🧪 DOWNTIME SCENARIO: "Bitter Draughts & Boiling Lies"

Maratt the Bold & Golliver Munt in Ember Bastion

🎭 Dramatis Personae

• Maratt the Bold – 3rd-level Thief (CHA 13), Wheelmarked Guild affiliate. Cunning, opportunistic, and quick to pivot. Now quietly running the Lodge’s backdoor potion distribution—though they haven’t exactly told him that.

• Golliver Munt – Human alchemist, Pale Lodge agent stationed in Ghost Beggar Cave. Answers to the Death Gestures. Eccentric, brilliant, and entirely unsanctioned by the Trade Circle. His potions are now stable—and utterly effective.

• Tillow “Wisp” Reen – Halfling Guild collector. Keeps tabs on Maratt’s profit, and fingers in many pies (most of them poisoned).

• Ilren of the Thistle-Shade – Brannok scout who tested the first brew. Word-of-mouth spreader.

• Garral Tornsleeve – Stonehell delver and first full-price buyer.

• Sister Irielle of the Ash Candle – Warden healer and spiritual overseer. Smells sin like others smell blood.

• Pale Lodge Acolyte (unnamed) – Purchased a potion under Lodge vellum. This transaction links Maratt to Solenya’s wider web, like it or not.

🏰 Context: Ember Bastion

A fire-forged fortress of oaths and stone, Ember Bastion tolerates only what serves its defense.
Healing is controlled. Trade is measured. The Trade Circle, Wardens of St. Ras, and Pale Lodge maintain an uneasy balance.

Selling unlicensed curatives is a crime.
Selling Pale Lodge-forged potions is... something else.

💰 Business Overview

• Potion Type: Healing potions (OSE standard)

• Cost: 1,000gp each

• Brewed By: Golliver Munt, Pale Lodge agent (no longer requiring cuts from sales)

• Payment Model: All payments to Munt are handled in advance by the Lodge. Maratt incurs no ongoing cost or debt to him.

• Profit Margin: Full sale price—minus Guild fees

• Legality: Lodge-granted gray clearance. Outside the Law, but not opposed to it.

🗓️ DOWNTIME TIMELINE – THREE WEEKS

Week 1: “The Boil Begins”

Result: Minor Success (Roll: 9)

Narrative:

Maratt receives a wrapped bundle from a pale-skinned courier with no name. Inside: two wax-sealed vials, marked with the Lodge's sigil—scratched out. Potions brewed by Munt, approved by the Death Gestures, distributed with plausible deniability.

Maratt stakes out a stall at the Trade Circle, trading a Cliff-Hook Line to the Thundrakir for a short-term presence. No sales yet, but Ilren of the Thistle-Shade, a Brannok scout, agrees to field-test one on her next hunt.

Tillow Reen saunters by:

“You’re on Guild dirt, selling flamewater made by corpse-charmers. So... ten percent. Or I cut your pitch, not your purse.”

Outcome:

• 0 potions sold

• 1 field test arranged

• Trade Circle aware, but tolerant

• Guild tithe policy enforced (10% of sales)

Week 2: “The Proof is in the Pour”

Result: Partial Failure (Roll: 8)

Narrative:

Ilren returns—healed, scar-free, alive. She doesn’t praise the potion. She just says:

“It worked. That’s all that matters.”

Among the Brannok, this is the highest form of endorsement.

Garral Tornsleeve, a ragged delver, starts asking questions. A junior Lodge archivist slips Maratt a sealed vellum with the phrase “provisional excision aid.”

However, Sister Irielle begins to sniff around. She warns of “unsanctioned remedies” drawing echoes of spiritual debt.

Outcome:

• No direct sales, but trust and interest are growing

• Guild demands 100gp "quiet tax"

• Pale Lodge’s interest is now tangible—Maratt may be part of a test case

Week 3: “Pitch Black, Coin Bright”

Result: Major Success (Roll: 18)

Narrative:

Maratt goes mobile—no stall, just whispers.
In the Hollow Flame, he sells:

1. A full-price potion to Garral Tornsleeve after a cave-in during a Stonehell run. Garral lives. Pays. And spreads the word.

2. Another to a Pale Lodge acolyte, who buys under a sanctioned vellum. The document disappears into Lodge records, but the effect lingers—Maratt now carries the mark of discretion in Lodge eyes.

The potions perform perfectly. No side effects. No hesitations.

Outcome:

• 2 potions sold (2,000gp)

• 200gp to Guild

• 0 owed to Golliver (all costs pre-paid by Pale Lodge)

• 1,800gp net profit

📊 Downtime Summary Table

Total Income:

• Gross: 2,000gp

• –Guild: 200gp

• –Alchemist: 0gp (all costs pre-paid)
  = Net: 1,800gp