks of parchments. One stack of parchments is empty, the other stack is filled with neat writing. Nobody who has visited the shop has ever caught him putting ink to parchment. Calford lives above the shop and only leaves the shop on occasion to attend the service at the Library of Ioun or to buy supplies. He can sometimes be found at the docks, picking up a shipment of new books. Other than that he can be found in his shop, sitting behind his desk.

Along the north side of the street of spice, close to the Western Gate lies a small shop by the name of L’eau Célestes, run by Beauclairois socialite by the name of Céleste Deschamps. What is remarkable about her shop is that it seems to be permanently stocked with bottled wines of amazing vintages as well as with barrelled wine of different sizes. Her prices are amazingly steep and yet she seems to keep her head above water quite well. What is remarkable about Céleste Deschamps is, well…

For a start, she has managed to gain access to court in just a few short years after arriving in Kingsport, with little more than a cart filled with wine, a chest of personal belongings and a deed to the shop on the Street of Spice. She has managed to become friendly and associated with every ancient noble house in Kingsport, and she has become the exclusive vintner and sommelier of many of them. She has openly joked when addressing Queen Isabella that she will not rest before she exclusively stocks Her Majesty’s cellars.

Madame Céleste is assisted by Pip, an intelligent, young halfling who has helped to establish Céleste’s business. Together they have leveraged the success of the wine business into a burgeoning information brokerage.

Just outside of the Brown gate lies an area where trappers, tanners and leatherworkers have congregated with a cattle market close by. It’s here that Lyandra Wildrunner, an elven woman from the Worthwilde has set up shop. She only crafts leather items upon commission, so that she does not have to maintain any valuable stock outside of the city walls, and only if the price and assignment is to her liking. A boiled leather breastplate, or a simple leather saddle, or an unremarkable pair of riding boots is not enough to tease her interest, but ask her to make an elaborately decorative, full leather armour and she will deliver the most amazing quality that coin can buy.

Her shop consists of a half-open shed with all the required tools, and she knows almost all the leatherworkers, tanners, dyers, cattle farmers, hunters and trappers in the area, so if she can’t help you, she will likely know who can.

The most important armoursmith in Southside is Dagran Forgewright, a mountain dwarf and member of Clan Thoradun. His shop is set on the corner of the river and the Street of Steel. His forge sits behind his shop, on a courtyard he shares with several other craftsmen. He is considered a wellspring of knowledge and experience by the rest of the Street of Steel and while the rest of the crafters compete with him in terms of business, he has proven to be a generous father figure to anyone willing to learn. Dagran specialises in beautifully crafted metal armours but has a good working relationship with Lyandra Wildrunner, a leatherworker just outside of Kingsport who specialises in leather, scale and hide armours.

While Dagran’s presence in Southside is a welcome one, and people are always fond of seeing his steel-grey beard and soot covered bald head walk down the Street of Steel, there is some controversy that surrounds him. When he first arrived in Kingsport, three decades ago, he requested an audience with the Steward to request special permission to set up business in Kingsport and function as a informal ambassador to the dwarves of Ard Thoradun. He was eagerly welcomed with open arms. His only demand was that he could keep a bonded servant; a young orc by the name of Kargath of the Stormwolves clan.

Years before, when returning home from a trading expedition to White Fork, his caravan was set upon by a raiding party of orcs. The orcs had underestimated the dwarves and they were defeated. When it came time to kill the defeated orcs, Dagran decided to spared a young orc’s life and nurse him back to health. Unable to return to Ard Thoradun, he was allowed to leave his ancestral home without forsaking his clan allegiance. Over the years he trained Kargath in smithing techniques and developed him into an outstanding weaponsmith.

When the Steward of Kingsport was presented with the conundrum of either turning away such a valuable member of the Thoradun clan, or accepting him on the grounds that he bring his orc apprentice into the city, he chose to let Dagran stay with the caveat that he become personally responsible for the orc and anything that happens as a result of his stay in Kingsport.

Recently, it became clear that Dagran has the ability to take the fabled lyrium crystals and socket them into weapons and armour in order to imbue them with additional properties.