Six Seas' Seeds

Hex 29.14.38

Connects to: 19.31, 23.11.02, 23.32, 29.14.08, 29.14.14 and 48.18.01.

Pearls are not currently in fashion in the City of Shuttered Windows so they can be hard to find, especially pearls worth precisely 100 gp. However Six Seas’ Seeds, a small shop tucked away in a back alley of the Gnomish Quarter specializes in them. The proprietor is a seemly-senile human female named Olga Gruel who chats in a friendly, if eccentric, manner with her customers, especially those with the hairy bloodstained look that often goes with those looking for the material component of identify spells. Unless treated rudely she offers freebies with any purchase of at least 100 gp. You can roll a d12 to see what she is likely to offer:

1. Her granddaughter’s hand in marriage.
2. A small goat. She will be insulted if it is not treated as a pet.
3. An herbal brew that she claims increases stamina.
4. Several bags of roasted peanuts. Rats love them.
5. Poorly made non-magical golden rings.
6. A pillow stuffed with cat feathers.
7. Orc pie. Cold (26.02).
8. Obscene Tarrasque-bone scrimshaw.
9. A very well-made ten foot pole.
10. Especially unappetizing iron rations.
11. Soap.
12. Cologne. Very appealing to ghouls it is.

What most don’t know is that Six Sea’s Seeds is owned by Lady Seline, one of the twin wives of the Doge of the City. Olga reports to the Seline concerning all of her customers, which allows the canny Lady to keep tabs on adventurers operating in the City who she sends spies, tax collectors or assassins after depending on Olga’s reports. Seline is able to supply the store with a steady supply of pearls due to her connections with the octoids who live around Kraken’s Beak Isles (23.32). She supplies them with aid that they hope to use to reconquer Jahur in return for helping her dominate the pearl market.

Connection:

• Olga Gruel knows that the gargoyles of the conjured city (48.18) can most easily be destroyed with weapons of bone, tooth or ivory.
• Bad Deza is one of the few independent sources of pearls in the north (23.11.02).

Hooks:

• What’s the reason for Olga Gruel’s strange behavior? Is she really senile?
• What does Seline usually do with adventurers nosing about her city?
• How is Seline helping the octopoids? What is the form of her contact with them?
• What other pies does Lady Seline have her fingers in?
• Can anyone say Six Seas’ Seeds ten times fast?