2. Otises Smithy and Stable
In the murky village of Nulb, Otises Smithy and Stable stand as a testament to the duality of function and secrecy. Known for his formidable strength and his seemingly simple life as a blacksmith, Otis hides a deeper, more complex role as a guardian and observer, aligned with the forces of good against the encroaching darkness of the Temple of Elemental Evil.
Description of Otises Smithy and Stable
Otis's establishment is essential for the daily operations within Nulb, providing necessary services for the townspeople and travelers alike.
- Structure and Layout: The smithy is robust, equipped with the tools and facilities to shoe horses, mend armor, and perform minor weapons work.
- Staff: Assisted by a stable ‘boy’ who is less than sharp and a keen-eyed rat-faced apprentice, Otis manages a busy yet efficient workspace.
- Local Presence: Frequently seen at 3. Waterside Hostel of Nulb, Otis is a known figure in Nulb, respected for his skills and occasionally feared for his brawling capabilities.The smithy is robust, equipped with the tools and facilities to shoe horses, mend armor, and perform minor weapons work.
Facility Overview
Otis's establishment is not just a workplace but a well-equipped facility handling everything from horse shoeing to minor weapon repairs.
- Main Services: Horse shoeing, armor mending, and weapons repairs.
- Additional Features: Houses two guard dogs for security, signaling an extra layer of protection against unwelcome intrusions.
Scene at Otis's Smithy and Stable
As a group of adventurers ride up to Otises Smithy and Stable, the stable boy, Chon, spots them from across the yard. Eager to assist, he hurries over with a welcoming smile, ready to attend to their needs.
Stable Boy Dialogue: Chon (cheerfully waving): "Greetings, folks! Welcome to Otis’s. I’m Chon, and I’ll be here to help with your horses. What can we do for you today?"
Adventurer (dismounting): "We’re looking to stable our horses for a couple of nights. Could you show us the facilities?"
Chon (gesturing towards the well-kept stalls behind him): "Absolutely, right this way. We offer a full range of services including feeding, grooming, and overnight stabling. Each horse is five silver a night, with additional services if you’re interested."
Adventurer: "Sounds good. And the grooming?"
Chon (leading the horses to their stalls): "That would be an extra three silver per horse. Includes a thorough clean, mane and tail brushing, and hoof care."Adventurer: "We’ll take the grooming services as well. Thanks for the help, Chon."
Chon (smiling as he starts to lead the horses away): "My pleasure! I’ll make sure they get the best care. Anything else you need, just give a shout."
Smithy and Stables Services
Horse Shoeing
The foundational service of the smithy, crucial for maintaining the health and performance of horses used for travel and labor.
- Basic Shoeing: 5 silver pieces (sp) per horse
- Specialized Shoeing (for difficult terrain or armored horses): 8 sp per horse
Armor Mending
Otis's expertise extends to repairing damaged armor, which is essential for adventurers and guards in the region.
- Minor Repairs (dents, re-strapping): 10 sp per item
- Major Repairs (significant damage, resizing): 15-30 sp per item, depending on the extent of damage
Weapon Maintenance
- Sharpening and Aligning: 5 sp per weapon
- Minor Repairs (fixing small breaks, replacing grips): 8 sp per weapon
Custom Work
For those requiring more specialized attention to their equipment or bespoke creations.
- Custom Horse Shoes: Starting at 12 sp, varying by specifications
- Weapon Customization (engraving, balancing for specific use): 20 sp per weapon
- Armor Customization (special fittings, decorative elements): Starting at 25 sp, prices vary based on complexity
Basic Stabling
- Overnight Boarding: Includes a clean stall, fresh bedding, and standard feed.
- Cost: 5 silver pieces (sp) per night per horse
Feed and Care Packages
- Standard Feed: Includes hay and grain feed twice per day.
- Cost: 2 sp per day
- Premium Feed: Includes a mix of hay, grain, and supplements suited for high-performance horses.
- Cost: 4 sp per day
Grooming Services
- Basic Grooming: Brushing and basic mane and tail care.
- Cost: 3 sp per session
- Full Grooming: Includes washing, brushing, hoof cleaning, and mane and tail care.
- Cost: 6 sp per session
DM-Only Section
Otis's Hidden Role and Alliances
Secret Life
Otis is much more than a blacksmith; he is a Ranger Knight dedicated to monitoring and thwarting the evils of the Temple of Elemental Evil.
Covert Operations
- Double Identity: Publicly a smith, secretly a knight ranger.
- Surveillance: Keeps tabs on temple activities, ready to act against any threats.
Strategic Collaborations
- Alliances: Works closely with forces from Furyondy and Veluna, coordinating efforts to maintain regional stability.
- Adventurer Relations: Occasionally joins forces with adventuring parties, aiding them against common foes while carefully guarding his true identity.
Otis's Hidden Arsenal
Show SpoilerSecret Equipment Storage
Hidden beneath an old anvil at the rear of his shop, Otis keeps his specialized equipment secure and out of sight.
Contents of the Hidden Stash:
- Chain Mail +2: A finely crafted suit of chain mail, enchanted to provide superior protection.
- Longsword +2: A masterfully forged longsword with magical enhancements, sharp and resilient.
- Gems Pouch: Contains 25 precious gems, including amethysts, chrysoberyls, pearls, and tourmalines, each gem valued at approximately 100 gold pieces.
Living and Operational Space
Close to the stash, Otis's personal space consists of a simple pallet for sleeping, reflecting his spartan lifestyle.
Storage and Utility
- Chest: Holds his clothing and a variety of adventuring gear suited to his experiences and needs as a high-level ranger.
- Furniture: Includes a small table and chair, where Otis plans his secretive missions or maintains his equipment.
Weapons Collection
Old but Serviceable Weapons: An assortment of weapons that are kept in good working condition, despite their age.
- Normal Longbow and Cold-Wrought Iron Head Arrows: A standard longbow accompanied by a quiver of 20 arrows, ideal for combating foes vulnerable to cold iron.
- Shortsword and Cold Iron Battle Axe: Additional weapons that ensure Otis is prepared for a variety of combat scenarios, especially effective against certain magical creatures.
Otis’s Smithy & Stable – Connected Plot Hooks (DM Use)
Otis keeps his head down, but he’s no common farrier—he’s a covert ranger-knight watching the Temple’s resurgence from behind the anvil. He’ll test strangers before he risks his cover, offering work that looks like errands and turns into intelligence-gathering, interdiction, and rescue.
His shop and stalls give him reason to talk to everyone who matters in Nulb—drivers, pirates, stablehands, smugglers—making the smithy a natural quest hub.
Earning Otis’s Trust (quick gate)
- Step 1 (Low risk): Discreet favors (deliver a “shoeing chit” to the Nulb Stables (51); fetch lamp oil without visiting the Waterside bar).
- Step 2 (Proof): Bring back any one of: a red-wax sack seal (Valegrave), a scrap of river-tarred line (Tolub’s crew), or a ledger rubbing with “ghost lines” (erased stall entries).
- Step 3 (On mission): Otis shares timings, map marks, and joins covert actions if the party shows restraint and sense.
Hooks from the Forge
- The Red Halter Run
Otis suspects night wagons are swapping teams under a red halter at Nulb Stables (51) before vanishing toward the Hunting Cottage (55). He wants eyes on the swap and a count of guards—no heroics unless a prisoner is spotted. - Hoofprint Ledger
Match odd shoes Otis has pulled off cult wagons to tracks around Waterside and Boatman’s. A rubbing of stall-boards and a sketch of nail patterns will expose which stablemaster is cooking bookings. - The Lantern That Didn’t Come Home
One of Otis’s owl-couriers (used for message drops in the Gnarley) is overdue. Track it to a riverside snare near the Wharf; recover the reed-tube note before pirates sell it. If returned unopened, Otis opens up—literally—showing a corner of his cache. - Bread, Wax, and Blood
Follow a routine sack of Mavrek’s bread stamped with Valegrave’s red wax. The route—Bakery → Waterside back door → Stables → night wagon—proves the provisioning chain. Swap one sack with a chalk-marked twin to trace where it lands. - Black Bottle, Blackmail
A regular at Waterside pays with “Dick’s Black Bottle” chits. Otis thinks it’s a hush-fund for Temple leave-troops. Win (or steal) a chit, then trade it to Wat for a cask pickup time. Ambush? No—photographic memory: note faces, livery, and which pier. - The Broker’s List
Madame Selentis keeps a rotating inventory upstairs at Boatman’s (brothel) for Temple provisioning. Lift a single page: names, weights, and a discreet “H.C.” mark (Hunting Cottage). Bring it to Otis; he’ll cross-index carts and shoe orders. (If caught, claim you’re checking a room rate.) - Rope Cuts & River Tar
Tolub’s longshore thugs use a tar blend that stains reins and cuffs. Otis sends you to “lose” a coil in the tavern yard, then watch who comes to complain. The first man to know which coil is missing is the teamster you tail. - Constable’s Quiet Turn
Deliver a bent nail (Otis’s signal) to Constable Malvaar with the phrase, “Shoeing done before moonrise.” If Malvaar meets you later at the bridge, he’s in—expect a name and a night, but you must stage the arrest yourselves. - The Reaper’s Order
The Crimson Reapers commission a batch of narrow-bladed shortswords “for river work.” Otis pretends the quenching failed; you “escort” the refund to Boatman’s Warehouse and mark the counting-room lock with black pitch so Otis can later ID the exact chest. - Whispers from the Broken Tower
A stablehand talks about grain sacks that jingle. Walk a load as hired help toward the Hunting Cottage; if you reach the dry well, plant a greased wedge so the tunnel hatch won’t re-bar. Otis wants that exit to stay “accidentally open” for a future pull. - Mother Screng’s Mismatch
Screng spots blackcap in “healing” draughts heading to Boatman’s guards. Swap one crate for real salves; let the Temple sergeant’s men realize they’re not getting their usual sedatives before a job. Otis watches who panics and adds a name to his board. - Fire That Isn’t Fire
Alrrem’s envoys are telling hotheads to “cleanse heretics” at rival shrines. Otis wants that rumor amplified—hand a forged prayer slip to the right loudmouth at Waterside, then be across the river when Water and Earth go to “purge” each other. - Quiet Steel
Otis offers a “free tune-up” on the party’s kit—really a way to plant tiny file marks on enemy steel later for positive ID. If the party agrees, he includes a hardened awl and teaches the mark so they can tag finds in the wild. - Last Light at the Wharf
On nights when the Wharf lantern gutters twice, smugglers transfer prisoners. Otis can’t be seen there; he asks you to cut the second wick and start a bar fight at Boatman’s at that exact moment, forcing the transfer to abort.
How Otis Reacts
- Careful professionals: He shares timings, maps, and eventually fights beside them on high-impact strikes (never for bar-brawls or glory plays).
- Loud heroes: He downgrades to indirect support—tools, cover stories, and coin for witnesses.
- If blown: He burns the shop trail (dogs, cache, papers) and vanishes into the Gnarley, leaving one steel token at the Waterside rafters: “Try again—quieter.”
Otis, Master Smith
Otis stands as a paragon of strength and skill, his physical prowess matched only by his strategic acumen in the greater geopolitical landscape of Nulb.- Appearance: A burly man with a bushy beard, embodying the physicality of his trade.
- Drive: Seeks to protect Nulb from external threats while satisfying his personal quest for justice.
- Local Relations: Maintains a necessary rapport with both taverns and other agents ensuring his business thrives.
- AC 7 (no armor) or better
- hp 100
- AL NG; XP 5000
- S 18/07 115 W15 D17 Co 18 Ch 13
Languages: Common, Alignment, Elvish, Gnomish, Ogrish, Sprite.
Spells (druidical): detect magic, speak with animals, affect normal fires.
Chon, Smith's 'boy'
Not the sharpest tool in the shed but loyal and diligent in his duties.- Role: Manages the care of the horses, ensuring they are fed, groomed, and ready for use.
- Personality and Motivation: Simple-minded yet content; motivated by a stable job and routine.
- AC 10 (no armor hp 3
- AL NG; XP 8
- S 16 16 W 8 D 12 Co 14 Ch 10
- Carried: dagger, purse with 10 cp, 10 sp, 2 ep, 1 gp
Sammy, The Rat-Faced Apprentice
A young, keen observer with a sharp intellect masked by his unassuming appearance.- Role: Assists with metal works, slowly learning the trade secrets from Otis.
- Personality and Motivation: Curious and ambitious, driven by a desire to master the craft and uncover the layers of secrecy in his environment.
- AC 4 (chain & shield hp 8
- AL N; XP 18
- S 17 113 D 8 W 9 Co 15 Ch 10
- Carried: dagger, purse with 6 cp, 6 sp, 4 ep
Arriving at the Smithy
You find the smithy by the sound—iron ringing like a bell with a bad temper. Heat pushes out of the open-front shed in steady waves; the air tastes of coal, horse, and old rain. A rangy black dog watches from under the quench trough, eyes like wet stones. At the anvil a lean man hammers a shoe to shape, sleeves rolled, forearms roped with muscle and soot. He doesn’t look up until your shadow falls across his work.
He lifts the shoe with tongs, checks the curve, and finally gives you a measuring glance that weighs more than coin.
Otis (initial greeting, sizing you up while pretending not to care)
“Mind the light,” he says, voice dry. “You want steel or a shoe? If neither, step to the shady side. Sun’s doing most of the work today.”
He hooks the shoe to cool on the horn and squints along your boots, your belts, your hands. The dog doesn’t growl, but its ears tell you it’s keeping score.
“Travel-worn,” he adds, like it’s a weather report. “Boots say dry road, but I smell river tar. Not from here, then. Dyvers? Verbobonc? No matter. Horses need iron just the same.”
He sets a hoof stand near you—casual, like he might hand it to any passerby.
“Price is fair if you pay first. Two bits the shoe, more if your beast fights me. If you’re only shopping rumors, try the taverns. I sell iron.”
Probing without seeming to (Otis’s questions disguised as shop talk)
He picks up a rasp, turns the wheel of the grindstone with his foot, and lets the hiss fill the pause.
“Where’d you wear that edge down?” he asks, eyeing a nick in your blade. “Hills? Marsh? Just so I know whether to temper hard or let it spring.”
A beat later: “How long you keeping to Nulb? One night or you mean to linger and foul my stalls with your baggage?” A ghost of a smile. “I’ve room for four, six if they stand honest. Your mounts—heavy backs? Pack work? Or you riding light for… church errands?”
If you shift, he acts like he didn’t notice. If you lie, he nods like you told the truth.
If you ask about trouble in town
You: “Anything we should know about Nulb?”
Otis wipes the rasp on a rag already black. “Road’s rutted and the ale is worse. Men with soft hands spend loud coin and leave quiet. You keep your head down, you keep your teeth. That’s the trade I know.”
A glance toward the High Road, like the thought wandered there uninvited. “If you’re counting banners, you’ll run out of fingers. I count hooves. Easier that way.”
If you mention the Waterside or Boatman’s
You: “We’re for the Waterside/Boatman’s.”
“Mm.” He sets a nail neatly between jaws of the pincer. “Pay before you drink. Leave before you win. And don’t bet on anyone with a red halter in their kit.” He says it like a farrier’s tip, not a warning.
If a paladin/cleric is plainly in the party
He gives the holy symbol a glance the length of a breath.
“Vows ride heavy. Wrap them up while you’re in Nulb. Prayers are like horses—better shod quiet, or they’ll slip on the cobbles.”
The dog thumps its tail twice, as if that settles it.
If you push about bandits, pirates, or the Temple
You: “We’re here about the bandits/pirates/temple.”
The hammer pauses midair, then drops to the bench without a ring. “Sounds like you’re hunting sermons,” he says, already turning a shoe at the fire. “I shoe horses. Bandits don’t pay for such. Pirates use rope instead of reins. Temple—” a small shrug— “temple folk don’t bring their beasts here. They walk on other business.”
Another glance, quick as a sparrow. “If you change your mind and need iron, I’m open till moonrise.”
If you pass his first sniff test (he offers a “harmless” errand)
He sets a bucket of nails by your boots. “If you truly want to help a working man, carry that to the Nulb Stables and hand it to the boy with the split ear. Tell him Otis said ‘no more thin shoes for heavy loads.’”
His eyes barely flicker. “Bring back the old nails they pull. Bent ones tell me more than straight talk.”
If you agree, the corner of his mouth lifts. “Good. And if anyone asks why you’re loitering near stalls that aren’t yours, tell ’em you owe me for rasping your steel. That part’s true.”
If you stay cagey (he keeps it strictly business)
He holds out a hoof pick. “Then hold this. Left fore first. We’ll see if your hands are as steady as your stories.”
When you do, he nods approval or files the failure away without a word.
“Two bits the shoe, as said. If you need a lantern mended, I’ll swap a pane. If you need trouble, you’ll find it at the bridge or the bars. My floor is for hoofprints.”
Parting line (whether you bite or not)
As you step back into the heat-haze of the lane, his voice follows like an afterthought.
“Road in is the same as the road out,” he says, setting a nail with a single, gentle tap. “Difference is what you choose to carry.” The dog watches you go, tail still, as the anvil starts to sing again.
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