Scribes and Paper

City Guide I Scribes and Paper

A small pale green cottage with light yellow trim clings to the edge of the road so tightly that people simply walk across the small porch in front as they make their way back and forth. Planters hanging onto the windowsills hold mums and other bright flowers and the sign proclaiming “Scribes and Paper” over the door is decorated with flowers and vines.

This is the home and business of Alara Reed. Alara made her reputation by creating a special paper that is more resistant to fire and water damage. The paper is used in business ledgers, papers, and spellbooks. She moved the actual paper making part of the process to a small building outside the city because the smell of the chemicals and herbs used to make the paper created such a powerful stench that her neighbors protested. The sheets of treated paper are delivered here and then she binds them into books and ledgers that she offers for sale. In addition to book sales, she offers her service, and the services of several other scribes to copy books, record business transactions, and help with business ledgers.

While many wizards do purchase her spellbooks, they are priced higher than equivalent books elsewhere, which cuts down her business. She makes the most money selling her special paper to merchants who believe it is worth the extra cost. Additional income from her scribe service also exceeds anything she makes selling spellbooks.

Glass windows in the front and sides of her home could easily be broken and bypassed by thieves but her home is in one of the busiest parts of the city making it difficult for anyone to enter her home unobserved.

Windows: Hardness 0; Break DC 1; hp 2. The windows are made of cheap glass that makes a great deal of noise when shattered. The additional noise gives a +10 circumstance bonus to Listen checks for anyone within 50 ft. Oak Door: Thickness 2 in.; Hardness 8; Break DC 20; hp 30; Open Lock (DC 25). The door is solid oak. It is unlocked during the day but is barred with a sturdy oak board at night.

Alara Reed, Female Human Exp3/Wiz3: CR5; Medium-Size Humanoid (5 ft. 3 in. tall); HD 3d6 (Exp) + 3d4 (Wiz); hp 18; Init +6 (+2 Dex, +4 Improved Initiative); Spd 30 ft.; AC 14 (+2 Dex, +2 deflection); Atk +2 melee (1d4-1/crit 19-20/x2, dagger), or +5 ranged (1d4-1/crit 19-20/x2, dagger); SA spells; AL LN; SV Fort +4, Ref +4, Will +7; Str 8, Dex 14, Con 10, Int 16, Wis 12, Cha 13.

Skills: Alchemy +12, Bluff +7, Concentration +10, Craft (paper making) +9, Craft (book binding) +11, Diplomacy +7, Forgery +9, Gather Information +7, Knowledge (arcana) +9, Knowledge (local history) +9, Profession (scribe) +7.

Languages: common, dwarven, gnome, elven.

Feats: Combat Casting, Great Fortitude, Improved Initiative, Scribe Scroll, Skill Focus (Craft (book binding)).

Wizard Spells Known (4/3/2; base save=DC13 + spell level); 0arcane mark, dancing lights, daze, detect magic, ghost sound, light, mending, read magic; 1st - chill touch, feather fall, hypnotism, identify, mage armor, magic missile, sleep; 2nd - cat’s grace, enthrall, Melf’s acid arrow, web.

Possessions: 2 throwing daggers, +2 ring of protection, an elegant diamond ring (2,000 gp), and a pouch containing 43 gp, 18 sp, and 3 cp.

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City Guide I Scribes and Paper

Description: Alara is a dark-haired woman with a fair complexion and dark blue eyes. Her round cheeks and slim figure make her appear far younger than she really is. Her delicate hands are almost always stained with ink and splotches of ink are usually seen on her robes. She tends to wear blue robes with silver or gold trim. A soft voice and gentle, but outgoing, nature has made her many friends. Personality: Alara is friendly, but has a soft-spoken nature that tends to keep her in the background. The loss of her familiar several years ago has left her even more subdued than normal. As the widow of a respected craftsman, she met a great deal of initial resistance when taking over and expanding her husband’s business but has overcome almost all resistance with her new paper and the scribe service that she began. While shunned by many local wizards that view her as a competitor, merchants throughout the area appreciate her services and her discretion. Alara keeps all of her promises and has never failed to deliver a product on time. She is universally trusted to keep business negotiations tightly held secrets. Although she is an attractive woman, since her husband’s death she has had far more interest in running her business than in dating. Information and Interactions: Alara knows a vast amount about local history and politics. She has helped record many of the recent events and has copied books dealing with events in the more distant past. While she does know a great deal about local businesses she declines to discuss any details, nor does she suggest one particular craftsman or merchant over another as she does business with virtually all of them. She is able to read and write in any of the languages she speaks and is able to help interpret old maps and documents. If she is unable to read a particular document she can find an equally discrete associate that can within a day.

Interior

1) Front Room GOODS

All of the items Alara sells bear her special mark. She sells her special paper by the sheet and sells bound books that can be used as spellbooks or business ledgers.

Item: Alaran Paper

Alaran Paper: Alara Reed makes this special paper using a special, secret process. The paper is coated with a light oil that actually aids ink permanence rather than preventing it. The process of making the paper, and coating it with her special oil, makes it more resistant to water damage and somewhat resistant to fire. Alaran paper has fire resistance 3 and can be immersed completely in water for several hours before being ruined. While it is usually used for business documents, this paper is excellent for scrolls that see a great deal of travel and abuse.

(8sp per sheet.)Various ink jars and batches of parchment rest on the small desk in the center of the room. Vases full of flowers stand on top of the bookcases along the back wall and in the front corners of the desk. Large pieces of leather and thin boards rest on a workbench along the west wall. Neat stacks of paper stand on shelves beneath the workbench. A solid oak door in the back of the room leads into another part of the cottage.

Alara stores her work materials here, and does all of her work here. During the day there is a 20% chance that one of the scribes that does some work for Alara is also here (Exp3, 10 hp, Craft (book binding) +8, Diplomacy +6, Profession (scribe) +7, other skills as needed) and a 25% chance that a merchant or other customer is present.

The workbench is where she binds the different ledgers and books she sells and the desk is where she does her scribing work and performs business transactions. The desk has several drawers that are all locked or unlocked with a single locking mechanism. The door at the back of the room leads into her home.

Item: Alaran Spellbook

Alaran Spellbook: 25 gp per blank book, Merchants are the main purchasers of these books, using them as ledgers for recording business deals and accounting rather than spells. Each book has 100 pages of Alaran paper bound to thin wood boards covered with leather and is resistant to insects, fire, and water. Each book has fire resistance 5, and can be immersed in water for

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City Guide I

approximately 8 hours before being permanently damaged. The wood and oil used to make the books helps repel insects making them far less susceptible to insect damage. While the books are more expensive than standard spellbooks, many traveling wizards prefer having the added protection.

In addition to the above products, Alara provides herself, or one of several equally trustworthy associates as a scribe on demand. She can act as a neutral observer of business dealings, make a record of the transaction, and then affix her seal to it.

Oak Desk: Thickness 1/2 in.; Hardness 4; Break DC 15; hp 30; Open Lock (DC 25). A single lock controls all three drawers in the desk. If the lock is picked all three drawers are unlocked, if drawers are pried or broken open each of the three drawers must be broken individually.

Treasure: The desk doesn’t contain much treasure but if the PCs go through it they find 200 sheets of unbound paper in one drawer, a bag with 252 gp, 43 sp, and 132 cp and a ledger showing her business accounts in another drawer, and a spellbook holding all of the spells she knows (see above) in the final drawer. Unbound paper and bound books in the store have a total retail value of 300 gp.

Scribes and Paper

2) Alara’s Living Area

The tiny back room of the cottage is filled with soft, plush furniture surrounded by tall bookcases. A small bed in the northwest corner is almost completely enclosed by bookshelves, as is the unused stove in the center of the west wall. Curtains cover the few windows making the room rather dark and forbidding. Although neat and clean, the room has a sterile, empty feel to it.

After her husband’s death Alara only used this room for sleeping and storing things. She still keeps the room clean, and sleeps here every night, but she is rarely here when she is not asleep. The stove hasn’t been used in years, Alara never cooks for herself anymore. In the early evenings, Alara takes walks through the city before deciding on a tavern or restaurant to eat and relax in before returning home to read and go to sleep. There are a number of small items on the many bookshelves throughout the room but the only items of real value are hidden in a secret compartment behind one of the bookcases.

[Search DC27] Treasure: Hidden in the secret compartment is a detailed description of the process used to create Alara’s special paper. This document is worth 2,000 gp to the proper client but few people would understand its value. A bag holding 300 gp and 2 500 gp rubies is also hidden in the compartment.

Oak Door: Thickness 2 in.; Hardness 8; Break DC 20; hp 30; Open Lock (DC 25). The door leading to Alara’s living area is made of solid oak and is protected by a complex iron lock requiring a specially designed key.

Character Hooks or Stories:

Alara’s special background and knowledge can be very helpful during an adventure, and she can be very useful in other ways. The PCs might want her to act as a witness for a business transaction or ask her help in interpreting some documents they have found.

She can also be used to entice PCs into adventures in other ways. A local wizard wants Alara’s special process for making paper and hires the PCs to obtain it any way they can. Alara left to witness a business transaction and never returned. Some of the scribes that worked for her are at a loss as to where she is or what happened to her. They ask the PCs to investigate. A mysterious map is left on Alara’s doorstep along with a strange note mentioning a distant relative. Unable to investigate herself, she asks the PCs to take the map and learn what they can.