Sunday, April 4, 2010

Unexplored Worlds: Professor Nayli's Apothecary Shop

  • Professor Nayli opened his apothecary shop in a narrow two-story building that was once home to squatters and assorted vermin. After the local guardsmen drove the occupants out, Nayli moved in and started selling his wares. He has never taken an interest in maintenance, though previous apprentices preformed what upkeep they could with varying degrees of success. As such, the building is not much to look at from the outside. But for the professor and his shoppers, what is inside is much more important.

  • He earned the title of professor working as a tutor to the children of noble parents. But after a falling out with the local baron over his teaching methods, Nayli turned his attention toward alchemical pursuits. His passion is for discovering new recipes, so he sells a number of potions to pay for his research. He primarily deals in curatives and offers the best prices for those. He also produces some exotic potions for high prices, though only in one or two each at a time and never more than six in the store in total. Even finding the potions can be a chore as the shelves are stocked haphazardly.

  • Over the last year, the professor has become more and more convinced that everything he is doing is wrong. From the concoction of his potions to the running of his business, his fear of causing some grievous mistake grows daily. This paranoia was exacerbated by the hanging of his most recent assistant who, for unknown reasons, murdered his family and defiled their corpses. Nayli has been unwilling to take on another apprentice since the arrest.

  • In truth, Nayli's age has been catching up with him. His poor eyesight and shaky hands make him a dangerous alchemist. Because of his years of practice, most of his most of his potions still work competently. However, 8% of his minor potions and 15% of all major potions fail in some way, either acting as cursed potions or poisons. Through various accidents, a number of failed potions have seeped through the floor boards into a basement that the professor forgot that he owns. What effect this may have on the people and the environment has not been discovered.

  • The people in the neighborhood think of the professor as a kindly old man and will look out for his best interests. A few people, however, are fearful that he will one day blow up his store and the surrounding buildings. Their suspicions may not be unfounded.

  • Unexplored Worlds is my attempt to design an RPG campaign in the open. Since I have not rolled a d20 in anger in many years, this is my way to keep playing without actually playing. All posts are written to be system-agnostic, so please use whatever keeps your interest in your own games. Just let me know how it goes!


© 2010 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.

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