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ID: 1492
Hits: 3491
Comments: 10
Ideas: 0
Rating: 4.3
Condition: Normal
Submitted:
November 10, 2005, 1:58 pm
Updated:
March 3, 2008, 5:07 pm


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Salt and Herb Shoppe
By: MoonHunter

Many think gold and silk are the way to wealth, but people always need to eat and they hate to eat the "same old bland thing". Thus they will always buy herbs, spices, and salt.

The end point of many a caravan, The Salt & Herb Shoppe is a purveyor of fine salts, spices, and herbs from many lands. The loads may be relatively small, but they are worth more than their weight in gold.  The proprietor Samius Keeprian of Shandazar is a stingy man who worries and watches over every aspect of his business. He carefully watches his loads. He measures everything. He is squinting at everything that goes on, including the dust that floats in his shop. Keeprian sells medicinal, magical, and culinary products.

The shop is an L shaped building that "cuddles" the shop next to it. (Keeprian charges a good rent for this small shop.) The front of the shop is fairly standard. The roof and the awning of the building is a deep green. Entering the shop one is assaulted by smells. The walls are lined with drawers of various sizes. They are all a dark stained lacquered wood. The dark walls add to a gloom that is not helped by the three tiny lamps that attempt to light the place. Each drawer has a plain white tag written in an odd code known only to the employees (to prevent theft of course, so you must be assisted by one of them. They shift the drawers around frequently). Some are loose, some are kept in tins, some are kept in wax balls, it depends on the item.

There are two or three "island" fixtures that serve as both desks and storage of spice in tiny drawers.  Each island has measuring devices of such precision that many alchemists and jewelers are jealous. They also have several scholarly tomes available that catalogs every spice, herb, and salt in the known world.

The shop also carries feathers, incenses, a few chemicals, small branches of special woods, and pure alcohols. They are mixed in with the herbs and spices.

In the back of the building is a huge warehouse where goods are stored in wax sealed urns. The odd code is continued here. One needs to be intimately familiar with their system to find anything here. The back section has Keeperian’s office. Here he keeps two sets of books (one real, one for the tax man). He also has a secret safe under his desk where secret gold and treasure are kept. 

Just inside this warehouse there is a number of shelves, This is where they keep items that are in larger glass jars of common nature.

Keeperian never cheats a customers, he gives them EXACTLY what they PAY for, never more, never less. If he does not have it, which he never believes is true, he swears by all that is holy he will have it again soon (and usually does). He keeps such careful records that he actually knows what the shop does and does not have, and the schedule for when the next shipment arrives.  The three employees of the shop are all scared of the old man. (He hires them timid and scared.) He watches them like a hawk. He drives them like dogs on a sled, except sled dogs occasionally rest while in the harness.



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Comments ( 10 )
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Voted Cheka Man
2005-11-10 05:54 PM
0xp
One of those great places that make a fantasy world work.
Voted Dragon Lord
2005-11-11 10:01 AM
0xp
Yep - just the ort of shop that should exist, if only because it's absence would seem strange

Nice little background item - 4/5
Voted KendraHeart
2005-11-20 01:09 AM
0xp
This kind of place should exist in a fantasy or real world. I like the fussy NPC. That makes this better.
Voted Feraltetsuo
2006-06-05 10:09 PM
0xp
I can imagine a chain of these opening and doing fairly well if they didn't specialize in the exotic so much. Reminds me of a fantasy 7-11.
MoonHunter
2007-08-19 05:57 PM
0xp
Updated: updated odd characters
Voted klauston
2009-04-16 11:56 PM
0xp
Excellent shop for almost anyone: spellcaster, herbalist, cook. I like the watchful owner and the background.
Voted axlerowes
2010-12-12 09:49 PM
0xp

Nice, PCs love shopping and it would be nice to have folder of these so "random" shops don't get redundant  or start suffering from similarity

Voted Nafar
2010-12-13 02:33 PM
0xp

like it, like it a lot.

Voted Ramhir
2010-12-13 11:24 PM
0xp

Another must-have in my campaign! It can be dropped in just as it is. All I have to do is figure out what the various herbs and spices do. Do you know if there are any other shops detailed in Strolens?

Voted MysticMoon
2010-12-16 04:57 PM
0xp

One of the things I love about this shop is how easy it would be to place it in a fantasy, modern, or even scifi setting, with very few changes needed.

Voted LadyElvan
2012-02-27 03:19 AM
Only voted

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