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npc/tallow.md

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+# Tallow — The Fence
+
+*"I don't sell information. I trade in context. There's a difference — and if you can't see it, you can't afford it."*
+
+---
+
+## Stat Block (Abbreviated)
+
+**Tallow** — Medium humanoid (half-elf), neutral
+**AC** 13 (leather armor under his coat) | **HP** 32 (5d8+10) | **Speed** 30 ft.
+
+| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
+|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
+| 8 (-1) | 14 (+2) | 14 (+2) | 17 (+3) | 15 (+2) | 16 (+3) |
+
+**Skills** Deception +7, Insight +6, Persuasion +7, Sleight of Hand +4, Investigation +5
+**Senses** darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 12
+**Languages** Common, Elvish, Thieves' Cant, Dwarvish
+
+Tallow is not a combatant. If violence breaks out, he ducks under his booth, clutches his bag of holding, and waits it out. He has a dagger he's never used and a **Potion of Invisibility** he's saving for when things go truly sideways.
+
+---
+
+## Appearance
+
+Thin, mid-thirties, half-elf with prematurely grey temples. Sharp features, sharper eyes. Wears a long coat with too many pockets — each pocket contains something potentially useful, definitely illegal, and priced to move. His fingers are stained with ink from a ledger he keeps in his head.
+
+He smiles easily but the smile never reaches his eyes. When he laughs, count your fingers afterward.
+
+## Read-Aloud: Approaching Tallow's Booth
+
+> *V rohovém výklenku sedí muž, který vypadá, jako by tu byl pohodlněji než kdokoliv jiný — a zároveň připravený kdykoliv zmizet. Půlelf s ostrými rysy a šedými proužky ve vlasech, oblečený v dlouhém kabátě s neuvěřitelným množstvím kapes. Na stole před ním stojí nedopitá sklenka a nic jiného — žádné papíry, žádné zboží, žádný důkaz o čemkoliv. Pod stolem, mezi jeho nohama, leží nenápadný kožený vak.*
+>
+> *Zvedne oči. Změří vás s tou rychlou, profesionální kalkulací kupce, který oceňuje zboží dřív, než se mu ho nabídnete. "Přátelé," řekne s úsměvem, který slibuje přesně tolik, kolik si zaplatíte. "Hledáte něco konkrétního, nebo se jen díváte?"*
+
+## Personality
+
+Tallow is a survivor. He has no ideology, no loyalty, and no principles beyond one: protect the business. He's been the middle man between the Guild of Knives and the Lambent Order for years, supplying both sides with what they need and profiting from the tension between them. The barkeep's death terrifies him — not because he cared about Orenn, but because Orenn's neutral ground was the ecosystem that kept his business alive.
+
+**Key traits:**
+- Never gives information for free. Always wants something in return — not always gold; sometimes a favor, sometimes a secret, sometimes just the satisfaction of creating a debt.
+- Genuinely frightened tonight. His survival depends on the power balance, and a murder in neutral ground means the balance is shattered.
+- Knows a little about everything and a lot about nothing — except supply chains and leverage.
+- Will redirect players toward other NPCs when it suits him, framing it as help.
+
+## What He Knows
+
+**Will trade for cheap (a few coins, a minor favor, or interesting gossip):**
+- The brawl was about territory — the assassins think the cultists are taking contracts
+- Vetch is desperate for a fix and will do almost anything for one
+- Bren has been here for months and is getting worse
+- The Lambent Order claims to be scholars. Nobody believes them.
+
+**Will trade for moderate value (20+ gp, a promise of protection, or damaging information about a rival):**
+- He sold the cultists **binding components** last month — "three pints of lethe-marrow, a coil of silver wire inscribed with something I couldn't read, and a jar of rendered tallow. Fat. Not... not me." The order came through dead drop, unsigned, but he knows it was Haddon.
+- The assassins have a mole problem — someone inside is selling kills to outside buyers. Sevra is quietly investigating.
+- Orenn was more than a barkeep. "You don't run a place like this for fifteen years on charm alone. That man had a history that would make your hair go white."
+
+**Will trade only for something he truly needs (guaranteed safe passage out, elimination of a threat, or the Fiendbane Manacles sold back to him at cost so he can leverage them later):**
+- He suspects the murder is fiendish in nature. "The way he died — no blood, no wound, just that brand? I've moved product for people who deal with things from the other side. That's not a spell anyone in this room can cast."
+- He knows the cultists' binding components were for **summoning a fiend**. He didn't ask questions at the time. He's asking them now.
+- He's seen Mother Vyre's handwriting. If players find the letter under his table and show it to him, he'll confirm it matches — and then he'll want it back, because proof that he was in contact with the cult's leader is a death sentence from both factions.
+
+## Inventory & Prices
+
+Tallow's lockdown pricing. He knows demand is high and supply is him.
+
+### Cheap (5–15 gp)
+
+| Item | Price | Description |
+|------|-------|-------------|
+| **Whisper Chalk** | 5 gp | Write a message on a surface, visible only to the next person who touches it. Single use. |
+| **Gutflask** | 5 gp | Heals 1d6+1 HP. Tastes like hot sewage. Technically a healing potion. |
+| **Lockworm** | 10 gp | Enchanted wire that eats through one lock over 1 minute. Dissolves after. |
+| **Bottled Silence** | 10 gp | Crack it — 10-foot radius of Silence for 1 round. Good for a private word or interrupting a spell. |
+| **Lie Ash** | 15 gp | Blow at someone mid-conversation. Their next lie makes them sneeze. Once per target. |
+
+### Mid-Range (25–50 gp)
+
+| Item | Price | Description |
+|------|-------|-------------|
+| **Healer's Clutch** | 25 gp | Proper healing potion, 2d4+2 HP. He has two. |
+| **Veil Dust** (1 dose) | 30 gp | The ethereal drug. 1-minute glimpse into the Ethereal Plane. Trippy and addictive. He has 3 doses. See [Ethereal Trip](../storylines/ethereal-trip.md). |
+| **Dead Letter** | 35 gp | Write a name and message. The letter vanishes and reappears in front of the named person within 1 mile. |
+| **Shadowlace Cloak** | 40 gp | Advantage on Stealth for 1 hour, then unravels. Single use. |
+| **Tongue of Silver** | 50 gp | Dissolves on tongue. Advantage on CHA checks for 10 minutes. Disadvantage for 1 hour after. |
+
+### Premium (100–200 gp)
+
+| Item | Price | Description |
+|------|-------|-------------|
+| **Spite Dagger** | 120 gp | +1 dagger. Extra 1d6 necrotic when hitting a creature that has damaged you this combat. |
+| **Bag of Holding** | 150 gp | Standard. Slightly worn. "Previous owner didn't need it anymore." |
+| **Fiendbane Manacles** | 200 gp | Iron shackles with binding sigils. Restrain a fiend as Planar Binding for 1 hour. Forces fiend fully onto the Material Plane while restrained. |
+
+### Not For Sale (But Could Be Stolen or Coerced)
+
+- **Potion of Invisibility** — his personal escape plan
+- **His ledger** (kept in his head, but he has a backup cipher key in the lockbox under his booth) — contains enough information to destroy both factions
+- **3 extra doses of Veil Dust** — in the lockbox, reserved for his own use or high-value clients
+
+## Role in the Session
+
+Tallow is the **connective tissue**. He bridges every subplot:
+- He sold the cultists the summoning components → links to the fiend
+- He supplies Veil Dust → links to the ethereal trip and the addict
+- He knows about the assassin mole → links to the guild subplot
+- He knows Orenn's history → links to Mags and the cellar
+- He has the Fiendbane Manacles → links to the endgame
+
+He will never solve anything himself. He points, nudges, and profits. He's the NPC players will return to multiple times, each time with a little more to trade.
+
+## Relationships
+
+- **Orenn:** Business respect. Orenn tolerated Tallow because Tallow kept the peace by keeping everyone equally supplied. Tallow tolerated Orenn because Orenn kept the peace that Tallow's business depended on.
+- **Mags:** She scares him. He's careful around her. He will not lie to her face — he'll just omit things.
+- **Sevra:** She's a client. Professional relationship. He respects her intelligence.
+- **Haddon:** He's a client. He trusts Haddon's money and nothing else.
+- **Vetch:** He's a customer. Tallow feels nothing about Vetch's addiction except that it's reliable revenue.