Otari

[Green Eyed Liar]

Navigating the town of Otari will be an important part of completing the Abomination Vaults. What follows is a lot of information that those familiar with Otari (such as the player characters) would know, including brief descriptions of many of the prominent personalities of the town of Otari. For more detailed information regarding some of these personalities, look to their NPC threads.

Edited October 14, 2023 by Green Eyed Liar (see edit history)

[Green Eyed Liar]

1. The Giant's Wheel

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This towering waterwheel is truly a sight to behold. With a diameter of 30 feet, the immense wooden wheel generates the torque needed to power a mechanized lumber mill and turn a treadmill that transports cut logs. The Giant’s Wheel has belonged to the Menhemes family for generations, but it isn’t exclusively used by the Otari Mill. The other two lumber companies pay to use the waterwheel, allowing Oseph to keep an eye on his competition. The constant noise of the wheel’s grinding and churning competes with the whine of the saws and the clatter of the loading ramp. At night, the busywork of the mill can be heard in the town below.

Day-to-day operation of the Giant’s Wheel and its mill fall to its foreman, the heavily scarred half-orc ex-gladiator named Klorte Hengus. In his youth, Klorte made a name for himself as a gladiator in a distant metropolis, fighting with paired hatchets as “the Lumberjacker.” The serious Klorte considers that violent past behind him, and he fails to see any irony in the fact that he now works for actual lumberjacks.

Edited October 14, 2023 by Green Eyed Liar (see edit history)

[Green Eyed Liar]

2. Loading Flume

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A mechanized treadmill runs from Otari Mill into a wooden flume filled with water from the Osprey River. The treadmill and chute transport timber from the Giant’s Wheel hundreds of feet south to a loading chute, which itself descends to the harbor so the timber can easily be loaded onto ships. The loading flume has long been a draw to local youths who enjoy “riding the chute,” but after a few unfortunate accidents, Klorte keeps a wary eye out for such foolishness.

Edited October 14, 2023 by Green Eyed Liar (see edit history)

[Green Eyed Liar]

3. Menhemes Manor

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Mayor Oseph Menhemes lives in the family estate with his wife Emnala, their five children, and a small army of servants. One of the town’s oldest structures, the cross-shaped building is a sprawling affair that’s larger than the Menhemes clan needs. The entire west wing of the manor has been closed for two generations, while the eastern wing has been converted into a publicly accessible museum of Otari’s history.

Oseph does his best to keep his roles as businessman and politician separate, devoting the mornings to work as a public figure and the afternoons to managing his company, Otari Lumber.

Edited October 14, 2023 by Green Eyed Liar (see edit history)

[Green Eyed Liar]

4. Wrin's Wonders

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This curio shop bears no sign, but locals know it as Wrin’s Wonders: a place to marvel at whatever strange new trinkets and offerings its equally strange owner might have come across. The structure consists of a ring of what appear to be standing stones arranged in a 60-foot-diameter circle surrounding a 15-foot-high dome of wooden beams covered with triangular pieces of canvas. Closer inspection of the standing “stones” reveals that they are also made of wood frames and canvas, cleverly painted to resemble granite. The area between the central dome and the surrounding circle is a collection of other dome-shaped tents used to store the shop’s wares. When it’s not raining, the fabric of these domes is pulled aside so shoppers can admire what’s for sale in the light of the sun—or the moon, for that matter, as Wrin’s Wonders is always open.

Wrin Sivinxi has what she regards as a very good reason for the curio shop’s strange arrangement—she sees safety in curves and menace in angles, and suffers from a touch of claustrophobia. The central dome is her domicile, and she’s painted the interior surfaces to resemble a night sky featuring all the constellations of the Cosmic Caravan, so that even on overcast nights she can fall asleep under the stars.

Edited October 14, 2023 by Green Eyed Liar (see edit history)

[Green Eyed Liar]

5. Gallentine Deliveries

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A large sign depicting a man riding at breakneck speed on horseback as he balances a stack of packages in one hand stands out in front of this large building. Owned and operated by Oloria Gallentine, a retired Immenwood ranger, Gallentine Deliveries handles Otari’s post, both within town limits and beyond.

Edited October 14, 2023 by Green Eyed Liar (see edit history)

[Green Eyed Liar]

6. Blades for Glades

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The primary smithy in town specializes in crafting saws, axes, and other tools used in the lumber trade, but the skilled smiths here also produce quality armor, shields, and weapons. The owner of Blades for Glades is a misanthropic man named Carman Rajani, who’s as happy to sell a sword to split a monster as a hatchet to fell a tree. He’s descended from one of Otari’s founders and believes himself entitled to better treatment from the townspeople than his surly demeanor earns him. Recently, Carman lost his fourth attempted run at the mayorship, and his political prospects are considered something of a running joke in town.

Edited October 14, 2023 by Green Eyed Liar (see edit history)

[Green Eyed Liar]

7. Odd Stories

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A three-story stone tower rises from the back half of this one-floor wooden bookstore. A sign above the front door depicts a stack of open books with lines of magical energy rising from the pages. While the shop’s owner is indeed a wizard, Morlibint had the sign commissioned in an attempt to portray the power of imagination within the fanciful fiction works and anthologies that are his specialty. Morlibint sells other texts as well, although he leaves the nonfiction curation to his husband Carlthe, whose expertise makes Odd Stories the primary source of textbooks and teaching tools for Inkleholtz’s educational pursuits. Morlibint has bright red hair that he keeps closely cut to his scalp. Despite his perpetual scowl, he warms quickly to the presence of other scholars and wizards, for he’s always excited to “talk shop.”

Edited October 14, 2023 by Green Eyed Liar (see edit history)

[Green Eyed Liar]

8. Otari Garrison

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This squat stone building houses Otari’s civic guards, who keep the peace and patrol the Roseguard Road, which leads off toward Absalom, to ensure it stays clear of banditry and trouble. Clad in distinctive green and white uniforms, the Otari Guard also serve as firefighters and barristers, switching predominantly to the latter role when they reach the age of 40. The head of the guard is Captain Longsaddle. This elderly but hale man was a veteran of Absalom’s city guard who “retired” to Otari a decade ago. He took up the mantle of leader after its previous captain, Trusk Hanely, drowned in an unfortunate misadventure involving a bit too much raspberry mead and an ill‑advised boast regarding how long he could hold his breath. Those among the guard who remember Trusk do so fondly, for Longsaddle is short-tempered, foul-mouthed, and much stricter than his dwarven predecessor. The town’s jail is in the basement of the building, but its cells are rarely used to hold any criminals other than petty crooks or drunkards.

Edited October 14, 2023 by Green Eyed Liar (see edit history)

[Green Eyed Liar]

9. Farmer's Guild

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This building and its nearby yard provide stables, auction houses, livestock pens, butcher shops, and a guildhall for the region’s farmers. Otari’s Farmer’s Guild handles the distribution of goods from the various nearby farms and ranches, ensuring that the members are paid well for their toil while saving them the trouble of having to spend too much time on deliveries of goods in town. The guildhall maintains a dozen rooms that are free of charge to visiting farmers, but available for rent to others. The current guildhead is a business-minded halfling woman named Jala Highstepper who maintains a shrine to Erastil in the side yard. She’s not a cleric herself, and hopes someday to convince a visiting priest of Erastil to settle in Otari and take up the mantle of representing the regional farmers, despite the fact that she’s done an admirable job of it herself so far.

Edited October 14, 2023 by Green Eyed Liar (see edit history)

[Green Eyed Liar]

10. Crow's Casks

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A sign over the door to this two-story stone building depicts a group of drunk crows perched on a leaky cask. Crow’s Casks is more than just a popular tavern and brewery—it’s a shrine to Cayden Cailean. Its proprietor, a tengu alchemist named Magiloy, gives the establishment its name.

If Magiloy’s misspent youth aboard a half dozen pirate ships in the Shackles gave her anything, it was a fondness for unusual alcohol. Now well into her twilight years, Magiloy likes tending bar and inventing new drinks for locals and visitors to enjoy. The two most popular drinks currently are a spiced pumpkin rum and a sour blackberry ale. Of last month’s somewhat disastrous attempt to brew a goblinpepper stout, Magiloy prefers never to speak.

Edited October 14, 2023 by Green Eyed Liar (see edit history)

[Green Eyed Liar]

11. Crook's Nook

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Any town with a successful economy inevitably generates its own home-grown band of thieves and scoundrels, and Otari is no exception. Crook’s Nook serves several purposes: it’s a public bridge over the Osprey River, a tavern known for serving the best seafood in town, and a cheap place to stay for the night. Its attic serves as the guildhall for Otari’s thieves’ guild, the Osprey Club—a function that’s perhaps the town’s worst-kept secret, as evidenced by the edifice’s very name.

The owner of Crook’s Nook is a lanky woman named Yinyasmera. While she’s never run for mayor, her influence in town remains as strong as that of any publicly elected official thanks to her position in the Osprey Club. Yinyasmera keeps her illicit operations from overly inconveniencing Otari’s citizens and economy, so Captain Longsaddle turns a blind eye.

Edited October 14, 2023 by Green Eyed Liar (see edit history)

[Green Eyed Liar]

12. Otari Market

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One part open-air farmer’s market, one part log‑cabin trading post, the Otari Market is a gathering place for locals and a one-stop shop for all manner of general goods. Tended by a dour, humorless man named Keeleno Lathenar, Otari Market is open every day from dawn to dusk, with one exception: Keeleno closes the market down on every Gozran 5thApril 5th in honor of his dear departed wife, Ayla, who was mauled to death 30 years ago. The killer turned out to be a werewolf druid named Jaul Mezmin, whom Keeleno believes remains at large to this day. Keeleno remains bitter and fearful toward druids, particularly those who worship at Stone Ring Pond.

Edited October 14, 2023 by Green Eyed Liar (see edit history)

[Green Eyed Liar]

13. Otari Fishery

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Tamily Tanderveil turned her back on what could have been a lucrative position as a captain among the Gray Corsairs to retire to a safer job here in Otari—the loss of a leg during a raid on a pirate ship having convinced her that serving as a harbor warden would be a wiser decision for her longevity. The jolly and irreverent Tamily maintains a growing collection of peg legs for various occasions that she regularly swaps out. Every night, from an hour before sundown to an hour before midnight, Tamily opens the fishery’s ground floor to sailors, laborers, and travelers for games, snacks, and entertainment.

Edited October 14, 2023 by Green Eyed Liar (see edit history)

[Green Eyed Liar]

14. Ruins of the Thirsty Alpaca

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The Thirsty Alpaca was once the largest tavern in Otari, but in a recent disaster, excavations by a small band of overeager kobolds attempting to expand some of the old Stonescale warrens below the building caused the structure’s dramatic collapse. Several employees and a few visitors from out of town perished in the accident, and the tavern’s owner has gone missing. Today, the locals avoid the ruins, for strange lights and eerie sounds there have given the place a reputation of being haunted.

Edited October 14, 2023 by Green Eyed Liar (see edit history)