Monday, May 4, 2009

Meet Addison Lakely, Herbalist and Good Citizen of Pembrooktonshire

Addison Lakely is a centenarian who still enjoys surprisingly good health. Long ago he was known as a master gardener and herbalist, but for the past thirty years he has been living off of his savings and the goodwill of the townsfolk. He is a well-known personality about town, being its oldest resident and taking frequent long walks around town, conversing with the people and playing with the children.

However, his mental state has been deteriorating for some time, and his short-term memory is almost non-existent. When he greets neighbors, he often forgets that he has met them before, even if he has greeted them every day for the previous month. This, combined with his frequent mumbling to himself, has caused many people to avoid him. He has perfect memory of things several decades old, however, and does tell such tales that entertain the people... the first time or three he tells them.

Addison is very concerned about the happiness and well-being of his neighbors, and so takes care to maintain the cheery, folksy appeal of Pembrooktonshire life. To accomplish this, he uses a talent he cultivated long ago: Lakely is a magic-user of some small ability. Eighty years ago he apprenticed under a great magician, and although he had great aptitude for the magical arts, social pressures convinced him to give it up. He did manage to attain fifth level, but these days has but three spells in his book: Read Magic, Detect Magic, and Dispel Magical Aura. Due to age and other factors, aside from his spell usage he is for all statistical purposes a normal man.

Addison's long walks are often just an excuse for him to detect magic around town, so that he may then follow it up with Dispel Magic Aura. This third level spell removes the magical signature from an item/area/person, but not the magic; it functions as normal but no longer detects as magical. The spell is permanent (until dispelled by magic!), but anyone detecting magic while using a scrying spell can see the obscured enchantment.

However, in his senile state, Addison thinks he's dispelling the magic altogether. So for over twenty years now, every magical thing in Pembrooktonshire has existed in secret, and nobody knows...

Learn more about Pembrooktonshire in the adventure module No Dignity in Death: The Three Brides, coming soon from LotFP.

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