To all my players and writing partners; Don't worry! I've not vanished or forgotten you. I've had something come up, and will be taking the rest of this week off from my RPs. See you next week!
@Dark Cloud You think that's bad; Goblins of pretty much every walk of life have all the same negative connotations, with none of the positive ones, and are often put up there with things like ghouls and zombies in terms of 'things to kill asap.'
The memes that are generated by popular D&D culture about these races dramatically differ from the actual lore about them. While a lot of DMs like to portray them as loveable, goofy idiots that get a bad rap, in all the literature they're basically seen as a nuisance at best, and an active plague on goodly society at worst.
There's a reason that killing them wholesale isn't seen as a crime, and is often rewarded by nearby civilizations.
I thought it was the gnomes that kobold had a mutual restraining order with.
Kobolds have an extreme hatred of gnomes because the gnome god, if I recall correctly, pulled a 'prank' on the earliest kobold society that took them from having the largest fortified civilization in the world, to where they are now.
As a rule, the majority of races look down on kobolds because they're essentially raccoons. They breed like rodents, they live in squalor, and they steal other people's trash because their culture teaches them that that's okay. For most races, the main benefit of having kobolds around is that they tend to fix random objects/tunnels/paths/buildings, often using tools made from repurposed refuse. The problem between kobolds and dwarves is that dwarves are very particular about ownership, and will often repurpose their own refuse. So, stealing it isn't okay. More over, dwarves rarely need anything fixed, because they like to fix things themselves. When kobolds try and fix their stuff, it's more of a nuisance than useful, because they don't build up to dwarven standards. Also, while most species are too big to fit into kobold tunnels, dwarves can fit into the bigger ones and it's often hard to tell the difference between an old, deserted kobold tunnel, and a fresh one. Old or new, they often have a great deal of traps in them, which are hazardous to dwarves mining those tunnels.
So, while most races will generally ignore kobolds until they make themselves an active nuisance, dwarves view them as more like a rat infestation. None of the goodly races actually see them, on a grand scale, as anything more than a monstrous race. So dwarves basically get a free pass to actively commit genocide against the little lizard-lings, and will do so whenever they find them in/on/near their homes. Thus, standard practice for dwarves is to kill kobolds whenever they see them.
Luckily, Einkil is not a normal dwarf. He's very much a hippy, by dwarf standards, and is happy to live and let live. However, he is still a dwarf, raised by dwarves with dwarven morals and ideals, and would not hesitate to kill what to him is essentially a vermin if it actively caused him problems.
Both of you can stay entirely the hell away from Einkil's stills. Poor guy has enough problems keeping those things running, doesn't need a bunch of little folk running around swiping parts.
Allignment: Neutral Good || Commoner 1: Unexceptional || Hill Dwarf Age: 84, 4th of the 3rd Month || Male || Medium || Movement 25 ft
STR: 10 [+0] || DEX: 10 [+0] || CON: 14 [+2] INT: 8 [-1] || WIS: 11 [+0] || CHA: 10 [+0] Height:4'1" || Weight:135 lbs. || Build: Average Language 1: Dwarvish || Language 2: Common ||
Einkel is average height for a dwarf, and average weight for his height. His brown hair is long and unkempt, but his beard is braided. He usually wears a ragged set of old leather britches and top, along with furs on his wrists and legs. He carries a number of 'bobbles' he found in the woods over the years, generally teeth or leaves he thought looked neat. His cloak comes with a hood made from the head of a bear.
Racials:
► Dwarven Resilience: Advantage against poison; Resistance to poison damage ► Stone Cunning: Add double proficiency to Intelligence(History) checks related to stonework ► Dwarven Toughness: Hit point maxium increased by 1, plus 1 per level. ► Tool Proficiency: Proficient with brewer's supplies. ► Dwarven Combat Training: Proficient with battle axe, hand axe, light hammer, and warhammer
Personality Traits: I would rather make a new friend than a new enemy.
Ideal:Redemption There's a spark of good in everyone. Bond: I'm trying to pay off an old debt I owe to a generous benefactor Flaw: If there's a plan, I'll forget it. If I don't forget it, I'll ignore it.
Home:Hidden burrow in the hills
Location: Mudfloor hut outside town, Lifestyle type: Squalid
Quoth the DM: "Einkil Torunn, a friendly hill dwarf who makes ~moonshine~ from local wild swamp produce" "Einkil's burrow is a abysmal mudfloor hut outside of town near the swamp. It has nothing of interest to it. There is no brewing stand or secret tunnel to a willow glade here."
His house would be a hut built into the side of a hill, located deep in the southern swamp/marsh. If you go into his hut, and go all the way through a very long tunnel-the entrance is hidden behind a liquor cabinet-you'll be lead to where the river opens up into the marsh.
Clean, fresh, running water is essential for making good grain alcohol. His rig is hidden there, in a shady grove hidden under a big willow tree. I imagine the river running into one side of the tree, and out through and between its roots flows the water that enters the marsh and makes it wet.
He probably gets most of his supplies for making the brew from around the marsh. You can find all kinds of wild grains in a marsh! Mix in the right herbs for aromatics and flavor, and you've got everything you need for some high-ABV moonshine liquor! Just don't ask where anyone in a shit-hole town like Swampmuck got ten year aged whiskey. They can probably guess where the everclear is coming from.
He's probably fairly well liked around the town. Spending his free time roaming the town with a big ceramic jar with four X's on the side. Taking long pulls (I made int. his low stat because I figure he's at least a little drunk 24/7 XD), offering it to others. Passing out samples of his newest concoctions to see how people like it, then goes home and plans a full shipment of whatever's most popular to sell through the taverns. Probably keeps a few barrels hidden in his secret tunnel where he lets the good stuff age. Slip a few bottles of that stuff to whatever passes for law enforcement in Swampmuck and that probably keeps him in the clear legally.
Strictly speaking, he doesn't make moonshine. Moonshine is produced using corn mash, and Einkel's recipes all use wild grains. In terms of quality; It varies. Since what he's able to produce depends on what he finds in the marsh, his recipes are constantly changing. However, he does know what he's doing, so he can consistently produce specific things of a certain type.
As for why he's a criminal; Prohibition isn't a thing, but guilds are. Some of them are more strongly tied to the government than others. Since alcohol is one of those things that can kill people if it's made wrong, the guilds that oversee its production would have a lot of power to enforce their monopoly. Einkel is not an active member of the guild, and the ingredients he uses are not approved by laws governing such things. Not because you can't/shouldn't make alcohol from them, but because there's no way to regulate production using them; Basically, his primary crime is that he doesn't pay the Very steep taxes imposed on non-guild craftsmen, and he isn't in the guild either.
To clarify what he makes: This is a dice game, so the product of his crafting is subject to variables. As such, I'll provide a list based on dice-roll outcome;
Fumble: When he fumbles, he burns the batch. This is the result that wastes ingredients in a way he can't fix. Nothing is actually produced.
4-6: Everclear; Anything he makes that's below a ten will be added to a large vat, which in turn will be used as raw materials later on. Alcohol happens to have the advantage that you can always burn out impurities to get a high ABV. He uses these to take a 10, and creates stuff that's 90%+ alcohol by volume. Doesn't taste very good, but you can add it to mixed drinks. This is also the stuff he caries in his XXXX ceramic jug.
7-9: Free samples; These result in new tastes or flavors that he's not really sure about. While they still end up in the everclear vat, he'll have taken them around town to let people try first. Some people might like it, but for the most part it's not worth writing down the recipe.
10-15: Fire Water; Gin, vodka, whiskey, and pretty well any other clear spirit. These come about from him using existing recipes to make stuff he knows people like, and that will sell. It's not great quality, but it tastes good to people who like it and they make a good base for mixed drinks.
16-20: Good stuff; This is where barrel aging comes in. Being a dwarf, Einkel has the advantage of time. These are batches he can only make at certain times of the year, but he knows what he's doing when the right conditions allow. He has to find specific plants, and enough of them, but the results are always good. After that, he stores them in barrels in his hidden tunnel until they're just right. The high end stuff sells for a lot of coin so no one needs to buy in bulk, but this is the stuff he sells to wealthy citizens and bribes government officials with.
21-22: Absinthe; These are the surprises. The interesting flavors that only Einkel can make, and only on his best days. He tries something new, mixing berries and herbs in with the grain, distilling it just enough, and making something amazing. They come in all colors of the rainbow, a cavalcade of smells, and they all have their own unique flavor. Very rarely can Einkel make these more than once, but when he can, it's a lot of effort that pays off. Einkel's stuff might not have a guild seal on it, but merchants are willing to take the risk for the chance at kegs of this stuff. Bottles of it can be found squirreled away with the highest quality stuff in the best collections, public and private use, all throughout the kingdom.
Einkel seems to me to be very much the kind of person without any real goals in life. He's happy with the way things are. His work is interesting and he enjoys it. Some dwarves might be obsessed with things like becoming better at their trade, or completing their life's work. For Einkel, he's content being pleasantly surprised when he makes something wonderful.
That said, I would like to see one of two things occur. Either the quest twists his body, rousing his dwarven instincts and that ancient pride, and he feels compelled to master the command of his form. (I.E. he becomes a powerful moon circle druid)
Or, the influence of the magic changes his spirit. It opens his mind to the greater world around him, and that contentment to be what he is grows and blossoms. Instead of being a simple moonshiner, he becomes a part of the marsh. He joins the circle of the land, and will eventually become the arch-druid of Dreadmorasse. (Basically, he turns into Radagast the Brown).
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