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Traken brother’s Stables
City Guide I
Traken Brothers’ Stables
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Traken Stables
Interior Rooms 1) The Stables
A strangely shaped building faces the road here. It obviously began as a small barn with a high roof, but now someone has added small buildings or workshops to each side of the barn. The barn, which clearly is used to stable a number of horses and draft animals, is painted yellow and the twin buildings to either side are both painted green giving all three buildings a somewhat outlandish appearance. Open doors lead into the small buildings to either side of the stables while the main entrance has a sign marking it as “Traken Brother’s Stables.”
Bolik and Eddon Traken turned their father’s stables and forge into something larger, and more popular. Bolik takes care of shoeing horses and creating metal buckles, pins, and other items used in harnesses for horses and draft animals while Eddon makes saddles, harnesses, and packs. Despite rumors to the contrary, both brothers get along extremely well, something they attribute to their separate workshops.
Bolik and Eddon have a trusting, some would say foolish, nature. Weather permitting, the doors to their work areas and the stables are always open. Everyone in the city knows that both young men are completely non-violent and refuse to lift a hand even in their own defense. Their quiet natures, and disavowal of violence, gave them much grief when they were children but eventually earned them the respect of their neighbors, and the city guard. Anyone caught attacking either of the brothers is met with such outrage that they would be lucky to survive long enough to be arrested.
Merchants and travelers often bring newly purchased animals here to have them shoed and get new saddles and harnesses made. Animals stabled here are extremely well-cared for and the brothers’ work has a reputation for being solid and high quality, though without much flair or artistry. While the stalls smell strongly of the horses, mules, and oxen stored there, the reek of manure is far below most stables. The animals have shiny coats and fresh straw suggesting they are extremely well cared for. A ladder in the back of the stables leads up to an enclosed loft while short ladders to each side reach small lofts holding large quantities of hay. Doors in the north and south walls lead into the buildings built onto the sides of the stables.
The Traken brothers normally only stable animals here that are awaiting new shoes, saddles, or harnesses. While they are willing to stable additional animals, they charge double the standard rates and give all of the excess money to Guralf, the young boy that works the stables for them, as a bonus. One of the stalls in the very back of the barn has been converted into a small sleeping area for Guralf who has no other home. There is a bell near the entrance to the stables that Guralf rings loudly in the event of a horse theft.
Guralf, Male Human, Exp1: CR1; Medium-Size Humanoid (5 ft. 7 in. tall); HD 1d6+2; hp 5; Init +2 (Dex); Spd 30 ft.; AC 12 (+2 Dex); Atk +1 melee (1d6+1/crit x2, club); SQ deaf mute; AL NG; SV Fort +2, Ref +2, Will +3; Str 12, Dex 14, Con 15, Int 10, Wis 8, Cha 13.
Skills: Animal Empathy +5, Handle Animal +5, Knowledge (horses) +4, Ride +6, Profession (stable hand) +3, Wilderness Lore +3.
Feats: Iron Will, Run.
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City Guide I Traken Stables
Description and Personality: Guralf is a short, stocky young man with poor posture. His drooping shoulders make him look even shorter than he really is. The smell of the animals he works with clings to him wherever he goes, fortunately his dark hair and handsome face help overcome his odor. Guralf is a deaf mute that was abandoned by his family as a young child. The Traken brothers found him and have cared for him ever since. If a new customer enters the stables he runs to get either Bolik or Eddon. If he does know some form of sign language he hasn’t let anyone other than the Traken brothers know. He communicates easily with the Traken brothers mostly because he knows his duties and is very responsible about them. Guralf does not share the Traken brothers’ non-violent nature. He runs away from anyone attacking him but loves the animals he cares for and assaults anyone attempting to harm or steal ‘his’ animals to the best of his meager abilities.
Treasure: Saddles and animals stored in the stable vary in value and price, but theft of any of these items is a rather dangerous proposition. Horse theft is generally punished by hanging and the city guard keeps a close watch on the stables and their non-violent owners.
Guralf has a small bag of gold coins hidden beneath some of his blankets, Search DC22, bag with 17 gp.
2) The Loft
A ladder from the stables enters the enclosed loft through a hole in the floor. Walls enclosing the loft, and the sloping ceiling just overhead, make the room seem cramped and uncomfortable. A curtain divides the small room into two halves with each half holding an identical bed and dresser. A wood burning stove in the center of the room provides heat on cold nights and oil lamps provide light for the windowless room.
The Traken brothers live here, and have lived here ever since they converted part of their family home into their respective workshops. The curtain is only closed when one brother wants to sleep while the other is awake. Although they are always lit and filled, the oil lamps are firmly attached to the ceiling to avoid any accidental fires. The brothers lead a simple life and have few decorations or items of value Treasure: A secret panel in the floor conceals a compartment holding a bag of coins. Search DC 27 Bag contains: leather bag holding 187 gp, 235 sp, and 139 cp.
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City Guide I Traken Stables
3) Bolik’s Horseshoes
This building appears small from the front entrance but extends the full length of the stables. A massive stone-enclosed forge surrounded by bins of coal and iron ore occupies the back of the narrow building. An anvil and racks of different sized hammers and casts stand before the forge beside large barrels full of oil, water, and salted water.
The fire in the forge is never completely out so the building is extremely hot night and day. Bolik makes horseshoes, and shoes the horses right here. The door between the stables and his workshop is large enough for even a large warhorse. Stone flooring surrounds the forge but most of the floor is packed earth. He uses casts and molds to help make the nails he uses as well as buckles, pins, and other accessories for saddles, wagons, and tack. Bolik can be found here anytime between dawn and dusk, and often into the night. While he does not make any weapons or armor, he has a reputation for taking excellent care of horses and other animals.
Approaching the forge makes the heat almost unbearable, and touching the stones near the forge can result in 1d4 points of fire damage.
Treasure: Bolik keeps a small box containing 34 gp, 23 sp, and 120 cp under one of his tables (Search DC17). Unknown to Bolik, a thief once hid some stolen items beneath one of the flagstones near the forge. Finding the loose stone is difficult (Search DC30) and it is close enough to the fire that moving it requires withstanding a bit of pain (10 hp of fire damage to move the stone). Once moved aside a leather bag is revealed.
The bag contains: 1 small diamond (350 gp), 4 tiny rubies (100 gp each), and a scabbard of keen edges. The thief quite justly believed that nobody would ever search for this hiding spot.
Skills: Animal Empathy +6, Appraise +7, Craft (blacksmith) +9; Handle Animal +6, Knowledge (metals) +7, Perform +6; Ride +5.
Feats: Lightning Reflexes, Run, Skill Focus (Craft (blacksmith)).
Possessions: leather apron, blacksmith tools, belt pouch with 1 gp, 43 sp, and 28 cp.
Description: Bolik is a broad-shouldered young man with a wide flat nose and drooping cheeks. His dark hair and piercing brown eyes make him seem large and imposing, especially when he is dripping with sweat from working the forge. When he speaks, his voice is surprisingly deep and powerful. Bolik sings and chants while he works, using the rhythm of his hammer blows to time his various songs. Bolik wears linen pants and a thick leather apron while working, substituting a shirt for the apron only when his work day is complete.
Personality: Although Bolik and Eddon don’t discuss their religion, both of them are completely non-violent. Bolik is non-violent to the point that he refuses to defend himself against aggressors. The most he will do when attacked is run away. Bolik kept steadfast to his beliefs and religious laws throughout
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City Guide I Traken Stables
his rather rough childhood, but that faith and strength of character has given him a reputation as an honest, trustworthy man and earned him the respect of all his neighbors. Because of his religious beliefs, he refuses to work on any weapons or armor, as these are products used for violence. He also donates most of his profits to his church and other charities in the city. Bolik doesn’t make promises often, but when he does make a promise, he will die before breaking it. While Bolik can’t claim many friends, all of the neighboring families and merchants respect him and rush to his aid anytime he might need it.
Information and Interactions: Bolik loves metal, and loves working with metal. He can identify rare metals and strange ores easily, but won’t even touch a sword or other weapon in order to study the metal it was made of. While he is willing to discuss his belief that by eschewing violence he gets closer to his god, but he doesn’t try to preach non-violence to others because he knows that few people like to hear about his beliefs. Bolik helps with information concerning other merchants and craftsmen in town, but he won’t give information about potential dungeons or adventures because such discussions are likely to lead to violence.
Goods
Most of Bolik’s trade is in horseshoes. He charges 5 gp to shoe a horse and care for it for a full day. In addition to horseshoes, Bolik makes nails for construction as well as plows, shovels, and other work tools. He refuses to work on weapons.
Set of horseshoes 5 gp Box of 50 nails 4 sp Plow blade 8 gp Shovel 2 gp Folding shovel (travelers) 3 gp
4) Eddon’s Saddleworks
Feats: Great Fortitude, Run.
This small building appears to have been tacked onto the stables as an afterthought. Racks draped with different varieties of tanned leather take up the back half of the room while the front half is consumed by a large workbench littered with leather awls, punches, and needles. Pegs and strangely shaped racks in the corner between the door to the street and the door into the stables hold saddles, saddlebags, and a variety of bridles. While none of them are overly decorated or artistic, all are of the highest quality and appear to be very sturdy.
Eddon has a variety of work knives used to cut the leather, but he doesn’t consider any of them weapons and, like his brother, eschews any form of violence. Leather used by Eddon has already been through the tanning process in a tannery outside the city so his workshop has none of the pungent, powerful aromas associated with the tanning process. The leather he uses is thick enough to be very useful for saddles, saddlebags, and similar items but he generally doesn’t have leather supple enough to be used for clothing or armor.
Treasure: The leather and tools in the workshop are worth approximately 400 gp total, but couldn’t be sold for more than 80 gp to a fence. A small box beneath the workbench holds 15 gp, 23 sp, and 52 cp (Search DC 15).
Skills: Animal Empathy +7, Craft (leather worker) +7; Diplomacy +7, Gather Information +7, Handle Animal +7, Knowledge (local) +7, Perform +7, Ride +6.
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City Guide I Traken Stables
Description: Eddon is somewhat taller and frailer than his older brother, but he has the same dark hair and deep brown eyes. Eddon’s face is a bit thinner and more drawn than Bolik’s making him somewhat more attractive. His soft, deep voice is calming to animals and people alike.
He is often found chanting strange, wordless but peaceful rhythms as he works. Eddon is always seen wearing leather pants and a leather vest along with linen shirts in a variety of colors.
Personality: Like most brothers, Eddon and Bolik are very different, yet very similar. Eddon is an outgoing gossip that loves to hear news of events within the city. While he opposes violence, he is more open to hearing violent tales than Bolik and doesn’t frown on adventurers quite as much. When it comes to keeping promises and remaining steadfast in faith, Eddon and Bolik could be twins. Eddon’s outgoing nature has made him more friends and acquaintances than Bolik and made people somewhat more open to hearing news of his non-violent religious faith. Eddon, like Bolik, is completely non-violent. He runs from a fight before defending himself and never strikes back against an aggressor.
Information and Interactions: Eddon is happy to discuss local news, gossip, rumors, and politics with anyone that happens by. He is easily persuaded to discuss his non-violent faith and encourages people to give up violence and anger. While he doesn’t openly discuss dangerous territories or rumored dungeons, he directs people to the sages or merchants that might have the appropriate information.
Goods
Eddon sells saddles, saddlebags, and straps and harnesses for different draft animals. While all of his work is of the highest quality and uses the highest quality materials, none of it would be considered artistic or overly attractive. His work is strictly utilitarian. He does make saddles for exotic animals, but does this only on request and asks for several extra days to do the work properly.
Pack saddle 5 gp Riding saddle 10 gp Exotic pack saddle 15 gp Exotic riding saddle 30 gp Saddlebags 4 gp
Character Hooks or Stories:
Bolik and Eddon are non-violent and might need help from the PCs in a number of different ways.
A local priest, considered a madman by most, disappeared recently. While not of their religion, Bolik and Eddon are concerned about him and ask the PCs to find out what happened.
Bolik (or Eddon) has disappeared and the neighbors are both concerned and upset. They take up a collection and offer a reward for his return.
Thieves have been robbing the brothers’ blind and the neighbors have had enough. The PCs are asked to
‘convince’ the local thieves’ guild to leave the brothers alone.
A steady customer recently died after leaving several magnificent stallions in the brothers’ care. They ask the PCs to return the horses to the merchant’s family, something that requires a great deal of overland travel.
