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The Sea-Wolf Tavern

by JD Wiker and Christopher West
Editing: Marc Schmalz & Rich Redman
Art: Toren Atkinson
Layout and Typesetting: Marc Schmalz
Cartography: Christopher West

The Sea-Wolf Tavern is a free publication offered in promotion of Thieves' Quarter: A City Quarters Sourcebook, a fantasy d20 System supplement from The Game Mechanics, Inc.

The Thieves' Quarter

The Old Quarter, known to most as the Thieves' Quarter, is not a pretty place. The poor and disenfranchised drift in because they have no other place to go and become easy prey for the thugs and murderers who make the Old Quarter their home. This state of affairs forces people to learn quickly. Locals adapt or perish, becoming either a predator or a victim. Thus, the cycle of violence and degradation goes on.

Though the Old Quarter is officially part of the city of Liberty and under the rule of Prince Fiorelle, everyone knows that the Thieves' Guild holds the true reins of power in this evil place. Part of every footpad's haul, part of every prostitute's pay, and part of every drug dealer's profit goes to the Thieves' Guild. Even part of the profits from the Old Quarter's legitimate businesses goes to the Thieves' Guild, their owners not wanting to watch them burn to the ground.

Most merchants in the Old Quarter accept this as an unpleasant fact of life. They don't like it, but they have no other choice. Others embrace the patronage of the Thieves' Guild.

The Sea-Wolf Tavern

The Sea-Wolf, formerly known as the Laughing Sea-Dog, has been a fixture on the docks of Liberty's Old Quarter for several decades. Catering mostly to sailors and foreign merchants, the Sea-Wolf is open from mid-afternoon to dawn every day and bustles with business until the wee hours every night. The owner, Captain Varribo,

The tavern has a somewhat sinister side: Due to debts owed to the Thieves' Guild, Captain Varribo also caters to the Old Quarter's criminal element. While he won't put up with Guild members starting fights and picking pockets in the tavern itself, he does occasionally close his doors to accommodate private meetings between Thieves' Guild officers and their "business partners." He also provides false alibis and occasionally allows Guild members to hide out for a few hours in his office.

Varribo's relationship with the Thieves' Guild is excellent and, despite not being a criminal himself, they treat him as an honorary Guild member. Although they never bring the issue up, the fact remains that Varribo owes the Guild a great deal of money, and if he ever balked at doing a favor for them, they could hold his debt over his head.

Bouncers: Four 2nd-level warriors.
Tavern Staff: Four 1st-level commoners.

Captain Varribo

Captain Varribo is an old sailor in his late middle years with a potbelly, a bushy beard, and a big, friendly grin. His most distinguishing features, though, are his wooden arms--a blend of magic and mechanics--and he enjoys drawing attention to them.

In his career as a sailor from the Southern Empire, Varribo sailed to ports all over the world, though his favorite place in the world was the Laughing Sea-Dog tavern in Liberty's Old Quarter. When he lost both his arms to a half-wolf, half-shark creature in the northern seas, Varribo had no choice but to retire from the seas, and he chose to live out his days at the Laughing Sea-Dog. Varribo used the last of his money to buy the place and renamed it the Sea-Wolf in "honor" of the creature that had led him to buy it.

Running a business wasn't as easy for him as running a ship, and Varribo fell on hard times. Fortunately, the Thieves' Guild--then run by Jermot--bailed him out, and the Sea-Wolf became a meeting place for Guild members. Varribo still owed them a lot of money, but they went easy on him so long as he used the tavern to provide an occasional favor: shutting the place down for private meetings and parties, providing alibis for Guild members seeking to avoid arrest, and so on.

Varribo did his job so well that Jermot gave him a special gift: a pair of magical arms that attached over his stumps. Varribo never learned where they came from, though he likes to believe that someone took them off a golem. Before he could ask Jermot, Sepris and Parkol gained control of the Thieves' Guild and, while they continue Jermot's arrangement with the Sea-Wolf, they've never said anything about the "golem arms."

Captain Varribo: Male human Exp 6; CR 5; Medium-size humanoid; HD 6d6+6; hp 29; Init +1; Spd 30 ft.; AC 13 (touch 11, flat-footed 12); Base Atk +4; Grp +5; Atk +6 melee (1d4+1/19-20, dagger); Full Atk: +6 melee (1d4+1/19-20, dagger) or +5 ranged (1d8/19-20, light crossbow) or +6 ranged (1d4+1/19-20, dagger); Space/Reach 5 ft./5 ft.; AL CG; SV Fort +3, Ref +3, Will +6; Str 12, Dex 12, Con 13, Int 11, Wis 13, Cha 11.

Skills and Feats: Appraise +5, Balance +7, Climb +7, Diplomacy +6, Knowledge (local) +5, Profession (sailor) +9, Speak Common, Swim +9, Use Rope +6; Athletic, Endurance, Skill Focus (Profession [sailor]), Weapon Focus (dagger).

Possessions: Golem arms, leather armor, dagger, light crossbow, 10 bolts, 200 gp in coins, 2,000 gp in property.

Allies: Sepris (Thieves' Guild leader); Parkol (Thieves' Guild lieutenant).

Enemies: Vird Kasko (watch captain); Galvort Red-Axe (half-orc mercenary).

Tactics: Though he's past his prime, Captain Varribo still enjoys a good brawl, and when one starts in the Sea-Wolf he draws his dagger and wades right in. He keeps a crossbow behind the bar, but it's not loaded; he only loads it when the trouble gets serious, though he generally warns his targets that they had best leave, the sooner the better.

Golem Arms

The magical arms that Captain Varribo wears did not actually come from a golem. When Jermot acquired them, he didn't really know what would happen when someone put the arms on. Varribo was the obvious choice to test them, so Jermot assured the tavern owner that they were safe and watched carefully as he equipped them. They worked just like his missing arms had worked, and Varribo was so grateful for the "gift" that Jermot couldn't bring himself to ask for the arms back.

The "golem arms" magically imitate the arms that the wearer originally had (or would have), granting the same Strength and Dexterity as the character wearing them. Magic armor automatically shifts to accommodate the shape of the golem arms. The arms do not provide additional attacks, even when worn by someone who already has arms, nor do they provide the wearer with reach. A character could, however, wield a two-handed weapon and one or more shields simultaneously if he had both regular arms and the golem arms as well.

Golem arms have a hardness of 10 and 35 hit points each. The arms cannot be disarmed from an opponent in combat. Donning or removing the arms takes 2 minutes.

Moderate enchantment and transmutation; CL 8th; Craft Wondrous Items, baleful polymorph; Price 80,000 gp.

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Open Game License v 1.0 Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.

System Reference Document Copyright 2000-2003, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Authors Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Rich Baker, Andy Collins, David Noonan, Rich Redman, Bruce R. Cordell, based on original material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.

Thieves' Quarter: A City Quarters Sourcebook, Copyright 2004, The Game Mechanics, Inc.; Authors: JD Wiker and Chris West.

The Sea-Wolf Tavern, Copyright 2003-2004, The Game Mechanics, Inc.; Authors JD Wiker and Christopher West.