Community

36. A Note Under the Door

You still don't quite know why you decided to follow the directions on the note that you found just inside your door that one morning. All you know is that you set out from the inn that morning, proceeded to the fountain in the merchants' quarter, found the loose stone, and the instructions hidden behind it. It was a simple task, and you finished it before nightfall. The next morning you found a small pouch with some silver in it and a note that simplyl read "Well done. Be in touch again soon."

From that point on you've gotten instructions in this manner from time to time. No matter how far you've travelled - a note has always found its way to you when whoever - whatever - wrote them wanted you to run a little 'errand' for he/she/it/them again. There were even two that warned you that you were in danger and pointed you to your best way out of it. As time has passed, you've found each task to be increasingly difficult but never overwhelming. The rewards have grown correspondingly as well. Still, you've had a burning desire to find out who or what is sending these things to you. So, one day, you wrote back. The note simply said "When do my companions and I get to meet you." The only word written on the reply was "soon." Is someone just being coy, or has the time for answers finally come?

38. A Town Called Malice

Once you've escorted the innocent to the capital you find that you've landed yourselves into a small city whose decadence rivals that of Mos Eisley. Still, to the matter at hand. Once you've gotten the innocent to the Tiefling, you find him to be a very unusual and subtly disturbing character. He's quite solicitous but never smarmy. When it comes to the procedure itself, he is deadly serious and utterly professional. Although that actual ritual of reversal (call it what you like, DMs) is closed to you, you are pleased to see the innocent recovering. What's striking, however, is how quickly the tattoos begin to vanish and drain through the catheter in his/her arm into the jar set aside for collecting the sins.

Over time, the Tiefling wizard can make an effective patron/conctact/foe. The idea is to have an npc who is knowledgeable and well-connected enough to provide the party with plenty of options. Do they wish to become his right-hand, an occasional information broker or contractor, or do they find what he does to be detestable? If the latter, they should take care, for you see, the wizard is not only an aracanist par excellance but also quite a merchant. The concentrated evil that he collects is almost unbelievably valuable. It is often used as a key component into the performance of profane rituals or the creation of cursed or fell magic items. Angels claiming to serve the cause of the light are drawn to the foul stuff procure the stuff from time to time as part of what they claim to be 'research' into the nature of evil. Devils covet it and often use it in their foul rituals. Many frequently use as a sort of infernal currency, and more than a few savor it for its own sake, finding concentrated evil to be as delightfully intoxcicating to them as wine is to humans and fey. In short, this wizard has managed to corner the market on what is arguably this plane's most valuable commodity. As time has gone by, this has secured the Tierfling's place in the order of things. He has what everyone seems to want, and to move against him is to invite the wraith of many beings fair, foul, or otherwise who wish to see these perverse trade continue uninterrupted.