Introduction

DMPC

Wren Turen, nicknamed "Cloak".

Cloak is a male Rock Gnome, about 200 years old, 3' 2" tall, he has dark brown hair, which has begun to turn white in spots. He typically wears a dark blue cloak, which has silver embroidery on the edges.

Cloak is a 12th level Artificer of the Alchemist subclass.

Purpose

Cloak's purpose is to maintain his business and livelihood. He also wishes to help the poor, reserving a special Healing Potion, called a Potion of Minimal Healing, for them. It is a watered down Healing Potion that acts as the spare the dying cantrip, and is sold for a mere 2 Silver Pieces.

He also diagnoses some illnesses, and preforms healing for the sick.

Backstory

Cloak was once a member of an adventuring group. They were a group of 6: Rodrik Elman, Dane Gibdon, Sylvania Whitewind, Ella Timbers, and Osprey Mandrake.

They had many adventures together, and Cloak was close to all of them. However, the same could not be said for everyone in the group. Rodrik and Osprey were always at odds, and this eventually led to Rodrik challenging Osprey to a duel. The duel went too far, and Osprey died. Rodrik was kicked out of the group, and he was eventually arrested for murder. Rodrik was the party Rogue, and without him to check for traps, Dane died after he was hit by a potent poison trap. Ella, who was a Forest Gnome Cloak had feeling for, died after contracting Chaos Phage. Sylvania and Cloak decided to retire after that, but a few days into their travels home, Sylvania was killed by Bulettes, she held them off to give Cloak a chance to escape.

After that, Cloak retired, and started to sell potions and magical services in his shop.

Character Stats

As an Artificer, Cloak has 4 1st-level spells slots, 3 2nd-level slots, and 3 3rd-level slots.

Cloak has the following spells prepared:

Cantrips: Mending, Magic Stone, Acid Splash, Druidcraft, and Firebolt.

1st-level spells: Healing Word, Ray of Sickness, Identify, Alarm.

2nd-level spells: Flaming Sphere, Melf's Acid Arrow, Arcane Lock, Continual Flame, Enhance Ability, Enlarge/Reduce.

3rd-level spells: Gaseous Form, Mass Healing Word, Dispel Magic, Fly, Glyph of Warding, Tiny Servant.

Cloak can also cast Lesser Restoration 4 times per long rest, and Detect Poison and Disease once per long rest.

As an Artificer, Cloak knows 8 Artificer Infusions, and can have 4 active at any time. Cloak has the following infusions, and the bolded infusions are active: Homunculus Servant, Gloves of Thievery, Pot of Awakening, Sending Stone, Bag of Holding, Spell Refueling Ring, Mind Sharpener.

Shop

Cloak's shop is called "Tinker's Apothecary", and is primarily a potions shop, but offers a large number of goods and services aside from potions.

The front of the store is a room about 50 feet wide, 15 feet tall, and 30 feet to the counter. This front of the store is clean and tidy. The same can't be said for the rest of the place. Just past the counter, Player Characters can see a large number of shelves and drawers, overflowing with materials, bits of metal, glass vials, books, and much more. Cloak sleeps in the store, on the second floor, which can be accessed by a ladder in the back, and no, the second floor isn't any less messy.

Cloak doesn't man the store alone; he has a Homunculus Servant, which looks like a metal toad with dragonfly wings, can animate objects with the tiny servant spell, and has over a dozen animated shrubs helping out. He grows shrubs in Pots of Awakening, one of which can always be seen in the southwest corner. Once the shrubs are awakened, he makes a new pot, and plants another shrub.

12 of the bigger shrubs tend to the garden behind the store, growing the herbs needed to make the potions. 4 will be inside at any time, and 1 is growing in the corner.

Decorations include a vase with a Moonflower (which was Sylvania's favorite). A table and locked drawer, which contains a magical cure for Chaos Phage. A Greatshield hangs on the wall, over the table and drawer. This shield has a red and purple pattern painted on it, and used to belong to Osprey. A framed handwritten note, encrypted and written in Gnomish. Dain wrote this message. It can be decrypted with a DC 19 Intelligence check, and says,

"the lawmaster is totally a blood cultist, right? I mean, the disappearances, the screams from his place, and he wanted extra soap yesterday. Why? To wash off the blood of course! Do you agree?

-- Dain"

Finally, there is a proclamation of the capture & execution of one Rodrik Elman stuck to the back of the frame with Dain's note.

The store sells the following Potions:

• Potion of Healing (30 gp)
• Potion of Greater Healing (70 gp)
• Common Rarity Potions (Various, 50gp)
• Uncommon Rarity Potions (Various, 100gp)
• Alchemical Elixers (Random effect from Alchemist Subclass, heals additional 2d6 hit points, expires at dawn, 1gp)
• Potion of Minimal Healing (Reserved for needy, 2sp)

The non-potion stock includes:

• Fabrics (2 gp)
• Tinker Toys (Music Box, Fire Starter, Clockwork Toy with a speed of 5 feet, for 1 minute. Lasts 1 use. 11 gp)
• Soaps, Perfumes, and similar (75% normal value)
• Alchemist's Fire (40 gp)
• Acid (20 gp)

Services provided in the store include:

• Casting arcane lock (50 gp)
• Diagnose an Illness (5 sp)
• Minor Treatments (10 gp - 50 gp. Restoring hit points is on the cheaper end, curing diseases is on the more expensive end)
• Casting identify (10 gp)
• Spell Storing Item (Gives an item containing one spell which Cloak can cast. Cloak can only have one of these items active at a time, and the item can cast the spell 4 times before the magic fades, costs the spell level * 100 gp)
• Create a continual Flame (100 gp)
• Mending (1 sp for minor job, 1 gp for major job)
• Lockpicking (1 sp, or 50 gp is the lock is magical)
• Craft a common magic item (75 gp, 35 gp for consumable)
• Craft an uncommon magic item (350 gp, 175 for consumable)

Behavior

Cloak is a happy, carefree Gnome, who often gets drawn into his work. He legitimately cares for his customers, and the shrubs and homunculus who work in his shop. He's very talkative, and is more than willing to talk about the happier times of his adventures. He is less willing to talk about how his party fell apart, or the items related to his previous party members.

Since Cloak was once an adventurer, he is not annoyed by adventurers who come in and try to make ridiculous bargains with him. In fact, he will look mostly amused and nostalgic. That said, he also knows that most adventurers can pay the full price, but just don't want to, and will be difficult for adventurers to bargain with. He may be willing to bargain with them after they have done enough business with him. He is always willing to bargain with common folk who have no money.

Despite everything, the terrible way in which his party fell apart still haunts him. As the last member of his party, he's convinced he may meet an unfortunate end someday soon. While he is not visibly paranoid, he has warded most of his shop. The Glyphs of Warding in his shop trigger if anyone other than him, his homunculus, or animated shrubs/trees come within range after hours. He also casts alarm every night before he goes to sleep, bounding the second floor.

Side Quests

Cloak has never fully come to terms with the deaths of his party. Seeing them fall one by one haunts him to this day.

If the players wish to help him, they can help him travel to the grave he and his group made for Osprey, the first of the group to die, and the only one with a grave. There, he can say his goodbyes to his former party members.

If the players do this, Cloak will give them a 10% discount on sales from then on. This is not mentioned up front.

DMPC

Bryseis Knowledge.

Bryseis is a female Tiefling, about 28 years old, average hight, with black hair that becomes lighter near the ends. She has two horn nubs protruding from her head, and her fingernails are dark and hard like claws. Her tail is a little more thin than is usual for a Tiefling, and he skin color is a deep red. her eyes are a dark blue, nearly black. She wears extravagant clothing, with gold threaded patterns, but all of her clothes are altered to allow for easy movement, and flexibility. She always wears a silver ring with a light blue polished stone set into it.

Bryseis is a 9th level Warlock, pact of the Tome, Genie (Djinin) Patron, 10th level Wizard, Order of the Scribes.

Purpose

Bryseis' purpose is to create a compendium of every spell in existence. She runs her shop in order to make enough money to fund her excursions into ancient ruins and other planes, searching for ancient spells recorded in scrolls, spellbooks, and occasionally etched into stone.

She also has to keep her end of the bargain with her patron, who usually leaves her be, but sometimes instructs her to stop some cults of Elemental Evil which have sprung up. Her patron worries that if these cults are left to flourish, they will eventually case trouble for the Djinni of the Elemental Plane of Air.

Backstory

Bryseis was feared for her devilish appearance, so she spent most of her time alone. This led her to studying in the city archives. Eventually, she discovered a love for the arcane, and began to practice it. The lack of archived spells made this very difficult, though, and she was unable to get far. Bryseis decided, at the age of 16, to head out and try to find more arcane knowledge. Instead, she found something else. She found a silver ring, and when she touched it, it spoke to her.

She came to realize that there was an air spirit placed inside, and that whoever held the ring controlled the spirit. However, Bryseis had no desire to force the creature into slavery, and released it instead. The Djinni inside thanked her by offering her some of its power, in return for her occasional service in stopping the people who had originally imprisoned him in the first place. Bryseis accepted, and has been using the power granted by that Djinni to help her find more arcane knowledge ever since.

Character Stats

As a Multiclass Wizard/Warlock, Bryseis has 4 1st-level spell slots, 3 2nd-level slots, 3 3rd-level slots, 3 4th-level slots, and 2 5th-level slots, and can prepare 14. She also has 2 Warlock slots of 5th level. Her known spells are:

Cantrips: Eldritch Blast, Mage Hand, Minor Illusion, Dancing Lights, Mending, Prestidigitation, Ray of Frost, Message

1st level spells: Armor of Agathys, Illusory Script, Hex, Burnining Hands, Comprehend Languages, Identify, Unseen Servant, Disguise Self, Magic Missile, Witch Bolt, Charm Person.

2nd level spells: Invisibility, Phantasmal Force, Blindness/Deafness, Misty Step, Scorching Ray, Web.

Shop

Bryseis' shop is called "The Arcane Compository", and is a Spell Scroll Shop. The inside of the shop is dimly lit, and the walls have been made to look like stone, giving the appearance of walking into a cavern shop. The dimensions of the storefront is 30 feet wide, by 40 feet deep, and 30 feet high. The place is mostly empty, with a counter 25 feet back. Behind that, the room gets increasingly dark, until it is completely dark. There is a door in the back of this room, which is enchanted with an arcane lock spell so that only she can open it without issue. Otherwise the door requires a DC 25 check to open. The door leads to her bedroom.

The store sells spell scrolls of any level. According to RAW, you cannot use a spell scroll unless it is on your class' spell list. To make this store more interesting, I suggest allowing Bryseis to sell special Spell Scrolls, which can be used by anyone if they pass the required arcana check, for an increased fee. The prices of these special scrolls are in bold below.

• Cantrip Spell Scrolls (15 gp [20 gp])
• 1st level Spell Scrolls (25 gp [35 gp])
• 2nd level Spell Scrolls (250 gp [300 gp])
• 3rd level Spell Scrolls (500 gp [600 gp])
• 4th level Spell Scrolls (2,500 gp [2,700 gp])
• 5th level Spell Scrolls (5,000 gp [5,300 gp])
• 6th level Spell Scrolls (15,000 gp [16,500 gp])
• 7th level Spell Scrolls (26,000 gp [27,500 gp])
• 8th level Spell Scrolls (54,000 gp [57,000 gp])
• 9th level Spell Scrolls (260,000 gp [280,000 gp])

Bryseis has developed a means to copy spells from Spell Scrolls, without destroying the original, allowing her to create Spell Scrolls of spells she has not learned herself. On top of that, she has a method for transcribing spells so that anyone, even those not normally magically inclined, can cast them (although they still need to make the DC 10 + Spell Level Intelligence (Arcana) check). She considers these secrets to be among her most prized possessions, and keeps the instructions in "The Book".

"The Book" is located in her bedroom, and is a massive tome containing all the spells she has found on her journeys. It contains nearly every spell, and even a few unique ones. That being said, it is dangerous for anyone other than Bryseis to touch it. The book is bound to the metal table, and cannot be moved from it, although it can be opened. Every page of the book has a Glyph of Warding, including the cover, which has 5. The Glyphs on the cover contain the suggestion spell, commanding the target to go through the book by turning one page at a time. Every glyph is triggered by a creature other than Bryseis touching the page the Glyph is on.

Behavior

Bryseis is calm and commanding. She also has a tendency to play tricks on her customers.

She likes to use her One with Shadows feature to lie invisible behind the counter, wait for someone to come in, and freak them out by suddenly appearing just when they think no one's there.

Every time someone buys Spell Scrolls of 1st level or higher from her, she asks them to "sign her book". She flips her Book of Shadows to her Gift of the Protectors page and has them sign there, and then has them sign the Far Scribe page.

At some point in the future, when a creature who has signed their name into the book is saved from death by the magical effect, Bryseis will become aware. She then uses her Far Scribe feature to send the person a message along the lines of "Your life has been saved, the deal is struck, your debt must now be repaid."

She then erases the name from both pages, and laughs at how someone is now very freaked out over just what sort of debt they now have to repay.

She is very talkative, but also guarded. She does not volunteer information easily. She likes to lean into the scary side of Tieflings, and unsettle people. Since not many people need Spell Scrolls, she typically waits until she makes a big sale, then goes off adventuring for a few weeks.

Side Quests

Bryseis might need help at some point, either with a job her patron has asked her to accomplish, or with finding new spells for her collection.

Either way, Bryseis will not give up the information easily, and will need to be persuaded before she'll ask the players to help.

If she asks for help with a job from her patron, the players will aid Bryseis in stopping a ritual by a Cult of Elemental Evil, which could potentially summon a Dao to the material plane, and create a stable portal to the Elemental Plane of Earth.

If she asks for help finding new spells, the players will help Bryseis explore ancient ruins, avoiding traps, and finding spells scribed into an ancient tablet.

DMPC

Oleander Carver (Sometimes called "Ollie").

Oleander is a male human, about 48 years old, 6' 3" tall, with dark brown hair, almost black, pale skin, and grey-blue eyes. He slouches and has sunken eyes, making him look older than he actually is. He wears clothes that incorporates a lot of blacks and whites. Nothing too fancy, but nothing too plain. He also keeps a mask on his person at all times. This mask is black with white patterns covering about half of the surface. The eye holes of the mask are covered with glass, one black tinted, one white tinted.

Oleander is a level 4 Thief Rouge, level 3 Way of Mercy Monk.

Purpose

Oleander is coming to terms with some of the darker things he's done in the past, trying to find a balance between them. The shop is a front, keeping the eyes of the law off of him while he sorts himself out, and also acting as a more literal front for the illicit poison trade Oleander is a part of.

Backstory

Oleander grew up in the city upper class. His relationship with his parents was always rough, as they spent most of their time with family business, and rarely, if ever, had time for him.

Oleander was left to his own devices, and eventually started to leave his family's estate. This eventually led him to making connections with unsavory persons. When he was 25, he joined the local Thieves Guild. He loved the feeling of freedom and control stealing gave him.

Eventually though, the law caught up with him, and he was imprisoned. His family made some pretty hefty bribes to get him released. Those bribes could not, however stop the rumors about his family which stared as a result of his arrest.

Oleander decided to leave the city for a while, both so that the rumors would die down, and also to clear his head. On his travels, he discovered a monastery, and he found the simple lifestyle of the monks oddly comforting. He joined, and began training. After a few years, he returned home.

He started his business as a way to start fresh, but soon his old life came back in. Some of his old criminal contacts requested that he make some poisons for them, something he was well known for back in his criminal days, and he couldn't resist a chance to resume his craft. Soon, he had started an underground poison trade, and was using his store as a front.

Character Stats

Oleander can create a special poison in 1 hour, with his poisoner's kit and 50 gp worth of materials. He creates 3 doses. Once applies to a weapon or ammunition, it retains its potency for 1 minute, or until it has affected a creature. Creature hit by a weapon coated in this poison must make a DC 14 Constitution save or take 2d8 poison damage and become poisoned until the end of the poisoner's next turn.

Shop

"The Ebony Sheep" is, at first glance, a completely normal shop. Containing anything you would expect to find in your run of the mill general store.

However a DC 25 Intelligence (Investigation) check, or a DC 25 Wisdom (Perception) check will reveal a hidden trapdoor behind the counter. This trapdoor is also difficult to open, requiring a DC 20 Strength (Athletics) or a DC 20 Thieves' Tools check to open. Oleander has the key to the trapdoor secured tightly to his belt, hidden under layers of clothes.

The trapdoor hides a staircase which leads to a mid sized room, roughly 30 feet wide, by 30 feet deep, by 15 feet high. It looks like a large cellar, but worktables line the walls, each one full of alchemical supplies for making poisons. There is also a glass case containing a selection of poisons.

The Player Characters will have trouble getting to this secret room to buy poison. Firstly, they need to find out about the room, either by discovering it, or by hearing about it through word of mouth. Next, they need to either break in (which will likely have reprocussions), or get Oleander's permission.

The Players could gain access by having a member of the Thieves Guild, or another loyal customer of Oleander's, vouch for them.

The Players could also gain entry by directly asking Oleander to sell them poison. Depending on their tact, how persuasive they are, and so on, Oleander might deny selling poison, might require the players give him some collateral, or may let them in without any costs. However, gaining entry in this way will mean that Oleander will restrict the Players to nonlethal poisons, until they have proven their discretion by buying poisons at least twice, and not leading the law back to Oleander.

The poisons the players can buy are the following (Nonlethal poisons are bolded):

• Assassin's Blood (125 gp)
• Burnt Othur Fumes (450 gp)
• Carrion Crawler Mucus (220 gp)
• Drow Poison (200 gp)
• Essence of Ether (300 gp)
• Malice (250 gp)
• Midnight Tears (1,500 gp)
• Oil of Taggit (400 gp)
• Pale Tincture (250 gp)
• Poisoner's Poison (100 gp)
• Serpent Venom (200 gp)
• Torpor (550 gp)
• Truth Serum (125 gp)
• Wyvern Poison (1,500 gp)

Behavior

Oleander remains very calm, in nearly every situation, which can be off putting when he works subtle threats into the conversation.

He plays things safe, and tries to stay on the good side of the law, despite his illicit practices. However, he is still on friendly terms with his previous associates, and will not do anything to betray them. He sees poison-making as an art, and enjoys it.

Oleander tries to maintain control of every exchange. He also knows a sufficient amount of law, which has helped him keep the law at bay.

Oleander enjoys meeting new customers, but is mostly a closed box. He does not give much information away, although it is not hard to find out about him, between his criminal contacts and the gossip about him and his family going around to this day.

Side Quests

Oleander still feels conflicted about this poison trade; he see his poison as an art, but he also wants to go straight. Because of this, keeping up appearances is important to him.

The players might have to do some cover-up work for Oleander, destroying evidence, or leading the law astray. If that's the case, the Players will work with Oleander in a stealth or deception based mission, where succeeding will get the law off of Oleander's back, and make it easier for him to maintain his poison trade.

Alternatively, maybe Oleander is having trouble with some members of the Thieves Guild who have started to try blackmailing Oleander, threatening to tip off the law if he doesn't start giving them poison for a greatly reduced price. If that happens, Oleander will aid the Player Characters in the mission. The Players might convince high ranking members of the Guild to intervene, or the may intimidate or assassinate the blackmailers.

Whatever happens, Oleanders quests are likely to involve unlawful activities of some sort. If your Players typically dislike that, they might be brought along on a monster extermination quest, so that Oleander can harvest toxic compounds for his poisons.

DMPC

Turning Pages (Sound of pages being turned). Nicknamed "Pages", or "Paige".

Pages is a Female Kenku, nearly 10 year old, and 4' 8" tall. She tends to wear cloaks of various colors, and has a necklace with feathers from every Kenku in her immediate family interlaced into it. This is her only remaining connection to her old family, and was made by her caretaker, Anna Graves.

Pages is a 2nd level Circle of Stars Druid, and has the Ritual Caster Feat.

Purpose

Pages wants to take care of Anna. Aside from that, she doesn't have much more she wants to do other than run the archives.

Backstory

Pages was once a part of a much larger flock of Kenku, but was separated during a storm when she was only 6 years old. She was unable to find her flock again. She would have died, if it wasn't for Anna Graves, who found her in the forest she had gotten lost in. Anna trained Pages while directing her to a nearby settlement. Anna took care of Pages after that, and they started the archives together. However, Anna became ill after a couple years, and became unable to full care for herself. Since then Pages has been running the archives alone, and has been doing her share to take care of Anna.

Character Stats

Pages is a Circle of Stars Druid, and her necklace is her Star Map. She has 3 1st-level Spell Slots, and has the following spells prepared:

Cantrips: Druidcraft, Guidance

1st-level Spells: Guiding Bolt, Animal Friendship, Cure Wounds, Speak with Animals, Entangle, Goodberry

Pages also has the Ritual Caster Feat, and her book can contain Wizard Spells, with the ritual tag, of first level. Her known rituals are:

Alarm, Comprehend Languages, and Unseen Servant

Shop

Pages and Anna ran the "Wayside Archive" together for a couple years before Anna became ill and Pages had to fully take over. The Wayside Archive is a library and research space.

It consists of three rooms; a main room and two study rooms. The main room is roughly 100 feet wide, 60 feet deep, and 30 feet tall. The room is divided into two stories, with four ladders, one in each of the corners, leading up to that floor. Bookcases line every wall, and most of the space.

Behavior

Pages is still a Kenku child, and acts like one a lot of the time. She will occasionally goof off by using her Wild Shape to greet recurring customers in an animal form.

As a Kenku, Pages cannot speak normally, but has to speak using words and phrases she has heard from others. Most of the phrases she knows are in Anna's voice, but she has picked up a few from others. She asks customers their names, and then will say "hi" when they come in by repeating their name as she heard it.

She likes people and likes to hear stories from them, to the point where she will forget to do her job, and just listen to stories if no one reminds her to stay focused. However, she knows the archives inside and out, and having her as a helper grants a Player Character advantage checks involved in researching.

When she is alone, or when no one requires her services, Pages tends to write down the stories she has heard, makes medicines and balms for Anna using her Herbalism Kit, or researches possible cures for Anna. Since Kenku lack creativity, this is proving to be very difficult for her.

Some bits of nonverbal vocabulary Pages has are as follows:

• Makes the sound of squeaky hinges (Frustration)
• Makes the sound of a child giggling (When she finds something funny)
• Makes the sound of applause (When she is impressed)
• Makes the sound of thunder in a rainstorm (When she is trying to intimidate someone)
• Makes the sound of pages turning (When she wants to hear a story)
• Makes the sound of an owl hooting (When she is tired)
• Makes the sound of flapping wings (Refering to something she misses)
• Makes the sound of a flute (When she is happy)
• Makes the sound of a saw cutting wood (When she is bored)
• Makes the sound of a snake hissing (When she is angry)

Pages is always willing to help the injured and feed the hungry with her spells. She also has a soft spot in her heart for animals. She often uses animal friendship to get closer to them, and then speak with animals to talk with them. It is not uncommon for animals she has befriended or helped to find a way into the Wayside Archive. She has instructed them not to harm the books, or make messes while inside, but some of them still make a mess by bringing in food and mud from the outside.

There are typically no animals inside, but about once a day, for an hour or two, visitors to the archive will find anywhere between 1 - 10 small animals which Pages has let in. On very rare occasions, a larger beast, like a bear or a deer will be inside.

Pages has had trouble connecting with other children, and with Anna in bed for so much of the day, these beasts provide Pages with one of her few sources of actual friends.

Side Quests

Pages wants to cure Anna, but doesn't know how to. Anna's illness causes her to become exceedingly weak for most of the day. While it is not outright deadly, it cannot be cured by the lesser restoration spell. This is due to a slight magical nature of the illness, which nullifies the spell.

The spell canceling effect of the disease can be ended with a casting of remove curse, or a casting of the wish spell. After this effect has been removed, casting lesser restoration will remove the disease, and restore Anna to full health. However, finding out about this option is a challenge in and of itself, requiring the Player Characters to cast either a detect poison and disease or identify spell to find out about this hidden effect of the disease. Since no every party will have these spells prepared, and some of them might not think to use these spells, it is very possible they might not take this option.

If the Players don't cure Anna's illness through their own power, Pages will eventually find out about a rare herb which can be used to make a cure. If the Players help her, they will have to find and collect a quantity of a rare herb which only grows in cold, mountainous climates. Once picked, the herbs maintain potency for one week. The Players will have to get back to Anna before that. If the Players succeed, Anna recovers. After that, Anna will start to help Pages work in the Wayside Archive again, and the Player Characters will be given unlimited access to use the archive and its study rooms.

DMPC

Zyn Duskryn (goes by the alias Peren Firahel).

Zyn is a male Drow, 107 years old, and stands at 5' exactly. His hair is white, and is cut to shoulder length. His skin is black as obsidian, and his eyes are pale, but with a lavender tint. This is what he really looks like. However, he usually is under a disguise self spell, causing his skin to lighten to a pale blue-ish hue, his eyes to green with gold spots, and his hair to turn black, giving him the appearance of a High Elf, rather than a Drow. He wears clothing similar to what most high elves might wear. Zyn's skin is always cool to the touch.

Zyn is an 8th level Shadow Sorcerer.

Purpose

Zyn is without a true home. He knows he cannot return to the Underdark, and isn't even sure he wants to. Meanwhile, he does not belong on the surface. Zyn is trying to live whatever life he can manage to scrape up on the surface, all the while keeping his true identity a secret.

Zyn is also dealing with how the people around town actually seem to enjoy his company. He can't quite come to terms with how he is treated better now than he ever was in the Underdark.

Backstory

Zyn was once a member of a Drow raiding party. Since sorcery was not looked upon lightly in his society, Zyn kept it suppressed.

One night, however, during a raid, things went horribly wrong. The town which the raiding party was targeting had a couple of powerful adventurers visiting it. The raiding party was repelled. Zyn tripped and fell during his escape, and broke his leg. Unable to run farther, and still within the bounds of the town, Zyn cut off and hid his armor in the rubble, and then used his sorcerous powers to cast disguise self. He convinced the townsfolk that he was one of them, and his leg had been broken in the attack.

Zyn spent months in bed as his leg healed, as he hid himself through magic. Eventually he could walk again, but the injury left him with a limp. Due to that, he would be unable to find a place in Drow society, even if he could return (the previous entrance to the Underdark had been collapsed). With no other choice, Zyn had to brave the searing light, and start a new life on the surface.

Having few skills besides his magic and fighting experience, and only being able to hide his appearance for a total of 6 hours a day (3 spell slots and 3 Extended Spells), he took a part time job working at a general store, and often offered to search for materials in the woods. Eventually, he gained enough magical strength that he could remain hidden for the majority of the day, and he took and apprenticeship at a blacksmith. After enough time, he started his own Smithing Shop, which has become a big success in the town.

Most of the townsfolk know about Zyn's sorcerous powers, but are completely accepting of them. Zyn has even used them to help others from time to time. No one knows that Zyn is a Drow, however.

Character Stats

Shop

Zyn's blacksmith shop is called "The Moonsmith's Den", and specializes in small metal items, such as arrows, light weapons, and tools, in order to avoid competition with Zyn's former master's shop. Zyn also knows how to enchant, and is able to duplicate the effects of common and uncommon magical weapons and armor. He also sells a sleeping draft, which has become popular around town, and is secretly derived from Drow Poison, inducing the unconscious effect upon ingestion, without poisoning the creature.

The Moonsmith's Den consists of two parts; the store front and the smithery. The store front is roughly 30 feet wide by 40 feet long, and 10 feet high. It is a little cramped with all the metalwork products strewn about the place on tables and hooks on walls. There is a rope near the entrance, with a sign above it reading "ring to call", which is rigged to a bell system. Behind the counter, there is a solid door, which Zyn had enchanted with the arcane lock spell so that only he can open it. This door leads to a vestibule with another arcane lock door at the end, so that no one can see into the smithery just by opening the first door. The first door is also attached to the bell system, so even if it is opened, Zyn is alerted.

Zyn spends most of his time in the smeltery, since he doesn't have to disguise himself, hence the bell system to call/alert him. He sells the following:

• Metal/Metal Tipped Weapons (Regular Price)
• Metal/Metal Tipped Ammunition (Half Regular Price)
• Metal Items (Regular Price)
• Sleeping Draft, ingested, creature falls unconscious for 1 hour or until damaged or shaken awake, an unwilling creature can make a DC 8 Constitution save (10 gp)
• Enchant Armor, Weapon, or Ammunition, common enchantment (150 gp)
• Enchant Armor, Weapon, or Ammunition, uncommon enchantment (500 gp)

Behavior

Zyn tends to be quiet, reserved, and apprehensive. He tries to focus on business. Despite this, most people in town have become fond of him. When he lets his guard down enough, he tends to be friendly and talkative.

He's still conflicted about life on the surface. When he trusts people enough, he tries to ask them questions about the surface world. He doesn't reveal his true self, rather concocting a story about how he was raised in a somewhat violent tribe in the wilds, and left them a few years before coming to town.

He is very loyal to people he trusts, and defends his adopted home with his life.

Side Quests

Zyn's situation allows for a large number of side quests.

There can be one where the Players discover Zyn's secret, in which case they have to decide whether to confront or reveal Zyn's secret, or if they will keep it a secret. This can also lead to the Players later helping Zyn maintain his secret. Alternatively, perhaps Zyn needs to help the town, at the cost of revealing his secret, and the Players have to convince him to do so.

Another possibility is for Zyn to find an entrance to the Underdark nearby, and decide to enlist the Player Characters to help him cave it in, ensuring that no more raiding parties can come up through it. In this case, the Players will need to go to certain locations, setting explosives, and then leave before the explosives are set off.

The players might help Zyn fend off raiders or pillagers which have come to attack the town, which will result in a, likely impromptu, combat side quest.

Finally, there might be a side quest where the players need to find supplies for Zyn to make more of his sleeping draft (The ingredients should be found somewhere where there is no natural light), or for his enchantments (Could be anywhere). This is a more typical side quest.

Whatever happens, there's a lot of potential side quests with this DMPC.

DMPC

Feng Juleus.

Feng is a male Half-Orc, 32 years old, 6' 8", with black hair cut close to the scalp, and a very powerful build. He wears armor nearly all the time; plate armor for most things, and studded leather when resting, or at formal events (this armor is Glamored Studded Leather).

Feng is a level 12 Battle Master Fighter, level 6 Path of the Berserker Barbarian

Purpose

Feng wants to make his Mercenary Guild the main source of mercenaries in the land. This is mostly due to his desire for acknowledgement and acceptance.

Backstory

Feng never knew his parents; he was orphaned at a young age, and was never adopted. This has left an unquenchable desire for attention and acceptance on him, which continues into his adult life.

As soon as he was an adult, he left to join a mercenary band. Feng and his band of mercenaries became a big name, so big that they were able to retire early. Feng took his retirement fund and put all of it into starting his "Mercenary Guild", a guild based around assigning mercenaries to anyone who is willing to hire them.

Feng hopes that as his guild grows, and becomes more famous, people will take notice of him as well. To this end, he makes sure to assign himself to especially important tasks. In reality, his desire for acknowledgement is insatiable; he is already recognized, he just wants more.

In battle, Feng channels his inner rage and strength from his Orcish heritage to push himself past his normal limits, combining it with his martial skills to defeat his foes. When faced with an exceptionally strong enemy, Feng goes into a berserk rage to take them down.

Character Stats

Feng has 5d10s and 2d6s as his Superiority dice, and the following Battle Master Maneuvers:

• Menacing Attack
• Pushing Attack
• Sweeping Attack
• Disarming Attack
• Bait and Switch
• Goading Attack
• Commanding Presence
• Quick Toss
• Ambush
• Brace

Feng's Battle Master DC is 19.

Feng typically wields a Greataxe for one on one combat, and a Battleaxe for many foes, which gives him a chance to use his Javelins to attack the distant foes.

Feng is relentless in combat, and doesn't care about fighting fair. One trick he uses is hitting a foe with a Disarming Attack, then using two Pushing Attacks to leave his foe without any weapon.

Shop

Feng doesn't have an actual shop, but rather owns a number of buildings throughout the land which act as hubs for the guild members. The main hub is the "Galdiator Pit", and is where Feng spends most of his time if he is not on a job.

At any of the hubs, people can submit a job, after which a mercenary will be chosen to take the job. These mercenaries are chosen by their personal skills, as well as the money fronted by the customer; more skilled mercenaries typically cost more. The guild takes a 5% cut of any job payment.

These mercenaries act as hireable NPC party members, if the Player Characters want to post a job.

Players will be assigned mercenaries based on the amount of money they put down for the job. If the job is too dangerous to justify the payment (like hiring a level 1 mercenary to help fight an Ancient Dragon), no mercenary will accept the offer. The expected level of the mercenaries based on gold offered is as follows, with specific requests costing an additional 50%:

• Less than 10 gp (level 1, or below)
• 11 gp - 50 gp (level 1 - 2)
• 51 gp - 200 gp (level 2 - 3)
• 201 gp - 500 gp (level 3 - 4)
• 501 gp - 1,000 gp (level 4 - 6)
• 1,001 gp - 2,000 gp (level 7 - 9)
• 2,001 gp - 5,000 gp (level 9 - 14)
• 5,001 gp - 10,000 gp (level 14 -17)
• 10,001 gp - 25,000 gp (level 17 - 20)

Specific requests include mercenaries with levels in a certain class, with proficiency in a certain skill, resistance to certain damage, etc.

Mercenaries will stay and help the party for the hired job, which should require fewer than 5 encounters. If a mercenary dies during a job, there is no penalty, since this work comes with its risks, but the Player Party may start to get a bad reputation with the guild if it happens on a regular basis. Mercenaries might stop accepting jobs from the party, unless they pay double the normal rate, or the guild may start an investigation, to ensure these deaths are actually accidental, and not due to neglect or intention.

Behavior

Feng comes off as gruff and brutish. He is an imposing figure, stronger than most regular Orcs, even though he's only a Half-Orc. He likes to play into his Orcish intimidation. That being said, he's totally capable of being civilized and eloquent, and is never rude to potential customers.

If the Players Characters are mercenaries, they could potentially be hired by Feng, in which case, Feng is a firm and stubborn, but also caring boss. Alternatively, they might not join Feng's group, in which case he is likely to dislike the players due to the competition. This could potentially lead to Feng becoming more of a rival, than shopkeeper.

Side Quests

Normally, as a 18th level mercenary, the players would need to pay in the 10,000 - 25,000 gp range in order to have Feg join the party for any time. However, if Feng feels the mission the players are on is important enough, or will bring enough attention to his guild, he will join the party for a reduced price, or even free of charge.

Other options include looking for missing mercenaries with Feng, spreading good (or bad) publicity about Feng's guild, and possibly joining Feng on a difficult job for another client.

The side quests you can create for Feng depends on the Player Characters' relation with Feng. Are they customers? Employees? Rivals? The answer determines what you can do with this character.

DMPC

Amber Sparkforge.

Amber is a female Mountain Dwarf. She is 98 years old, 4' 9" tall, with reddish-brown hair, and a tanned complexion. Her clothing usually has light blue and gold accents to it. She also wears a circlet with jade and emerald inlays.

Amber is a level 10 War Wizard.

Purpose

Amber wishes to continue her research in the arcane arts, and runs her shop in order to fund the, quite frankly, expensive research she does.

She hopes that, with enough success, she can meet her father's expectations. Her goal is to design and build an arcane forge, capable of allowing a fine smith to perfectly shape even adamantium, that can turn a single spark into roaring hellfire, and that can infuse steel with magical energy from the moment it is placed withing the flame.

Backstory

Amber is the daughter of a well established dwarven blacksmith. For the longest time, she was expected to take over for her father when she was old enough. However, Amber was never as interested in smithing as her father. Her interests lay in arcane studies.

Amber wanted to impress her father, but also wanted to continue her studies, so she began to design a way to combine the two. Amber's father, however continued to push her to invest more time into her practice of smithing, and less time in her arcane studies. Eventually, the two got into a fight, and Amber left home.

Amber's studies taught her how to make paper and ink suited for arcane scribing, so she started making an selling this paper for a living. She never forgot about her plans to combine smithing and arcane arts, however, and has been working on creating an arcane forge ever since. She belives that once she has created the forge, she can show it to her father to earn his respect.

Character Stats

As a 10th level Wizard, Amber has four 1st-level slots, three 2nd-level slots, three 3rd-level slots, three 4th-level slots, two 5th-level slots. She can prepare 13 spells, and her known spells are:

Cantrips: Shocking Grasp, Mending, Mage Hand, Fire Bolt, Control Flames

1st-level spells: Burning Hands, Shield, Magic Missle, Chromatic Orb, Absorb Elements, Catapult, Earth Tremor, Unseen Servant

2nd-level spells: Flaming Sphere, Scorching Ray, Dragon's Breath, Magic Weapon

3rd-level spells: Counterspell, Dispel Magic, Glyph of Warding, Melf's Minute Meteors

4th-level spells: Fire Shield, Fabricate, Wall of Fire, Elemental Bane

5th-level spells: Bigby's Hand, Immolation, Skill Empowerment, Conjure Elemental

Shop

Amber's shop is not really much of a shop. Amber runs it out of her home, and she patrons have simply taken to calling it "Amber's Place". She's mostly working on her studies at home, and only stops when she has customers, or she needs to restock on products and materials. Amber's asking prices are as follows:

• 50 or 100 gp of paper and ink (regular price)
• 150, 200, or 250 gp of paper and ink (143 gp, 190 gp, and 238 gp respectively)
• 300, 350, or 400 gp of paper and ink (270 gp, 325 gp, and 360 gp respectively)
• 450 gp worth of paper and ink (390 gp)
• 500 + gp of paper and ink (15% off price, rounded up)

Behavior

Amber is polite, as long as she is treated politely as well. She can be rough with others, and always has a "no nonsense" attitude. She is very friendly, by dwarven standards, and always finds time for friends and customers. Her hospitality almost rivals some Halflings in that regard. She can be hasty, and has a tendancy of not thinking things through

She uses magic in most of what she does. When testing her arcane forge, she will use control flames to shape the fire just right, and uses skill empowerment to boost her skills when she is going to need them. In battle, she uses spells like fire shield and magic weapon on herself, before rushing into the fray. This, obviously, gets her hurt and in trouble more often than not.

Amber is interested in anything arcane, and becomes distracted by such tings easily. She is especially interested in anything that could help her in her work: fire spells, enchantments, transmutation spells, etc.

Side Quests

Amber has a couple of side quests which can involve the Players. She may need help from time to time gathering materials for her forge, which can lead the Players to locales such as volcanoes, underground rivers of lava, and places where creatures attuned to fire live.

Amber might also commission the Players to teach her a spell, giving her access to a spell she has yet to figure out. Some spells she has a particular interest in are the magic circle spell, the planar binding spell, Mordenkainen's private sanctum, the animate objects spell, the conjure minor elementals spell, and the protection from energy spell. If a Player Character teaches her a spell, she may give them a reward, either in the form of 200 - 300 gp worth of paper and ink, or teaching the Player CHaracter a spell in return, of a level up to the level of the spell the Player Character taught Amber.

If at some point, Amber finishes her design for her forge, likely with a lot of Player help, she will want to present her plans to her father. The Players can choose to join her, and might have an impact at how Amber's work is recieved by her father. How this one lays out depends on the DM.

DMPC

Aoth Reitien.

Aoth is a male Protector Aasimar. He is 34 years old, 5' 5" tall, with amber colored skin and black hair. He wears plain white robes most of the time. He is pacifistic in nature, and avoids conflict at all costs. As a result, he does not wear armor, despite knowing how to use it, and his only weapon is a quarterstaff. That being said, he is not to be underestimated, as he keeps a number of combat spells prepared, in case of emergencies.

Aoth can follow any Good Aligned god in your setting, but preferable one that whose suggested domains contain the life domain, but not the war domain.

Aoth is a 14th level Life Domain Cleric

Purpose

Aoth wishes to heal the sick and the wounded, no matter their lot in life. This can occasionally bring him into conflict with his Angelic Guide, who believes that Aoth should be more choosy with who he heals, as he has been known to heal even criminals without hesitation. As long as the person is not actively harming or seeking to harm others, Aoth will show them mercy.

Aoth, on the other hand, feels that there is no point to compassion if it is restricted to a certain caste of people.

Backstory

Aoth was identified as an Aasimar at a young age, and inducted into the temple soon after. Aoth had little time with his parents, meaning that the temple provided most of his family. His only "parental figure" was his Angelic Guide, Myldriel, who appears to Aoth in his dreams.

Aoth became increasingly faithful and soon awakened the divine powers inside of him, as well as gaining favor with his deity. He practiced, and studied, and trained all the way until adulthood. After that, he became a priest of the temple, and began to offer to tend for the sick and wounded who came in.

Some of the temple priests and initiates feel, like Myldriel, that Aoth should heal only certain people, and wish he would stop healing the unfaithful who sometimes come in just to be healed. Others, however, argue that Aoth's kindheartedness is exactly how they are taught to be, and that to do otherwise would be hypocritical. Still others notice that the number of conversions have increased in response to so many of the faithless visiting the temple, and agree Aoth should continue his work.

The people of the city see Aoth as a good man, and even people who might have issues with the church admit that they have nothing against Aoth specifically.

Character Stats

As a Cleric, Aoth has 4 1st-level spell slots, 3 2nd-level slots, 3 3rd-level slots, 3 4th-level slots, 2 5th-level slots, 1 6th-level slot, and 1 7th-level slot. Aoth's prepared spells are as follows:

Cantrips: Light, Guidance, Resistance, Sacred Flame, Spare the Dying, Thaumaturgy

1st-level spells: Bless, Cure Wounds, Healing Word, Sanctuary, Inflict Wounds, Purify Food and Drink, Detect Poison and Disease.

2nd-level spells: Lesser Restoration, Spiritual Weapon, Aid, Protection from Poison, Prayer of Healing, Warding Bond

3rd-level spells: Beacon of Hope, Revivify, Mass Healing Word, Remove Curse, Spirit Guardians

4th-level spells: Death Ward, Guardian of Faith, Banishment, Divination

5th-level spells: Mass Cure Wounds, Raise Dead, Greater Restoration, Dispel Evil and Good

Shop

Aoth does not have a shop, but rather works out of the temple which is his home. It is designed however you choose.

Aoth does not require payments for his work, but does request them from those who can afford them. This is especially true if the healing required is a higher level slot, or consumes material components.

Aoth will no ask for payment from individuals that cannot afford it. If they still wish to repay him, Aoth will suggest an alternate payment, or allow them to repay the temple in installments.

Aoth's suggested prices for those who can afford it are as follows:

10 gp per level of the spell, plus the cost of any material components.

Paying significantly more than required might grant the players favor with the Temple.

Behavior

Aoth is humble, kind hearted, and compassionate. Aoth wants to do the right thing, which can make him seem aloof or self-righteous at times. In fact, there a number of individuals in the Temple who dislike this attitude.

Aoth's biggest weakness is his inability to confront people or problems. He will not force anyone to pay for his services, which has led to some less scrupulous individuals requesting his services for free, despite the fact they can easily pay.

Aoth's only rule for healing is that he doesn't heal those who are going to harm others immediately after. If he has reason to suspect that is the case, he won't refuse to heal them, but will call the city guard in beforehand. He won't call the guards for every criminal, though; petty theft and the like are treated the same as anyone else. SOme of the other priests have begun to keep an eye on who goes to Aoth for healing, and have started to secretly alert the guard when they see someone suspicious getting healed by him.

Aoth does not currently know about this, as he remains focused on his work. As mentioned, he's a little aloof sometimes. Should he find out about this, he would feel betrayed and be angry at how the others went behind his back, and used his goodwill against the people he was trying to help.

Aoth is not ignorant to why people do not fully agree with his action. In fact, he fully understands and admits that they have a point. However, he feels that it goes against the teachings of his faith to restrict his healing to only those he deems worthy, no matter how sure he is of who deserves it and who doesn't.

Side Quests

Aoth's job involves healing the wounded, so his side quests are likely to revolve around that. He might run out of material components for his healing spells, and may ask for the Players to obtain more of them, for which he will likely pay one and a half times their price.

Another option is that Aoth needs to leave the temple in order to heal someone, or more likely, a group of people. This can result in an escort quest, where Aoth will need the Players to help him reach his goal. Aoth will need to conserve his spell slots for when he reaches the wounded, so he will be of limited use, but he might still help. For added challenge, Aoth will request that the Players not kill any creatures on their way, if they can help it. Whether or not the Players succeed won't change much, but if the Players manage to avoid killing too many creature, they may gain an additional favor or two with the tmeple.

Aoth, or some of the priests, may contact the Players about an individual seeking aid, which either Aoth or the priests worry might go on to cause harm to others. Regardless of who contacts the Party, Aoth will not refrain from healing the individual, and it will be up to the Player Characters to keep an eye on him, and stop him from causing harm, if he is indeed planing on harming others.

Finally, the side quest may involve the priest who do not approve of how Aoth heals anyone, regardless of faith or deed. They may decide to discredit Aoth's position in the temple,and it would be up to the players to either help them (if they agree that Aoth's actions lack the proper foresight), or hinder them (if they think this is too extreme a solution to the problem). This will result in social encounters and possible stealth encounters that may require investigation, persuasion, deception, and similar skills.

Aoth's potential lies in how his actions are so morally white in a morally gray world, and his side quests can often be made to bring questions about this into the light.

DMPC

Klisz (Uses name Krissy)

Klisz is a female goblin. She is roughly 16 years old, 3'7", and has black hair, which covers her eyes, ears, and neck. She tends to use her spells to disguise herself to look like a Gnome or Halfling. Regardless of her appearance, she tends to wear a brown cloak, and carries a leather bag over her shoulder.

Klisz is a level 10 College of Glamour Bard

Purpose

Klisz wants to see the world, make lots of money, and live a happy life. It's about as simple as that for her. She doesn't really care how she achieves her goals, so long as it doesn't risk causing her harm.

Klisz's most recent money making scheme is her shop, which is completely legal, but does admittedly take advantage of people in need.

Backstory

Klisz grew up in a typical Goblin community, hidden in a den underground, she actually had relative safety as a child. She eventually came of age, and decided to go out on a raid with the other Goblins.

That raid was the first time she had ever been on the surface, and she discovered that she loved it. After that raid, she started to make plans to leave the other Goblins, and venture out into the surface world.

She stole some supplies from the stores at night, and snuck out. Not the wisest among Goblins, Klisz didn't think ahead, and would have likely been killed on sight, if she hadn't come across a kindly bard on her travels. Klisz stayed with the bard for some time, and learned the basics of bardic magic from him. Then, one night, she stole his sitar, and ran off by herself.

SInce then, Klisz has been using magic to hide her Goblin features, and to help her scam, rob, or trick others out of their coin. She tapped into charming magics in order to scam and steal even more, with no consequences. However, recently, she has learned a new magical trick which has the potential to make her even more money than ever before, and for once, it is entirely legal. Entirely legal means no risk, so Klisz is very happy to have this opportunity.

Character Stats

Klisz has four 1st-level spell slots, three 2nd-level slots, three 3rd-level slots, three 4th-level slots, and 2 5th-level slots. She also knows 14 spells, shown below:

Cantrips: Vicious Mockery, Prestidigitation, Message, Friends

1st-level spells: Disguise Self, Unseen Servant, Silent Image, Sleep, Dissonant Whispers

2nd-level spells: Invisibility, Calm Emotions

3rd-level spells: Hypnotic Pattern, Major Image

4th-level spells: Confusion, Polymorph, Leomund's Secret Chest*

5th-level spells: Wall of Force

*Klisz's version of Leomund's Secret Chest allows her to bind the chest to as many replica chests as she wants. The original caster knows when a summon occurs.

Shop

Klisz's shop is more of a service, really. She refers to it as the "Instant Shop".

The "Instant Shop" uses Klisz's special version of the Leomund's Secret Chest spell. She gives anyone who pays her one of the replica chests, which allows the wielder to summon the chest to them at any time. She puts paper, a quill, and some ink in the chest, and people who summon the chest write what they want to buy, as well as the gold required to buy it (there is a reference sheet adhered to the top of the chest). Klisz offers anything which can be found at a typical store. Once the customer writes what they want, they send the chest back to the Ethereal Plane, and Klisz summons it to her. She gets the goods, and sends the chest back to the Ethereal Plane. The customer then summons the chest back, grabs their items, and sends the chest back.

The caster of the spell can override a summon at any time, so it is not possible for customers to steal the chest, and attempting to do so will likely result in a ban from Klesz.

Every 60 days, Kleszy resummons the chest, and ends the spell. Customers need to return and pay the membership fee again in order to be given access to the spell when Klesz recasts the spell in 10 days.

The costs associated with buying from Klesz are as follows:

• Membership, 60 gp.
• All goods, one and a half times regular price,
• Handling fee, 5 sp.

The major benefit of Klesz's shop isn't the price, but rather the convenience. Players can summon her chest anywhere, so it saves the trouble of going back to the nearest town every time. Forgot/lost your rope? Summon the Instant Shop. Need food or water? Summon the Instant Shop. Need healing potions? Well... you can decide that Klesz doesn't have access to them if you want, but healing to full on healing potions costs a lot, anyway, so maybe you don't need to worry about it.

Behavior

Klesz can be unscrupulous; she will often give a sales pitch using her Enthralling Performance Feature, in order to get people to spread the word about her service. That being said, she is not stupid. She avoids taking risks, and doesn't even do much that's illegal nowadays.

Klesz has an extreme fascination with the surface world, and has been known to give frequent travelers membership discounts, if they agree to send her lots of souvenirs. In person she will tell stories about the places she's visited, and ask for adventurers to share stories in return. Long distance (via her shop), she sometimes sends notes, asking her customers where they are, and if they can describe it.

Klesz is greedy; she doesn't allow for returns, and she keeps any change. If she can get away with stealing a few coins, unnoticed, she will.

During the 60 days when her spell is active, Klesz tends to stock up on supplies, and go adventuring, seeing the world and visiting new places. Her range is limited to how far she can travel in 30 days, so she has learned of a number of teleportation circles, and uses them to venture out even farther. She has one permanent circle which she commissioned to be made in her home, so she is only as far as the nearest teleportation circle.

Side Quests

Klesz is not usually around, due to the nature of her shop. That being said, there are a few possible side quests.

Firstly, the Players might have trouble when trying to renew their membership; perhaps there are too many people asking for membership, so Klesz leaves it up to a bidding war, possibly leading the players to cutting a bargain in secret, or stealing from the other bidders.

Another option, the Player Characters might run into Klesz during their travels, while she's exploring, possibly leading to her Goblin self being exposed, or just her joining the Player Characters for a while.

Finally, it is possible that Klesz's past catches up with her; a robbery she committed in the past, or someone she charmed has found her and wishes to dispense justice. Possibly even the bard, whose hospitality Klesz took advantage of. The Players choose whether to help Klesz to keep their access to her shop, possibly resulting in a discount, or to help bring her to justice. Maybe the Players decide to take an alternate road, making peace without Klesz getting arrested or possibly even killed.

DMPC

Selise Agosta.

Selise is a female human. She is 34 years old, 5'2", with long black curly hair, dark mahogany skin, and dark green eyes. She wears clothes that are slightly loose to allow for better movement, typically in maroon or deep blue colors.

Selise is a level 18 Battle Smith Artificer

Purpose

Selise just wants to keep on running her shop and expanding her knowledge of arcane enchanting. She doesn't want to keep on putting herself in danger through adventuring, but gets bored without anything to do.

In a way, Selise enjoys having adventurers as customers, since it allows her to stay in touch with the adventuring lifestyle without needing to expose herself to the danger that comes from it.

Backstory

Selise was saved by an adventurer when she was only 10 years old, and became infatuated with the lifestyle after that. With no parents, being passed around from one distant relation to another, the idea of adventuring provided Selise with a possible way to gain some control over her chaotic life.

When she was 16, she left and started adventuring on her own. Luckily, she didn't run into any trouble before she made it to the next town over, and managed to convince a group of traveling adventurers to let her tag along. Most of them were passive about her, but one of them, an elven Artificer named Aelar, took a liking to her, and taught her the basics of artifice. Selise has been learning and mastering those arts ever since.

Selise's wanderlust wouldn't wait for anyone, though, and she ended up leaving the group when they decided to take some downtime to relax. She kept on finding new groups, joining, and eventually leaving. This continued for many years, and Selise became a very powerful Artificer in that time.

However, even Selise's wanderlust couldn't last forever. As she climbed to the top, she realized that she was beginning to crave something else. She wanted a life where she wouldn't have to remain on guard for potential threats all the time. She wanted a life where she could stop and smell the roses. She wanted to settle down somewhere. So, Selise retire from adventuring. However, she soon realized that retirement wasn't for her, and opened up her shop so that she could spend her life doing something safe for a change.

Character Stats

As an Artificer, Selise has four 1st-level spell slots, three 2nd-level slots, three 3rd-level slots, three 4th-level slots, and 1 5th-level slot. Her prepared spells are as follows:

Cantrips: Mending, Thunderclap, Green-Flame Blade, Shocking Grasp,

1st-level spells: Catapult, Identify, Faerie Fire, Tasha's Caustic Brew, Heroism, Shield

2nd-level spells: Heat Metal, Magic Weapon, Aid, Branding Smite, Warding Bond

Shop

Selise's shop is called "The Magicraftery", which she insists is a clever name. It is a large, open room, about 240 feet by 240 feet by 50 feet tall. There is a large central table, that acts as the checkout desk, and divides up the room. The room is not so well stocked to fill the space perfectly, but it is mostly full.

Most of what Selise sells are small magical trinkets, such as some of the Trinkets on the trinket chart in the Player's Handbook. These sell for pretty low prices, and were mostly mad to alleviate Selise's boredom. At any time, there will likely be 1d10 magical items, like the ones in the DM's guide. Most of these will be common or uncommon, but occasionally, the Player might find a rare item in the mix.

The room is well lit, and the walls are plastered with curios, art, and items that Selise has found. Selise tends to spend her time tinkering on some magical device on the center table, and greets any customer who comes in with a smile. She leaves later in the day to work on new magical items, at home, where she has all the supplies and materials she needs.

The Players can also make a request of Selise, and she will be willing to make the magic item for them, for the right price. Pricing varies, but Selise will typically price the items she has premade at a discount, while charging the regular price for items she makes as a request.

She may knock the price down in return for materials she needs in order to make the item. The price of an item and time it might take to make can be found in the downtime activities in Xanathar's Guide to Everything, or online.

Behavior

Selise is cheerful, and kind to everyone who enters her shop. She likes a challenge, and gets happy whenever someone puts in a tough order. She always needs something to keep her occupied; rest and relaxation without purpose doesn't sit well with her. If she's left alone with nothing to do, she will find something to do within the hour.

She often looks back on her days as an adventure with nostalgia. She misses those days, but also feels like her current lifestyle is a lot better for her. Here she can be her own person, in charge of her own life, without needing to worry about if she'll be killed by some monster the next day.

She likes talking with adventurers. She will freely give them tips and advice for what to do in any situation... even when no one asks her.

One last remnant of her life as an adventurer, is a small stone dagger with runes in it, which Selise keeps in a glass case. That dagger is Selise's Spell Storing Item, and holds the enlarge/reduce spell. Selise used this dagger in her final mission as an adventurer, shrinking an iron golem to a more manageable size. With the golem shrunk, she was able to push it into a pit with the help of her Steel Defender. She considers it to be her crowning achievement, and has kept the dagger since.

Selise likes to play with her Steel Defender when she has nothing else to do, tossing a steel bar, while it chases after it. At any other time, the Steel Defender will be standing sentry, making sure nothing happens to its master.

Side Quests

Side quests involving Selise might involve going on a quest to find the materials which Selise needs for a magical item. THis will most likely result in a discount for the Players.

Another option is that Selise gets a case of wanderlust again, and wants to revisit some of the sites of her old adventures. This can be simplified by having teleportation circles near the locations, which will greatly cut down on the travel. In these cases, Selise wants the Players to join her so that she won't end up exposing herself to unnecessary danger again. The quest will be more along the lines of skill challenges and survival quests, since Selise already knows how to deal with the beasts and other creatures which might attack the Party. The Players will be responsible for ensuring that the Party doesn't get lost, and doesn't run out of food or supplies.

DMPC

Lel'ith, Refers to herself either with the title "Soldier of Vlaakith", or "Orphan Master", but not in front of townsfolk, or people she's just met. Meanwhile the kids refer to her as "Miss Lilly", despite all her protests.

Lel'ith is a Githyanki. She has lived for close to 60 years, but due to how most of that time was spent on the Astral Sea, she is physically only 20 years old. She the left side of her head is clean shaven, and the right side has black hair combed to the left, reaching to her shoulder.

Lel'ith is a level 3 Bladesinger Wizard, level 7 Psi Warrior, level 3 Soulknife Rouge.

Purpose

Lel'ith wants to return home to the Astral Sea, but has no ability to do so. Until she finds a way to accomplish that, she will take care of the orphaned children that have taken a liking to her, and run the shop in order to get the funds to take care of them, as well as to research how to return home.

On top of that, Lel'ith wants to procure treasures that she can take with her, hoping that this will excuse her absence.

Backstory

Lel'ith was brought up like most Githyanki; trained as a warrior from birth, and instilled with an unshakable devotion to their ruler, Vlaakith. Lel'ith wanted to rise through the ranks, possibly becoming a kith'rak, a commander, someday.

All her dreams came crashing down when, after her first raid, she was thrown from the ship as it was in mid-transition to the Astral Sea. Some last resistance by the city they had sacked had managed to clip the ship with a ballista shot. Lel'ith was lucky, all things considered; being thrown into the space between the planes could have deposited her anywhere on any plane or demi-plane, but instead it deposited her on the material plane, near a small town where no one had even heard of the Gith.

Not knowing where she was, she decided to enter the town and gather her bearings. She had enough foresight to avoid causing trouble, since she was outnumbered, and even if she took out everyone in town, she still wouldn't know where to go, and she'd have limited supplies on top of that. People in town gave her a wide berth, since they didn't know what race she was, and she was clearly an accomplished fighter, but they treated her well when she talked to them. She was able to get a job as a bouncer at the bar in the inn, in return for free food and lodging.

After a few weeks, she managed to get enough of an understanding of the lay of the land to figure out where she might go to find a way back home. Only, the nearest city that might have some way of bringing her closer to home was a good 2 months travel away by horse... and was also the city that she and the other Githyanki had attacked. Lel'ith decided that she'd have to find her way home by herself.

She decided that if she was going to live in town, she would need better living conditions, so she struck a bargain with an old shopkeeper, she would run his shop for him, and he would give her a small salary. In reality. she knew the old man would not live for long, and planned to claim his shop and home as her own when he died. SInce he had no family, no one in town contested Lel'ith's claim when he died a year later.

Lel'ith started running the shop, as she planned how to return home. Some of the local orphans started visiting her, at first just because she was strange, and eventually because they liked her. Lel'ith was, at first agitated by the children coming in and trying to talk with her or wander around her store, but eventually she realized that they had a connection. They were all lost souls, they had been seperated in one way or another from their family. Lel'ith began to enjoy their presence, and teaching them. She mostly taught them about the importance of strength in one's life, and how if they allowed themselves to become weak, that weakness could lead others to harm.

Some members of the town have heard of Lel'ith's lessons, and worry that her lessons are a little too heavy or pessimistic for the children, but no one has yet decided that she is going too far. Most people are wary of Lel'ith, but no one dislikes her; it's just that most people get this impression that her life before she came into town wasn't the best.

The orphans who hang around Lel'ith's shop have an interesting effect on her. Githyanki are normally easily bored, and the idea of one putting up with running a humble shop in the middle of nowhere for so long is unheard of. For the longest time, the only thing keeping Lel'ith in check was her loyalty to Vlaakith. Now, she runs the shop to see the orphans again. Something about seeing them grow up and happily live their lives had an impact on her. It is almost the complete opposite of the life she has lived; they follow no leader, they care not for fighting, they live in poverty, with no extravagant treasures to liven their lives, and they do the same things every day, yet they never get bored, and all throughout this, they have found happiness.

Character Stats

As a 3rd level Wizard, Lel'ith has four 1st-level spell slots, and two 2nd-level slots. She knows the following spells, and can prepare of them

Lel'ith (Lilly)

Medium Humanoid (Githyanki), lawful evil

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• Armor Class 10
• Hit Points (7d10 + 3d8 + 3d6)
• Speed 30ft.

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STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
12 (+1)	16 (+3)	14 (+2)	18 (+4)	12 (+1)	8 (-1)

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• Skills Arcana + 9, History + 9, Stealth + 8, Performance + 4, Athletics + 5, Intimidation + 4
• Tools Vehicles (Air), Dice Set
• Saving Throws Int +9, Wis +6
• Senses Darkvision 60 ft, Passive Perception 11
• Languages Common, Gith, Deep Speech

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Fury of the Small Once per rest, when Klisz damages a creature, she can increase the damage dealt by 10.

Nimble Escape Klisz can take the Disengage or Hide action as a bonus action on each of her turns.

Bardic Inspiration Klisz has 4d10s, which can be given to other creatures as a bonus action, who use them and add them to any ability check, saving throw, or attack roll they make in the next 10 minutes. Klisz can also use an inspiration die and inspire up to 4 creatures of her choice within 30 feet of her, giving them11 temporary hit points, and allowing them to move up to its speed as a reaction without provoking attacks of opportunity. The inspiration die are regained at the end of a short or long rest.

Enthralling Performance Once per rest, Klisz can charm creatures within 60 feet by giving a performance for 1 minute. Any creature in the area makes a DC 16 Wisdom save, or idolize and protect Klisz for 1 hour. They will avoid violence, however.

Mantle of Majesty Once per long rest, Klisz can cast command as a bonus action without expending a spell slot. After doing so, so long as she concentrates on the effect, like a spell, she can repeat this bonus action every turn for up to 1 minute. Creatures charmed by her automatically fail their saves.

Jack of all Trades Klisz adds 2 to all skill checks that don't already include her proficiency bonus.

Song of Rest At the end of a short rest, allies regain an additional 1d8 hit points.

Shop

Lel'ith's shop is "The Astral Pouch", although many people around town still know it by its old name, "The Stationary Cart".

It is a small general store near the edges of town, slthough Lil'eth has been putting in work to renovate it as of late. The store is about what you'd expect; a big open room, an employee lounge behind the counter, and a storage room connected to the employee lounge. The place is filled with pretty much everything you'd be able to find in a normal store, and they cost the same too.

The differences between this store, and a regular general store, is that Lil'eth offers a bit more. Lil'eth offers Potions of Greater Healing, for 100 gp. She also offers a small selection of common magic items (DMs choice).

One final service Lil'eth offers is that she will pay the Players in return for treasures: gems, jewelry, artworks, magic items, etc. She pays market price for magic items, and will give a 5% bonus for other treasures. These items are kept hidden in a storage space Lil'eth has made in her home.

Behavior

Lel'ith is cold towards others, like she doesn't want to get to know anyone. Despite this, if she does get to know someone, her personality does a turnaround, and she becomes very friendly.

Despite this, Lil'eth is a little concieted, and sees herself as superior to other creatures. She is also very goal driven, and still hopes to return to the Astral Sea someday.

Lil'eth is often extreme in her views; she sees strength as being absolute, and weakness as a liability. She can care for others, but usually tries to toughen them up in this way. However, she has trouble doing this, as she does not want to hurt those she cares about. She worries that this is a weakness in herself, and wonders how to get rid of it.

Side Quests

Lil'eth can have a number of side quests, depending on what the Players want to do with her.

They might decide to help her on her way to the Astral Sea, which may involve smuggling her into hostile territory searching for answers.

The might also go on a treasure hunting quest for her, seeking out an relic she has heard of, and getting a hefty reward upon completion (for added drama, you can make the relic magical, forcing the Players to decide whether to keep it or deliver it). In this case, the Players will be seeking the relic in some, probably dangerous, location. There might also be a rival group of treasure hunters, who the Players need to beat to the relic.

Finally, there's a question of morality. Lil'eth is teetering on the edge between evil and neutral alignment. It is possible that the Players might have enough of an effect on her to cause her to change her views on the world. If this happens, Lil'eth will likely realize how her life on the Material Plane is actually better than the one she used to have, and decide to stay, rather than seek to return home.