Connects to: 29.07.03, 29.14.12 , 29.14.14 and 34.01.
A strange and terrible monster stalks the streets of the Gnomish Quarter of the City of Shuttered Windows. It is known as the geas-eater, an invisible beast that feeds off certain types of coercive magic. It was created by the mad alchemist Jiffon Soon, an exile from Naros (29.14.12), who wished to remove from himself an unfortunate curse. However, the creature somehow escaped from Soon’s laboratory and found its way to the Gnomish Quarter. At this point it was taken in by an elderly halfling woman named Arnea. Though wizened and penniless, Arnea had long been known to her kinsfolk as someone to go to in times of need. Soon after she had trapped the geas-eater in her attic, she saw an opportunity to make use of it.
For nearly two years, Arnea ran a profitable business by offering geas removal for kobolds and goblins. Desperate to get into the Shuttered City and partake of its wealth, many humanoids agreed to her usurious terms, generally taking out huge loans in order to afford the procedure. When they were paid up, Arnea would allow them into the geas-eater’s lair, where their geases would be devoured. The fact that Arnea was willing to exploit these humanoids while remaining a well-loved member of the halfling community is just one facet of her strange character.
However, the business eventually came to an end. With each geas consumed, the monster grew larger, and one night in a claustrophobic fury it broke out of Arnea’s attic and vanished into the twisted city streets.
Since then, there have been scattered reports of the creature from the denizens of the slums. Once or twice a lucky kobold has had his geas stolen from him. More worryingly, a few people have become suddenly afflicted with a mysterious lassitude, their hopes and cares scrubbed out - as though the monster has graduated from eating geases to devouring desire in any form.
Burrin Olmstead, a minor member of the family (31.04), was seen visiting Arnea the halfling shortly after the geas-eater’s escape. Rumor has it that he was there as an emissary of the Bloodied King of the elves himself. As the creature grew, it gained the ability to devour progressively stronger and more complex geases. The question that this Olmstead had for Arnea was, purportedly: how big would the creature have to grow before it was ready to devour a geas laid down by the Prince of Men (29.07.03) himself?
Hooks:
- Who’s Jiffon Soon and where is his laboratory?
- What’s the deal with Arnea? Does she have some interesting history?
- What’s the geas that the Bloodied King is trying to break, and what will happen if he succeeds?
- Is Burrin Olmstead representing the entire Olmstead clan, or just the Bloodied King?