Stream of Consciousness Game Prep

I'm trying something a little different this morning. Actually I'm doing something I usually do for creating things for my game, just in a public forum. I have a game in 4 hours, and I need to paint the next scene so the party will see something other than white when they arrive. Although a whiteout in late summer could also work, depending where the teleportation circle is...

WE BEGIN.

OK, so what do we know from last game? There's this remote ex-dragon lair with a huge portal in it up in the mountains somewhere. And we've established there's a dwarven town nearby with a teleportation circle. What else is in the area? Why is it so remote in this age of teleportation?

Doyle Wingate

Doyle knew he would run the Pennypint Pub someday since before he could walk. He gave himself over to legacy and family expectations early on, learning the joy of serving others from his mother Clarinda and pride in making a great beer from his father Erasmus (who took the Wingate name when he married into the family) when they owned the pub. His grandparents Carter and Zinnia bought the building with the Penny Chestnut in the back yard and converted it to a Pub over ninety years back. They rekindled the story of the coin-producing tree and offered an ale for a penny to kickstart their list of regulars, then produced finer libations to keep the money flowing.

As Grandpa Carter used to say before he died, "Serving excellent drinks will get you noticed. Serving excellent drinks with an engaging story will get you remembered." Doyle took all of that seriously and went even further by offering a sympathetic ear and a generous heart to anyone who came in his door.

Grandpa Carter wanted to keep strong family ties to the Low Dales after moving to Fellport, so he encouraged every child and grandchild to spend some time meeting fellow Hominae Vitae (halflings) back home. Doyle took a month and wandered his ancestral homeland, learning new recipes from cousins and more about where his family came from. And then he visited Orapalus on the edge of the Lacanus Bog and lost his heart the watch commander who saved him from a giant toad on his way into town. Who helps the one who helps? Apparently Pinkie did. They married after a year of courtship, but they became so inseparable they could have married the week after first meeting.

They relocated back to the Pennypint and started raising kids. They work together marvelously. Doyle will give until nothing remains to please his customers, while Pinkie sets limits and tackles problem patrons head-on. Sometimes literally. Doyle wants nothing more than to make people happy, and the Pub fills that dream for him. Sometimes he jokes that the community has ascended to godhood, except it literally has in his case. He heals the odd injury here and there, but he steadfastly refuses payment for healing, instead encouraging the healed to volunteer their time, resources, and attention in service of others.

Doyle just crossed into middle age, and he feels like he gained 10 pounds overnight as his black hair spontaneously decided to thin out on top. He listens extremely well and provides comfort wherever he can, whether an insightful word, a few coins, or a magical assist, which makes him an excellent and very popular publican. He offers his Big Room to the Merchants' Chamber for meetings and social events, though he feels less and less rewarded for this service as time goes on. Fellport thrives on trade, but he feels newer merchants want too much for themselves without giving back to the community. He argues for everyone coming together and helping each other because he knows very few who have become successes without a community of helpers and cheerleaders behind them.

Doyle Wingate
Lightfoot Halfling Life Cleric (Level 3) (Guild Artisan Background)
Str 8  Dex 14  Con 12  Int 14  Wis 14  Cha 14
History +4, Insight +4, Medicine +4, Persuasion +4

Part of T.W.Wombat's #City23 project. See the Fellport Index for all entries.

Pinkie Wingate

Pinkie came into the world before her time, a tiny pink baby that nobody expected to survive in the Low Dales town of Orapalus. Her farmer parents (Felix and Claudia Lucia) loved their fourth child deeply, and she managed to thrive uder their care with her own sheer force of will. She grew tall and pretty in adolescence, strong and lithe and headstrong. Her father died on her 14th birthday at the hands of a Trogol (Swamp Troll), a servant of Viri the Swamp Hag. Pinkie focused on revenge, trained hard with weapons and flaming oil, joined the guard on her 18th birthday, and eventually volunteered for the third expedition that finally killed both the Trogol triplets and Viri. At 20, Pinkie Wingate stood tall for one of Hominae Vitae (Halfling) stock, but her height and a drive to protect the innocent made her an ideal squad leader for the Orapalus town guard, her home back in the Low Dales. 

Only a year after that, she met Doyle Wingate on his walkabout, and within another year joined him in Fellport after a short courtship and grand wedding. Settling into the Wingate family business of running the Pennypint Pub took some adjustment, but she manages the bar as if born to the role. She immediately volunteered for and still serves with the Fellport Watch Reserves to keep her martial skills sharp. She trains new recruits on how to fight dirty once a month, and she has an annoying habit of making daggers appear to threaten vulnerable spots when sparring.

Pinkie has a deep loyalty to her husband, strong opinions on right and wrong, and no reservations about being heard over others, doubly so if they rudely capitalize the spotlight. She keeps her rapier under the bar for emergencies, and five daggers hidden on her person at all times while working, but she prefers to user her tongue and cutting voice to browbeat the selfish and cruel until they decide to leave. She wears her honey-gold hair in a pageboy cut, sometimes clipping it back to keep it out of her face. Her green/hazel eyes still enchant her husband after twenty-two years of marriage and eight kids, and the dusting of freckles complete the stunning farm girl package. Her smile alone can smooth over a potential fight, but gods help the poor soul who invokes the thunder of her temper.

Pinkie Wingate
Lightfoot Halfling Swashbuckler Rogue (Level 3) (Soldier Background)
Str 13  Dex 16  Con 12  Int 10  Wis 12  Cha 14
Athletics +3, Acrobatics +5, Intimidation* +6, Perception +3, Persuasion +4, Sleight of Hand* +7

Part of T.W.Wombat's #City23 project. See the Fellport Index for all entries.

The Pennypint Pub

On the Goldway (Level 7), almost exactly halfway between the Lift and the Lakeside Ramps, a broad two-story wooden building with a covered porch along the street has stood seemingly forever, with a 45-foot-tall chestnut tree towering above, shading its entire backyard. A sign of a wooden tankard with a large copper penny hangs over the stairs up to the porch and main entrance. To the left, a hitching rail along the alley opens to a yard stretching back to the cliff wall, providing tables with stool and Adirondack chairs clustered around small braziers to chase off the night's chill.

Inside, tables and chairs fill most of the space. A long bar faces the front double doors, and double doors to the left behind the bar lead out into the back yard. A bowl of spiky chestnut pods always sits on the bar, offering "Lucky Pods from The Penny Chestnut" for a silver each. Each contains 2-7 chestnuts, and very occasionally a penny, said to bring good luck and wealth. Double doors to the right of the bar allow access into the Big Room, available for private functions and meetings. Stairs in the front room lead up to a few private meeting rooms, and a locked door leads to the bedrooms and living space above. An extensive basement holds all manner of libations, and more than a few barrels of preserved bar snacks and nuts.

The Wingate family has run the Pennypint for the past 90 years, still honoring Carter and Zinnia's initial promise of offering something drinkable for a penny a pint back when they first opened the pub. Prices have gone up over the years, but the Pennypint House Ale still costs a penny, and it still whets your whistle without causing permanent harm. Doyle Wingate and his wife Pinkie truly seem to enjoy spreading joy with their little pub, eager to help out in the community and lend an ear to vendors down on their luck. Their eight children have grown up in the Pennypint, and they mostly seem content with running the family business. The eldest, Cyrus, left to pursue other opportunities years ago, but he occasionally returns for a drink and a story when he can.

The Merchant's Chamber regularly holds meetings in the Pennypint's Big Room, as it has ample space in close proximity to the shops on Goldway and Midmarket just above. In meetings Carter advocates for slower change and a spirit of giving against a rising chorus of new merchants wanting more services and money from the Council. He has a harder time keeping his cool in meetings recently, and he has repeatedly talked with Pinkie about possibly cutting ties with the Chamber soon.

Part of T.W.Wombat's #City23 project. See the Fellport Index for all entries.

The Penny Chestnut

On the landward side of the Goldway (Level 7) midway between the Lift and the Lakeside Ramp, a large chestnut tree shades the expansive yard behind the Pennypint Pub. Its verdant leaves block the view of the harbor from some of the shops in Midmarket above, but none of those merchants complain. Known as the Penny Chestnut, it arrived in Fellport hundreds of years ago as a gift to enhance prosperity from the people of far-off Sendai, the City of Trees in the Yamagura Empire far to the west.

This chestnut tree grows to about half the height of native varieties, but it flourishes in its new home. Current measurements place it at about 45 feet high with a trunk13 feet in circumference, and some fear that calamity will befall it soon. Many have tried cultivating new trees from seed or by grafting, but none succeeded to date. Some believe the teleportation magic that brought it here changed it forever, preventing it from reproducing and allowing it to grow coins. College experts and druids both disagree with this assessment, but they have found no underlying cause for its odd behavior.

As the legend goes, the Penny Chestnut took seven years to finally bear fruit. The locals broke open that first harvest of spiky pods and found a total of sixteen pennies hidden between the nuts, one for each level of the new city. They took it as an omen of boundless prosperity for the growing city. Once word spread, the city planners bought them and embedded them in stone near the center of each level. Residents rubbed them for luck and riches. People still report finding pennies tucked among the nuts occasionally, but most believe that the Wingate family plant them as a tourist attraction.

When the Lift came to Fellport, the engineers recovered the pennies and moved them to a more permanent display on each level, protected from the weather. Small display cases containing the original pennies still sit next to the Lift on every level to this day, and many residents still rub the cases for luck every day, a testament to the power of legend, the weight of superstition, and the profound draw of a good story.

Part of T.W.Wombat's #City23 project. See the Fellport Index for all entries.